Chapter 38
CHAPTER
The world stilled around us.
Eve’s eyes widened, but she swung her rifle and bashed the mage in the head. He fell to the ground unconscious. Eve’s attention turned back to us and she froze in place.
“What happened?” Nate whispered, his head turning up to see who had saved him and Ashley. “MEY!”
He threw himself up, grabbing her shoulders and held her upright.
She coughed, blood spurting to the ground. I sprinted over, while Ashley crawled up on her feet.
“Mey?” I asked, panicked, seeing blood trickling down her mouth.
She smiled.
“Wait,” I spun my head around. “Malakai, can’t you help her?” My voice was raw with panic.
His eyes glowed dim, as they watched her, blankly. “No… I can only keep the blood inside, not stitch her lungs back together.”
“Her…” I echoed, slowly losing control over myself, panic taking over.
“Mey hold on, we… we’ll fix this, somehow… Just hold on,” Nate stuttered, brushing her hair away from her face, patting her cheek carefully.
“Nate,” she croaked, her eyes sliding to him. “I’m not feeling well… am I sick again?” she asked confused, her breaths uneven, tainted with blood.
“You aren’t sick, so shut it, help will come… hold on,” Nate snapped, looking around, as mages fought against the Ashen Corps soldiers.
“Just this once…” Mey whispered, a faint smile appearing on her lips as her hand reached, trembling, up to his face, stroking his cheek as a tear slid down. “You’ve always protected me… this time… I was able to protect you.”
His eyes snapped back to her, fear coating them.
“Can you fix her with your fire?” Ashley sobbed, looking at me.
“I… I can only make the bleeding stop, I can’t… fix her insides,” I sniveled, feeling weak, powerless.
Mey’s eyes searched ours, her smile growing. “I’ll be fine.” Her eyes flickered.
“Mey?” Nate pleaded, grabbing her hand and holding it to his lips, praying. “Please don’t… don’t leave me.”
“Don’t worry… this happens a lot,” she said with ragged breaths, another cough and blood pooled out of her wounds. “I just need some rest.”
“Nate… she’s losing too much blood,” Ashley placed her hands over the wounds in her chest, pressing until they were soaked in red.
Nate trembled, as he nodded against Mey’s hand. “Mey… You’re not sick.”
“I’m gonna… take a quick nap. You’ll… keep watch, right?”
Another faint smile twitched on her face, as her eyelids won the battle and slowly, she stilled.
“Always,” Nate whispered, placing Mey in his arms, rocking his body back and forth as if soothing her, his whole body trembling, his teeth burrowed into his lower lip.
“Mey…” he sobbed, over and over, as if he was chanting her name.
My arms hung slack along my sides, tears flooding my eyes as I watched them. I had no words for him, no comfort to offer, as our hearts broke.
Ashley slid her hands around Nate’s shoulders from behind, holding him tight, her lips trembling.
“Is… she…?” Eve stammered, losing her grip of her rifle. “I didn’t…“
Our eyes snapped towards her. Nate’s teeth clenched, he put Mey down before flying up to his feet, hands balled into fists as he locked eyes with his target.
I threw myself in front of him, pressing him back. “Don’t Nate, you’re better than this!” I shouted at him, as he tried shoving me away.
Ashley placed a hand on his shoulder and he stilled.
“He is,” she said, her voice ice cold, her eyes slid up towards Eve. “But I’m not.”
Then she raised her gun and shot Eve.
I held my breath, watching in horror. The bullet pierced her through her shoulder, blood spilling.
Eve hissed, furrowing her brows as she locked eyes with Ashley, debating whether to run or pick up her own rifle.
“Ashley,” I whispered.
“I missed,” Ashley said, her voice flat as she lowered her gun, hate still burning in her eyes.
“What?” Eve hissed. “You call this a miss?”
“I aimed for your heart… I guess you don’t have one. Then again, that’s no surprise to anyone.”
The words struck harder than the shot had, Eve paled and her gaze narrowed on Ashley.
Nate let out a long breath, sinking to his knees as he picked up Mey’s body again.
“Did you steal my bomb?” Ashley asked, her hand twitching around the weapon.
“What? No,” Eve snapped, before she stiffened, her eyes wandering.
I took a look around, and realised the mages had pushed most of the Ashen Corps back, their eyes turning towards us, to Eve.
“What do we have here?” Michlael hummed, a playful threat lingering in his voice. “A traitor?”
“Wait,” I blurted, making Michlael hesitate for a brief moment.
It wasn’t that he listened to me, as much as he wanted to respect our agreement, to not hurt my friends in order to receive my help.
But this? Eve was walking a dangerous line, and I wasn’t sure how I felt about that, let alone how Michlael must feel.
Slowly, Eve took a step backwards, her hand pressing against her wound.
“Eve!” a voice called out, as another figure leaped out and grabbed hold of her.
My flames began licking at my skin, begging to be let loose. The confirmation I had dreaded, the knowledge I already possessed, but had denied. He had left of his own free will, he had not believed in me.
What was worse?
That he looked completely fine, as if he had no regrets about it at all.
Lionel’s eyes collided with mine and his eyes widened. “Etha—”
“Did you plant the bomb?” I interrupted.
He opened his mouth, then slowly closed it, taking in how many mages surrounded them at the moment. The Ashen Corps had begun retreating, awfully fast, considering they were the ones who initiated the fight in the first place.
“Yes,” Lionel answered finally, even though he knew that Eve and he didn’t stand a chance against the Aetherion’s fury.
Ashley took a step forward, but my flames cut off her path, crackling around me.
“Ethalyn let me explain—” Lionel began, holding a hand out as if to try to calm me, as if I was a beast that could be soothed into submission.
“You were supposed to be on my side,” I bit out. “You were supposed to trust me, you were my friend… and you betrayed me? Because I lied about being normal? Because I was ashamed of my powers?”
My flames erupted, forcing Ashley and Nate to back away from me.
“Ethalyn,” he breathed out, as if it was hard to pronounce my name. “I can explain—”
“No, look what you caused Lionel,” I barked. “Because of that explosion, we’re heading into battle. Eve killed Mey. How is this any better than before?”
My flames climbed higher, forming tendrils of fire, lashing at the ground in front of them.
“You did what?” Lionel asked, voice pitching, looking over at Eve who avoided his eyes, staring down into the ground.
“I wasn’t aiming at them,” she murmured.
“That wasn’t why we planted the bomb,” Lionel continued, looking back at me. “We’re not against you, we stumbled upon the Ashen Corps, as they engaged you.”
“Then why!?” I cut out, sharp.
“Because we wanted to warn you guys.”
I looked at him, furrowing my brows. Warn us?
“There is an infiltrator among you,” Lionel continued, glancing over the mages. “A demon, hiding among everyone.”
I swallowed, stiffening in place as I slowly glanced towards the side. Malakai looked awfully casual, his hands slipping into his pockets, not a hint of fear of being exposed.
“The mages didn’t seem to be aware of the demon lurking within their ranks.”
The mages? Right, I remembered Malakai saying the same to Michlael before, about another demon hiding in their village… So Lionel hadn’t figured out Malakai’s secret? But Eve had aimed for him, practically shouted it out, without uttering the word.
“Who?”
Lionel pressed his lips together, his eyes searching the grounds. “It’s not here.”
A wave of relief went through my body.
“Why blow up the place, why put everyone at risk instead of telling us about it?” Michlael shot back, not satisfied with the answer.
“We didn’t aim to hurt anyone, and… Ethalyn can control the flames…” Lionel bit his lower lip. “We figured that if we caused a big enough commotion, all citizens would be forced to be on guard and hopefully either send mages out together with the traitor, or catch him in his scheming.”
Michlael was right, why hadn’t Lionel told us? Why bomb the place and risk all those lives, all the mages that could help us?
“That demon was living casually amongst you, no one would’ve believed us if we tried to tell you.”
I turned still, quiet. The demon had mixed in with them for a while then? I glanced over at Michlael, but he shook his head in response, his eyes sharpening as if insulted by the mere glance.
“Who?” I asked again, looking back at Lionel.
“It’s—”
Another explosion went off, and the earth shook.
“That wasn’t ours,” Lionel bit out, his entire body tensed.
“Then you haven’t convinced them of your purpose here?” Malakai blurted, stalking closer. But Lionel merely glared at him.
“We haven’t teamed up with the Ashen Corps, we simply blended in, trying to persuade them into talking,” Lionel answered. “But we hold no rank.”
“Why help us?” Michlael asked, voice raised. “You’re ungifted.”
“Because,” Lionel began, eyes landing on me. “I trust her.”
Something swirled inside of me, sharp and relentless, catching my breath. It felt as if something was stuck inside of me, I couldn’t breathe and I was frozen in place.
He had planted the bomb to get everyone out of the village, to create a distraction, distract the infiltrator… but most importantly, he hadn’t betrayed me.
That had been my assumption, and guilt washed over me. I had been quick to bare my teeth against him, not even giving him the benefit of the doubt.
“Do you trust him?” Michlael glanced over at me. “Since you saved my life, I’ll repay you by letting you decide his fate.”
“I…” I stammered, looking back at Lionel. “I believe him.”
“Let’s go then, we have to finish what we started,”
Michlael said through his teeth, not happy about leaving Lionel and Eve alive, but he urged his mages to continue walking towards the fields.
“I’m not forgiving her,” Ashley said coldly, turning away from them and stepping over to Nate, helping him scoop up Mey.
Eve swallowed. “I swear, I didn’t mean to…”
“Funny thing about weapons,” Malakai said dryly, “they don’t shoot by themselves.”
Her eyes flared at him. “I was aiming for you.”
“What?” Lionel asked. “Are you stupid? We’re on the same team here.”
“No,” Eve shook her head slowly. “He’s a demon; I saw it in the woods when we caught that temptation demon.” Her eyes turned towards me. “And she knows it too.”
Lionel’s head turned, his eyes searching Malakai for the briefest moment, before he began walking fast, with intent. He grabbed my arm, yanking me towards him. But another hand shot out and grabbed my other wrist.
“Let her go, you abomination,” Lionel snapped at him.
I felt how Malakai’s hand tightened slightly, his eyes growing colder as they began glowing.
“Wait,” Ashley stammered, almost chuckling. “You didn’t lie in the woods?”
Malakai’s mouth twitched slightly. “Well, I said part demon.”
“Ethalyn, step away, now,” Lionel demanded.
“He’s not like that,” I snapped, cutting through the tension building in the air. “I’m sorry I doubted you Lionel, but you just disappeared without a word. If I had known, I would’ve told you, I would’ve trusted you too. But Malakai’s on our side.”
“Yeah, for how long?” Lionel shot back. “How are you certain he hasn’t fed you lies to make everything go his way?”
“Because,” I screamed, my voice breaking. “What we are doesn’t define us!”
Lionel chuckled, low at first, before he burst into a maddening cackle. “Really? Tell me Ethalyn, are we to spare the demons now as well, hmm? I’ve known you to be special and all, but this?”
His hand shoved my arm aside, as if he had finally had enough.
“Lionel,” I said, clenching my teeth, as my hand shot out, grabbing his sleeve.
“Just this once… I’m asking you to trust me without arguing, like we used to before.
I’m asking you to be my friend, the one I wanted to have at my side, always.
Please, stick by my side and trust my choices one more time, like old times. ”
Lionel looked at me, long and silently, before shaking his head, and then he turned to walk towards the field along with Eve.
Was this our destiny? To always be a step ahead or behind each other? When he left me back in the forest after seeing my flames, I thought I had destroyed everything between us, he even told me as much. Yet here, I had accused him of changing sides because he disappeared.
I was no better.
I should’ve trusted him, the way I yearned for him to trust me.
But now, it was too late.
Too late to understand each other, and my heart ached once more.
I felt as if the earth cracked, creating a chasm between me and my squadmates, all of my lies and secrets finally out in the open.