Shatterskin

by Beca Lewis

  Even with our earmuffs turned on high the sound was almost paralyzing. My body wanted to shut down and stop moving, but I pushed forward, although I wasn’t sure how long my strength would last.

  At first, we ran in a line, spread out behind the East column until we got close enough for our next plan. I could feel everyone’s distress. What was saving us was that the Shrieks’ attention was towards the center, and so were their sound blasts.

  We were receiving the residual sound which was bad enough. However, if the line we were chasing turned and fired at us, we knew we might not survive. The only chance we had was to keep blasting them before they knew we were there and turned around.

  It was hard to watch what was happening with the trees. They were absorbing massive amounts of sound, attempting to soften the effects of it on the animals by taking the hit themselves. Now that I was aware of the trees as the breath and source of life on the planet, I knew that the trees taking such massive hits would have huge ramifications. We had to stop the shrieking as fast as possible to minimize the damage.

  Teddy had altered the shields we were using while we were below and increased the magnification to a thousand times. All of us thought that it was possible Abbadon might have modified the Shrieks to withstand the magnified sounds we had blasted at them, and we must have been right.

  Even with the increased capacity of our shields, it took a concentrated time for each blast to stun the Shrieks in front of us, and at the same time, we were hurting the trees too.

  I had to shut down a part of my feelings to keep going, and I knew everyone else was doing the same thing. Still, in spite of it all, I could feel the overarching support and love of the trees in spite of what we were doing to them. I knew they understood. It didn’t make it any easier.

  The Shrieks’ increased capacity to withstand their own shrieking must have been how Abbadon had been able to change the Shrieks’ battle plan. Besides, it was unlikely he cared whether they lived or died. They were only a tool, not living beings.

  Even if they were, Abbadon wouldn’t have cared. Killing everything was his goal in the end anyway. What were a few hundred dead Shrieks to him? He had already destroyed villages, people, and forests and everything that lived in them for thousands of miles.

  We knew that there was no way for our small team to stop all the Shrieks Abbadon had created for this attack. It was as if he knew this was his last stand with the Shrieks.

  What we had planned would work, I told myself. If we stopped the Shrieks here, we had a chance.

  So even though it looked hopeless, we worked hard not to let that thought enter our minds. Instead, we focused on our strengths and what we could do in each moment. Professor Link was continually alerting us to what was happening. He was in contact with Lady and her dragon friends who were flying high above the battlefield. They had to stay out of range of the sound that the Shrieks would periodically blast at the sky.

  We could see birds by the hundreds falling to the ground every time the Shrieks swept their sound upward, and I prayed that Lady and her fellow dragons would be safe. But in order to see more, I knew that sometimes the dragons had to swoop down within range, putting them in danger.

  Cahir and his friends were behind us, trying to find the end of the Shrieks’ line and providing a border that no animal would cross. Through his eyes, I could see how thick the range of Shrieks was, and it was only the continual encouragement of the rest of the team that kept me from feeling despair. That, and the awareness that there was no option for failure.

  The Priscillas were still underground with the Ginete and Whistle Pigs, waiting with the Shriek-eating insects. They were all safe for now, but if Shatterskin got this far, they would be destroyed too. We could hear his booming in the distance and knew that we had a limited amount of time in which to work.

  There were so many ways we could fail. Either the Shrieks would turn on us, our earmuffs or shields would stop working, or more Shrieks would arrive or were already present that we couldn’t see. Then there was the chance that Coro and the storm would not get through or that one by one we would get picked off by a well-planned Shriek attack. These were the things that we knew could happen. What about the ones we didn’t know about?

  Because we knew we couldn’t fight all those Shrieks, our focus was to create an escape path for the animals trapped in the center, and do it before we became incapacitated. Once that path was created, Coro would arrive with his drenching salt rain. We were praying that the Shrieks didn’t need to be stunned to be dissolved.

  I could hear James directing his men as Niko led the team through the opening in the line. Then Ruta and Aki followed, with Zeid, Beru and me behind them.

  We were increasing the width of the path as we went. James and his team were keeping the path from closing behind us.

  If we could keep our wits about us in the face of mounting pressure and impossible odds, we had a chance. I had the star that Liza gave me that I could press if I needed to, but I was afraid if I saw what else was present I would succumb to fear. If all else failed, I would use it, but until then there was enough to deal with.

  We were almost to the front of the line when I heard Link call out, “Behind you.”

  I turned to see that the men from the village were no longer there and the path that we had made was closing. We were trapped.

  Fifty-One

  I hesitated. If I fired, and James and his men were behind the line of Shrieks that I could see, I might kill the men.

  “Help!” I said to Link. “I can’t see James’ men, and I’m afraid to fire.”

  This time I had a direct response from Lady. I had heard Suzanne in my head before, but never when she was a dragon, so it took me a second to recognize her voice.

  I looked up as she swooped over our heads and the line of Shrieks, and then rose swiftly in the sky, just as the Shrieks turned to fire at her. I watched as she wobbled and then recovered.

  “They are far behind the line with Cahir. They needed to move back because James was stunned. It’s safe to fire on the Shrieks behind you, Kara.”

  All this took a matter of seconds, but it was enough time for a Shriek to be almost on top of me, his slimy hole filled green body practically touching mine as he opened his mouth. I screamed as I fired, again and again until the way behind us was clear again, and we were surrounded only by Shrieks that stood stunned or fallen.

  The three of us looked at each other, and Zeid gave Beru and me a thumbs up sign. Beru looked almost as green as the Shrieks. I knew she hated battle and would do almost anything not to be there. But Beru was courageous, and the one thing she would always do is protect her friends if she could.

  The ground began to shake, and I panicked thinking that Shatterskin had arrived, but instead it was all the animals that had been trapped in the center flying past us to safety.

  As they passed us we could all feel the gratitude they extended to us for saving their lives. For a moment I almost forgot that we weren’t done. I wanted to stand there and feel the love forever. But we had to move. We knew what was coming.

  What we did next was the most dangerous thing we could think of doing, and we were doing it on purpose. We turned off our shields. We didn’t want Abbadon to see what we had planned. But that meant we had only our earmuffs to protect us, and the shrieking had become even louder.

  We had only a few moments before we would not be able to move. We threw our shields up over our backs as we ran back through the line of Shrieks dodging the animals running in the same direction, running as low as we could, hiding beneath our shields to be as invisible as possible.

  The Shrieks we had stunned were still frozen as we made our way back through the line. As we ran, we could hear the roar of the coming storm. The Shrieks must have heard it, too, because the shrieking increased as they began moving throug
h the woods trying to outrun the storm.

  We watched them go, grateful that they were not coming towards us. But if the Shrieks made it to safety, wherever that was for them, before the storm arrived, we would have to face them again.

  And then the wall of water arrived. It literally looked like a wall. It was taller than the trees and black as night. The wall cascaded over them, moving across the line like a car wash. If the Shrieks could feel anything, it must have been shocking to discover that it wasn’t just water that drenched them. It was highly concentrated salt water.

  Ariel was behind the wall of water pushing it away from the fleeing animals and us and into the lines of Shrieks. Once we were past the last line of paralyzed Shrieks, we turned and watched as the fleeing Shrieks first began to expand and then burst and dissolve. Within minutes, the forest floor was littered with green blobs.

  We knew what came next—the army of insects. We raced to the nearest tree and grabbed the lowest branch and pulled ourselves up. This time I knew that the tree had lowered its limbs for us. It wasn’t an illusion, they moved. There wasn’t time to contemplate what that might mean, because we could hear the skittering of insect legs and flying ahead of them the Priscillas looking triumphant.

  The Priscillas all landed on my shoulders at the same time, and the two younger sisters kissed me on each cheek. Pris was still acting miffed, but I could tell from the gleam in her eyes that she was teasing me. It was good to have her back on my side.

  “I was never not on your side, Missy,” Pris said. “It was you acting as if we weren’t to be trusted.”

  “I was wrong,” I whispered.

  “Could you say that a little louder, please?” Pris demanded.

  “I was wrong,” I said loud enough that almost everyone heard me and started to laugh.

  “Imagine that!” Zeid said. I glowered at him, even though I knew that he, too was teasing. Although I was exhausted, I was feeling good. We had defeated those Shrieks. We could defeat others. Or Earl and Ariel could. We had discovered that they didn’t need us to stop the Shrieks anymore. They could do it without us.

  But that left the bigger problem. Shatterskin. He didn’t need the Shrieks to continue to shatter his way across the land. All they had been to him was a way to neutralize anyone who might be able to fight him. And if he thought it was important to do that, it meant there was a way to defeat him.

  The next phase of our plan had to be put in place, and it would mean that I could no longer hide from being myself, or using the magic that I now knew that I had.

  After the insects passed, we scrambled down from the trees and back to where we knew the circles would take us down to where Pita and Teddy would be waiting, ready to put our next plan into action.

  Shatterskin thought he was coming to us, but we were going to him instead. But first, we needed to regroup and prepare.

  Fifty-Two

  Besides Teddy and Pita, James and his men were waiting for us in the transport room. He was leaning on his brother, but otherwise looked unharmed. I rushed over and grabbed his hands. His daughter would never forgive me if something happened to him.

  “You had me so scared, James,” I said. And then to my complete embarrassment started to sob. James let go of his brother, John, and put his arms around me, holding me close without saying anything.

  That made me cry even more. At that moment I realized how much I missed my Earth family and their constant care and attention. My mother was always hugging me, and I would shake it off thinking I was too old to be cuddled. Now I would give anything to be embraced by her again.

  “I was terrified,” I whispered to James, keeping my face buried in his coat.

  James lifted my chin so I could see him. “So was I, Hannah. And yet, you did what you needed to do, and it worked.”

  “But what if one of you had been killed?”

  “We weren’t. And if that happens, Hannah, it won’t be your fault. It’s the kind of thing that happens. But you of all people know that what is called death is just one door closing while another opens.”

  “It won’t make it hurt less for those of us who would miss you, though.”

  “No. It probably won’t. But it will give you a sense of peace knowing that life transforms itself into other forms.”

  “Like the trees.”

  “Exactly like the trees, Hannah.”

  “You’re calling me Hannah.”

  James smiled down at me and said, “You’ll always be partly Hannah. That’s a good thing. Think about what you learned during your time in the Earth Realm. That learning will always give you insights that some of us might not have since we haven’t learned from that world. You have an expanded awareness that you will bring to everything if you remain open to it.

  “Besides, Hannah, we all know you miss your Earth family and friends. That’s only natural. Plus, you have had to grow from a young girl to a young woman in just a few months with the weight of a world on your shoulders. We’ve asked a lot of you.”

  James pulled a tissue from his jacket pocket and handed it to me.

  “Thank you,” I said, smiling through the tears running down my face. “And I hope when this is over I can come to stay with you and Liza and just be Hannah and not Kara Beth.”

  James smiled and said, “You can consider us your non-royal friends forever. Our village will always be a refuge for you.”

  “Well, I guess we better get ready to save it, then,” I sniffed.

  “That we better,” James answered while putting his arm around my shoulder. I wasn’t sure if it was him that still needed to be supported after his brush with the stunning effect of the Shrieks, or if it was me that needed to feel his arm around me.

  Either way, I was as happy as I had been in quite a while. James made me feel like I was his daughter, and that was a feeling I was going to treasure forever.

  As we turned to leave, I realized that the transport room was empty except for James and me. I was grateful that everyone had let me have my breakdown in private.

  Teddy was waiting outside the door. “Hello, pumpkin toes,” he said to me, taking my hand. James and I laughed so hard I was crying again. Once I got my breath, I turned to Teddy and hugged him, too.

  It was like hugging a furry rug, not quite the same as embracing James, but it felt great to be wrapped up in those big strong arms.

  “Okay, you two. I think I am recovered enough to be ready for the next plan,” I said.

  “Not yet,” Pris said flying towards me. “First, shower, clean clothes, and then we are all meeting in the planning room. Niko said you have an hour.”

  I said goodbye to James and Teddy and followed Pris down the hall to my room. As I walked, I tried to ground myself in the energy of the trees that held the rooms together.

  “Take off your shoes,” sounded in my head. Not a voice, a feeling of a voice.

  I stopped and waited. Pris turned.

  “Got something going on?” she asked.

  When I nodded yes, she said, “Well, do it then.”

  “So you heard that?”

  “Hum … not the same as you, but I know when the trees speak.”

  “It was the trees?”

  “Well, who else would it be?” Pris said waving her arms around her. We were surrounded by the soft lights generated by the roots that wove through the walls holding the earth in place.

  “Well, yes, that too,” she said to who knows who.

  “And who are you talking to?”

  Pris gave me one of her famous looks that implied I was a stone cold idiot.

  “The trees!”

  “And what did you mean by the ‘well, that too,’ remark then,” I countered, almost as huffily as Pris.

  Then we both laughed. We were two primadonnas doi
ng a standoff. I could almost hear the trees chuckling.

  “Well. Take your shoes off then,” Pris said, settling herself on a root in the wall.

  I did. I slid off my shoes and socks and felt the ground. It thrummed. I stood still, the light dimmed, I closed my eyes, calmed my breath, trying to feel the breath of the trees. And I waited.

  It didn’t take long. Within a few minutes, I knew what needed to be done next.

  Fifty-Three

  After a quick shower, and gratefully putting on the clean clothes lying on my bed, I was in the planning room with everyone else just under the hour time limit set by Niko.

  Food was set out on the tables lining the walls. As always, it was a buffet filled with food that met all our individual needs. I promised myself that after all this was over, I would do something for all the invisible people who were providing for us.

  I wasn’t really hungry, but I knew that it was necessary to eat, so I filled my plate and joined everyone at the table.

  Niko began, “Well, now we know that we didn’t have to paralyze the Shrieks to drop the salt water on them after all. That means we can attack them without putting all of you in danger by being too close to them. It also means that we can stop the supply line to Shatterskin.”

  “Does that mean that we will only be dealing with the power left in Shatterskin?” John asked.

  “That’s what we believe,” Niko answered. “However, we don’t know how long that will be, or how quickly Abbadon can, or will, send replacement minions to bring the fresh batteries.

  “The good news is that Lady and her crown of pileated dragons believe they have located the manufacturing plant where Abbadon makes the Shrieks. If we can destroy that plant, we can stop the Shrieks forever.”

  “We hope you have a plan to do that, Niko,” John said. “I admit, your plans to stop the Shrieks worked perfectly, although I reserve judgment about the residual effects of the salt. However, no one has talked at all about the biggest danger.”