Awakening (Book One of The Geis) (28 page)

When the protection was gone, Rourke and Leah would die. Leah’s fear rolled down the mountain toward me.

Help them!
I screamed inside. I don’t know when I left the safety of the rock wall, but suddenly I was running up the snow-covered trail toward Cliona. I had no idea what I was going to do, but I was way past thinking.

Cliona’s focus on Rourke was so intense she didn’t notice my approach. Coming at her from the side, I picked up Rourke’s fallen cane and swung it as hard as I could. The heavy cane struck Cliona across her back and neck. Cliona staggered, but did not fall. I was pretty sure a blow like that would have killed a normal person, but the banshee straightened, popping her neck and fixing her fury on me. For the first time, I noticed the tiny jewel that studded her nose.

The wail of the banshee struck me like a freight train. Darkening sky and the rocky ground mixed in a blur as I tumbled head over heels. Then, miraculously, I was on my feet. My body had been flung like a rag doll across the landscape, but I felt no pain.

The banshee’s face screwed up in a confusion that mirrored my own. I shouldn’t have survived her attack. Beneath my shirt, the amulet Rourke had given me glowed blue and felt warm to the touch. I covered it with my hand, a newfound confidence springing up inside of me. Rourke broke off the attack of the three other banshees, who seemed to lack the strength of their leader.

Cliona snarled and raised her claws in challenge. She rose straight in the air and then rushed toward me, and I raised my arms to protect my face. Then, right before Cliona struck, Josh came out of nowhere, plowed under her arms, and slammed her to the ground. I knew Josh was a state champion wrestler, but he couldn’t stand against the banshee for long.

Cliona opened her mouth to wail, but Josh slammed her on the rocks again, knocking the breath out of her. She raised a clawed hand and raked Josh’s chest as she fell. I cried out. Josh grunted as bloodstains spread on his shirt. With a jerk, he pinned her arms beneath him and held her deadly claws in place, burying her face in the snow.

Zoey screamed for help, and the other banshees closed in on Rourke and Leah. Josh had surprised Cliona, but I knew he couldn’t hold her forever. I looked around for help. There was none.

There was a grotesque popping sound as Cliona’s joints rearranged themselves around Josh. Her neck twisted so that she was now facing Josh on her back. Her legs locked around his waist, and she clutched him close, as if in a lover’s embrace. Cliona smiled at me as she bent close to whisper in Josh’s ear.

My mind exploded in fear as Josh quit struggling. I reached in my satchel and gripped the hilt of the dagger Avril had given me. But before I could use it, Cliona pushed Josh off and he rolled onto his side, unconscious on the ground.

“Why are you doing this?” I asked, knife in hand.

“You are weak.” Cliona advanced on me. Her words were filled with contempt. “The magic is wasted on someone like you.”

An enormous boom rocked the canyon. I covered my ears. Not thirty feet away, Aunt Avril stood with both feet planted firmly in the snow. She had fired a warning shot in the air. “Get away from my niece, you wretch!” Aunt Avril said. She pointed the long barrel of a .454 Casull at Cliona. My heart jumped to see my aunt.

Aunt Avril’s cloak billowed around her like a battlefield banner, and her unruly hair escaped from beneath a pair of protective earmuffs. The snake ring on Aunt Avril’s trigger finger glinted golden in the setting sun.

“You never give up, do you?” Cliona showed no sign of slowing her advancement on me. I wasn’t sure what good I could do with a dagger I was never taught to use.

Aunt Avril switched targets and shot one of the other banshees. The force of the blow picked it high in the air and slammed it against the rocky mountainside. The banshee thrashed in pain as it began to shrivel up and rot away until it crumpled to dust.

Rourke’s glowing runes flared and knocked the other two banshees back again. But Rourke was looking tired and now staggered as he moved. Josh still lay motionless on the ground.

“Oh, I’ve put something a little extra-special in these bullets.” I’d never heard Aunt Avril speak with such venom. “I’ve chased you for far too long.” Avril fired at Cliona, striking her in the shoulder. The force knocked Cliona back, but she stayed upright, floating in the air.

“I’ve witnessed the death you’ve left in your wake.” Avril pulled back the hammer. “I try not to get personally involved in my cases.” Cliona hissed as she writhed in pain. Her wounds shriveled inward, like a whirlpool sucking in the surrounding waters.

“But when you threaten my family—” Avril fired again, opening another wound in Cliona’s chest. “Well, then, you might as well dig your own grave.” Cliona was driven backward, falling to her knees. She fought against the pain, hatred written on her face. Avril pulled the hammer back. “Leave, and never come back.” Avril’s voice was deadly.

She fired one last time. The bullet struck Cliona in the face, taking flesh and bone off the right side. Cliona fell backward to the ground, writhing as the wounds threatened to swallow her whole.

I ran over to Josh. Purple veins rose up beneath his skin and marred his face. I put my ear to his lips, and relief flooded through me when I felt his shallow breath on my cheek.

Aunt Avril reloaded her weapon, and the remaining banshees melted into the forest. Rourke collapsed with exhaustion. Leah called his name, her voice filled with concern.

Cliona’s form lost definition. In the failing light she shifted, twitched, and took on a translucent cast. Then she stood up, her face twisted into a grotesque mask of death.

Aunt Avril fired again and again, but the bullets whizzed through Cliona’s new form as if she were made of smoke.

“Wretched human, you can’t kill what’s already dead.” The banshee threw back her head and laughed. “You’ve been an entertaining distraction all these years. How I’ve loved toying with you—letting you get close enough to think you could catch me, only to chase me again and again, all over the world.” Cliona narrowed her eyes. “I might even miss you when you are dead.”

Aunt Avril stepped closer. “That’s where your weakness lies, banshee—you underestimate the human spirit. But you won’t be able to carry on this masquerade much longer. I’ve already told the police where the body of Mrs. Saddlebury can be found.”

Cliona bared her teeth, giving her full attention to Aunt Avril. “Your magic is weak, a mere shadow of things past. When the geis is awakened and the prince fails to return to my world, all of you will die.” Cliona said it calmly. “And my task will be complete.”

Cliona screamed at Avril and let it descend into a low wail. The sound wave left Cliona’s hands, and I watched it ripple through the air as if it were in slow motion. The sound blasted into Aunt Avril, tearing the gun from her hands, slamming her into a pillar of rock jutting out from the stream. The water seemed to boil at her feet as she struggled in place, the protective charms and baubles on her necklace cracking and bursting as the sound destroyed them. Finally, the pillar of rock itself cracked and split apart, leaving its massive top unsupported.

I reached out as if I could stop what was coming. As the sound held Aunt Avril in place, the pillar tipped forward and collapsed on her with a flash of light, burying her under a giant mass of solid rock.

I stood there with my mouth open, too stunned to process what I had just seen. Memories of my Aunt Avril from the time I was too young to walk until she’d bought me my Irish dance dress flashed in front of my eyes. And now she was gone. I opened my mouth to scream, but I heard Zoey’s scream instead.

One by one, a dozen banshees emerged from the spring. My heart froze as I realized we were not going to make it. Cliona turned her grotesque face to meet my gaze. Her face narrowed, withering in on itself, and as I watched, her skin knitted, smoothing over the wounds. We were all going to die. Rourke had lost his strength, and lay with his head cradled in Leah’s lap. Her hands brushed his hair away from his face as she whispered words of comfort.

I looked down at Josh. I realized that I loved him so very much. He had taken this hideous creature to the ground to save me. I thought of how he had decided to learn Irish dance just to get close to me. I remembered how he came to my defense when Lucas insulted my honor. I didn’t deserve him.

And now Cliona and her cronies were going to kill him. Zoey sobbed softly as they advanced.

A slight movement caught my eye. Josh’s body was limp, but to my surprise I saw him move one hand to the other.
Help Rourke,
Josh signed
before slipping back into oblivion.

How could I help Rourke now? He said the Irish made their own luck. Why did he give us hope that we could stand against a supernatural creature that could not die? Why didn’t he have a plan?

I looked down at the dagger in my hand. It glowed with supernatural power. Rourke’s amulet had slipped out of my shirt, and it glowed a dark blue against my chest.

Believe what you cannot see.
Aunt Avril’s voice echoed in my head. A light breeze caressed my cheek. I whipped my head to where the rock had crushed her. It loomed like a monument in the center of the stream.

Beyond Cliona, the lizard stood in the stream by the opening of the spring. An image of the reptile from Rourke’s memory flashed through my mind. In Rourke’s world, the lizard was a dragon. The thought gave me a flash of hope.

“Save us!” I yelled at the lizard, gripping the amulet tightly.

Cliona’s laugh was cruel as she approached. The lizard did nothing. “I’m afraid he is bound by a geis even older than you can imagine.”

I eyed Aunt Avril’s .454 Casull lying in the snow. I thought maybe if I could get to it, I could at least get off one shot.

And then Officer Bassett was there. He must have followed Aunt Avril up the canyon. He pumped six rounds of his twelve gauge into Cliona. Seeing that it had no effect, he picked up the .454 Casull.

“Get behind me.” Officer Bassett looked from me to where Josh lay unmoving on the ground. Before I could move, Cliona opened her mouth, and a sound wave blasted into us. I fell to the ground, and when I recovered from the shock, Officer Bassett lay unconscious in the snow in front of me, blood running from his nose and mouth.

Cliona focused her eyes on me.

I scrambled to sit against the mountain wall. Fear gripped my heart, and I knew I had very little time to live. Did I really believe in dragons? A few short months ago, I hadn’t believed in banshees. And I’d had no idea of the happiness I had in store by learning to love Josh. Yet now they were realities in my life that I could not dispute. I knew them to be true.

The lizard stared at me, his amber-colored eyes boring into my own. Realization swept over me and I hefted the amulet in my hand, knowing what I had to do. I made my leap of faith.

Heat coursed through my body, pulsing and demanding to be free. Snapping the chain, I held the amulet that differed from the lizard’s only in size. The blues and blacks in the gemstone swirled.

I drew my arm back and crushed the amulet against the jagged edge of the nearest rock. The silver held, but the gemstone cracked, splitting down the middle in a flash of blue light.

“Ansul!” I yelled Rourke’s name for the lizard.

The word echoed off the mountain walls, and everything seemed to slow down. Even the spring held its breath, and the water stopped flowing out of its mouth. We all watched as the water drained down the waterfall until there was only silence.

“You fool!” Cliona gasped. “He’ll destroy us all.”

Lizard distorted as if some other being was trying to break free from within him. Spikes tore from his back and wings erupted from his side as his sheer bulk magnified over and over again. A hiss turned into a growl, which deepened into a deafening roar.

Ansul spread his massive wings, blocking out the sky. He pulled them in and leaped into the air. As the wings spread out again, the dragon glided down the canyon toward us.

The banshees scattered. Cliona stood defiant. I backed against the mountain, making a decision to face my fate with the others, who were helpless to avoid it.

Ansul’s claws raked the banshees unfortunate enough to encounter them, cleaving those not fast enough to move out of his path. Ansul reared back in the air as he struck Cliona broadside. His blow sent her flying down the canyon and out of sight.

Rourke propped himself up, blinking as the dragon flew overhead, lighting more banshees up with the blue fire that erupted from his mouth, consuming the wraiths without igniting the forest.

“Not fireproof.” Ansul’s voice rumbled from deep inside his chest. He winked one great eye as he soared over us.

“Lizard!” Zoey knelt on all fours, taking in the scene below her. I called up to her, telling her to stay away from the edge.

Leah helped Rourke get to his feet.

“Ansul, my old friend.” Rourke tipped his head to the evening sky. “You are finally free.”

Ansul circled the sky above us, a glorious creature of the night. He flew up the carved mountain height, landing on the highest peak. The dragon’s wings spread out over the canyon, casting a shadow on everyone within. The fading sun lit the sky orange and red behind him. Then he leapt from the peak, hugging the side of the mountain as he swooped past Zoey’s ledge. He snatched her with his talons and glided through the canyon like a massive eagle. Holding Zoey with one claw, he landed behind me and set her gently on the trail.

Zoey ran for me. I gathered her in my arms. Zoey’s teeth were chattering—her lips were blue. I took off my coat and put it around her like a blanket.

“’Kayla, isn’t he beautiful?” Zoey stared past me at the dragon in adoration. I stroked her hair, my breath catching in my throat. I had almost lost her, again.

Zoey broke free from me and wrapped her arms around one of Ansul’s legs. She looked so small in comparison to the giant lizard—her arms not even reaching halfway around the great span of his leg. “Thank you Lizard,” she said. “I knew you would save us!”