She came to put her arms around me. “I’m so sorry.”
It was weird to have a female that wanted to be nice to me. I still didn’t feel comfortable to hug her back.
The door opened; Alex and one of his friends walked in talking about my training. He stopped when he saw Fancy hugging me. “You okay, Fancy?” She looked at me and I shook my head no just slightly so that she wouldn’t say anything.
“Yeah. Good. What’s up?” She looked over at me.
“I was talking to Gauge about her training, and I think we are going to take her out for a hunt first. Are you sure everything is good here?”
She took a step forward. “Yeah. Everything is good.”
He turned to Gauge while still looking at Fancy and me. “Maybe we should set her up in the obstacle course first?”
Gauge looked at me. “She’s not ready for that, Nomad.”
Nomad, Gauge, and Fancy? What kind of names are these? I looked at Gauge. “Why don’t we give it a go?”
They all turned toward me when I said it.
“You sure?” Fancy asked.
I looked at Alex. “Yeah. Let’s see what I’m up against.”
He smiled at me. “Okay then. There’s training clothes over there. Grab your size and get changed. We’re going to drive up to the obstacle course.” He nodded to a cabinet and then walked out. Gauge followed him and Fancy after that.
Okay, now was my opportunity to prove that I was capable of handling whatever they threw at me. I walked over to the cabinet and picked out my size of these camouflage military grade style uniform pants and a green T-shirt. There were boots, but I preferred my gray converse. I walked outside seeing the sun beat down on us. It was warmer here, no snow. I wondered how far away from the Callamores’ home we actually were.
Alex was standing by a black Jeep Wrangler without doors. “Get in.” He’s such a nice person, I thought. I’m really starting to dislike him quite a lot. “Let’s get going, Striker.” He put the Jeep into gear and we started moving.
Fancy was sitting next to me. Gauge was behind us, standing in the back, holding on to the roll cage of the Jeep as we moved, and Alex and Striker in the front. What an interesting, high-strung, outcast group. I started to feel that I might actually belong here as we drove over the dirt road to the obstacle course I was about to start.
The Jeep stopped suddenly and Gauge jumped over the side of the Jeep, looking out to an overlook of their obstacle course. Alex got out of the passenger seat and reached into the back where Gauge had been, picking up a bow and quiver then turning to me. “Get out.” I looked at him. “Now.” I quickly got out of the Jeep and he looked down at my feet. “Too good for boots?”
I looked down. “No. These are just more comfortable.” I looked back up at him.
“Fine.”
He walked past me putting the quiver over his shoulder and pointing out at the edge of the trees. “Start. Finish. Goal: Don’t get hit.”
I looked out at where he was pointing and tried to see everything that was down there, I turned back to him wanting to ask him a question but he cut me off.
“Run.” He pulled an arrow out of the quiver and put it on the bow then aimed directly at me. I had a second of panic then red vision as I ran.
Fancy jumped out of the Jeep as I passed. “She’s fast.”
Alex didn’t say anything as I heard him breathe out, and he released the arrow. I didn’t turn toward it, I just dodged. As I dodged it, I triggered a combination of artillery that was thrown at me, with some of the debris hitting my arm, tearing through my skin.
I stood and heard Fancy speak to Alex. “Okay, it’s not funny anymore. Alex, stop.” He didn’t say anything back to her, but I heard him breathe out again in a long breath. I jumped into the muddy water as the arrow grazed my cheek. I heard indistinct yelling as I went under the water. I stayed there a bit longer until I couldn’t hold my breath anymore. I was exhausted, but I continued forward knowing that I had to finish this course. I drug myself out of the water and looked over into their direction, and then I ran in the opposite direction as fast as I could. My heart was racing, and my muscles hurt from jumping and crawling through barbed wire. It tore into my side, ripping through my shirt and skin as I passed. I continued as I heard him breathe in again and I could hear his heart beating, he was angry that I was still going.
Striker started moving toward Alex. “She’s had enough.”
Alex released the bow, and I turned. I was angry he was actually trying to hurt me; when I reached for the arrow that was headed directly for my chest, I threw both my hands in front of me and ignited the arrow with a wispy ball of fire.
I looked at them. “You will not win.” I threw the arrow that was burning onto the ground and ran. I was almost done with this course they wanted me to complete.
“She is going to complete it,” Fancy said loudly to the rest of them.
“No, she won’t,” Alex said and then jumped off the edge of the small cliff where they were watching me. He took another arrow and shot toward me, and I dodged it and climbed up the dirt mound that was about three times my height. My feet couldn’t keep up with the dirt. It was crumbling under them as I tried to climb over it. I heard him coming behind me. He was breathing hard and running fast. I was struggling for any kind of stable foundation and then it happened. The dirt under me gave way completely. As I started to fall he lowered the bow, jumping at me and pushing me to the ground as he knelt over me and forced me to the ground.
“What is wrong with you?” I screamed as I tried to break free from his hold.
He moved his forearm to my neck, and I couldn’t speak or breathe. I could hear the others running toward us. “Alex, stop!” He stayed there staring me in the eyes like a predator.
I tried to speak as very few words came out almost unrecognizable. “G…get off m…me!”
He was suddenly pulled off of me by Striker and Gauge. “What happened?” Striker asked holding Alex back. They all looked at me. I stood and turned to walk away from all of them rubbing my sore neck.
“Wait, Shay,” Fancy called out to me.
I ignored her and kept walking. I didn’t have to put up with this. I continued walking until I found a lake and sat on the rocky overhang and tried to calm down. I started to think about Declan and Duncan and how they must feel without me around. Maybe they didn’t even miss me. I wouldn’t miss me, especially if they were being fed lies about what was really happening. Or am I being fed the lies? I stayed there until it started to get dark and I decided to come back to get my things. I would rather be killed fighting for someone that I loved than to be sacrificed because someone has an inferiority complex.
I shuffled my feet as I returned to The Farm the way they had driven me out to the course. It was about three miles away from the warehouse.
➢24 Unconditional
Fancy was standing outside the warehouse at The Farm on the phone with someone. “Wait. She’s back. We need you here.”
I walked up to her. “I want to leave.”
She looked at me and shook her head. “No. You can’t leave. We really do need you here.”
I just looked at her with a straight face. “So he can kill me instead of the Morrígan. I think I’d rather not.” I walked around her. I went into the dorm area and grabbed my bag, not even changing my dirt-soaked clothes.
I heard someone coming from behind. “Please don’t leave us yet.” It was a deep voice that I had come to find comforting. And then a brief hint of cinnamon permeated the room.
I turned. “Your guard is an asshole.”
He saw the dried blood on my arm and the scrapes covering my body. “I see.”
I turned back to pick up my book bag. “Do you?”
He took a deep breath. “Will you sit with me for a moment?”
I nodded my head, agreeing to his request. The moment he sat he became the most comforting person to me, and I couldn’t explain why. His eyes looked more aged at this
point and he leaned his staff up against his outer thigh after he sat keeping his hand on the handle. He sat very straight waiting for me to sit down with him. I gave in and wanted to hear what he might have to say to keep me from walking out. He made eye contact with me and didn’t look away.
“Alexander has had many obstacles, much like you have. He lost his parents just after he was born and was raised by good people, but they were not our people. I came to find him when he was almost thirteen and about to go into his first transition. He had no idea what was happening to him, and he did not know how to stop it. Much like what you have been through lately. He is a strong willed young man and a little too wild at that point in his life. He needed a friendly push in the right direction. I do not want today’s events to detour you from the progress that you can make while here. He is angry that you do not want the abilities that you have been given, and he thinks that you do not want to save our species. You have been born into this amazing world that most people will never know exists. Don’t conceal your abilities because you are afraid.”
I opened my mouth to speak, but Alex walked through the door, so I sat quietly.
“I thought you were leaving,” he said as he walked to us in a forceful manner. He looked at Aodhan O’Dorcha. “She doesn’t belong here with us. We are warriors. She is a spoiled little princess.”
I made a face at him. “Princess?”
He looked at me. “Yes. Princess.” That was it. I felt that I was almost growling at him.
Aodhan O’Dorcha shook his head. I suppose that we looked like children arguing back and forth. “Now, this will not do. Alexander, you obviously have a problem with Miss Evans here.”
Alex nodded and spoke. “Yes. I do.”
Aodhan O’Dorcha looked back and forth between the two of us then brought his hands together in front of him. “I have the most perfect idea. Alexander, I grant you the soul of Thomas James Evans.”
I panicked as Alex looked confused. “What are you talking about?”
Alex stood at attention while Aodhan O’Dorcha placed one hand on the necklace he gave me and then one hand on Alex’s chest. “Mar aon ní amháin.”
Alex dropped to his knees and coughed, trying to catch his breath.
Aodhan O’Dorcha looked at me and placed his hand on the side of my face. “He will understand you, have love for you, and protect you like Tommy would. He will not replace your brother; however, he will be there like a brother would for you. Their souls will be together until Alexander no longer needs him. And then your brother will return to you, and he will be yours to keep.” He tapped the gemstone of the necklace and I looked at Alex still coughing. “You will overcome so much. Do not let the opinions of others distract you from the truth.” Then Aodhan O’Dorcha was gone as quickly as he came.
He was the most mysterious man I have ever met. I figured he knows all and yet is unwilling to share. I think he wanted us to learn it for ourselves. I looked down at Alex as he looked back up at me. Something was truly different this time when he looked at me. His eyes were different—almost caring. I wanted my brother there, not this person that was forced to protect me.
He caught his breath and stood. “I am sorry about today.”
I looked at him with uncertainty. Fancy walked into the dorms within a few minutes of Aodhan O’Dorcha leaving. “Did we get everything settled?”
I looked over to her then back at Alex. “I don’t know.”
I walked to the shower area and started the water as they talked. “Alex, seriously what happened?” Fancy said.
He stood there and cocked his head just a little bit toward her. “Who’s Tommy?”
She answered with what I had told her. “Tommy is Shay’s twin brother. He was killed I think about two days ago by the Morrígan’s hunters.”
His heavy feet shuffled a bit. “Brother?”
Fancy was trying to be delicate. “I guess that’s why she is here. It sounds like her family’s secrets came to light. All the secrets about her bloodlines, and when she started to transition her family had to kill her brother for the Morrígan.”
There was a pause. Then I heard a loud sound, like someone had hit the metal lockers.
“Come on. Let’s leave her to get cleaned up. We’ve got the fire pit started. And there is beer,” Fancy said. I heard everyone’s footsteps walking away.
I finished washing all the mud and dried blood off my skin. I was so tired of cleaning blood off of me. I got out and wrapped a towel around myself. I walked over to the mirror and touched the gash on my arm that had already started to heal. Then the cut of my face, it was still slightly bleeding. I was angry that he had hurt me. He broke the first promise that he had made to me. This was so much worse than anything that I had been through. I could feel the pain still there. My muscles were sore, and I was having a hard time holding myself up I felt so exhausted. But I still went to my bag and got out my pajama pants and a T-shirt to put on.
The door opened. “Hey, are you hungry?” Fancy asked.
“Not really. I’m hurting pretty bad. I think I might just get some sleep.”
She shook her head. “No way. After today we had to have a fire pit. Food’s on, and everyone wants to get to know our newest member.”
I looked at her with a smirk. “I’m not sure everyone really cares to get to know me.”
She walked toward me. “I don’t know. Whatever Aodhan did to Nomad, he’s different now. But that’s the way Aodhan works.” She paused. “Come on.”
I smiled. “Fine, but I reserve the right to walk away.”
She nodded her head. “Sounds good.”
We walked out to the fire pit that Gauge and Striker had built. Gauge walked over to me with a limp and put his arm around my shoulder, holding a beer. “Here she is. The only competitor to get to the last portion of the course without waving the white flag.”
Fancy came up behind me as I watched Gauge walk back over to the fire pit and grab another beer. “Gauge had his leg ripped apart by a pack of savage mac tires a few years ago to protect his family. He can no longer transition.”
I looked back at her. “He seems sweet.”
She nodded her head. “He is.”
She walked over to him and grabbed his beer from his hand and took a sip while he sat on a bench by the fire pit, and then Fancy sat on his leg and rubbed his knee. She looked back at him and he smiled, putting his arms around her waist. Fancy had olive skin and brown hair; she was short and had a punky hairstyle, and she definitely didn’t care what anyone thought of her. I continued to look at them while I was thinking about how different everyone was. Gauge had dirty blonde hair and blue eyes and reminds me of a country boy that always has oil on his hands from an engine. I could imagine him on a farm with overalls on. Striker stood on the other side of the fire pit with his legs wide and his arms crossed over his chest. He had a short military-style haircut with a goatee and beautiful light honey-brown eyes. His shoulders wide and muscular, and I would say he was about thirty-five or so, the oldest of the group. And then there was Nomad. Alex was what he wanted me to call him. He was taller than my brother—maybe about six two. And he had dark brown, almost black, hair and greenish-brown eyes. I didn’t care very much for Alex at this point, but I liked his friends. He looked up from the fire pit at me standing on the other side. I could tell that we made eye contact for a moment, then I walked over to the cooler and grabbed a beer and sat down by Gauge and Fancy.
“Look who’s about to get wild,” Gauge said, teasing.
I took a sip and laughed when he said it. “I don’t think I would call it that.” I laughed again, a little shy. I crossed my legs and leaned back in the lawn chair. “So, when do I get a nickname?” I chuckled a little.
Fancy looked at Striker. “You shouldn’t want a code name.” He looked back at me then Fancy.
“Why not?” I asked, very curious about them.
Striker walked over grabbed a beer and sat in the chair next to me. He sighed.
“I am military trained, and in the military you develop skills that aren’t always useful in normal daily life. When you serve with anyone for a long time, you come to trust them like family. Sometimes you can trust them more so than family, because families can be selfish. I have served with this family for three years now and I trust each of them with my life. Can you say that about anyone in your life?” He looked up from the fire.
I pressed my lips together and spoke softly. “No.”
He smiled. “You will one day and when that day comes, you will earn your code name through an experience that changes you.”
I looked him straight in the face. “How about ‘Death’?”
“Why would you say that?”
I got up and drank the last bit of my beer. “That’s what I bring to anyone that I care about.” I walked off back to the dorm area. There was silence through the door as I lay down to fall asleep.
Throughout the night they came to their beds one by one. I was such a light sleeper at this point I think I would have opened my eyes by someone breathing. Once everyone was in bed I got up and walked to the door, I turned to look at everyone to make sure they were all asleep, and I walked out the door. It was nice to stand under the moonlight and breathe, it was the first time in days that I started to feel even a little better. I closed my eyes and lifted my chin upward to the sky. “I miss you.” I heard the door open, and I jumped, turning around to see who I woke up.
“What are you doing out here?” Alex asked quietly to not wake anyone else.
I turned away from the building and back to the sky. “I couldn’t sleep.”
He stood next to me and looked up at the sky with me. “You’ve always loved the stars.”
I turned to him. “What?”
He looked at me. “Even when you were little, you always loved the stars. You once said that it was one of the only times you felt like you could breathe.”
Crimson Secrets Page 25