by Wendy Knight
Quin leaned forward. “Where did you go?”
Luca took a breath. “Well, she always wanted to travel. She wanted to see the Seven Wonders of the World. So I started there.”
“Holy crap.” Destiny had never known. Her mom never left the house, let alone the country.
“Fate said she feels responsible. That your mother never traveled because she had you two. But Alina was never one for excuses. If she had wanted to go, she would have gone. She must have preferred staying home to raise you.”
“Fate feels guilty about everything,” Destiny said. “The weight of the world rests on her shoulders.”
Fate had meandered down the trail, but at the sound of her name, she frowned suspiciously. “What’s going on?”
Destiny froze. She’d never been a great liar.
“Uh— we were just trying to explain this whole thing to Destiny. Like I was saying, the government stays out of our battle because of the treaty.”
Genuinely curious now, Destiny leaned forward to get his attention. “What treaty?”
“Because of the persecution of our ancestors — I mean, everyone knows about the Salem Witch Trials—” Quin held up a hand in apology when Destiny hissed, because no one was allowed to just throw around words like Salem and Witch Trials. “—but in Scotland, they killed thousands upon thousands of witches in just a couple years. And then the warlocks gained power, nearly obliterating entire regions. Witches were the only thing that could stop them. So the governments of the world signed a treaty with the major covens, that they would stay out of our affairs and cover our tracks. Each major coven was given a government handler. There’s even a whole department dedicated just to witch affairs.”
Destiny nodded wisely. “I see. And the warlocks, they’re monsters, right? They can’t breed, so how do more keep being born? Why haven’t they died off yet?”
“They’re immortal,” Quin said simply. “And every time one is killed, another one is spawned wherever their lair is. No one knows how.”
Destiny gaped at him.
“The reason their numbers keep rising is because witches fall prey to their temptation — to steal others’ powers for themselves. They lose their souls and become warlocks, hunting the witches they once fought alongside with, living for nothing but the taste of more power.” He glanced uncomfortably at Destiny and she frowned.
“What?”
He shook his head. Luca quickly changed the subject. “The military has tried fighting them. They charm the weapons, turn them against the users. The only ones capable of fighting their magic are witches, but we are losing that fight.”
“Enter Destiny,” Fate sang as she danced the rest of the way down the trail, hand safely ensconced in Damien’s. “Here to save the world.”
“Prophesy says night and day.” Destiny pointed a finger at her. “Don’t think you’re getting out of this that easy.”
Fate winked.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
THERE WAS AN EASY CHATTER AS they cleaned up breakfast and talked about where to get lunch. Quin wasn’t sure what the plan was. He and Luca both knew the warlocks were coming, but they didn’t know when, and no one, not even Destiny, knew when she’d lose her mind again. Quin caught Luca’s gaze, worry in his eyes. Neither knew how long this could go on. It felt like a standoff between the warlocks and Destiny’s mind, an undercurrent of tension running through them, and they were all trying to pretend it wasn’t there.
That’s when the sirens sounded in the distance.
“Oh no,” Fate breathed. She glanced at Destiny and a silent conversation passed between them. Destiny nodded, turning to Luca, Quin, and Damien.
“I’ll distract the warlocks. Fate will take you and—”
“What?” Fate shrieked. “That’s not what we decided!”
Destiny whirled on her sister, black hair tumbling down her back, blue eyes flashing. “You said it yourself. It’s me they want, not you. If I take them and run—”
“That’s why you take the truck and run and we stay here!” Fate shouted.
“And leave you stranded with a bunch of warlocks?” Destiny shouted back.
“Your plan is to leave you stranded with a bunch of warlocks!” Fate stomped her foot, hands clenched in fists at her side. Around them, rangers were herding people out, evacuating the camp and the park. Quin had no idea if the rangers knew what was coming or if they were acting on higher orders. Either way, they were clearing the area of innocents and leaving just the witches.
And their boys.
“Stop fighting,” Damien yelled, cutting them both off. “Destiny, take Fate’s truck. Fate, get in the Rover. We’ll all run.”
“Destiny’s mind won’t let her run,” Quin interrupted, and everyone stared at him in horror. “She can’t even walk toward the gate, let alone get in a big ass truck and drive through it. Fate, go with Damien in the Rover. Take Luca.”
“And you?” Destiny asked quietly.
He met her blue, blue eyes, and his heart stuttered in his chest. “I’ll fight by your side.”
“I. Am. Not. Leaving. My. Sister.” Fate’s voice had dropped to a dangerous growl.
“None of us are leaving,” Luca said. “It’s too late.”
Quin’s stuttering heart stopped and he tore his eyes from Destiny’s unblinking gaze. In the distance, a dark cloud rolled across the lava. Hissing and chants escaped from its depths.
They’d blocked the roads. There was no escaping now. Even the skies above had hidden the sun, thick clouds obliterating most of the light, leaving them in a dizzying twilight.
“We need weapons,” Destiny whispered. Her voice shook and her hands shook. Her entire body trembled, and Quin had to remember again that she had not been raised in this war. She might have the magic within her to fight it, but not the training and not the hardening.
Fate took her hand, her own shaking just as badly. “Run, Destiny. I’ll hold them off.”
Destiny’s jaw clenched. “They’re after me, Fate. They want my blood, not yours. Take them and run.”
Damien slammed his rover door. “I’ve got bats.”
Bats wouldn’t do anything against the warlocks. They all knew that. “Quin plays baseball, too,” Destiny murmured. Damien nodded and tossed him a bat, hard, heavy metal.
Fate dragged Destiny behind her to her truck, wrenching the door open. The vials knocked in her hand, two of them. She handed one to her sister. The liquid inside boiled and sizzled.
Luca’s eyes widened. “What is it?”
“It’s a potion we made up. It will kill them, but we’ve only got two.”
“How many can it take out at once?” Quin started counting. How many pairs of eyes could he see in that dark cloud? Ten? Twenty?
“A drop is all it takes, but it’s not exactly easy to measure out and toss, you know? It touches us or you, it kills us. Or you.” The potion sparked in Fate’s hand and she swallowed hard.
“No pressure,” Damien muttered.
“We’ll fight them off as long as we can. We’ll use that when there’s no other choice.” Luca motioned to the potion and Destiny and Fate both nodded.
“You don’t have wands? Broomsticks? Nothing to fight back with?” Quin asked.
They both shook their heads. “They don’t give runaway potion witches magic wands.”
Quin raised his bat. “Okay.”
Luca reached behind Fate, digging behind the back seat, and came out with a tire iron. Quin had seen cop shows where those things had done serious damage, but it looked more pathetic than his bat.
Destiny and Fate had no weapon. Only the potion in their hands. Potion they had one shot at using. Potion that could kill them all if the wind blew wrong.
Awesome.
The warlocks’ chanting rose into a frenzy, the spells humming around them, ready to be thrown. And the smell. The smell nearly made her sick, like a thousand corpses, rotting in the sun.
“Damien, look out!” Fate moved before Qui
n did, shoving Damien to the side just as he swung the bat. Damien was big and solid muscle. When he swung the bat, it sang.
The spell hit the metal and ricocheted off, slinging over the truck and landing somewhere in the rock beyond.
“The metal reflects it! Get something shiny!” Destiny yelled, jarring Quin out of his frozen state of horror. She spun around, her eyes landing on the rearview mirror on the truck. Fate whimpered as Destiny ripped it off and whirled back to the fight as more spells shot out of the darkness, coming from three sides now. Quin angled the bat, hitting the spells back into the cloud. Screaming followed, not chanting, which he took as a good sign.
Destiny followed his lead while Fate dove into the truck and ripped off another mirror. Both girls used the mirrors as shields, flinging the spells back at the warlocks. Bodies dropped out of the darkness, crumpling into the ground to be trampled under the feet of the others, others so intent on bloodlust that they didn’t even see their fallen comrades beneath their feet.
Or maybe they just didn’t care.
They formed an odd sort of square with the truck at their back, fighting off the spells one after another. Quin swung as Destiny ducked out of the way, raising her mirror as another spell came from the right, aimed for her sister’s heart. It was like a well-choreographed dance, one they had never practiced and yet knew inherently. Over and over they flung the spells back.
But there were too many, and no matter how fast they moved, the spells made it through. Quin felt them hit, but they burned him and nothing more. They couldn’t steal his magic like they could Destiny’s or Fate’s. He glanced at Damien, reading his eyes in that brief glance. Take the hit. Just don’t let the spells get to the girls.
Luca apparently had the same thought, as one made it past them all, straight for Destiny. Most of the spells were aimed at her — warlocks greedy for the power they’d tasted. They didn’t know Fate had that same power. They didn’t care. They wanted the blood they’d come for, and the spells came after Destiny more than all of the rest of them combined. When one made it past, Luca threw himself in front of it.
It hit him in the chest. Destiny screamed and dropped to her knees next to him. The warlocks were close enough to see now, close enough to attack with their weapons, and Damien and Quin leaped into their swarm, swinging at anything that moved. Sometimes they connected, most times the warlocks were too fast.
The spells that hit them were more and more powerful. Quin stumbled under the onslaught. Damien caught his arm, pulled him up, and then went down, driven to his knees by the pain.
“Get out of the way!” Fate screamed.
Quin grabbed Damien, cringing as another spell hit him, sinking deep into his back, and they both stumbled out of the way. Fate leaped forward as she jerked the lid off the vial, and flung it at the warlocks nearest her.
The effects were instantaneous and horrific. The warlocks screamed, clawing at their skin as flames erupted from their eyes. The skin bubbled and blistered and blackened, falling from their bones in charred chunks.
“It didn’t kill enough of them.” Destiny spun on Fate, grabbing her shoulders as the warlocks screamed and the ones behind them fought their way toward Destiny. “You’ve gotta take Luca and get him to a hospital. I’ll distract them.”
“I’m not leaving you.” Fate jerked away from Destiny’s hands, eyes flaming. Beyond the burned bodies, the warlocks inched their way closer.
“Damien, get Luca in the truck. Fate,” Destiny jerked the key out of the truck’s door and slammed it into Fate’s hands. “Go save our father.”
Damien jumped to do her bidding, helping Luca climb into the back seat. Fate backed away from Destiny, tears in her huge eyes. “I can’t leave you,” she whispered. Raising her chin, she said louder, “I won’t leave you, Destiny. Quin, Damien, get in!” Fate didn’t break eye contact with Destiny, a colossal war of wills battling between them. The screams had faded to nothing, and the warlock barrier they had created were barely burning coals now. There was no more time.
Quin and Damien ran to the other side of the truck as Luca pushed the door open for them, one hand wrapped around his chest. Quin had one foot inside, his hand on the seat ready to pull him in, when he saw Destiny through Fate’s window. She put two fingers to her lips and raised them to Fate.
Fate screamed.
Without a word, Destiny spun and ran. She leaped through the low flames and sprinted across the lava field.
Quin jumped backward out of the truck and went after her.
He heard Damien, heard Fate scream again in frustration, heard the truck roar to life. He risked a glance over his shoulder as Fate slammed on the gas, spells shattering the windshield and the driver’s side window. Damien burst from behind it, running hard for Quin.
Leaving Fate alone with the warlocks.
He almost stopped and went back. A few had followed Destiny, but she was much too fast for them and they lagged behind, turning back to the truck and their trapped prey. Damien, too, hesitated.
But like Destiny, Fate did not need to be saved. The truck roared like a living thing and burst forward, mowing down the warlocks like weeds as it barreled its way to the road.
Unfortunately, that only seemed to make the warlocks mad, and they focused all their efforts on stopping the truck.
****
DESTINY FELT THE PRESSURE fade, felt their hatred leave her. She slowed and turned, careful now because the rock was jagged and uneven. One fall could tear her to shreds or break a bone.
It would be an instant death sentence.
The warlocks had forgotten her. In their wrath, they had left her behind to follow the truck. Fate’s truck was huge and tough, but it was no match for their spells.
“They want you, not me. You should be the one safe inside this truck.” Fate was furious. Destiny couldn’t remember the last time her sister had been so angry at her. But it didn’t matter. She had betrayed her trust for nothing. The warlocks weren’t even chasing her.
“Remember that spell, Fate? The one we used to sing to make the boys chase us at recess?”
“Adina didna. Adina didna,” Fate responded automatically. Destiny could almost see Fate clapping her hand over her mouth, regretting instantly telling Destiny the spell. “Why?”
“That’s the one.” Destiny raised her hands and started to sing. “Adina didna. Adina didna. Don de donde de da.” Her voice rose as the magic woke inside her, flowing through her veins and up through her wrists, escaping through her fingers. “I’m here. Only me. I am the only thing you see. Want me.”
“Help me. Help me save him, Fate.”
In her head, she heard her sister, soft at first and angry, but then louder, growing with Destiny. The words rose with power and waved over the lava field, catching the warlocks in its grasp. They turned, mindless now, their entire attention focused on Destiny.
Mission accomplished. And she’d never been so terrified.
“Destiny,” Quin bellowed. She jerked her attention from the warlocks as Quin blew past her. “Move your ass!”
Damien was hard on his heels.
She went after them, followed by the horde of remaining warlocks, like a wave of locusts devouring everything in their wake.
She followed Quin, leaping from rock to rock until they landed again on the lava field. It spread below them for miles, but there was nowhere to hide. No shadows to melt into.
No escape.
“The potion, Destiny!” Fate screamed in her head.
Destiny glanced at the vial in her hand, but what good would it do her? Fate’s had taken out five, maybe six or seven. There were still at least double that behind her. Even if she jumped like a basketball star, she wouldn’t be able to get them all.
Unless she got above them all.
To the west, the lava flow rose into a dome. Only about eight feet in the air, but it would be enough.
“Quin!” she screamed, veering to the right.
Neither boy asked questio
ns, only followed her as they scrambled across the field, dodging jagged edges and sharp drops, leaping over the columns.
Behind them, the wave followed, growing steadily closer.
Faster. Must move faster.
She was instantly grateful for cross country. For the hours and hours their coaches had been pushing them to run farther, run faster. For the endurance she had built up over the last several weeks.
That endurance and that speed would keep her alive.
Breathing in short, painful gasps, they crossed the lava flow in a V, Destiny leading the way with Quin on her left and Damien on her right. The warlocks flung spells at them, but her small group stayed just out of reach.
As they neared the rise, she threw everything she had into running, to put on a burst of speed that would get her farther ahead and give her enough time to climb the dome. Her breath hitched in her chest, her heart pounded so hard she thought it might break her ribs. Her side ached and her legs burned, but she couldn’t slow. Not now. Not when she was so close.
She hit the dome and started scrambling up the hill. It was steep and she slid backward several times, tearing her knees and hands open again, ripping the skin on her shins. The third time she went backward, she was stopped short. She gasped, risking a glance behind her. Quin cupped her foot and then pushed, giving her leverage and propelling her higher. Damien, with his long legs, jumped from one column to the dome and scrambled to the top. He caught her hand just as Quin couldn’t reach any higher, and pulled her up. While he turned to help Quin, she ran to the cliff overlooking the lava field below.
The warlocks had stopped just out of reach, still trying to hit her with their spells. They weren’t close enough to do any damage, but she couldn’t get to them, either. As Quin clambered to her side, hands on his knees and gasping for breath, she raised her hands again. “Adina didna. Adina didna. Don de donde de da. I’m here. Only me. I am the only thing you see. Want me.”
The warlocks burst toward her in a frenzy, riding up and over each other like a wave of evil, trying to reach her. With shaking fingers, she pulled the stopper from the vial and raised it over their heads.