Everly (Everly Series Book 1)

by Meg Bonney

“Ruthana trained you to fight, right?” Ren asked, not taking his eyes off the oncoming creatures.

  “Yeah, people. Not goblins.”

  “Okay, well, this is Everly fight training,” Ren said, twirling his daggers in his hands. “Ready, Madison?”

  “Do I really have a choice?” I said as two of the little creatures jumped onto Ren, biting and snarling at him as he swung his daggers at them.

  “Hey!” I barked as a goblin jumped down from the ceiling onto me, knocking my sword to the floor of the grotto. “Crap.”

  The goblin was on me, scratching and clawing like a rabid little animal. It smelled like moldy food and was no taller than a small child, but its face was demonic and jarring. Its hair was tan and coarse, covered in green moss.

  “Get off of me, you little psycho!” I muttered as we struggled.

  It spit and hissed as I wrestled it. The goblin clawed my arm from my shoulder to my elbow, sending shooting pain up my arm as the four lines turned red with blood. I screamed and fell back as the little creature turned toward Jason.

  “Madison!” I heard Ren yell, but there was no time to answer. The goblin was heading toward Jason.

  I dove onto the goblin, pinning it to the ground. It flipped to face me and I wrapped my hands around its neck and squeezed with all my strength. My skin prickled as the heat rose inside my body.

  It was happening again.

  I stared into its cold, red eyes as its fingernails clawed at my hands and arms and it thrashed its legs wildly. I clenched my teeth and its eyes began to bulge as it slowly stopped its struggle.

  “What am I doing?” I let go, stumbling backward. The little creature slumped over on the ground, its chest heaving. I watched as its bewildered eyes darted around the cave. It backed out of the grotto and disappeared into the dark tunnel. It looked as scared as I felt.

  Jason fired an arrow at it as it escaped.

  “Help Ren!” Jason pointed.

  I turned to see Ren fighting off the two goblins on the other side of the grotto. He moved with great agility, but the goblins were quick and climbed all over him, thrashing and biting. He grabbed one and whipped it at the wall of the cave, where it landed with a sickening crack. The one remaining goblin shrieked loudly, piercing the silence of the cave and echoing through the cavern tunnel.

  Jason moved the crossbow toward it, aimed, fired, and missed as the creature rolled to the side. Ren slipped and fell onto his back.

  “Ren!” I yelled, grabbing a torch from the wall. The goblin climbed onto Ren, tearing at the skin on his chest as Ren fell to the ground. I ran to them and waved the torch at the goblin, taking care not to light Ren on fire. The goblin retreated from the grotto.

  “Are you okay?” I asked Ren.

  Ren laid on his back, panting. “You remembered what I said about fire.” Ren’s shirt was torn; his chest was scratched deeply and bleeding through the holes in the black shirt.

  “I did.” I nodded. “Your chest. That looks bad.”

  Ren shook his head. “It looks worse than it feels, really.”

  Or you’re in shock. “That’s good.” I nodded, humoring him. “Jay? How about you? Are you okay?”

  “Oh, yeah, yeah…this is totally normal.” Jason lowered the crossbow to his side. “This is totally not insane. Totally normal.”

  I nodded slightly, studying his face. Jason looked flustered, his eyes wide, and he wasn’t really blinking. As I stood slowly, Ren got up and retrieved my sword.

  “Thanks.” I nodded as he handed it to me, but I didn’t take my eyes off Jason, who was pacing on the other side of the grotto now.

  The light of my sword’s grip glowed brightly. I felt the tingle creep down my arm. Ren and I stood there in silence, and then I gasped as I watched the slices on my arm begin to mend. I had a sudden feeling of wooziness as the blood disappeared. I reached for Ren’s arm in an effort to steady myself. As I did, the sword’s light burst out even brighter, sending a beam of blue down through my arm as if it ran in my veins. Ren’s cuts began to heal before our eyes as well.

  Ren lifted his hands to his face, feeling for the wounds, and then to the bite marks and scratches on his chest. Nothing. I released his arm, and he looked astonished.

  “Amazing!” he exclaimed.

  “Whoa, did you know I could do that?” I asked, shocked by what had just happened.

  “No.” He looked at his now-healed arms and then back to me. “My hand, too.” Ren pulled the strip of my black shirt from his hand. He opened his palm, and there was nothing there.

  “Wow,” I said.

  “Awesome!” Jason yelled, getting both Ren’s and my attention. “Great, great, great. Can we keep moving? Those things were creepy, and I don’t really want to see more, like, ever.” He attempted to attach his reloaded crossbow to the makeshift belt, but his hands were trembling badly now.

  “Jay, are you all right?” I asked, walking over to him as he fidgeted with

  the rope.

  “Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. I’m fine…I just can’t get this knot out,” he replied. “This rope needs to be tighter.”

  I reached over and untied it with ease. Jason rubbed his face with his hands. His eyes were bloodshot, and he looked exhausted

  “Jay, it’s okay to be ruffled. This has been a crazy day,” I assured him as I slipped the rope around his waist, tying it into a knot. He grabbed my shoulders.

  “Maddy!” He was much louder now, his fingers digging into my shoulder blades. “This is the crazy day. The craziest of them all. I don’t know, Maddy, but you aren’t frazzled by all this? You aren’t even freaking out! You just choked out a little goblin thing.” Jason’s voice boomed through the grotto as he pointed at Ren.

  “And him! This dude—we know nothing about him but, hey, let’s follow him around like two little puppy dogs! Yeah! That is a great idea.” Jason’s voice was shrill now.

  I looked at Ren and back to Jason.

  “Great frickin’ plan!” Jason yelped, backing away from me. “Don’t get me wrong, Ren. I’m sure you’re lovely, and under different circumstances I may have even tolerated you, but I would have been fan-frickin’-tastic had I never met you!”

  “Jay, calm down.” I stepped toward him.

  “I miss my Caleb. My very hot and very normal boyfriend, who I left behind to get chased down by trolls and insane little goblins!”

  His eyes were even wider as he walked back and forth, mumbling incoherently. I had never seen him like this.

  “No! No, no, no. This is just all in my head. This isn’t happening. I’m going to wake up in my nice warm bed, and this will all have been just a dream. And I’m going to be back in Greenrock with my boyfriend and my non-goblin-containing life. This isn’t real. Nope, nope, nope, not real.” Jason stopped walking and turned to face me.

  “Jay, calm down, I just—”

  “No, I am not going to calm down! This is…this is crazy, and I’m the only one who seems to notice! This can’t be your life. It can’t be. It’s too dangerous. This can’t be your real life, Maddy.” He waved the crossbow wildly in his hand.

  “Jason, I have never seen you like this. You are freaking out.” I tried to sound calm—actually, I tried to sound like him in the many calming speeches he had given me over the years.

  “I am freaking out! Join me, won’t you?”

  Ren moved past me and walked toward Jason. “Jason, let us continue to Ara’s. There we can rest and replenish.” He raised his hand and set it on Jason’s shoulder.

  “You…this is all your fault! We were fine before you came along. Mister grand Magic-saving schemer guy! Don’t think I don’t see it. I see how you look at her! I see it. You, you…home wrecker!” Jason shrieked.

  Jason swung his arm to knock Ren’s hand away, and then I heard a pop and a whistling sound. I stumbled back as something smacked me in the face. My right eye went dark, and all I could feel was a warm tingling sensation there.
/>
  “That’s strange…” I mumbled as Jason and Ren looked back at me, horrified.

  I lifted my hand to my eye and froze when I realized that it wasn’t my eye I was touching. It was the feathery end of a crossbow bolt. I gasped and felt myself fall back.

  Ren caught me and held me tight before I fell to the ground. “I have you, Madison. I have you.”

  And then all I saw was the dancing little lights of the fae on the ceiling before it faded to black.

  CHAPTER 17

  Groggily, I opened my eyes, my right eye still dark. I could hear what sounded like waves crashing just on the other side of a wall. I lifted my head up.

  I heard a mumbling sound to my left, which startled me. It was Jason. He was lying on a cot a few feet away. My own cot was just a couple inches from the ground, I realized as I slid my trembling hand down to touch the floor.

  Is that sand?

  Jason mumbled as if he was talking in his sleep. He now wore a sleeveless, cream-colored linen shirt and light gray linen pants with boots that went up to his knees. His calm, sleeping face was much different than the last time I saw him.

  “Jay?” I whispered. He didn’t answer.

  I used all my strength to push myself up onto my elbows. I pulled my arms back to prop myself up when my hand grazed something soft. It was Ren’s hair. He lay on the ground next to me, his head on a mat near my stomach.

  A dream. This must be a dream, I thought as I laid my head back down. Maybe all the craziness that had happened was just a dream and this was the part right before I woke up. I closed my eyes—eye, I corrected myself. My eye. I felt the dull, throbbing pain. This was not a dream.

  I slowly raised my free hand to my right eye. I ran my fingers over something ridged and smooth covering my eye and a string that ran down to my ear.

  An eye patch. I had an eye patch, but what was it made of? It felt cool and polished. I pulled my hand away. It felt like my eye was open, but I didn’t have the courage to lift the patch to feel my eye beneath it. But I had the sword, right? The sword would have healed me. This must just be a precaution.

  Blinking some more, I turned my head to look around. It looked like we were in a tent of some sort, I deduced as the walls billowed slightly in the breeze. The walls went straight up to the ceiling in the circular room, but the middle of the ceiling was raised into a point. It reminded me of one of those old military tents. A little table on the other side of Jason held various bottles and jars. Next to that, a cloth door let in a beam of sunlight every few seconds as it moved with the wind.

  Outside the little room, I could hear birds cawing. I remained still as a tear rolled down the side of my face. I clamped my hand over my mouth to hold back my sob.

  I reached down to grab my shirt to wipe my face. The fabric was not the soft jersey of my black T-shirt, but rougher. I ran my hands over my stomach and down my leg. My shorts were gone and replaced with pants made of the same fabric.

  Why wasn’t I wearing my own clothes?

  “Madison?” I heard a low, gruff whisper. Ren sat up, his hair wild, his eyes bloodshot and wide. Quickly, I wiped my cheeks with the back of my hand.

  “Madison? How do you―are you…” His voice was rough and scratchy.

  “I have been better.” I looked around. “Where are we?”

  “We are…” Ren dropped his head and rubbed his eyes with his hand. “Sorry, I…” He lifted his head, sat back on his legs, and cleared his throat. His expression changed to serious and still, but it seemed forced.

  “I apologize, Madison. I never should have given Jason a weapon. He was not trained.” He looked down, avoiding my face.

  I reached my hand out toward him. Ren took my hand in his and cradled it carefully.

  “Are you okay?” he asked, helping me brace myself.

  “No, I…” I swallowed loudly. My mouth felt dry and sort of sticky. I lowered my gaze away from his. “Just―can you help me up?”

  Ren put his arms around my waist, pulling me closer to him with gentle ease. He held me very carefully and lifted me up slowly. I felt like a baby deer. My muscles were sore, almost like I had just worked out.

  “Careful,” Ren whispered as I attempted to balance myself.

  “I’m okay,” I reassured him, but I winced as I sank into him, losing my balance completely. Ren lowered me back down to the cot.

  “How do you feel?” he asked sweetly.

  “Your loophole is still alive.” I gave him a thumbs-up and smiled. He looked away, seemingly annoyed.

  There’s the Ren I know.

  I nervously chewed on the side of my thumb. “How is Jason?” I asked, turning my head to check on him. He hadn’t moved.

  “He was quite distraught when we arrived, but Ara counseled him and he finally agreed to eat and rest. We are in the Jade Village now.”

  “Wait, how did we get here?”

  “You passed out when the bolt hit you. I carried you the rest of the way. It was not far to get here.” Ren was looking at the patch on my eye now.

  “How bad was it? My eye?” I asked quietly, looking away from his face, afraid to hear the answer.

  “Luckily, it ricocheted off the cave wall, but it still went straight through your eye. Ara said it didn’t go far enough in to kill you. We were able to heal you with the sword, and we stopped the bleeding at least, but your eye…” He paused. “Your eye has a hole.”

  “My sword didn’t heal me?”

  “We could not get the arrow out without some tearing. Ara did what she could to help, but there is a large hole in your eye. Ara says she thinks the hole is getting smaller, so that is good news. She fashioned the cover for your eye to protect it.”

  “Well, good. That is good, right? I guess being a Witch doesn’t solve everything, then.” I paused. “It’s good that I learn about my powers. It’s good.”

  I pressed my lips together, trying to stop thinking about it.

  “We need to get back out there. We need to get to the temple. We have to help those people and get Ruth.” I tried to stand again. My legs felt weak and unstable, and I fell back to the mat. Ren reached out to catch me as I did.

  “No, Madison…”

  “I have one eye, and I am not dead,” I huffed. “God, what is wrong with my legs? Did I fall hard or something?”

  “You have been asleep for nearly two days. You need to build your strength, eat—”

  “Two?!” I yelled, before remembering Jason was asleep next to me. I lowered my voice. “Two days? So there are only two days until the full moon now?”

  Ren nodded.

  “Did you talk to Ara about Ruth? Did anyone see her? Have there been any more Cypher Fae?” The words flew quickly from my mouth, and I started to feel a twist in my stomach.

  “A fairy came to Ara to tell her that the party accompanying Ruth had arrived at the temple. Beyond that, we do not know.”

  I braced myself on Ren and stood, ignoring my legs’ weakness as I did.

  “We need some supplies, and we can keep going. I can do it, I know I can,” I insisted.

  Ren didn’t respond. He just looked concerned, like he was thinking very heavily about it before replying.

  “Ren?”

  He still didn’t answer, pensively staring almost through me.

  “Ren! Let’s go!” I urged him impatiently. “I am not giving up! We are so close!”

  “Madison—”

  “Fine, you stay here and think. I’m goin’ to the temple.” I tried to steady myself on my wobbling feet.

  “You are impossible, you know that?”

  “That’s what they tell me,” I replied.

  “You have been unconscious for two days, Madison. Just hold on a minute.” He reached out to help me as I shakily stood there. “You cannot just jump out of bed—”

  “I have to, Ren. You said it yourself. If we didn’t get Ruth before she got to the temple, the king might kill her. It�
��s my real father up there killing people. I need to stop this. I have to save my aunt. You have no idea how it feels, knowing there is nothing I can do to help her right now. We need to get there.” I grunted as I took a step.

  “Trust me, I understand,” he said with a twinge of anger.

  “You are awake!” a cheerful voice called from the doorway behind me.

  “Madison, this is Ara,” Ren stated.

  I whipped my head around to face her. In the light of the doorway, she was a picturesque silhouette.

  “Sit and be still! Your legs need rest, little acorn,” Ara ordered as she came into the room. “Ren, go on and get this sweet girl some food. She must be starved.”

  She was right. I was starving. I felt like I hadn’t eaten in a week.

  I watched Ara as she moved within the small room. She couldn’t have been much older than me. Her honey-yellow hair was long and wavy and nearly white around her face, like it had been bleached by the sun. She wore it tied in a ponytail just under her right ear, and tiny sea shells were tied into the ponytail at different lengths. Her dress was seafoam green and looked like one super-long scarf draped and tied around her, crossing like an X over her chest, wrapping around her waist, and tying at her hip. She crossed over to sit at the foot of my cot.

  “Greetings, Princess. I am Ara, Empress of the Fae.” She bowed her head, and the shells in her hair began to clink. Now that she was closer, I could see her more clearly. She had incredibly long eyelashes that curled up perfectly. Her eyes were an amazing shade of violet, and they popped against her dark brown skin. She had a few freckles on the bridge of her nose and on her cheeks.

  “Hello, Empress.” I said and bowed my head, not really sure what to do.

  “I am only royal to the Fae. No need for all of that. Just call me Ara.”

  I nodded. “Got it. It’s nice to meet you, Ara. I’d love to chat more but we really need to get to the temple, but I thank you for your hospitality,” I said quickly, staring at her and then looking back at Ren.

  “Certainly.” She beamed at me. Her voice was smooth and calm.

  “Ara, can you check her eye again? Maybe if she held the sword again, it would—”