22. I’ll Meet You There
TWENTY-TWO
i’ll meet you there
Arcane
Keira ? I call down the channel to her, and I stop dead in my tracks for her reply. I hang on unspoken words, waiting for a single breath of her voice to slip into my thoughts. Any hint of emotion would settle reassurance through my body that’s so on edge, I could rip apart the academy brick by brick just to find her.
But there’s nothing there.
“Maybe she went in to change,” Lila offers, but something nags at the back of my mind.
“Maybe,” I whisper back to her as I scan the crowd again and again.
The headmaster stands at the steps with Professor Correll, the king, and the king’s many attendees. He’s a large man whose incredibly bored expression seems very used to lording over an audience just like this. A younger girl in a maroon gown that matches the king’s attire is the only other royal I see. With chestnut hair plaited back from her face, she stands with a steely spine at his side, her vigilant gaze seeming more regal and more fascinated than that of whom I can only assume is her father.
I can feel each and every one of our teachers watching me as my friends all gather round the entrance of the shining brick-wall maze in a rush to meet their deaths while I fumble through the crowd in the opposite direction.
Keira, please answer me. I close my eyes hard and try to feel the link between us. My heart slams in my chest harder and harder with each passing second that I wait for the warm voice that’s meant to live in my mind for all eternity.
But there’s nothing there. My blood runs cold just as a flare soars through the air.
“Let the trials begin!” Correll shouts with a big encouraging smile.
Students are charging into the maze, and a roar from beneath my feet shakes the ground like an ominous warning bell.
“Something’s wrong.” I turn to Lila, and Aelix is there at her side now. It’s the worry etched across his face that I feel mirroring my own. “I can’t feel her anymore,” I blurt, despising how weak those words come out, but just wanting someone to fucking fix it! Put her back! Give her back to me!
I know I shoved her away—too many times to count because I was afraid of hurting her when I leave this Earth, but I never could have known just how fucking much it would hurt when the bond that ties us was severed.
And now I do.
“Keira?” Aelix asks, and I can see the confusion pulling at his brow. If I wasn’t sure he wasn’t Keira’s Fated, I definitely am now. He has no fucking idea. He clearly can’t feel the burning emptiness of her at all.
I almost envy him for that.
“She’s gone. She’s—something is very wrong,” I utter, the words coming out so fast, they nearly topple over one another.
“She wandered into the maze a while ago before the trial began.” Aelix lifts his hand toward the brick wall, and my heart stops cold in my chest.
The widening of my eyes feels frantic when I look at him and his flippant words.
“And you let her? You didn’t think to tell me? You just let her go into the maze. Alone?” I hear him speak, but his words never register in my mind.
Soothing pain rips from my shoulder blades, sending a dark shadow across my body from behind as wide wings arch with a readiness I’m not even fully processing. I’m prowling toward the entrance of the glossy brick maze.
“Mr. Deces, there is no use of your shifter’s abilities in this evening’s trials!” Reign calls out, and I nod vainly to him just as my knees bend, and I kick off from the ground with more force than I intend. Rock cracks underfoot, and I’m soaring up before his endless spew of words can continue on.
With powerful strokes of my wings, I hover overhead for several passing seconds at a bird’s eye view of the twists and turns of the labyrinth below. Classmates scurry quickly to dead ends, turning this way and that like a colony of confused ants. Impatiently, I scan the ground for her black gown and blonde hair. But she isn’t there. I spot the dark heads of my siblings also rushing through, but with a seemingly more thought-out process of where they’re going than the others. The headmaster as well as Professor Correll are just behind them for some reason, but I don’t pause to consider all the people in my life that are now rushing in to help the girl I love.
A sensation like lightning striking through me hits me square in the chest. Those words circle over and over like a tragic poem whose words crack open and flow from the only part of my heart that ever felt any warmth.
I loved her.
How many shitty things did I say to her out of fear of hurting her even more than she already has been, and I never fucking said I loved her? I never told her. I never really knew until now.
And now it’s too late.
I’m coming, Keira, I tell her, and even though the channel we share feels void and hollow now, it eases the tension in my chest to talk to her.
The wind pulls at my hair as my wings tuck in. My sight zeros in on a cratering hole in the ground at the center of the maze. I dive down without a second thought. The others are still lost within the walls of the middle part when the darkness pulls me in. Rocks tumble down from above, and I free-fall down to whatever Keira found here. The fall feels endless, and something in the depths of my chest breaks at the thought of how scared she must have been. The flare of firelight opens up just below, and the casting light dances over something directly beneath me. My wings billow out from my back, and I drift until my boots touch the ground so lightly, I don’t make a single sound.
My heart stops dead in its cage. It’s so quiet, it feels like the walls might split open if I make a single sound. Dark blood pools around my feet, and my knees give out in an instant as I take in the sight of her crumpled body. The tremble of my hand pushes lightly over her temple, brushing back the pink-stained locks from her face. The silence is heavy and pressing within the cavernous room. Rubble from the broken Hell Well is beneath her, angling her spine at such a harsh angle, I can’t help but pull her against my chest. Slender arms dangle lifelessly at my thighs, and I can’t stop thinking about how bright her eyes were when she’d look at me. How her happiness shined in the depths, and I felt a warmth from her smile alone. I can hear her laughter in my mind. I can feel the press of her lips against mine. I can remember the whispered sound of my name on her tongue circling my thoughts over and over again. The pain of her memory builds to a breaking point. It haunts me.
A sudden sob cracks free from my lips, and I bury the sound of it in the crook of her neck. Her small body trembles with the grief I hold her in as I begin rocking us back and forth.
“I loved you,” I murmur on a shaking breath, and it hurts to say it out loud when I know she’ll never hear it. “I love you,” I tell her again and again, and each time, bitter rage rips through me at how fucking careless I was with our time together.
“What were you doing here, Keira?” I ask as I push my arm across the dampness of my lashes, and I look down on the most hauntingly beautiful woman I’ve ever laid eyes on. “Why didn’t you wait for me? Why did you come here?”
Rocks tumble down from above before black boots land hard at my side. I don’t look up. I can’t. Another set of feet dangle at my side before landing with more care. I can feel Lila’s tender presence without even glancing her way.
“Arcane,” she whispers, her tone dancing through the catacombs all around us.
When I don’t reply, her small palm presses to my shoulder.
“Arcane, can you see her?” she asks, snapping me out of my misery and finally ripping my attention away from the one thing I give a single shit about in this entire fucked-up world.
“What?”
Big eyes search my face as she lowers herself down at my side.
“Fated mates will always be together. Even through the parting of death, you’ll still be able to see her in the afterlife. She’ll always be there waiting for you. Can you see her?” Lila watches my every emotion as those words sink in and realization slams into me.
“She’s here somewhere, isn’t she?” I mumble as I scan the shadows like she might be waiting for me on the other side.
Just like she was when we first met.
I’ll meet you there . . . That easy sentiment between us plagues my thoughts.
“She’s somewhere in here,” Lila confirms, and I’ve never believed anyone so much in my entire life.
I pull her body up when I stand, and Lila’s big eyes widen even more as she looks from me to the body and then back again.
“I’m not leaving her here.” I don’t know why those words came out so damn protective, but they did.
“Arcane,” she starts slowly, gently, “all of this—” she waves her hand around the space like she can’t even explain it herself. “This is all set up by the academy. Whatever she came here for, whatever awaits you, it’s going to be dangerous.”
My fingers flex against Keira’s back and leg, pressing her more firmly against my chest. Her head lolls, and a pang of desperation twists through my stomach at the idea of someone harming her . . . harming her body, I mean. I cradle her in my arms, refusing to give in to Lila’s logic.
I feel my two siblings passing each other quiet stares, not knowing what to do or say, but rocks are tumbling in from up above, signaling that the others will be here soon.
“Arcane, give her to me,” Lila instructs. “Let me wait with her until you get back,” she says so softly, I barely hear the words at all.
Lila walks quickly across the room, kneeling down at a spot just behind the top of the broken Hell Well.
“I’ll wait for you here,” she says, and those words are spoken so carefully, I almost wonder if she knows something we don’t.
“Okay.” I go to her there, and it hurts when I extend my arms to my sister. My heart pulls forward as Keira’s body is taken from my arms.
I swallow hard as I stare at the two of them there, but Aelix presses his hand hard to my shoulder, demanding my attention.
“Arcane, she’s safe with Lila,” he explains with more authority than I’ve ever heard from him. I look at the maturity in his features, and all I can think about is how he’s never had to be the leader in all his life. He’s never had the chance to show anyone he’s more than capable.
Maybe because I never let him. Or maybe because I never needed him.
Until now.
I nod once more.
“Why would she come down here?” Aelix asks me, and I can tell he’s trying to pull my chaotic thoughts back to the reality of the situation at hand.
Think, Arcane! Think!
Flashes of her fearful form curled up in the bottom of the Hell Well slice through my mind, and I find myself walking at a faster, harder pace now.
“She’s connected to this place. Spiritually,” I say as vaguely as I possibly can.
But perhaps right now isn’t the time for vagueness.
“She first appeared to me as a ghost,” I confess, and Lila’s gaze widens.
“What?” Aelix asks, and he isn’t nearly as understanding of the dead as my sister is.
“She was brought here for a reason. I stupidly thought it was because of me.” I look away from them all, and my thoughts are coming too quickly. They spiral around one another, a blur of confusion in my head.
“Maybe it was because of you,” Lila says, her voice crawling around the cave like spiders scurrying away from the light. “Maybe she needs you to help her . Not the other way around.”
“Help her with what? Releasing the spirits of the catacombs? Done. We did that.” The frustration of the situation grates on my tone, and my muscles are strung so tight through my body, I just want to combust on the spot.
“Spirits aren’t the only thing that the academy keeps in the catacombs, though,” Lila says, and both of us are looking down at the girl with far too many creepy fun facts about this place. “There’s a prison of sorts further down. In the dungeon.”
“The dungeon. Great,” Aelix says on a tone that falls flat between us.
“Let’s go.” I’m storming through the long corridor before either of them can even say another word of warning to me.
Aelix rushes to catch up, and I’m honestly surprised he’s coming along at all.
We’ve never been friends.
But this girl has brought us as close together as we’ve ever been. Not since we were children have I felt as connected to my twin as I do right now.
We’re not friends. But allies. And that’s good enough.
Our footfalls echo through the chambers. As we walk down the hall of tombs, I peer back at where I left her. Lila and her are hidden behind the broken chunk of the well, but it hurts to walk away. It feels wrong and unnerving.
“Do you have a single clue where you’re heading?” Aelix asks.
“Not a one.”
“Perfect. Business as usual then,” he snarks at me.
The roar I heard earlier in the courtyard creeps into my thoughts, and I realize we haven’t heard it again. The beast has been silent. So, what set it off earlier? A certain fumbling blonde who got too close to the dungeons? And what happened once she found the imprisoned creature?
I swallow hard and follow the curve of the declining hall that leads us lower and lower. The holes in the wall where fallen Protectors have been laid to rest become scarce. The tunnels smooth out with torchlight flickering over the charred rock walls.
“We’re close,” I whisper.
“Can you feel her?” Aelix asks with a bit too much hope in his tone.
My heart sinks, and I take in a jagged breath as I shake my head no.
The hall opens up, and we stop in our tracks as a tall room reaches up into total darkness. Cages hang from the ceiling. Chains line the circular room, dragging over the dusty floor as long talons scrape the concrete to step into the dancing firelight.
Hundreds of chained dragons press in on us, their snorting growls exhaling billowing smoke through slitted nostrils.
“They could light us up at any given second,” Aelix says quietly under his breath, careful not to make any sudden movements.
He takes a single step back from the dungeon. My shoulders square, my wings shaking out from around me as if to show them I’m one of them.
But it doesn’t seem to slow their prowling steps.
Enormous catlike eyes loom over me on all sides. The beast within me purrs to get out, scratching at the surface to burst free.
And I almost let him.
Until I see her.
Her ethereal figure stands at the far end of the room. She’s like an angel standing in the midst of hell. Slender fingers reach up while she stands on tiptoes just to pet a long-necked dragon. Its eyes close beneath the weightlessness of her hands, stretching to feel more of her tingling touch that I remember all too well.
Mine, my beast growls within me, and I almost mirror that sentiment as awestruck elation curls through my chest.
“Keira,” I whisper. That single word carries through the room, and her smile falters. Her pretty hair flits around the small of her back as she looks at me for the first time.
Each and every one of the dragons move on big deadly limbs to make way for the small girl walking among them. They’re so in tune with the ghostly apparition that I feel like I’m interrupting their space.
Her beautiful face looks up at me. Shining green eyes search my face, and I want to reach through the barrier of life and just die in her arms.
“Who are you?” she asks, a line pressing to her brow as her words completely break me from the inside out.
My knees feel weak, and I think I might bow under the weight of her words until I’m begging for her to recognize me.
But honestly, I’m just happy she can see me at all.
My lips part, and I look back at Aelix. His gaze studies me, and he’s so quiet, it occurs to me that he can’t see her.
Only I can.
Because I’m meant to help her.
She is mine. But more importantly, I’m hers.
“I—I’m Arcane Deces,” I say with a tremble in my words. I extend my hand to her, and a smile tilts her lips, pulling my attention there until her beautiful fucking happiness is all I see in this room of deadly creatures.
She slaps her hand into mine, but it slides right through.
“Oh, right,” she whispers a little sadly to herself.
“Do you know who you are?” I ask carefully, not daring to spook my Fated mate and lose the only connection I have left with her.
“Um,” she says softly, “the spirit boy says I’m the Protector. Lady Death, Protector of Souls. I’m here to help the dead pass on, but more importantly, I’m supposed to help the dragons they left behind.” She lifts her small hand to the room of chains and the scarred beasts that fill the shackles.
“I just don’t know how I’m supposed to do that last part, and it seems like a rather important task to assign me on my first big day as Protector of Souls, but I’m trying my best,” she confesses, her gaze becoming lost the more she takes in the magnitude of the room.
“What if I told you I’m also a Protector,” I whisper, leaning into her small frame to feel the buzz of electricity between our bodies.
Fuck she feels so good. I can’t lose her again.
Big doe eyes lift to meet mine, and the urge to try to kiss this beautiful ghost is so strong, I have to bite my lip to stop myself.
“A Protector?”
“A Protector of Dragons,” I add, and pure unfiltered amazement shines in her eyes.
I’m the Captain of the Death Riders, and I’ve never felt so fucking worthy as I do right now in the light of her admiration.
“Do I . . . know you?” she asks with a tilt of her head, and part of me wonders how many lifetimes she and I have stood just like this, having this exact same conversation. I’ll stand in this very spot for all of my lifetimes to come only for the happenstance of meeting this woman.
I’ll meet you there, I send down the channel of our bond, and I see her shiver ever so slightly.
“You do, actually,” I tell her, and I’m so close to her now, my chest is occupying hers. She doesn’t step away.
“You feel—familiar,” she tells me. “In the most heartbreaking way,” she adds on a tragic whisper.
I extend my hand to her once more, and this time, she lifts hers ever so slowly and carefully hovers it over mine. Big emerald eyes shine as I hold her gaze, bow my head, and press a chaste kiss to the smooth skin of her knuckles.
A current of too many emotions floods through my body. A tingling sensation tears through my veins. A coldness fills my palm. I don’t release her hand as her form brightens. Her hand slowly weights my palm. Her chest melds to mine just as my other hand presses to the small of her back, holding her against me and refusing to let her go.
“Arcane,” she whispers on a sharp sob, and a sudden knowing look passes over her features.
Her arms wrap around my neck, holding me against her so hard, it hurts. A dampness seeps through my shirt as she hides her face against my shoulder.
“You weren’t sent to me, my beautiful Haunting.” She looks up at me with shining eyes at the sound of my words. “I was sent to you. To help them,” I tell her, and then we’re all looking up at the dragons caged above us and the beasts chained around us.
“We can save them,” she utters, taking my hand and leading me through the room without fear of the deadly monsters all around us.
Aelix follows behind at a more careful pace.
“Excuse me. Just going to slip on by you,” he says to the largest dragon, sidestepping around its enormous black talons just to stagger forth where we stand in the middle of the dungeon.
With my hand in hers, she brings me over to the green, petite dragon with the long neck, and she scratches its thick scales just under its chin. Its glimmering, mossy gaze closes, and he leans into her touch.
“Get its chains, Arcane,” she says on a rush of words once the creature is calm in the literal palm of her hand.
The thick black collar at its neck is linked with heavy chains that fasten to the brick wall several feet away behind it.
With care, I pick up the links. Power surges through my body, and with a twist of my wrists, the metal cracks between my hands. I toss the other end to the floor, and the beast looks back at me with watchful eyes.
“Go to the next one,” she instructs, and we’re already stepping past the small green dragon to take care of the dragon lying lazily at its side.
The pounding of my heart lifts with each chain that’s broken, each smile that blooms across her features, and each creature we set free.
Until war cries crawl through the room. Clanking metal scatters through the space, setting dozens of dragons on defense. The smoke of the beasts billows through the dungeon just as the first student enters with his sword raised high.
“No!” Keira shouts at them as more and more students charge in.
But their bravery is too loud. Their instructions for destruction are too fresh in their minds. Slay the beasts. Protect the beasts. Kill them all. In these confusing, screwed-up tasks the school has set forth for us, obedience is the true winning trait they look for.
Because in the trials of Death Rider Academy, there are no victors.