Arise (Awakened Fate Book 4) Page 8

  Baylie nodded. Her gaze darted across the black, focusing on nothing, and then returned to me.

  “This is weird,” she told me softly.

  “Yeah,” I agreed.

  I squeezed her hand and then glanced to Zeke. One hand on Ellie’s shoulder and the other crushed in her trembling grip, he guided her to a stop behind the boulder. The girl’s eyes were closed and I could see her chest rising and falling in rapid gasps.

  “You alright, Ellie?” I asked.

  Her head moved in a jerky motion, as if she was forcing herself to nod even though she wanted to shake her head. “I-I hate the dark. I always just… if we could be like you guys… wouldn’t be so bad…”

  Zeke’s mouth tightened. “You’re fine. Just keep breathing.”

  The nod-shake motion came again.

  I looked in the direction of the entrance, though the huge rock obstructed my view. Noah could probably hear us, but hopefully no one else could.

  Though if Chief Reynolds had brought greliarans with him…

  I swallowed hard.

  “What was that back there, Ellie?” I whispered. “The elders?”

  The furrows in her brow deepened. “I, um…”

  “Just tell us,” Baylie snapped, her quiet voice tense.

  I glanced to her, seeing the stress she was trying to hide flash across her face. My hand squeezed hers again. She took a breath, the expression fading.

  “Sorry,” Baylie whispered.

  An anxious smile of acknowledgement flitted across Ellie’s face.

  “I thought landwalkers didn’t have magic,” I said.

  “We don’t. At least, Olivia never called it that…”

  Ellie’s face crumpled. She bit her lip to stop it from trembling.

  I paused. “I’m sure they’re fine. Noah would have told us if it’d sounded like someone got hurt.”

  Her expression cleared a bit and she nodded, accepting the words even though I was fairly certain they were a lie.

  Noah would protect us from that, just like he was doing right now.

  My gaze flicked to the boulder blocking my view of the cave front. It took effort to pull it back again.

  “It’s not magic,” Ellie started, her quiet voice determined. “It’s like… you know that thing dehaians do? The make-people-love-you thing?”

  “Aveluria,” Zeke said.

  Ellie nodded. “Yeah. But they say it used to be more… complicated. Not just like those old siren myths, where mermaids lured sailors to their deaths, but more like those stories where the mermaids kissed sailors and took them down into the ocean. But the sailors didn’t die. Or, at least, not all the time.

  “Some records claim the dehaians used to be able to do that. And when they split, becoming like him–” she nodded in Zeke’s general direction, “–and us, that magic thing split too. But it’s not easy for us like it is for dehaians, especially not anymore. Most landwalkers can’t do it. Can’t even hope to. And even if you do have the talent for it, it still takes years to master the ability; that’s why learning to be an elder takes so long. They’re the only ones with the discipline and training to use that skill. And it isn’t really like the dehaians’ thing, anyway. Avah… what you called it.”

  My brow furrowed. “But what can you do?”

  “It’s more of a mental thing. It’s not exactly magic.”

  “Looked pretty magical to me,” Baylie muttered.

  Ellie grimaced. “It’s just… it’s like projection. Sort of. The elder can make people be like them, in a way. Like back there. The elders all closed their eyes, kind of making themselves blind, and then the men they’d locked onto were blind as well. The elders ran, disorienting themselves, and the guys were disoriented too. It’s not like telepathy or mind-reading. It’s like… the ability to basically project onto that other person a… a way of being.”

  “Can you do that?” Baylie asked warily.

  Ellie looked down. “I… I’m training, but I haven’t yet. Grandpa’s a master. Olivia is too. Robin, all of them. I know a bit of how they talk about it, the codes and stuff. That’s what Robin was doing back there: telling the others what to do about the guys surrounding us. I know that, but when it comes to the rest, I’m… I’m just not that talented.”

  I hesitated, and I could see Baylie and Zeke do the same.

  “So if your grandfather could do that, why didn’t he try it on me?” Zeke asked after a moment, disgust tingeing his tone. “Get answers to his questions that way?”

  “It doesn’t work like that,” Ellie said. “It just makes people the same as the elder, like, in what that elder is experiencing. Or makes the elder like them, though that’s a whole lot harder. But back when it used to work for the original dehaians, we think it let them bring people with them. Underwater, I mean. Make people able to be the same as them in that way. Go where they could. But that was it.”

  I froze, and then my gaze snapped to Zeke.

  He was looking at me too.

  “A-and how did that work?” I asked without taking my eyes from him. “Did it, like, ever wear off?”

  “Wear off?” Ellie repeated, sounding confused. “I don’t think…”

  She went quiet. I glanced over to find her looking between us.

  “I’m such a moron,” she whispered. “You brought–”

  “Yeah,” I replied softly.

  She swallowed hard. “I don’t think it did. From everything Olivia’s told me, it sounded like as long as someone was alive to keep the magic going, it’d never change.”

  “Did their distance from each other matter?” I pressed.

  Ellie shrugged in the darkness. “I don’t think so.”

  I let out the breath I hadn’t realized I’d been holding. That was about the best news I’d heard lately. I’d been so worried about Zeke when Harman had taken him, and to know that whatever I’d done wouldn’t suddenly disappear, or that being apart from him wouldn’t leave him dead… relief wasn’t even the half of it.

  I looked over to find him studying the ground, his face tight. My brow furrowed in confusion, the relief evaporating.

  Gravel clattered on the cave floor behind us, interrupting me before I could ask him what was wrong. As a group, we turned toward the sound.

  Seconds slid by. Voices carried down the length of the cave.

  Baylie’s grip tightened on my hand. Warped and distorted, the voices were hard to understand, but none of them sounded like Noah.

  “Hello?” a man called, his voice bouncing off the cave walls.

  A moment passed. The man murmured something as though speaking to another person and over the distance, I couldn’t make sense of his words.

  Baylie’s fingers were crushing mine.

  A flashlight beam pierced the darkness and swept over the cave. I winced, the light burning before I could change my eyes enough to compensate.

  “Hey,” the man said. “Come out of there.”

  I stopped breathing. They’d found Noah.

  “Where are your friends?”

  Noah’s response was too low to hear.

  The man chuckled. “Nice try, kid. They back there?”

  Footsteps headed toward us, and the beam of the flashlight came with them.

  I looked to Zeke.

  The glow of his eyes vanished only a heartbeat slower than mine.

  Even with the flashlights coming toward us, the darkness was incredible.

  The beams swung around the boulder. I squinted and ducked my face away, the lights burning all over again.

  Two men who looked like weightlifters in camo paused when they spotted us. Shotguns hung on their shoulders and sheathed knives were strapped to their waists. Full-sleeve tattoos covered the arms of one of them, while the other had a vicious scar down the side of his face.

  “Found them,” the tattooed one called back to the front of the cave. The flashlight beam swept across us. “The Kowal
ski girl and the granddaughter are here too.”

  Without waiting for a response, the scarred one moved into the beam of light, reaching to grab my arm.

  Zeke stepped in front of me.

  The man paused. His head turned back toward his companion, though his gaze didn’t leave Zeke. “He the–”

  “Yeah.”

  The man’s hand moved so fast. In an eye-blink, he had the knife drawn and pointed at Zeke. “You just stay–”

  A snarl came from the front of the cave. A scream followed, the sound cutting short a moment later with a thud. The men with the flashlights spun as pounding footsteps raced toward us.

  Their eyes went wide.

  “Get the girls!” the tattooed guy yelled, dropping his flashlight and scrambling to yank his gun around.

  The other guy came at us, the knife still gripped in his fist. He grabbed Zeke, trying to shove him out of the way.

  A wall slammed into the tattooed man, throwing him hard into the barred gate at the rear of the cave. The scarred guy looked toward his companion, his face aghast, and then he spun, stabbing at Zeke.

  Spikes rushed from Zeke’s forearms. He stepped back, avoiding the blade, and then swung at the man. The guy twisted, the spikes tearing through his shirt and grazing his skin in bloodied lines.

  Hands grabbed the man from behind, yanked him backwards, and sent him into the barred gate after the tattooed guy.

  Noah watched them for a heartbeat and then looked to us, the glowing fissures on his face closing.

  “Everyone alright?” His gaze scanned over us hurriedly. “I saw the guy going for a knife…”

  “Yeah,” Zeke replied, his spikes already gone. “Fine.”

  Noah glanced to me, his brow twitching up for confirmation.

  I gave a tight nod.

  He exhaled and then bent quickly, retrieving the flashlight the man had dropped. “We should get out of here. They could have friends in the area.”

  Baylie moved past me, coming near her stepbrother. Ellie followed.

  My gaze slipped to Zeke. He didn’t look over as he motioned for me to go after them.

  I hesitated and then did as he asked, following the others silently from the hollow behind the boulder.

  ~~~~~

  Gravel crunching under our feet, we trailed the brilliant beam of the flashlight back the way we had come a few minutes before. Beyond the bright opening of the cave, the path appeared empty and shadowed beneath the dense tree cover.

  I resisted the urge to let my gaze go to Zeke while I walked. I’d seen his arms. The spikes, when they came out of his skin. They weren’t all there. Like gaps in the tines of a broken-toothed comb, only a random few of the blades remained.

  And I didn’t know what to say. Maybe they’d grow back. Maybe it didn’t hurt to have them removed – though I doubted it. The mere thought made my skin crawl. But maybe…

  I swallowed, my stomach twisting. Maybe nothing. Harman was a monster.

  We reached the entrance. A man lay crumpled against the wall, though his chest moved to show he was still alive. Noah’s jaw tightened when Baylie glanced to him, her brow rising. Without meeting her gaze, he thumbed off the switch on the flashlight and headed for the path outside.

  And then he froze. Turning with a look on his face like he wanted to swear, he motioned for us to go back.

  We hurried into the shelter of the cave again.

  “That way,” Noah whispered, pointing to the right. “Maybe two people.”

  “Head over there,” Zeke told me. “Stay as low as you can.”

  Noah handed Baylie the flashlight. Quickly, she and Ellie retreated to a small cluster of boulders near the wall and ducked down behind it.

  “Chloe?” Zeke pressed.

  I trailed Baylie, glancing back to the guys while I went.

  “Come on,” Zeke said to Noah. He strode toward the cave entrance.

  Noah’s face tightened, but after a heartbeat’s hesitation, he followed.

  I crouched beside Baylie, attempting to stay out of sight behind the too-small boulder. Bracing my hands on the side of the stone for balance, I strained to hear any indications of trouble from the entrance.

  Minutes crept past. No sound came from the cave opening, and only birds called in the forest beyond. My brow drew down. How far away had these people been when Noah picked up on them?

  Greliaran hearing was incredible.

  Footsteps crunched on gravel. At my side, Baylie’s breath caught.

  “Hello?” a man called warily, like he was almost afraid of actually being heard.

  A heartbeat passed. I heard more scraping of gravel.

  “You’re here,” the man said. “Are the others–”

  “Chloe?” Olivia called. “Ellie?”

  Ellie scrambled up from behind the rock.

  Moving more slowly, I rose with Baylie, cautiously eyeing the cave entrance.

  Olivia and Dave stood there. A few yards away from the two elders, and from each other, Zeke and Noah watched them while casting quick looks to the forest in case anyone else followed.

  “Are you alright?” Ellie cried, hurrying toward Olivia.

  “Fine,” Olivia replied.

  “What happened?” the girl pressed. “Where are the others? We heard a gunshot.”

  Olivia’s lips thinned as if she didn’t really want to talk about it. “Mr. Reynolds got his hands on his weapon. He tried shooting at us to break the connection, but thankfully he missed.” She paused. “Barely.” Her jaw worked briefly, as though she was fighting the urge to add more colorful words to the story. “Right now, Phil and Robin are heading in the opposite direction from us, and hopefully leading the rest of those men on a wild goose chase at the same time.”

  She skimmed her gaze over us, landing at last on me. “Are you all okay?”

  I glanced to Baylie and then nodded.

  “Good,” Olivia said. “Then we need to get out of here. You all have your car back at the parking lot. Take it and follow us. We have a plan to reduce the Beast’s ability to draw strength from what you are.”

  I hesitated. “What plan?”

  “We can talk once we get there.”

  I barely kept myself from scoffing. That comment sounded so like my parents, it was absurd.

  “No,” I said, shaking my head. “No, you tell us now. What plan?”

  Olivia’s mouth tightened again. “There’s an old mine about thirty miles from here. You can stay there for a while. We need to mask that signal coming off of you. I understand the arguments against it, but right now, putting you underground is our best choice till we can figure this out.”

  I stared at her while Baylie and the others voiced protests around me.

  “No,” I stated emphatically. “No, there’s no way I’m doing that.”

  “Chloe, we don’t have a better option.”

  “What about the original dehaians’ solution?” Dave offered.

  Olivia turned to him. “What?”

  “I wanted to say back there… what about the actual solution? What they did?”

  She stared at him, incredulous. “We don’t have the ability to do that.”

  “No, but–”

  “Dave, we can’t do that,” Olivia insisted. “We’re just going to have to–”

  “Joseph can,” Dave finished in a rush over her words.

  Olivia stopped. My brow drew down.

  “Joseph.” Olivia’s voice was flat and her expression was the same. “Joseph is a terrible idea.”

  Dave shifted his weight uncomfortably. “But he could. And it worked for them.”

  “What… what solution?” I asked, my stomach fluttering.

  “Splitting themselves,” Olivia explained without looking away from Dave. “Taking away one side of their abilities.”

  “That almost killed Chloe!” Baylie cried. “You can’t try that!”

  Dave shook his head
. “This wouldn’t be like what Harman attempted. It’s not drugs and treatments for the rest of her life; it’d be permanent. Magic-based. It’d change what she is completely. And if anyone can do that, it’s Joseph.” He paused, watching Olivia. “The Vlostine account is right. Underground won’t work. And even if it did, you can’t keep the girl in a bunker for the rest of her life.”

  Olivia looked like she might’ve considered trying.

  “Who’s Joseph?” I asked hurriedly.

  Dave hesitated. “You might find it a bit hard to believe…”

  “Or you might not.” Olivia’s gaze went to Baylie. “You’re one of them, aren’t you? A greliaran.”

  Baylie’s eyebrows shot up. “What? I’m not–”

  “You heard the men coming. You said it yourself, and since no one else heard a thing, it was clearly a greliaran ability that enabled you to do so. You also knew about the deal between landwalkers and greliarans. And your anger when I called your kind monsters… that was telling.”

  Speechless, Baylie floundered.

  “Hey,” Noah protested, moving protectively to his stepsister’s side. “Come on, she–” He faltered for a heartbeat. “Greliarans don’t look like she does.”

  Olivia gave Noah a sympathetic glance. “Appearances can be deceiving, and the other evidence is there. Ellie told me you two aren’t related by blood, so you wouldn’t share those traits. And greliarans are notoriously secretive about what they are. It’s one of the first things greliaran parents teach their children. I’m sorry; it makes sense that you wouldn’t have known.” She looked from me to Baylie. “How you managed to be friends with a dehaian, though… I’d love an answer to that.”

  “I’m not greliaran,” Baylie insisted, shaking her head. “We just know about them because of what Harman did. And the forest… it was just luck that I–”

  “Enough,” Noah snapped when Olivia’s expression took on a dry cast. “She’s not greliaran. I–”

  “Exactly,” I cut in.

  Noah glanced to me.

  I kept my focus on Olivia, my heart pounding. “Alright? I’ve known her even longer than Noah. She’s not. So who’s Joseph?” I looked between her and Dave when they didn’t respond. “Huh?”

  “He made the greliarans,” Dave answered.