by Jaymin Eve
Or it could have been Laous. What if he’d somehow figured out a way to take people from all four houses and turn them to his cause? That way he could access all four lands easily without having to go there himself. Just as I had that thought, a series of clicks and cracks rang through the air. Chase cursed and threw himself protectively over Emma and me as a blast shattered the air around us.
15
Chase was a big guy. He knocked us down so fast that I didn’t get a chance to even throw an arm out to take some of the impact. My head slammed into the ground. My ears rang, and I couldn’t focus my eyes – they watered every time I tried. Whatever they’d hit us with continued on for many minutes, ringing and shaking the ground.
Once it stopped, it took me at least fifty rapid blinks to be able to see, only to realize there was a shoulder in front of me. I tried to shift the Daelighter off me, but he was immovable.
“What’s going on?” I screamed, my ears still not recovered.
Chase’s mouth was opening and closing, but I couldn’t get much of what he said. I did manage to lip read the word “attack.” He repeated it at least three times.
“Laous?” I guessed.
He pulled his focus from me to look around and I checked on Emma. Her eyes were closed and my heart immediately stopped beating. Jiggling my arm until I managed to get it free, I reached out and shook her shoulder. “Emma,” I shouted. “Em!”
No movement or sign of consciousness. I was at an awkward angle to feel for a pulse, but I managed to contort myself into some stupid pose to reach her neck, and almost cried when there was a fluttering under my fingertips. She was alive, that was the most important thing. Hopefully she’d just been knocked unconscious in the blast. I still didn’t know what sort of bomb or attack it had even been. There had been a loud bang, shaking ground, and a burst of energy, but no heat or fire.
“We need to move,” Chase said. He was on his feet in a heartbeat; I was yanked up in the same instant. Emma was still completely out. Gently, he lifted her into his arms, cradling her body with great care.
Marsil and Star joined us. They had been thrown a few feet away, but both seemed to be okay. “What happened to Emma?” Star asked, her voice high and reedy. My hearing was finally coming back online.
“I think she must have been knocked out when that blast hit,” I said. “Her pulse felt fine to me, but I’m not a doctor.”
Star didn’t look relieved. If anything, her expression grew more strained. “We need to get her to a healer, immediately. Nothing can happen to her.”
Chase handed her to the slender woman. “Take her. Take her and go immediately to Darken. And trust no one. We were betrayed here.”
Star took Emma’s weight like it was nothing, hugging her close before immediately sprinting toward the transporter.
“You should go with her,” Chase told me. “That blast was meant to disorientate and injure us but not kill. There’s a reason they’re trying to keep us in one piece, and I think that reason might be you and Emma.”
I agreed with that, but before I could follow Star, Daelighters were suddenly everywhere on the platform, climbing over the edge of the three lands that surrounded us and appearing through the transporter. Star, who was right at the ball of light now, managed to snag a glowing strand before anyone could touch her. But Chase, Marsil, and I were too far away to use the same escape.
“They’re coming in from all territories,” Marsil said, his voice a low grumble of anger.
“Who are they?” I asked.
“We’re part of the resistance,” a man standing in front of House of Darken answered.
He had the Darken “dark” hair going on. “Laous will free us from the control of humans. We’re the superior beings and will not bow down to grubbers.”
There was a beat of silence. Was he waiting for me to applaud or something? Considering I was mostly “grubber,” that was not likely to happen anytime soon.
“What do you want?” Chase looked very unhappy. His eyes locked on the section of the platform which held about half a dozen of his people. The Leights were all male, wearing tan color leather pants, and no shirts. Their ages ranged from very young – maybe twelve – to a few who looked older than us.
“We need to collect the two secret keepers,” another one of the resistance members said. “Laous wants them kept safe. They may be important for the final step in freeing the starslight from the Earth.”
There was no one here this time for them to threaten and gain my compliance. I trusted that Marsil and Chase could look after themselves. So this time I was going to fight, even if it meant I died here today.
“Come quietly with us and no one will get hurt.” Royale this time, the blond group standing close by, their skin still wet. The women wore bikinis and the men boxer briefs, all made from a wetsuit sort of material. Flashes of scales appeared and disappeared in irregular intervals across their bodies, and I would have been much more intrigued by this “almost mermaid” thing, except they were trying to kid-freaking-nap me again.
“Is it still called kidnap when I’m an adult?” I fumed, the random question snapping out.
Chase flashed me an amused grin. “Adult-nap?”
I shrugged, narrowing my eyes on some of the resistance closest to me. “That’s more like an afternoon nap.”
Marsil chimed in: “Maybe abduct?”
I nodded a few times, like I was seriously considering it. “Abduct would work, especially since you’re aliens. Yes … I feel like that’s the correct wording.”
Our glib conversation died off as the three of us fell in back to back, so we could see the threats coming.
“You need to shut the hell up, grubber,” an Imperial told me, creeping closer with other Daelighters at his side. “We warned Daniel not to mess with your kind. He didn’t listen.”
He sneered at me, and I recognized him then. It was the guy from the hallway at school, the one who’d fought with Daniel.
“He’s going to kill you,” I said sweetly, smiling as broadly as I could. “I hope you’ve said all your goodbyes.”
I got another sneer. “Some of us are willing to die for our cause.”
I chuckled, sucking in a deep breath and willing the energy inside of me to rise again. “Yes,” I agreed. “Some of us are.”
I leapt forward, flames rising across my body in an instant, waves of heat visible in the air around me. I smashed into the group of Imperials, who had been only a few feet away, preparing to snatch me up.
I knew my power wouldn’t do that much to them; they all had this same power from their land. Hopefully mine was stronger because of Daniel. I just needed to buy us enough time that we’d have a chance to run for it, back to the land of Leights.
Screams echoed, and I also heard skin sizzling. I rolled off fast, not wanting to inflict too much damage. It took me longer than it should have to focus on the scene, on the bodies … which were now nothing more than ash. No, oh my God, no. A scream ripped from me in one long sound, my chest heaving in and out.
My flames disappeared as I wrapped my arms around myself, pulling the energy back inside. “I killed them,” I whimpered over and over. I couldn’t seem to take my eyes from the scene. The piles of ash that reminded me of old-school vampire television shows, like I’d staked them all in the chest.
“Callie, we need to get to the trees. Can you make it?”
I jumped as Chase put a hand on my shoulder. “Don’t touch me,” I shrieked, eyes still locked on the ash.
The Leights overlord followed my line of sight, and before I could jump away again he wrapped an arm around me and hauled me closer. “You did what you had to, to protect yourself,” he said firmly. “They were going to steal you away. This is not your fault.”
“What if I hurt you?” I said, breath heaving in and out. “I didn’t realize it would do that – just completely ash them.”
He shook his head. “You won’t hurt me, I’ve been with you for hours and you
have not lost control once. Did you call up this power?” I nodded, and he shrugged. “See, you already have great control. You’ll have gotten that from Daniel. He has better control than almost anyone. The only time I’ve ever seen him lose it, in the last many years, is when they took you from the school.”
The truth of what he was saying penetrated. Yes, I was now a deadly weapon, but a weapon did not kill on its own. I would just have to work extra hard to always control myself. To always keep the people I cared about safe.
“Can you move now?” he asked me, and I nodded, able to step back from him and stand straight. My breathing and heartrate slowly returned to normal, but I still couldn’t look at the piles of ash. Chase nudged me forward, toward the other side of the platform.
“Where is Marsil?” I asked as we turned to run toward the land of Leights. I had killed the Imperials, but there were still three other houses which should be attacking. So where were they?
I got my answer when we stepped past the bright lights of the transporter and I saw the single Daelighter going up against a large group. Marsil was fighting fiercely, sending out bursts of power that looked like lightning and wind, just managing to hold them off.
When we were a few steps away, someone hit Marsil in the side of the head and he went down. I swung my leg out and cracked that Daelighter across the face, knocking him off Marsil. Chase let out a low vibration of anger; I felt a crackle of energy, and heard … splintering wood, maybe … and when I looked at Chase again, he was gone.
In his place stood a … creature – ten feet tall, four feet wide, with roughly-textured skin that was brown and barky. Hybrid. Okay, now I knew what they meant by hybrid.
I stared and stared as his arms whipped out, turning into a long vine that cracked into nearby Daelighters, knocking them down. His legs did the same, shifting into ropey roots that tripped and tied up the resistance members.
“Leave now,” he roared, nothing like the calm warrior he had been five minutes earlier, his voice deep and sinister, echoing through my body and into the metal sheet I stood upon. It was scary. I found myself staring into his tree face, which no longer resembled anything human. It was golden brown; his eyes were the same color. A barky nose, slash of mouth, and terrifying eyes. It was singularly the coolest, and also scariest, thing I had ever seen.
Marsil joined him again. I hovered near the back, kicking out and hitting anyone who got too close. I knew I had my fire power to draw on, if needed, but I wasn’t sure I could handle more deaths on my conscience. Not unless there was absolutely no other option.
“Why would Laous send you all here?” Marsil was trying to shake answers out of a Darken member. “None of you are of overlord blood. Your energy is nothing to ours. What was the purpose?”
I caught a glimpse then of a familiar face, but before I could see if it was who I thought, the figure disappeared off the side of the platform. In my distraction, I missed the next attack, turning back in time to see one of the Royales flinging something at Marsil. The object moved faster than I could track, like a bullet. One minute it was in the blond female’s hand, the next it was in Marsil’s chest.
A scream ripped from my throat as I dived forward and caught Marsil just before he hit the ground. He was too heavy for me to hold up, but I managed to keep his head from smashing into the metal. Chase went crazy behind me, his vine-arms and root-like legs snapping back and forth in a rapid succession.
Resistance members tumbled down across the platform, and I saw more weapons appear in their hands. “Chase!” My voice was hoarse from shouting, but I tried again. “They have more weapons,” I told him, my hand on Marsil’s chest as I tried to stop the bleeding.
Just as I turned away, I saw Chase sweep out with his vines, and throw the remaining resistance members into the trees of house of Leights. The Galinta wrapped their branches around them, holding them in place.
Focusing on Marsil, I tried to figure out how to save the Daelighter bleeding to death right in front of me. My hand dropped to the long cylindrical, silver object that had pierced deep into his chest. I wrapped my fingers around the part still sticking out of him, but it felt so fragile as I tried to tug it out that I had to stop, afraid I would break it off.
“Legreto …” Marsil choked out.
I flung my head up from the object to meet his eyes. “Water? How will water help?” I asked frantically. I didn’t understand what he was saying.
A body dropped down at my side and I swung a fist without thought, cracking it into the side of his face. “Ommph,” Chase growled, knocked back onto his butt.
He rubbed his face and worked his jaw for a minute, while I profusely apologized. “I’m so sorry, I didn’t realize it was you.”
He just shook his head, already at my side again, his eyes on Marsil. There was so much more blood now, it seeped out of the wound, pooling around his body. I reached out to grasp the weapon again, but it was now no more than a small nub above his shirt. “What’s happening?” I cried, my voice breaking as more color faded from Marsil’s cheeks.
He was still conscious, but there was a glassiness to his eyes that worried me.
“Do you know how to save him?” I asked Chase, who had both hands clenched at his sides, gaze locked on the man before him. “He said ‘legreto,’” I tried again. “Help him!”
Chase shook his head. “I can’t…” He sounded devastated. “This is a weapon we have no defense against. It’s water weaponized using starslight stone. It forms a crystal, and if you don’t remove it immediately, it burrows into the chest and shatters, sending shards throughout your entire body, tearing you to pieces internally. It’s a practice that has been outlawed for hundreds of years. The knowledge of how to make this was lost. I don’t understand how...”
Emma’s necklace. That one piece of stone was giving Laous an entirely new arsenal to attack us with – the very reason I’d taken the risk to try and get it off him when he lured me from the school.
It was too late now, though. Too late for Marsil. The need to scream and cry rose in my chest. Pain was building within me, choking me. I reached forward to take Marsil’s hand. “It’s going to be okay,” I whispered to him, holding on as tight as I could.
I felt him squeeze one last time, and then his body bucked, straining as he opened his mouth and bellowed. My hand was being crushed, but I didn’t care. I held on, sending whatever comfort into him that I could. Marsil’s struggles and suffering lasted for far too long, until eventually his eyes closed, and he went limp. Blood slowly leaked from his nose and the corner of his mouth, and I cried out, my chest feeling like it had been crushed as tears tracked down my cheeks.
Chase let out a roar. Animals rose from the trees in the Leights’ land, looking like a mix of bird and fluffy bunnies. Whatever they were, they responded to his pain, and I started to cry harder, snot and tears running down my face, choking me. I didn’t care, though.
This couldn’t be happening.
He couldn’t be dead.
Needing to confirm it, I placed two fingers against his neck. The second person I’d had to feel for a pulse in the last twenty minutes. Nothing. I pressed harder, moving my hand around. Still nothing.
“Do you have a pulse like humans?” I choked out to Chase, who had finally fallen silent, his head lowered.
“Yes…” His tone was flat. “We are compatible with your species. We don’t have the exact same internal structure, but it is similar.”
The slightest vibration of fury shook in those last words.
“Can you get a message to Daniel and the others?” I asked, not ready to give up yet.
Chase’s chest heaved as he stood, lifting his face, which was back to its normal model-beauty. He stared out toward the glowing light ball. “As soon as I realized this was an ambush, I sent word. But they’re on Earth and have to get to a transporter. I expect they will be back any moment.”
A moment too late, were his unspoken words. I knew we were both thinking it. Ma
rsil might not have been as close to Daniel and Chase as Lexen was, but he was still someone they obviously knew and respected. He was the brother of their best friend, and they would grieve for Lexen.
My eyes settled on what was left of the resistance. I hadn’t realized that Chase had killed a few; their bodies lay sprawled in tangled limbs and pools of blood, close to where the others were still secured to the trees. Fire rose in my blood and veins; I only just managed to stop myself from blasting out and incinerating the entire lot.
“We need to interrogate them,” Chase said, steel in his voice. “Learn everything we can about Laous, his plan, and who else is in this resistance. We have traitors in our houses, and if we don’t ferret them out soon, Marsil’s will not be the only death.”
His message was clear: Don’t burn them yet.
I dropped back to my knees and picked up Marsil’s hand. I wanted him to know he was not alone, that we were here with him. I had never been religious, but I was spiritual. I believed in fate. I believed there was more to this life than what we could see. So even if his heart was no longer beating, his spirit might still be around. And I would be with him. I would not leave him alone.
Closing my eyes, I held on, ignoring every ache and pain in my body. This moment was about a man who had protected me, who had held all of the Daelighters back when I had my little breakdown. He was a true hero, and I would honor him as such.
16
The next thing I registered was my name being called by a voice that had my heart twisting and stomach turning. Through my grief, there was a spark of hope, a spark of life again. Sitting with Marsil, my eyes closed as I held his limp hand, I had been in darkness. Not the same as when I was stuck in that tank of goo, but another sort, a sorrow and depression that pressed into my chest and sucked everything good from the world. I couldn’t feel hope, I couldn’t feel happiness.
If today had taught me anything, it was that true darkness was not the absence of light. It was the absence of hope. Hope that things could get better one day. Hope that the light would return.