by Lily Velez
An arrangement that was entirely on me. I’d acted awkwardly in his presence from the start, refusing to meet his eyes or always keeping a gap of space between us, and gentleman that he was, Jack didn’t try to cross over the boundaries I’d newly erected, respecting the space I so clearly desired.
I wasn’t sure what he made of it. No, that wasn’t right. I could tell he was wounded. I would’ve given anything to peek inside his mind and hear his thoughts, hear the inner monologue unspooling with every cut I dealt. What was his interpretation? Did he think I was angry with him? Did he think I somehow held him responsible for all of this because of his ties to the Dark Lord?
I don’t! I wanted to tell him.
Maybe he even guessed that I’d seen something about him in The Cave of Nightmares. He couldn’t imagine what, though. If he’d witnessed what I had, surely he’d be warier around me. No, he didn’t suspect a thing, which almost made it worse.
“Oh, dear. Did the two of you have some sort of lover’s quarrel?” Kai had asked me on our first day in The Everwoods.
My eyes immediately strayed to Jack, a few yards ahead of us, the discomfort between us like a knife twisting in my chest.
“It puts me in a rather difficult position, you know. I’d really rather not pick sides.”
“That’s surprising,” I said. “I wouldn’t have pegged you as the loyal type.”
“Little witch, you cut deeply.” He covered his heart, a gesture that only made me think of Jack fallen to his knees, blood coloring his hands as he stared up at me in shock. I shoved the image away.
“Do I? I can’t be the first one to make that observation.”
“Something you wish to get off your chest?”
I came to a stop and faced him, heat sparking between my ribs like flint against stone. “Did you know about the prophecy concerning Jack?”
There was an unreadable flash in Kai’s garnet eyes. Maybe I imagined it, but I could’ve sworn his wisps of smoke came to a dead halt for the briefest second.
“Well?” I demanded.
“Everyone in the forsaken lands has known about the prophecy for ages. After all, it was through the so-called ‘chosen one’ that the Dark Lord would arise, freeing us all from our wasteland of a home.”
“So when you struck that bargain with Redmond Connelly, you knew what would become of his son, how it would destroy his entire family, but you made the deal anyway.”
“I see. You’re looking for a guilty party.”
“Answer the question.”
“And what is the question exactly? Whether or not I’m responsible for the inevitable descent into darkness that Jack will make, that he’s already begun to make? Sorry to disappoint, but no. You might as well blame me for the rise and fall of the sun. Some things are simply meant to be whether we like it or not.”
I didn’t want to accept that, though. I wanted to rage against something, someone. “The worst part is that you told him you were a friend when you first appeared to him. And yet you willingly delivered him to his doom when you granted those last two wishes.”
Kai’s short laugh was mirthless, an unreadable gleam in his eyes. “I’m afraid you might want to check your facts. A Marked witch can summon any demon to grant the wishes he’s due. It doesn’t necessarily have to be the one tied to the original bargain. I obliged Jack’s first request, yes, but I played no part in the second or third. I didn’t even know he’d walked off that ledge until I felt the expiration of his demon’s mark. That said, if you’re trying to find some redeeming quality about my nature, I’d recommend you find a better use for your time.”
And the fourth and final thing I came to learn about enchanted forests, and perhaps the most important one where it concerned the Warglings now pursuing us, was the simple refrain Kai had shared from the beginning of The Trials. Things aren’t always as they seem.
Minutes ago, as we continued our endless trek through The Everwoods, we’d come across a wolf pup favoring its right paw. It had become entangled in fruit-bearing brambles and was whimpering in a way that pierced my heart again and again, especially when I saw how its struggles only drove the bramble thorns deeper into the animal’s pelt.
“We have to help it,” I said, starting for the pup.
Kai snatched my wrist, yanking me back. “We most certainly do not,” he said. “This reeks of deceit. It’s most likely a trap.”
I wrenched my arm free. “How is a wounded animal a trap?”
“What a perfectly ignorant witch you are. Your kind’s own mythologies are overflowing with stories of gods who time and again assumed the forms of animals to deceive mortals. Or who cursed others to animal form out of spite, a practice common among the company Morrígan keeps. You see an innocent, wounded animal. I see a trickster god ready to dig its claws into an unsuspecting fool.”
If I could go back to that moment, I would’ve heeded his warning. Whether my hunger was to blame or my escalating stress or the gnawing anxiety of my looming destiny, I didn’t know. Maybe I was just angry with Kai. Maybe I was just recklessly stubborn.
Whatever the case, I marched up to the pup, knelt down, and began to slowly untangle it from the brambles, wanting to prove everyone and everything in the Otherworld wrong. And for a few brief seconds, I did feel a prideful sense of satisfaction. See? We don’t have to always fall in line with the way things are. We can change the course of the future.
My thoughts were interrupted when the harmless pup suddenly transformed into a snarling beast double the size of the average wolf. If Jack hadn’t pulled me away in time, its brutally long canines would’ve sunk into the flesh of my neck.
Hence why we were currently running for our lives. Apparently, Warglings never hunted alone. Where there was one, there was an entire pack. In this case, that pack amounted to roughly a few dozen.
We flew past a wall of trees—only to be brought up short by the vast lake before us, though ‘lake’ wasn’t at all the right name for it. It looked like a pit of tar, black liquid gurgling as large bubbles popped at its surface. It reeked of death. It was far too wide to jump over, and it extended length-wise on either end further than the eye could see.
We were trapped.
When I pivoted around, the Warglings had already broken into the clearing, forming a semi-circle around us to further block us in. My pulse lunged into a frenzy. They were terrible looking things, with the trademark red eyes of demon-kind and midnight fur as dark as ash, hackles raised and drooling fangs bared.
Jack drew his weapon, one of three I didn’t think we’d have any use for during our time in The Everwoods. The metal of the sword sang out against its scabbard, the light from the triple moons above glinting off the silver blade.
“We’re going to have to fight them,” he said.
No sooner had he spoken the words, the first of the Warglings launched itself right at me.
29
Scarlet
Shocked by its speed, I was surprised I managed to react. Somehow, my fingers closed in around the hilt of my own weapon. Somehow, they pulled that weapon free. Somehow, they aimed the point of the sword at the Wargling.
The Wargling tackled me to the ground, knocking the wind out of my lungs in a throbbing rush that burned, but the life dimmed out in its eyes, and as warm, dark blood trailed down my hands, I saw why. My sword had impaled him.
Shaking, I shoved the Wargling off me, trying to rise on jellied limbs. The hilt of my weapon was foreign in my hand. It was only the second time I’d ever held a sword. Now I gripped it with fingers that buzzed with adrenaline, my eyes darting from one Wargling to another as I tried to anticipate the next attack.
Black fur and menacing teeth filled my vision as wolf after wolf came at me. I wasn’t versed in the art of swordplay, so I could only frantically swipe the sword and hope my blows connected. Many did, slicing Warglings across their faces and long snouts, their high-pitched yelps sailing into the air.
When I wasn’t quick enough with
the weapon, I used my legs, kicking so hard I thought my kneecaps would knock themselves out of place. My boots connected with ribs and chest bones in sickening crunches that made my stomach spin, but no matter how hard I fought, it didn’t seem to be enough.
The Warglings grew more aggressive, more vicious. One closed its jaws over my ankle and gave a mighty yank, sweeping me off my feet. When I landed hard on my back, my already bruised lungs screamed out. Gasping for mouthfuls of air, I scrambled to sit up and wrench my foot free from the beast’s jaws.
The Wargling wouldn’t give. Like a dog with a chew toy, it jerked its head from side to side, its teeth starting to puncture the material of my boot. A second later, the points pricked at the flesh of my foot.
There wasn’t air in my lungs to scream. My hands clawed at the earth for my sword, but it was out of reach. I lurched forward and struck the beast again and again with my fist instead, hammering its skull. Irritated by my repeated blows, it snarled and lunged for my face.
I reared back with wide eyes as everything came to a standstill. This was it. He was going to tear through my neck and end me. I could think of nothing else.
But then a sword flew through the Wargling’s gaping mouth from the back of its head. The animal’s eyes bulged before their spark blinked out. The Wargling collapsed onto my legs.
My gaze rushed up to Kai as he pulled the sword free, yanked me to my feet, and then speared the heart of a Wargling that had been springing at me from behind. I slumped against him, my ankle roaring with pain.
“You weren’t bitten, were you?’ Kai asked, steadying me to my feet.
Breathless, dizzy, I shook my head. I’d only felt the initial stab of the Wargling’s fangs, but its teeth hadn’t fully pierced my skin.
I didn’t have time to thank Kai for saving my life.
A volley of Warglings leapt for us.
In the chaos, I couldn’t find my sword, so I had only my bare hands with which to defend myself. I knew it wouldn’t be enough. Indeed, within minutes of Kai’s rescue, I was already on the ground again, trying to hold back a Wargling that snapped its jaws in my face, inching closer and closer to my throat.
I tightened my grip on its thick neck with the thought to choke it, every muscle in my body tensing. Surely it couldn’t last much longer without oxygen, but I didn’t get the sense I was adequately cutting off its air supply. I closed my fingers in tighter like a vise, clenching my teeth as I threw all of my strength into this one task.
I thought I was making headway. I thought I’d triumph over the Wargling if I could just hold on a few seconds more.
But then two incisors sank into the flesh of my left upper arm, and a second later, another set of dagger-like teeth bit into my right hand. I cried out as a blistering hot sensation instantly surged through my veins like liquid sun, scorching my insides as if a wildfire raged inside me.
The beast that held my arm pulled me in one direction. The one that held my hand pulled me in another. All the while, a mind-rendering pain battered me again and again in paralyzing shockwaves while my insides boiled and raged in an inescapable inferno.
I thrashed against my assailants but I couldn’t free myself from their jaws. Their teeth only sank deeper still, eliciting further outcries from my mouth as the heat in my veins escalated. Only paces away, half a dozen Warglings charged for me, ready to feast upon my blood and bones along with their kin.
They’re going to eat me alive.
I needed to move. I needed to defend myself. I registered the thoughts, but it was as if the scene was a blur, as if I were frozen from shock. My limbs felt heavy and made of lead, my mind whirling from the pain still coursing through me. I pulled again and again against the Warglings biting me, but I could barely feel my arms anymore. I could only stare as the incoming Warglings leapt into the air to pounce upon me.
Suddenly, a deafening thunderclap cracked the sky in half as tridents of brilliant white lightning skewered each Wargling in place, instantly striking them dead.
Jack.
I wrenched myself free from the jaws of the lifeless Warglings and stumbled to my feet, only for my wobbling legs to collapse again. Kai materialized at my side, trying to help me stand, but I was too shaken, my head still spinning, and I fell again. Resigned to remain on my hands and knees for a moment, I watched as Jack singlehandedly battled the last of the Warglings.
Once sure I was out of harm’s way, he turned his attention back to the beasts, resuming combat. My throat dried as I watched him. He looked…feral. He looked as wild as a man who’d lived among beasts his whole life. I’d seen him fight demons at Uisneach, of course, but there was an anger in him now that hadn’t been present then, a rage that fueled his strength and power.
Furious bolts of lightning continued to stab at the earth, spearing Warglings by the many, the stench of singed fur and burnt flesh filling the air. When he didn’t wield lightning against them, Jack merely threw out a hand, dispatching mighty blasts of air that pummeled the Warglings, crushing them against the distant trees.
His dark hair, wet with perspiration, fell over his forehead as he swung his sword, as he swiped and sliced and cut and tore like a butcher. The muscles in his upper arms strained against the sleeves of his tunic, dirt, sweat, and blood painting his skin so that he looked like a soldier in the trenches of war.
It was strange to think that even now, in this raw and terrible moment, he looked beautiful. But he did. He was like a brave-hearted warrior straight out of a myth, laying his enemies to waste, no one able to withstand his might.
When at last he stood amongst the carnage of his victorious battle, I couldn’t pull my eyes away, the vision of him seared in my mind like an everlasting portrait. The dark against the light. Yes, I realized with a devastating shudder of my heart, that was exactly what he looked like, like that dark version of Jack I’d glimpsed in The Cave of Nightmares.
No! I objected, awash with shame. How could I think such a thing? There was no evil in him.
Except that as he caught his breath, he happened to glance down at one hand. It was sleeved to the elbow in the Warglings’ dark blood, thick drops dripping from his knuckles. Jack’s gaze remained fastened on the sight for a moment too long, something unexpected flickering in his eyes.
Hunger.
Oh, no.
Dread filling me, I started forward, ignoring the jolts of pain in every corner of my body. Kai’s hand squeezed around the crook of my elbow, holding me in place.
“It’s only weakening him, abstaining from the blood.”
I tried to pull free of him, but Kai wouldn’t give. “He doesn’t want to be dark!” I exclaimed, panic threading around my bones in tingling ribbons.
“Are you so sure? The dark magic is calling to him. That’s the nature of his curse, and it always will be. There’s nothing you can do about it. You have to let him take this path.”
I switched my eyes back to Jack, saw the war playing out in his eyes.
Your battles are my battles, Jack had told me not so long ago. You never have to face them alone.
And he’d stayed true to that vow. He’d come after me in The Cave of Nightmares. He’d saved me from myself. Gods only knew how he’d managed to fend off his own fears, but he had. I wanted to believe that part of the reason he was able to do so was because he knew I’d need him.
It goes both ways, I’d told him when I’d insisted on accompanying him to the Otherworld. That’s what we did. We stood by each other’s sides. We never abandoned the other.
And I wasn’t about to change that now.
I’d thought that keeping my distance from Jack was the surest way to save him, but right this moment, keeping my distance was the last thing on my mind.
Breaking away from Kai, I raced to Jack.
Every part of my body ached, but I pushed the pain aside. I stumbled more than once, the ground seeming to tilt as nausea built in my stomach. Still, I continued forward, ignoring the flames charging through my blood,
the way my Wargling bites burned like brands.
“Jack!” I cried out.
My voice ripped him from his trance. When his eyes found me, he blinked a few times, as if clearing away a cloud of thoughts. When he realized how he looked, how what he’d been considering was so evident, shame pulled at his features. But he didn’t drop his hand.
“Jack, don’t,” I said, panting by this point as the fire within me began to lick at my lungs. I stepped over the bodies of countless Warglings to draw closer to him.
“Maybe this is who I am,” Jack said, despair carved into his face. “Maybe it’s time I accept that.”
I was already shaking my head before he’d even finished speaking. “You, and only you, get to choose who you are.”
He swallowed hard, his eyes returning to the glove of blood he wore. One simple move. That’s all it would take for the blood to meet his lips, for the dark magic to overtake him.
“I don’t know how much longer I can resist the urgings,” he said. “They’ve become stronger than ever.”
“And you’re stronger still,” I told him, though it pained me how much he’d struggled with this in secret. “Please, Jack. Take my hand.” I extended it his way, my fingers reaching for him, yearning for him.
There was a long, pregnant pause. In that agonizing moment, I realized how little I knew of Jack’s curse. I considered with crippling anxiety that maybe he didn’t want what I wanted for him. Maybe he was too tired, too taxed to continue fighting this battle. Maybe all he wanted was the sweet release of giving in.
Please, I begged.
There had to be a reason Jack and I had been thrown together in the melting pot of destinies. There had to be a reason we remained at each other’s sides even now. Not to be each other’s downfall, no…but perhaps to be each other’s salvation. I had to believe it even when all evidence pointed to the contrary.