by Tigris Eden
“You are,” a voice said.
“Where are you?”
“Here.”
Olivia stuffed her hands into her pockets as the air chilled further. The calm she’d felt earlier was now replaced by dread as she felt something tap her on the shoulder. When she turned, no one stood behind her.
“What do you want?”
“Same as you, maybe more.”
Olivia stood facing the opening of the cave. Her eyes were wide as she watched the vines pull back, revealing the opening she’d known was there.
“You don’t know what I want.”
“But I do.”
Something caressed Olivia’s cheek, and she flinched. Her body automatically moved away from the phantom touch and towards the opening. The sound of her heart pulsed loudly in her ears.
“What happens when I go inside?” she asked the voice.
“You’ll gain knowledge and the power to be and do whatever you want. They want to control you. I am only here to help.”
“Help how?”
“Olivia, you were meant for great things. There is so much power flowing through you already.”
“Power?”
She didn’t have any powers. Unless you counted arrows appearing out of thin air and into her hand.
“Come inside where it is warm. We have much to discuss.”
“I don’t even know who you are,” Olivia took a step back and found that she was blocked. “Why can’t I move?”
“Our power grows stronger,” the voice whispered in her ear. Like a sweet lullaby, it calmed her, made her feel warm and welcomed. But at the same time, her mind warred and tried to rebel against the pull. Something wasn’t right. As the words whispered across her cheek, a strong gust of wind pushed her forward, causing Olivia to trip. She tried to right herself but lost her balance when her foot got caught in a vine. She almost landed headfirst, but braced at the last minute, using her hands for support. Her fingernails dug into the ice-cold ground as pain took hold of her nerve endings. “Yes,” the voice said from the opening of the cave. “Bring her to me.” The vines around her ankle began to constrict, and like a python with its prey, it coiled around Olivia’s body, covering her from head to toe, restricting her movements.
Immobile, Olivia tried her best not to panic. It wouldn’t do her any good, and it wasn’t like anyone would hear her even if she did scream. But instinct took over, and she began to struggle. The more she tried to escape, the tighter than vines constricted until she could barely breathe. Her lungs began to burn as she tried to draw breath.
“Don’t fight it. The more you move, the harder they squeeze.”
The breath Olivia tried so hard to catch failed to reach her, and as lights flashed at the edges of her vision, she realized this could very well be her end. Hers and that of her unborn child. The voice inside her head once again tried to soothe Olivia, but her body refused to submit. A wave of dizziness hit her hard, causing her limbs to shake as the vines continued to squeeze.
“Slow your breathing and just relax. I promise the pain will go away,” the voice whispered next to her ear. Little by little, the tension left her body, and as she began to relax, the vines let go. “Now, slowly stand and follow my voice.”
Olivia stood and did as the voice asked her to. She followed it into the mouth of the cave. It was dark, and the air, although warmer, smelled like rotting vegetation. The sickly-sweet smell diffused into the humid atmosphere. Trying to find her balance in the dark, Olivia reached out until her hands connected with the rock wall. A slimy rock wall. The fuck is this? The sludge on the wall coated her fingers, and a tingling sensation began. She felt dizzy, sluggish.
“Don’t worry about the texture. It’s a topical solution. It’s meant to help you relax.”
“Relax! Do I look relaxed to you? I’m talking to a voice only I can hear. One that isn’t attached at all to a person or a body. And now I have some sticky shit on my fingers and my clothing. What the fuck is going on?”
“I’ve already told you.”
“Yeah, well, tell me again because I’m thinking this was a bad fucking idea.”
Running was the right solution. Olivia didn’t make mistakes, she didn’t even take risks. She calculated everything down to the last detail. None of what she was going through made any sense, but the evidence all pointed to a few things. Werewolves and vampires were real, she was the Arrow of Power, her long-lost sister was a witch-slash-Seer, and her father was an Incan Sun god reincarnated. Which meant that she was a supernatural being, as well. Hell, her abuela was the local witch. Olivia had never taken the rumor to heart. She’d laughed it off and figured it was just her grandmother’s way of keeping to her culture. But oh, hell no. She had witch’s blood running through her veins. And you could be preggers with a half-wolf, half-witch baby. That about covered her life of crazy in a nutshell.
“Keep moving, Olivia. You are safe inside the cave. You’re almost there.”
The voice in her head had better be right. Because she was fed up. If she could, she’d have gotten off the fucked-up crazy-train of supernatural a long fucking time ago. She didn’t do drama. This wasn’t some Telemundo show where the mother everyone thought was dead returned years later, only to tell her estranged daughter that the man she was sleeping with was, in fact, her half-brother, Ricardo. Nope. Not Olivia. She drank lattes, took spin classes, and took the subway into work every morning. She crunched numbers and analyzed scenarios. Not werewolves and vampires. With no other choice, she walked deeper into the cave. She heard all manner of insects scratching along the surface walls as they moved about. There was a runoff of water somewhere, landing into what she hoped was a puddle.
Without warning, a ball of light appeared.
“This is so not funny.”
She looked around and saw that the cave walls were covered in black moss. It reminded her of the black mold that tried to take refuge in her grandmother’s bathroom. No sooner had the thought crossed her mind, then Olivia was standing inside the doorway of her grandmother’s kitchen. Only it didn’t look quite the same. It looked new. A fresh coat of paint, flowers in pots on the windowsill, the stove a shiny, bright white as if it had never been used. Even the fridge looked brand new. A woman walked past Olivia as if she weren’t there. A young woman who looked a lot like Olivia walked towards a younger version of her grandmother.
“Mother, I can’t do this.”
“You can, child. You made a deal with the Devil.”
“I didn’t know who he was when I slept with him. You could have warned me. You didn’t.”
“I can’t protect you from everything, daughter. I gave you the amulet. You didn’t wear it. What was it I told you, hija?”
“You said they travel among us. But I thought it was just old-woman talk.”
Olivia’s grandmother stood. Her long, brown-and-red hair so much like Olivia’s hung in loose ringlets around her shoulders, no longer silver. “I don’t know this old-woman talk you speak of. All I know is the truth and the wisdom my madre gave to me. I never once doubted a word she said. We come from a long line of powerful brujas. One of the oldest lines, dating all the way back to the Incans. The first of the Incan priestesses, Sacerdotisa Inca.”
Her grandmother shook her head in disappointment.
“What am I supposed to do with a baby? I can’t take care of a child.”
“You can’t, but you will. If I do it, I’ll never let you see the girl again.”
Olivia held in her breath. She’d always been told that her mother was a crack addict, not that her mother didn’t want her.
“He says that she will bring about the destruction of all things. That she will hold all the power of darkness, and that there is no light to be had. What kind of life is that for a child?”
“That is only one version of the truth. The other side could be that she grows into a powerful bruja. Heals people with her magic and her wisdom.”
Score one for team abuela.
The light returned, and the scene changed, dropping Olivia into a place she knew well. Her old bedroom. Inside, her grandmother stood over her bed, helping her to say her prayers.
“Remember, you come from a long line of Incan priestesses. One day, you will grow up, and there will be a path set in front of you that you will not like. But it is one that you must carry out nieta de mi corazón. Granddaughter of my heart. He will come for you, and you must choose.”
“Why must I choose, abuela? Why?”
“Because, little one, there are wars that need to be fought. To protect those who cannot protect themselves. There will always be evil, and because of that, there must be good. Light and dark. Entiendes? Understand?”
“Si, abuela.”
It was all starting to make sense. Her grandmother and the stories. Tales Olivia had thought were just that. But they weren’t. They were life lessons on how to deal with the crazy she was currently facing.
I won’t let you down, Grandmother.
Olivia refused to fail. She would not give up. She needed to get to the Bow.
The light reappeared again, and this time, Olivia was back in the cave, only it seemed smaller. Impossibly small. She was on her stomach in a tight crawl space. She inched forward. The walls all around her made it hard to move. She’d never been claustrophobic before, but it felt as if the tunnel itself were getting smaller and smaller. The sounds of water pushed her forward. And soon, the walls opened wider and wider until she was able to stand. She stood at the edge of the cliff, and below was a crystal-clear lake, water pouring out of two openings on the opposite side of a grotto. Above was a large opening displaying the darkened sky. The stars were starting to come out, and even now, she could see the faint markings of what were the northern lights. Deep blues, radiant greens, and fiery reds all blending together in a wave that stretched across the night sky decorated by stars. On either side of the water were ledges. Olivia looked around when she heard birds. They were small, their feathers snow-white. They looked like finches, but their eyes were an eerie, iridescent blue. There were so many that they covered the bare branches as if they were the leaves themselves. The tree was planted in the middle, and lying against the trunk of the tree was the Silver Bow of Artemis.
No one watched the Bow. No sentries, no Elders. No one. It was there, alone, without guard. It was too easy. Something was off. Olivia made her way over to the ledge and knew that jumping was out of the question. She could clearly see the bottom of the lake, and it didn’t look like it was a long way down. How the fuck am I going to get down there?
“Climb down. There are footholds in the rock wall.”
“Oh, now you want to speak. Where were you five minutes ago when I was crawling through the hole of doom?”
“Right where I’ve always been.”
Olivia placed her hands on her hips and rolled her eyes until she remembered that there wasn’t anyone in the grotto with her except the birds. It wasn’t like the voice could see how pissed she was.
“All right, I want this to be finished. Do I just jump in?”
“No, you must climb down and wade in. Jumping in will disturb Crinaea.”
“Crina-who?”
“The one who guards the Bow. The Elders placed a nymph here to watch over the Bow. Do not worry, she is no harm to you. She only seeks to harm those of the male persuasion.”
“The birds?”
“They are the sacred birds of the dying tree.”
“Right, and the dying tree…what is that exactly?”
Olivia was no scholar when it came to myths and legends, but a tree called the dying tree could not be a good thing.
“As its name states, it is the tree of dying. Those unworthy will die upon first contact.”
The Bow was propped against the tree.
If she touched it, and if the tree deemed her unworthy, she’d die. Fucking die. Shit. Shit. Shit.
The footholds on the side of the wall were not footholds. They were death traps. But she knew she needed to do this. Blue didn’t want her to grab the Bow. Whether it was because he didn’t think she could handle herself wasn’t something she’d worry about now. Olivia took off her jacket and made sure she stretched before attempting to climb down the wall. She took it one step at a time until her feet were on the ground. She turned and looked out over the water where the Bow lay against the tree. It didn’t look like anything special. It was a piece of wood with some string. She could see etchings on the upper and lower limbs, but other than that, it looked to be a regular bow to her.
“Get in the water. Come to me,” the voice pleaded, sounding desperate.
Olivia dove in and swam up to the mound. When she pulled herself out, the birds who sat perched on the branches scattered, flying skyward in a beautiful wave, like starlings taking off in a murmuration before sunset. They flew around her and the tree in a thick circle of feathers and beaks. They were screeching at her. Her ears began to pulse, and the voice that she’d become accustomed to begin to scream. “Pick up the Bow, grab it now, Olivia. They call to Crinaea, grab the Bow before she approaches you. Kill her!”
Olivia reached for the Bow, but as she did, birds broke formation and tried to stop her. Their sharp beaks pierced her skin. If they all descended on her, she’d be killed. She tried again, and it only resulted in more birds attacking. This is bullshit. Get the fucking Bow, Liv. That voice wasn’t her cave companion, it was all her own, coming deep from within her gut. It was the kind of voice that Olivia was used to hearing. This time when she reached for the Bow, she crouched towards the ground and diverted the movement of the birds, so she could roll right under them. Lying on her stomach, she inched towards the Bow, stretching out her arms in front of her until she held the grip secure in her hand.
Somewhere in the back of her mind, she felt that she should have expected what happened next. There was a moment when she and the Bow became one, and then all the other moments after that. It was those heartbeats that defined everything in life going forward. The ground beneath Olivia shook, breaking the dirt under her. Oh, shit. The tree the Bow sat against and the birds circling above disappeared. They were there, then…they weren’t. In their place stood a woman, her back to Olivia. She assumed it was the Crinaea. The woman in question turned before Olivia could ready the Bow. The voice had said to kill the woman. The voice hadn’t led her wrong so far, so she had no reason to doubt it. It wasn’t until the woman turned fully as Olivia drew back the string of the Bow that she saw her face. Her gasp echoed inside the grotto as she stood face to face with herself.
21
What in the ever-loving-hell?
The woman in front of her was her. Her skin was clearer, and her eyes were glossy. And the hair…damn, Olivia was not happy that this other version of herself had beautiful, lustrous hair.
“Shoot,” the voice in her head shouted. And again, Olivia felt the breeze of a hand push her forward.
Why in the world would the voice in her head want Olivia to shoot herself? Or someone who looked exactly like her.
“I am you, and if you’d use your head, you’d see that. What happened to the Olivia who follows through?”
“What are you talking about? I see things through.”
“Sure, you do. Like your marriage. What about that? Your abuela told you not to marry that pompous prick, and you did anyway. You should have listened.”
The other version of herself stood there, tall and proud, wearing a smirk on her face. One Olivia wasn’t used to.
“You know, I’m nothing like you. I’m a better version of you. Always will be. You try and play yourself off as this strong, independent woman when you’re anything but.”
“Shut the fuck up!” Spit sprayed from Olivia’s mouth. Planting her feet into the ground beneath her, she raised her bow and shot. But the other version of her dodged the arrow with preternatural strength and appeared in front of her again.
“Failure is your name, fear is what you reek of. Had you stayed in
your marriage, your life would have been so much easier? Safer.”
“Life isn’t meant to be easier or safer.”
“No, but it should be orderly. You thrive on coordination, you excel at lists. Living in this world with Blue and his people, how do you think you’ll manage? You balk when people try and give orders.”
She did, but it was something she was learning to deal with.
“That’s a simple fix. Compromise. With every relationship, there is give and take.”
“Blue will take everything from you, and give nothing in return. You cannot satisfy him and give yourself over to what only he can provide,” the other Olivia stated firmly. Her eyes had begun to glow, and Olivia realized it was out of anger. She wasn’t prepared for the blow when it came. With blinding speed, the fake Olivia reared back, knocking her to the ground. When she tried to recover, the woman launched herself into the air, landing on Olivia’s chest and knocking all the air from her lungs. “You and your unborn child will not survive the upcoming war if you can’t embrace what is real.”
“You’re....not…. real.”
“Oh, but I am. I’m exactly who you are, and who you try to be, all rolled into one. I’m that badass bitch you’ve been holding back. The stronger version of you. You’re the pathetic version.”
The other Olivia’s hand came down swiftly, introducing the real Olivia to darkness.
Blue lost her scent, and from what he could tell, so had the others. They were still in their beast forms, except for Chiyoko and her girls. Callum kept circling the area where her scent was the strongest, but it seemed to disappear at the same time. There was a wall of rock to his left, and if he stepped forward, a sheer drop-off. To his right was a trail that led down, and he knew for sure that she hadn’t gone down. He and Colin had already scouted the area, trying to pick up her trail. They’d returned with nothing. Shifting quickly, he stood and walked towards the wall of rock.