The Warrior

  “And the Quiet Ones,” I say, “Who, as it turns out, can be incredibly loud. I thought you said they could guard this place. Seems the betrayal may lie with them.”

  “They’d never give away our weapons willingly.”

  “What makes you so sure?”

  He touches a hand to his lip and his fingers come away with blood on them. “Because,” he says, “they are the Patrelli sisters.”

  My mind spins as I attempt to process what he’s saying. “Are you telling me the Quiet Ones, the chicks who heal our wounds and bring us our breakfast, killed themselves?”

  Kraven glares at me, and it’s all the answer I need. All this time, I thought those two chicks were the weakest of our group. But in truth, perhaps they are the bravest. They knew the war was coming, and instead of considering their work done, they ended their mortal lives to become liberators. Their only task was to guard the weapons that their ancestor created, and yet they’ve done so much more.

  “Holy crap,” I say before remembering something. I point at him. “What about you? Were you going to tell me a piece of the scroll had been stolen?”

  “It was you,” Kraven repeats, ignoring me. “You are the traitor.”

  “Knock it off, Cyborg. If I were the traitor, I wouldn’t be shagging the savior.”

  “That isn’t a strong argument.” Kraven moves toward me like he’s ready for round two.

  I step back. “Someone must have eavesdropped, Kraven.” I glance down. I don’t want to admit what’s weighing on my heart, but I don’t think I have a choice. “Listen, it hurts that you’re accusing me. I thought we were, like, comrades in this. I’ve tried my hardest to trust you. I went to training. I stayed in the Hive because you said it was the best place to be. I left to recruit Lincoln because you assured me you’d protect Charlie while I was away. I ignored the fact that your face freaking changed before my eyes.

  “I’ve trusted you with my life, but what’s more, I’ve trusted you with Charlie’s. But you…you set me up. You told me about these weapons as a test. And I bet you were relieved to see that you were right. Because that meant you didn’t have to trust anyone anymore.” I smile. “You know, Kraven, we’re not so different.”

  I slide under the miniature door and take the long walk back to Kraven’s room. When I get there, Max is waiting. He seems surprised when I walk in.

  “I heard the screaming,” he offers.

  “Yeah. Kraven’s going to explain all about that.”

  Charlie returns to Kraven’s room and I go to her at once. A few moments later, Valery and Neco charge in, and Kraven appears from the fireplace behind me.

  “Did you just come out of the fireplace?” Valery asks him.

  Kraven mutters a response, but I can’t stop staring at Neco. He wears a worried expression, and I don’t miss the starbursts of sweat on his grey T-shirt. Neco looks a lot like a guy who just did something he’s not proud of.

  “Where you been, Neco?” I ask, gripping Charlie’s hand.

  He shakes his head. “I was in my room.”

  “I bet you were.” I cross my arms. “Right where no one could see you.”

  “Dante, stop.” Kraven goes to the door of his room and closes it. “War is in four days’ time, and we mustn’t fight.”

  “Isn’t there a saying about a pot and kettle and their mutual blackness?” I say.

  Kraven turns to Valery, Max, and Neco. “Go and inform the others that tomorrow will be the last day of training and that tomorrow night we will feast like true warriors.”

  No one says a word. Max meets my gaze before he leaves, and I see my own fear echoed back in his eyes.

  Charlie and I begin to follow after him, but Kraven stops me with a hand on my shoulder.

  “I’d like to show the two of you something.” He walks to the table near the far wall and knocks his knuckles against it. I cross the room and stare down at the map I spotted the last time I was in his chambers.

  “You see this here?” He points to a circle. “This is the Hive.” He runs his hand across the ancient yellowed map to an unmarked area surrounded by illustrated foliage. There are three words inscribed there. “This is a field with tall grasses. It’s an empty square mile, and it’s where the war will take place.”

  “Sa Ligral’s Phun,” I say. “The Lion’s Hand.”

  Kraven’s eyes snap to my face. “You can read it?”

  Charlie is equally surprised. It’s the one thing I hadn’t gotten around to telling her.

  “You trust me, I trust you,” I tell Kraven.

  The liberator studies my face for another moment and then looks at Charlie. Blood pools in the corner of his mouth where I hit him. His eyes fall to the map, and I may be mistaken, but he appears almost sorrowful. “We must be there, four mornings from now.”

  “Will we hide among the trees?” Charlie points to the spindly things on the map.

  “No, they’ll expect that. And if we did they’d do the same. It would turn into a stalemate.”

  “Then what will we do?” I ask.

  “We’ll arrive early and wait in the field,” he responds.

  I balk. “In plain sight? No way, that’ll give them the advantage.”

  “We won’t be visible,” he says, slowly. “We’ll bury ourselves in the ground.”

  I straighten and inspect the liberator closer. He’s serious. He’s crazy, but he’s serious. This is his plan. It isn’t that imaginative, and it will only give us a moment’s advantage, but he’s shared it with me. I don’t expect an apology for his earlier accusations. I imagine this is the closest I’ll get to that. And I’ll take it.

  “They stole our weapons,” Charlie says.

  “Not all of them,” Kraven replies.

  Charlie thinks. “Was the one we needed gone? The sparrow among the crows?”

  “It was,” I tell her.

  “Can we defeat them without it?” she asks.

  Kraven hangs his head. “We have no choice but to try.”

  “We have eight liberators, one collector, thirteen jackrabbits with combat skills, and about fifty humans with a day’s training,” I say. “There are maybe seventy of us against hundreds of sirens, probably many who have been trained. And let’s not forget the five collectors.”

  “We have Oswald, too,” Kraven adds.

  “You believe we will win?”

  Kraven rolls up the map and slides it inside the drawer beneath the table. He looks past me, not meeting my gaze. “We must.”

  “And me,” Charlie says suddenly, surprising Kraven and me both. “Don’t forget I will be on that battlefield, too.”

  31

  Beneath the Moon

  It’s late at night when I wake to find Charlie sitting on the edge of my bed, knees pulled to her chest. She is so small, so painfully small.

  “We had weapons,” she whispers when she realizes I’ve woken. “We had the weapon. And they took them.”

  I sit up, but don’t reach for her. “We knew this would happen. Kraven said they would try to weaken us before the war. We’ll get the sparrow back somehow.”

  Do I believe that? I’m not sure. What I do believe is I’ll defeat Rector with or without a special weapon.

  The bedsprings move and Charlie folds her arms around my neck. “One more day of training.”

  “It’ll be enough.” I’m trying to feign confidence. If I’m confident, maybe Charlie will feel safe. I’ve always had the ability to ooze the stuff, but with so much out of my control, and with Charlie’s safety on the line, I feel depleted. My heart aches and I’m sick to my stomach. Anxiety courses through me and my muscles twitch with the need to release pent-up nervousness. It’s not war I’m afraid of. In fact, I’m itching to face Rector again. What scares me is thinking about Charlie out there. Every moment we’re together feels like our last. And I hate that more than anything.

  “Charlie,” I say in a whisper. “About what the scroll said. The part about two hearts beating as one will m
ake a great sacrifice?”

  “I know.” She guides me back on the bed. I move with her body like there’s no place I’d rather be. She wraps her quiet hands around my face and meets my gaze. “Don’t be afraid, Dante,” she says, “I won’t let anything happen to you.”

  I flinch. “You won’t let anything happen to me? No, Charlie, that’s not how—”

  She kisses me. It’s a hungry kiss, one that tells me she doesn’t want to let go this time. Kraven said war is in four days’ time, and that tomorrow evening we dine. We will fight and we will finally save Aspen from hell’s clutches. Tomorrow is the last day of preparation. But tonight…

  Tonight it’s Charlie and me.

  I kiss her firmly, my tongue touching the tip of hers. Pulling back a breath, I bite her lower lip and she tugs me closer. Time slows down, or maybe it speeds up. With Charlie touching me like this, I feel everything at once, every last inch of skin on both of our bodies.

  I crawl on top of Charlie and lower myself between her legs. She gasps and I kiss her again. I wish I could keep Charlie safe. I wish I could hold her forever. Her fingers trail up my back and grip my shoulders. I lower my head and lick the sensitive skin along her neck. She entwines her legs around my waist and I nearly howl with lust.

  The snap on her jeans pops in my hands and then I’m pulling them down the length of her, one leg, and then the other. My fingers find the outside of her ankle. I run them along the length of her leg and back to her hip. I lie down on her and we move together for a moment, allowing ourselves to imagine what it will feel like when the rest of our clothes are gone.

  My shirt comes away in her hands, and then I’m pulling hers off, my hands sliding over the smoothness of her stomach. I find the inside of her knee and kiss my way toward her hip. Her hands find my hair and her back arches. I move my mouth to her other leg and brush my lips down the other thigh, too. When I get too close to her, she breathes my name. It turns me into an animal, and I feel like I may swallow her whole just to make her mine.

  I find the edge of her bra and slip my thumbs beneath the sky blue fabric. Her bra is covered in intricate lace, and the sweetness of it makes me growl with anticipation. I want to protect her.

  I want to ravage her.

  I want everything she has, and I want to give her everything in return. I unclasp her bra and then my mouth is on her. Charlie throws her head back and leans into my touch. When I can’t wait any longer, I rip off my jeans and boxers, and slip her blue underwear off, too.

  When I settle myself on top of her, I pause. Her eyes are open and we meet each other’s gaze. I take her in: soft blond hair, full pink lips, slight crinkles around her eyes. She is beautiful.

  She was always beautiful.

  “I love you, Dante,” she whispers. “Forever.”

  I kiss her lips once, twice. “Forever.”

  I touch my forehead to hers and smell the scent of soap on her skin. And then we are together. My mind never strays from the girl I love clutching me tight.

  32

  Sundress

  Always in my dreams, I see her. So I know that I’m asleep when I spot Aspen’s face above me. I sit up and find we are in a field of purple bulbous flowers. They sway gently in the sunlight and the air itself seems to bend and sparkle like someone has tossed a handful of glitter into the breeze.

  Aspen offers her hand. I grasp her fingerless gloved hand and pull myself up. “It took you longer to find me this time,” she says.

  I dust off the back of my jeans. “You won’t be here much longer, Aspen. The war is coming in four days.”

  “Four days,” she says through a sigh. Her body sags as if the thought of bearing those ninety-six hours in a place like this is unimaginable.

  “Blue thinks about you every day.”

  Her green eyes snap to mine. She smiles and then covers her lips with two fingers. “He does, really?”

  “Of course he does.” I’m glad to have made her smile. “He was smitten with you from the first moment he saw you at your father’s cabin.”

  She laughs and her whole body laughs along with her. She touches a hand to her black hair. She’s wearing a yellow cotton dress that’s unexpected, and the diamond stud ring is gone from her nose. Aspen looks buoyant, as if she could skip to the clouds if she wished.

  “We have this guy named Oswald who will help us win. And we’ve all trained really hard for this day. Once the fighting is over, we’ll go and fetch you from hell.”

  She shrugs and grins. “Just like that, huh?”

  “Just like that.”

  Her smile fades. She points to the edge of the field. “Do you see my friends?”

  My stomach plummets when I notice what I didn’t before. Six men and women stand in a line, skin ashen, gazes empty. Each person has a dark gash across their throat like a sinister smile. They are the walkers, gone from this world. But why are they here?

  “He took their souls,” she whispers. “He stole them.”

  I shake my head. “That can’t happen. They have to go to Judgment if their soul light isn’t completely sealed.”

  “He doesn’t like those rules.”

  My blood burns hot and fury claws at the inside of my eyes. “We’ll end this. All of this.” I return my glare to Aspen. “When we save you, we’ll save them, too.”

  “You must rescue the sparrow. You must remember the beast and the untrained tongue.”

  “What are you talking about?” I ask.

  She covers her face and moans.

  “Aspen,” I say, alarmed. “Aspen, are you talking about the scroll?”

  Her nails drag down her face and red jagged lines appear where she rips away the skin. I go to stop her, but she shoves me back with both hands. I stumble but keep from falling. Aspen presses the heel of her hands to her temples. “You’re already dead. Go back to sleep.”

  “Why do you keep saying that?” I yell.

  She gasps and glances around like she’s in disbelief that I’m still here. “Don’t you understand, Dante?” Tears slip from her eyes and race down the claw marks she created.

  “No, I don’t understand anything.” My voice grows in volume. “Tell me!”

  “Shhhhhhh!” the walkers hiss in unison, pointer fingers raised to their lips.

  I glance back at Aspen, my own eyes stinging. “Tell me.”

  Her bottom lip wobbles and tears drown her heart-shaped face. She throws herself into my arms and buries her head into my neck. Then, so slowly I hardly register that she’s lifted her head, her lips touch my ear. “Dante, Dante,” she whispers.

  I close my eyes and squeeze her tight.

  “I’m already dead.”

  …

  The next day, I can’t shake the dream I had of Aspen. A sweet sickness swirls inside me, like eating too many pancakes drowned in syrup. On one hand, I feel invisible from the night I spent with Charlie. I think about her touch, about the way we felt immortal together in that moment.

  On the other, there’s Aspen. Aspen with her yellow sundress and promises of death. She’s not gone, not really. She can’t be. We’re too close to battling our enemy and coming for her.

  I think about the walkers, too, but I know they were a mirage, more trickery that Rector somehow created to make me lose my mind.

  But mostly, I think about what she said before. About finding the sparrow and remembering the beast and the untrained tongue. If war is in four days, how will I find the sword in time, or solve the riddle about the beast, or locate the missing part of the scroll.

  I pass Lincoln and the jackrabbits on my way to training. They’re already in the great room, chairs moved aside, going over drills. Somberness hangs heavy over everything like a pregnant rain cloud. The humans are rapt with attention, focusing so keenly on Lincoln’s every word that if I drove a spear through their sides, I doubt they’d notice the pain until he told them to do so.

  With Lincoln here, teaching the humans the same things he’s learned from his father??
?how to move without being seen, how to incapacitate your enemy using only your hands--the humans will stand a much better chance on the battlefield. Of course, if memory serves, it was Aspen that taught Lincoln most of what he knows.

  Inside the liberator training room, it’s much of the same. No one speaks as Kraven teaches us one last thing. Blue and Max have not uncovered the capability to summon their wings, but we must move forward, Kraven says. Today, for a few hours, we study Sector 6, Amplification.

  The liberator introduces things that make my pulse beat against my eardrums. Not a question is voiced, not a word muttered, as he paces in front of us, unveiling secrets. We can’t comprehend the things he’s telling us, mostly because he admits there isn’t a way to easily explain it.

  “Amplification,” he says, in closing, after a day of stories that sound like legends, “is a state of advanced being that you cannot access alone.”

  He meets my gaze.

  I do not look away.

  “Tonight, you will pray. You will pray to Him for the ability and courage to access this part of yourself. And when we are on the battlefield, you will believe He has heard you. You must believe it.”

  I wonder if this amplification is what I saw in Kraven the night his face changed. If it’s the same thing I experienced that day when I wrestled with Neco. I think back to the night Rector stole Charlie’s soul from me. His face changed, too. Is it possible for collectors to experience amplification? I believe it is. When they’ve opened themselves up to the devil the way Rector has, then yes.

  Kraven runs a hand through his dirty blond hair. He appears weathered, and though he’s a man in his early twenties, right now he seems much older. “Go and get ready for our feast. The humans stopped their training early today to prepare it for us. Don’t forget to show your appreciation.”

  As we pluck water bottles from the ground and head toward the door, dumbfounded, Kraven adds, “Don’t forget what I told you about the collectors. Don’t forget what I told you to do.”

  I won’t forget.

  33

  Everlasting Embrace