Aliah! Aliah!
Her desperate cry filled his chest. The agony of her plea jetted through him. He clenched his teeth.
“Correction. I’m Jachin Aliah Elyon. From the Coalition.”
He let go of the hand holding his.
CHAPTER 54
Shai
Her lips cracked as screams tore from her. She leaned over Aliah’s broken body on the ground. Ava lay a few feet away from him, either unconscious or dead. Her fingers still stretched towards Aliah’s. She’d let go of him! She let go!
Shai put her head on Aliah’s chest, and guttural sobs ripped from her soul. A slight movement beneath her cheek made her pause.
“Aliah?” She pressed her face harder to his chest. His heart was still beating. Faintly. Beside him, Ava stirred. Shai got to her knees and looked quickly around. They were on the dusty red earth outside the Camp. The massive steel structure loomed in the distance, light arcing off its shiny square sides. Shai lifted a hand to shield her eyes.
Light? Where was it coming from? Glancing at Ava, who still had her eyes closed and was making groaning sounds, Shai glanced behind them. A golden ball of orange glowed in the bright blue sky above them. Warmth spread down her back and the side of her face.
The sun. Her eyes scanned the distance where tall green grasses swayed in the light breeze, and further beyond that trees waved their thick foliage at the birds that flew overhead.
It had all been a lie. The massive Observatory screen had shown a scarred and dead earth outside, designed to instill fear into the inhabitants to keep them inside. While the outside flourished and grew for…what? There was no one to enjoy it because they were locked inside.
Fresh anger made hot tears well up in her eyes. She turned her attention to Ava, who had regained consciousness. Shai scrambled to her knees and felt her back pocket for her makeshift weapon. Her pocket was empty. She glanced around her. A few rocks were scattered around, and she grabbed the largest one without a second thought. She stood up on shaky legs and walked over to Ava. Her fingers gripped the rock until they ached. It took only four steps to reach Ava. Four solid, sure, angry steps.
Ava struggled to a sitting position and looked up at Shai with large green eyes. Without blinking, Shai brought the rock down on her head. Ava hit the ground with a groan. Shai mercilessly straddled her and grabbed a handful of dark hair. Dark blood seeped from a large gash in her temple and soaked into her dusty hair.
A single tear trickled down Ava’s face, and Shai’s hand hovered in the air.
“I didn’t think you had it in you.” Ava sneered and lifted a hand.
It’s just the sun in her eyes, she told herself. The tear wasn’t of remorse, regret or even pain. It was just the sun shining in her eyes.
Without a word she brought the rock crashing down against Ava’s temple. Then again. And again. The side of Ava’s head caved in; an ocean of blood poured from the hole. Shai’s stomach turned with violence and she vomited into the dirt. Still on her hands and knees, she turned her head when she heard Ava make a noise. A black shadow came out of Ava’s open mouth. It slithered down the girl’s silent chest and spilled onto the ground, where it suddenly stood on two filmy legs. Shai hardly dared to breathe. She looked up into its black face to where its eyes should be. Nothing but two empty holes peered back at her.
“You think you’ve won? Think again.” It hissed at her. “This is our territory now!”
Shai said nothing. Her chest flared with a spike of heat that nearly threw her backwards. The Hunter backed up a few steps and took one last look at Shai before disappearing into the woods beyond.
Shai stared after the Hunter for a few moments. She knew it wouldn’t be the last time she’d see the evil wraith. Or its companions. They’d hitched a ride through Ava’s portal when she arrived. Shai looked down at Ava. The girl’s face had transformed. She had a look of peace on her pretty features. Her green eyes stared vacantly into the bright blue sky. A small smile touched her bow-shaped mouth.
Shai reached over, closed Ava’s eyes with trembling fingers, then pulled the chain from her neck. The bright emerald stone winked in the sunlight, casting a shower of glittering green stars everywhere.
Behind her, Aliah made a noise.
“Aliah?” She kneeled beside him and held his hand. His skin felt cold and clammy in spite of the sun’s heat. He coughed. A trickle of blood dribbled from his swollen lips.
“I’m so sorry! The portal couldn’t support all three of us.” She smoothed his damp hair back from his brow.
“No…it’s not…the portal.” He tried to smile, but his lips cracked with the effort, prompting a fresh flow of blood that glinted like the dark red jewel on her own key.
“The Grafter… has no effect…out here.” He coughed again.
A stab of pain went through her. So neither Ava nor Shai would win Aliah in the end.
Her eyes blurred. “I will not lose you again.”
He lifted his free hand, and she bent down so he could touch her face. “You’ve never…really lost…me, Shai.”
“Yes, I lost you in Gershom, and I’m losing you again.”
“No…” He breathed a ragged breath. “I was never…really here. Just…my body.”
“But you are here! Talking to me!”
He shook his head and took his hand from her face. He seemed to be saying something about his implant. A large tear rolled down her cheek.
“It’s the only thing keeping your body alive, isn’t it?” She watched the tiny red light blink slowly.
“Read the inscription…on my…key.”
“What does that have to do with right now?” She hiccupped and unclasped the golden key from around his neck.
Out of the ashes.
“I came back…from the ashes…What Ava meant for evil…ended up…being for good.”
She smiled, and a tear fell on Aliah’s chest. It made a damp spot on the white fabric, turning it transparent. Through it, she could see part of the brand of the Coalition. Hers kept spreading waves of heat throughout her body. They’d always be connected, she knew. But saying good-bye was so hard.
She nodded. “It was good. I just wish we had more time…”
Aliah licked his lips, which failed to moisten anything. “Me too…but I can’t stay.”
“No, don’t say that.” She wiped her face on her sleeve. “I’ll…I’ll come with you.”
“You…can’t. You’re needed…here. It’s time…you accepted that.” He inhaled again, and it seemed to take him longer to exhale shakily. “Give Remii’s key…back to him. Tell him…I love him.”
She nodded, then put her head on his chest, which rose and fell with each small breath. “Don’t leave me, Aliah. I love you.”
And I’ll always love you.
She looked at him, and his green eyes fluttered closed.
“Aliah?”
His fingers curled around hers. He gave her hand a quick squeeze; then his fingers went limp.
Desolation swallowed her as she sobbed onto his still chest. Her heart shattered into a million fragments. She curled her fingers into his dark hair, loving its softness.
“I’m coming with you. Your father gave me a choice before I came here. So now, I choose you,” she whispered into his neck and closed her eyes, knowing the darkness that would soon envelope her would be permanent.
Remember why you came here. Remember the children. Lael. So many have given their lives, including my brother. His mission is over, but yours isn’t. Don’t give up on the children.
“Remiel?” She blinked and looked around. She was alone.
Kael is waiting for you. He needs you now. He’ll help you defeat the Hunters that have entered the Outerlands with Ava. Then release the children from the Camp, and start again.
She looked at Aliah again through her tears. She knew Remiel’s request was what Aliah would want too. In order for his death not to be in vain, she needed to see her mission through to complet
ion. To be the guardian of humanity that she was created to be.
She kissed Aliah’s brow and let go of his hand.
Her eyes blurred again as she hung the other two keys with hers around her neck. True love never dies. Even though Aliah wouldn’t be with her in body, he’d always be a part of the Coalition. She’d be forever grateful for the time she spent with him in the Camp. She was finally at peace with her destiny.
Movement in the corner of her eye made her turn. A door stood open in the Camp where it hadn’t before. Someone was running toward her.
“Kael?” She ran toward him and threw her arms around his neck. “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.” She sobbed into his neck.
He stiffened, and she knew he had seen his sister’s body. What if Remiel was wrong? What if Kael would never forgive her for what she did?
Passion stronger than the grave. The inscription on Remiel’s key reminded her that Kael had left his world and all he knew to see that she was safe in Kent. He’d shoved aside his own fears about the Coalition and accepted who she was. True love never dies. Maybe she could come to love him, as she knew he loved her.
She tightened her arms around his neck, remembering the kiss they’d shared in Conley. Whatever his initial reasons for doing it, she knew now that he’d meant that kiss. Someday she’d return it.
“I’m sorry,” she whispered again.
He murmured into her hair and stroked her back. “No, I’m sorry. I let my prejudice and fear over the differences in our worlds get to me. I almost tried to prevent you from remembering who you were back in Kent. I was…afraid of the Coalition forming. I…thought the sectors could never live together without being separated. I expected there to be a war. But then…the Book…it showed me the truth.”
She let him explain, knowing he’d wanted to since the day he’d come to say good-bye to her in Kent.
“You…you know who…I am, then?” Her words were muffled by his shirt.
“I know, Shai. I’ve known for a while. You’re a guardian.”
“But I’m not…human.” A fresh flow of tears started again.
“That doesn’t matter to me. None of it does. If it did, I wouldn’t be here. I didn’t come here for just the Book.”
“I’m the one who should be apologizing.” She hiccupped.
Shai felt him shake his head. “It’s okay. Shhhhhh. It’s over now,” he murmured.
She pulled back and looked up at him. “No,” she said softly, blinking away the tears. “It’s only just the beginning.”
She turned around for one last look at Aliah, but his body had disappeared. Only Ava’s remained. A dark reminder in the beautiful light of the sun of all that they’d been through and everything yet to come.
Kael’s hand found hers, lacing his fingers through hers. She leaned her head against his shoulder.
“I wish it didn’t have to be this way.”
She felt him shrug. “She was so tormented, Shai. After our mother left, she wasn’t the same. She lied to herself. Told herself that our mother had died in the War. I guess it was easier for her to cope.” He sighed, a deep shudder that she felt too. “She had to be in control of everything. Our mother’s inexplicable absence was something she couldn’t deal with. She’d rather destroy what she loved than face another loss. That kind of twisted thinking is what eventually led to the Hunter’s darkness consuming her.” His voice broke. “She even wanted to possess our little brother. In her sick mind she thought if she could possess his soul, she’d be keeping him safe. In the end she became as dark as the Hunter inside her and destroyed everything she once loved.” He shuddered. “I hope she’s at peace now.”
“We should bury her,” Shai said.
“No. We can’t touch her body. It belongs to the Hunters now. Besides, burying her isn’t what’s important. That’s not her. It hasn’t been for a long time.” Kael looked at her with tears glistening in his eyes. “You would’ve liked her. The real her.”
Shai nodded. They walked back to the Camp. “The Book is really here, then?”
“Yes. Ava brought it here. It’s in the room she was staying in.”
“So she knew about the ways of the Camp because…”
Kael sighed. “Unfortunately because of the Book. She managed to read it during its brief stay in Conley.”
The sound of their feet on gravel filled the silence for several moments. Shai wiped sweat from her brow. From the time she’d heard how the Book came to Conley, she’d wanted to ask Kael about it.
“You met Sileas, then?”
Kael cleared his throat and looked sideways at her. A funny smile touched his lips. “Yes. She brought the Book to me. Told me she read about me in it, and she knew I could be trusted.” He laughed, a hollow sound in the vastness of the Outerlands. “Funny how the Book told her that, and I would never have described myself that way.”
“Maybe the Book sees the way we really are,” she said with conviction.
Kael nodded. “I believe that too.”
They approached the door to the Camp. Not a door like the ones inside that needed a scanner, but a simple door that swung on three hinges. It seemed…normal…amidst everything else that wasn’t.
“I figured there had to be a door here somewhere.”
He chuckled. “Of course. How else could I have gotten in?”
She squeezed his hand. “I guess I assumed you came here through the portal with Ava.”
Kael coughed. “No. Never. That stuff’s not for me. That day I saw you at the…inspection, I’d just arrived. It took me two weeks to walk here. I almost turned back several times, but I knew there was nothing to go back to. The future was all…right here.” He looked pointedly at her. Her cheeks blazed.
They walked in silence for a minute before Shai finally said, “I suppose you know what’s next.” She looked up into his light green eyes.
He smiled. “I’ve spent a lifetime deciphering the codes in that Book, so I have a pretty good idea.”
“I’m glad you already knew…about everything,” she said softly.
“Me too. It helped me to process…what my sister had become.” He stopped walking and turned to Shai. He took her face between his palms and looked into her eyes. “I told you before that I understood what you had to do. I meant it, okay? I lost my sister long before…any of this.”
Shai nodded, tears threatening to spill again. She blinked them away as he kissed her forehead. His lips were warm and dry on her skin. His touch made her feel safe.
Just before they went inside the Camp, Shai reached for Kael’s hand again. “Your mother. What’s her name?”
He stepped into the cool interior of the Camp. The sun threw its warmth and light into the doorway, lighting up Kael’s face.
“Eliana.”
Shai smiled. Of course. Someday, I’ll tell him I too loved her. And that she sacrificed her own life in Conley with her three children just to protect me. A guardian. Not even one of her own flesh and blood.
Just before Kael shut the door, Shai took one last look at the bright world outside. A world Elchai meant to be a new beginning.
“C’mon, we should get that tracker out of you.”
Shai nodded. “And I have to find Oren. He owes me an explanation.”
Together they walked down the empty corridor in silence until Kael said softly, “Are you okay?”
“I am now.” She smiled up at him, thankful that her words finally felt true.
As they rounded the next corner, a shadow fell across them. Shai’s arm hair stood on end as she came face to face with her formidable enemy from Gershom. A wicked grin spread across his handsome face as he blocked their way, his arms crossed.
“Samael,” Shai breathed.
Acknowledgements
To all the authors who have gone before me and paved the path of inspiration. To their many books I’ve read and loved (too many to mention here.)
To my readers, without whom I couldn’t (and wouldn’t) be writing t
his.
To my family for continuing to listen to me hashing out scenes and dialogue and tolerating my spaced-out moments (which were frequent.)
To my husband for cooking, and looking after things while I was tucked into my head. And thanks for bringing me coffee!
To my mom who has always been my biggest fan and greatest supporter (and dad too).
To my friends for encouraging me often.
To my editor, Pauline Nolet, for doing such an amazing job (especially over the holidays).
Finally, to my Father God. With You, all things are possible.
About Aria J. Wolfe
Aria J. Wolfe has an insatiable appetite for all kinds of books. She daily devours them when she’s not pounding out her own tales on a laptop. She loves to inspire people through her stories about characters who overcome seemingly insurmountable odds and the transformation it produces. She has been writing poetry and prose since grade school and has won several contests.
A.J. lives with her family in rural Alberta, Canada. No, she doesn’t live in an igloo.
Thank you for reading my book. If you enjoyed it, won’t you please take a moment to leave me a review at your favorite retailer?
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Other Books by Aria J. Wolfe
Please visit your favorite eBook retailer to discover other books by Aria J. Wolfe:
THE COALITION
Coalition 1
KAEL’S OBSESSION
Coalition 1.5
Don’t miss the exciting conclusion in The Genesis
coming 2016 to your favorite bookstore.
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