Wayfinders, p.20
Wayfinders, page 20
“You’re not going anywhere,” says one Basilisk, a man with broad shoulders and a leather vest covered in patches.
Another motorcycle speeds off the same path and joins the Basilisks.
“Get out of the way!” Baxley says. He rolls back his shoulders to make himself bigger, as if that’s necessary.
Four vehicles, their engines grumbling and growling, drive onto the parking lot, and everyone in Chloe’s group swings around to look. Two motorcycles race down the ramp to the field, and two trucks, each with three people in the back, park along the edge of the retaining wall. The people in the back of the trucks jump out except for one man, who starts tossing tools down to his companions: a sledgehammer, a metal rake, a few shovels with different blades. A pitchfork lands in someone’s hands, and someone else catches a weighty pry bar.
A rush of adrenaline warms Chloe. Her father steps back, his eyes as round as quarters, and even Baxley looks worried. The fairies dart nervously from spot to spot like hummingbirds near a feeder. It can’t end like this—not with the portal to Brynmoor so close.
“Yeh got any ideas?” Dar asks, glancing at Baxley.
The six motorcycles partly circle Chloe’s group, then the people on foot fill in the gaps. Jade isn’t with them, which means she’s probably on her way, and that likely means more Basilisks are coming.
“We’re taking the unicorn,” says a bearded man with a rope in his hand. He wears a black leather vest with the patch of a coiled snake on the front.
Chloe grips Fable’s mane a little tighter to let the Basilisks know what she thinks of that.
“The rest of you can go,” the man adds. He nods toward the waterfall, which suddenly seems a million miles away. “We only want the unicorn.”
“You can’t do this!” Chloe says, still clinging to Fable. “If you give that witch more power—”
“Then we’ll have nothin’ to worry about,” the man says, completing the sentence for Chloe. “Not for the rest of our lives.” He takes a small step toward Chloe’s group, gripping the rope with both hands. “Last time I’ll ask.”
Chloe glances across her companions to get their reaction. Her father and Baxley shake their heads, and Adrina moves closer to Fable.
“It’ll be a fight then,” Dar says, holding out his fists.
“Not a long one,” another man says, and when he holds out his weapon to show what he means, Dar’s eyes light up. It’s a pickaxe.
A few Basilisks get off their motorcycles, and the others rev their engines. Chloe’s group does their best to circle her and Fable. Dar continues to eye the pickaxe, clearly contemplating a way to get it.
“The police are coming!” Chloe’s father blurts out, sounding more desperate than convincing.
The Basilisks slink a little closer, the soles of their black boots sliding like snakes through the grass. A woman chomping on a wad of chewing gum winks at Chloe.
The fairies cluster together, communicate something with their whisper-quiet voices, and then dart toward the waterfall. Their tiny bodies blend with the backdrop of the woods, and they disappear from Chloe’s view.
“now!” someone yells, and the Basilisks who aren’t on motorcycles descend on Chloe’s group.
A woman swings a metal rake at Dar, who barely manages to duck the blow. The dwarf springs out of his squat at an angle, driving his shoulder into the woman’s stomach like a football player making a tackle. As the two crash to the ground, the rake gets caught between their legs, bends, and the metal head snaps off the wood handle.
A man uses both hands to swing a shovel at Baxley, and the pointed blade barely misses. The giant grabs the man’s arm and slings him as easily as a rag doll into two other Basilisks, bowling them over. Adrina slips out of someone’s grip, and Chloe’s father wrestles with another man, looking like a superhero version of himself as their bodies twist and turn in strange ways.
Baxley barrels through the crowd, plowing people over. The man with the pickaxe swings his weapon at the giant, and when the point of the curved blade narrowly misses his head, the gravity of their situation falls on Chloe. She and her companions aren’t just fighting for Fable or fighting to escape—they’re fighting for their lives.
The groups continue to clash, kicking and pushing and punching. Adrina ducks a swinging pry bar, which connects with a man’s head, knocking him out, and Chloe’s father steps one leg back, accidentally tripping a woman behind him. Baxley strikes two Basilisks with a single punch, and Dar takes a glancing blow from a shovel across his back. Chloe, still sitting atop Fable, snatches the pitchfork out of an unsuspecting woman’s hands and heaves it like a javelin at the back wheel of a motorcycle, puncturing the tire.
Baxley throws someone through the air, and Dar dives at the ground to take out his attacker’s legs. Chloe’s father falls down and springs back up, barely avoiding being trampled. Adrina, somehow armed with a pipe, swings her weapon, just missing a woman with blue streaks in her hair. Chloe has never seen such madness, not even in a movie.
A thread of blue electrical current shoots through the group, shredding the earth and narrowly missing Baxley. Everyone stops what they’re doing and turns to look. Jade stands between two of the motorcycles, tendrils of smoke rising from the end of her wand and her gaze fixed on Fable.
Chapter Thirty-Four
Jade resembles a witch more than ever. A webwork of inky veins runs beneath her skin, which now has a green tint, and the areas beneath her eyes are splotches of dark color. The wind coming across the open field tousles her hair and gently flaps one side of her open leather jacket. She holds the wand like a weapon, its tip crackling with electricity.
“Leave him,” she says in a deep voice, her dark eyes set on Chloe.
Fable snorts and steps backward, swinging his head to one side. He undoubtedly remembers Jade and what she did to him. Maybe he even understands that she’s here to draw the last of his magical power.
Baxley turns to Chloe and softly says, “Get Fable out of here—now.”
Chloe glances around the group, feeling nervous about her next move. Her father is almost as pale as paper, and Adrina looks just as afraid. Dar seems anxious to fight, his hands clenched into fists.
Jade raises her wand a bit. “I’m not—”
“go!” Baxley hollers at Chloe, then he suddenly swipes the pickaxe from the nearby Basilisk and tosses it to Dar, who catches it with one hand. For the briefest moment, the dwarf fixes his gaze on the axe, his eyes wide with satisfaction and intent. Then he lifts it behind his head and charges the witch, roaring like a crazed man.
Jade aims the wand at him, shooting a crackling bolt of lightning that misses her target and connects instead with two Basilisks, who drop to the ground, their bodies spasming.
Chloe doesn’t waste another second. She squeezes Fable’s sides with her legs and shouts “move!” as loud as she can. The unicorn turns toward the waterfall and breaks into a canter, Basilisks diving out of his way.
Jade sends a blast of electricity at Chloe. The crackling blue cord misses its target and strikes the ground, kicking up grass and dirt. Fable’s muscles tense as he lunges away from the attack, clearly as frightened as Chloe.
“go! go! go!” Chloe says, leaning forward to match the angle of Fable’s neck.
She glances over her shoulder as the unicorn gains speed. Everyone is brawling again, people pushing and punching. Baxley plows through the crowd, her father ducks the blow of a pipe wrench, and Adrina squirts away from a man trying to grab her. Someone on a motorcycle tries to run Dar down, but the dwarf dives out of the way at the last second, hooking the front wheel with his pickaxe and crashing the bike. Jade raises a hand, her fingers splayed, and utters something. When Chloe looks forward again, a second Jade is standing about twenty yards in front of her. Chloe remembers what Baxley said about witches being able to be in two places at once, each with a separate consciousness. He called the power bilocation. Chloe glances back to confirm the real Jade is still behind her, then looks forward again.
“go!” Chloe says, guiding Fable to one side of the witch. But before the unicorn can take more than a couple strides, the bilocated Jade raises her wand and a jagged cord of white-blue electricity shoots from the tip, striking Fable’s chest. The charge enters Chloe, and as her body spasms, she falls off Fable. She hits the ground hard and rolls, what’s left of the electrical charge leaving her body. Fable’s front legs give out, and the unicorn drops to the earth between Chloe and Jade.
Chloe gets her arms beneath her, wincing at the pain. She blinks and shakes her head, battling a sense of vertigo. Her limbs feel shaky, and her heart stammers as it tries to find its rhythm again. The noises coming from the brawl behind her echo in her head.
Fable, who took a direct hit from the wand, tries to stand, but his front legs give out, and he crashes to the earth again. The bilocated Jade takes a few steps toward him, slowly raising her wand. Her intentions are clear, and if Chloe doesn’t do something, Fable is going to have the rest of his power drained from him—and then he’s going to die.
Chloe rises to her feet, struggling to keep her balance, and charges the witch, who’s too focused on Fable to see her coming. Chloe lowers her shoulder just as Baxley had done when breaking through the walls and plows into Jade’s side, driving them both to the earth. The witch manages to hold onto the wand.
Chloe tries to get her arms beneath her again, but Jade shoves her onto her back and pins her to the ground, a knee on either side of her torso. As Chloe struggles to get free, the witch, using her free hand, pushes down on Chloe’s chest with the same invisible force that Jade used in the building with Fable. Chloe hollers in pain, feeling like her ribcage might collapse. Any force that can stop a giant in his tracks can surely crush a young girl.
Adrenaline courses through Chloe, creating strength. She bats Jade’s arm aside and draws back a deep breath when the pressure is released. As soon as she exhales, Jade plants her palm on her chest, and the excruciating pain returns. As her pounding heart loses its rhythm, Chloe imagines it compressing like a water balloon being squeezed. How long before it bursts?
She thrashes from side to side, desperately trying to get out from under her attacker. But Jade is too strong, and all the adrenaline in the world won’t help Chloe beat her magic.
Jade drives her hand down harder, and Chloe writhes and kicks as her body absorbs the pressure. She cries out in pain as a few of her ribs crack, pushing against her fleshy innards. As her heart and lungs continue to compress, she tries not to think about the unnatural ways they might be bulging.
Jade’s transformation into a witch seems almost complete. She’s somehow grimacing and smiling at the same time, her lips peeled away from her crooked teeth. She’s thrilled to be killing Chloe.
Another rib cracks, but Chloe doesn’t have the breath to cry out in pain. Her arms fall limp at her sides, and the world goes blurry and dim. Just when Chloe is certain she’ll die, something flies directly over her head, just inches from her face, and connects with a thud to Jade’s chest. The pressure against Chloe immediately stops, and she draws in a deep breath, which brings the world back into focus again. The witch, still straddled across her torso, is sitting up so straight that her spine is arching backward, her arms hanging at her sides. Something is sticking out of her chest—the curved, steel head of a tool that includes a three-foot wooden handle. A pickaxe.
The bilocated Jade falls to one side, slipping off Chloe. She bangs against the earth and lies with her eyes and mouth open, clearly dead. And after a few seconds, her body disappears.
Chloe hears someone approaching and then Dar drops down to a knee beside her. He must have been the one who threw the axe. “Be still!” he says, gently touching her shoulder.
Chloe tries, but the pain is too intense. She writhes around, gasping. It feels like her chest is crushed.
Someone else appears in Chloe’s teary-eyed vision, and a man who she fears is a Basilisk turns out to be her father. He kneels beside her, his face equal parts terror and disbelief. He scans her body, as if trying to locate her injuries, and then touches his fingers to the side of her head.
Chloe wheezes as she takes a shallow breath and reaches for her father’s hand. It gives her comfort to feel his fingers touch hers.
“It’s okay!” he says, leaning closer to her. “You’re—you’re all right!”
It’s a lie, and even he doesn’t believe it. Chloe knows by the way he rushed the words out.
She takes another shallow breath, grimacing at the pain that ignites in her chest. Then she latches her gaze to her father’s and thinks of all the things she doesn’t have the strength to say. I love you, for one. And goodbye.
Dar leans closer, sunlight gleaming off his mining helmet, and gently touches her shoulder.
“Chloe—hold on!” her father says.
But Chloe closes her eyes and does the opposite.
Chapter Thirty-Five
Darkness closes in, and the noises around her fade. Her father squeezes her hand and says something, but his voice is a murmur on the edge of the universe. Her heart slows, continuing to lose its rhythm, and the pain is immense.
Her father releases her hand, which drops to the ground, blades of grass shooting upward from between her fingers. Why would he do such a thing? Why would he abandon her when she needs him most?
Something hard and firm touches her chest, and she opens her eyes, expecting to find a Basilisk aiming the business end of a shovel or a pry bar at her. Instead, Fable looms above her, a shadowy figure against the bright backdrop of the sky. His long neck is lowered, and he’s touching Chloe with the tip of his horn.
A sudden warmth pours through her chest, seeping deep into her bones. Chloe worries that she’s dying, but when she sees a soft yellow light coming from the tip of Fable’s horn, she realizes something else is happening.
The warmth spreads into her back and across her arms and legs. Her pain quiets and her broken bones mend, snapping painlessly back into place like pieces of a jigsaw puzzle. Her heart finds its natural rhythm, and the world beyond her teary eyes gains focus. The awareness of what’s happening strikes Chloe so hard that she finds enough breath to gasp.
Fable is healing her.
“Chloe?” her father says. She shifts her eyes to find him kneeling a few feet away, having made room for Fable. As he stares at the unicorn’s glowing horn, one corner of his mouth curls upward in a hopeful but cautious grin. Like Chloe, he realizes what’s happening.
Chloe’s body warms to the tips of her toes and fingers. What might be her only remaining broken bone snaps into place, and her heartbeat returns to normal. She draws air deep into her lungs, her chest swelling like a balloon, and then lets it out.
Fable raises his head, and the tip of his horn stops glowing. He stares at Chloe, who takes a quick inventory of the way she feels and dares to sit up. She touches her chest and is surprised to not feel any pain.
Her father leans forward, filling the space between her and Fable. “Are you—are you okay?”
She takes another deep breath to test how her body feels and answers him by jumping to her feet. She stares into the crowd and sees that the real Jade is still alive and well, squaring off with Baxley. Killing the bilocated witch did nothing to the real Jade. The two were entirely separate entities.
Chloe steps close to Fable and throws her leg over his back, again surprised not to feel any pain. “I’m taking him to Brynmoor.”
Her father nods to show his understanding. “Hurry!”
Jade sees what’s happening and thrusts an arm toward Chloe, her fingers splayed. When Chloe isn’t hit with a blast of magic, she looks toward the waterfall and spots another Jade blocking her way. The witch used her powers to bilocate again.
No, impossible.
But it isn’t. It’s the new normal, a world filled with unimaginable magic.
The bilocated Jade utters, “Ta neh decevor” to charge her wand with electricity. Then she swings her wand forward, sending a cord of lightning at Fable. The unicorn dodges to the side, and the bolt strikes the ground, displacing clumps of dirt. Fable breaks into a gallop and speeds past the bilocated Jade before she can attack again.
Fable races across the field, his big body shifting beneath Chloe, his hooves drumming the earth. Chloe leans as far forward as she can, gripping the unicorn’s flowing mane. The waterfall is twenty yards away . . . and then ten. Is the portal behind it? And if it is, can Fable get across the stream before one of the witches strikes again?
As Fable reaches the stream, he stops so suddenly that Chloe slides forward on his back. He stares down at the shallow water, as if afraid to step into it.
“go!” Chloe shouts, tapping her heels against his sides.
But Fable does something totally unexpected: he swings around, leading with his neck, and faces away from the waterfall. Both witches are charging toward them, maybe thirty steps apart.
“what are you doing?” Chloe shouts, whacking her heals against Fable’s sides again to get his attention.
Fable snorts and wriggles his head, communicating something that Chloe doesn’t understand.
The witches stop in their tracks when they see what Fable is doing and stare with puzzled expressions.
“let’s go!” Chloe shouts, bringing her heels down as hard as she can. When Fable doesn’t respond, she pulls his mane, trying to cue him a different way. “what are you doing?”
Fable paws the ground with a front hoof, which makes Chloe nervous. Horses usually do this when they’re mad or frustrated. Or sometimes before responding to a threat.
“Fable,” Chloe says, softer this time. “Turn around before—”
