Nevermor (55 page)

—and he
stopped.  The texture wasn’t as he’d expected – not as he’d been imagining. 
She didn’t have curly hair.  These locks were straight and thick.  This was the
wrong girl.

When he opened
his eyes, he could no longer pretend she was the one he wanted.  The
dark-skinned girl before him wasn’t Wren – she wasn’t the sweet, pretty blonde
who looked at him so affectionately – and he immediately hated her for it.

The princess
sensed that she’d lost him.  She tried to kiss him again, but he pushed her
back.  He was on his feet and in the air before she could recover.  Perhaps, if
he’d never met Wren, he might have been meant for this huntress, but he didn’t
need this as it was.  He threw himself into the wind, the place where no one
could follow him.

His head was
still heavy, but he gave himself to the search again – one more time.  He tried
to think only of that, but his mind was muddled by other things.  He began to
consider that the others had been right about bringing a girl here.  It still
surprised him to see what a difference one girl made.

1

“
Wren!  Where
are you
?”

She could hear
them calling for her, but she didn’t answer them.  She had run a long way
through the woods before she had finally collapsed with her tears near a fallen
tree.  She’d sat there on the ground for a long time, staring at nothing, her
mind in a tangle.

She didn’t know
what to do, where to go or how to solve anything.  If she couldn’t be with
Rifter, how was she supposed to survive here?  But yet she could not leave. 
She had tried so hard for a chance to exist in this world, but so much turmoil
kept piling on.  What could she do?

Wren had
exhausted herself with trying to figure it all out.

“
Wren!”

Sometimes the
calls were fairly close to her, but still she did not respond.  She wasn’t sure
why she couldn’t answer them.  Maybe she wished they would leave her there,
forget about her and let her lose herself to some nightmare that wanted to have
her for dinner.  Maybe she couldn’t hope for a fate better than that, in the
end.

Wren kept
recreating scenes in her mind – saw the huntress’ face as she looked down her
nose at her.  That girl had asked if she was Rifter’s woman because she’d had
her own shrewd eyes focused on him.  Wren couldn’t say that she’d been
completely blindsided.  She
had
been warned.  In fact, she could see how
Rifter might be more interested in the Tribal girl instead. Calico was a
fighter, strong and confident.  She was used to living in this world, while
Wren couldn’t defend herself at all.  Yes, she could see how Rifter would be
more attracted to a girl like that.

A rustle in the
trees drew Wren’s attention, and when she had turned her head toward the
distance, she saw that someone was there – sitting right beside her on the
tree.

She nearly leapt
out of her skin to see him.  Henry had come up and sat down beside her so
quietly that she hadn’t noticed him at all.  The others had trained him well. 
When she looked over at him, she saw that he was not looking at her, but gazing
out over the forest with watchful eyes.

“I won’t tell
them where you are if you don’t want me to.  You can just sit here.”

After Wren had
caught her breath and persuaded her heart to slow, she decided to be candid
with him.

“I’ve already
been sitting here for a long time,” she said.

They said
nothing as she sniffled and wiped her face, as the others continued to call for
her in the distance.

“Do you want to
talk about it?” he asked eventually.

She took a deep
breath and lowered her head.  “It won’t do any good.”

They sat that
way for a while, and at some point during those moments, Wren realized that
their roles had somehow been reversed.  Hadn’t she been the one who had usually
tried to talk him back from the ledge when he was gloomy?

“You’re unhappy,
aren’t you,” he accused finally, but it was not in the disgusted manner that
she had once expected from her brother.  It was a mild accusation, as if she
could hide no secrets from him.

“Things aren’t
going like I hoped,” she confessed.

“You think what
we had before was better?” he asked.

Wren hadn’t
thought about it before then, but his words brought the idea to her mind.  Now
that she considered it, she didn’t know if she could even compare the two. 
Each of her lives had given her a different sort of heartache.  She’d thought
this one was going to be better, but—

Why do I feel so
miserable?  Isn’t this what I wanted?

Maybe you didn’t
really know what you wanted,
the woman in the back of her mind said.

“I didn’t mean
for you to think about it too hard,” Henry said in a reproachful tone.

“No, you’re
right.  Perhaps going back is something that should be considered,” she
muttered, staring at the moss on the ground.

“You don’t know
what you’re saying,” he told her sternly, grasping for words.  “There’s nothing
back there for us.  Here, we can do whatever we want, without any rules.  We
just have to
survive
, and at least we know that if we die, it will be
because we were fighting for our own way.”

Wren wondered if
he had come up with that himself or if one of the others had put it into his
head.

“But what about
the future?” she asked.  “Are we supposed to stay like this forever?”

“What’s wrong
with that?” he wanted to know.

“Max would at
least have a better life if we went back – if he was allowed to grow up.  He
wouldn’t have to
fight
.  He could have a real future.  Maybe, all this
time, I’ve just been selfish.”

Henry stood up,
backing away a few steps as if he didn’t know her – as if being next to her
would cause him to catch her disease.

“You’re being
selfish
now
!  Maybe we don’t want to go back!  You’d have me go to the
mines?”

“I can’t see how
it’s much different anymore,” she said, helpless.

“Well, you can
go back, Wren.  But I’m staying here.”

“Henry…”

“It’s
Fang
,”
he told her firmly, and the harshness of his eyes spoke volumes.  He was not
her brother anymore.  He had chosen to side with the others, and the blood they
shared meant nothing.  “I took the Vow.  So did you, but I
meant it
. 
This is where I belong.”

She could see
that he was resolute, and maybe he was right.  He was better off here if this
was where he wanted to be, and her departure would mean saying goodbye.  She
didn’t know what she wanted.  She felt separated from herself, her soul and her
heart taken from her body, leaving a shell.

“You can sit
here for as long as you want,” Henry said, a softer tone returning.  “I’ll tell
them you’re safe.”

He left her
there with her thoughts, but without any regard for her feelings.

2

For a long time after Rifter had fled from her, Calico sat in the
wooded spot, confused by his rejection.  There was not a warrior among her own
people who wouldn't have had her, but the one she wanted had seemed repulsed by
her affection.  Why?

He was worthy – strong and skilled.  He had power.  He was the
only one who could stand against the dark man they all feared.  Calico had
always known who he was, but she'd never been able to get close to him before.

Her people had beliefs about the Rifter and his Pack – those boys
who lived forever.  The tribes shared the island, but stayed away from each
other.  They took part in a silent treaty, but ever since Calico was a girl,
she had wanted to know more about the mysterious boy.  She believed that the
Rifter could be what they needed against the darkness, and finally the world
had brought them all together, but still her people shunned the boys.  They
were afraid.

Calico wanted to band together with those immortal ones and borrow
their strengths to drive the enemy away.  They had a problem in common, after
all.  Yet the elder had sent them away with only a warning to take care.  How
would that help?  They couldn't only sit by while the land was being
destroyed.  Whether Rifter wanted to be with her – or whether he wanted that
pale, weak girl – had nothing to do with how important it was to fight.

Sitting there on the damp earth, Calico heard a disturbance in the
brush behind her.  Moving on instinct, she pulled a knife and spun into a low
crouch, preparing for an attack.  Seeing who had approached her didn't bring
her out of her defense.

It was one of the other boys – the one who’d chased her through
the woods before.  She recognized that he was strong and handsome, but he was
not as impressive as Rifter.  She saw that he was not holding a weapon, and so
she stood up to face him.  She lowered her knife a bit, but did not go
completely off her guard.

He approached her, slowly, and she watched him with impassive eyes
and a solid expression.  What did he want?  He hadn’t even tried to speak to
her – hadn't opened his mouth.  Had she heard them say that his name was Nix?

Calico allowed him to step up next to her, unwilling to show any
fear in his presence.  She studied his blue eyes, and suddenly she saw what he
was after.

She couldn't protest before he’d grabbed her hand that held the
knife, twisting it behind her back.  He pulled her in and kissed her
forcefully, and when her hand shot to his chest, she didn't put much effort
into shoving him away.  He might not have been the one she wanted, but his
force excited her somehow.

Nix kissed her spitefully, and when he'd finished – after
exploring her mouth as he’d desired – he looked into her eyes, firmly anchoring
her there.

“What do you know about Rifter?" he asked. "What’d your
elder say to him?”

Calico only stared at him coolly.

“I know you must be able to understand some of what I'm
saying," he insisted. "You may have tricked the others, but I'm not
fooled by you.  I saw your face when we were talking before.  You understood.”

She didn't speak.  He could kiss her against her will, be as rough
with her as he wanted, but she would not tell him anything as long as he was
making demands.  They stared at each other for a long time and yet she did not
give in.  She could tell he was getting impatient, but she didn't care.  She
considered it a weakness on his part.

“Fine,” he said eventually, “let me give you some advice anyway. 
You and your people may think you know something, but you don't.  I'm sorry
about what happened at your village, but just rebuild and move on.  Stay out of
it.  It'll only lead to more bloodshed.”

He turned away from her then, but as she watched him walk away,
she felt anger rising inside.  He didn't know what he was saying.  Perhaps he
had been in this world longer than she had, but unlike him, she knew what was
coming, and it would be more than just a few boys could handle.  She fumed as
he stepped away from her, and as it built up within her breast, the force of it
burst her silence.

“One day soon,” she said, her words careful in the best English
she could manage, “you need our help.”

Nix hesitated, but didn’t turn back to her.  After a moment, he
picked up his pace, leaving her alone with her silence and a lingering dampness
on her mouth.

3

It was much
later in the day before Wren came face to face with Rifter again.  It was past
noon when he’d flown in, after she had returned from her time alone in the
woods.  He hadn’t said anything to her, and though the dark-skinned she-devil
was keeping near, Wren felt more depressed than angry.

She’d avoided
him just as he had ignored her – though he did make eye contact with her once
from across the fire, but neither of them moved on it before they had averted
their eyes again.

They had eaten
the evening’s meal and it had been much quieter than usual among the group. 
They all had deep thoughts on their minds, it seemed.  Max had sensed it and he
was in a foul mood as well.  It wasn’t long afterward that Rifter was invited
to another meeting with the Tribals to discuss the enemy.  Wren didn’t know how
it had gone, only that none were convening for battle once it was over. 
Perhaps they had decided that there was nothing they could do.

Wren was staring
at the fire, nodding off while she watched Max, who kept trying to engage some
of the native children in a game.  They looked at him warily, as if they
couldn’t understand that he was another boy, just because he was blond and
fair.

Wren was feeling
tired, wondering if there was really anything to do except sleep.  Even so, she
refused to go to the tent, despite Rifter not being there.  It wasn’t hers, and
she wasn’t going to take to it unless she was welcomed.  She doubted she would
be asked again.  In fact, after she had seen him kiss the other girl, she no
longer had such a strong desire to talk to him at all.  She only wanted to draw
up into a ball and be ignored.