I fought back against his hold, but couldn’t break away long enough to get my head above the icy water. Kieran had an unnatural strength, and there was no breaking away from his grip on my jacket. I raked at his arms with my fingernails, trying to find a weakness and force him to release me. I was in a vulnerable position, unable to see or hear anything with the river gushing around me. One thing was clear though, if I didn’t get out, I would die. I would drown in a godforsaken river in Alaska. My daughter would be fatherless, and my wife would be a widow.
I can’t leave Evie like this!
She was back at home waiting for me.
No! This won’t happen!
I kicked out, trying to knock Kieran off balance or force him to release me. There was no way I would allow myself to die there.
Why had I agreed to this? I should have stayed at home where I belonged, like I wanted to. Like Evie wanted me to.
Forming my hands into fists, I swung wildly and blindly attempted to make contact with any part of him that I could. The extra exertion used my remaining oxygen that much faster, but I didn’t care. I wouldn’t go down without a fight, even though it might have been hopeless. Kieran had a strength I couldn’t compete with, and he had free and easy access to the breath of life in the air, whereas my lungs burned and ached for it.
In a precious few seconds, my natural reflexes would force my mouth to open to draw a breath. When that happened, I would inhale the icy, ash-filled water surrounding me. I forced myself to imagine it filling into my lungs and drowning me—it gave me the strength I needed to fight until the last possible moment. I fought desperately against the instinct to breathe and struggled harder against my attacker.
Just as I was about to take that fatal breath, the hands loosened their hold and I was able to shake myself free. My mouth opened just a fraction before my head broke the surface and I swallowed a mouthful of water.
Coughing and spluttering, I dragged myself to the edge of the river and collapsed.
My first thought was, Where the hell am I?
Who the hell am I? Followed immediately after.
I turned to see a horse rear up before galloping off on the other side of the river as a loud bang cracked the air.
A hand came to rest on my shoulder, and I pushed it away roughly as I tried to remember why I was . . . wherever the hell I was.
I might not have been able to recall the reason why I was in the water—or anything at all before that—but I knew I didn’t need any assistance. Climbing to my feet, I tried to assess the situation. Something in my stomach warned me of danger nearby. The air tasted . . . dark somehow. I didn’t know much, but I understood enough to be certain I would be remiss to ignore the sensation.
“Hey, bro, you cool?” A gruff voice asked from somewhere behind me.
I spun quickly to see a guy roughly a few inches taller than me, but significantly bulkier, standing a few feet away. The thing that stood out the most about him was the blue light that seemed to radiate from his skin. That was not normal. I had no idea how I knew it wasn’t normal, but warning bells rang in my head regardless. Whoever the guy was, his stance and the drawn weapon in his hand, as well as the one he carried at his hip, made one thing clear—he was dangerous.
I considered my options. My first instinct was to stand and fight, but I didn’t even know if I could. A second later, I did the only other thing I could think of: I ran.
Despite the agony in my lungs—I assumed the result of being caught under the water—I was able to outrun the threat relatively easily. My legs pumped in perfect time, and my arms swung in a way that made my run more effective. It was almost as if I was designed for running, or at the very least well practiced in it.
It didn’t appear the guy was interested in chasing me. At least he hadn’t immediately fired on me or leapt to action behind me. Instead, he’d just called out the name Clay as if it meant something. Perhaps he had a partner in the area and he was hoping this Clay would cut me off. Not that I would let him.
With my gaze focused on my surroundings, I ran as fast as I could up the steep bank and over the ash-covered ground to find a resting place to recuperate and figure out my next step.
Once I knew I was free of the man with the gun, I fell to the floor in a coughing fit as my lungs burned. I’d sprinted for far too long. I collapsed as I tried to work out what the fuck was happening. Nothing made sense. Rolling onto my back, I looked up through the mist and into the blue sky beyond.
Who the fuck am I? I couldn’t explain what it felt like to have all sense of self gone. Had it been gone forever, or was it a recent thing? Had the man with the gun and the weird blue light around him done it? The evidence that he had lingered in my peripheral vision, in a similar blue that lingered in the corner of my eye, as if it was echoing off my own skin. To test the theory, I lifted my hand in front of my face.
I was right. The same blue light surrounded my body. I swallowed down the panic that rose in my chest. I needed to find a way out of my situation—whatever that situation was.
After a few moments of recovery, I forced myself up off the floor and assessed the area around me. My next steps would be the key to my survival. I didn’t know how I knew that, I just did. Standing on shaky legs, I took in the sights around me. The gorge that housed the river I’d pulled myself from and some mountains in the distance where practically the only landmarks around. Otherwise it was largely a flat, open space filled with ash and the charred remains of trees. One thing was clear, I needed to find a way back to civilization. I just had no idea where that was or how to get there.
Instinct took over and I stopped to examine the contents of my pack. Most of it had been wrapped in plastic, so apart from the outside layer, it was mostly dry despite me having been in the water. Whoever I was, I was obviously prepared for a range of different scenarios.
As I pulled everything out, I tried desperately to ignore the wave of blue lights that washed over my skin. If I concentrated on the blue wisps, I would panic, and I knew that above all else, I couldn’t panic. In an emergency situation, panic equaled death. Taking a quick inventory of the items at my disposal, I decided that the first step was to find shelter.
Water. Shelter. Food.
I had water in my pack, enough to last me a day at least, and food for three—maybe more if I rationed it carefully.
Now I just had to figure out which way to go and where the hell I needed to be.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
MY FIRST INSTINCT was to stay out of sight as much as possible and climb one of the mountains I had passed. If I could get high enough, I might be able to see the way to the closest city or find some other people. Only, I didn’t know who I could trust and who might be on the side of the man with a gun.
I found a ravine that provided some coverage in most directions and headed for higher ground.
“Clay!”
I pressed myself against the rock face when I heard the voice behind me. My hand shifted so my fingers rested against a holstered gun on my back. It was an instinctual move.
“Clay, son, is that you?”
The voice was less demanding, more cautious. An older man followed the path I had just taken. As he walked, he holstered his gun and raised his hands in a way that seemed to indicate he wasn’t aiming to be a threat.
When he met my gaze, he gave me a reassuring smile. “Clay, it’s okay. I’m here to help.”
Through the grizzled beard on his chin, he wore a small smile.
I narrowed my eyes at him, not sure whether I could trust the stranger or not. In one smooth motion, I pushed off the ground, got my feet under me, and then reached for my weapon.
Even though I couldn’t recite a single fact about the gun in my hand, my fingers found their way into a shape that told me they’d know how to fire it. Instinct and muscle memory drove every action—they would until I found some proper answers.
With my finger on the trigger, I proved I wasn’t going to back down or listen
to him easily. “Who are you?”
“Don’t you know?”
Could I admit my weakness to him? As I assessed the man in front of me, warning bells rang. I wasn’t sure how much trust I could level in his direction.
“I’m your father,” the man said. Slowly, he reached into his pocket and pulled out a small mirror. “Look for yourself if you don’t believe me. We have a number of features in common.”
I grabbed the mirror tentatively, drawing it to my face to stare at the stranger contained within the small boundaries. There wasn’t a single feature reflected back that I recognized, but that didn’t change what I saw. The man was right. He and the person in the mirror shared many traits in common. Our hair was similar in color, or it would have been if not for the gray peppering his. Our eyes were almost alike, such a dark brown that they looked black, except mine had an outer rim of brilliant blue. His mouth was a similar shape to mine, bowed and full with a definite familial quality between them.
“Do you know why I’m here?” I asked, relieved that one question at least might finally be answered.
“Come with me. I’ve got a cabin near here, and I’ll show you the truth.”
I took a moment to consider the situation. Of the two people I’d met so far, he was the one who appeared the least dangerous. I didn’t want to take any chances though. “Drop your weapon and kick it over here first.”
He pursed his lips and his brow dipped, but he drew his gun from the holster, placed it on the ground, and then slid it across the space between us. “I know you’ll give that back to me soon—when you see that I’m right.”
I nodded as a sign of faith. He could have his weapon back the instant he proved himself to be trustworthy.
Without us saying anything more to each other, he led me to a small shack. The coloring blended almost perfectly with the wasteland tundra, so from certain angles, it was almost impossible to see until we were right on top of it.
“What’s happening?” I said. “Why are you here?”
Why am I here?
He slid a photo album across to me. It was filled with photos of three young children—two boys and a girl. The few baby photos there were all featured the arms and torso of a woman who had since been beheaded in every image. Still, it was evident enough that the three children were siblings.
“That’s you, and your brother and twin sister.”
I blinked at the album, trying to remember any of it. Nothing came to me.
“I don’t know how to tell you this, but your brother lured you to the river to kill you.”
His words pulled my attention away from the album. I lifted my gaze and met my father’s cautious stare.
“My brother?” I thought of the person I’d encountered near the river—the one who’d drawn his gun at me. As I pictured his face, I could see the resemblance between the three of us. “Why would he do that if he’s my brother?”
“Because an evil seductress has turned him against you. Against all of our family.”
“Why would someone do that?”
“I don’t know. All I know is she’s not human, and she’s dangerous. She’s driven a wedge between your siblings and me, and she won’t stop until she’s destroyed our family.” Tears shone in his eyes, and I could see how affected he was by what he was saying, even if I couldn’t understand the truth in his words.
“What do you mean ‘not human’?” My head ached as I thought about his words—the implication and the possibility of truth in them. What he said was all hokum and fairytale, and yet it rang true. “And how exactly is she dangerous?”
“There’s so much you have lost—so much her and her army has taken from you.”
“My memory?”
He nodded once.
“She stole it?”
“She had your brother come after you when you came to find me after you asked too many questions and started to resist her influence. He led you away from the camp because he planned to kill you, but I was able to rescue you instead.”
I clenched my fists as my blood simmered beneath my skin. I might not have remembered my name or anything about myself, but I was certain I wasn’t the sort of person to let anyone get away with messing with me or my family.
“Tell me where to find her,” I growled.
A slow smile spread across my father’s lips. “All in good time, for now I’m just happy I found you safe and sound. I’ve been worried about all of you. The world isn’t safe, and even less now that you can’t remember all the details.”
“What do you mean, not safe?”
“The world we live in is filled with monsters and demons, none more evil than the phoenix that has ensnared your brother and sister. The beast who held you captive until recently.”
“Phoenix?” I waited for the word to ring any bells, but all it did was force my heart to leap in my chest.
“A creature of fire and pain. She has destroyed so many lives with her wickedness.” He placed a number of items in front of me, each one an article outlining a series of deaths caused at the hand of the phoenix. I stared at the black and white photos of the woman shown as a suspect in each article. My breath caught in my throat as the sight caused a tugging sensation in the pit of my stomach. She was prettier than I’d imagined as Dad spoke of her evil.
“She did something to ensnare your brother, the evidence of her touch is in a light that is lit around the body of her victims.”
My eyes immediately snapped to his. “What sort of light?”
“Like the one around you,” he murmured as he gave a solemn nod to confirm he knew. “You were captured by her as well, but I was able to break the link.”
“Why can’t I remember any of this? Why can’t I remember . . . anything?”
“Unfortunately, to save you, I had to free you from her spell. The water in the river your brother tried to drown you in reacted with the antidote. It was only supposed to remove the memories infected by that beast, but I think it went too far. I promise that, as soon as we capture and destroy that creature, we’ll do what we can to put everything right. To make you normal again.”
I nodded. “What do you need me to do?”
“Right now, I need you to come home with me. You still have some of your instincts, but there is so much we need to retrain you on. The last thing I want to do is send you in to battle this evil without some protection from her.”
“What about my brother?” It was hard to feel any emotional attachment to either of the strangers who shared my features, but somewhere deep inside, something stirred that told me I wanted my family safe.
Dad clasped his hands together and touched his index fingers to his lips. “There isn’t much I can do to help him right now, I’m afraid. Once she’s gone, we can try to break the spell.”
Pick the battles we could win—it made sense.
“He’ll be okay though. He’s got a good instinct for survival.”
“Okay. Lead the way.”
“We need to move fast now, or there’s a risk your brother will catch us. He’s still a danger to us both while he’s under her spell.”
I nodded my understanding and then hastily packed the things he had given me into my backpack. Taking a moment to assess what I’d learned and what I felt, I grabbed the weapon he’d kicked over to me. I spun it in my hand so I could offer it to him handle first. “You might need this.”
He grinned at me as he slipped it into his holster. “Thanks, son. It’s good having you back on our side.”
“Thank you for rescuing me from this evil creature. Believe me when I say that I will make her pay for everything she’s done to me.”
“That’s all I needed to know. Let’s go.”
Once more, he led the way. I barely knew which direction was which, let alone where any of them would lead. The journey was hard and made even more difficult by the way Dad insisted we take the time to cover our tracks. We didn’t even stop to sleep during the dull light of night, just trudged on through the
darkness toward whatever destination Dad had in mind.
The sun was high in the sky by the time we reached our destination the following day.
“Mister Jacobs.”
A voice behind us, thick with an Irish brogue, caused Dad to spin around and give a sick grin.
“I did as ya asked,” the man continued. His gaze rested heavy on me.
“That you did, Kieran. That you did. Better than I expected.”
I narrowed my eyes as I stared between the pair. This Kieran wasn’t human. I wasn’t certain how I knew that, but I did. His dark hair was tucked away under a cap and he wore so many layers of clothing it was almost impossible to determine his frame or anything about him. A halo of golden light flittered around him—so similar to the blue light that shone from my own skin.
The thing that stood out more than any other feature was his golden eyes; they shone slightly as if lit from the inside. His gaze fell on me regularly, and whenever it did, it was filled with a strange emotion I didn’t recognize.
“Where’s me wife?” he asked eventually. “Yer man in there won’t say.”
“She’s safe, like I promised. She’s always been safe.”
“Can we go now?”
“Not so fast. You might come in handy yet.”
“No! Ya promised. Ya said if I did what ya asked, ya’d let me go home with her.”
“Let’s call it insurance.”
“Ya know the problem with lies?” Kieran’s voice was low and dangerous as he advanced toward Dad.
My hand found its way to my gun to prepare for a fight, ready to defend Dad.
Kieran’s gaze fell on me again. “Even carefully constructed ones. All it takes is one word to send them topplin’.”
“You wouldn’t dare.”
“It ain’t a risk if I ain’t around.”
Every part of Dad’s body was tense as he stared at the man in black. “Fine. I’ll arrange safe passage home for the both of you. But if you breathe one word . . .”
Living with Embers: (Son of Rain #4) Page 10