Faery Worlds - Six Complete Novels (49 page)

"Can we watch?" asked Becky, eagerly.

"Yeah. But I need you to keep an eye out for those wolves and the bitch from the lake."

"Bitch from the lake?" asked Spike.

"I'll tell you later. Just assume she's a mean-ass motherfucker if you see her coming and shoot her in the eyes."

Spike barked out a burst of sudden laughter but took something out of his pocket and put it in the pouch of his slingshot. He was locked and loaded, apparently.

I looked Finn in the eyes. They weren't very bright and he looked really tired. His skin was a pale gray, the sheen of sweat making it look even worse.

"I feel sick," he said softly.

"Finn, I need you to put your hands on this tree with me."

He had questions in his eyes, but lacked the strength to ask them. He reached over to put his hands where I showed him. He was leaning his cheek and upper body on the tree, the rest of him remaining on the ground among its roots. I went behind him, kneeling down so I could wrap my arms around him from behind and touch the tree above his arms.

He sighed. "This is nice. Cuddlin'."

I nipped his ear.

"Ow! What was that for?"

"We're not cuddling. You're getting healed. Now shut up and feel the energy."

I sent out my request.
Trees and all creatures connected to us, I need your healing power for my friend.
I felt the responding surge almost instantly.

Finn had started to complain. "I don't know what yer ... " Then he suddenly went silent.

I couldn't tell if he was feeling the energy or not, but I sure was. This tree was big time - a granddaddy of a tree. The energy was a heavy rumbling, deep and dark green-blue, coming up from the center of the forest, channeling power from trees, plants, creatures, the lake, the air,
everything
.

"Finn," Becky asked, a look of concern on her face, "what's wrong, sweetie? Why are you crying?"

"I ... it's just ... I can't ... "

"Shhhhh," I said, whispering because it was all I could manage, "we're almost done." I could feel the Ancient reeling the energy back in to its lowest level, which was apparently all I had experienced up until now. My heart was in my throat. I knew why Finn couldn't get his words out. The beauty and the power and the awesomeness of it all ... it was too much for our puny minds to comprehend. I was hoping I hadn't fried his brain, putting him on this tree.
Maybe I should have picked a smaller one.

The tree disconnected all but the most tenuous link. I knew it wasn't a rejection - just a signal to me that its business with Finn was done. I didn't want to overstay my welcome, so I pulled us both away from the trunk, wrapping Finn's arms around his torso with mine on top.

I looked at Becky, since I couldn't see Finn's face. I mouthed the words,
'Is he okay?'
at her.

She nodded her head, amazement and relief written all over her face.

"I'm letting you go, Finn, okay? Don't fall back."

Tony stepped behind us to help me up and make sure Finn didn't pass out and collapse onto the forest floor.

Spike and Chase stood off to the side, speechless.

Tony eased Finn back against the tree.

Finn's eyes were closed, but his color already looked better. His cheeks were a nice, rosy pink and he had a very peaceful smile on his face.

Becky came and leaned over him. "Finn, are you okay?"

"Yep," he said lazily, "I'm just enjoyin' the moment right now. Jus' gimme a minute or twenty."

I stepped away, brushing myself off again. Seemed like I kept getting covered in forest crud. I looked at my hands. My nails were a disaster.

Spike and Chase came over to stand with me.

"Soooo, what was
that
all about?" said Spike, a neutral look on his face.

Chase just looked at me questioningly, letting Spike do the talking.

I looked down at my feet, a little embarrassed; I don't know why. "Since we've been here, I've kinda discovered I have a connection to the trees or something."

"A connection, huh? Like how so?"

"I don't know - a connection. I touch the tree, I talk to the tree, the tree answers." I shrugged my shoulders. That was the essence of it, anyway.

"So you say, like, 'Hey tree, fix Finn,' and the tree is like, 'Okay, shazam, done.' "

"Not exactly, but that's the idea. I don't really use words so much as I use images or feelings. It seems to work."

Finn slowly stood up and ran his hands all over his body, breaking out in a huge grin before suddenly grabbing Becky and lifting her up high, making her scream in surprise and delight.

"I'd say," said Spike. He looked up at Chase and I saw them exchange a look.

Chase lifted his shoulders. "Could come in handy."

I play-punched Chase in the shoulder. "Chase, you are the master of the understatement; anyone ever told you that?"

"Yep."

Spike and I laughed. Chase even smiled a tiny bit. We walked over to join the others. It was time to get some flags tied to waypoint number three. I was
almost
hoping the lady in the lake would come out to dance so we could kick her ass too.
Almost
.

Chapter Twenty-Four

I took a flag from each of the others and walked over to the obelisk to tie them on. Chase had retrieved Becky's bag from where she'd dropped it after getting attacked, so luckily she had her flags back.

We all saw Jared's flag there, but none of us said anything. As far as I was concerned, my suspicions had been confirmed. Two yellow flags - one old and one new. He was working with the enemy. I wasn't sure what everyone else's opinion was, but I didn't care anymore. So long as he stayed the hell away from Tony and me, he could go on running around and hiding every time a creeper showed up. Maybe I'd see him at the finish line so I could smack him with my stick.

I turned from the obelisk to face the others. Everyone but Chase was looking at me. I walked over, intending to discuss our plan for waypoint number four, but I got distracted by the look on Chase's face as I drew even with him. He was staring out at the lake, mesmerized.

I shrugged. Who knew what went on in that guy's head? My mom always said that still waters ran deep, so maybe Chase had a lot more things going on than I realized. But if he did, he rarely showed signs of it. He reminded me of a military recruit, just waiting to take orders. I ignored him in favor of making our plan.

"So, what's next?"

We all stood there looking at each other, none of us wanting to be the first one to speak. I think seeing Jared's flag on the waypoint had kind of bummed them out or something.

I sighed. It sucked being the only one with their proverbial shit together. "Listen guys, we have some options. We can stop for a while; we can eat; we can stay here for the night; we can keep truckin'. Just tell me what you want to do and I'll do it."

"I'm starved," said Finn, rubbing his belly.

"Yeah, I was starving too after I had a dose of tree-healing," said Becky.

Tony was looking through his bag. "I don't know about you guys, but I really don't have much food left." He pulled out the last meal packet he had - mystery beef - and a half bottle of water. He looked out towards the lake, and I could almost see his mind working. We needed more water.

Before I could interject with my theories on drinking water from a lake that allegedly had some lady living in it, I was distracted by the look on Tony's face.

He opened his mouth and yelled, "Hey, Chase! Where are you going?!"

I turned in time to see Chase walking towards the edge of the lake. He didn't answer. He just kept moving towards someone standing in the water. Someone wearing a long, white, flowing dress - a lady.

"Fuck balls, it's the bitch in the lake!" I ran towards Chase to intervene.

The woman raised her hand towards Chase and he obediently returned the gesture, continuing forward, his feet now nearly touching the water.

I reached his side and nudged him. He didn't look at me; he just took another step forward.

"Hey, big guy, where ya goin'?" I asked.

No response.

I grabbed hold of his outstretched arm, pulling on it a little, but he just shrugged me off.

I ducked under his arm and stepped in front of him, putting my hands on his chest to stop his forward movement, my feet now in the water. "Just hold up a minute, Chase ... what's your hurry?"

He just kept walking forward, still in some sort of trance, pushing me ahead of him and deeper into the water.

"A little help here, guys!" I yelled, straining with the effort of keeping this human bulldozer from drowning himself, which is what I figured the Lady's plan was for him. She was like a siren or something, luring him into her watery lair.

Screw that - not on my watch!

Becky came running over to help me. She stood in front of Chase too, pushing with all her puny might.

"Where are the others?" I grunted out, my feet slipping farther into the water, dredging up some muck on the way. I could feel it going into my Converse. "This ho-bag is ruining my sneakers. She's gonna pay."

"I don't think the guys are going to be much help," said Becky, mysteriously.

I snuck a peek around Chase's arm and was thoroughly alarmed by what I saw. Spike, Finn, and Tony were all staring out at the lake, their eyes glazed over.

"Sonofabitch!"
I yelled. How is it that we could take out a pack of ferocious werewolves with a slingshot and a couple of arrows, but a watery bitch floating in the lake was going to kill all my guy friends with a look? This was
totally
fucked up. Guys were so vulnerable sometimes.

I slid down to my knees, taking Chase's legs in my arms. Then I sat down in the muck and wrapped my legs around both of his as best I could, like I used to do to my dad when I was a little kid and he wasn't yet a flaming asshole, trying to keep him from going out the door to work. I had to get in contact with the ground and keep Chase from moving at the same time.

I put my hand down in the water, touching the shore beneath.
Green things, help me. Grab my friends. Pull them away from the water.
I pictured ivy and vines coming out from the forest and winding themselves around the guys and then dragging them back away from the lake. I left Becky out of the vision, even though she was pretty much zero help at all right now. No need to truss her up along with them. Maybe she'd come in handy later. She still had her knife.

The forest must have felt my urgency along with my instructions. The vines crawled across the ground at a much quicker speed than I would have thought possible. They reached the guys' feet and then traveled upwards, slithering like snakes up their legs and torsos, weaving around themselves and wrapping the guys like mummies as they went. I made sure The Green knew its goal was to hinder and not strangle. It was alarming to think how quickly my plan to protect could turn into a hangman's noose if I wasn't very clear about what I wanted.

Now that I thought about it, though, strategizing using images was better than using words. When I thought in language and then matched my images to words, like I did the night I asked The Green to protect Tony and me, I failed to take into account that my specific words don't consider other scenarios. It was fascinating, this whole topic, but I didn't have time right now to mull it over or analyze it further. First, I had to immobilize the guys. Then I had to kick this watery bitch's ass.

There was a thud as Tony's body hit the ground. He was struggling to get up, but his arms were now restrained at his sides. He was tangled in vines from his ankles to his shoulders. A second and third thud vibrated through the ground as Spike and Finn went down. Finn didn't struggle much, but Spike was pissed. He really wanted a piece of that waterlogged ass I guess.
Stupid guys.

More vines had made their way to Chase, so I scooted away to let them do their thing. He was covered up to his armpits by the time I got to my feet, and they were beginning to make some headway in drawing him back away from the lake and its beckoning resident. I was covered in watery muck from the waist down.

"Fuck me, I'm wet
everywhere,"
I said with disgust. I had my head down assessing my soggy clothes, so I didn't see exactly what happened next.

"Jayne!" screamed Becky, a violent splashing making its way to my ears.

I looked up and saw the aftermath of my critical planning error. The Lady was close to the shore and had Becky by the hand, pulling her out into the water. The Lady was just floating, but she was floating backwards, dragging a struggling Becky behind her.

Chase was being pulled away from the lake and back towards the forest by the vines. I called out to The Green to come and help Becky, but the vines stopped on the edge of the water, gently bobbing up and down with the rhythm of the waves created by Becky's still fighting form. She was up to her shoulders now, heading out to deeper waters.