Winter Falls

by Nicole Maggi

Silence rang over us, save for the wind that rattled outside the door and my gasping, sobbing breath.

  His last words replayed in my head. “What do you mean, they saved your life?”

  Jonah looked down at his feet. “In Fairfield. They saved me from going to prison. For what I did to Emily.”

  I breathed in deeply and let it out slowly. “Your dad’s company didn’t bail you out. The Malandanti did. Because they’re one and the same.”

  “Yes and no.” Jonah raised his head. “I can’t tell you anything more than that.”

  “They guilted you into joining them,” I said, balling my hands into fists. I wanted to hit something. “I wouldn’t be surprised if they caused the accident in the first place to get you to join.”

  “No.” His voice was like an animal snarl. “I was drunk. I caused the accident. They offered me a purpose, a way to straighten out my life.”

  “By killing innocent people.” I pressed a fist against my mouth, afraid I might vomit. In my mind’s eye, I could see the broken bridge, the cars in the water down below, the overturned bus. “And me. They tried to kill me on the bridge.” I shook my head, trying to dislodge the memory from that awful night.

  Jonah paced the length of the table in short angry strides. “My Clan went there only to prevent the Falcon from being Called.”

  “By killing me.”

  “And when they got there,” Jonah said, ignoring my interruption, “the bridge had collapsed. Our Concilio Argento told us the Benandanti had done it.”

  “What?” I sprang forward. Every muscle in my body shook. “We did not. The Malandanti caused the collapse—for the sole purpose of killing me.”

  “Well, of course your Clan would tell you that.”

  “They didn’t need to. I was there—I saw it happen.”

  “The Benandanti showed you what they wanted you to see,” Jonah snapped. “They wouldn’t want you to think you were working for the wrong side.”

  “How can you be so blind?” I yelled. “Wake up. You’re being manipulated.”

  Jonah rounded on me, nostrils flared and lips white. “No. I am not an idiot. I can make decisions for myself.”

  In his face I saw all the years that he hadn’t been allowed to decide for himself. No wonder Bree had called him ripe for the picking. “What does your Concilio say about us? How can they possibly justify themselves?”

  “They don’t have to.” Jonah stopped, his eyes sharp like crystal shards. “You want to hoard all the magic for yourselves.”

  “We do not.” My voice filled the small space. “Every time the magic is used, the planet gets a little weaker. We want to prevent that from happening.”

  “Oh, that’s bullshit.” Jonah waved his hand. “That’s the lie the Benandanti come up with to explain their actions. You’ll see—pretty soon your Clan mates will be using the magic at the Waterfall, and that excuse about the planet will disappear.”

  “That’s not going to happen,” I said. Everything inside me was on fire, raging out of control. “We are only protecting the magic. It’s the Malandanti who want to abuse it.”

  “And who told you that?” He cocked his head. “Your Concilio, right? The same Concilio that told you we were responsible for the bridge collapse?”

  I met his eyes. “Just as yours told you that we were.” I tried to clear the remnants of thoughts that swarmed my brain. “I should have seen it. The clues were all there.”

  Jonah pressed the heel of his hand into his forehead. “Snooping around my dad’s office. Why didn’t I see it, either?”

  “Because we didn’t want to,” I whispered. Tears spilled down my cheeks. How was it that I was still alive? In the last hour I should have died a hundred times. I tripped over to the chair and fell into it. I couldn’t look at him anymore. He was my mortal enemy. But still . . . I loved him. “What are we supposed to do now?” My voice broke in pieces at the same time my heart did, like the jar I had broken in the basement so many weeks ago, the day I had first learned the word Benandanti.

  “Are we just supposed to sit next to each other in French class and pretend we don’t know anything?” Jonah’s breath hitched every time he inhaled. “I can’t do that.”

  He reached for me and I let him. One hand buried in my hair, the other against the small of my back. I clung to him too, wanting time to stop and never move us forward. His head bent toward mine. Our lips devoured each other as though they knew it was the last time. His arms were the only things holding me together, and I knew the instant I left them I would fall apart.

  With a gasp, Jonah pulled back.

  “No,” I moaned, my fingers grappling to pull him back to me. The pain in my heart was worse than any transformation. “Don’t leave. Not yet . . .”

  “I have to.” His words were choked. He moved toward the door, leaving me cold and alone. “You need to let me out.”

  I need to let you go, I thought before I realized he meant that the door was locked and I had the key. Swallowing hard, I held the key out to him, my hand shaking. When he didn’t take it, I looked up.

  Jonah’s eyes were wide, his hand pressed over his heart. “You need to let me out right now,” he gasped.

  He was being Called.

  Chapter Twenty-eight

  The Map

  I fumbled with the lock while Jonah panted behind me. The instant I swung the door open, he took off running across the pasture. A minute later there was a flash of silver at the edge of the woods. He had shifted.

  The night air numbed my face. If Jonah had been Called, he had to be headed for the Waterfall. Heath and the Stag were on patrol. I had to warn them. I backed into the Cave and pulled myself in two, leaving my body on the floor as I soared into the darkness.

  The Panther is coming, I told Heath. I’m on my way.

  How do you know? he asked.

  I ignored him. I couldn’t answer that question without giving up Jonah’s identity, and I wasn’t sure what to do about that yet. I winged with all my strength toward the Waterfall, keeping an eye on the ground below for Jonah’s aura. Just before the birch trees, I saw it.

  The treetops shivered in my wake as I descended. I heard the water before I saw it, gathering speed as I left the treetops shivering in my wake. As Jonah burst out of the trees, another ball of silver light joined him: the Bobcat. I pitched forward and streaked the Bobcat across the back with my talon. It screamed and twisted upward to get at me, but I was too fast for its paws. Where’s the Stag?

  He’s running late.

  He picked the wrong night for that.

  The Bobcat leapt into the air and smashed its enormous body against mine. We both tumbled to the earth, but it was faster on its feet than I was. It rushed at me, and I tried to scramble backward, but my wings felt stuck and heavy. The Bobcat opened its mouth in a huge roar, its long sharp teeth dripping with saliva, and still my wings would not work . . .

  A loud crack forced our attention away from each other. Jonah had collided with the barrier. He yelped, limping backward.

  My wings found flight again, and I burst upward. The Bobcat followed, swiping at me as it jumped from rock to rock. Just inside the barrier, I saw Heath creeping toward its edge. Do not come outside. I got this.

  At the top of the Waterfall I hovered high in the air, facing the two Malandanti. The Bobcat snarled and lunged for me, but Jonah hung back. I dodged out of the Bobcat’s reach. This was it. Would Jonah do his duty and attack me? My heart beat as wildly as my wings. It thudded inside my feathery breast, pounding like hoofbeats on the earth . . .

  I blinked. Those were hooves, beating into the ground as the Stag galloped toward us. The Bobcat snarled and slunk low as though to pounce, but the Stag sprang into the air, light as a cloud, and socked the Bobcat a blow to its cheek with his back hoof. The Bobcat stumbled away into the trees, its painful yowls echoing back to us as it disappeared into the forest.

  The Stag rounded on Jonah, who took two tentative steps backward. His eyes lit on
me. The Stag gathered his back legs as though to jump, but I swooped over his head, screeching as I stretched my talons toward Jonah. I squeezed my eyes shut before I reached him, hoping he understood what I was doing.

  My talons met air, and my eyes flew open. He was gone; there was a speck of silver light in between the trees before all was darkness again. I shook with relief and landed on a nearby branch. Nice timing, I said to the Stag.

  Sorry about that, he said.

  We’re going to be under constant attack from now on, aren’t we? Heath said.

  Yes. The Stag picked over the rocks and through the barrier, coming to rest on the shore beside the water. We cannot let our guard down for an instant.

  Even though there was no way he could know, that seemed to be directed at me. I launched off the branch. Do you need me to stay?

  No, the Stag answered. We’ll Call you if they come back. Besides, I need to talk to the Wolf.

  The wind was cold against my feathers as I flew to the Cave. I transformed and lay on my back, looking at the curved ceiling for several minutes before sitting up.

  I turned off the lights and locked the door behind me. But I didn’t go back to the house. Instead, I ran across the pasture and searched the edge of the forest until I found Jonah, lying still beneath the low-lying branches of a pine tree.

  I knelt beside his body. Seeing someone else’s body without his soul was completely different than seeing my own. I knew I couldn’t touch him, but I rested my hand within an inch of his fingers. “Why?” I whispered. “Why did you choose them?”

  The hard snow crunched behind me. I whirled to my feet.

  The White Wolf stood a few feet away, taking in the scene. To anyone else, it would look like Jonah was dead, but Heath knew better. He growled and leapt past me, jerking his head in a clear indication that I should follow him.

  With one last glance at Jonah, I obeyed.

  We rounded the hillside to Heath’s little cabin, where the door was slightly ajar. Heath nosed it open, and in a softly dazzling glow of blue light, he shifted back into his body and sat on the quilt-covered twin bed in the corner.

  I closed the door behind me, my eyes adjusting to the soft lamplight that flooded the single room. The last time I had been in the cabin was to clean it just before Heath had taken residence. Now I saw that he had made it cozy and comfortable. Plush throw pillows littered the futon that served as a couch, and a sprig of dogwoods bloomed from a vase on the table. The shelf above the sink in the kitchenette was cluttered with spices, and the walls were covered with thumbtacked pictures. Several of them showed a beautiful young woman with dark curly hair. I pointed to one in which she was laughing, her face in profile. “Who is she?”

  “Never mind.” Heath got to his feet. “Jonah—he’s the Panther.”

  I didn’t answer, just stared at the floor. The wooden slats were unevenly laid.

  “Isn’t he?”

  It was hard to deny. I nodded without looking at him, my hair falling across my face.

  “How long have you known?” Heath asked, his voice hard as thick ice.

  I snapped my head up. “I just found out. Right before the fight. I thought it was Bree,” I whispered. I swallowed hard and told him what had happened at the party and afterward in the Cave.

  He listened without expression until I stopped talking. Then he blew out a hard breath. “We need to tell the rest of the Clan.”

  “No.”

  “Are you kidding me? What makes you think he isn’t telling his Clan right now who you are? Jonah is your enemy.”

  “He can’t be my enemy,” I said, my voice low and even, “if I’m no longer a Benandante.”

  Heath froze, his blue eyes dark. “What do you mean?”

  “I want out.” I touched a burl in the wooden table. “We recaptured the Waterfall. Mission accomplished. I’ll stay until you find my replacement, but then I’m done. I want my life back.”

  “Did you not hear what the Stag said? We are under constant attack. And you want out?” Heath ran his hand through his hair and down the back of his neck. “Sit down.” He pulled a picture down from the wall and sat at the small table in the center of the cabin.

  I slid into the chair opposite him.

  He laid the picture out on the table, smoothing it flat with his palm. It was a hand-drawn map, like the one of Middle-earth at the beginning of The Lord of the Rings.

  “What is that?”

  “This shows all seven magical sites around the world,” Heath said. He pointed to a little sketch of a Waterfall in the corner of the map. It was circled in blue marker. “This is Twin Willows.”

  I peered closely at the map. In the center was a drawing of a tree. I watched as Heath drew a large X across the tree. The black lines somehow looked vicious. “What are you doing?”

  “When you first joined the Benandanti,” Heath said, “we controlled two sites. The Redwood site in California . . .”

  “Which fell to the Malandanti.”

  “Yes. Then we regained control of the Waterfall, and we had two again.” He pointed to a tree beneath the X. “The Olive Grove in Friuli, Italy.”

  “The birthplace of the Benandanti,” I murmured, thinking back to that website.

  “And the seat of the Concilio Celeste,” Heath said. “It’s the beating heart of the Benandanti. Ground zero for this war.” He stroked the tree almost reverently. “Last night that site fell to the Malandanti.”

  I gasped, my hand curling into a claw on the table. “What—how?”

  “We don’t have the details. That was what the Stag wanted to talk to me about.”

  “Why didn’t he Call a Clan meeting?”

  “He was going to.” Heath clutched at the amulet around his neck that held his caul. “I told him I wanted to tell you personally before he did that.”

  I splayed my hand across the map. “Why?”

  Heath leaned toward me. “Because I could sense you wavering. Ever since Jonah broke up with you.”

  How had it been so obvious to Heath when I barely acknowledged it myself? I kept my gaze on the map. “Is the Concilio Celeste—are they dead?”

  Heath shook his head. “They are all alive but they’ve fled Friuli. They have scattered to each of the sites.”

  The lines and circles on the map swam in my vision. “So the Waterfall is the only site we control now.”

  Heath nodded. “And if we lose it and the Malandanti control everything, there is no doubt in my mind that they would use all that power to destroy us.” He clasped his hands and brought them to his mouth. His eyes swam with jumbled emotions as he looked at me. “So you see, you can’t leave. Not now.”

  I pushed away from the table and backed up until I felt the wall behind me. My legs felt watery. I slid down until I hit the floor. I was trapped here in Twin Willows forever, fighting against an enemy that I loved with all my heart . . .

  Heath got to his feet and came around the other side of the table, crouched down to me. “But if we maintain control of the Waterfall and help the other Clans recapture the other six sites, maybe then you can have an out.”

  “That could take forever.” The idea of defeating the Malandanti all over the world seemed impossible, like trying to keep a snowflake from melting. “I could die before that happens.”

  “You could,” Heath agreed.

  I glared at him through tears that formed on my eyelashes.

  He tucked an errant strand of hair behind my ear. I tossed my head away from him, but he rested his finger on my jaw. “Or you could commit yourself so fully to the mission that we succeed sooner rather than later.”

  I turned my head. My vision blurred, softening the edges around everything in the room. Instead of the table and chairs and bed, I saw in front of me everything I had sacrificed for the Benandanti. My schoolwork. My friendships. My family’s safety. I swallowed hard. Jonah. “It isn’t fair. I’m only sixteen.”

  Heath let out a rough exhale. “You think you’re the on
ly one who’s given up their world for the Benandanti?” His gaze traveled to the picture of the dark-haired woman on the wall above me. “That’s what I had to give up. Everyone has to make sacrifices.”

  It isn’t fair that anyone has to sacrifice anything, I thought, but I didn’t say it out loud. I swiped away tears that spilled onto my cheeks. “So what do we do?”

  Heath grasped my shoulders and stood, pulling me up with him. “We fight the good fight. It’s the only thing we can do.”

  I pressed the base of my palms into my hot eyeballs. Starbursts bloomed and shrank on the inside of my eyelids. I dropped my hands and took a deep breath. “Okay. Okay. Whenever the Benandanti Call, I’ll be there.” I pushed away from him and moved toward the table.

  “He protected you.”

  Heath’s voice stopped me, made me turn. “What?”

  “During the fight just now. Jonah protected you.”

  I crossed to him. “How?”

  “He threw himself into the barrier to distract the Bobcat.”

  I studied the gnarled wooden table, blinking hard to keep the new tears from rising to the surface.

  “Every battle is going to be harder for you from now on,” Heath said. I looked up at him. His eyes had softened. “You have to maintain focus on your own Clan, or it might cost you your life.”

  We stared at each other, both of us breathing hard. “Are you—?”

  Heath held up his hand. “I won’t say anything. For now. But if we find out that he’s told his Clan about you or he distracts you in any way, there will be consequences.”

  “Thanks, Heath.” I walked out of the cabin and closed the door. Light spilled through the cabin windows, making golden pools of warmth on the cold ground. I shivered and turned away into the dark night. Somewhere in the distance, an owl hooted.

  Everything I had learned in the last few hours was jumbled inside me, swirling like snow in a thick blizzard. I walked slowly to the Cave. So many things were uncertain, and I couldn’t see anything clearly. But out of it all, I knew one thing for sure. Jonah was wrong. I believed that he thought the Malandanti were right and that he himself wasn’t evil, but I knew, deep in my soul, that the Benandanti were the light and the Malandanti were the dark.