A Dome of Blood

by Bella Forrest

  Approximately one third were headed southwest. Outside, in the neighboring jungle, I could see Herakles firing his weapon at a Perfect, while his Faulties wreaked havoc by the gate. With the Draenir hidden close by, they managed to throw the hostiles off, running around and wearing them out.

  The others, however, were moving into the northern section, where the hangars had been rebuilt. A gasp left my throat. “Oh, crap…”

  “What’s wrong?” Varga asked. He followed my gaze, using his True Sight. His reaction matched mine. “Oh, crap.”

  “What?! Come on, share it with the class!” Dmitri snapped, his nerves all stretched and raw.

  “They’ve got new armor and weapons,” I said. “Way more advanced than ours. I think Ta’Zan upgraded the pulverizers and their defense methods against them.”

  Derek grunted, pinching the bridge of his nose. “That shouldn’t come as a surprise. They knew we got pulverizer weapons from the Draenir. Counteracting that must’ve been at the top of their priority list as soon as Ta’Zan learned about it.”

  “So, what, the Perfects are gearing up?” Jovi asked, confused.

  I nodded. “And they’re headed southwest. They’re going after the Faulties and the Draenir. Our guys won’t stand a chance.”

  “And we can’t get out to help,” Zeriel said, and cringed from the pain. “Okay, I’ve had enough. What’s the code to stop this thing from electrocuting me, again?”

  “Twenty-four twenty-two,” Ridan replied. He’d memorized all the codes that Amal had given us to control the collars.

  Zeriel motioned for Jovi to disable his collar. “Do me a favor, please. I can’t find the keypad if I can’t see what I’m doing.”

  Jovi came up behind him and gently removed the top of a small keyboard mounted on the back of the collar. “They had these all along,” he grumbled, shaking his head slowly. “And Amal was jerking our chain during the initial escape attempt. Damn.”

  “Hey, she did what she had to do,” Ridan answered. “It doesn’t matter now, anyway. We’re all in this together.”

  “Thanks,” Zeriel said to Jovi as soon as he pressed the right keys. From the look on his face, the Tritone king was no longer suffering. Jovi, on the other hand, seemed pretty sore.

  “What’s wrong?” I asked him.

  “It gave me a tiny zap,” he replied. “Because I tampered with Zeriel’s collar. Jeez.”

  “They’ll all come off soon,” Zeriel said. He looked at me. “Okay, now, like I was saying. We can’t get out of here yet, and our allies are about to get pummeled. Araquiel has yet to plant all the explosives. So, what part of this plan seemed so suspiciously smooth to you, Lenny?”

  He shot me a grin, making me chuckle softly.

  “Fair enough,” I answered.

  “We’re in a bit of a pickle, aren’t we?” Vivienne observed.

  “You can say that again,” Xavier replied.

  I looked back down at Kailani. She looked so peaceful, yet so damn scary. Her body was relaxed, almost fluid in Hunter’s arms. But there was something deeply unsettling about it. I couldn’t hear her heart beating anymore, but she was definitely breathing.

  I wondered where her mind had gone. She had no control over these seizures whatsoever, and I knew she would’ve wanted nothing more than to be here, with us. But she wasn’t. My only hope was that she was never away for too long. At the same time, I was worried sick, because I had no idea what effect these episodes had on her.

  Kailani had changed a lot from the moment she’d set foot on Strava. The Word had impacted her in ways I’d never thought possible. I could only imagine what it was doing to her on the inside. This whole swamp witch thing wasn’t affecting her alone. No, it touched everyone who loved her. And not necessarily in a good way.

  I, for one, had had enough of watching her fade out like this.

  Hunter

  Minutes passed in silence around us.

  Corrine and Ibrahim were torn apart, holding each other as Derek and the founders’ crew gathered around them for emotional support. Sofia had the sense to gently pull them away from us. I felt like they were better off putting some distance between them and their granddaughter. Xavier, Vivienne, Cameron, and Liana were particularly talkative, trying to get their minds off Kailani.

  “What’s the first thing you’ll do, once you get off Strava?” Vivienne asked Cameron, wearing a faint smile.

  Liana sighed deeply, resting her head on Cameron’s shoulder. “I’ll give my kids the tightest hug in their life.”

  “Yeah, wait till I get my hands on Victoria,” Xavier muttered, prompting the others to chuckle softly. “I’ll squeeze the life out of my baby girl…”

  They sounded as though they’d found something to focus on. I, on the other hand, couldn’t be consoled. My mom and dad stayed close, and I could see the suffering imprinted on their faces. But I was too preoccupied with Kailani to even talk to them. All I could do was give them both a weak smile, hoping they’d understand me. I just couldn’t let Kailani go.

  My heart was aching, to the point where I could almost feel it tearing itself apart. A chunk of lead had settled in my stomach, and my knees were weak. I kept watching her, unable to take my eyes off the starry lights that had taken over hers.

  Lumi was right next to me, her legs crossed and her lips pursed. Her strange eyes carried the weight of thousands of years. She’d seen this before. I knew it.

  Elonora and Varga stayed with Ben, Rose, and the others in our group, waiting for Araquiel to tell us how they were coming along on their end. There was no word from Herakles or Kallisto. Elonora tried to keep track of the fight outside, but they were all moving too fast for her to tell us anything useful. The Faulties had brought their best game into this.

  “I don’t want Corrine and Ibrahim to hear this,” Lumi whispered in my ear, “but Kale might not wake up from this.”

  “Wha—What?” I managed, my voice barely there.

  “She might. She might not. I’ve told you, the circumstances of her apprenticeship are extremely rough, the exact opposite of what they should be,” Lumi explained. She didn’t like what she was telling me, but I did appreciate her honesty. I also understood why she was telling me, and not Kailani’s grandparents. “You’re strong enough to know this,” she added. “If I tell them, it’ll break them. And, if we lose Kale, we’ll need all the magic we can get. We can’t let this bilocation spell be our only option for getting out of here.”

  I gave her a slow nod, feeling my eyes sting. “What is she up to, in there?” I asked, caressing Kailani’s soft and cold cheek with my knuckles. My hands were trembling.

  “I can’t—”

  “You can’t tell me,” I cut her off, my tone flat.

  “I can’t tell, period,” she replied. “When I did my apprenticeship, I went through several blackouts before the Word opened up to me. Thing is, the Word opens up differently to each of us. What it says to me won’t make sense to her, and vice versa. It’s like it’s using separate languages for us. That way, I’ll never be able to give her secrets that the Word wouldn’t give her, otherwise.”

  “What’s that got to do with Kale, now?”

  “When I formed my bond with the Word, I had to be specific about a few things. Most importantly, I had to be absolutely, one hundred percent sure that I wanted this. What I wanted it for was just as crucial. If I’d gone into this with any kind of doubt in my heart, I would’ve exposed myself to the Word’s deadly rejection,” Lumi explained. “There’s a thousand ways in which this could work out. The Word might accept her. It might reject her, and remove everything she’s learned from her memory. Or, worse, it might kill or maim her. One of the first swamp witches betrayed the Word, for example, and lost her tongue and eyes.”

  That just turned my stomach inside out. Thankfully, I’d barely eaten anything, so there wasn’t anything to puke out. I swallowed back a knot, then looked at Lumi.

  “What do you think will happen to her, then
?” I asked.

  “I have faith in her. But I cannot predict what the Word will do. I’m sorry. All we can do right now is be by her side and hope for the best,” she replied.

  There wasn’t anything I could do to help Kailani. Any kind of magic used to help her could end up killing her. I resorted to simply holding her close and whispering sweet things in her ear, hoping she might hear me, wherever she was.

  “She needs to set her priorities straight. If she does, she’ll come out of this more powerful than ever,” Lumi added. “She’s a tough cookie, you know? I wouldn’t have taken her on if I didn’t think she’d make it.”

  “But you also think she might die.”

  “She might not.”

  “Ugh!” I groaned, rolling my eyes. “You’re not helping, Lumi.”

  “I’m not here to help. I’m here to tell you the truth and prepare you for every possible outcome, Hunter. It’s what a swamp witch does, and Kale knows it. If she doesn’t come back from this, we need to make sure that her death isn’t in vain. We must pick up and keep going. The universe is at stake.”

  I planted a kiss on Kailani’s forehead. She felt cold, in a dramatic contrast with the rage simmering inside me.

  “Wherever you are, baby, whatever you’re doing,” I whispered, “come back to me. I’ve only just found you the way I should’ve, years ago. I can’t lose you.”

  Of course, she didn’t answer. But a part of me thought that maybe, just maybe, she could hear me. So, I listened to my instinct and tightened my embrace, pressing my lips against her cheek.

  “Come on, Kale. You’re a natural-born witch. You’ve got the juice to win this. Get back here, so we can kick some Perfects’ asses, then go on a gazillion dates until you ask me to marry you,” I mumbled, tears streaming down my cheeks. I didn’t care that Lumi was watching me, that she could hear me. Every word coming out of my mouth was true, and I had nothing to hide. “You know you’ll be the one to pop the question, right, Kale? You’re not going to let me do it. I know you…”

  Kailani was a comet. A tornado. A jumble of intensity wrapped up in splendid curves and chocolatey curls. Fires burned in those amber eyes, and every smile she wore told a different story of her. She was my witch, and she could tear down mountains to get what she wanted.

  If I thought about it, the Word didn’t stand a chance in front of her. She was too strong, too damn stubborn to let herself get stuck in limbo. On top of that, she loved me. I knew she did. There was no way she’d get lost so far away from me. No matter what Lumi said or tried to prepare me for, I had to put my faith in Kailani. She was a warrior in her own way, and a resourceful one at that. No way the Word would be able to keep her from me for too long.

  What Kale wants, Kale gets.

  Kailani

  The moment everything went dark, I knew I was headed for another blackout. I expected to find myself surrounded by nothing—just pitch black, as far as the eye could see, and luminescent threads of text fluttering past my head, like before.

  But this time, I seemed to be lost in a dream of some kind. Before I could even rationalize what was going on, I became a part of this dream. I lived it. I was Kailani, and I was walking through the redwood forest of The Shade with my parents.

  From the looks of us, we’d been out for quite a while now, talking and laughing as we breathed in the fresh air of an early morning. I couldn’t tell when this was, whether this was a memory or a mere fabrication of my strained mind. But, in the absence of other options, I rolled with it.

  Being back in The Shade felt good, given that my last flicker of consciousness involved a shock collar around my neck and the dusk light filtering through the diamond dome. Here, I could feel the wind brushing through my curly hair, loosely cascading down my back—it felt longer than I remembered it. As if I’d never bothered to cut it.

  Mom and Dad looked at peace, smiling at each other and at me, while the starry sky beyond the redwood crowns began to light up. That was weird, since there was only one area where the sun could break through, and it wasn’t the forest. Maybe this was my version of The Shade.

  “Have you heard from Hunter lately?” Mom asked me.

  I stopped to simply stare at her. I’d never seen her look so beautiful. It was as if no trouble had ever drawn fine lines at the corners of her eyes. Her hair was long and smooth, glistening in shades of caramel, in perfect harmony with her tanned skin. She wore a long white dress, seemingly made of diamonds, and warmth practically radiated out of her.

  My dad was equally stunning, his green eyes glimmering in a solitary ray of moonlight. He, too, wore white—a linen shirt and pants, the kind of stuff I’d never seen on him before. The more I looked at them, and the more I took in my surroundings, the more surreal it all felt, a reminder that this was still a dream.

  But my heart felt at ease. I laughed lightly.

  “Yeah, he’s getting over Sarah remarkably well,” I replied. “He’s dating Laura, now.”

  “Laura… Laura who?” Mom asked.

  “Laura Ingram. She’s a human from the Vale,” I said. For some reason, it didn’t bother me at all. It felt natural. I expected this of Hunter, but it didn’t cause me any kind of ache.

  How could this be? I was supposed to be in love with Hunter. We’d found each other in the middle of this hot mess on… Wait, where were we? A foreign planet.

  Parts of me felt absent. Memories lost.

  Knowing that Hunter was dating some human here in The Shade had zero impact on my emotions. It felt strange, but I couldn’t put my finger on why.

  “Oh, I know her,” Dad replied, resuming our walk through the woods.

  Birds chirped from nearby branches. Deer watched us from between the trees. And the smell of night-queen blossoms flooded my senses. This place was amazing. Why did I ever leave it?

  “I think I know her,” Mom said, frowning slightly. “Blonde? Freckled?”

  I nodded enthusiastically. “Yeah! She’s one of the new teacher’s assistants at the Vale middle school.”

  “That’s right! Always brings pecan pie to the Vale Autumn Fair,” Dad said. “That’s good pie. Hunter’s a lucky wolf.”

  I chuckled. “She needs to switch it up to meat, though, if she wants to keep him.”

  Since when did the Vale do autumn fairs? Since when was there a Laura Ingram baking pies? My instinct told me to back away from all this, but I couldn’t bring myself to actually do it. I was surrounded by towering redwoods and a tranquil wilderness, with my parents, completely detached from everything. Why would I ever leave this place?

  “Why would you ever leave this place?” Mom asked me, wearing a faint smile.

  “Sorry, what?” I asked, somewhat confused.

  “Why would you ever leave this place?” she asked again.

  I had no answer to that. Why would I?

  Suddenly, I was somewhere else. As if I had just been cut-and-pasted into a new setting. The surrealism reached new levels, as I tried to figure out where I was. City lights blinking—red, yellow, neon pink. The buzz of a busy street. Hawaiian music playing in the background. Somewhere over the rainbow…

  I was seated at a table, outside, on a restaurant terrace. Hunter was sitting across from me, grinning like the devil as he took a sip from his drink. A platter of Japanese food covered most of the table, complete with the cutest soy sauce dishes I’d ever seen, and neatly hand-carved chopsticks. Why were these details so important to me? Why did they carry such meaning?

  I didn’t even like sushi.

  “Melanie is quite the firecracker, you know,” Hunter said, slipping a piece of food in his mouth, his chopstick dexterity catching my eye.

  “Who’s Melanie?” I heard myself asking.

  A band was playing inside the restaurant. The tables were all busy. Waitresses buzzed around like little bees, carrying food platters and drink pitchers all over the place. People roamed the street. Vintage cars paraded up and down, in shades of cherry red, flamingo pink, and lim
e green. It looked like a scene out of the 1950s, all post-war extravagance.

  “Melanie Foster. Come on, Kale, I’ve been talking about her for the past hour,” Hunter replied, laughing lightly. “Where’s your head?”

  “I have no idea,” I said, as I tried to focus. “So, who’s Melanie again?”

  “She’s a half-wolf. Marwyn’s daughter. You know Marwyn. The Woodlands Wanderers’ Pack,” Hunter replied, as if that was supposed to ring a bell or something. It didn’t.

  But, still, I was happy for him. He looked like he was in love with her. His blue eyes twinkled like sapphires. His blond hair was cut differently, with side fades that brought out his sharp cheekbones. I loved this look on him. I didn’t love him, though. I had every reason to love him, but, for some reason, that feeling no longer existed in my heart.

  As if it had never been there.

  “What the hell is going on?” I muttered, glancing around again.

  All the neon signs. All the lights. They were pointing in a single direction—dozens of arrows and hand-shaped bulbs, with fingers pointed at the very end of the boulevard.

  “What’s wrong?” Hunter asked, confused by my erratic behavior. “I told you about Melanie, Kale. You’ve met her at least once. I sent you photos from our Bahamas trip. Are you okay?”

  I nodded slowly, completely ignoring him.

  It wasn’t just the street signs being weird. People, too. They were all walking toward one end of the boulevard—the same end at which the neon lights pointed. The cars. The vintage cars, slowly driving along with them.

  Even patrons from a terrace across the street started to get up and join the flow. Before I knew it, our restaurant was also practically deserted. Only Hunter and I were left at our table.