I could hear the near silent beating of his wings as he flew to the door. I could sense his presence there, on the other side. He didn’t want me to know he was there, but my hearing had become more sensitive. None of that mattered, though, I hadn’t even expected him to be up at this hour.
I tapped the door again. Nothing happened and I was placing my hand on the knob the door swung open.
Luke said nothing to me, just looked at me with cold, dark, eyes and shook his head.
I stepped back. I cursed myself under my breath; thinking I could fix things so soon had been stupid of me. I was so, so stupid sometimes.
“I-I,” I struggled to speak, but I couldn’t.
I stepped to a window and pressed my hand against it, watching it dissapear. I didn’t want to hurt him. I didn’t want to see him hurt. I couldn’t see him hurt like that, so I jumped. I let myself fall a few stories before I caught myself with my wings.
I heard Luke scream my name once as he watched me fall, but he didn’t come after me as I flew away.
I felt, once again, like a sappy human girl. I wished desperately that he would have come after me. It would’ve been so much easier for me to come back.
I tried hard not to focus on that. Instead I focused on the steady strokes of my wings.
After I’d been flying for about half an hour I spotted a clearing. I didn’t know why, but it seemed to speak to me. I swooped down into it and let my feet drag slightly before landing.
Flowers covered the ground of the clearing. Red roses, pink gardenias, yellow daisies, pink tulips, and others I couldn’t name.. One of those flowers stood out from all the others, seeming to call to me.
An iridescent rose. It was a pearly color and the petals looked like they were made from Light Stone. I kneeled to pick it and noticed there were no thorns. I lifted it carefully between my thumb and pointer fingers. When I brought it up to my face to examine it I heard a voice in my head.
“Remember what you were taught,” it was my mother’s voice.
I knew immediately about the rose. It had been my mother’s symbol. She’d sent it to me. It was her spirit.
Holding the rose tightly I lifted off the ground, flying back towards the shrine or, as more and more Lights called it, the castle. The window I’d left from was still missing, so I tumbled in through it. I put the window back in place and turned to walk back to my room.
I noticed Luke’s door open and pushed it open the rest of the way. He was nowhere to be seen.
“Luke,” I called to his empty room, “Luke!”
He had obviously left for a while. I closed his door behind me and went to put the flower in a safe place. I locked it in the magic trunk and then went to check on the prisoners.
I checked to make sure all my knives were in place before I left in case I needed to threaten Joseph. On my way down I heard voices and I stopped to listen.
“She’ll never know,” I heard Ellie’s voice, “Plus,” she purred, “She has a Soul Mate.”
I began to make my way very quietly down the stairs still listening.
“You wouldn’t do that to me,” I heard a male voice that sounded slightly hypnotized.
“You’re right, I actually care about you. I wouldn’t lie to you about having a Soul Mate already.”
I continued down the stairs to a hidden alcove I could watch from. I almost gasped out loud when I saw Luke standing in front of her. I hadn’t realized it had been his voice.
I saw fury flash in his eyes. Then, he did something unthinkable: he opened up the cell and let Ellie out.
Ellie whispered something in his ear and Luke smiled. He pulled her to him and kissed her. I bit my lip to keep from screaming and watched as I bent to pull a knife out of my boot. It was the only knife I kept without my crest on it, so there would be no evidence I’d been there.
They still hadn’t stopped kissing and a buzzing filled my ears. As the knife flew out of my hand and towards Ellie I felt a small tinge of regret because of the tiny chance of hitting Luke that I’d risked. I brushed it off and had turned and was flying away before the knife had hit Ellie, but from her thoughts I knew I’d hit her perfectly, right in the rib cage. Neither of them saw me, though.
As soon as I rounded the corner away from the stairs to the dungeon I ran into Claire.
“The armies leaving soon, the real battle’s going to happen!” She cried.
“Is everyone ready?” I asked as we raced off towards the armory.
“Yes.”
We got there and Claire and Alex helped me into my armor. It was light armor and I could move easily, but it protected. My sword was sheathed at my waist and I had a gun in one combat boot and a knife in the other. There was also a knife sheathed underneath the armor on both arms and one between my shoulder blades.
I changed into fairy form and braided my hair quickly. I pulled gloves on that melded into my armor and tucked my hair away. I flew to the release deck and found Rob.
“Do you know if everyone’s ready?” I asked him.
“Almost. Everyone’s rushing,” he replied.
“How did they know it started?” I asked.
“One of the spies I picked came back with information and lots of it.”
“The real war with actual fighting had to start eventually,” I sighed, “Where are we going?”
“A prison for Brownies, Sprites and Elves. They’re protected by robots because, they’re all so clever. It’s funny that they have elves in there, though. Normally they’re kept with fairies. There have been a lot of prisons with fairies and elves and that’s it, but it’s unusual to have sprites and brownies and elves.”
“I know, it is odd, isn’t it? Oh well, we can puzzle over it later. You can be at the front point, in Luke’s spot. Ready?” I said getting into position.
“Ready.”
“Alright, everyone,” I called, “Let’s fly!”
For one split second I grabbed Rob’s hand and squeezed. He looked startled for a moment, but then it was over. We were in the air.
~~~~~
After about three restless hours we landed in the shade of trees for breakfast. We’d left about half an hour after dawn with most of us having nothing to eat, so everyone was a slight bit hungry.
As soon as I’d sat down Rob came up to me, “How much longer?”
“A few more hours, I guess.”
“Oh,” he reached his hand out to me, “Come with me.”
I took his hand and stood up. We walked deeper into the woods. I was very conscious of his hand in mine, but I wasn’t regretting it. My anger and horror at Luke still burned bright.
“Leigha,” Rob had stopped.
I looked at him, “Yes?”
“What happened between you and-,” he began.
I interrupted him angrily, “It’s over.”
He didn’t reply, but kissed me instead. I started to kiss him back, but then I saw Luke’s face. I pushed away unsteadily.
“We should get back. I’m in charge, you know,” I didn’t wait for him to reply, but took off through the woods.
What if anyone saw us? What about Luke? Why do you have to do this? It thought angrily. I knew who my soul mate was and this had to stop.
I picked up my things and shouted, “Get your things together and get into formation!”
Once everyone was ready we took off. I flew and tried not to think. I listened to the beat of wings around me and the clomp of the unicorns’ hooves below me.
~~~~~
“Cece! Cece, where’s Leigha?” Luke asked.
“Oh, oh Leigha,” Cece was a little frazzled from keeping up with things, but she sorted it out, “She left.”
“Where did she go?”
“Didn’t she tell you? I’m surprised she didn’t take you. The real war’s beginning, she’s gone to fight.”
“What?” He asked in complete disbelief.
“Yeah, they left this morning. I’m surprise you weren’t on the list,” she flipped
through the pages on her clipboard, “Actually, you were. Your name was scratched out.”
“I can’t believe she just...left.”
“I’m sorry,” Cece turned away.
Luke’s anger began to boil. He was still mad at her and didn’t want to go after her, but he wanted to be a part of the fight. It didn’t matter, he wouldn’t do any good. If he got there in the middle of the battle he could be killed instantly and that wouldn’t be any help.
~~~~~
After about two hours more we landed again. It was practically nonstop work, preparing. We had to get everything together and keep everything packed up.
“We’ll fly for about three more hours. We’ll arrive between three and four o’clock. The prison sits in and empty area, but the area’s surrounded by woods on two sides where we’ll spend the rest of the day. We’ll eat sleep and go over the plan for the battle. Is everyone clear?”
“Yeah!” came in a chorus from the crowd.
“Good. Get your stuff together and start getting into formation. Make sure everything’s set up so you can use it. It’s okay to take your time.”
All my things were together and Rob pulled off to the side.
“Leigha, I think I might love-,”
“No, Rob, you don’t,” I said. “not yet.”
“I’m sorry.”
“It’s not your fault just don’t say it yet. Don’t say it until you know you mean it.”
~~~~~
“Luke,” Ellie purred when she saw him.
“You’re all right?” He asked.
“Yeah, perfectly fine,” she said, though she was tenderly holding her side and had trouble getting up.
“Good,” Luke unlocked the cell and closed it back behind Ellie.
He kissed her once and saw Leigha’s face. He pulled back, but he didn’t want to. He was still mad at Leigha and it made him want to love Ellie.
~~~~~
“Leigha, you ready?” Marie asked, startling me.
“Yeah. I didn’t know you came!”
“I wouldn’t miss it! Alex came, too.”
“Why’d you two come?”
“We’re not that young!” she complained.
“Maybe not you, but Alex...”
“Oh, Leigha, calm down. She’ll be okay. She was trained just like the rest of us,” Marie said and skipped away.
I sighed and began to think about Rob again. This infatuation really needed to stop. Next time they we landed I would end it.
I went up to the front of the formation.
“Claire, Marie, Alex, come up here!” I called.
“Yes?” Alex asked sweetly.
I glared at her, “You three will fly up at point with me. Rob,” I called, “You’ll fly in your original position.”
Claire looked at me and slipped my knife out of her sleeve. She closed my hand around it.
She’s fine. There was no permanent damage, she said through her thoughts.
How’d you know? I sent back.
I know what your knife looks like, even without your crest, she said, smiling at me.
I smiled back, Thanks.
I slid the knife into the empty sheath on my thigh that was made for it.
“Alright people, let’s move out,” I yelled.
Everyone took off into the air. Adrenaline was already beginning to pump through me. In a few hours the real war would begin. No more practicing and drills, but actual fighting.
Chapter Seventeen
We landed in the woods around the building, giving us plenty of cover. I cleared my throat to get everyone’s attention.
“Right now, everyone needs to relax. I don’t care how, just take a break, eat, get some rest. At dusk we’ll discuss the attack plans,” I announced.
I sat down and ate quickly. After about ten minutes of sitting alone Rob came up to me.
“We need to talk,” he said.
I sighed and stood up.
“Let’s take a walk,” he said, leading the way.
We walked and talked for a while and I wasn’t paying attention to where he was taking me. After about thirty minutes I noticed we were almost out of the trees at the part where the stretched closest to the prison.
“Rob, we should go back. What is they see us? Our whole plan would be ruined.”
Rob hugged me unexpectedly. It wasn’t a friendly embrace, he was hurting me. I struggled against him, but he was strong. He had the strength of something much stronger than a regular fairy, more like a powerful…Dark Sider.
“It wouldn’t matter,” Rob said, cutting off my thoughts, “precious.”
I started to scream, but he slapped his hand over my mouth. I tried to bite him, but he was holding my mouth shut. Everything was clear now. How we’d gotten the information. How he’d kept trying to get me alone even after I’d resisted.
Before I went unconscious my thoughts screamed out to Claire.
Claire, I thought forcefully, Rob was a traitor. I’ve been captured. Put the shrine on lockdown. Put and invisibility shield around the camp. Leave when it’s dark and don’t let any newcomers into the shrine. No matter what you do don’t get caught.
Right after those thoughts I fell unconscious.
~~~~~
Claire shot up from where she’d been trying to sleep. Her mind was running at a million miles per minute. She couldn’t believe Rob had lied. There was no way she was giving into what Leigha had told her to do and going back. She had a plan of her own and she summoned a messenger.
Claire whispered what to tell Cece into the messengers ear as tears streamed down her cheeks.
The messenger nodded at her and left. He would probably take about two hours. Unicorns were fast, which was why they were scouts and messengers. Plus, on the way everyone had gone slowly on purpose.
She cleared her throat loudly and yelled, “Everybody up! We have a change of plans! Leigha’s been captured. I’m in charge now. I need a few people with really strong magic to make us an invisibility shield,” at least she could stick to one thing Leigha had told her, “No one can fly. We’re going to make it seem as if we’ve left on foot. We won’t give in, though. We have to defeat them.”
There were a few cheers of agreement from the crowd and then everyone went completely silent. It would seem as if they’d gone if anyone came out there.
~~~~~
When I woke I felt more exhaustion and pain than I ever had before. I raised my head slowly, taking up more energy than I could spare at this point and attempted to look around me.
The walls, floor, and ceiling were gray and glowed faintly. I was in a Hold, which will make a Dark or Light weaker than a human. Over time, they make us go insane by remembering bad memories of people gave us a desire to kill them. There were a few in the shrine, but no one was in them.
I watched the door open.
“Hello, Leigha,” Rob said.
I glared at him.
“I just thought I’d show you something before I left for main base.”
Then, he turned into the First Obliviator.
I didn’t know if I fainted from exhaustion or because I’d kissed him or because he knew where the shrine was, but I fainted.
~~~~~
“Luke!” Cece exclaimed when she saw him, “I’ve been looking everywhere for you!”
“Is something wrong?” he asked, one eyebrow raised in suspicion.
Cece began to fidget with her hands, not making eye contact with Luke, “Well, Leigha... Leigha’s gone. The Darks kidnapped her. We’re leaving in about half an hour. We have to get there as fast as we can.”
“Let’s go, now!”
Cece looked at her watch, “Actually, we have fifteen minutes. We just need a few more minutes to let everyone get their things,” she turned to leave and then turned back. “Are you still mad at her?”
“No, but she has every right to be mad at me.”
“Luke, what the heck did you do to her?”
“I kissed Ellie,” he whi
spered, “twice.”
“She did some bad things, too.
“So, she didn’t tell me about Joseph. That’s really not that bad,” he sighed.
“No, she almost killed Ellie because she saw you two. Then, she...,” Cece’s voice dropped, “she kissed Rob and he...he’s the reason she’s gone.”
“No,” Luke said, “No, it’s my fault. If she hadn’t seen that, if I hadn’t have done that...”
“Don’t blame this on yourself, Luke. She loves you, you’re the one in the Prophecy. She’s just wild... She does crazy things when she’s upset.”
“What about Joseph? I thought he was the one. He sure seems to think he is.”
“Joseph doesn’t matter. No other guys really do. Leigha’s mother told me, she told me you were the one in the prophecy.”
Luke looked entirely stunned, but he knew it had to be true. Every Light mother knew when their child had found their soul mate and at that time who they were.
~~~~~
“Our reinforcements will be here in about four hours!” Claire shouted to the crowd, “They’ll come in while it’s dark.”
She stepped down from the stump she’d been on and began walking to her blanket. Someone was approaching her. Whoever it was, they were obviously taller than her and probably male.
“Claire, can we talk?” he asked.
She recognized him. She’d seen him a few times before. In the raid when they’d rescued Ellie, they’d rescued him. He had dark teal eyes and sandy, shaggy hair. His magic power was with water.
“Sure,” she stood.
“I’m sorry about what happened.”
“We all are. Who are you?”
“Oh, sorry, I’m Wess.”
“I’m Claire. If you didn’t know...”
“Actually, I did.”
Claire laughed a little, “Oh, well, we should go back because...”
“Of Leigha,” he finished for her, “I get it. You’re in charge now.”
“Yeah,” she sighed.
~~~~~
When I woke up again I felt slightly less exhausted. I was in a different room, though. Everything was sterile and silver. I remembered feeling pain in my arm. Then, something pricked me and everything went black again.
~~~~~
I woke again and was more exhausted than ever. I looked at my arm. The one that had hurt in the sterile room. It was my left arm and it was different the way I couldn’t move it. The rest of my body I could move a little bit, but it was as if it wasn’t even attached to me. Just like a limp piece of clothing.
I’d probably only been there for a day or two, maybe only a few hours, but I was bone thin. My skin was pale and brittle and hung on my bones like clothes that were too big. I went through the effort of moving my right arm and realized my cheeks were hollowed. My hair hung limp and tangled and I could feel the bags underneath my eyes. I was already in terrible shape.