The Travelers: Book Two

by Tate, Sennah

  Guilt made Gemma cringe inwardly; she had so much to be thankful for, how had she allowed herself to get so wrapped up?

  Alina had this far-off dreamy look on her face as she talked about it; Gemma couldn’t imagine spending her whole life waiting for her other half only to lose the opportunity.

  “Well, I don’t really know how to explain it,” Gemma said. “You know that feeling when you wake up and you’re so comfortable under the blankets and you never want to get out of bed and then you realize you don’t have to because it’s Saturday?”

  “Uh…” Alina said.

  “Oh, or when you go to the movies in the Summer time and you walk out of the cold air conditioning and the Sun feels like the warmest most amazing thing ever?”

  Alina met Izzy’s eyes and raised her eyebrows.

  Gemma frowned, she knew she wasn’t crazy.

  “It’s like… just a soft furry hug that makes me feel safe and protected. I know when Carson’s wolf is out that he’ll stop at nothing to protect me. But he’s gentle, too.”

  Izzy snorted at Gemma’s mushy descriptions. They sounded ridiculous to her ears, but her heart sang a different tune. Deep down, Izzy knew exactly what Gemma was talking about. When she and Aaron connected there was a warmth unlike anything she’d ever felt. It was physical, mental, spiritual, and — to her surprise — incredibly sexual. Helping Aaron unlock this whole other side to himself was something intimate that only she could ever share with him. Conceivably, he wasn’t ever going to find a secret spirit familiar lurking inside of him ever again. It was a once in a lifetime kind of thing and she felt privileged to have been a part of it.

  “It sounds lovely,” Alina said, still not sure what Gemma meant.

  “It is,” Izzy spoke without realizing it, “it’s hot and cold at the same time and feels like thousands of butterflies are fluttering around me. A warm jacuzzi for my aching soul,” she muttered.

  Gemma and Alina both looked at her with blank expressions and then all three girls burst out laughing.

  “Oh man, that was so cheesy I could barely keep a straight face,” Gemma said with a giggle as she took another sip of her drink.

  “You? What about Miss ‘Saturday morning blankets’?” Izzy teased.

  Gemma’s face reddened, but Alina laughed with her and they all dissolved into giggles again.

  “Thanks, Alina, I needed that,” Gemma said with another laugh.

  Alina answered with a closed smile, “Descriptions of the transition are always absurd. It’s different for everyone, but it’s consistently unexplainable.”

  “How do you know so much about all of this?” Gemma asked.

  “My parents,” she said, “Well, my Aunt and Uncle. They were my parents though, really.”

  Gemma nodded her understanding and Izzy asked, “Was your Uncle a Traveler, then?”

  Alina nodded, “He was. There wasn’t always a frenzy,” she said.

  “Somehow, this darkness came here. It cursed the Travelers and Evokers… made them more susceptible to negative forces while making it all the more difficult to find each other. There used to be great joining parties for new couples. My Aunt… she was the historian. She passed to me the knowledge of our kind, but the darkness closed in before my training was complete. For a long time,” she paused to clear her throat, brushing at disobedient tears.

  “For a long time, Travelers fought the darkness. But more and more of them were tainted by the frenzy. It became a plague that nearly wiped them off the planet. What the frenzy missed, Preston Waters destroyed. He came to power and started picking off Travelers wherever he found them…”

  “How long has this been going on?” Gemma asked.

  “The darkness started years ago. It was slow at first, but it seems to be gaining strength exponentially.”

  Izzy found her gaze drifting back to Aaron. What would he have to say about all of this? He was more of an analyst than her. He should be the one studying the history and patterns of Waters. Izzy didn’t know the first thing about combat or magic. She could make a mean Cosmo, but how was that going to help anyone?

  Chapter Thirteen

  Black blood oozed over his gleaming white talons as Aaron swooped down and latched onto the lion’s massive shoulders. The lion howled in pain and swiped at the bird on its back.

  Only a few minutes earlier, Aaron had flown through one of the shattered upper windows of the warehouse — he was pretty sure he could fly through it regardless, but it still felt unnatural to go through walls.

  He found Carson quickly, remembering Izzy’s instructions and nudged his friend with a powerful wing.

  Carson’s blue eyes fluttered but didn’t open all of the way. He was fading quickly. Aaron saw that bits of the wolf’s tail were already completely erased. There had to be something he could do.

  “Tsk tsk tsk,” Aaron heard from behind.

  “You Travelers are all the same,” Preston continued in a sing-song voice, “You all just can’t wait to play hero,” he laughed.

  Aaron narrowed his golden eyes and launched himself into the air, out of Preston’s grasp.

  “I was certainly hoping that you’d make this fun for me!” Preston called after him.

  The beating of his wings provided the steady rhythm he needed to focus his thoughts.

  He couldn’t give in to PTSD now. There was too much on the line.

  Preston shifted and transformed into the formidable black lion Aaron remembered. This time, the tables were turned and the bastard was in his sights.

  Aaron dove.

  Preston stood on two legs and swiped at him.

  Razor sharp claws came far too close to his wings than Aaron would have liked.

  He darted down again, trying to pull Preston away from Carson.

  The lion swatted at him again, a heavy paw clipping the end of his wing.

  Aaron spiraled out of control; he scurried to right himself and managed to turn just before colliding with the corrugated wall.

  Preston roared, revealing fangs more than capable of eviscerating him.

  From his vantage point, Aaron saw his friends entering through a loading bay. He had to keep Preston distracted.

  Like a mother Robin protecting her nest, Aaron went after the lion, pecking and darting at him, luring him further and further away from his captives.

  Ty urged everyone forward with a silent hand gesture.

  Trick spotted Aaron engaged in battle with the lion and marveled at the quick movements of such large creatures.

  “Holy shit,” he said, forgetting himself.

  Dez growled and shoved Trick before shushing him.

  Trick ducked his head and pursed his lips together as Ty led them forward. They planned to remain undetected for as long as they could. Only once they were engaged would they start fighting. It wasn’t the most popular plan with the other two, but Ty had to remind them that they had no clue how many men Preston had.

  “Okay,” Ty whispered, “up these stairs and to the right, try to stay down.”

  They were going to be exposed, no matter what. All they could do was hope that Preston was too preoccupied to notice.

  The lion howled in pain, drawing their attention. Aaron's talons were buried in its shoulder. Thick tar-like blood dribbled out of the lions wounds onto the ground with a loud plop plop plop.

  The commotion drew out some of Preston's more curious henchmen. Three shadow-man hybrids emerged from a back room and took in the scene before them.

  Ty was the closest.

  A gelatinous-looking man turned on him. His eyes bulged from his round head and his many chins gave him the appearance of having no neck. The fat man closed his meaty hands into fists as big as Ty's head and charged him.

  Ty ducked, letting out a startled squeak of surprise.

  The fat man never lost momentum -- he collided with the railing and bounced back.

  No. He didn't bounce back. His body impacted the railing with a gurgle and when he snapped bac
k, his face came through the back of his head.

  The fat man windmilled his arms and turned his legs with a wet slopping sound and just like that his back became his front.

  Ty looked the man up and down, the color draining from his face rapidly.

  The fat man's skin bubbled and moved -- giant black boils popped as they reached the surface, a nasty dark gas emanated from the boils.

  "Uh... you are seriously gross," Ty said to the man, whipping out his blade.

  The lion's paw swiped at Aaron again and he took off flying. His wing was bent from one impact and he found it difficult to maintain his altitude.

  Still, he limped higher and higher, intent on going for the beasts eyes.

  He flattened his wings against his body and fell through the sky like a missile.

  Preston's powerful hind legs propelled him into the air.

  Aaron realized too late that he miscalculated.

  Trick drew the attention of the fat man's friend -- Ugly Bob. Ugly Bob had gotten his nickname long before the shadows warped and distorted his features. Now, his arms hung almost to the ground, stretched like bubble gum, and his mouth seemed four times too big for his head. On top of that, he had more teeth than a great white in that giant mouth of his, each one filed to a needle-sharp point.

  "He's not kidding, you guys are revolting," Trick added, trying to keep his lunch down at the sight of Ugly Bob's right ear melting from his head.

  He gagged, thinking that it was really unfair that Aaron got to fight the cool lion and he was stuck with Ugly Bob.

  Dez didn't care who he was pitted against. He just wanted to get in, bust some skulls and GTFO. He was so ready for the fight that when he saw his opponent he was completely caught off-guard.

  A man no taller than his knees faced Desmond.

  He had to laugh. This was really how they wanted to divvy up the fight?

  The fat man glorped at Ty.

  Ty swung his dagger at the man, the very tip slicing through his gelatinous exterior. More boils bubbled to the surface, simmering in earnest at the injury.

  Ugly Bob swung one fist at Trick while his other ridiculously long arm snaked around him. Trick couldn't get close enough to the guy to hurt him. His arms were nearly five feet long and acted pretty well as a barrier.

  The little man spun like a top, blades whirring like a lawn mower. Dez took a step back, suddenly rethinking his laughter.

  Long whip-like tentacles shot from the little man's wrists and wrapped around Dez's forearms.

  Dez dug his heels into the ground but the tentacles pulled him closer and closer to the little man's spinning knives.

  Trick slashed at Ugly Bob's rubber arms to no avail. Each time he thrust his blade out, Bob managed to pull away. Meanwhile, he grabbed Trick by the ankles and lifted him high into the air, dangling him above his massive jaws and rows upon rows of deadly teeth. Trick's knife slipped from his grasp and clattered against Ugly Bob's teeth. Bob crunched the dagger as if it were his favorite breakfast treat and swallowed the pieces before turning his attention back to Trick.

  Ty swiped at the fat man again, his arm flailing wildly into the space he dare not look at. The tip of his dagger sliced through the fat man's enormous belly and he hissed and squealed as he tried to retreat.

  Ty turned to help Trick and Dez, both of whom seemed in dire straits.

  "Go get Carson!" Trick urged with no regards to the thousands of teeth ready to tear him to shreds.

  Ty hesitated.

  The ear-piercing shriek that came from the fat man made it impossible to think.

  He glanced back at his friends.

  “Go!” They shouted in unison.

  With one last quick look back at them, Ty darted off to free Carson.

  Fat man glorped and sloshed his way to his compatriots. One of little man’s tentacles joined him where his skin oozed and bubbled the most. Ugly Bob contributed one of his stretchy arms to the cause and like a Transformer straight out of Hell, fat man slurped them all into him until they formed one giant ugly beast.

  The last thing Aaron saw was a mass of long sharp claws coming for his face. By the time he opened his wings to avoid it, it was too late.

  Ty found Carson just where Isabel said he would be. He was completely translucent now and fading more with every second.

  “Don’t worry buddy, I’m going to get you out of here,” Ty said.

  A cursory look at the lock told him that it was a newer electrical model — one that Ty had never seen before. Of course, leave it up to Preston-fucking-Waters to have the latest and greatest in technology.

  He set to work hacking the lock to the best of his abilities; sweat beaded on his forehead and trickled into his eyes. The thundering of his heart beat was rivaled only by the sounds of the battle raging behind him. Carson faded still, the heavy shackles sucked the life right out of him.

  The lion let out a triumphant roar and Ty looked back just in time to see Aaron falling to the ground twenty feet below them.

  “Shit shit shit,” he muttered, his hands shaking too much to type. This wasn’t his area — he didn’t get into fights with monsters and see his friends get slaughtered. He was a nerd. He sat behind a desk all day and avoided people whenever possible.

  The monster that faced Trick and Dez now was an abomination; a mass a flailing limbs and sharp teeth, the creature seemed to be at war with itself.

  Dez took the opportunity to free himself of the searing hot tentacles that wrapped around him. He tossed his knife expertly into the air and the point came down and sliced through the tentacle; he caught the knife and freed his other arm as the little man’s extra appendages shrank and withdrew into the writhing mass of shadows.

  Trick wasn’t so lucky.

  Ugly Bob’s huge mouth split into a grin as he lowered Trick towards the gaping maw. A long forked tongue slithered out from behind his thousands of teeth and slid along Trick’s cheek, leaving a trail of acidic saliva in its wake.

  “Ugh! Ew, god damnit,” Trick cried while he tried to wriggle free of Bob’s grasp.

  “Just eat me already, you fucker!” He taunted.

  Bob’s grin changed — the corners of his mouth flattened and he looked down at his chest in confusion.

  Dez lunged at the amalgamation of bad guys and thrust his dagger into the creature’s back.

  Ugly Bob’s mouth let out another deflating shriek like fat man’s. Light poured from the wound and began to burst through the bubbling black surface.

  “What’s the matter?” Trick asked, “Eat something that didn’t agree with you?”

  The remnants of Trick’s knife shuddered and rebelled against their confines. The shards exploded from the creature, a blinding light filled the warehouse like an atom bomb before fading away leaving only a puddle of sticky goop where the three henchmen had been.

  Trick landed in the puddle with a wet slorp and struggled to pull himself upright.

  “Ugh… no amount of showers are going to get rid of this feeling,” he complained, sloughing off handfuls of the stuff.

  Dez just shook his head and hauled Trick to his feet.

  “Hostages,” he reminded.

  Aaron lay on the cold concrete floor of the warehouse — dizzy, disoriented and in a world of pain. He tried to pick himself up, but lightning bolts shot through his wings and made him wince. His head swiveled in an attempt to see what was happening with the rest of the fight. Preston was… where was Preston?

  It was his job to draw fire. He couldn’t let his friends down now.

  Aaron picked himself up gingerly; he’d fought through worst conditions. Okay, so maybe not, but he could make it. He thought about Izzy and his promise that everything would be okay. He couldn’t let her down.

  The lock clicked open and Ty breathed a sigh of relief. He frantically pushed the chains off of Carson and only then wondered how they were going to physically remove the wolf.

  Hot moist air moved the hairs on the back of Ty’s neck. He froz
e.

  Not wanting to make any sudden movements, Ty slowly turned his head until he saw it: the lion, only feet away from him, ready to pounce.

  His eyes darted back to Carson who, in the absence of his shackles, was regaining some of his trademark glow.

  Preston roared and lunged at Ty.

  Izzy. Izzy. I’m doing this for Izzy, Aaron reminded himself with every painful beat of his wings. He and the owl were united on that front; neither of them would risk her safety.

  He saw the hulking form of the lion tackle Ty. Was he too late?

  Preston lifted a massive paw for the kill shot.

  Aaron mustered up every bit of strength he had and dove at the lion. He pulled up just in time to sink one of his sharp talons into the lion’s eye. Preston howled in pain and staggered back as tar-like blood poured out of his mangled eye socket.

  Ty scrambled to his feet and pulled Carson along with him; a sharp pain in his chest told him that the lion likely cracked a rib or two, but he silently thanked Aaron for saving him.

  Carson teetered on his weakened legs, but he knew there was no time to try to regain strength. He had to get out before Preston turned on him again.

  Aaron’s assault on Preston was relentless. He clawed and pecked at every bit of Preston that he could get to until he had the lion backed into a corner. He flew out of reach then, taunting Preston to distract him from the escaping hostages.

  Dez and Trick freed the women and in the process drew the attention of a few more henchmen.

  “Go!” Dez grunted, remembering that Trick was unarmed. “I’ll hold them off.”

  Trick gave his pal a hearty clap on the shoulder before helping the last of the hostages find their way out of the dilapidated warehouse.

  Once the building was clear of civilians, Dez started his own retreat. His feet carried him backwards as he kept up his defensive attacks; he stumbled to the ground — painful electric shocks shot up his spine and for a moment his legs wouldn’t respond to him.

  “Not now,” he grumbled, punching his muscular thighs to wake them.

  One of the henchmen jumped at him and he managed to roll to the side, his knife slicing through the man’s abdomen as he did.