Cold Front

by Nikolai Joslin

“It’s the most likely,” he agreed.

  “There must be some still lurking there,” Alex said, pushing off the wall and coming over to the maps as well. “We should send a small number of troops to deal with those left, send a message. We will not back down from a fight, and we aren’t only on the defensive. We cannot let them believe we are scrambling.”

  I nodded slowly. It made sense to me, but what did I know? “Liam, what do you think?” He was a king now. Surely he would know what to do.

  “I think it is a good idea. It will be good to push them back a little farther and show them that we mean business,” Liam commented.

  “All right, then. Alex, Liam, get together and take whoever you need for this. Now, let’s try and figure out our next move. I don’t want to sit around and wait for another attack. We—”

  Bloodcurdling screams cut through the air. Everyone instinctively grabbed their ears and looked around for the source.

  Wulf was writhing on the floor and holding his head. “Get out! Stop this!” he managed to cry out.

  I rushed over to him and laid a hand on his arm, trying to hold him down, and was met with flashes of visions and feeling like fire was racing through my body.

  A mountain.

  A monastery built into the rock.

  Young and old men and women with shaved heads and strange clothes.

  Shrieks in the distance.

  Firelight and flutes.

  Elves with smoky eyes dancing around me with broad smiles.

  And then gold.

  No shapes, just gold filling my vision.

  Wulf threw me off, and I hit my head on the leg of the table. “Regan, Alex, hold him down. No one else touch him,” I gasped.

  They didn’t ask questions, just held his arms down and stopped him from thrashing about. Cam rushed to my side and knelt beside me. “Are you okay?”

  “Fine,” I muttered as I touched the back of my head. I pulled my fingers away and saw bright red glistening on my fingertips.

  “No you’re not,” she whispered and lifted my head, letting her hand rest against the wound. “Hold still.”

  I closed my eyes and let her heal me, not in the mood to argue right now. “Thank you,” I said after a moment.

  “Don’t worry about it.”

  What was that? Cinder sounded just as panicked as I felt.

  A vision. The curse of the Touched. I sat up, grabbing Cam’s shoulder to help steady myself.

  The vision ended as quickly as it began, and Wulf lay on the floor with tears streaming down his face while his body shook with sobs. What I had experienced was pain enough; I could only imagine what he was dealing with.

  “Someone get him some water and a towel. He’s just been through a lot,” I said as I slowly crawled over to him. I hesitantly let my hand rest against his arm once more, half expecting to be drawn back into his mind, but instead I only felt his overly hot skin.

  Liam passed a glass of water and a few napkins to me and I began to wipe away the sweat from Wulf’s forehead. I lifted his head onto my lap and pressed the cup to his lips, letting him take a small sip of water before setting the glass down.

  “We have to—we have to go,” he coughed and I let him drink a little more.

  “I know. And we are. We’re leaving tonight. Whatever it is, we need to get there as soon as we can. Do you know where it is?” I had only seen a snippet of what he had, though I doubted he could remember it all with that much pain and information coursing through him.

  “No.”

  “We can figure it out later. Rest for now. I’ll begin preparing to leave,” I said, wiping his face again.

  “What are you talking about?” Alex broke in.

  I looked up at him and then back to Wulf. “We’ve just found our next step. There’s a place in the mountains. There are monks and something with gold. There was a lot of gold. And there were elves.” Something in my memory of the vision had seemed different about the elves, but I couldn’t place it. They weren’t what I had expected.

  “Elves? In the mountains?” Liam broke in, suddenly quite curious. “What did they look like?”

  I opened my mouth to say something. It was on the tip of my tongue, but I couldn’t quite remember it. “I’m not sure. It’s not very clear.”

  He nodded. “I believe I know where you’re talking about. Haven is not the only elvish city. There are a few scattered across the world. One of them isn’t far from here. In the mountains. We could go there. Chances are, if there are monks in the area, they’ll know.”

  “How far away?” I gently let Wulf’s head down and stood up.

  He pulled out his phone and started typing something in. “We have to take a train to the mountain and walk the rest of the way in. It’s hidden in the mountain range. My great-great-grandfather didn’t want anyone to know about it,” he muttered.

  “What’s there?” Cam asked what everyone else was wondering.

  “A part of our past that I’m not proud of.” We waited for more of an explanation, but one didn’t come. “How many tickets?” he asked, changing the topic.

  “Wulf has to go. Cam, Regan, you, Ston, Cinder, and I.” We couldn’t take everyone; it would get wildly out of hand.

  “All right. The next train leaves at one in the morning. I’ll have the tickets e-mailed to me. You should probably start getting ready to go. A couple of changes of clothes should work. You won’t need much.” His voice was distant.

  “Sure. We’ll get ready. You and Alex can start preparing that squad to deal with the rest of the dark elves. I’m going to go see if they need me to do anything else around here.”

  “Sure. Sure.” I wondered if Liam had heard me.

  “Okay? Well, come on you guys, let’s get going, then.” I helped Wulf up and grabbed his waist to help support him.

  Everyone walked out except Alex and Liam. We had just left the room when Liam came out right behind us. “Ston.” He sounded almost frantic, losing that princely—now kingly—air for a moment. He recovered quickly, though, straightening up and lifting his chin. “If you have a moment, I’d like to talk.”

  “I’m busy right now. Maybe another time,” Ston said coolly, not even turning to look at Liam.

  “Right. Well, whenever you get a chance.” He looked down at his feet and lowered his voice, as if that would keep everyone from hearing. They had stopped by now, leaning in to listen but also trying to act like they were focused on something else. “I really need to talk to you. We didn’t leave everything the way we should have.”

  “No, Liam, we left it the way it needed to be.” Ston stormed off and slowly everyone else wandered away.

  When the rest had gone, I walked over to Liam, who was leaning against the wall and staring off after Ston. “I’m sorry about that. I had wanted to do it privately. It’s just that sometimes—”

  “Sometimes things come out at the wrong moments,” I finished for him. He nodded and crossed his arms over his chest. “What’s going on between you two? I remember a happy couple not too long ago.”

  “Me too.” He sighed heavily and pushed off the wall. “I have to work with Alex now. We can talk later.”

  “Liam, you have to tell me what’s going on at some point. It’ll eat you alive.”

  But he wasn’t listening anymore; he was going back into the war room to pretend that everything was the way it should be.

  I shook my head and walked toward the stairs to go back to my old room. The stories never talked about the personal problems going on during a war. It was always a winner and a loser and all of their effort was put into that war. Now that I was in one, it was a lot more obvious that every person had something floating around in their lives that took up their attention. The only question was how much it would affect this and in what ways.

  We’ll need to keep an eye on those two, I told Cinder as I threw a few pairs of clothes in a backpack.

  We knew that already. Well, at least with Ston. I wonder what could be going on.


  It’s obviously relationship stuff. It was pretty serious just a few months ago. What could have happened?

  Maybe it has to do with Liam becoming king. Maybe he doesn’t have enough time for Ston anymore.

  I zipped up the bag and chewed my lip thoughtfully. Maybe, but I’m not so sure.

  I’m sure we’ll find out eventually. Cinder followed me out of the room. I passed Regan’s room, and he stopped in front of it. Aren’t you going to talk to her?

  With all this relationship drama? Besides, I’m still pretty angry from last night. I figure the less time we spend alone, the less she can ask me to help her become like Jaysun.

  “That’s quite rude, you know. You shouldn’t talk about people like that,” Jaysun’s voice drawled behind me.

  I spun on my heel and saw the brunet inspecting his nails closely. This wasn’t in his little white room. This wasn’t a dream. This was the real world. “What are you doing here?” I hissed.

  “Don’t act so surprised. Cam did this before your little mission even got started. I’m just better at it.” He dropped his hand and licked his lips. “I’m here as a friend, remember? Besides, I’m still a spirit. I can’t touch you or anything. As much as I want to wring your skinny little neck, you can rest assured I can’t.”

  I dug my fingernails into my palm so hard that I worried if there would be blood. “What do you want?”

  “You won’t get help from anyone you meet in that mountain. Not the elves or these little monks you’re looking for. That slave’s vision was right. There’s something out there, something you need, but no one can help you get it. Except for me. So let’s skip the middleman. I can give you the secret right now if you want. Just ask, Casey Kelley. Just beg. I know you want to.” A twisted smile crawled across his face.

  “Never.” I could feel a muscle in my cheek twitch, and Cinder let out a low, throaty growl.

  “Come on, Casey. You’re going to need me. You can’t do this on your own. All you need to do is tell me that you need me.” He took a step toward me.

  “I assure you, I don’t.”

  “Goddammit, Casey!” he shouted, throwing his hands up in the air. He was just like I remembered him, a vicious man with a short fuse. “When are you going to learn? We need each other in this. We always have, and we likely always will! We are so similar, you stupid girl! Brilliant mages who change the course of history simply by being! You change it there on earth, and I change it here in the Veil! We start wars together, Casey, leading righteous causes! We fall in love with people who don’t deserve our power! We need each other, whether you see it or not. Without you, I wouldn’t be able to make my mark on this world, and without me you’d be stuck in your Temple, buried in your books,” he snarled.

  “I am not like you.” It was getting harder and harder to remain calm, but I didn’t want to alert anyone to the problem. I wanted these interactions with Jaysun to remain a secret, especially from Regan.

  “Maybe you’re right. Maybe we aren’t the same.” He licked his lips again and leaned in so close that I swore I could feel his breath, despite that being impossible. “But Regan is.”

  I finally broke. “No!” I went to slam my hand against his chest, but instead my hand passed through empty air and flames shot out of my palm without me even noticing, lighting the curtains behind it on fire.

  The door burst open and Regan came out, holding her gun. Her head whipped back and forth, looking for something to shoot. Eventually she seemed satisfied and came over to me. “Are you all right?”

  I pretended to be too occupied by putting out the flames to answer.

  “Casey, please tell me what happened. I was finishing packing up, and I heard you scream.”

  “I didn’t scream,” I said quietly. Screaming implied weakness and fear. Screaming reminded me of a young girl whose friend jumped out from behind the door to scare her. I was angry.

  “Okay, fine, not screaming, but something not good. Tell me what happened.” Regan let her hand rest against the small of my back, and I flinched slightly, remembering Jaysun’s addition to my scars.

  “Nothing. I thought I saw something. With everything going on lately, I’ve been pretty on edge and haven’t gotten much sleep,” I lied breezily.

  Regan’s face softened, and she kissed my temple. “Oh honey, I know. It’s been pretty crazy lately, and I wish I could say it’ll get easier, but I can’t really promise that. I do promise to be here for you the whole time, though. You don’t need to do everything; I can help. And you have other people who are just as invested in this too. You can pass some work off. You can’t carry everything. You’ll get too stressed out.”

  I nodded stiffly. “Right.”

  “We can’t have you lighting curtains on fire just because you aren’t sleeping well, can we?” She gave me her winning, crooked grin and ruffled my hair softly.

  I forced a short laugh and said, “You’re right. I’m going to try and get some actual sleep tonight if I can.”

  “Good.” Regan’s hazel eyes met mine, and I focused in on the thin brown rim around the pupil. How many times had those eyes kept me grounded? Now they were the reason my world was spiraling out of control.

  “We should go back to Liam. I want to see this squad he and Alex have put together,” I mumbled as I broke eye contact.

  Regan sighed heavily and looked up at the ceiling. “Sure.”

  Cinder’s voice interrupted my own thoughts. She’s starting to get irritated. You can’t avoid these conversations forever.

  I can try.

  Chapter 16

  I SAT alone on the train. I had told everyone I was going to try and get a little bit of sleep and wanted to be alone for a while. Nobody pushed it. I guess I looked like I needed it.

  Jaysun’s words rattled around in my mind. I wasn’t anything like him. I was my own person, a good person. I would never do what he did. And the ways he changed the world were terrible. They were things that never should have happened. And Regan couldn’t be like him. She was a wonderful person. She sacrificed herself not only for me, but for so many others all through her life. She was good, great even. She wasn’t Jaysun. What she was going through was temporary. She was angry right now. I knew what she was feeling; I’d felt useless before. But no matter what she felt, she would never go as far as he did, even if the opportunity was right in front of her.

  I rubbed my eyes, as if that would take away the exhaustion. I had only gotten three or four hours of sleep last night, and it was about three in the morning now. Everyone else was fast asleep except for Ston, who sat a few seats in front of me, looking out the window. He had volunteered to keep watch while the others rested, but there wasn’t much to look out for.

  We would get help from the monks or the elves. We had to. I didn’t want to go to Jaysun for anything. I killed him for a reason.

  I heard Ston get out of his chair, and I quickly shut my eyes and pretended to be sleeping. I felt the cushion move as he sat down beside me. “Stop your pretending, Casey. I know you’re not sleeping.”

  “Shhhhh, don’t tell me,” I muttered under my breath.

  “Like you’d be able to sleep anyway.” He sounded tired. I wondered how I had missed it, how any of us had missed it. Everyone had noticed that I was exhausted, but he seemed like a corpse that could talk right now.

  “Are you okay?” I touched his shoulder lightly.

  He looked over at me, violet eyes seeming to burn right through me. He jerked his shoulder away from my hand. “Am I okay? I just killed people I knew. I just watched them get torn apart by mages and dwarves and a fucking wolf. No I am not okay! Would you be if you had to turn against the mages? Even if you knew what they were doing was horrible, even if there was no doubt in your mind that you had to stop them?” He kept his voice down so as not to disturb the others, but it was just hushed venom instead of loud anger that I heard.

  I looked down at my lap and nodded. “You’re right. I shouldn’t have asked.” />
  We sat in silence for a few minutes until he calmed down enough to start talking again. “It’s not your fault. I went to you knowing what this would mean. I had plenty of time to weigh the consequences. Now you know why I can’t sleep. What about you?”

  “In a way, for the same reason. I watched people I had known my whole life die. And I had to kill people, despite how badly I wanted to believe there was good in them. Like there is in you. Then add on the pressure of running a war. I’m eighteen. What do I know about running a war? And Regan and I are fighting all the time now. In what world would I be able to sleep?”

  “Not everything you thought it’d be?” He ran a hand through his silvery white hair and sighed heavily.

  “Nothing is. I thought Regan and I had our happily ever after. I thought I was done with the saving-the-world crap. And then you come to me, talking about armies and wars. It all sounded so simple, as stupid as that sounds. It didn’t seem real. It seems like every time I close my eyes I think about the pixies I buried and the horrors of the other night and… and of Regan becoming like Jaysun.” I whispered the last part, almost hoping he wouldn’t hear it.

  “She would never go that far. I think she’s just realizing that she’s not as powerful in a lot of ways as we are. It’s hard for her. A lot of how she built her part of the relationship was on the idea that you need to be protected and taken care of, and that she was the person to do that.”

  “Our relationship isn’t built on that. That’s not why I love her. I don’t love her as my protector; I love her as Regan. And she doesn’t love me as a damsel in distress.” I could hear how sharp my voice was, and I hoped Ston didn’t take it personally.

  “No, I know your relationship is more than that, but that’s how it started, especially for Regan. That’s the basis of it. Last year, somehow, she was able to keep believing that. And then you went and lived your happy life and got engaged, and it was over. You didn’t need to prove that you didn’t need protection, and she didn’t need to try and save you from anything. You were both very happy thinking opposite things because it never came up. Now it’s getting to the both of you. Now, before you start getting angry, I’m not saying that this won’t work out between you two. I’m just saying that it’s stressing the both of you out, and you’re going to have to work through it. Just be prepared for it to take a little while. The two of you are quite stubborn.”