Chapter 25 - Amanda
I’m sitting up the back of the bus with Nell when the vehicle suddenly turns to the left, hurling all of us against the wall and almost flipping the van. Everyone is screaming, and I can see Jeanette struggling in the driver’s seat as she fights the wheel.
Even though the bus rocks dangerously in the other direction as it comes out of the turn, I get up and move down the aisle, hanging on to the ceiling bars to keep myself up. Anyone who hasn’t been knocked out by the first jolt is clinging to the nearby seats, crying in terror.
“What’s happening?” I yell, trying desperately to get to the front of the bus. I look out the window, seeing the trees closing around us as the bus barrels down a narrow dirt track.
“Jeanette!” I scream, wondering why she’s hurtling us into this death trap.
Then, something hits the side of the bus, and my fear reaches a whole new level.
That’s the biggest wolf I’ve ever seen!
Clinging to the safety bars as the bus rocks and bounces, I can see wolves around the outside, herding us further into the woods. I know the smartest thing for Jeanette to do would be to run them over, except we can’t be sure who it is yet.
It’s more than likely Decker, but most people have an instinctual urge not to kill another living thing.
The bus pitches dangerously, and the screaming intensifies. Without our powers, there’s absolutely nothing to do except hang on and wait.
I don’t have to wait long. Jeanette loses control of the bus, and it slides into a high bank, hurling people out of their seats. Unable to hold on anymore, I get thrown to the front of the bus. I lay there stunned, bruised and bleeding, praying that the others are alive.
When I look up at Jeanette, a whimper escapes my lips. Her forehead is covered in blood from hitting the windscreen, and she looks dead. All I can see when I look down the aisle are twisted limbs and motionless bodies.
And blood. So much blood.
The doors shatter and squeal as they are forced open, and Kelta bursts in, grabbing me and dragging me out. My feet won’t hold me, and I crash to the ground, all the breath knocked out of my body.
“What about the others? Should we finish them off?” someone asks.
Kelta sniffs the air. “No, don’t bother. None of them have long to live. I’d rather they suffer. We got the one we want.”
I try to summon my powers, praying and begging every goddess I know, but nothing happens. The earth beneath me feels dead, and the breeze has no voice.
Please… for my sisters! This can’t be how it ends!
Kelta grabs my arm and forces me to my feet. She shakes me, and my head throbs so badly, my vision wavers and my guts lurch.
“Careful, bitch,” I hiss. “Unless you want me to barf on your feet.”
“Shut up!” she snaps, shaking me again.
This time, I can’t hold it in and fall to my knees, gagging on blood. Someone kicks me in the guts, and a black wave swallows me.
The moment is brief, and the sounds of the forest trickle through my brain fog as if the mountain itself won’t let me get dragged under.
Not fair. Just let me go. I can’t live with a broken heart, anyway.
Then, I feel a gust of warm breath on my head. I blink slowly, looking up in fear. The scream that shakes out of me rings around the clearing, making the air vibrate with terror. The wolf standing over me is four times the size of any I’ve ever seen, with pure black fur and huge, pale blue eyes. An ugly scar runs across his face, exposing muscle, bone, and teeth.
“Meet Bredu,” Kelta says. “One of our elders. Bae has no clue what we have hiding up in the hills. He should never have crossed us if he wanted to keep our power allied to his.”
“You hid this from him,” I gasp breathlessly. “That means you were always planning to betray him.”
“As if we could ever trust a Silver Meadows wolf,” she scoffs. “Their ways aren’t like ours. We did what we had to.” She bends down and grabs my arm, forcing me to my feet again. “Walk,” she commands, gesturing to the forest.
Bredu growls at me, and a line of drool drips from his mouth to the ground. I can feel his intent to eat me, even without my powers.
“Are you sure you don’t want to finish off the others first?” one of the other wolves asks.
“No, not yet,” Kelta answers. “Like I said, they’re goners, anyway. Even if someone comes in the next five minutes, they’ll be dead by the time help can get here. This is the one we want.”
The other wolves fall into pace behind us, forcing me to walk ahead of them. The going is rough, and wouldn’t have been easy for me, even if I wasn’t badly injured.
As the sun gets higher above and my pain worsens, all my fears and doubts roll through me, and suddenly, I feel like the stupidest person ever to walk on planet Earth.
I should never have left Body. I see now that this was my mistake—giving up on love!
Only love can heal this rift.
We come into a small clearing ringed by tall, thick-trunked trees. Kelta stands in front of me, and one of the others kicks me in the back to force me to my knees. I look up at her with defiance, feeling stronger than I have in days.
“Remove your curse on Body,” Kelta demands, “and I might spare your life.”
“What?” I say. “What are you talking about? I didn’t put a curse on Body.”
“Everything was fine until you arrived,” she snarls. “We had peace, and the chance to find mates in the extended pack. No one cared about witches until you came. And Body never showed any interest in mating before.”
“This is starting to sound kind of personal,” I remark, looking up at her with a new understanding. “Body said he spent most of his time in the wilderness. Did you catch a crush, Kelta?”
“Silence!” she screams, leaning over to shake me. “You’re a temptress, a harlot! How could he resist you and your magic? All you witches are the same. You just want to enslave wolves and take their power.”
“I still think this sounds personal.”
She slaps me across the face, and I taste blood and feel it running down my face. Someone kicks me from behind again, and I hit the forest floor like a ton of bricks.
Fuck. It’s all over.
“What are we going to do?” one of the Decker wolves growls. “She’s not going to do it.”
“Sometimes a witch’s curse can be broken by her death,” Kelta answers. “But sometimes it can make it stronger. I don’t know if I want to take that chance.”
“You promised Decker you’d kill them all,” he says.
“Yeah, I did,” Kelta says, turning and laying a hard kick into my ribs. “But I never said I’d do it quickly.”
She gets down on her knees, grabbing the front of my shirt and forcing my face up to hers. “This is your last chance. Take the curse off Body, and I’ll spare you some pain.”
“But you’ll still kill me?” I answer.
She grins. “The difference is me slitting your throat or giving you to Bredu as a chew toy.”
Bredu growls in answer, licking his chops. Panic floods through me. My muscles start to tremble, and I can’t draw in a decent breath.
The only thing stronger than fear is love.
I close my eyes and think of Body. Of all the wonderful moments we’ve shared since we got married. I can feel his love in my heart, and the only sorrow I feel is that I left him again, and now I could die without ever telling him how much I love him.
I was so stupid! I can’t believe I ran away from him and left him alone. This time, it’s my turn to apologize… if I can live through the next few minutes.
“Well?” Kelta demands, shaking me.
I smile at her. “You need to get a hold of yourself, Kelta. You’re bordering on delusional. Why would Body like a pathetic little scruff like you?”
She stands up, flinging me backwards. I rock back and forth, but stay on my knees as she glares at me with pure, unadulterated rage.
“Bredu!” she screams. “Eat that fucking bitch!”
I close my eyes, feeling the power of the Earth around me, beneath me, and within me. I take a deep breath, and I can see the lines of light linking all living things into one great web. They are so real, I can almost taste them.
With a flick of my hand, a nest of vines whips off the trunk of a nearby tree and snags Kelta’s arms and legs. She screams as the vines tighten on her, but she can’t twist free. I stand up slowly, throwing magic at the other wolves to stop them in their tracks.
I have to use a small bit of energy to heal myself, and my defenses slip. Bredu barks and snaps at me, pushing through my psychic forcefield with every leap.
He’s strong, and not just physically. He has magic… old, deep, and primal.
I hold him back with one hand and turn to face the others. I’m going to need all my strength to deal with Bredu, and if I don’t stop these guys, they’ll attack me from behind, and it’ll all be over.
The four wolves from Decker and two wild wolves are stalking around me now, trying to find the edges of my forcefield. All of them are pushing against it, looking for a weakness.
This timing is going to be absolute hell.
I pull my power from one section of the web to hurl a few fallen branches at the wild ones. There’s a loud yelp as one of them is knocked out, and the other crashes to the ground with a sharp spike right through its ribcage.
I’ve taken out two of my enemies, but in the brief moment the shield was down, the others got closer. I push back against them, feeling my magic slipping.
Bredu is too strong.
I spin around to face him, holding up the forcefield with extreme difficulty. Blood and sweat are pouring down my face, soaking my clothes. My body is trying desperately to heal itself, and I keep channeling my power straight back into the shield.
Body.
I keep his image in my mind, the desperate need to tell him how I feel driving me on. I watch Bredu forcing his way through the shield, getting closer to me by the second.
What if I stopped fighting him?
An idea dawns. I know if it doesn’t work, I’m dead for sure, but there’s nothing else to try. I hold up the shield against Bredu, deliberately letting it slip inch by inch, letting him get closer.
Not yet… not yet.
Rabid with the thirst for blood, Bredu charges, snapping fiercely. He’s so close now, I can feel his hot, sour breath and see the strips of flesh hanging from his sharp white fangs.
Almost…
He leans back on his haunches and coils, and I brace myself, taking a deep breath and holding it.
He leaps, flying through the air with all the strength and power in his body. I throw myself to the ground, letting down the shield. Two of the Decker wolves from behind me pounce at the exact same time. Bredu tears into them, ripping them apart.
I crawl away, trying desperately to put my shield back up and failing. Bredu turns, growling and barking in rage as he realizes he was tricked.
You might be powerful, but you’re just an animal! You can’t control your instincts.
“How long since you were human?” I mutter to him.
Bredu growls, stalking towards me with blood dripping from his jaws. The two remaining wolves from Decker pack stalk from one side while Bredu approaches from the other.
The same trick won’t work. I have to time this even more carefully than before.
I know if Bredu gets within striking distance, I’ll be dead before I hit the ground.
And then, I’ll never be able to apologize to Body.
I throw up my left hand, directing my power into a wave at the two Decker wolves. They fly backwards, slamming into trees and then falling to the ground. I don’t have time to check if they are alive or dead—I barely have time to turn around before Bredu leaps at me again.
Drawing power from the earth and sky, I channel it into the forcefield holding Bredu in place. He yelps and twists in the air, desperately trying to get free.
I have to kill him.
It’s an ugly thought. So far, I’ve been acting on instinct, but if I want to kill Bredu, it will have to be calculated and purposeful.
Closing my eyes, I focus on his huge, deep chest. I imagine the heart beating inside it, and the massive cage of ribs protecting it. I can feel it, as well as see it.
Slowly, I close my fist. Bredu starts to howl, a horrific sound of pain and defeat. I slam my fist closed, and I hear the shattering of his ribs. My eyes open just in time to see him hit the ground, blood leaking from his nose, eyes, and ears from the pressure of his burst heart.
I turn around to face Kelta, but the web of vines is empty.
She got away!
Then, I hear howls in the distance. They rise up through the trees as they follow my scent, and a wolf leading them barks with excitement as he swiftly follows my trail.
Joy fills me, running through my veins and flowing through into my spirit. The entire mountain seems to be singing to me, and finally, I understand the truth.
Love! Love is the only thing that can heal our powers. We only failed because we lost our faith in love.
Turning towards the baying of the wolves, I start to run. There is no fear or doubt in me now, only love, and it has a name.
Body.