Warrior Everlasting (16 page)

She heard the beat of his hooves, slow, like he was pacing.

“He will bother with hers. He is in love with her.”

Trey’s arms tightened protectively, or jealously, or both, around her, but Scout didn’t care about Ariston. She didn’t care about her wounds or her soul. She cared about Lil Bit. Where was Lil Bit? Why hadn’t she found them yet? She forced her eyes open through sheer will. Trey was staring at the sky, watching the demons retreat, no doubt.

Ashra watched Scout, finally nodding once before coming toward her with that bright horn, ready to heal. Everything else was outside her line of vision and she wanted to scream in frustration. Instead, she let her eyes drift close. Too much effort to keep them open.

“He can’t have her. She’s mine.” Trey hissed.

Scout wanted to smile, if her heart wasn’t breaking. Where was her sister? Her parents? Trey’s family?

“We all know she’s yours. You’ve made that abundantly clear. Now move out of the way so I can heal her.”

Scout felt the warm light from Ashra’s horn, mending the broken skin, healing the tears first in her stomach and then in her shoulder and finally her back. She suddenly didn’t feel like her life force was escaping.

Like Aella’s.
I’m so sorry. I’m so sorry.
Aella had saved her. And Scout had left her to die.

“Will she be okay, Trey?”

Scout’s heart stopped.

Lil Bit.

She was here. Lil Bit was here! After all this time, fighting, praying, not daring to hope and feeling like her heart shattered every time it beat, Lil Bit was here. If it were possible, Scout could feel her heart mending just like her skin. Lil Bit was healing Scout’s broken heart, and suddenly it was beating again, strong and furious and ready to fight. Scout’s eyes flew open and she reached for the translucent little shadow standing uncertainly behind Trey.

“I’ve missed you, little sister.”

Lil Bit smiled, a smile like sunshine and rainbows and hope and everything good in the world, and reached for Scout, too. But Scout couldn’t hold Lil Bit. She couldn’t even touch her. Instead, Scout’s weak hand pushed her away, and the heart she’d thought was so strong cracked once more. Her arm fell back to her side. Her eyes fell shut. “
Lil Bit. I’m sorry.”

She prayed Lil Bit could hear her.

Ashra’s voice was somber when she spoke.
“Yes, Scout will be okay. We just need her to grab hold of her soul and pull it back in.”

She felt an icy touch on her cheek, and the breath of an angel. “Scout, I need you to fight.”

Her parents, though, hadn’t made a sound. Did that mean they weren’t here at all? They might have kept fleeing if it was only Scout’s safety they were concerned over, just like at the hospital, but they would never leave Lil Bit. A sick dread overcame her. Where were her parents? Had they given up? Had the demons—

“No, Scout, they’re coming. Trey, your family is coming. They’re helping the others.”

“Liam? Tate? My — my parents?”

Trey’s voice broke again and Scout realized he was dangerously close to falling apart completely. He’d been through so much. Fought so hard. His forehead leaned against hers then, and his hands shook as he brushed her hair away from her face. “I need you, Scout. Please come back to me.”

“They’re fine, Trey. We’ll get them back to their bodies, and they’ll be back to growing bigger than you in no time.” Lil Bit’s voice held the hint of a smile.

I need you, Scout.
Trey needed her. Lil Bit was back. Her parents were coming. She had Ashra.
I left Aella to die.

How could she face that?

“You realize that Aella did what she did so you would survive, and you’re giving up is making a mockery of her sacrifice. Pull it together, Scout, and serve her memory. Stop being a baby.”
Ashra, always with the tough love.
“Torz’s rider needs you. I need you. Get. Up.”

They needed her. Aella didn’t die so Scout could fail miserably. She grabbed her soul, and she pulled. And then she sat up.

“Scout!” Lil Bit squealed, throwing her translucent arms around Scout’s shoulders. Scout couldn’t grab her. She couldn’t feel her except for the icy cold. But she formed an embrace around her tiny sister, and she sobbed, because Lil Bit was here in her arms. They would take her back to her body, and they would be a family again, and Lil Bit would save the world, and Scout could go back to being just her big sister, and nothing more.

****

Torz had been right, to an extent, but so had Ashra. The majority of Ariston’s forces went after Iros and left the souls hiding in the canyon alone. The souls, and Scout, Trey, Ashra, and Torz. But Trey knew Ariston needed Scout. So when the newly souled Taraxippus appeared on the horizon, red eyes glowing, he was not surprised. He watched them silently, not ready to tell Scout she had to fight again. Not ready to take her away from her little sister. They wandered, these demons that haunted his nightmares even when he wasn’t sleeping. Maybe they didn’t know where to look. Maybe they weren’t in a hurry to fight. Maybe they would get tired and go away.

He doubted it.

“Lil Bit?” Scout lay next to her sister’s soul, staring at the blue sky, pretending she could hold Lil Bit’s hand.

“Yeah, Scout?”

“I missed you.”

“I missed you, too.”

“Lil Bit?”

Lil Bit smiled, a soft giggle escaping before she answered. “Yeah, Scout?”

“You are so grounded.”

His heart ached. He had Scout back. Lil Bit was safe — as safe as could be expected. But his brothers. His parents. Where were they? Had they been caught again? He paced the mouth of the canyon, watching, waiting, not even sure he was looking in the right direction. Either way, that was how he saw the demons first.

“We’ve got company.”
He glanced at Torz over his shoulder but didn’t speak aloud.

Torz’s head came up sharply, and he scanned the horizon. Then he snorted at Ashra, gaining her much-annoyed attention.

“Are you serious? He can’t even give me time to eat before he attacks again?”
She snapped off the blue grass and chomped loudly, horn shooting annoyed sparks.

“You’ve got a few minutes. Eat quickly, Ashra.”
Torz sounded amused, if that was even possible in all this horror.

Scout sat up, raising a hand still covered in blood to her eyes. The hand started to shake as she turned to her sister with panicked eyes. “Lil, we have to fight. I need you to hide somewhere safe.”

“We’ll take care of her, Scout.”

Scout’s hand dropped, and she whirled, half-crawling on her knees.

Trey’s eyes seemed, as always, to have to tear themselves away from her to look elsewhere, so he was slower at realizing it than she was.

They were back.

Scout’s mom and dad stood in all their soul translucence, somewhat torn, exhausted, but beautiful. Scout sobbed, still on her knees, and they rushed forward.

Behind them stood Trey’s family. “Dad, Mom,” he gave a strangled cry as his brothers appeared behind his parents, and he ran, arms outstretched, meaning to grab them all and hold them close and never let go. But he only succeeded in knocking them backward.

It hurt. Not physically. Physically all he felt was cold. But his heart shattered a little more when he couldn’t even touch them. He’d been dreaming of this moment for a lifetime… or was it merely days? And he couldn’t even—

His mother laid her hand against his cheek, tears in her eyes and a beautiful smile creasing her face.

“Mom. I’ve missed you so much.”

“You’ve made us so proud, Trey,” she said, her voice soft and wobbly and not quite firm.

“So proud.”

Brandon laid a hand on his shoulder. Trey couldn’t feel it, not through the cloak and the well-worn battle gear. But it didn’t matter. His dad. His dad was safe. He was here. Everything would be okay.

“We knew you’d fight for us.” Was it possible that Tate had tears in his eyes?

Trey swallowed hard, knowing he couldn’t break down and sob, but nearly doing it anyway.

“Don’t think this means you’re tougher than us. Just because we don’t have bodies right now and get knocked over by butterflies.” Trey laughed, a watery, somewhat broken laugh.

But it felt so good. His parents chuckled; Liam nodded, smiling. His family was back. It would be okay. Everything would be okay.

“How did you avoid the soul stealers? How did you stay so high for so long?” Scout asked, scrubbing tears from her cheeks.

Liam spoke, not bothering at all to hide his own tears. “It was Lil Bit. She wouldn’t let us doubt you. She wouldn’t let us lose hope.”

They all turned to stare at the tiny little thing who was stronger than them all. She smiled innocently, batting her big, dark eyes, hands behind her back as she bounced lightly.

“I knew Scout would come.” She shrugged.

“And you did come.” Laila reached for Scout, fingers just brushing across Scout’s cheek. “And you danced, and I remembered what I had to fight for. Why I couldn’t give up. Your dancing, Scout. It saved us. It saved so many,” Laila said, tears rolling down her cheeks.

Scout’s jaw dropped, and Trey smiled. Of everything Laila could have said, he couldn’t think of anything that would heal Scout more.

Scout sobbed, falling to her knees again to press her forehead to Lil Bit’s. Somehow, she had mastered the art of embracing their not-solidness. “I almost failed you.”

“Almost is a dumb word. It doesn’t mean anything. Either you did or you didn’t.” Lil Bit pouted before her face lit up. “And… You. Didn’t. Fail.”

“I’m sorry to interrupt,”
Torz said, and he sounded genuinely apologetic.
“I know how much you’ve been waiting for this, Trey. But we have to fight. Ashra and I can’t fight the creatures alone.”

“You have to fight? Those things?” Julien’s voice was sheer panic.

Trey turned to her, but it was Scout who spoke.

“We don’t want to leave you. Any of you. We just got you back.” She glanced over her shoulder at Ashra, who watched them with an unreadable expression on her beautiful face. “But they need us. We’re the only ones who can help.”

Laila nodded, pressing a kiss to Scout’s head as her shoulder shook with silent sobs.

Julien reached for Trey, trying to hold on, trying to protect him, but her hand was knocked away from his physical presence.

“We’ll be okay, Mom. I promise. Find somewhere safe.”

“How will you find us if we hide?” Brandon asked, brushing at his cheeks, trying to be strong. “We need a signal—”

“I’ll find them.” Lil Bit grinned. “I can find Scout anywhere.”

Scout smiled, absently trying to brush Lil Bit’s hair out of her eyes. Trey saw the same pain flash across her face that he felt, when she couldn’t really touch her sister.

“Scout.”

Ashra was watching the sky, but by now Trey could smell them. The acrid, rotting corpses of the soul stealers.

“I’ll be back, Lil Bit. Keep them safe until I return.” Scout brushed a kiss, feather light, against the top of Lil Bit’s head then laid her hand gently against her parents’ cheeks. It was all she could do, and Trey copied her.

It was the worst form of torture he’d ever endured, having to walk away from them. He paused to drop an almost-kiss on Lil Bit’s head, as well, before leaping onto Torz’s back.

“Unicorns, Ride!” he yelled, just like Iros, praying that this was the last time he had to ride into battle without their mighty leader to take charge.

Torz’s wings snapped out, flames engulfing them, and he launched them both into the air.

Chapter Twenty

Ashra followed Torz into the sky, which should have been Scout’s first clue that something was wrong. Ashra always led. She was faster. More insane. More holding-onto-a-secret-death-wish.

She didn’t light her wings on fire until they were almost there, and then her voice, soft, in Scout’s head.
“I don’t have much left, Scout. I don’t know how I’ll fight.”

In all the time Scout had known her, Ashra had defied logic. They said she and Scout couldn’t do attacks because they weren’t bonded, but they did them anyway. They said Ashra wouldn’t have enough magic to hold onto the smothering cloud and then continue to fight, and Ashra did it anyway. They said she couldn’t outrun the soul stealers, that she couldn’t bond, that she couldn’t love. Ashra did it anyway. This was the first time that Ashra had sounded scared.

But Scout felt alive like she never had before. She felt strong. Her entire body seemed to hum with an electric energy, and she was so angry. So determined to protect those she’d just got back. “It’s okay, Ashra. You’ve been strong alone long enough. I’ll take this one.”

The fact that Ashra didn’t argue, didn’t make a snarky comment, nothing, worried Scout even more than the fear in Ashra’s voice. Those creatures had done this to her unicorn. They had brought Scout’s mighty Ashra to her knees. And they would pay.

She grabbed her scepter, swung it up, pointed it at the one in the lead. “Leave my family alone!” she screamed, screamed, and screamed like a banshee.

Across the sky, Trey met her eyes and nodded, raising his as well. Fire exploded from both scepters, both horns, winding and twisting together in a myriad of colorful sparks. It slammed into the first demon and knocked it back into the second. They both burst into flames, burning, burning, burning from the inside out.

Apparently, though, they would keep fighting to the death. There were seven. Scout knew the odds were not in their favor. She knew they had barely escaped with their lives before when they had been full-on magic and strength, and there had only been seven soul stealers.

Now, Ashra was fighting to just stay in the sky, let alone actually attack anything. Ashra had given up much to save Scout. She’d given up much to heal Scout. It was always Ashra being the strong one. The brave one. Always Ashra making up for Scout’s weakness.

This time, Scout had to step up. Or they would all die.

She rose to her knees to get better leverage and whirled her scepter like a baton, bashing the ends into the two demons’ heads over and over, knocking them back. Keeping their claws at bay until the fire burned them to nothing, and they fell from the sky. Her arms ached already, but it just fueled her anger.