Yes. That was a good plan.
All he needed to do now was leave. Walk away.
Tristan glanced at the darkened doorway of the cold bedroom that promised him no sleep whatsoever.
Gathering the blanket around her, Scarlet moved from the couch and folded down to the floor in front of the fireplace.
Tristan watched her watching the fire for a long moment.
“It’s peaceful, you know. Watching a fire burn.” Her eyes followed the flames. “Hypnotic, even. The way the flames wrap around what they devour until there is no more to consume. A roaring fire, destined to become quiet embers.”
Looking up at him from her blanket cocoon, Scarlet’s eyes flickered in the firelight. “Wanna sit?”
No.
He needed to leave. He needed to make his feet move him away from Scarlet and into the back bedroom. He did not want to sit.
Tristan sat down beside her.
They watched the flames without speaking for several minutes.
“Do you think it will always be this way?” Scarlet’s eyes stared straight ahead.
Tristan wasn’t sure if she meant the curse or their relationship. But the two were so related it didn’t matter.
He inhaled deeply. “I think…the only thing in this world that is truly immortal is hope. So, no.” He watched a flame lick around a dying piece of wood. “It won’t always be this way.”
Scarlet’s lips parted with a sad smile. Her voice was soft. “Sometimes you say beautiful things.”
He mirrored her broken smile. “Only to you.”
Her blue eyes slid from the fire to Tristan, looking lost and brave at the same time.
God, he loved her.
Their gazes locked for a few moments, before Tristan turned his eyes back to the fire. Scarlet did the same.
She cleared her throat. “Nate thinks your touch erases my memories. He says immortal blood can do that.”
This was news to Tristan. “Is that why he thinks your amnesia is worse this time?”
Scarlet nodded.
Tristan wanted to kick himself. Not only did he kill Scarlet with his touch, but he erased her memories too? He belonged in Hell.
They sat in silence for a while and eventually Scarlet’s eyes grew heavy. She slowly laid down beside Tristan, still wrapped in her blanket as she closed her eyes.
Sleepily, she said, “I know you’re going to leave me.” The fire crackled. “But don’t go, yet.” Her voice trailed off. “Not…yet.”
Tristan looked at her restful face until her breathing became even and peaceful. He had no intention of leaving her.
Not now.
Not ever.
He looked back at the flames and watched the roaring fire burn itself down into embers.
57
The next morning, Scarlet trudged through the wet forest at Tristan’s side as they headed back to the Archer cabin. The rain had stopped sometime during the night, leaving the air clean and crisp. Scarlet stomped as she walked because she was wearing a pair of Tristan’s shoes that were much too giant for her feet.
In her haste the other night, she hadn’t bothered to slip on a pair of sneakers before running to find Tristan, and since Tristan refused to carry her back to the cabin—you could die, blah, blah, blah—Scarlet had settled for a pair of his hiking boots.
She also had on his black leather jacket. Which smelled like him and made Scarlet wish she could attach it to her skin.
They were silent most of the walk, Tristan keeping a good distance between them. Careful, as always.
Well, not always….
Scarlet’s mind drifted back to the flashback of her and Tristan kissing and heat flooded her face.
What a memory. What a wonderful, hot, passionate—
Tristan cleared his throat.
Scarlet stopped reminiscing.
When they finally reached the cabin, Gabriel and Heather met them by the back porch. Heather ran up to Scarlet and hugged the life out of her.
“I’m so happy you’re okay.” Heather pulled back and pointed at Scarlet with a stern face. “Don’t you ever run away again! Do you know how scared I was?”
Scarlet was about to say something sarcastic, but she saw tears in Heather’s eyes and quickly changed her response. “I’m sorry I scared you. I won’t run away again.”
Heather hugged her again. “You better not,” she said into Scarlet’s hair, which was wild and wind-blown from her walk with Tristan.
Heather stepped back and looked Scarlet over.
Scarlet was still wearing her satin pajamas with Tristan’s black jacket hanging below her hips, in addition to his muddy boots. Her hair was tangled and dirty and she didn’t have a trace of makeup on.
Here we go.
Heather looked at Scarlet’s boots, her pajamas, her hair, her face, and said, “I’m happy you’re safe.”
Scarlet blinked.
Heather smiled.
“Oh good.” Nate exited the cabin and stepped off the back porch. “You guys are back and everyone’s alive. Yay. A little update.” Nate tapped a finger to his lips. “An Ashman broke into the cabin last night and stabbed Gabriel with a Bluestone knife that can, apparently, injure immortals, and then ran away, proving tarps are not effective windows and blonds will freak out if enough blood gushes across the floor.” Nate pursed his lips. “Oh, and side note: We need more bleach. At the rate people are bleeding out on the kitchen table, we may as well buy in bulk.”
With a furrowed brow, Tristan looked at Gabriel. “What happened?”
Gabriel explained, “An Ashman stabbed me with a knife that my body couldn’t heal from.” He lifted the edge of his shirt, revealing a large bandage. “It’s fine, but it hurts like hell.”
Scarlet’s face dropped. “Oh my—” She looked at the bandage in horror. “You couldn’t heal?” Gabriel dropped the hem of his shirt. “Are you sure it was a Bluestone knife?”
Gabriel nodded.
Scarlet’s heart began to hammer. “But that means….” She could barely get the words out. “That means Laura has an arsenal of weapons that can kill you guys. And she bought them just a few months ago. Laura…Laura wants to kill you guys?”
Tristan looked angry as he started for the cabin’s back door. “Well, that’s not going to happen. This Ash freak must die. Laura, too. I need knives, arrows, axes—”
“Wait.” Nate held up a hand, stopping Tristan before he reached the door. “It’s awesome that you’re all Rambo about this, but you can’t just go gallivanting in the forest hoping to run into our intruder. You have to have a plan, Tristan.”
“My plan is to kill any and all Ash-people.”
“Ashmen,” Heather corrected.
Tristan raised a brow at her.
Nate shook his head. “That’s not good enough. I stabbed the Ashman and it barely slowed him down. We don’t know how to kill these creatures. We don’t know where they’re coming from, or if Laura is even controlling them. We don’t know anything. “ He paused. “What we need to do is figure out where the fountain is, figure out how to kill these Ashmen, and stick together.” He looked at Scarlet. “So no more solo forest journeys, got it?”
Scarlet nodded.
“But first things first.” Nate clasped his hands together. “Let’s fix the window in the living room and remember to never, ever trust a tarp to keep us safe again, okay?”
Scarlet tried not to panic as she followed everyone inside the cabin.
Laura was trying to hurt Tristan and Gabriel. She was trying to steal Scarlet’s memories.
Laura was her enemy.
***************
Gabriel unwrapped the new windowpane that had come that morning and carried it over to the empty frame in the living room. His wound ached terribly, but it was healing fast.
> With Tristan’s help, Gabriel began installing the window.
“So where did you go?” Gabriel asked, his eyes on the window edges as he slid them into place.
Tristan steadied the glass. “I tried to leave town, but I couldn’t physically manage the distance.” He moved his hand to get better balance. “So I stayed on our property.”
Gabriel glanced at him with a raised brow.
“There’s an old shack less than a mile from here,” Tristan explained. “I fixed it up, made it livable.”
Gabriel nodded and started working on the next edge.
“How’s your stab wound?” Tristan switched places with Gabriel, keeping the windowpane secure against his hands.
Gabriel shrugged. “Sore. But shallow. It’s healing more quickly than a mortal’s wound would, so I guess my immortality wasn’t completely jeopardized. So that’s good news.”
Tristan nodded.
A few minutes later, Gabriel finished with the window and carefully stepped back. Tristan released his hold and stepped back as well, both of them looking at the new, secure window.
A moment passed.
Gabriel dusted off his hands. “I’m glad you’re back. Fighting off bad guys with Nate isn’t as fun as it sounds.”
“And it does sound fun.” Tristan smirked. “What did Nate use to protect himself? A light saber?”
Gabriel smiled. “A Zelda sword.”
Tristan shook his head. “Whatever works.” He paused. “I’m glad you didn’t…die or anything.”
Gabriel gave a quick nod. “Me too.” He moved toward the kitchen as Tristan started walking down the hallway.
It was good to have Tristan home.
58
Gabriel saw Scarlet sitting on the sill of the open window overlooking the backfield. Her long hair fell down her back to her waist, and her face was pale and bland. Tristan had been dead for a month.
It had been a month filled with sorrow and mourning. It had been a month of hell.
He and Scarlet had not spoken since Tristan’s death was announced. It seemed easier that way; to pass her by and mourn in private; to stay away from someone Tristan had loved.
Gabriel almost passed her by again. He was nearly beyond the window when he paused. Sitting in the window was a girl Tristan had entrusted to Gabriel.
A girl Gabriel had promised to care for.
He slowly walked over and stood behind her. She did not move, did not acknowledge him.
Carefully and quietly, Gabriel climbed into the large window frame and took a seat beside her, his legs hanging down the open side of the frame facing the field.
Scarlet had her legs tucked under her chin, but when Gabriel sat down, she let her legs fall over the sill as he had.
They sat in silence, both looking out at the great field, staring at the unending forest and the dipping sun on the horizon.
It was beautiful.
And it meant nothing.
Gabriel thought back to a time when he and Tristan were young and thought they could race to the sun. They had run and run, and still they could never reach the giant ball of light.
And now they never would.
Taking a heavy breath, Gabriel tried to control the aching in his chest. But some aches could not be controlled. They simply had to…be.
Without a word, Gabriel reached his arm around the girl Tristan had loved. Gabriel wanted her to know he felt her pain. He wanted her to know he cared that Tristan was gone too.
But his voice was broken.
So he sat without speaking.
For a moment, Scarlet did nothing but keep her eyes on the trees.
And then, slowly, she leaned into him and a single tear escaped her eye. Gabriel wrapped his other arm around her and embraced her fully. He gently set his head on top if hers and watched the horizon swallow the sun.
The sun he could never reach.
59
Tristan saw Scarlet enter the living room after changing. She no longer wore his leather jacket or satin shorts, so Tristan was able to breathe again.
Nate called out, “Team Meeting!” and pointed a finger in the air.
When he had everyone’s attention, Nate cleared his throat. “There are a few Team Awesome things we need to discuss.”
Tristan leaned over to Gabriel. “What’s Team Awesome?”
“It’s our team name,” Heather smiled.
“We’re not a team,” Gabriel said.
“We are a team,” Nate corrected. “We’re Team Awesome and I’m team captain.” He looked at Tristan. “You can call me Captain. Or Captain America, if you’d like. I’m even willing to settle for Captain Jack.”
Tristan crossed his arms. “Yeah, that’s not going to happen.”
Heather’s eyes lit up. “Ooh! Can we choose code names? Can I be Catwoman?”
“We’re not choosing code names.” Gabriel looked incredibly annoyed and Tristan almost smiled.
Nate cleared his throat. “First and foremost, an Ashman knows where we live and has a weapon that can injure and probably kill immortals. So we need a good defense.” He looked at Tristan. “How did you kill the Ashman in the forest last year?”
“I shot him with an arrow.”
“What kind of arrow?”
“A sharp one.”
Nate rolled his eyes. “Really, dude? A sharp one?”
Tristan shrugged. “It was a standard hunting arrow. Is that what you want to know?”
“Yep.” Nate nodded. “So why did your arrow kill the Ashman, but not my sword?”
“You mean your Zelda toy?” Heather eyed the large sword still propped up against the wall.
Nate pointed to the weapon. “That is not a toy. That is a collector’s item and a real sword.”
“A real crappy sword,” Heather said.
Nate ignored her and looked back at Tristan. “Can you find the arrow you killed the first Ashman with and let me examine it?”
Tristan nodded.
“Okay, next up: Head Ghosts. When Heather went to Scarlet’s house to grab sleepover items, someone used a Head Ghost on her. The logical conclusion is that either an Ashman, or Laura, drugged Heather. Which means Laura probably knows that we have a map to the fountain of youth. So we need to figure out how to proceed with Laura.”
“Well, I certainly can’t go back and live with her,” Scarlet said.
“No,” Nate agreed. “But we might need you to pretend you don’t know anything so you can go back to your house and snoop around without Laura getting suspicious.”
“Ooh, like a spy?” Heather’s eyes lit up as she looked at Scarlet. “Your code name could be ‘Spy Girl’ or ‘The Scarlet Spy’.”
Scarlet stared at Heather a moment, before turning her eyes to Nate. “What do you want me to snoop for?”
Nate sighed. “Anything…Head Ghosts, Bluestone weapons…whatever you can find that might help us figure out what is going on. You said you saw a flower in one of her suitcases? Look through her other suitcases and see what else she’s hiding. You can take Gabriel and Heather with you, to stand guard or whatever.”
Heather smiled and bobbed her head up and down excitedly as she looked at Gabriel. “It’s like going undercover.”
Gabriel blinked. “Except we’re going as ourselves so…it’s nothing like going undercover.”
Heather wrinkled her nose at him.
Tristan inhaled as he thought about the possibility of Laura being after Scarlet. “Laura doesn’t make sense.”
Everyone looked at him.
He continued. “The only people who ever knew about the curse, and therefore knew about Scarlet, are the five of us—since, apparently, the blond is in on this—and Raven. So unless Laura is actually Raven in disguise, then Laura doesn’t make sense.”
No one s
poke for a moment.
Scarlet sucked in a slow breath. “You think Laura might be Raven in disguise?”
Tristan shook his head. “No. No, I don’t think Laura is Raven—”
“But what if she is?” Heather licked her lips.
Gabriel shifted uncomfortably. “Raven’s dead.”
Nate nodded. “Raven is dead.”
Heather said, “Are you sure? Because if Raven was immortal like you guys—”
“Which she wasn’t,” Nate said.
Heather continued, “Then she could have ‘died’, but not really.”
Gabriel looked skeptical. “Laura looks nothing like Raven.”
“So?” Heather shrugged. “There’s plastic surgery and makeup and pushup bras now. She could have completely revamped her appearance to trick you guys.”
Tristan listened to Heather’s theory with a sick feeling in his gut. Raven…alive?
That would really piss him off.
Scarlet tucked her lips in. “But if Laura is Raven then…then…Raven has been my guardian this whole time? Raven, my killer, has been sleeping two doors down from me for the last two years? She’s been feeding me and buying me things and…trying to steal my memories?” Scarlet’s face went pale. “That’s sick.”
Nate cleared his throat. “Let’s not jump to any conclusions. For now, let’s just tiptoe around Laura until we have more information. Scarlet.” Nate looked at Scarlet who was staring wide-eyed at the floor. “Scarlet,” he repeated.
She looked up at him. “What?”
“Can you still do this? Can you still play dumb and sneak around in your house to figure out if Laura is hiding anything else?”
Scarlet raised an eyebrow laced with attitude. “Absolutely.”
“Good.” Nate smiled and looked back at everyone else. “The last thing we need to discuss is the map. I have tried my very hardest to figure out where we’re supposed to start and I cannot seem to crack it.” He took a deep breath. “So we’re going back to Mr. Brooks’ scary emporium of owls to start over.”
Tristan looked around the room. “‘Scary emporium of owls’?”
Awry (The Archers of Avalon, Book Two) Page 28