Seconds Before Sunrise (The Timely Death Trilogy), page 21
“We’re going,” Urte spoke as his eyes flashed. “To the hill,” he ordered, and the room filled with the smoke of those who transported first.
I followed before I could see if anyone lingered.
When I reformed, I was standing on my favorite place in Hayworth. The grass was blanketed was a thin layer of snow, but the willow tree swayed like it was summer. A leaf brushed my shoulder before my heart even had a chance to pound.
The sun was setting, and the small slit of sunlight burned my vision. I could only see the field in front of us, littered with an array of shades, young and old, but I didn’t see the slightest trace of the Light.
“Where are they?” I asked to no one in particular.
“They’re here,” Urte answered, standing in front of his son. “They’re just hiding.”
The hill looked odd with dozens of black-haired, light-eyed people walking from side to side. Snow shifted beneath them, turning into misty rivers, but the weather was to their disadvantage. Our dark hair would stand out in the moonlit reflection off of the snow.
I glanced from face to face, trying not to think about which ones would die. “Where’s Camille?” I asked, wondering how long it had been since she went after Jessica.
“I don’t know,” Pierce admitted.
I tried to send out a telepathic message, but it crackled out.
“I already tried,” Pierce said, knowing what I had done.
My gut twisted, and I distracted my worries with a checklist. My father was present. He was with Luthicer, and Eu hovered nearby. I glanced around, wondering which woman was his wife, Ida, and I regrettably remembered their daughters, too young to fight, too old to be oblivious. The amount of families who would lose someone in the battle shook me.
“Where are they keeping the kids?” I asked Pierce.
“Not at the shelter,” he said. “Too dangerous.”
I thought of his brother, knowing he didn’t have anyone to look after him tonight. “Where’s Brenthan?”
“Home,” he answered without a flinch. “I only hope he stays there.”
Brenthan was only thirteen, but he had a warrior’s heart. He wasn’t the only kid who might show up despite the laws against it.
I opened my mouth to keep talking − why, I didn’t know − but I stopped myself when the sun dipped beneath the horizon. I took one breath before the edge of the valley, covered by trees, shifted.
A light crawled out on her hands and knees, her hip bone jutting out. Her limbs contorted as they outstretched, and she stood. Her short hair spiked up, blending in with the falling snow, and her dark skin glittered.
Every shade faced the singular woman as she marched forward. She only stopped when she reached the middle of the field. She paid no attention to us as she dusted twigs off of her thin clothes, not even bothering with armor. When she finally looked up, the forest was shaking, and more lights − dozens of them − crawled out to join her. She was soon lost to the crowd.
The mass of lights was a collection of creatures I couldn’t have imagined on my own. Some had three arms. Others had weapons that looked impossible to carry. Their fingernails outstretched like nails, and their flushed faces suggested they were waiting longer than I thought.
“They aren’t human,” Pierce muttered, tensing.
I smirked, fighting the urge to correct him. None of us were.
“Don’t forget, they can use illusions.” Their extra limbs and heavy weapons were probably fake, designed to shake us. I wouldn’t let their tactics invoke fear.
Pierce nodded, but I doubted he heard me. “When do we attack?”
I waited, studying the crowd as they spread out. They were standing still, refusing to begin the battle. “Darthon isn’t here,” I said, but I was, and the lights were pointing at me. They knew my face.
“Should we wait just because they are?” he asked.
“There’s no point in starting something without the end in sight,” I said.
He dug his toes into the snow. “What if the light wasn’t lying?” Pierce asked the last question I wanted to hear.
The little girl’s death was the first of many, but her words were worse.
“Do you think she was?” I managed.
“No,” Pierce admitted.
“Me neither.”
“But—”
I met Pierce’s green eyes with a glare. “I’ll choose Jessica over the Dark,” I said, knowing the Dark would expect me to kill her if they knew the truth.
Pierce was grimacing. “You won’t have to.”
“You heard her—”
“And, apparently, you didn’t,” he argued. “She didn’t say Jess must die for Darthon to. She only said her death would kill Darthon.” He gestured to my hands. “You can still kill him with those.”
I stared at my palms, stretching my fingers to the cold. Pierce was right. I was the only one who could kill Darthon. We figured that out the moment Jessica broke his neck and he resurrected.
“But I suggest keeping your decision to choose Jessica over the Dark a secret,” Pierce said.
When I looked up he was smiling, and I laid a hand on his shoulder, knowing he wouldn’t tell. “I haven’t thanked any of you enough.”
“Don’t start your eulogy yet,” he muttered, suddenly freezing in his stance. “It’s only the beginning,” he finished.
I followed his gaze to the field.
In the middle of Darthon’s people, a beam of light spread out, and it shattered like glass. A man stepped out of the remnants, and he lifted his chin toward the hill. Even with his hollow eyes, I knew he was looking at me when his lip curled up his cheek. Without a word, he lifted his hand, the lights roared, and the field exploded.
Jessica
I left with the owner and watched him as he locked up the shop behind us. The street was eerily dark, and I shivered, wishing I had worn a heavier coat. The snow had started up again, and I shoved my hands in my pockets instead of getting my car keys ready. I wanted to ask the man to walk me to my car, but he was sweating profusely.
“Are you okay?” I asked.
He swung his keys around his fingers. “Get home safely,” he croaked, ignoring my question. “This weather can get nasty—”
As he spoke, the ground shook, and I grabbed the brick wall to prevent myself from falling. The lantern hanging over the door fell and shattered at my feet, and I jumped back. When I met eyes with the owner, his were wide.
“What was that?” My voice shook as much as the ground.
“I’m late,” he said, turning to run away. He didn’t get far.
A hand grabbed the side of his face, slamming his head into the wall. His unconscious body crumbled to the ground, and a woman stood in his place.
It was Teresa.
“What did you do?” I screeched.
She rushed forward to grab my shoulders. “You need to calm down, okay?” Her voice fogged out in a rush. “I’m with Eric.”
His name consumed my racing heart, but I still pulled away. “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” I said, trying to leave, but she gripped my hand.
“I’m not Darthon,” she said, somehow knowing the conversation Eric and I had shared.
“I—I—” I couldn’t tear my eyes away from the helpless man.
“It was necessary,” she said. “He could’ve hurt you.”
“He was leaving.”
“To fight Eric,” she said, and my body ached. Everyone knew what was happening but me.
“Leave me alone,” I said, but she wouldn’t.
She clutched my arm, and her pupils stretched over her blue eyes. I lurched away, kicking at her shins, but she wouldn’t let go. “Calm down or this is going to hurt,” she ordered, but I didn’t listen.
Her fingernails scratched across my face, and I reeled away. She pressed her body against mine to hold me against the wall. Her hand brushed my neck, and everything Robb had done flooded back in a panic.
I fell forward, expecting her to catch my weight. But she jerked backward, hands gripping her violently from behind. The hands were owned by a man I had never seen before.
He was tall and lanky, but his mismatched eyes bore into mine. He looked human, but his limbs moved in a way that humans couldn’t.
Her short, black hair was long and translucent, and her boney shoulders shifted as she punched him across the face. He stumbled back, and she was in front of me before I even realized there was another woman next to us. Everyone was moving too fast.
“I see you didn’t take our weasel’s advice,” the woman said, staring at Teresa. They could’ve been twins.
“Like I’d fall for your tricks, Fudicia,” Teresa spat.
Fudicia rolled up her see-through sleeves. “It wasn’t a trick,” she said, and a light spread from Fudicia to the floor, to my feet. My body warmed, nearly paralyzing my legs, and I grabbed for Teresa as she turned. But my hands fell through her.
“What—” I began, shaking my numbing limbs.
Fudicia ignored my panic, continuing to talk to Teresa. “It’s too late for you to kill her now,” she said, and I disappeared.
Eric
The explosion was hotter than any Light power I had felt. It scorched my exposed skin, and the smell of ash filled my burning nose. In the cloud of debris, I blinked, wondering what direction I was looking in. I wasn’t on my back, but I wasn’t standing either. My knees were in the snow, and my heavy clothes kept me there. They were fireproof.
“Shoman,” Pierce’s voice split the fog. “Get up,” he ordered, and a hand wrapped around my jacket’s shoulder. He lifted me to my feet, and we stumbled against the tree. When I grabbed it for support, the bark crumbled into my fingers. It had taken most of the blow.
“You boys alright?” Urte asked, appearing as the cloud dissipated.
Pierce answered for us as I gaped at the field in front of us. Aside from a couple of dead shades, the field was empty, and I spun around, searching the area. Shades were the only people I saw, but that didn’t mean the lights were gone.
My sword ripped out of my hand before I even thought of mustering it up. “Stop cowering behind your protection, Darthon,” I shouted, demanding him to remove whatever illusion he was using.
As if waiting for my order, the air shifted, and a knife collided with the tree, bouncing off of the trunk. I spun around, and my sword struck Darthon’s. He leapt back, and my eyes swept over the crowd behind him. They had waited in the school’s outside lunchroom. I wondered how long my back had faced them, exposed to their weapons.
“Being uphill isn’t always an advantage,” Darthon said, the tip of his sword swaying from side to side.
I didn’t respond to him. I hadn’t come to talk. I came to kill him, and I wouldn’t hesitate.
I leapt forward, but Pierce latched onto my shoulder. “Wait,” he growled as if he were my trainer instead of his father.
For what?
For them, Pierce’s voice rambled my mind as the shades, the ones I was raised around my entire life, rushed to my side. They waited for my orders, no one else’s.
I eyed them in my peripherals as Darthon’s gaze lit up. “Someone seems to be missing,” he said, and I knew he was talking about Camille. “I would’ve liked to watch her die, but knowing she will is enough.”
My grip twisted around my sword’s hilt.
“Even half-breeds can’t survive in the Light realm for long,” he continued, his lip curling. “And I can’t say what’ll happen to Jess when I die and the realm collapses.”
As if on cue, the spaces next to him sizzled, and Fudicia appeared with the half-breed I’d seen before. She was already celebrating their victory. “They’re secure,” she said, knowing Darthon had already told me.
Their words collided with my body, worse than any attack they were capable of.
“Hesitation, Shoman?” Darthon wouldn’t use my human name. “That’s odd coming from you.”
I ignored his taunts. “Camille is stronger than you’d ever imagine,” I said, knowing it was the truth. If he wasn’t lying, and I didn’t think he was, Camille would get Jessica out of there. My guard said I had to trust her, and I did. I was relying on her.
Darthon’s expression twisted, realizing I wasn’t as fazed as he hoped. “But is Jess strong enough?”
I didn’t get a chance to respond. Pierce flew forward, and Fudicia met him. At the first blow, the lights rushed forward, and the shades responded, colliding around us. I jumped to the side as three lights fell from out of the tree, pushing the elders back.
My heightened hearing attached itself to every scream of agony, every sickening sound of a knife splitting skin, every threat, and every last breath. In milliseconds, I heard a body, then two, hit the ground, but I couldn’t look to see if they were on my side or his.
I dug my feet in the ground as Darthon flew forward, ramming his weapon against mine. Sparks scattered into my face, but I kept my burning eyes open. With locked eyes, he pushed me back, and I stumbled. If it weren’t for the hand that pulled me away, I would’ve fallen.
Pierce’s pant skimmed my neck as I realized who had prevented it, and Darthon laughed, refusing to look away from me. “You have to have someone watch your back?” he mocked as Fudicia and the half-breed attacked my friend at once.
He flew backwards and leapt to his feet. “I can handle it.” He moved between the two before I could stop him.
“The half-breed was supposed to fight your guard,” Darthon talked like battle was a first date. “But he obviously won’t get the chance.”
This time, I was the first one to strike, and the blue light from my blade scorched Darthon’s cheek. He gritted his teeth, and the smell of his burning flesh filled my nose. Our faces were inches apart, and I slammed my foot on his.
He jumped, kicking my shin, and we broke apart as the world spun around us. “This battle is between you and me, Shoman,” Darthon said.
“Between you and me,” I repeated, chuckling at his attempt to threaten me. “Just like it was supposed to be.”
Jessica
The stone floor was cold against my palms, and I shivered as I pushed myself up on shaky legs. The room was red − as crimson as Fudicia’s sadistic grin − and the walls were embedded with shimmering gold. Four sets of black horns stuck out of the floor, and a heatless fire roared inches away.
I didn’t recognize any of the ancient furniture or the eerie statues that lined the room. I had never seen the place before, yet I was strangely comfortable, like I was dreaming all over again.
“Jess.” Her screech shattered the room before she fell from the ceiling, smacking against the floor.
I rushed to Teresa’s side as she flickered between her human self and the white-haired woman she’d been before. “Teresa,” I gasped, grabbing her shoulders. When she looked at me, blood trickled from her eye.
She wiped it away. “I’m fine,” she breathed, but her pupils rolled around. “You’re not hurt.”
I shook my head, and she stared at me like I was a ghost, someone who shouldn’t be alive. I ignored it and panicked at her injured state. “We need to get you to a hospital.”
“Those don’t exist here.”
“What—”
“Relax,” she said, solidifying into a supernatural being. She laid her hand, hot and humid, on my face, and her fingers pressed against my temples. This time, I obeyed, and darkness suffocating my conscience into emptiness. The hollow state didn’t last long.
People − faces, voices, touches, and smells − spun by too fast to comprehend. When it slowed, I recognized the smell of the river first. I touched the guardrail beneath my fingers. I heard his footsteps. I saw him, his straight hair, settling around his pale face and iced-over eyes. He moved through the shadows, his hands disappearing and reappearing, and then he was touching me.
Everything rushed out of him − the night we flew, filled with sparks of blue and purple, and the first time his lips pressed against mine, thirsty with desperation. Bats soared across the morning sky, and I remembered Fudicia’s golden hair as she threw my body away. My heart crunched as Shoman left me and reformed before Darthon’s knife sliced against my shoulder. And Camille was there, clutching onto me as she took me to the Dark.
I recalled everything, and the world shattered, revealing the woman who brought everything back.
I dug my nails into Camille’s arm, knowing she was Teresa all along. We were in the Light’s realm, and I should’ve been in pain. I should’ve been dying. But I wasn’t, even though Camille was suffering.
“We have to get out of here,” I managed, trying to stand up, but she yanked me to the ground.
“Do you remember everything?”
“Eric is in trouble.” It was my only response.
Camille, on the other hand, was gaping. “You’re not in pain?”
“No,” I ranted. “But we need to find a way out of here—” before we die.
“Only lights can control this place,” Camille said, and I knew I couldn’t leave on my own. Still, she smiled. “Good thing I’m half of one.”
I grabbed her arm. It felt like she was thinning with every second. “You can’t,” I said. “You’re hurt.”
“That’s what Darthon’s counting on,” she muttered, refusing to surrender. “That’s what separates us from them. We realize sacrifice is a must.”
She said it like she wasn’t leaving with me.
“What will happen to you?”
“This isn’t about me,” she avoided a direct answer.
“Camille!”
“Tell Eric the girl was right,” she instructed, steadying her fingers on my face. “He’ll understand.”
“You’ll die if you stay,” I argued.
She looked away, her black eyes reflecting the flames from the heatless fire. “Shoman loves you, Jess,” she stated. “He needs you, and you need him. If you die, he will, too.”
“He wouldn’t want you to die for me.”
