Chapter 33 #2
Sam explained what happened with my brother, and I rested my head on the back of the couch, feeling drained.
Why was I so tired? I carefully pulled up my mental shield, doing my best to ensure there weren’t any cracks.
Mac’s eyes shot to mine suddenly, and I knew it must be working.
I attempted an apologetic smile and let the shield drop enough to speak to him.
“I thought I should probably practice shielding… maybe it will help keep him out.”
His expression relaxed. “That’s a really good idea.”
“Tell me if it slips?”
He nodded, and as the four of them talked, I tentatively let my mind go back to healing Sam, my brother, and his crew. I wasn’t sure exactly what happened, but it’d almost felt like…
No, I must’ve imagined it. My powers had proved deadly to the Shadowbane over and over again. It must’ve been the adrenaline and the stress of healing while furious at my brother and his crew.
My skin crawled, the sensation like something slithering just under the surface, and I had to fight the urge to shudder. It had to be my imagination because it wouldn’t make any sense if the Shadowbane infected me.
I fell asleep on the couch shortly afterward, sleeping hard until Griz woke me up after the dinner bell rang.
I didn’t feel like going to the canteen and potentially seeing my brother or Lee, so Griz fetched dinner rations for Sam and me.
After dinner, Clarity arrived with her things and a very nervous-looking Sky in tow.
“I’m only stayin’ here if Sky can, too,” she declared, eyes flashing in a way that reminded me of Mac.
“Of course, Sky can stay here,” Mac immediately answered, and the flurry of unpacking and setting up the bunks began.
Clarity took Lana’s old bunk above Raven, and Sky took Exo’s old bunk above Griz.
Raven smiled more than I’d ever seen, practically beaming.
She seemed to take every opportunity to touch Clarity, resting a gentle hand on her arm or brushing hair from her face.
I had suspicions about Raven’s feelings for Clarity, but they seemed obvious now.
Clarity was comfortable with Raven, but I wondered if she realized precisely how Raven felt about her.
Sky stayed close beside me or Jax for most of the evening, but she slowly relaxed.
She was still jumpy, but she’d spent enough time around Mac, Sam, and Griz to know they wouldn’t hurt her.
As the others figured out how to string Clarity’s red silk curtains from the ceiling to give her some privacy, Sky huddled closer to where I sat on the couch.
I shifted to wrap an arm around her thin shoulders, and she curled into me like a cat.
With her head shaved, she’d been all sharp angles, but now her head was covered in little corkscrew-shaped black curls that softened her appearance.
One bunk bed remained for me, but I knew it had been Trey’s bed. The grief rose, flooding through me. I wasn’t sure I could sleep there, not without falling apart. Maybe I’d sleep on the couch, though I wished I had my quilt.
I paused. I could go get it.
My stomach twisted at the thought of seeing my brother and Lee, but anger washed it away. I didn’t need to hide in the bunkhouse and sleep without a blanket because mine was at the clinic. They couldn’t make me stay there. If they tried to keep me, Mac would break the damn door down.
I glanced at the doorway to the bedroom, where I could just see Mac and Jax, but they were all holding parts of the curtain in the air as Raven screwed hooks into the ceiling. I didn’t want to bother them to ask if they’d walk me there like a child.
“You feel like takin’ a walk?” I asked Sky instead.
“Where to?” she asked.
“I want to grab my quilt out of the clinic.” I watched panic flash across her face and reassured her, “You don’t have to come inside.”
A small smile crossed her lips. “Okay.”
As we put our boots on, Mac noticed us.
“Where you two goin’?” he asked.
“I gotta grab something at the clinic, and Sky’s walkin’ with me.”
“You want more company?” he asked, a worried furrow between his eyebrows.
“No, we’ll be okay.”
He frowned but didn’t push. “Okay.”
“Come lookin’ if we aren’t back in fifteen,” I added, managing a half smile.
“I’ll come lookin’ if you aren’t back in ten,” he promised.
When we stepped outside, the sun had almost disappeared behind the mountains, and the sound of frogs croaking was practically deafening.
“Must be spring,” Sky said, rubbing her arms and shivering.
It was chillier than expected, and Sky only wore a thin T-shirt. I shrugged out of my sweater and handed it to her. She tried to protest, but I glared at her until she gave in and put it on. Goosebumps covered my arms, but I’d survive.
After a few seconds, Sky ventured, “Do you think the others?—”
A shadowy figure appeared directly in front of us, materializing from nothing.
Sky and I both came to an abrupt halt, and I grabbed her arm, ready to run, but the shadow seized my shoulders, and suddenly, we were falling through darkness.
I tried to scream, but there was no air in my lungs; it felt like we were turning inside out.
When it finally stopped, we were still in complete darkness, but there was a ground beneath my feet, and the sickening sensation had stopped.
I finally managed to gasp in a lungful of air and screamed.
The sound echoed around us in a horrifying way that seemed vaguely familiar.
Sky was sobbing, and I pulled her tightly against my body.
As the echo of my scream slowly faded, a dark laugh sounded from somewhere to our left.
I jerked Sky behind me, turning to face the noise, my heart in my throat.
Light flared, blinding me, as a match lit a lantern, and once my eyes adjusted, I met Hawk’s eyes.
He looked awful. His face was pale and thin, and the whites of his eyes were red.
As he moved, his motions were jerky and unsteady.
My breath started coming faster as I realized where we were—the solitary cell far below the watchtower.
Sky and I were inside the cell, and Hawk stood outside the bars, sneering at us.
“Hawk.” My furious voice shook. “What are you doing?”
“I’m executing justice, Bones.”
“Let Sky go,” I snapped. “She hasn’t done anything.”
Sky stepped out from behind me, and Hawk’s eyes widened like he hadn’t noticed her, shock flashing across his face.
“What the fuck is she doing here?” he demanded.
“I don’t know,” Sky said, her voice trembling. “I was walking with Bones.”
Hawk turned a furious glare at me. “You would find a way to fuck this up, wouldn’t you?”
“Me?” I cried. “You’re the one who fucking dragged us here!”
“No,” he said in a cold voice. “I brought you here, and just like always, you dragged an innocent person down with you.”
My breath caught painfully in my chest.
“Hawk, please,” Sky begged. “Please let us go.”
He looked at her, and honest regret filled his face as he set the lantern on the floor and drew his pistol. “I’m sorry, Sky. I can at least grant you a quick death.”
“What?” she gasped, and panic lanced through me.
“Hawk, she’s innocent!” I shouted as Sky began to cry. “Just let her go. You can do whatever you want to me. Just let her go.”
He started pacing, bringing a hand up to rub his forehead, and the pistol he held glinted in the dim lantern light.
He muttered to himself, but I couldn’t make out the words.
I took a breath and attempted to think. A rumpled bedroll and a pack were on the floor in the hallway.
I spotted a mug and a metal fork on the floor against the hallway wall.
“Have you been living down here?”
He glanced at me but didn’t respond.
“If you let us go, you could come home.” I softened my voice.
He started laughing, and the manic sound gave me chills. “They’ll never let me back in the Vault.”
“I could vouch for you. You haven’t done anything past forgiveness yet, Hawk.”
He swung suddenly toward us, and I lunged in front of Sky. Hawk slammed into the bars, the pistol clanging hard against the metal and making my ears ring. “I don’t need your forgiveness, Bones,” he snarled.
“Okay,” I said, my voice shaking despite my best efforts. “Okay, you’re right. You don’t need my forgiveness.”
He stared at me, his eyes wide, and I noticed his pupils were fucking huge like he was high on something.
“You have a power, don’t you? You can… travel between places?”
“The gods gave me the means to bring you down,” he sneered.
“Not Sky, though. She’s innocent.”
“No, Bones, don’t!” Sky sobbed.
“Just let her go,” I pleaded. “You’re not a murderer, Hawk.”
“No, you’re the murderer!” he shouted, spittle spraying from his mouth.
Sky shrieked in terror, clinging to me.
“I am. You’re right. I’m a murderer.” I struggled not to cry, to think like Wolf taught me.
Hawk stepped backward, but the despair that filled his face made my stomach drop. “I’m sorry it had to end this way, Sky.”
“Hawk, please,” Sky begged, her voice panicked.
“Nemo sealed off this place.” Hawk waved the pistol in a vague gesture around us. “No one will find you, maybe for decades. This will be your tomb.”
I was struggling to breathe now. “Hawk, please. Mist still believes in you?—”
His face twisted with fury, and I knew I’d fucked up by bringing up Mist. “Don’t you dare say her name,” he hissed. “I loved her. I had our life all planned out, and then you ruined everything.”
“I’m sorry,” I whispered, tears rolling down my face. “I’m so sorry.”
“You stole everything from me.” His voice shook. “So I’m gonna bury you where no one will ever find you.”
He lifted the gun and pointed it at me, but Sky darted around me, throwing her hands out like she could catch a fucking bullet.
“No!” she screamed, and I think I was screaming too as I lurched forward, trying to snag the back of my sweater she wore.
The gunshot cracked like thunder, but at the same time, fire exploded from her hands.
I instinctively jumped backward, away from the blistering heat, and gasped as the fire completely enveloped Hawk’s body. He screamed, beating at the flames consuming him. His gun clattered to the floor, but I focused on Sky.
She stood wreathed entirely in flames as though she was a creature made of fire and ash.
The flames didn’t seem to be hurting her like they were Hawk, but as she turned toward me, I realized she was clutching her chest where blood dribbled from a gunshot wound.
I darted forward and grabbed her arm with one hand, only to release her with a cry of pain as the fire seared my skin.
“Bones!” she shrieked, her wide, terrified eyes reflecting the orange flames covering her.
“Put the fire out, Sky!” I cried, cradling my burned hand. “I can’t touch you!”
“I can’t!” she sobbed.
A part of my brain registered how strange it was that the blood simply ran down her skin, unaffected by the flames. I glanced at my hand, but the blistering burn covering my skin was very real.
Sky stumbled to one knee, gasping for air.
“Sky! You have to try! Try to put it out!” I pleaded.
“It’s not… not working!” she wheezed.
I knew I should calm down; a good healer would be calm and talk her through this, but my heart was in my throat, and she was bleeding out , and I couldn’t touch her because she was fucking on fire.
“Please, Sky! Put it out!” I hovered next to her helplessly.
“Help me!” she begged, blood dribbling from her lips.
“I can’t!”
The flames surged even higher as though fueled by the panic I could see on her face. She crumpled to the ground; I forgot and tried to catch her again, hissing in pain and jerking back as my skin burned again.
“Sky!” I screamed.
She lay on her back with her face twisted in pain, struggling to breathe. I could see her fading away. The bullet wound looked like it’d probably gone through her lung. I tried to summon my power, to heal her with a burst of light like I’d done to other people before, but nothing happened.
“Sky, please try!”
Her eyes closed, tears still sliding down her face as her breathing turned into a gurgle. I screamed in frustration as I tried and failed to summon the golden light to my hands without touching her.
“Sky, no!”
It was just seconds later that her chest stilled and didn’t move again.
The flames abruptly extinguished, and I quickly grabbed her arm, bracing myself for it to be hot, but it wasn’t.
I shoved my healing power at her, but like with Trey, it simply evaporated into the air instead of seeping into her skin. She was dead.
I pulled her limp body into my arms and held her, sobbing broken apologies. Her clothes had burned away. She would be cold in this horrible cell. I tried to wrap my arms around her more, to keep her warm, ignoring the small part of my brain reciting the symptoms of shock at me.
The light in the room began to fade, and I glanced up.
Nausea surged as I realized the lantern was lying on its side, broken, and the remaining light was coming from Hawk’s burning body.
He’d fallen against the rough rock wall, his body slumped to the side, disintegrating into char and ash.
The smell suddenly hit me, and I gagged at the scent of burning hair and flesh. My throat ached from the smoke.
The fire faded to embers, throwing the room into darkness. I stared at the flickering orange glow, silently begging it to stay, even as my mind shied away from the horrible knowledge of what it was.
It flickered again, then went out.