by Wendy Knight
“Go, Ashra!” Scout screamed as they flew higher and higher. Ashra was faster than the furious demons chasing them, but it wouldn’t last long. Scout could feel Ashra’s chest heaving, and her neck was lathered in thick froth and blood.
Scout whirled, staring behind them. This is what purgatory looks like. Hundreds of the things even her nightmares couldn’t produce flew after them, a dark cloud of death. They exploded through the clouds as Ashra fought to keep her momentum against gravity.
“Now Scout.”
Scout dug deep, searching for strength. But there was nothing left. She’d given everything she had trying to escape. She remembered Iros saying that a smother attack took all the magic. There was nothing left. A sob rose in her throat. They had failed.
Deeper, Scout. I’ll help you. Lil Bit’s voice shocked her so completely that she nearly dropped the scepter. The last of her strength waited, like Lil Bit’s open hand, and she grabbed it and swung her scepter.
The attack burst from the orb and shot toward the cloud of demons, enveloping them in darkness as Ashra’s wings stumbled. “Level us off!” Scout yelled but she didn’t need to. Ashra tipped her wing and they paralleled with the dark cloud. She had the soul stealers, but they were so high. It takes two for this spell to do any good.
“Or three!” She heard Iros bellow as they shot out of the darkness, Torz across from him. The unicorns plunged into the cloud, lighting it up with attack after attack. The screaming was devastating. Scout’s arms shook as she struggled to hold the magic; Ashra’s horn sputtered as her entire body trembled.
Trey. Please be safe.
More unicorns, rider-less, flew in from below, not hesitating, diving fearlessly into Scout’s cloud. More and more came; all of them that had been trying to escape.
“Ashra! I can’t — “ Scout’s hand fell, the scepter almost slipping from her fingers as her vision blurred around the edges. The conceal cloud fell with her as Ashra’s flames died.
There was nothing left.
No horrible demons. No soul stealers. No screaming. Only battered, bloody, but alive unicorns.
Iros surged to the front, holding his scepter high in victory. The others rallied around him. Scout’s eyes searched desperately for Torz and Trey, but there was so much blackness. Havik’s horn lit and exploded with lightning, splitting the sky and opening the gate to Paradesos. The unicorns surged toward it, but still Scout didn’t see Trey.
“Havik! Where’s Torz?” Ashra actually shrieked, a high-pitched whinny as they stumbled toward the mighty unicorn.
“Here, Ashra. I’m right here.” From below, Torz flew toward them, bloody, foaming, but alive. Trey held tight to his mane.
She felt Ashra suck in a deep, relieved breath. “You’re alive,” Scout breathed a shaky breath of her own.
“Let’s go home,” Torz said, nudging them gently with his soft muzzle.
Havik joined them as they turned toward the split in the sky. Scout looked to her left at Trey, smiling, and then to her right.
“For Azezial!” Iros held his scepter up as they flew together through the doorway.
Chapter Eleven
Apparently, obliterating the soul stealers completely wasn’t something the Irwarro did every day, and it was cause for celebration. By the time Ashra landed, still trembling with complete exhaustion, fiery explosions like fireworks were going up all over the valley.
“You are absolutely insane. Do you realize that? How did you even know we’d see you? You could have died!” Torz advanced on them, nearly as terrifying as the soul stealers.
Trey leaped down, catching Scout as she tumbled from Ashra’s back. He held her tight against his chest, stroking her tangled curls and shaking as much as Ashra had been. “Of every unicorn you could choose to ride, you had to pick the one that’s a hero.” Scout gave him a weak smile but couldn’t summon the energy to actually speak. “I thought I lost you again, Scout.” Trey’s voice cracked and he swallowed hard.
She should have told him he didn’t have her to lose. She should have told him to put her down, to get away from her, but she had felt the same way about him in that battle, and she didn’t have the will now to let him go. In a minute, yes. In a minute she could remember she hated him. But for this second, she was only grateful he was alive and holding her.
Leerhas stampeded through the valley, and there were so many voices in Scout’s head she might have screamed, if she had any voice left. “Irwarros, bring us your injured!”
“Come on, Princess.” Ashra turned away from Torz, nudging Scout.
Scout shook her head, forcing her throat to work. “I’m not injured.”
Ashra chuffed. “Right. I guess all that red all over you is… tomato sauce?” She tipped her head to the side, regarding Scout with deceptively bland eyes.
Scout looked down. “Oh.” Well, look at that. She was covered in blood. Lots of blood, but it wasn’t all hers. Ashra, despite her armor, was covered in deep gashes, and blood pooled against her right wing. “Take your armor off. You look like a hideous beast,” Scout muttered, trying not to faint. She didn’t like blood. Blood reminded her of the accident.
Iros strode through the crowd of unicorns, his helmet in his hand, his scepter hanging at his side. “Here are our heroes of the day!” He pounded Trey on the back so hard Trey nearly dropped Scout before he turned to the valley, raising his voice. “We wouldn’t have emerged victorious if not for the efforts of my captains and their riders!” The mass of unicorns started shrieking, pawing at the air, shooting sparks, and causing much confusion and chaos.
“So… they don’t hate us anymore?” Scout asked hopefully.
A Leerha shoved her way forward. “You’re bleeding. Remove your armor so I can heal you.” Her voice was stiff.
“Maybe not,” Trey muttered, letting Scout slide to her feet. She didn’t remember even losing her helmet, but it was gone when she went to remove it. Trey pulled his off, looking as battered as Iros. They all needed healing. Scout pulled at the heavy clasps on her chest plate until the Leerha sighed and lowered her horn.
“No, don’t—” Scout put her hands up, afraid she was about to be impaled, but the armor melted away. The Leerha eyed her in annoyance, but the warmth spread from her horn through Scout’s body, healing gashes, mending skin. She felt it even untangling her matted hair. “Now, bathe. And then sleep. You need to rest.” The Leerha moved on, but her ghost-like tail flicked Scout once. Scout chose to believe it was a friendly flick.
“A shower would be heavenly,” she sighed. “Do unicorns use showers?”
Iros chuckled. “No. They use waterfalls. We use showers though. Didn’t you see one in your hut?”
Scout wanted to swear. She’d been dying for a shower for two days now and it had been in her hut all along? But it had to wait. She had some important questions first. “Iros, who is Azezial?”
“Azezial was Ashra’s mate. The unicorn my brother murdered.” Iros’ eyes glittered dangerously.
“I see. And when do we get my sister? Since the soul stealers are all dead, can we go get her now?”
“And my family?” Trey asked, so hopeful he nearly broke Scout’s heart.
Especially when Iros’ face paled. Ashra turned her back on the Leerha trying to heal her to watch Scout, her eyes sad. “The soul stealers aren’t all dead, Scout,” Havik answered, appearing beside her. She hadn’t even seen him coming, but her peripheral vision was still blurry.
“But I saw—”
“We obliterated that group. But there are a hundred others waiting for their turn. The only way to kill them all is to kill the Master.”
Scout felt like someone had punched her in the stomach. “We’ll get your sister back, Scout. And your family, Trey. Soon. But for now, you need to rest.” Iros slid an arm around her shoulder and led her toward her hut. “Even you can’t take on all of Aptavaras after a battle like that.”
“What’s Aptavaras?” Scout asked numbly.
“The s
oul stealers lair. Where the Master waits with the souls.”
****
The shower was heaven, and Scout knew heaven existed because soul stealers were obvious evidence of hell. If there was bad, there had to also be good, right? Right, she told herself as she tried to scrub dried blood from her long, tangled mass of curls. She hurt. All of her hurt; despite the Leerha’s attempts to heal her. The wounds were gone, but her body still felt like she’d been through a… war. Oh. I have.
She turned off the water and grabbed the soft white towel, wrapping it tight around her as she climbed out of the shower. Lil Bit hated water, and to get her through bath time, Laila used to put the towels in the dryer so they were nice and warm when Lil Bit got out. The memory made Scout’s heart hurt. Such a massive battle and they had won! And she still didn’t get her sister back.
“I notice you worry about your sister but never your parents. Did they not get taken as well?” Ashra’s voice was in Scout’s head even though the gigantic black unicorn was nowhere to be seen.
“This is like talking on a phone, huh? Nice.” Scout answered. Soft black clothes had been left on her bed. She didn’t know where they came from, but in a land full of magic, it wasn’t worth wondering. She pulled them on, grateful for non-bloodstained anything to wear.
“You didn’t answer my question.”
Scout wandered to the window and peered out, but there was no sign of Ashra anywhere — or anyone else, for that matter. Even Iros and Havik were gone from the valley.
“They’re celebrating. We haven’t had a victory like this in quite some time. Amazing what a few riders can do, isn’t it? Now answer my question.”
Scout smiled, leaning on the windowsill as she combed through her hair, wondering why she left it so long. Short would be so much easier. She also wondered where the comb came from, but logged it there with the clothes and magical place scenario. “My parents are tough. They can take care of themselves, and they will until I get there. Plus, they’re with Lil Bit, and they would prefer being in Aptavaras with her than safe and alive with me.” She didn’t mean it to sound as bitter as it did, but Ashra picked up on it.
“So all the anger you hold so tight isn’t just toward Torz’s rider.” Now Scout could see her, materializing out of the shadows of the forest. Without her armor on, Ashra had returned to being simply glorious and not terrifying. Scout smiled as the sleek black unicorn came slowly across the green valley to Scout’s hut.
“Hey.” Scout nodded with a smirk. “How come you aren’t celebrating?”
“Because celebrating death isn’t something I’m fond of.”
Scout tipped her head sideways, considering. “I hadn’t thought of it that way.”
Ashra’s ear flicked but she said nothing.
“I saw you with her! You were all over her!” Kylin’s shriek startled both of them, and Scout tried to hide the grin when she saw the mighty warrior jump like a scared little mouse.
“Humans like her are what give the rest of you a bad name,” Ashra’s tail whipped in annoyance.
Scout looked toward Trey’s hut, where she could hear his deep voice but couldn’t make out his words. “I think she’s hungry. Low blood sugar will do that to you.”
“I fed her.” Ashra snorted and tossed her head and Scout smirked. The way Ashra said it made Scout think of Kylin as some sort of pet — the mean kind with sharp teeth that no one liked to play with.
Scout patted her muzzle without thinking, rubbing the baby-fine hair. “Yeah… I got nothin’.”
They stood in silence, but it wasn’t uncomfortable. Scout stared out across the valley, positive she would never get used to the beauty of the place, while her hand absently stroked Ashra’s soft fur.
“Lil Bit is stronger than you give her credit for,” Ashra said finally.
Scout nodded. “I know.” She dropped her hand, yawning. “I’m going to sleep.” Tipping her head sideways again, she frowned. “Where’s your house? Do you sleep in a barn or a — a stall or something?”
Ashra jerked her head up in indignation. “I’m wild! Haven’t you heard the legends of the untameable unicorn? We don’t live in barns!”
Scout burst out laughing. “Yeah. Indomitable spirit and all that.”
“I sleep in the shadows, like a true warrior. With soft grass.” Ashra sniffed. With that she turned and ambled across the valley. Scout watched her go, feeling more at peace than she had in days. With Ashra on her side, there was no way she wouldn’t win.
“I’m coming, Lil Bit.”
****
Trey stood at his window, deliberately keeping his back to Kylin so she couldn’t see how angry he was. He watched Ashra approach, watched her stop at Scout’s window, and then he watched her leave. Scout may have had whoever knew how long to get used to the idea of unicorns, but he hadn’t, and the beauty of the mythical creature wasn’t lost on him. Ashra especially, in all her fearlessness, seemed more delicate, more surreal than the other Irwarros.
Scout belonged here. The way her dancer’s body moved across the valley, around the trees, it was like she was the human embodiment of the unicorns. And she was a soother. They even had a name for what she was, like she’d always belonged here, with them.
Kylin did not, and he was still trying to figure out where his place was. He felt at home here, more at home than he had at school with all his friends, more at home than on the football field, more at home even than home. But whether that was because Scout was here or if he truly belonged, he wasn’t sure.
And behind him, Kylin still yelled. With a groan, he whirled on her, dragging a hand through his hair. “Kylin, I fought in a war today — with demons. I have demon blood all over me,” He threw his hands around, gesturing to his entire, blood-covered self, “I want to shower. And then I want to sleep. To do that, I need you to go away because your screaming isn’t helping this headache I’ve got.”
Kylin pulled up short, her face turning that awful burgundy it did whenever she was furious. “You could take some lessons from Kasen. He would never talk to a lady like that.” As if realizing what she’d said, her hand flew to her mouth, and she shoved past him and raced out his door.
Trey stared after her, frowning. But wondering what Kasen had to do with anything took too much energy — way more than Trey had right then. Instead he mumbled something even he didn’t understand and headed for the shower.
He wondered with what brainpower he had left, if Kasen had escaped the attack. And Cole. Thinking about them led him to his brothers and his parents. He thought of them the last time he’d seen them conscious in the hospital, so worried about him. And now would he ever see them again? His parents had been unusually amazing. And his brothers, annoying though they were, had so much potential, so much life and kindness and hope. He couldn’t let them go. Somehow, he had to save them. The world still needed his family. He still needed them.
He scrubbed so hard his skin was raw, trying to get all the soul stealer blood off. It felt like he was stained. The blood would never be gone — even when he couldn’t see it anymore, he could still feel it, eating away at him. He scrubbed harder.
It was dark by the time he turned the water off, scrubbing his head with a towel. He walked out of the bathroom, another towel draped around his waist. He looked up and she was standing in the doorway, silhouetted by the moon in the sky outside.
“I’m so sorry. I didn’t realize… I just…” Scout stumbled backward, tripping over her own feet before she whirled and raced away.
“Scout!” He reached his arm out like he could catch her, but he couldn’t very well go chasing after her in a towel. Swearing, he jerked his clothes on before he ran out of the hut, barefoot. “Scout,” he said as he rounded the doorway into her hut. It was still dark except for a single candle on the nightstand — lit by unicorn magic and not real flame. Nice avoidance of fire hazards, he thought crazily. “You — you came to my hut.” Well, didn’t he sound intelligent? But he couldn’t think of wh
at else to say.
She paced the floor, but the hut was pretty small and he was pretty big, so there wasn’t a whole lot of room she could walk and avoid him at the same time. “I did.” She stopped her pacing and stared up at him, her cheeks flushed. “I didn’t thank you, earlier. For catching me when I fell. And—and for coming after us when Ashra wanted to kill us.”
Trey swallowed hard. He realized this was the first time she’d said anything that wasn’t angry in over a year, except for their science project, which he’d messed up royally. He prayed that he wouldn’t mess this up, too. “You’re welcome.” That seemed pretty safe.
She tipped her head, and the candlelight glinted against her silky, honey-brown waves. Her hair had always been his undoing. When they’d been together, he couldn’t keep his hands away from her hair. Or her face. Her lips, her eyes…
“What was that on your shoulder?” She was speaking and he had to drag his mind away from the past and try to figure out what she was saying.
“My shoulder?”
She crossed the short space between them, hesitating, and touched his shoulder. “Here.”
He nearly choked. She wasn’t supposed to see that. But now the sea foam-green eyes were watching him with open curiosity and her lips were parted... he couldn’t tell her ‘no’. Not then, not now, not ever. He looked away, staring at the floor as he rolled the black sleeve of his shirt.
“Forgive me,” she read in a whisper, her finger tracing the hard black letters tattooed on his arm. Without looking from the words, she said, “When did you get this?”
“After… while you… before you left the hospital.” His entire body shook against her soft touch as she traced the ‘F’ again. Did she realize what she did to him? What she still did to him, even after all this time? No other girl had ever affected him the way she did with just the barest touch of her fingertip.
Her eyes memorized him now, unreadable, but the ever-present hatred was gone. “How? You weren’t eighteen yet.”