We stand in silence for a while, and then disperse. Piper walks up to me briefly. “Are you staying here?” she asks, avoiding my gaze. “In the forest, I mean.”
I nod.
I suddenly get the strange feeling again that we are being watched.
My scar tingles, and the hairs on the back of my head prick up. I look for Shane in the shadows, and our eyes meet knowingly. He looks away, and I take a cue from him and do the same.
Kyle mentions he’s supposed to be home before twelve, something about his parents flipping out. Again. “I’m taking them home. Are you coming?” Shane whispers to me. The cool, crisp night air whooshes through the leaves of the trees, ruffling them softly. The sound of crickets and cicadas surround us, and I think I hear an owl hoot in the distance.
There are almost no stars out, so the darkness is complete. The kids are wide-eyed, huddled together as if for comfort, spooked it would seem. All of them except for Piper. An expectant smile is plastered on her face.
Guess who else felt the witches presence.
She walks up to me and Shane. “You’re asking Isabella to join us tonight, right?”
“Yeah, but keep it low,”
“Awesome,” she whispers.
“I’m going to take Brandon and the rest of them home,” Shane says. “I’ll be back.”
He turns around before I can say anything and leads Brandon, Kyle, and Alesha out of the woods. Alesha holds on to Kyle’s arm. Before long, they blend into the shadows.
I sit down on the forest floor, Piper beside me. We stare up at the big, black sky. A cool night wind howls through the forest treeleaves. “Getting chilly, huh?” I say, the cut of cold through my skin making me shiver beneath my t-shirt.
“Hmm-hm.”
The wind brings the smell of her hair towards me. Strawberries. It’s such a girly smell for so steely a girl, but I like it. It feels nice. Not passionate, not intoxicating, not overwhelming… just nice. An awkward silence falls between us, so I say the first thing that comes into my mind. “Piper?”
“Yes, Daniel?”
“What did you mean when you said you have nothing to stay in Rickshaw for?”
I can feel her body tense beside me. “Sorry,” I say, “I don’t mean to pry.”
“No, it’s okay.” She sits up and hugs her knees to her chest. The corners of her mouth are pulled down. I feel bad for bringing it up. Whatever it is, can’t be good.
“I grew up in a foster home with an abusive man,” she says softly. “I’ve had to defend myself from him since I was little. He’s never done me any real hurt, and he’s settled down somewhat now that he’s older.”
Her eyes meet mine, and I hold onto them.
She lies back on the floor again, twigs and dry leaves crunching as she lowers.
“Becoming an Immortal—meeting you and Shane—it’s the best thing that’s ever happened to me.” She smiles, lighting up. She looks lovely with her pale hair sprawled around her head like a crown, her gray eyes reflecting the moonlight. “I’ve always known life is more than just numbness and pain. It’s also magic.”
Something swells in my chest for her, at the same moment the moon shines directly upon us. The branches start swaying and I hear soft footfalls coming towards us from the forest. We break eye contact and turn our heads towards the noise.
“Shane?” I say, my pulse quickening.
“Yeah?” He says, appearing from out of the branches.
I let out a breath. I stand up, turn around and see the whiteness of Isabella’s eyes before me. I take a step back involuntarily.
Piper gasps.
They’re dressed in black.
“Daniel,” Isabella says, kissing my lips. I open my mouth and let her tongue in.
“It is the Sun-Child,” Veronica sneers, “And it appears he has brought company.”
“Yes,” I say, “Like I said, I’ve come here to make a proposal to all of you.”
“Daniel, dear,” Isabella says, breaking eye contact away from me. “Aren’t you going to introduce us to your friends?”
Shane gives her a small bow. “I am Shane, an Immortal Leader.”
“Whatever you will say, we are nature witches,” Veronica interrupts, “We do not interfere in Immortal affairs.”
“But people are dying,” Piper says softly.
Isabella turns sharply toward her, “And?”
Piper waits a moment before speaking. “And you could help.”
Isabella saunters towards her. Shane subtly steps in front of Piper. “Forgive her, my lady.”
I catch Piper’s eye, but she looks down a moment later.
The leaves rustle, a nighttime whisper filling our ears. I want to speak, but seem to have gone silent. No words pass my lips.
“Daniel will be leaving with us soon,” Shane says. “We are going on a mission to kill fire eaters, the spawn of The Children of the Sun.”
Isabella’s jawlines tighten. “Will you, Daniel?” She says, her glasslike eyes piercing into me.
I clear my throat, and the words don’t seem to come out for a while. “I will.”
I feel her anger, her pain, her wrath. “You’re bound to me through flesh.” She spits.
“Isabella,” I say, my voice clear and a little sterner than before, “I’m leaving.”
“Will you come with us, my ladies?” Shane says, and I feel like his voice breaks some kind of spell.
“What? Out of the forest, how dare you…” Isabella chokes, and I see the tears come into her eyes. Then in unexpected fashion she screams and lunges for my throat.
Everything goes black.
-*-
I wake up with the soft rustle of leaves and the last rays of the setting sun filtering through the openings of the trees. I sit up, and see Isabella lying next to me, completely naked… but the contours of her body are hazy, undefined, surrounded by an eerie silver light. There’s something I need to remember, but it slips my mind like sand through fingers.
All I can focus on is her. She does look especially exquisite tonight, her skin particularly soft and smooth. I become aroused before I know it, any kind of doubt vanishing from my mind.
“I love how your eyes glow when you’re about to make love to me,” she says softly, slipping into my arms.
My eyes are glowing?
She laughs.
“Yes, my love. They are,” she says, “Do you hunger for my life?” she asks teasingly. I shake my head, a little taken aback at how lightly she says that.
“They must be an expression of desire, or something,” I say. “Who knows, really? There’s so much about my powers I can’t even begin to understand.”
I draw her close to me, but she stiffens.
“What’s wrong?”
“I thought… I thought it was more of an expression of love,” she says, wrenching herself away from my embrace.
“No, it’s physical, not emotional,” I say matter-of-factly. The eerie silver light around her grows stronger, and at the same time I feel a warm sort of energy swirling around my pelvic area, my desire for her stronger than ever.
And then I remember. “Isabella, there’s something I need to tell you—” I start to say, but she silences me by holding a long slender finger to my lips.
“Hush, my love,” She whispers. “This is how it’s meant to be.”
She kisses me, but the moment she does, all the arousal I previously felt for her leaves my body. An imminent sense of danger replaces it, and it’s me who backs away this time.
“What’s wrong?” She asks, her eyebrows srcunching up in a frown.
My stomach churns, and I try my best to not make a face, but the sense of danger is too strong. A sentence comes to my mind, and before I can stop myself, I blurt it out loud. “I don’t love you.”
There. I said it.
What. A. Fucking. Relief.
She takes a step back, as if struck. “You don’t—” Her voice cracks, and she is unable to finish her sentence. The co
ntours around her grow hazier, going out of focus. Her eyes start to water, and she stands up quickly, covering up her nakedness with her hands. I stand up too, looking away.
“All this time, you’ve been using me,” she says. Her accusation pierces me with the sting of truth.
“You used me too,” I say quietly.
“No, I haven’t.” She says, and her voice is so sure I look at her. She stares fiercely back at me. “I love you.” The tears are now running freely down her blushing cheeks.
The wind grows stronger around me, and my head is invaded by a dull ache. “Why?” I ask, confused. “You don’t even know me.”
“But I do know you.” She says, taking a step closer. The ache becomes stronger. I run a hand through my hair, breaking into a sweat.
“I can see into your heart.” She extends a hand towards me, but I do not take it. Her eyes grow black around the edges. “There’s darkness in there, more darkness than you can even begin to understand. But it’s such a loyal heart. So passionate. So strong. So unyielding.”
I clutch my chest, suddenly feeling more naked than I have ever felt with her.
“I can’t be with you, Isabella,” I say. The words make everything worse. A darkness flares up in her eyes.
I take a few steps back, alarmed.
“If I can’t have you,” She whispers quietly, “Then nobody can.”
The sun sets completely, and gusts of wind break out around us, making me lose my balance and land on my knees. Isabella shrieks at the black sky, and as she does, torrents of dark windy swirls radiate out of her mouth upwards.
The ground starts to crumble around her, imploding towards the center of the earth. I slip and slide, and turn around to face the trees. If I’m fast enough, I can make it out. Then I turn towards Isabella again, and see she will soon fall into her own destruction. I don’t think about it, I just feel the impulse within me, and go for it.
I jump towards Isabella, towards the thinning tower of earth she’s standing upon, bits and crumbs rapidly cascading towards the abyss. Landing beside her, without thinking I take her at once into my arms. “I’m sorry,” I whisper quickly, before I chicken out. “You’re beautiful, Isabella. I’m so, so sorry.”
She softens in my arms, and I hear her crying. Mist and fog come out of the darkness underneath us in masses of swirling vapor. My temples are damp with sweat. I take deep breaths but to no avail. The forest and the moon become dizzy around me from lack of oxygen. Just when I think if I don’t catch a breath I will die, I open my eyes. Above me I see two moons, one beside the other, both equally large and beautiul, and slowly fading away.
I blink my eyes and see Piper, her gray eyes staring down at me with worry.
Not a moment later I ache with the feel of fire in my lungs.
I sit up and gasp, taking large gulps of air one after another, feeling the soothing balm enter my lungs and return me to life.
“That’s it buddy,” says Shane to my right, “Easy now.”
“Be off now, everyone,” Veronica says, her smooth and low baritones infused with sharpness. “Isabella has forgiven the brat his life, though I don’t see why. Take your leave.” Beside her stands Virginia, looking sad. Isabella is nowhere to be seen.
Shane bows. “My Lady…”
Piper curtsies awkwardly.
“Happy to oblige,” I say after recovering my breath and feeling the course of blood returning to my limbs. I stand up and walk away, Shane and Piper following. Piper holds up a hand to her puckered lips, and I feel the moistness on my own.
“You gave me mouth to mouth?” I ask her, unable to see her face in the darkness.
“Isabella strangled you until you nearly died,” Shane says, “The moment she let go Piper gave you first aid. You should be thanking her.”
“Daniel!” Virginia calls. I stop and wait for her to come to me, motioning for Piper and Shaner to leave. They do, not without backwards glances. Virginia stands in front of me and gently places a dainty hand on my chest.
“There is a pregnant Sun-Child in Billings that will give birth tomorrow night.” She says, her blue eyes boring into mine.
“What?” I say, stepping away from her.
“You must go to her, Daniel,” she says desperately. “This new pack of monsters will overflow Billings.”
My thoughts instantly fly to Kismet. I look directly at Virginia.
“Yes,” Virginia says with a sad, knowing smile. “It is she who is pregnant—the woman with the red hair that you love.”
With those words, everything is changed.
PART III
“No one can tell what goes on in between the person you were and the person you become. No one can chart that blue and lonely section of hell. There are no maps of the change. You just come out the other side.
Or you don't.”
Stephen King
Billings
I run through the woods, ignoring the pain of the tree branches slashing through my skin, leaving shallow and deep cuts alike. I can’t think, I can’t breathe, I can’t see… tears cloud my vision. I wipe them off furiously and continue running.
I reach my apartment, grab my backpack, and dump my knives, my notebook, and some clothes in it. Then I run back out into the night toward the hotel Shane told me he’s staying at. I slow down as I reach the hotel door, wiping the sweat off my brow and forcing myself to steady my breathing before walking in.
The clerk says something I don’t listen to, and I avoid her eyes and just walk up the stairs. I knock on room 217 and wait, my heart pounding in my chest. Shane opens the door, his hair wet, looking like he just got out of the shower. He looks at me, alarmed.
“What happened?”
“We have to go to Billings now.”
“What are you talking about?”
I barge past him and throw my backpack on his bed.
“There’s a Sun-Child in Billings that will enter in labor tomorrow night. Virginia saw it.”
I run my hand through my hair as I pace back and forth. Shane tells me to calm down and I look at him fiercely. What am I doing here? I think to myself as I observe him steadily. I can’t trust this man, not with Kismet’s life… not even with my own.
“We leave now.” Shane says. “This is serious.”
“Tell me something I don’t know.”
He takes out his cellphone and dials a number. “Brandon?” he says into the auricular. “It’s Shane.” He tells him to get the other kids and meet him at the hotel as fast as he can.
“We have to find this woman before she gives birth. We can’t afford any more fire eaters running rampant,” he says, his voice flat and analytical as he talks strategy at the same time he starts packing his bags.
“After we’re done, we go to New York.” He murmurs, pacing up and down the room.
“Wait, what?” I say. “Why New York?”
“To the Headquarters,” he says absentmindedly.
I stop breathing. Shane just shared a vital piece of information about his tribe, and he didn’t even realize it.
“Are you packed?”
I nod my head towards my backpack, small in comparison to Shane’s suitcase filled which is filled with clothes. He raises an eyebrow, “I’m good,” I say.
Five minutes later Brandon is at the hotel door.
“Show time, right?” I say, trying to sound like my old self as we ride down the elevator. But it sounds fake and contrite even to my own ears.
He laughs. “Damn right it is!”
I want to punch him in the face for sounding so upbeat, but I have to remind myself he doesn’t know what is happening. I haven’t told him. I can’t ever tell him. Keep your cool, Daniel. All of this depends on me keeping my cool.
How the hell did Kismet get into this situation? My fists turn into balls, my muscles tensing. How the fuck did she allow this to happen? And with who, goddamn it? I know it shouldn’t matter right now, but it does. Not more than saving her life, but it still does. Is she
on the run? Is she alone, pregnant, and unprotected?
Enough, Daniel, I think to myself. Be cool, be cool, be cool.
The elevator door opens, and we walk out. Brandon is waiting for us in the lobby. We wait for Shane to check out before walking out into the chillness of the night. The rest of the kids are waiting for us beside Brandon’s van.
Alesha is leaning into Kyle’s chest, cracking her knuckles. Piper’s eyes flash down to my clenched fists. “Is something wrong?” she whispers to me.
“No.”
I avoid her gaze and relax my hands. Mind your own fucking business, Piper.
We quickly pile our backpacks and suitcases in the back of Shane’s truck. He tells Brandon to follow him, and once we’re out in the highway, Brandon quickly pulls over to the side of the road, turns off the motor, and abandons his van. Shane waits for him as he runs up to our truck and squeezes into the backseat next to Alesha, Piper and Kyle.
Kyle, Brandon, and Shane discuss fighting strategy and tactics. Alesha, Piper, and I just sit in silence.
When everybody finally shuts up, Shane turns his stereo to full volume. Heavy Metal music blasts out of the speakers, making my eardrums ring. He headbangs to the music. If I weren’t so damn stressed, I would’ve laughed at him.
“Can you put something else on?” Alesha yells over the music.
“My car, my rules. Sorry, cheer-baby,” Shane yells back.
“Ugh!” She puts her fingers into her ears and closes her eyes.
I lean into the backrest and close my eyes, letting the loud music drive out my thoughts… comfortably settling into the calm before the storm.
-*-
We get to Billings at seven in the morning, eight hours later, aware that in an hour or so, all of the kids’ parents will be freaking out. I envision the television news about four high school runaways (complete with pictures and all) from Rickshaw. Shane deliberates whether to actually book us rooms in a hotel for fear of exposure, but where else are we supposed to stay? We can’t all sleep in his truck, there’s not enough room for six grown people.
The Sun Child (The Sun Child Saga Book 1) Page 21