79. Loveleena
LOVELEENA
Park was alive.
And he was right in front of her.
In tears, she had run from the Academy, leaving it engulfed in flames and destruction from the Firebringers. Without thinking, she’d headed to the closest sanctuary she knew: the abandoned house.
Not long after she had descended into the forest, Loveleena heard the screaming. Stumbling into a small clearing, she found Barrow holding Ahmina down while she clawed at his face. Beside him, a young man forced a vile of liquid down her throat.
All it took was for him to shift slightly, and even in the dark she recognized him easily. Park. Air rushed from her lungs at the sight of him. She lurched forward, but something yanked her back.
Zeina shoved them both behind a tree just as Lennox reached Barrow, driving his dagger into the soft flesh between two ribs. He retaliated by slicing Lennox’s upper thigh, and even in the dark Loveleena could see the gash was grievous.
“Park!” Loveleena screamed, her voice cracking.
Park turned at the sound of her voice, and when their eyes locked, he looked right through her as if she were part of the landscape—as if she were nothing at all.
“Look at his eyes,” Zeina whispered, still holding her against the tree. Loveleena was surprised by her strength. “He’s catatonic.” Park’s hair had been longer when she’d seen him last. Now it was buzzed short, and his soft brown eyes were glazed over and bloodshot.
“What’s—” she stuttered. “What’s happened to him?”
“He’s under the influence.” Zeina paused, studying him. “A potion, maybe. Or magic.”
Loveleena squirmed under Zeina’s grip. “We need to do something!”
“We need a plan or we will all be dead.”
Dead.
Just like Kumani.
Loveleena swallowed the lump that had formed in her throat, tension building behind her eyes again.
Kumani had lectured her often about her impulsiveness.
Even Ren could recognize it in her. But she hadn’t listened, didn’t want to.
Instead, she let rage and revenge and instant gratification consume her.
And now Kumani was gone because of it.
“He’s going to kill her,” Zeina muttered, her voiced strained.
Loveleena peeled her eyes away from Park for a moment to look at Ahmina, who lay unconscious on the ground, her face grey. They needed to act now.
Lennox was holding his own against Barrow, but his wounds were making him weak, his attacks becoming less precise. She scanned the clearing for something, anything, that could help them.
She wanted to run, to pull Park off Ahmina, to shake him from whatever spell he was under, to stick her sword straight into Barrow’s gut and watch the warm crimson blood seep out of him. She wanted to free Park, to save Ahmina, and to feel Barrow suffer.
But Kumani was dead because of her.
Because of her foolish actions.
And she couldn’t bear to be the reason someone else died.
Park stood over Ahmina as her life seeped out of her. If she waited any longer, Ahmina would be dead. She might already be. And who knew what would happen to Park.
Fuck it.
“Don’t try and stop me,” she said to Zeina, and sprinted into the clearing. If they were dead anyway, doing something was better than standing around, hiding behind a tree.
“Park, it’s me,” she cried, her hands gripping his shirt collar as she ripped him off of Ahmina. “It’s me. Wake up.”
Park turned to face her, but his eyes were vacant, lifeless. A chill ran down her spine as he reached up and placed his hands on her neck, strangling her.
“Stop.” Her voice was garbled, the words barely escaping her as she struggled against him to breathe. “It’s me.” Tears welled in her eyes as stars filled her vision. There, right in front of her was the face she had longed to see for almost two years.
Except this man wasn’t Park.
This man was about to kill her.
She tried to fight, but Park was too strong, unphased by the knee she jerked into his gut. Her vision was a sliver now, fading…
Behind him, Zeina swung a rock, hitting him in the side of the head, and he fell to the ground unconscious. Loveleena gasped for air, her full vision returning. “Thanks,” she rasped.
A bush of wild gray hair flew past them, stealing their attention. Loveleena would recognize that grey hair anywhere. Lady Shadows.
But Lady Shadows was already transforming.
Her dark cloak slunk to the ground, revealing a shadowy creature with haunted eyes and long slinky fingers.
Goosebumps scattered across her body, but despite how haunting Lady Shadows looked, Loveleena smiled.
She had never been happier to see that creepy-ass woman.
“Did she just shapeshift into a ghoul?” Zeina whispered, mostly to herself. “Cool!”
“What in the creature magic is happening,” she whispered back. Her grip on the dagger loosened from sweat and she squeezed her hand to try and keep a hold of it.
“I didn’t know they were real. Just heard stories,” Zeina said, eyes wide.
Loveleena turned her focus back to the Ghoul version of Lady Shadows who faced Barrow, her eyes white glowing globes. Loveleena glanced down to check on Park’s bleeding skull, but he was gone.
“Where did Park go?” she whispered to Zeina.
She needed to help him, to snap him out of whatever spell he was under.
Zeina didn’t respond, her eyes locked on Lady Shadows as whispering apparitions emerged from the trees, twisting and slinking over roots on the ground.
The beings felt dark, unnatural. Her legs trembled.
Spirits of the dead.
The apparitions surrounded Barrow, and he fell backwards, screaming, his eyes possessed by a faraway vision.
“What are they doing to him?” she asked Zeina, without turning away. Once again, Zeina didn’t answer. She stood silent, transfixed.
Barrow covered his ears and screamed, gripping the hair on the side of his head in agony. “THIS. ISN’T. OVER,” he screamed to the apparitions, tripping over his legs as he disappeared into the forest.
The spirits of the dead crept back into the ground, sinking below the forest floor. Lady Shadows was gone with them in the blink of an eye.
Loveleena sprinted forward and crouched down beside Ahmina, lifting her shoulders and cradling her in her arms. Her head spun, searching the trees to find Park.
But in the full cover of dark, he could have gone anywhere.
Zeina was only a second behind her, and she held her hand over the wound on Ahmina’s neck to stop the blood.
Her heart pounded frantically in her chest. There was no way Loveleena was going to let her sister die.
Her sister. It still felt weird to think of Ahmina and Zeina as her sisters.
But still, the connection between them was palpable.
“Ahmina!” Lennox’s face fell as he dropped to his knees beside her, taking her from Loveleena. “No no no,” he cried, as he tapped the side of her cheek to try and wake her up.
Loveleena heard a crunch, her dagger out in an instant as a man appeared in the clearing. She could just barely make out his profile. Her heart sank when she realized it wasn’t Park.
“A little hostile of a welcome, don't you think?” Ren said, looking at the dagger and then to her, his emotions masked. His face was marked with soot and sweat.
“Let him through,” Lennox ordered, breathlessly.
“Shut up, Lennox,” Loveleena said, eyes fixed on Ren. “You.” She pointed the dagger to his chest, pushing the tip in just a pinch. He didn’t flinch.
“It’s your fault,” she seethed, her eyes burning. “You were protecting that thing.”
“I would have protected her if you hadn’t gotten in my way,” Ren spat.
“Why!?” The smoke from the fires had filled her lungs, and her larynx was sore from where Park choked her, making her voice raspy. “Explain or I’ll cut your tongue out.” She pushed the tip of her dagger into Ren’s sternum a little more.
“That would be a terrible shame.” Ren lowered his voice. “Then I wouldn’t be able to make you moan like I did the other night.”
“You’d be easy to replace,” she said, her voice venom.
“You know, if you stopped reacting to everything like a spoiled brat, you might actually learn something.” Ren seethed.
“Can you guys argue later?” Lennox yelled, frantically inspecting Ahmina’s body. “A little help here, Ren.” She had never seen Lennox look afraid until now.
Ren grabbed Loveleena’s hand and forced her dagger down. Frustrated, she shoved him back and circled around to be closer to Ahmina.
Kumani was gone.
Park was here. But it wasn’t really him.
Ahmina lay on the ground.
She could barely process it all.
“You’re okay,” Lennox whispered, clutching Ahmina to his chest.
Zeina had created a lamp, a makeshift light using Glowbugs, to see Ahmina’s wounds more easily.
After a quick examination, Ren barked out orders, directing Zeina to acquire certain materials from the forest. But Zeina was already a step ahead, returning with a collection of plants before any of them even realized she had disappeared.
Together, she and Ren created two mixtures, one for her wounds, and one to tuck into the fleshy part of her cheek.
Lennox smoothed Ahmina’s hair back away from her face as she came to. Her eyes opened briefly again before they rolled back into her head.
“I will kill him,” Lennox growled. “I told you.” Lennox turned to Ren, frustrated. “We should have taken care of him while he was in the infirmary. This shouldn’t have happened.”
“You know we couldn’t,” Ren shot back.
“Faster!” Lennox urged Zeina, who was moving with such quick precision it startled Loveleena. She didn’t think it was possible for her to move any quicker. When had Zeina become such a skilled healer?
“I will try and track him, but it will be difficult now. And risky,” Ren said.
“I thought the Firebringers were holding off. I thought we had more time.” Lennox’s voice was low, and she strained to hear it.
“Me too.”
Loveleena glared at Ren, waiting for him to feel her wrath, but he ignored her.
On her knees, Zeina spat out whatever plants she had chewed into a third paste and cupped it against Ahmina’s neck. Lennox and Zeina locked eyes in unspoken conversation.
“Loveleena and I will go ahead, prepare the house for her. When she wakes up, bring her. We will be safe there for now.”
It took everything Loveleena had not to stab Ren in the back as they descended further into the forest.