The Ending Series: The Complete Series

by Lindsey Fairleigh

  Grayson nodded. “It’s the best way I see to keep our people safe.” He glanced at the twins. “The only way.”

  Larissa, Camille, Vanessa, and Peter nodded. Only Sam and Annie abstained.

  “Guys? Any objections?” I focused on Annie and Sam, the youngest two members of our impromptu council, sitting side by side, eyes opened wide and unblinking.

  Finally, Sam nodded, too. “You should go. I’ll listen, and if they get too close to us…” He held up his bow and looked to the guns lying on the tabletop.

  “We’ll hold them off for as long as we can,” Peter added, meeting Sam’s gaze with a reassuring nod. “We’ll do whatever it takes.”

  I halted my pacing and smiled at them, touched by how immersed they’d become in protecting our family.

  A moment later, Annie slid off her chair and padded over to me. “I’ll go with you.” She looked up at me with her big blue eyes. “Mama.”

  My heart all but convulsed. “No, honey.” I dropped to my knees and shook my head emphatically. “You’ll be safer in the cottage. You have to stay here. I can communicate with the animals on my own. It’ll be safer this way.”

  Scowling, Annie shook her head. “No it won’t!”

  “Annie—”

  She stomped one furry booted foot. “Snowflake and the others are on their way, and they want me to help them know who to fight.”

  “They—what?” It was the first I’d heard of the Tahoe pack planning on joining the fight, and although their potential presence was a big plus, I highly doubted they’d arrive in time to be of any real help.

  Annie nodded, her eyes serious. “Snowflake sent a bunch of the wolves ahead days ago.”

  “Oh my God,” I whispered. Wolves were stealthy. They were incredibly fast and lethal. Having them as soldiers on our side could be invaluable. And I knew, without a doubt, that having Annie speak with them would be far more effective than me, because she’d lived with them for months—she shared a connection with these wolves akin to my connection with Jack and Wings. “I—”

  I looked at the others seated at the table, my eyes tearing up. How could I bring Annie out there? Here, she was safe, protected, hidden. Out there, she would be in danger…exposed. But even with all of the foxes and coyotes and birds and other animals I’d managed to call in, the Tahoe wolves might very well make all the difference. For all of us.

  Distant gunfire shattered our collective indecision, and my heart rate hop-skipped to double time. Jason, I thought. Zo…

  “I’ll come with you,” Larissa said. “An illusion hiding this whole place might not be as good as a nulling field, but at least it’s something.”

  I looked at Larissa, then back at Annie, then at Grayson. More gunfire broke the tense silence, a ticking time bomb.

  “We’ll snuff out all the candles and lanterns,” he said. “We’ll douse the fire. Nobody’ll have any reason to suspect that we’re here.”

  My focus returned to Annie. I crouched and placed my hands on either side of her face. “Are you sure, Annie?”

  She nodded, her eyes ancient.

  I swallowed roughly, then cleared my throat, certain I was about to make the biggest mistake of my life. Afraid that if I didn’t, I would live to regret it until I took my final, dying breath. Afraid that if I didn’t, breath would whoosh from my lungs all too soon—that death would come for us all on this day. “Alright,” I said, spurred by the now incessant rat-tat-tat-tat rat-tat-tat-tat and crack crack crack of gunshots miles away. I met Larissa’s eyes and took a deep breath. “Alright. Let’s do it.”

  Mere seconds later, Annie’s hand in mine and Jack, Cooper, and Larissa trailing behind me, I marched out through the front door. The animals’ minds sprang to life within my telepathic radar almost as soon as we were out of the house, heading toward the hill behind the farmhouse that led up to our little cemetery, homemade crosses and etched headstones scattered throughout.

  When I’d considered where to base my clandestine operations, I’d thought it best to stick to higher ground, picking the best vantage point on the farm’s land. Plus, it seemed somehow fitting to be near my closest fallen friends while I fought to protect the lives of the living. Though Larissa and Annie had joined me, I didn’t see any reason to change my plans now. Anyone who came to the farm looking for people would look in the stable and barn, or the farmhouse first, being the most central. The cottage would be last. But in the cemetery, hidden among the tombstones—why would anybody think to look for us there?

  Unless they sense us…

  But we’ll be fine, I repeated to myself over and over. Doubt was unhelpful. And even if the General’s forces made it to the farm and did sense us, they’d have a barrier of irate horses, cows, and goats to battle through to get to us—not to mention the myriad of wild animals gathered throughout Hope Valley, prepared to fight with us tooth and nail.

  “Biggs,” I said as we hiked up the muddy hill, reaching out to the leader of the group surrounded by the most enemy minds, according to all the blips on my mental radar. Jason’s group seemed fine for now, as did Zoe’s and Chris’s. “Do you need reinforcements?”

  “Dani? What are you—yes! There’s too many of—” He cut off, and I couldn’t help but wonder if some of the echoing gunfire belonged to him. “There’s too damn many of ’em. Any kind of backup would help. A goddamn squirrel would help.”

  “You got it,” I said, sending not squirrels, but a throng of raccoons, along with the foxes and coyotes nearest them—nearly forty in all—and a mismatched band of several hundred owls and hawks prepared to drop stones on the enemy from high above like primitive bomber planes. “I sent in the—”

  “Oh my God…” I could sense maybe sixty or seventy unfamiliar, dangerously focused and hostile human minds not quite a mile away, west of the valley and moving toward us slowly enough that I thought they might be on foot, but fast enough that I’d have wagered they were running. They hadn’t made it through the barricade, they’d gone around it, and they were heading straight for the farm. For us.

  And regardless of their speed, there were too many of them.

  “This is good enough,” I said breathily, laying down amongst the soggy tall grasses covering the hillside and pulling Annie down with me. We were barely halfway up the hill, but the grass and shrubs were taller where we were than at the top, and since I now had more than myself and my unborn little girl to think of, I figured maximum cover was best. I scratched Jack’s furry neck, and reached out to rub Cooper behind his ear as a quick thank you and reassurance of what was to come.

  Larissa eased down onto her stomach beside us and turned her face to me as she closed her eyes. “Don’t talk to me,” she said softly. “I need to concentrate on making the strongest illusion of an empty hillside possible. With luck, they’ll never even know we’re here.”

  Taking her instruction seriously, I nodded but didn’t actually respond. Miles away, I sensed one of the human minds in Biggs’s group wink out, closely followed by another, along with a smattering of animal minds. A few of the enemy had fallen as well, but the reinforcements I sent to them—it wasn’t enough.

  “You doing okay?” I asked Annie, brushing her wild curls out of her face.

  “Yeah.” When her eyes met mine, her focus was distant. She was partially melded with the wolves.

  “They’re not close enough to help us here,” I said, noting with surprise that the lupine battalion consisted of well over thirty wolves. It was notably more beasts than had been in Snowflake’s pack this last spring. “Who’s the alpha?” Not Snowflake, since I didn’t sense her mind and, as Annie had said, she’d sent a group of wolves ahead to aid us.

  “Rain Dancer,” Annie told me before pointing out his mind to me. “He’s this one. Smart. Tough. Wise. He is a good wolf. A strong wolf.”

  “Okay, sweetie, listen carefully…” And keeping a close mental eye on the approaching wave of enemy troops, I said, “Merge with Rain Dancer. I’ll watch over you
while you drift with him, I promise, but I need you to take him to Biggs—you know who I’m talking about, right?”

  “Yeah…”

  “And you can feel where he is, right?”

  “Mmhmmm…”

  “Okay, good.” I inhaled deeply, then held my breath, hoping, once again, that I wasn’t making an enormous, irrevocable mistake. “When you’re drifting with Rain Dancer, guide the wolves toward Biggs. He needs the wolves’ help. They all do. And make sure the wolves move like ghosts. If they don’t, they will be ghosts,” I told her, threading my words with primal meaning I knew she’d be able to understand and pass on to the wolves.

  “Okay.” Annie’s eyes closed, and her mind went dormant. Because she wasn’t really there anymore; she was in Rain Dancer.

  And then, as I focused all of my attention on another mass of people approaching from the opposite direction, I felt panic start to set in. There really were simply too damn many of them. Even with the horses and cows and goats clustered around the farm, waiting to stampede if necessary, I didn’t see how we would fend our attackers off if they sensed us.

  “I’m so sorry,” I said to the newly formed soul cuddled within my womb. She’d never had a chance to live, and while I dared to hope that our efforts to assist the others had paid off and that most of our friends would live, corrosive doubts sunk in as to whether my farm-bound companions could look forward to such a hopeful future…or to any future at all.

  “Please,” I said, calling out to the uncommitted minds all around us, to the crows and ravens and deer and bats, to the creatures who’d yet to decide whether we were worth fighting for or if we were better off left for dead. “Please—we need you. If you help us, I swear to you, you and your kind will forever be safe on our land. Please! Help us!” And as I spoke en masse telepathically, I pictured the approaching swarm of the General’s troops as seen from one of the raven’s eyes, camouflaged and sneaking over the opposite side of the very hill Annie, Larissa, and I were huddled on. “Protect us from these people, and we’ll protect you in the future!”

  From the raven, I felt something click—an agreement of sorts. A moment later, I felt something similar from the crows, then from the bats. From the deer, I felt nothing but radio silence. So be it.

  As I sensed the air-bound minds approaching, a hum filled the air. It was almost electrically charged. I looked to the west, to the place where a multilayered blanket of blackness darkened the morning sky. The crows and ravens and bats were on their way.

  I reached down to my thigh and drew my pistol, praying that we, feathered, fanged, and armed, would be enough.

  I took a deep breath, then another and another as the sky darkened overhead and the minds of the enemy neared the crest of the hill. And then I blinked, a huge, new mass appearing on my radar just to the south of us. A strange-feeling mass, filled with muddled, complex minds—minds I hadn’t been able to sense until they were practically right on top of me. A mass led by the one and only Becca Vaughn.

  I grinned as nearly half of the Re-gens drew nearer to our position and relief flooded me, driving away the dread and acceptance of what I’d felt was sure to come. With a slightly lighter heart, I closed my eyes and concentrated. Speaking telepathically with Re-gens was always more difficult than any other type of mind I communicated with.

  “Becca,” I called out with my Ability. “Can you hear me? Where have you been? Do you know what’s happening?”

  Choppy, half-formed images appeared in my mind.

  Re-gens hiding in a large building, in an area I didn’t recognize.

  Re-gens sneaking along the trees lining the east edge of the farm, up the driveway, around the farmhouse and cottage, surrounding our home, protecting it, and climbing up the hillside toward the cemetery.

  The General’s people cresting the hill, attacking.

  Re-gens and dark, winged creatures fighting, falling.

  Me, firing my gun, even as I was hiding amongst tall grasses on the hillside.

  Grayson and me, standing side by side in the sunlight with the twins in our arms and Annie and Sam standing in front of us, holding handfuls of flowers.

  “They’re close, Dani…” Larissa’s whispered voice was strained, and for good reason. I could see our foes’ shadowed silhouettes against the horizon as they approached. “We have to run!” Her voice was too loud. She was going to get us killed if she didn’t shut up. “We—”

  “No.” I looked at her, my focus unyielding. “We stay here,” I said in her mind. Reaching out, I latched a hand around her arm and held her fast to the ground. “Stay down!”

  Though her eyes were wide with fear and darting around frantically, Larissa conceded, and as we settled back down, a fast-moving wave of shadows slithered over us as the bats and ravens and crows closed in. Near the base of the hill, I could sense the clouded Re-gen minds, creeping closer.

  When the first round of gunfire exploded, closely followed by shouting and another round of gunfire, I threw myself over Annie’s body and squeezed my eyes shut. And as chaos erupted around us, I whispered telepathically, “I’m so sorry. I should have made you stay behind.” I couldn’t fathom the risk of losing both Annie and the baby girl inside me, should something happen to me.

  From Rain Dancer’s mind, Annie’s response was, “I would’ve snuck out to join you anyway.”

  With a whimper, I held her a little closer and kissed her forehead. She was so brave. Too damn brave. I could be brave, too.

  So I boosted myself up on my elbows, sighted the nearest of the General’s soldiers, and pulled the trigger. As the enemy body dropped, the Re-gens drew closer and the cloud of dark-sheathed bodies descended from the sky, cawing and biting and screeching and clawing. Through the veil of chaos, I sighted another enemy, and I pulled the trigger once more. I’d be damned if I wasn’t going to do everything possible to keep my girls safe.

  44

  ZOE

  DECEMBER 21, 1AE

  Petaluma Valley, California

  “H,” I said shakily, frozen in place and staring down the barrel of his rifle. “What the fuck?” It was a rough, confused whisper. The morning sunlight illuminated the battle warring behind his eyes as he glanced around, scanning the area like he was searching for answers.

  “Disarm your friends and bring them to me,” the woman demanded, sounding irritated. “Now.”

  Harper focused on me, and only me. When his gaze hardened, I knew this wasn’t going to end well for me.

  “H, this isn’t you,” I said, frantic. “Whatever it is, fight it. You have to fight it.”

  Conviction radiating off of him, Harper stripped me of my pistol and crossbow and tore the quiver off my back. “You heard the lady,” he growled and tossed my things out, beyond the protection of the building.

  “What the fuck are you doing, H? Don’t listen to her, she’s poisoning your mind!” I shouted. Dying in the crossfire or at the will of Herodson was something I’d almost expected, but not a shot to the head from Harper.

  But without hesitation, the cool barrel of his rifle pressed against my temple, and he motioned for me to step into view. “Move it,” he said coldly, and I knew my friend was gone, locked away in his own mind somewhere.

  Fighting back tears, I stepped out from behind the barn and into the open. I focused on a curvaceous Latina who had her hair pulled up in a ponytail and a pleased smile parting her full lips. It almost looked like she was wearing lipstick. Though she looked out of place surrounded by rusted metal and farm equipment, she seemed strangely familiar.

  “Well, well, well. What do we have here?” She looked intrigued as she eyed me. She was a tad out of breath, like she’d run here from the safety of the Humvee for some reason. And how she’d spotted us, I had no idea.

  She giggled, her eyes shifting from my gun, crossbow, and arrows to me. “And you were going to use a bow and arrow to kill me? Really? I’m bored already,” she deadpanned.

  “I guess you wouldn’t mind if I
grabbed them then,” I said, wishing her dead for mind-controlling my friend.

  She sneered and looked at Harper, licking her lips, like she was really seeing him for the first time. “And you,” she said, taking a step toward him.

  Harper looked at her, but his glare returned to me, pinning me in place like he only had one single objective: control and kill if necessary.

  “You look good enough to eat,” she purred as her bronze hand reached out for Harper’s bicep. “I think you and I—”

  My stomach churned. “Get away from him, psycho,” I growled, unable to control my tongue.

  I could tell she didn’t like that very much; her eyes narrowed on me, though her smile was wide. “Why? Seems to me he’s not your friend anymore.” She smiled broadly. “He’s mine. So I wouldn’t worry too much about it.” She glanced to Harper. “Bring her to the Humvee,” she said and nodded toward the road. “We’ll see what the General wants to do with her.”

  I realized then that the air was still and the morning was mostly quiet, save for a few errant gunshots.

  Harper gripped my arm tightly and prompted me to move.

  I nearly tripped over a hunk of metal as I stared at him, refusing to break eye contact. “H, look at me, H,” I pleaded. “It’s me, Zoe. It’s Baby Girl. You don’t want to do this.” He shoved me ahead of him. “Harper—”

  “Zoe?” psycho asked, an all-too-amused pitch in her tone. Dread filled me as her brown eyes scoured me from head to toe. “You’re Zoe, as in Jason’s sister?”