by Jess Bowen
“What is it? What’s wrong?” Evan said groggily as he sat up in bed with his fists raised and his eyes closed.
“You about took my head off, idiot!”
Ethan suddenly understood why Kali had remained unconscious for such a long time after Evan had punched her. His head felt like it was splitting in two, and Evan had been asleep when he had punched him. Evan’s fist was like a solid rock or steel or some other impenetrable object. His roommate had never gotten that close to him in combat training, so he had no prior experience with how hard he hit.
Evan finally opened his eyes and peered at the clock. “Well, why are you waking me up at one-thirty in the morning?” he asked loudly.
Jared stirred and slowly sat up. He rubbed his eyes before he too looked at the clock and then glared at Ethan reproachfully. “What’s going on? Is Phoebe—”
“No,” Ethan said as he cut Jared off. “It’s not Phoebe, but we are going to have to go get her. We have to go.”
“What are you talking about?” Evan asked as if Ethan had completely lost his mind.
“Just trust me. Get up and get dressed. Get all your weapons. I’m going to go wake up the girls.” He only wanted to attempt to explain this once
The twins looked dumbstruck, so Shade took over for Ethan and snapped at them both until they started moving. Ethan made his way into the hallway and turned his attention to the room across the hallway. Lucy was unconscious and dreaming—about him. She was dreaming about the kiss they had shared earlier, but this wasn’t just kissing. Ethan couldn’t help but get sucked into her dream; it seemed so real…
They were in a secluded place, a dark forest with the wind rustling softly through the leaves. Her shoulders and back were bare and shimmered in the moonlight that filtered down from above. She had on the same dress from earlier, but there seemed to be less of it. Her red hair was golden where the light hit it. Her green eyes sparkled, and electricity shot through her veins as Ethan’s arms wrapped around her. Even in the pale moonlight, it was easy to see the contrast of his tanned skin against her soft cream color.
His fingers traveled down her spine, and her breath caught. Her eyes looked deep into his, and he felt her need. His hands roamed more freely over her small body, and her breathing started again, but it was much quicker, and within seconds her heartbeat sped up to match the labored action of her lungs. He leaned down and kissed her lips softly, but as her taste exploded in his mouth, he roughly grabbed the back of her neck and pushed his lips more firmly against hers. Her knees gave out under her, and she softly moaned against his mouth…
Ethan had to fight against her dream to get out of it. He had stopped in the middle of the hallway when he realized what she was dreaming about and had to double over to catch his breath. Disappointment washed though him as he remembered that it hadn’t really happened. The dream had been full of desire and passion and heat, and Ethan couldn’t remember exactly what had been so important just five minutes ago.
Her dream faded as she rolled over in her sleep. Ethan took the last few steps across the hallway as he replayed his own dream through his mind to refocus himself. He opened the girls’ door and surveyed the room. Both girls were curled into balls as they slept. He hadn’t expected Phoebe to be there, but he was still disappointed to have it confirmed with his own eyes. She was hurting somewhere, and she needed to be with her family, all of her family.
“Lucy, Cynthia, wake up!” Ethan said in a loud whisper.
His head still throbbed, and he stayed a safe distance away from Cynthia’s Fire power. Eyes glinted in the soft light of the room as Thor and Beau turned to look at Ethan. Thor snorted and nuzzled Lucy’s face, and Beau cried out. Lucy and Cynthia both sat up and stretched. Ethan tried not to notice that even with her hair a mess and wearing pajamas, Lucy still looked absolutely beautiful.
“What’s wrong, Ethan?” Cynthia asked as she rubbed her eyes.
“I can’t explain it yet. You two need to get up and get dressed. We have to go.”
Cynthia’s eyes snapped open a little more. “Go? Go where?”
“I’ll tell you when everyone is together. You’ll need your weapons.”
Ethan shot one quick, worried glance at Lucy before he exited the room. He didn’t want her to go. He wanted to keep her where she was safe. This mission had three possible outcomes: they could obtain the prophecy and make it back alive, they could die, or they could go all that way and be too late and possibly make it back, but they would die sooner or later as Petrozan’s evil continued to spread. Either way, two of the three outcomes ended in death. The odds were not in their favor.
Ethan, what’s going on? Why would anyone die? Where are we going? Lucy’s thoughts were filled with anxiety.
I can show you, but I can’t explain anything yet. Ethan sat down on the bench in the hallway and tried to pull his thoughts together.
Show me.
He sighed and let the images flow through his thoughts again. The more he thought it over, the more he knew the dream was absolutely real and that he couldn’t escape it.
Ethan? Lucy’s thought came when the dream had faded.
I know it sounds crazy, but it’s real.
Lucy was pulling on her shoes but she was distracted. Are you okay? I didn’t even see anything. Did you think about whatever it was?
What are you talking about? Of course I did. He had omitted part of it. He didn’t think Lucy would appreciate that he was dreaming about some other woman when she had been dreaming only of him. He hadn’t been attracted to her, but she had been beautiful; he couldn’t deny that.
No, you weren’t thinking about anything. She already had the slightly cynical edge to her thoughts that Ethan had been expecting from everyone.
He knew he had thought over the dream. Lucy should have been able to see it. That left one explanation. It must have been blocked from you. I have no idea why, but I know I was thinking about it.
Lucy didn’t like the sound of that one bit. She pulled the strap of her ankle holster a little too tightly. Why would something be hidden from me?
I don’t know.
34. Convince
Ethan heard footsteps traveling up the flight of stairs that led to the hallway. One set was solid and heavy, another was light and purposeful, and still another was a canter. He knew who it was before they turned the corner, but it still surprised him when he saw them. Phoebe was in front; her face and eyes were hardened but otherwise expressionless. Ethan had seen Phoebe happy, sad, in love, embarrassed, scared, in pain, and angry, but never before had he seen her without a single emotion.
It was so very wrong. The person before him resembled Phoebe, but from the deadened look in her eyes, he saw that the Phoebe he knew didn’t exist anymore. Her stride was resolute and determined. He could see that she knew about his dream. Hector was fully dressed and armed and following close behind her, but his brow furrowed in confusion. Sapphire was there and stretching out her wings as she walked. Ethan wondered if Phoebe had been told that Sapphire had a talent.
Ethan rose from the bench to meet Phoebe, and she stopped a few feet away from him with her feet spaced shoulder-width apart and her arms crossed protectively over her chest. She was going for an effect of defiance or disinterest, but he could tell she was doing it more out of the need to hold herself together and to try to fill in the hole in her chest.
“They’re almost ready,” Phoebe said, and her voice was just as cold and expressionless as her eyes. It gave Ethan chills.
She doesn’t look like she’s holding up well. And how come she can know whatever I can’t? Lucy tightened the last strap on the double swords strapped to her back and made her way to the door.
That’s not Phoebe, and I don’t know, love. Maybe just because of her talent; I’m sort of afraid to ask.
Lucy and Jared opened the doors to their respective rooms at the same time and joined Ethan as Phoebe coldly surveyed them. Evan and Jared handed over Ethan’s weapons, and he hastily st
rapped them on. Double swords across his back, ankle holsters, and knives stuck into other unobtrusive places, and a bow and arrows—they hadn’t practiced much with the bow yet, but he would still rather have it. Lastly, Jared handed him his boots, and he fastened them quickly.
“All right, now. What is this about?” Evan asked as Ethan straightened up.
Ethan glanced quickly at Phoebe, but she didn’t move or give the slightest indication that she wanted to speak. “Well, this is going to sound a little farfetched, but I need you guys to trust me.” No one said anything. “I had this dream…”
“Whoa, wait a minute. You dragged us out of bed at one-thirty in the morning and made us get dressed because you had a dream?” Evan didn’t seem at all remorseful about that earlier punch to the side of Ethan’s head.
Out of the corner of his eye, Ethan saw Phoebe shift ever so slightly as she turned to stare at Evan.
“Yes, but, if you would have let me finish, this wasn’t exactly a dream because I wasn’t all the way asleep,” Ethan retorted. “It was like a conference between my conscious and unconscious minds. Right, Phoebe?”
He hadn’t wanted to ask her opinion so soon, but from the looks on Evan’s and Cynthia’s faces, he knew they would need confirmation.
Phoebe’s penetrating gaze turned back to him. “Yes, only it was more complex than that. Whatever was giving you the information was part of you, but it also had a separate awareness. It was strange.”
Her deadened, flat voice made Lucy cringe into Ethan’s side. He glanced quickly at Hector. She had obviously stopped crying long enough to change her clothes and see his dream; maybe she had even talked to Hector. As if in response to his thought, Hector nodded infinitesimally.
“All right, well, supposing it was real,” Cynthia said, and Phoebe’s head turned sharply toward her, “and I’m not saying that it’s not,” she quickly corrected, “you still haven’t told us what we’re doing.”
Ethan pulled scattered fragments of his thoughts together and reassembled them. “This person in my, um, non-dream…” He conveniently and guiltily left out that the person was decidedly the most beautiful woman he had ever seen. “Well, I was told that Irena, the woman who made the prophecy about us, is dying, and that if she dies before we get to her, we’ll never stop Petrozan and Esmeralda.”
Meaning we could all die. Lucy finally understood why he didn’t want her to go and hastily added onto her thought. I’m going with you. No matter what happens, we’ll be there together.
Hector wasn’t convinced. “It’s impossible; no one who has ever gone into the mountains has ever come back out. Period. You’re willing to risk everyone’s life on a dream that you’re not even sure is real?”
Hector stepped almost protectively around Phoebe, who didn’t move, and lifted to his full height. Ethan responded without even thinking as anger pulsated through his body. “I don’t have a choice; I know what I have to do. Whether you come or not is your decision.”
Hector’s muscles tensed, as did Ethan’s as he pulled Lucy behind his back. “My decision? Look around you, Ethan. Everyone is suited up and armed and ready to go, but they didn’t know where they were going until just now. Was that really their decision? I will not sit by and let you destroy us because you feel like it.”
“Hector,” Phoebe’s voice was surprisingly soft, and they both ignored it.
“You followed Phoebe here without even a second thought,” Ethan spat at him.
Hector’s arms rippled as his muscles tightened. “I didn’t know what was going on, and after tonight, someone has to protect her from herself. But I will not let anyone go on a suicide mission.”
Ethan laughed snidely at him. “All this concern coming from a man who can’t feel anything and is almost impossible to kill? I think the rest of us have a little more at stake,” he shot back angrily.
Phoebe’s eyes smoldered in anger. “Enough.” The power in her voice pushed Hector and Ethan away from each other. “You do not speak to Hector like that. Ever. He is a human being just like the rest of us, and you will treat him as such.” Her voice was so different. Not cold or indifferent, but powerful and authoritative. Like she was issuing an order that it was impossible to disobey.
“You know I’m right. Why are you defending him?” Ethan had backed down, but he wasn’t letting it go.
Phoebe surprised him again. She was very good at that. “I didn’t say you weren’t right, but I will not tolerate cruelty.” Ethan started to argue with her, but she spoke over his voice. “Hector does have a point. We asked you to follow us before you knew what was coming. Now that you do, and now that you know there is a very real possibility that you could die, you need to make your own decision.”
Evan smiled widely in an attempt to lighten the mood and punched Phoebe lightly on the arm. “Well, I’m going with you. I’m not letting my sister go soak up all the glory by herself.”
Phoebe smiled at Evan’s offhanded use of the word “sister” in reference to her, and then her face became utterly serious again. “There is no glory in death, Evan.”
Evan’s smile vanished. “Then I’m going to make sure you make it back alive.”
“As am I,” Hector added.
Lucy scooted out from behind Ethan’s back. “Me too.”
Only Cynthia and Jared were left. “No one will blame you two for staying,” Phoebe said.
Jared and Cynthia glanced at each other and smiled. “We swore an oath. You didn’t really think we’d abandon you that quickly, did you?” Cynthia asked.
“Okay, that just leaves the logistics. How are we going to do this?” Ethan asked. He couldn’t think about the fact that everyone one of them might die. They could do this with a good enough plan.
“It’s impossible anyway. We’ll never get there before the Void takes over the Vanishing Mountains. They don’t even move Irena when the Void closes in,” Hector said resignedly. He clearly still thought this was a foolhardy idea.
Phoebe’s brow creased in confusion, as did Ethan’s. “How does she live for six months of the year without food or water?” she asked.
Hector shrugged. “I don’t know. They’re just as surprised as we are.”
“How long does it take to get there?” Ethan asked.
“Two to three weeks on foot, and that’s if we could go in a straight shot, which I doubt.”
“Well, we’re not going to walk,” Phoebe said simply.
Evan’s face went blank. “Then how are we going to get there?”
“Fly.” Her tone added the “of course” at the end.
“I’m sorry, did you say fly?” Hector asked. “How are we going to fly?”
“Well, between the seven of us, we have four companions who can fly and carry riders.”
Hector thought that over. “Okay, so we’re going to leave three of us behind? They can’t carry two riders.”
“No, but I can.” Phoebe looked at the others like they were all very simple for not following her train of thought.
“I’m lost,” Jared said. Everyone else nodded in agreement.
Phoebe sighed. “I can shape shift and channel my powers through two of you.”
Lucy automatically shook her head. “That will be too hard on you. It will drain too much of your energy to do it for so long. That alone could kill you.”
“I agree with Lucy,” Ethan said. There had to be another way. That would be too taxing on her, especially after what had just happened.
Phoebe rolled her eyes. “Of course you do.” It appeared that Phoebe had temporarily forgotten about Dorian in light of this mission, and she was slowly coming back to semi-normal. “We’ll take some revitalizing elixir and rest at night. I can handle it. Besides, if we fly, we can cut our trip down to three days instead of three weeks. Plus, the smoke will hide us, maybe better than if we were on foot.”
It was very difficult to argue with that kind of logic. Even Lucy couldn’t find a sufficient argument.
Hector nodd
ed stiffly. “That’s fine, but let’s move at night and sleep during the day. Darkness won’t give us much more cover, but I’ll take anything we can get.”
Evan’s face was utterly serious. “Then we need to leave soon. We don’t have many more hours of darkness left. Where are we leaving from?”
“There’s an exit about forty miles down the tunnel. We can’t just fly out of here, or we’ll lead them right in.”
“It will take the rest of the night to go that far, and that’s if we run,” Cynthia said.
Phoebe shook her head. “I can channel through all of us for a short time. We have someone here who can run up to sixty miles an hour.”
Hector shook his head that time. “You can’t channel through me, and you’re not leaving without me.”
Phoebe shrugged. “Someone can carry you.”
“No one is carrying me.”
“Well, then, what do you suggest?”
“Can you channel through animals?” Ethan asked when Hector had failed to think of any other options.
Phoebe’s eyes sparkled as she caught the meaning in his question. “Yes.”
“Then he can ride Shade.”
Hector looked thoughtful for a moment, and then nodded.
Nice save, Lucy thought appreciatively. I can’t believe this is really happening.
There’s no way I’m going to talk you out of this, is there?
Lucy sighed. Highly doubtful.
How about if I told you it would be helpful for someone to stay here so we can keep up communication?
She frowned. We don’t need to keep up communication here.
I know. I was just hoping you might think we did.
Ethan slid his arm around her waist and pulled her close as everyone stood lost in thought for a few minutes.
“Do we have any more details we need to work out immediately?” Evan asked, breaking the silence.
“Yes,” Phoebe whispered with her back rigid and eyes closed.
Ethan thought they had already covered the basics, and she looked entirely too tense. “What?”
“I need my weapons.”