A Chosen Life

by K. A. Parkinson

  “How?”

  “They are summoning every monster known on this earth to try and intercept us. They would not do that for just any Chosen.”

  “Then let’s go somewhere else. Hide somewhere else.” Her voice rose, the clerk glanced over at them curiously.

  “Shh, Macy. There is nowhere else close enough with the kind of power needed to shield Tolen until he learns to shield himself . . . ” Bastian stopped talking when Tolen appeared beside them with a forced smile.

  “Talking about me again? I seem to be a favorite subject. I had no idea I could be so interesting.” His casual tone did not hide the frustration in his eyes.

  Macy ignored him, more focused on keeping her Kuna under control, and followed Bastian to the counter where he paid for their items.

  Tolen trailed behind as they walked back to the Jeep and stood off to the side as Macy popped the hood and poured oil into the motor; her hands shook so much she could barely hold the funnel still. Bastian followed her to the gas hatch and put his hand over hers as she dumped in the carburetor cleaner.

  “Are you alright?”

  “Seriously?” She shot him a glare.

  “Um, Bastian?” Tolen walked toward them. “What’s that?” He pointed across the street to a row of old shops.

  “What is what?” Bastian lifted his hand to shade his eyes.

  “Do you see that?”

  “See what?” Bastian and Macy asked at the same time.

  “That row of trees in front of those shops. They’re swirling with color.”

  “You can see colors in the trees?” Bastian’s jaw went rigid.

  “Yeah, red and gold.” Tolen curled his fingers into a fist and dropped his arm to his side.

  Bastian and Macy both leaned forward. Macy couldn’t see anything, but Bastian gripped the side-mirror. “They are sending you a warning.”

  “Uh, duh! Ya think?” Macy poked Bastian’s back.

  “Get in the Jeep. Now!” Bastian shouted but Tolen took off across the street.

  “Tolen, what are you doing?” Bastian ran after him, Macy close behind.

  Tolen stopped beside a small red-leaf maple tree, put his hand on the bark, and closed his eyes.

  “It’s Ardia! She’s in a different tree, but it’s her. I can hear her.” His eyes snapped open.

  Bastian circled the tree.

  Macy’s heart pounded. The tree from beside the river? “But that was a willow tree.” She looked at Bastian.

  “How is it possible?” Tolen ran his hand along the bark, a relieved, tender sort of smile on his face. The tree trembled under his fingers.

  “The life forces of plant life are interconnected.” Bastian watched the exchange with awe. “They can choose to leave the place of their birth, and flit to other plants that will allow them room. It is uncommon however, as once they do, their lives are considerably shortened.”

  “I can’t believe it.” Tolen whispered. “She says she’s followed me since the day I was born.” One of the small branches lowered to touch the top of his head.

  Bastian turned to Macy. “Ardia is the good energy I felt following us. We need to get back on the road. Can you inform her of our situation? Perhaps she knows a better way to the Binithan.”

  Tolen closed his eyes and answered a few seconds later. “She says she knows the route, but it’ll still be difficult. The Shadows are gathering in a huge coastal storm.” He started back to the Jeep. “If you let me drive, Ardia can lead the way for me.”

  Bastian nodded and helped Macy into the front seat. “I will use the time to try and see ahead.” He climbed in the back and put a hand on Macy’s shoulder. “Will you be all right?”

  She shrugged off his hand. She’d already guessed they were heading straight for the Shadows.

  Bastian sighed and squeezed her hand. “I’ll protect you.”

  Whatever. Macy avoided Bastian’s eyes, not wanting to see how her attitude affected him. She hated being rude to him, but this was exactly what she’d been afraid would happen. Yeah, she wasn’t about to go down without a fight, she’d just been hoping deep down that a fight with the Shadows wouldn’t actually happen. Now it wasn’t only Shadows, it was DéHool!

  She glanced at Tolen. His strange eyes were focused on the road ahead, but every once in a while they would flick to the plant life outside the windows and Macy wondered fleetingly what it was that he saw. Whatever it was, she knew it was only going to lead them from bad to worse.

  She leaned her head back on the seat and tried not to think about what was waiting for them in California.

  o o o

  Tolen watched Ardia’s bright blue life force dart from tree to tree, his heart hammering so hard in his chest it felt like it was trying to leave his body. Macy’s stories rushed through his head, filling him with dread. He was a Chosen and the Dark wanted him. Macy had neither confirmed nor denied that the Dark was after him specifically, which didn’t give him any hope that he was wrong.

  So, you trust the Watcher and his disrespectful ward? Ardia interrupted his thoughts. The harsh way she said Watcher reminded him of the way his mother first reacted to Bastian.

  I don’t know. I don’t exactly have a lot of options. I need answers and I’m hoping Dane’s people at the Binithan can help me. Is it Macy and Bastian you don’t trust or just Watchers in general?

  He felt a tremor of fear from her. It’s complicated.

  Why?

  That is a story that will take too long to tell. For now, stay on your guard Tolen. I will watch them and help you whenever I can.

  Thank you Ardia, for following me. It’s nice not to be alone. Tolen wanted her to tell him the story that made her not trust Watchers, but right now there was something bigger worrying him.

  Ardia, what are the Shadows?

  Her soft voice filled his mind. The Shadow Wraiths are a creature of the blackest kind. They are the most fearsome weapon of the Dark. Protected and hidden, they are only awakened when the risk of losing them is less important than their mission. They once belonged to the Whisperers; a noble race of wind creatures that spoke to the world through the wind. They sang such beautiful music. They called in the rain and beckoned in the sun . . .

  Until the Dark took them.

  Now they are black as ash and just as filthy. Their music has changed from soft whispers on the wind into horrible gales that pierce the soul and deaden the heart. They magnify the Fear created by the Dark to the highest degree. When they cover you, you lose all that you are. You forget yourself, your purpose; all that matters to you disappears until you are lost in the black dreams of the Dark. Most do not return. Most dissolve into the mist that makes up the Shadow Storm.

  But some, lost in a living nightmare, are taken . . .

  Tolen swallowed. Where Ardia? Where do they take you?

  Into their realm . . . to the Shadow Prison; where the Demon Masters use Tormentors to rob you of your gifts, your thoughts, your emotions, all that you are, until you become nothing more than a mindless slave to the Dark.

  That was what had happened to his father. Tolen’s hands tightened on the wheel. How fast can the Shadows move?

  It depends on the strength of the storm they are controlling. The one headed for California . . . its wind speed is extremely fast.

  Will we beat them to the Binithan?

  I do not know. Ardia replied hesitantly.

  Tolen pushed his foot down harder on the gas pedal. The engine whined in protest.

  “You might not want to do that.” Macy mumbled from beside him. She sat with her feet up on the seat, her chin on her knees. She looked smaller, almost weaker somehow.

  Tolen eased up a little, and the speedometer dropped below eighty. “Sorry.” His heart raced and he realized he not only needed to ease up on the Jeep, he needed to focus and stay calm.

>   “That’s okay. If it was up to me, I would have stolen a jet to get away from the Shadows,” she whispered.

  “You can fly too?” His heart slowed as he listened to her voice.

  Macy shook her head. “I wish. Bastian’s not a fan of flying.”

  “Why?”

  She shrugged and swallowed loudly.

  “Are you okay?” Tolen glanced over. She was trembling. Her arms were wrapped tightly around her legs as if she was trying to hold herself together.

  She nodded but didn’t speak.

  “Ardia told me about the Shadows.” He looked out the windshield at the darkening horizon. “I thought the Raksasha were bad.”

  Macy leaned her head on the window and took a deep breath.

  Tolen looked at her ashen face. “I take it you’ve dealt with them before.”

  “Just once.” Her voice cracked.

  Something unpleasant clicked in Tolen’s brain. Macy said her parents were dead. Could the Shadows have had something to do with it? He looked in the rearview mirror to see Bastian staring at him; he gave a slight nod.

  An uncomfortable lump formed in Tolen’s throat. He reached over and laid his hand over Macy’s clenched fist. Warmth surged up his arm and seemed to crash right into his heart.

  She looked at him, her eyes unable to mask the anguish she obviously felt.

  Tolen offered an understanding smile. The corner of her mouth lifted before she looked away, pulling her hand out from under his, and the warmth disappeared.

  He took a deep breath and focused back on Ardia’s life force, while a strange and overwhelming desire to protect Macy filled him, body and mind.

  The stupid part of such a feeling was that he didn’t have the faintest idea how.

  Chapter Thirteen

  Into the

  Storm

  Tolen’s blue eye shifted and he saw Ardia’s life force flash twenty miles ahead, from a half-dead Juniper tree. He felt mostly in control of his emotions. He couldn’t feel a trace of anger. Instead he felt an odd combination of trepidation and excitement. He could feel the vibes of the Shadow’s darkness ahead when he concentrated, just as Macy said he would figure out, and he understood that they caused the sense of foreboding he felt. He didn’t like that it was his fault that Macy would be close to them, but he couldn’t deny the tiny measure of excitement he felt to be going to a place where he could start to find out what had happened to his mother and best friend and more about his dad. Dane mentioned in Green River that they wouldn’t be staying at the Binithan for long, but maybe because of what had happened they would decide to let him stay. Maybe then he wouldn’t need the Watcher anymore.

  A tiny spasm of regret followed this thought. If the Watcher left, so would Macy.

  You’re close. Ardia’s voice echoed through his mind and pulled him back to the present.

  And the Shadows?

  Building . . . and gaining speed. Her tone turned urgent. Tolen, I do not know if you will make it in time. You must hurry!

  We’re going as fast as we can.

  I am going into the park ahead of you. I want to check your path. Keep on your current course. Follow the road. I’ll be back.

  Tolen took a deep breath. Okay.

  “She does not think we will make it in time?” Bastian leaned forward between the seats and Macy wrapped her arms tighter around her legs, her fingers leaving imprints in her skin.

  Tolen squeezed the steering wheel and relayed what Ardia had said.

  Macy’s lips turned white. Tolen wanted to console her, but he had no idea how. How do you console someone when they are headed toward something that had taken all they loved most? He felt sick at his earlier excitement, and determined that this time he wouldn’t be a danger to the others. He would do his best to fight any way he could. He glanced in the rearview mirror. Bastian was rubbing his temples with his eyes closed.

  “Phantoms,” Bastian whispered.

  Macy gasped.

  Tolen! Phantoms! Fear laced Ardia’s scream.

  “What are Phantoms?” Tolen shouted.

  Bastian’s reply came out in a nervous rush. “Demon spirits—as evil as Ardia is good. Dark servants put them into the skeletons of dead or dying trees and the Phantoms reanimate them.”

  Tolen remembered the strength of the trees in Green River, the ones that had been fighting for him in the battle with Jeff and his friends. He imagined that kind of power fighting against him, and his palms started to sweat.

  Ardia, what are they doing?

  They have been put into nearly every dead tree in the park Tolen. They’re everywhere!

  “What do we do?” Tolen asked aloud.

  Bastian and Ardia both answered at the same time. We fight.

  The clouds in the distance were flat black. They blocked the sunlight— it looked like evening instead of midday.

  “Tolen, turn up the radio.”

  He did as Bastian asked and the long beep-beep-beep of the Emergency Broadcast System echoed through the jeep, followed by the computer-generated voice repeating the same warning. A radio announcer came on right after the warning, his voice muffled by the wind blowing in the background.

  “A storm of record proportions is making its way along the California coast. Evacuations as far inland as Tule-lake continue. Even the Lava Bed National Monument has closed; all visitors have been escorted out. Meteorologists are unsure how long this storm will last and are telling residents to head to their basements or storm shelters, and stay away from windows—”

  Bastian leaned forward and switched off the radio.

  Tolen was grateful for the silence. Bastian said it should be easier for him to avoid that warm safe place in his mind, but as they neared the Shadows, the temptation to go there was stronger and harder to fight than he’d believed it would be. He clenched his teeth in frustration. He could do it.

  Bastian started singing as soon as they passed the first sign indicating the remaining distance to the Lave Beds. His deep voice resonated through the interior of the Jeep, sending waves of calm calculation flooding through Tolen. His panicked heart slowed slightly and the fight to stay conscious got a lot easier.

  Macy remained pale and sweaty beside him. The farther they went the weaker she seemed, but the look on her face now was resolute. She started to pull more stuff out of her belt. Not the dirt she used to make the Glockshaw, but what looked like small, softly glowing green rocks.

  “Tolen, pull into that rest stop.” Bastian pointed at a blue sign.

  Tolen maneuvered the Jeep into the slow lane. “I thought we were in a hurry.”

  “We are not going to beat them there. We need to prepare.”

  Tolen’s stomach clenched as he guided the Jeep into the empty lot and set the parking break.

  Ardia echoed the Watcher’s statement gravely. He is right.

  Macy held two of the green rocks out to Tolen. “Serenity Stones,” she answered his questioning look without emotion. “Put them in your ears.” She waited for him to take them, handed two to Bastian and then put a pair in her own ears.

  “The stones help counter the fear caused by the Shadows,” Bastian explained. “However, the emotions they evoke are artificial and the stones will eventually dissolve.”

  Tolen pushed them into his ears. They weren’t hard as he had expected. They seemed to mold themselves to the shape of the inside of his ears until he couldn’t feel them at all. Instantly, a warm blanket of peacefulness fell over him and a desire to defend those around him intensified. It was strange having the two conflicting emotions— fear and serenity—swirling through his body. He could still hear every noise around him as if he had nothing in his ears.

  Macy grabbed handfuls of what looked like tiny pieces of dried grass out of a bag he recognized as one she’d been filling in his garden, reached over, and sp
rinkled it all over him. “Camouflage,” she mumbled.

  It was oddly heavy and seemed to attach to his skin. He felt strangely giddy and his defenses climbed higher still. The clash of emotions was getting uncomfortable.

  Macy covered herself and Bastian with the herbs as well.

  Tolen sniffed his arm. “This smells familiar.”

  “Your mother has been mixing it in your soap and laundry detergent to help mask your scent, just in case.” Bastian responded.

  “Oh.” Tolen ignored the pang at the mention of his mother. “Do all these emotions actually help against the power of the Shadows?” His voice came out stronger and louder than he intended.

  “Yes.” Bastian murmured. “The Shadows use fear and anxiety in order to weaken their prey. We must prepare for the assault that is to come. Emotional weapons are by far the most dangerous. The stones will help keep the Shadows from draining us at a distance and the Camouflage will mask the smell of our blood from the Raksasha—hopefully buying us some time. We should have an hour at least before the stones dissolve and we sweat off the Camouflage.”

  “What happens if they get close? How are we supposed to fight black clouds?”

  From yet another pouch, Macy pulled three skinny rods, about three-inches long, covered in old leather, and handed them out.

  “That is a Light spear, Tolen.” Bastian laid one of his huge hands over Tolen’s, stopping him from un-wrapping the rod. “It must be used as a last resort. Light spears are extremely powerful and will drain your life force quickly.”

  Tolen put the rod in his front pocket. “How do I use it?”

  “Get back on the road and I will explain.”

  Tolen turned the Jeep back onto the nearly deserted highway. His arms trembled so much it was hard to steer.

  Bastian spoke in a low voice. “The Shadow Wraiths are made up of a thick, black, oily mist. They darken the clouds to the nearly opaque black you see ahead. When they prepare to attack, they leave the storm and encircle their victim. Depending on their purpose, they either carry you in their black dreams to the Shadow Realm where they will imprison you, or they drain the life from you.

  “If the Shadows get close enough that they begin to leave their storm and descend upon you and their dark Fear begins to fill your heart, you will open your spear and hold it above your head. The strength of the good inside of you is intensified by the power of the Light that is contained within the spear. It will cast a dome of protection over you, enabling you to run away. I only hope we will not have to use them until we are near the Binithan. If we use them too soon and we are not close enough to the entrance it could weaken us to the point of collapse—” He stopped when a soft whimper escaped Macy’s throat.