Reckoning

by Sonya Weiss

  Though she tried not to, tears leaked from the corners of her eyes.

  “We’ll manage.” I turned and nudged the crocogon with the tip of my shoe. “I’ll drag the carcass away. We don’t want it attracting other animals.”

  “I’ll help,” Juliet offered with a mocking laugh.

  I buried my hands into the pockets of my jeans, knowing her joking was a way to cope with the pain and frustration. “Stone can help carry it.”

  “Keep this near.” Stone left the fire-rock beside her and went to stand at the head of the carcass.

  As I turned to leave, she said, “You saved my life. Again.”

  That brought me up short. “Saving you saves me.”

  She swung her gaze away from mine, but not before I saw the fear in her eyes. “I don’t want to die.”

  “You’ll be okay,” I said. She had to be. If something happened to her, the sun would fall from the sky. I knelt and gently took her chin in my hand. “I will move heaven and earth to get you out of here.”

  Her soft lips parted, and she breathed out my name.

  “Hey!” Stone held his hands out in a what-gives gesture. “You helping with the crocogon or not?”

  I straightened up and moved toward Stone, working to keep my emotions under control so my knees wouldn’t buckle at the thought I might lose the only girl I would ever love.

  Chapter 4

  JULIET

  If I could rewind time, I wouldn’t be trapped in this place. Ah, hindsight. The homework before the lesson. Hindsight is an ugly teacher and usually travels with I-told-you-so as the teacher’s pet.

  The throbbing in my leg intensified, and I maneuvered into a more comfortable position, propping my leg up on a rock to ease the pressure.

  A figure moved in my peripheral vision, and I jerked upright, dropping my damaged leg onto the ground. I sucked in a breath when pain exploded in my calf. A shadow moved closer, and I wanted to cry out, to call back Riley and Stone, but fear stole my voice. When I opened my mouth, no sound came out.

  The shadow separated itself from the wall where it had hovered. I slumped with relief. One of the Supernaturals I’d known from high school who was a grade level behind me came closer. Her nose was red, her face blotchy from crying.

  “I heard the crocogon attack.” She spoke in a whisper like she was afraid of her own voice. In the light the fire-rock provided, her blue eyes were wide, filled with shadows no doubt from the horrors of life in the Void. Her long, slender fingers were white where they gripped the folds of her grimy dress.

  “I’ve walked for hours hoping to find someone. I’m—”

  “Emma,” I supplied for her.

  “And you’re Juliet.” She bit her lip, frowning, and pointed to the dirt. “Okay if I stay?”

  I nodded and she sat across from me. Staring intently at my face, she blurted out, “The seven suns circling your pupil, do they represent the seven suns of Shimea Prime? Are you the one?”

  “The one?”

  “The one the ancient scrolls say was born to stop the Great Extinction. Are you?” She went on, not giving me a chance to answer. “I can’t imagine having such a powerful destiny. Holding the lives of people in your hands. Will you kill all the humans?”

  “I’m not here to kill the humans.” How could I kill a species when my sister was part of them?

  “Oh. I thought you were supposed to save us.” The excitement and hope faded from her eyes and she scowled. She smoothed a small patch of dirt and held her hands toward the warmth of the fire-rock. The glow illuminated her more clearly, and I winced at what I saw. Her face was covered with cuts and bruises.

  “It wasn’t right for the president to destroy our home planet. I would kill every last one of the humans.” She said it matter-of-factly, like the deaths of millions of people were of little consequence.

  “No one knew the space shuttle would put a hole in Shimea Prime’s atmosphere.” The landing had put a hole in our atmosphere, causing our seven suns to go dark and fall, effectively rendering the planet useless to our life form.

  “They came to our planet uninvited.” She narrowed her eyes. “How can you be sympathetic to the humans? They’re monsters.”

  “There’s good and bad in every species.” My sister was proof of that. She was everything good about the Supernaturals and everything good about the humans. I wondered why Emma had such a deep level of hatred.

  “You think there’s good in them after all they’ve done since we came here? Bringing Ragespawn to Earth to attack us? Starting the war? If you ask me, both the humans and the Ragespawn are a horrible species.”

  The Ragespawn were the Tazavorn’s greatest enemy. They bit and scratched like rabid animals, infecting whoever they attacked. There was no cure for their venom once they bit someone. The infected humans would go mad and in turn infect others. I’d lost people I loved because of it. The humans had mistakenly thought they could control the Ragespawn.

  She grabbed my arm, digging her nails in. “If the humans fail to win this war, they’ll only start another one to try and kill us. We’ll never be safe from humans. They all have to die, and you can do that for us.”

  “No.” I pried her hand off my arm and squeezed it painfully. She got the memo and backed away.

  I lifted my face toward the top of the Void where water trickled down portions of the walls in a continual path. This was the only way we’d be able to get anything to drink. The puny amounts wouldn’t be wasted on bathing. After being confined for a while, I was sure we’d all smell as ripe as the crocogon. “Why do you hate the humans?”

  “Besides they’re not one of us? They took my mother. Agents in dark suits came to our house in the middle of the night. I climbed out the window. I haven’t seen Mom since.” Emma’s voice rose, ending on a note of panic.

  I swung my attention to her. “Why would they take your mother?”

  “She worked in the DOD weapons department. They caught her sabotaging their system. She was doing what our leaders told her to do.” She shook her head as if she could clear away the memories. “I have to get out of here and find her. Do you know the right trail to take?”

  I hated dashing her hope. “I don’t know a way out.”

  Her expression fell and she drew little circles in the dirt around the fire-rock. Her movement created dancing shadows on the wall of giant rocks beside her. She reminded me of a Barbie doll with her long blond hair and huge blue eyes. The only thing that didn’t fit the doll image was the desperation on her face. “Mom talked about the Void a few times, and she mentioned the Terrors. Maybe that’s the way out?”

  The Terrors. My stomach clenched. “I don’t know.” Whatever promised to unleash the Night of Grief was housed in that portion of the Void. After the first rebellion led by my father had failed, the leaders used a Supernatural virus to set up the NoG to make our people afraid to rebel again. I didn’t know much about the NoG. Only that it was deadly and horrible. No Supernatural wanted to talk about it.

  Riley had warned me if I attempted to kill the leaders in retaliation for my father’s murder, the stage would be set for the Night of Grief to unfold. I hadn’t believed him. Now it was poised, waiting to be released.

  “But you have heard of the Terrors,” Emma pushed.

  “There isn’t a Supernatural alive who hasn’t.” I turned my attention back to the water trickling down the wall, listening as it made puddles in the dirt. “How’d you end up in the Void?”

  She grimaced. “I confronted a Guard and demanded he find out where the humans had taken my mother. He threw me into the Void before I could even finish speaking.” Emma scratched at a cut on her arm. “I tried to—”

  “Quiet!” I put a hand over her mouth and scooped dirt over the fire-rock with the other. I strained to listen. Something walked stealthily toward us.

  Stone’s familiar signal, an odd sound somewhere between a birdcall and a frog croaking, broke the silence and flooded my body with relief. I hurriedl
y rubbed the top of the fire-rock until it once again produced a glow. The joy at seeing him quickly faded once I realized he was alone.

  I pulled myself up and limped over to him. Clutching the sleeve of his shirt, I feared the worst. He did look pleased with himself. “Where’s Riley?”

  “Relax. I didn’t throw him over a ledge, although it was tempting. After we ditched the crocogon, he said he wanted to check out one of the caverns.”

  The thought unsettled me. “You didn’t go with him?”

  Frustrated, Stone said, “I’m not his majesty’s babysitter. What was I supposed to do? Throw him over my shoulder and run back to you?”

  Behind me, Emma made a noise, and Stone stooped to pick up the fire-rock by the sides, careful not to touch the hot rim of it. He lifted it high, close enough to see Emma’s face.

  Her eyes widened in appreciation, and I didn’t blame her. Even though he’d been beaten before the Void, and his face was a mess, Stone was still hot to look at. The scar that ran from the edge of his right eye to the bottom of his jaw didn’t detract from his appeal.

  “Who’s this?” he asked me, jerking his head toward Emma.

  “Emma,” she introduced herself in a breathless voice. “You said, ‘his majesty.’ Does that mean King Riley is here?”

  “He’s not the king. His weird half brother Ide is,” Stone said.

  “Half brother?” Emma asked.

  “Ide is a mixed-blood,” I explained.

  She flicked a glance at me, then back to Stone, definitely preferring him to me. “It’s not lawful for him to reign. The law says only a Supernatural of royal blood can rule, and those weird half-human creatures definitely aren’t.” She shuddered.

  The leaders had convinced many of the Supernaturals the mixed-bloods were as dangerous as the Ragespawn.

  Stone focused on me, and I knew he was fighting not to say something to Emma. But he wouldn’t betray the secret we carried—protecting the mixed-bloods—to set a prejudiced Supernatural straight.

  My chest tightened. “I’m going to find Riley.” I forced my gimpy leg into action and choked off a scream when pain ripped through me. Bending over, I pressed a hand to my knee but didn’t dare touch the injured area directly. I was afraid I’d pass out if I did.

  Stone clasped my upper arm in a grip tight enough to surprise me as he jerked me upright. “Don’t be an idiot. You can barely walk. Riley can take care of himself.”

  “Take your hand off me. I’m going.”

  Stone sighed, nice and dramatic to let me know what he thought about the idea,

  before digging in the pocket of his pants and handing me the flashlight. “It’ll be easier to walk holding this rather than the fire-rock.”

  “Thanks.” Nudging him with my arm, I said, “I’m sorry for everything you’ve been through. Losing Chloe and all.”

  “Timing is important, you know that. You’ve always known it, and yet, you reacted instead of thinking things through.” He glanced at me, the bitter disappointment easy to read.

  “They were going to kill Riley,” I said, silently begging him to understand. We’d been friends for years and his opinion mattered to me.

  “Juliet.” Stone drew out my name. “I don’t care if you think the guy hung the moon. You can’t put love above an entire species. Had you not led a rescue attempt, maybe you could have stopped the Great Extinction instead of failing.”

  “Wow. That’s kind of vicious.”

  “Better the ugly truth than a pretty lie.”

  I knew it was useless. I couldn’t defend my actions prior to the Void. Couldn’t tell him the truth. He had to think what he wanted to about me. “Whatever, Stone.”

  RILEY

  I walked out of the corridor behind Stone to catch the tail end of Juliet’s argument with him. I wondered what ugly truth he’d referred to. Juliet limped forward. I hurried to meet her and wrapped her in my arms. She shouldn’t be moving around. Every time she did, the T-shirt tied over her wound grew wetter with blood. Seeing all the blood worried me. We were both young. I’d never thought of the possibility that one of us might not live to see the future I hoped we’d have together. Keeping my hand on her back, I jerked my thumb over my shoulder. “I think I found a trail that might lead us out.”

  “Where?” Hope laced Juliet’s voice.

  “Past a line of eight boulders. There’s a corridor divided by—” I stopped talking when I noticed the girl I’d seen in school. “How’d you end up in here?”

  Emma gave a curtsy that made Stone roll his eyes. “Your Majesty, the humans took my mother. I confronted a Guard and demanded he find my mother. He wasn’t impressed.”

  I nodded at her explanation and sat on one of the outcroppings to stretch my legs out. It didn’t slip my notice the way Stone watched Juliet put her hand on my knee to ease down beside me. She might believe there was nothing more than friendship between them, but the way he looked at her was anything but friends only. I scooted toward her until my hip bumped against hers. Stone lifted his eyebrows in a challenge I chose to ignore. The last thing I needed to do was engage in a pissing contest with him. He could hunger for Juliet all he wanted. I knew I was the one she wanted. “The trail isn’t going to be an easy one. Here’s what we’re going to do. First, everyone will—”

  “Hold on a second. Should you even be the one making the plans?” Stone demanded, sending me an ugly look. His hatred toward me had grown since our conversation when Mallen was here. I’d told him Ide’s plan to kill Juliet once we escaped, and Stone hadn’t liked the only solution I could come up with. But since he didn’t have another way to save her, he was forced to accept it. The idea to abandon her in the Void and send someone else to retrieve her to prevent her from walking into Ide’s trap was tearing him up as badly as it was me. I needed Stone to back up the lie I would tell Ide or he’d never believe it.

  Stone wasn’t just angry with me. His anger was fueled by the situation and by what I suspected were his feelings for the girl he would never call his. Spoiling for a fight, he stood and propped his foot beside me on the rock. “You’re not worthy to be king.” He spit at my feet.

  I rose and advanced until my face was inches from his. “Watch your place, soldier.”

  Stone was from the soldier lineage, a Supernatural bloodline destined to serve as protectors for the royal leaders. The Supernatural who’d created Juliet using King Faulk’s DNA was from the same bloodline.

  “Down here, you’re nothing more than a prisoner. You have no authority over any of us, Your Majesty,” Stone mocked, jabbing his middle finger into my chest. His action was a vulgar insult, meant as a slur on the mother of the Supernatural he touched.

  I grabbed Stone’s hand, and in a quick movement jammed his arm up behind his back, shoving his face into a rock jutting out from the wall. “Back down. You don’t get another warning.” I held Stone’s face against the rock for a few seconds before I released him.

  Taking his time, Stone turned and wiped the blood trickling from his nose and lower lip with the sleeve of his shirt. He jerked his head toward Juliet. “She’s the future ruler. I say let her make the plans.”

  I tensed. “I’ll assume the throne.”

  Stone’s lip curled into a sneer. “How do you figure it’s your right?”

  “How? Because of my bloodline, it’s my destiny.”

  “That proves nothing,” Stone argued. “Doesn’t matter if Juliet was created. Her bloodline is still through King Faulk. He was king before your father. That gives her the right to rule. Plus, she’s better equipped.”

  “Better equipped?” I narrowed my eyes. “I was tutored in Shimea Prime’s ancient history starting when I was five years old. At six, I entered combat training. For my seventh birthday, I received instruction in the art of diplomacy among the galaxy leaders. Every year since then I’ve done nothing except train for the day I would assume the throne. I’ll be eighteen in a few days. According to our law, it’s my time and destiny to rule.�
�� My voice carried the authoritative royal ring that made Stone’s eyes darken.

  “What’s wrong Your Majesty? Have a fight with the girlfriend?” he taunted.

  “You wish,” I said, and his face flushed.

  “You’re both forgetting an important detail,” Juliet said in a tight voice, unhappy with us for arguing.

  “What?” I asked.

  “Without a fail-safe, I can’t leave the Void. I’m stuck here.”

  Chapter 5

  JULIET

  The others would be forced to leave me behind. I couldn’t muster enough go-on-and-leave-me-I’m-brave to fool anyone.

  “After we find a way out, I’ll make sure Henry can install a fail-safe in you right here. It’s not an ideal place to operate, but it’ll have to do,” Riley said.

  “Maybe I should stay behind with Juliet instead of leaving,” Stone offered, putting his hand on my shoulder and moving his thumb back and forth in a caress. The move drew Riley’s gaze. There was nothing between Stone and me. Never had been, never would be. Irritated at him for using me, I brushed his hand away. “With the war going on, you should both go. Once you’re out, split up. That way, if one of you gets captured, the other one can get Henry and come back to me.”

  “Or I could stay,” Emma said, even though I could tell she didn’t really mean it.

  Forcing a calmness I certainly didn’t feel, I said, “I don’t need any of you to stay. I’ll go as far as I can with you, and when we find an exit, I’ll remain right inside.”

  Riley paced the area as he thought about it. “I don’t know.”

  When stopped next to me, I said, “You have to. Gather the Supernaturals who fought with me to save you. They’ll help stop the war. They won’t follow Stone but they’ll listen to you.”

  “She’s right,” Stone said.

  Riley raked his fingers through his hair and blew out a breath. “All right. We’ll hit the trail in the morning. Stone and I will take turns keeping watch until then.”