Chapter 58
Chapter Fifty-Eight
EMORY
I woke with a gasp, no longer feeling that delicious cold prickling over my skin. Dust swirled in my face, black and shimmery as always.
I blinked a few times, remembering my dream, my talk with Bellamy. Embers spat from the wall in front of me, floating in the air. No hole to sneak through. My heart sank as I looked at the watch, already ticking past the twelve. The opening was closed.
It was over. Bellamy had escaped with the lightning bolt, and we’d be stuck here for at least a few months. There was no telling the damage that would result from this, what Bellamy might do by trying to use that bolt to kill Spirit Shadow, what her actions might do to incur his wrath in return. He might be trapped in Sorrengard, but we had no idea how close he was to collecting the other weapons, and now Bellamy was bringing one directly to him. This was a disaster.
The others slowly awakened around me.
Driscoll clutched his head.
Aron’s jaw locked when he saw Bellamy had left, and Maverick immediately locked eyes with me, then looked at his sister. Annalee lay on the ground, unmoving. Maverick scrambled to her side.
“Annalee.” He shook her gently.
“I’m sure she’s just still sleeping.” I crawled to them while Aron helped Driscoll to a stand.
“Bellamy came to me in my dream,” Aron said. “She’s gone.”
There was a sadness I’d never heard in Aron’s voice.
“I know she was your friend.” I looked up from Annalee’s still form, “And I’m sorry she used you like that, manipulated you to bring that bolt to her.”
Aron’s impassive face betrayed nothing. “She did a lot of good. Not just for me, but for everyone. If I were to compare her actions, the good would far outweigh the bad.”
Ever the logical one.
Annalee groaned, and Maverick sucked in a sharp breath. “Hey,” he said as she blinked her eyes open. “Are you okay?”
“Why are you hovering over me?” She sat up and gave him a light shove.
He clapped a hand on her shoulder and hoisted her up. “Because I’m your older brother. That’s what older brothers do.”
“I’m fine.” She rubbed her eyes. “I’m guessing Bellamy is gone?”
All of us came together in a circle, and I nodded.
“There’s something you all should know,” I said. “Bellamy visited me as well. She’s the one who infiltrated Annalee’s dreams, brought her here. When she saw her future, it was Annalee whom she saw helping her escape from the Wilds. She found Annalee and infiltrated her dreams to make her obsess over this place until she’d have no choice but to come.”
“I have a confession to make too.” Annalee bit her lip.
Maverick’s gaze swung to her, and he planted his hands on his hips. “What did you do?”
Annalee winced. “I knew she wanted to escape without you. She told me. She didn’t force me or kidnap me. She was upfront about her plans, and I agreed.”
Driscoll sucked in a sharp breath while Aron stayed silent, patient, waiting for an explanation .
Maverick closed his eyes, his fists balling tight, and I lay a hand on his arm, hopefully a reminder to not lose his temper.
“Why would you do that?” he asked through clenched teeth.
“Because I don’t want to leave here, and you wouldn’t listen. You kept making plans for me. I like the Wilds.”
“Because you were manipulated into it,” Maverick shot back. “You heard Emory. It was Bellamy who did all of this.” He gestured to her. “I don’t know how she did it, how she could summon that kind of power to infiltrate your dreams from so far away, butshe did.”
That would be another conversation we’d have to have at a later time.
“I don’t think that’s it,” I said, and Maverick’s sharp gaze landed on me. “Your sister knows this place better than anyone. Yes, Bellamy sent her those visions, but she didn’t teach Annalee how to make blood beetles sing.”
“Technically, they weren’t singing,” Driscoll said.
I shot him a pointed look. “Bellamy didn’t teach her how to host tea parties for the Mad Hatter or talk to caterpillars. Annalee did that all on her own. She has a special gift, and I don’t think we should discount that.”
Maverick’s gaze softened, and he looked up at the twilight sky. “Okay, then.”
Annalee mouthed “thank you,” and I smiled in return.
“So what do we do?” Driscoll spread his arms wide. “This was our only way out.”
“Maybe not,” I said. “We could find another way. There has to be other openings like this.”
Aron made a strangled sound, and all of our heads snapped in his direction. He hunched over. He shot up, ramrod straight, his head bending backward, veins popping in his throat.
We all stepped back, except Driscoll, who put a hand on his shoulder. “Aron? What’s going on? Why are you so veiny all of a sudden?”
He didn’t answer, face turning a dark shade of red, all his muscles straining.
“Is he sick?” Annalee said with wide eyes.
“I don’t think so,” I said slowly .
His teeth lengthened to sharp canines that poked from his mouth. “Step away from me,” he said through clenched teeth. “I can’t control myself. Don’t. Want. To. Hurt. You.”
Driscoll’s eyes widened in understanding.
Maverick pushed me and Annalee behind him. “He’s transforming.”
Bloody fucking frost. That was all we needed right now.
But Driscoll didn’t move, keeping his hand on Aron’s arm as fur began to sprout across his body. “I know that you won’t hurt us. You might say you have no control, but you’re like the most controlled person I’ve ever met. You’re too in control of every emotion. I think it’s time you actually let loose.”
“Driscoll,” I warned. “Step back. Please.”
“Listen to her,” Aron gritted out as he violently hunched over again, his clothes and skin ripping open as a furry back sprouted up.
Driscoll stayed planted to his spot. “No. I think you all are wrong and being kind of close-minded right now.”
My mouth dropped open. “Driscoll, he tried to kill us in his wolf form. Multiple times.”
“But he didn’t!” Driscoll shot back as Aron’s hands and feet transformed to large paws with razor sharp claws.
“She’s. Right,” Aron screamed as his nose turned into a long snout.
There was almost nothing left of his human self, save for his eyes, which were rapidly changing from their ice blue to a dark red. He finished transforming, and now the white wolf towered over Driscoll, who stood firm, though I could see the slight tremble in his hands. The wolf threw his head back and let out a howl that split the air.
“Wow,” Annalee breathed.
“Do you know how to calm him down?” I asked, Maverick still standing in front of us, fire flickering from both of his outstretched hands, even though we knew it was useless against the white wolf.
Annalee raised an eyebrow. “I don’t think I need to.”
The wolf looked down at Driscoll, teeth bared, but he didn’t attack.
“Hey, Hot Wolf Man,” Driscoll said weakly. “I know you’re in there somewhere. ”
Something slipped around my waist. At first, I thought maybe it was Annalee’s arm. But it squeezed tight enough to hurt.
I looked down, realizing it was a vine from the wall. We’d gotten too close while trying to stay away from the white wolf. Fuck.
The vine wrenched me backward, and Maverick whirled. “No!” he ran toward me, but I shoved out a hand.
“Stay back,” I warned. “We don’t need it getting you too!”
Driscoll’s head snapped up, his eyes filled with horror while Annalee’s face twisted in fear.
“What do we do?” Driscoll yelled.
Maverick threw a ball of fire at the vine, but it dissipated, just like it had when it encountered the white wolf, ever a reminder that our magic didn’t work well here, not against these foes.
The vine reeled me closer to the wall, and I squirmed, fighting against it and trying to lunge forward. The wall hissed and spit out all the different types of elemental magic. If I got too close, the impact of the magic alone would kill me.
“Let loose,” Driscoll murmured, then looked at the white wolf. “Okay, Hot Wolf Man, it’s time to let loose. I need you to save my friend, okay? So go do your wolf thing. I know you’re in there, Aron, and if you were here instead of the wolf, you’d know what to do. You’d help us save her.”
The white wolf didn’t move, just stayed in that crouched position, eyes assessing the situation.
Panic stretched across my chest, making it hard to draw a breath. If something didn’t happen in the next few seconds, I was going to die.
“Emory!” Maverick lunged toward me again, but Annalee caught him around the waist, and Driscoll grabbed his arm. “Let me go!” He thrashed against them. “I’m going after my wife!”
A roar shook the ground, a blur of white streaking through the air as the white wolf charged straight for the wall. Vines shot out at him that he snapped with his massive jaws. Fire, ice, and wind bounced off of him like he was a shield himself. The vine that was reeling me back toward the wall froze, and I hung midair. Pops of fire grazed my cheeks while wind barreled past me. Ice shards cut at my clothes, tearing the sleeves of my tunic .
Everyone else stayed completely still, watching the white wolf leap toward the wall, his roar echoing around us. A vine punched him in between the ribs, and he landed with a deafening thud. I stared in horror, convinced this would be the white wolf’s end. He bounced back up and snapped the vine in two. Then he leapt off the ground, launching straight past me and right into the wall.
Everything exploded at once. Fire, ice, wind, plant, shadows, and some kind of haze that made my eyes grow heavy again. It felt like the magic Bellamy had used on us. Star magic. It must’ve only got released when the wall was hit. The vine slipped from my waist, and I fell to the ground, trying my best to lift my head amongst all the magic raining down over me, but I couldn’t fight the urge to close my heavy, heavy eyes.
With a final glance at the blurry figure of the white wolf laying on the ground next to me, I fell into complete darkness.