Between (35 page)

Seth sits up, leaning forward. “We can sit here all morning and pretend we’re not going to go back for Sam, or we can skip to the part where we figure out how we’re going to find him.”

I really, really should’ve kissed him a long time ago.

“Who are you?” I ask, searching his eyes. “Where’s Captain Rule Follower?”

Seth shakes his head. “I can’t support what Alexander said yesterday. The Fellowship put Sam in the position he’s in, and the Fellowship should save him.”

“Yeah. We can’t leave him out there. He’s your family,” Keiran says. “You can’t give up on him.”

I hear the undertone of his last sentence. I can’t give up on Sam. He won’t give up on Whalen. I know he sees a parallel between his situation and mine, between my love for my brother and his need for a father, but it’s not the same.

Keiran stands. “So the question is, when? How?”

“I think we need to go as soon as possible,” I say. “I found his bracelet near the Source, so it’d be a good place to start. But that was at least a day ago. The longer we wait, the farther away he could get.”

Seth nods. “That bracelet is the freshest lead we have. We can’t waste it.”

“We could go now,” Keiran suggests.

I wait for Seth to argue, to come up with any reason to wait, but he rises to his feet. Keiran takes a step toward us.

We’re really going now. My hands sweat and my knees tingle. This is it. “Thank you for doing this, both of you. It means everything to me. And it will mean everything to Sam.”

Seth’s arm slides over my shoulder. “Let’s bring him back.”

T
WENTY

T
hick gray fog curls through the trees, dulling the vivid colors I’ve come to associate with this place. I can almost feel the life draining from the world around me. Everything seems dimmer, as though a haze has settled over the Between. Brittle leaf carcasses litter the thin, dusty paths through the woods. Nearly black trees stretch into the sky like skeletal hands, shooting up from the ground and reaching for light. What had once seemed so full now feels so devastatingly empty.

“Whoa,” Keiran breathes.

“I can’t believe it,” I whisper. It looks even worse than yesterday.

Beside me, Seth releases a long, heavy breath. “Let’s find Sam and get him out. When he’s safe, we’ll deal with the Between.”

When Sam’s safe
.

Seth’s certainty is comforting.

I look at our bracelets, side-by-side on my wrist. I can’t allow myself to run through all the possible reasons his bracelet was out here on the ground. He was alive when Adele left him, and I’ll cling to that with every piece of my being.

He’s out here. We
will
find him. I’ll bring him home.

There are so many dead limbs scattered across the ground, staying on the path is almost pointless. Seth stops every now and then to toss a few out of the way, but I get the feeling he just needs to expel energy. Straightening up the Between right now is an exercise in futility.

Only days ago, this place was a comforting reminder of the home I used to know. Will I ever feel that security and warmth in this stillness again?

Next to me, Keiran goes rigid. “Move.”

His voice is so calm I don’t react at first. He snaps out of it and jerks his head. “Move!”

I look up in time to see a dense, black cloud enveloping the trees. A hum fills the air—a low, droning buzz—and I watch as the edges of the cloud fragment into pieces.

“Locnifs,” Seth says, pushing me off the path. “Run. Don’t look back.”

Locnifs. Max had drawn them as beetles the size of locusts with razor-sharp teeth. It’s not an image that’s easy to forget.

I turn and sprint. Seth’s feet land hard and fast behind mine, and Keiran darts ahead. I feel the bugs on me even when they’re not, landing on my skin and crawling through my hair. The buzz grows louder and louder, until it feels like it’s coming from inside my own body.

“Faster, Charlie!” Keiran yells, reaching back and pulling me along with him.

As if I’m out for a leisurely jog. I’m giving it everything I’ve got.

A locnif lands on the back of my hand and I shriek, flinging it away. Then another, and another. Sharp, stinging pain stabs my arms and the backs of my legs. I hear Seth swear behind me as the locnifs find his skin, too.

The locnifs weren’t here yesterday. As terrifying as they are, their presence brings a strange sort of hope. Whalen must be close, and where he is, Sam is, also.

We slide over the top of a hill, and Keiran releases me as the rocks fade into dirt and my feet find their grip again. I dash toward the barren trees, weaving in and around trunks and branches before ducking behind a broad growth of bare-limbed bushes. Seth yanks me toward him, and we slap the locnifs from each other’s skin. They’re everywhere.

We must be on the right track. We must be close.

“Keiran!” I scream.

“Over here!” he calls back. He’s to my right, rapidly chucking fireballs into the air. Each one sizzles through the horde of insects, breaking the cloud apart and sending the locnifs in different directions.

Swollen, bloody bites cover my arms and legs. The welts on Seth’s skin are already starting to fade. He lifts his hands over me, and I push him away. There’s no time for healing. Keiran’s flames aren’t enough to stop those things from eating us alive.

I step out from behind the brush and welcome the tingle that pours through my hands. Strong gusts of wind whip around me, separating the swarm into pieces. The effects are only temporary. Through the wind and fire, the locnifs only scatter and reunite, constantly moving toward us.

There has to be an escape.

I spot the waterfall and see the angle of the river flowing from it. The deep water where the Source pools beside the treefolk should be straight ahead.

“Can we jump in the water by the treefolk?” I shout.

Seth blinks. “What?”

“The Source! Can we jump in it?”

He wrinkles his eyebrows before his expression clears with understanding. “Yes. I think so.”

Seth yells to Keiran and we make a run for it, dodging hanging limbs and hurdling dead logs until we come out on the other side.

The pool of water stretches across the ground. Beyond it, I see Joe and the rest of the treefolk, or what’s left of them. Their shriveled, bare trunks are as black as the rest of the trees. The gorgeous leaves that had once adorned them are gone. I run straight toward the Source without slowing down and jump when I reach the edge, crashing through a layer of dead leaves on its surface.

Keiran’s and Seth’s bodies roar into the water beside me, and everything goes silent.

Is it possible to feel yourself sparkle? It’s the only word that seems fitting for the sensation of the Source’s pure magic against my skin. I’m completely motionless, embraced by the water. I stay under as long as my lungs will allow. My chest feels tighter and tighter, and I see Seth kick to the surface beside me. Keiran takes my hand and pulls me up along with him.

Cool air glides over my scalp when my head breaks the surface. The locnifs are gone. We make our way to the edge of the water and climb out. I brush my hair back from my shoulders and wring water from my shirt where I can. Beside me, Keiran and Seth do the same.

“Everybody okay?” Keiran asks, looking us over.

The bites on my arms and legs sting a little, but I nod. I’ll survive.

Seth pulls a leaf from my hair. “I guess we should—”

I look up when his voice trails off. His eyes are wide, his jaw tense.

A line of harpies stretches across the ground in the distance, as wide and deep through the trees as I can see. They watch us with empty eyes, heads bobbing up and down, teeth gnashing.

“Oh no,” I breathe. The terror I remember from my first morning in Ellauria returns. The ugly, twisted glare of the harpy is multiplied across the faces I see in front of me.

One of the harpies releases an earsplitting shriek, and they lift into the air.

Focus
.

Survive
.

Keiran immediately springs into action, throwing fireballs as quickly as he can produce them. I close my eyes and see Sam’s face. Power floods over me more intensely than I’ve ever felt it before. The weight of the Source’s pure magic still clings to me. When I open my eyes, flickers of light pulse through my fingers.

Suddenly, everything looks like a weapon. I launch the limbs scattered across the ground into the sky. Between waves of branches, I command squalls of wind that twist violently through the air, disrupting the creatures’ flight patterns.

“Charlie!” Seth yells.

My entire body ignites with power. Golden light shimmers beneath my skin, and my hair spreads across my shoulders, whipping in the wind. Magic fills every inch of my body with a satisfying tingle that spreads from the tips of my fingers to my core. I launch wave after wave of attacks while I run toward the sound of his voice.

The harpies keep coming.

Seth appears beside me, his arms filled with jagged rocks. He throws them into the air, and my mind grabs hold of them, pounding the harpies that are closest to us. The rocks slam against their heads, and their screams echo through the empty trees. Several harpies drop to the ground and stop moving.

Keiran continues his one-man fire show, pitching fireballs into the air. Harpies shriek upon impact, catching fire and falling to the ground. I jump around them, pulling more dead branches and wind into motion. A fireball flies by my head, and Seth yells,

“Watch it!”

“Not me!” Keiran answers. Not him?

Seth and I stop to look. Each flame Keiran throws is answered by at least five more. Through the mass of branches and trunks I catch fleeting glimpses of tall, slender creatures with red skin. Their fingers are capped with flames that take to the air with each swing of their long arms.

Mother. Fluffers.

“Watch out!” I yell.

Seconds later, a loud roar fills the air and a wall of water rushes through. It stops in front of us and hangs there, acting as a barrier from the flamethrowers on the other side. The balls are extinguished as they pass through the wet shield. Keiran runs over to Seth and me.

The pull of the water presses down on every joint of my body, and I gather my strength to raise my hands and push the water forward. It lifts and spreads, encircling the flamethrowers. Through the shimmering curtain of water, I watch the creatures pause to stare. The water rolls and flows inward upon itself, crashing down and swallowing the flamethrowers in its flood. I hold it there, fighting against the weight of the power, until every single flamethrower stops struggling. The water lifts to the sky and evaporates, leaving the lifeless, slender bodies behind.

I release my command of the water, and Seth catches me before I fall backward from exhaustion. I hold on to his arm for a few seconds and allow my head to stop spinning.

Keiran lets out a low whistle. “You are one scary muralet, Freckles.”

I smile at him. “Thank you.”

A shadow passes over his face. The Between darkens as another wave of harpies flies toward us, filling the entire sky.
Where
are they coming from?

Seth swears under his breath. “Got any other tricks?” he asks.

Keiran had said my power is limited only by my imagination, but I’m the first to admit that I’m running out of ideas.

I think back to the Mothman attack, when Keiran had told me to combine the elements.

I didn’t have a chance then. But now, it’s our only shot.

I close my eyes, searching for an easy and powerful solution. I still feel the power there, waiting for my command.

I need more. Bigger. Louder. Longer.

I need a natural disaster.

A low rumble sounds in the distance, and I open my eyes.

Holy sheet, it worked.

A line of tornadoes dances across the sky, pulling up branches along the way. They roar toward us, louder than anything I’ve heard in my entire life, growing in size as they approach. My hair whips around my head and my ears pop.

“Get down! Hold on to something!” I yell. The three of us take off in separate directions. I lose sight of Keiran, but Seth darts behind an enormous hollow log on the ground.

I wrap myself around one of the few trees still standing. The storm rages all around me, targeting the harpies and pitching all of them in various directions. When the tornadoes lift from the ground, the fog settles again, and the Between is thick with silence.

I release the tree and step backward in a daze. Fatigue pulls at every part of my body, bringing an ache that starts deep within my bones. I rest my hands on my knees and survey the carnage.

Dead harpies are strewn across the ground, and the remains of flamethrowers are scattered over them, apparently lifted and distributed by the winds. Seth stands like an island in the middle of it all, his hands resting on his head.

I turn in the opposite direction.

Where’s Keiran?

Everywhere I look—more death, more destruction—no Keiran.

I forget the ache in my bones and put all of my focus into spotting his charcoal-gray T-shirt amid the debris. I spin in a circle, taking slow, deep breaths to stay calm. This is not the time to lose control.