Band of Blackbirds (Book 2 in the Blackbird Trilogy) Read online

  Chapter Seven

  I expected there to be a flash of light, an explosion or the army of glass people that Ulric described, but only a small swirl of grey smoke rolled from the open lid.

  Ulric burrowed his eyes and looked at the box as if he was expecting something bigger than the puny puff of smoke.

  “What--” he started to speak when the door burst open nearly taking it off its hinges.

  Gabe’s eyes pierced mine for only a second as I let out a quick sigh of relief.From behind him and like a second shadow, Ethan curled in behind Gabe and lunged for David.

  Taken by surprise, David was knocked to the ground, but quickly got up as soon as he hit the ground.He expelled two silver disks from his hand towards Ethan who twisted into a graceful turn letting the poisoned disks embed safely into the wall behind him.

  “Use the amulet!”Ulric grabbed my arm tightly, “Now!”

  I pulled back letting my arm slip through his until he cinched down on my wrist like a vise.

  Suddenly, a silver-blue blade flashed in front of my face severing Ulric’s hand.Black blood spurted out splattering to the floor as he clutched where his hand once was.Gabe pushed me out of the way and I fell backwards to floor as he turned his head and yelled at me in a silent scream.Every movement, every expression moved in slow motion.I couldn’t move and sat frozen in the surreal visions of flashing silver blades, grey smoke tendrils that curled around and around everything like vines.

  From the boiling smoke, I could see Zach fighting with David, then, a flash of Claire’s red hair, Ian and his blue eyes met mine.Ian tried to come to me when he too was pulled backwards almost like a fish caught on a hook that was being reeled to shore.I couldn’t tell if the fragments of what I was seeing were dreams or reality.

  I heard no sound, though I knew it was there.I could see David lift his hands throwing Ethan to the wall behind him.From behind David, like a watery image, Caleb appeared jumping onto David’s back, both fell to the ground.Aria, with her eyes of topaz, burned in contrast to the grey smoke, changed into a beast and pounced on Ulric throwing his twirling blade through the air.I could see Gabe sitting on the ground and then rolling to his side.His body hunched over in pain as the smoke curled around him.My heart raced as I tried to get up.

  “Come to us child of the Crystal City.”A voice echoed in my head.“We are waiting…”

  “No,” I said, but couldn’t hear my voice.

  I tried to push against the force that encased me.On my hands and knees, I slowly forced myself to crawl towards them.I tried calling to Gabe as Aria changed back into human form and crouched beside him.She took off her cape and threw it over him like a shadow as her eyes scorched through the curling fog.

  “You must go through the portal…Emily, my daughter, go!”Aria continued to stare at me with her unmoving lips.The voice was not hers, but of my mother.“It is the only way now.”

  The box skidded across the floor and rested in front of me with lid opened as if welcoming me to the Black Abyss.The amulet pulled me closer like a magnet to metal.I hunched over supporting myself on bent arms.I kept yelling out for help and Gabe’s name, but everything had become encased in a silent fog.Then, out of desperation to relieve myself from the burning amulet, I pulled at the chain, snapping it in half and throwing it to the box.

  “Yes, child of the Crystal City, it is you who we want.You stole our amulet and you bring it back to us…such a noble thing,” a voice said.

  “Should we give her a reward?”Another voice teasingly asked.

  “What if we keep her as a pet?”

  I could hear other voices murmur around me, deliberating my fate.

  “Stop!” I yelled as suddenly two glowing eyes of amber burned in front of me.

  I was pulled upright, lights flashed and the fading voices protested until all I could hear was the sound of the wind and the beating of my heart.

  I wasn’t sure if I was running or being carried.Everything was a blur of swirling grey smoke and then giant plumes of glitter fell like graceful, dead birds exploding in puffs of silver when they hit the ground.

  I was still in motion, going past the same monotone scenery for what seemed like hours.I tried to move, but strong arms held me tight.I pushed against them, not knowing who had me.

  “If you don’t stop, I will drop you.”Quil looked at me with his golden eyes and slowing his pace.

  We stopped and I pushed myself away from him.“Gabe, I have to get back to him…”I choked out with tears threatening behind my eyes.

  Quil only looked at me with his inquisitive stare.“We can’t,” he simply stated.“We are caught between the portal—the threshold between Eutopia and the Black Abyss.”

  “How do we get back?”I asked as Quil’s eyes scanned the bleakness of the surroundings.

  “I’ve never been here. We are just going to have to find a way out.”

  I looked away, wrapped my arms tightly around my stomach and tried to hold back tears.I couldn’t stop worrying about Gabe.I wanted to feel his hand in mine again.I thought I lost him before and I didn’t want to let it happen again.

  “Stop it!”Quil hissed in front of me.“You’re not the only one with many things at stake.”

  I glared slightly at him. “You don’t have to be so insensitive...and I have ones I care about too.”

  Quil shook his head and made a sound that sounded like a huff.“You don’t get it yet.”His voice edged with disappointment.“What about all the others that have lost so much to that Wall?Don’t you think they suffer too?You are so wrapped up in your own worries that you are blind to what is around you.”Quil turned so his back was to me.An unmoving silence surrounded as I pondered his words and still felt too much of my own worries to even think of others.“I have dreamed of you.Premonitions, you might call them.” His words were soft as if remembering a fond childhood memory and nearly made me stop breathing.“A princess would come from a great distance and set right what was wrong and by doing so open the eyes of so many to see things in a different way.She was a noble person, a kind person,” Quil turned and came towards me, voice raised.“She would be a leader and…compassion, would be her weapon where others have used force, she would use her heart instead.”

  I stood there looking at him.His eyes turned cold and hard, but burned like they were on fire.I looked away, no longer suppressing my tears.

  “I didn’t choose to do this.”My voice was weak, I turned away from him, closed my eyes and wished this all away.I didn’t want to hear what he had to say.

  Quil took in a deep breath and let it out in a sigh.“That’s an excuse.”His voice was bitter.“You have a gift and more power in you than you think.You can undo this and stop something that will ruin so many lives, but you don’t see outside your world.”He grabbed me by the shoulder and turned me to face him.“There is so much more to Emily Moore’s life than what is only a few feet surrounding her.”His eyes searched mine as if looking for what impression his words had made on me.

  “I…I don’t know how…”

  Suddenly, the white fog that surrounded us swirled like rippling water that a fish would make just before breaking the surface.Echoing all around were the whispers and moans that twirled by us like a merry-go-round.

  I looked at Quil as he pulled a silver blade from his side that glowed orange.We watched the boiling fog curl around us in a teasingly way.Quil shifted his weight as if he didn’t know if we should run or stay put.

  I couldn’t keep my eyes off of the white mist that slowly showed glimpses of shadowy figures walking, encircling us.

  “What do we do?”I asked looking in all directions and could see more faces along with legs, arms, and hands with fingers spread apart as if pressed against glass.

  “We must be in a barrier.”Quil looked all around trying to find something.“Over there.”He pointed behind me to a grey area that was void of any of the gathering people.

  He grabbed my arm just as something curled around my wrist.Its ic
iness numbed my skin as it curled tighter like a strangling vine.It pulled at me, overpowering and releasing Quil’s grip on my other wrist.I was thrust backwards into the swallowing mist.

  I felt my body being passed from hand to hand like I was in a sea of people.No faces made themselves known, but I could hear their pleased hisses and moans.

  “Let her go!” a woman’s voice said.

  The voices grew with anger and I was dropped to the ground.I jumped up not knowing what way to go when a woman with golden hair and a silver-white blade in her hand slashed at the mist.

  The voices receded and I was left looking at the blonde haired woman who smiled back at me as she put her sword back into its sheath.

  “Emily, we can’t stay here, come.” She held out her hand.

  “Mother,” I questioned taking her hand that was like holding an ice cube.

  “Yes…and no.” Her voice was sweet.

  She pulled me through the depthless mist as eerie sounds of moaning, whining, and high pitched cries sounded in the distance.

  “Emily,” she said standing in front of me barely touching the side of my cheek.I flinched slightly at the unexpected sting of her touch.“I have given you a gift that you must use.The Wall must be destroyed and the Alliance must survive.The battle has just begun and the glass people of Pandora’s Box have awakened.The amulet,” she reached for my hand and placed it in my palm closing my fingers around it.I had almost forgotten that I threw it into the box in haste as it burned my skin.Now, it was cool and almost comforting.“This has belonged to many, but now it belongs to you. You are dominate above all others who are tied to it.You have the power of the Unseen.Take it and destroy the Wall and the Dragon clan…destroy…”Suddenly her image became fuzzy and shifted like a television loosing reception.“The Dragon clan…des…” her image was gone and I was alone.

  “Don’t leave me….Mom!” I yelled like a lost child and began to cry.

  I sank to my knees and felt it safe to let myself cry.Everything had come down on me all at once and in the loneliness, I was secure that no one would see me.I didn’t know what way to go, what to do, or how I was going to get out.I kept looking around for my mother’s image to transform out of the rolling mist, but nothing surfaced and without a plan, I laid on the cool ground.Surrounded in bleakness, I looked up at the white that blanketed me.I waited for something to take me.I was alone, my mother was just an image--gone and I started to think of Gabe when suddenly a shadow flew over.Immediately, I sat up and looked around.

  After several moments of silence, I decided to break it.“Who’s there?” I asked with no reply.

  “What were you going to do…sit here until the glass people found you?” a voice said behind me.

  I stood up with my heart beating in my throat, but relieved that Quil had found me.

  “Where were you?”I demanded.

  Quil looked at me with his steady eyes.“I found a passage—a way out of here.Let’s go.”He turned into the mist and I followed barely keeping up.

  Quil looked behind a few times to see if I was still there, but kept his pace as I stumbled along.

  “I can’t keep up.”I protested.

  Quil stopped and turned to face me with his topaz eyes.“I suggest you be quiet and do keep up, unless you want to meet our friends again.”

  His words were cool as he turned away from me.

  I followed in silence and aggravated at Quil.He was cold and insensitive.I didn’t want to think about anything right now but getting back to Gabe and the rest of the Blackbirds.

  I nearly ran into Quil’s back when he suddenly stopped in front of me.I looked up to see the mist had given way to a large silver barrier of glass.It reflected our image in a hazy glow.

  “The barrier is thin here.I can see a forest beyond it.”Quil looked down at me as I could only see our reflection.“Let’s go.”

  “How are we getting through it?”I asked trying to see the forest that he said was there.

  “Stand back,” he said starting to turn into Ranger form.

  His body hunched over and in the matter of seconds, he transformed into a beast that towered over me.His glowing eyes pierced through mine.His muscles flexed and he snarled slightly at me.I took several steps away from him as he stepped backwards and then hurled himself through the mirror shattering it into a fine mist of silver flakes that fell like tiny snowflakes.

  I stood taking in the rush of fresh air filled with the rich scents of a mellow soil, the sweet fragrance of blossoming flowers and warmth that curled around me.Quickly, I stepped through and looked back at the grey void that echoed with screams in the distance.

  “Close it!”Quil yelled as he transformed back into human form.

  With shaking hand, I lifted the amulet and retraced the jagged edges just as the voices came nearer.

  “Hurry!”Quil commanded behind me.

  “I am!”I yelled back frantically trying to seal the other side.

  My hand shook and it was hard to follow the jagged lines of the broken mirror.Something then pressed against it bulging out the remaining opening.White-grey smoke curled around like a fluid vine through the small section that I was trying to seal.It wrapped around my wrist, caressing my skin and tightening its grip around me.I tried to push upward as the force of the glass people tried to pull me in.

  Quil stood behind me and squeezed my hand with the amulet in it.With his strength, I slowly began to close the gap when just breaths away from my face, two eyes burned in front of me.

  Taken by surprise, I screamed and tried to recoil away, when Quil pressed me forward and tightened the grip on my hand.The face of the glass person was in front of me and snarled like a caged animal.With large eyes, silver scales glistening on its forehead, and white hair that swirled towards me like tentacles of an octopus that began to stick to my face and even entangled in my own hair.

  “Child of the Crystal City…you won’t get away…”Its voice hissed in warning just as Quil pushed my hand past its face, stretching my arm over my head, and finally connected the seal.

  The glass people’s echoes of cries suddenly where cut off and quietness surrounded us.Quil released his grip and stepped back.I stood looking at the dense, moss covered forest.The mirror that I had sealed was gone, like it had never existed.

  “Where are we, where do we go now, how do we get back to everyone?”I asked with my arms feeling like noodles and shaking the image of the glass person from my mind.

  “How am I supposed to know?’His words were sharp.

  “Well, we need to find out.I thought you lived here,” I said as his eyes only scanned the landscape.

  He then stopped and looked at me with slightly burning eyes.“How do we even know we are still in Eutopia?That opening could have led us anywhere.I know no more than you Emily Moore.”He said my name with disgust as he turned and took a few steps away from me.

  I ran my fingers through my hair.“Look, I…”

  “I know what you’re going to say.”He turned quickly and gazed at me with his topaz eyes.“This is all new to you, you had no idea or any inclination that anything of this magnitude could ever happen.You lived a quiet life of unexpected incidences…until you or actually the amulet found you and changed your life.Stop with the excuses.”

  I glared at him.His eyes were steady, unmoving.I had no intention of saying any of that and it angered me that he jumped to that conclusion.

  “I was going to say thanks for helping me—with the mirror.”I used a calm voice and motioned behind me to where the mirror was.

  He gave me a blank look at first like he had never been thanked before.I stood waiting for a reply or an apology as I crossed my arms.Quil shifted his weight and cleared his throat.

  “Where’s the amulet?”His voice softened as he stared at me.I guess that was his apology.

  I kept my hand clenched around it tightly as not to lose it.Slowly, I opened my palm and looked down at the amulet only it wasn’t the amulet I was expecting to see.The
once silver-blue, teardrop shaped stone had changed into something else.I stared at it and Quil sensing something wrong walked over and stood beside me.We both gazed at the heart shaped stone that had swirling colors of blues, yellows and oranges.The fragments of color glittered like stars and shifted into one another as I tilted it side to side.The amulet was light and cool in my hand.I didn’t feel it trying to reach out to me and grab hold trying to pull me closer into it.It had a different feel, a comfort that felt secure to me.

  “When did this happen?”Quil asked.

  “I don’t know.”I mumbled still staring at it.

  “This can’t be good,” he said looking down at it.

  “Why not?” I asked looking at him and putting the amulet around my neck.“Just because something changes doesn’t mean it isn’t good.”

  “And you have had experience with magical implements before all of this.So that makes you the expert,” he said being sarcastic.

  “I didn’t say I was an expert—you shouldn’t just come to that conclusion.”

  “I’m not coming to a conclusion—there are many things that you shouldn’t take for granted and to jump into something prematurely, isn’t wise.”

  “You also can’t assume that it’s bad.”I retorted.

  Quil looked down at me with his golden eyes that were disturbing as well as enchanting.I wanted to pull away and couldn’t, it was like staring at a car crash in slow motion.

  “You shouldn’t let something attached to your mother cloud your judgment to thinking it is good.”His words were soft and edged with a slight tenderness as if he knew something I didn’t.

  I shrugged my shoulders.“It has a different feel to it.Like something nice and comforting,” I said as I looked at it in its defense.“Maybe it was my mother that did it.I saw her inside the box and she said she gave me a gift and that we need to take the amulet back to Atlantis.The Wall has to be destroyed another way.”

  Quil let out a sigh and turned from me.“We have better find shelter.Night will be coming and I’m not sure where we’re at.”

  The forest had moss sticking to it everywhere.The trunks of the trees look liked they had been rolled in green carpeting, and the soft, mellow ground reeked of a decomposing, earthy stench.The air was still and moist almost reminding me a prehistoric jungle exhibit at a museum.Everything hung in stillness as if it hadn’t moved in centuries. The green moss wrapped around the trees like they were mummies, and hung from the half dead branches like stringy hair.There was no sound of any birds, bugs or anything except for out quiet footsteps.

  Quil, I could only guess through some Ranger sense, seemed to be following something as he moved through the pillars of half decaying trees as if he knew where he was going.I wanted to ask him about Ian and how he got here with Claire and Zach, but I didn’t.I still wasn’t sure if it was a dream, vision, or something I only thought I was seeing.

  “There’s a stream over there,” he said turning to glance back at me.

  “How do you know?’I asked.

  “I can hear it-your ears aren’t like mine.”

  Within minutes we were standing at a wide stream.Here the forest opened slightly and a few living things other than moss grew around the stream’s edge.Rocks, about the size of my head, protruded from the shallow, clear stream that trickled slowly and seemed to be the only thing moving in the forest.

  “We will cross and see what is on the other side.If there is anyone around here—you can usually find life at any water’s edge.”

  I didn’t worry too much about crossing as the water looked like it would barely cover my ankles.

  Quil went first and I followed.The water was cool and the rocks shifted under my feet.I looked down to see smaller rocks of various colors embedded in the sandy bottom.We were about half way across when suddenly the water level lowered and started flowing in the opposite direction as if something upstream was sucking it back.

  Quil stopped and watched it receded leaving the naked rocks protruding from the sandy bottom.

  “Run, quickly!” he yelled grabbing hold of my hand.

  I stumbled over the rocks as tiny droplets of water fell overhead and a rushing sound echoed in the distance.

  Without warning a tidal wave of water crashed down on us like a wild beast.My hand left Quil’s and I was pushed away from him by its force.My head rose and fell through the surface of the water, each time I gasped for breath.My feet never touched the bottom as I fruitlessly tried to swim in some direction or grasp onto the overhanging branches as I went by them in a blur.Then, something latched onto my ankle and pulled.It felt like a strong hand with sharp claws.I kicked at it until I couldn’t keep my head above water no more and gave in to its strength.

  The rush of the water pushed at me.I did manage to break the surface a few times and then, it seemed to grow in depth and strength.The force pushed at me as whatever had my ankle tightened its hold as I tumbled like a fishing lure twirling through the water.It continued to move faster and increased with strength.My arms and the rest of my body were no match to its power.My body trembled for air that I feared I would never draw in again.For a split second I thought of Gabe as the water rushed past me like speeding cars until it was gone.

  I could feel an iciness brush past my face as I still held my breath.I could hold it no longer and drew in what I thought would be water, but was air.I opened my eyes to see in the distance trees and blue skies dotted with puffy clouds.I tilted my head upward, which was actually downward, and saw a river rushing by like a ribbon of blue through the green forest.I watched the remaining tiny droplets of water fall like a gentle spring rain to the gully below. I dangled precariously over the edge.Whatever had my ankle tightened.

  “Don’t move!Just let me pull you up because you’re slipping.”Quil’s voice commanded.

  He lifted me up in one movement.Immediately, I felt for the amulet and it was still around my neck.Quil was in beast form and I looked at his dripping, water logged fur. We stood facing one another and I was about to thank him when he shook the moisture from his brown fur.I turned my face as he finished spraying me with more water.

  “Come on, I know where we are at now,” he said now in human form.“We are near my people’s home.”

  “Do you think everyone is there? I mean the Blackbirds, Aria--” I asked with my knees still wobbling with fear of nearly falling to my death.I couldn’t say Gabe’s name as a lump of worry formed in my throat.“What was that anyhow—the water?”

  “Let’s go,” was all Quil said.

  Quil moved with great speed and I ran behind him as best I could.Quil was no gentleman and gave no heed to what I have been through.I didn’t want to appear weak in front of him, the last thing I wanted was to be the damsel in distress—I hate them, always waiting to be rescued, even though I felt like acting that out right about now.

  The forest had turned to a meadow with long blades of grass, delicate flowers small in size bloomed here and there over the rolling hills.We didn’t go very far from the river when Quil stopped on a crest of a large hill.

  “Why are we stopping?”

  My question was answered by several Rangers standing like statues at the edge of the forest that looked like a big, green curtain framing them.They looked at us for a moment in silence all the time staring at Quil.They then turned and single file disappeared into the foliage.

  “What are they doing?”

  “We can follow them,” he said skidding down the hill and looking back up at me.

  I followed Quil into the thick forest until we reached a small opening, circular in shape with tree houses nestled in the branches of the massive trees.Elaborate rope bridges connected the homes and looked like garland strung overhead with small lanterns hanging every so often illuminating the rope pathway.There were men, women and children all looking the same in appearance.They were all dark with golden eyes that glanced at me with uncertain curiosity.I tried not to make too much eye contact as I followed Quil.No one said anything,
not even the people who stared at us, our presence had hushed everything and all of their golden eyes focused on us.

  We went up a ladder and into one of the tree houses that had a small fire of blue flames.It was the same fire, Dragon’s fire, that Caleb had at his house.Before I could think too much or worry too much about them, my eyes met several glowing eyes that glared back at me.

  “Are you sure this is the girl?”The oldest looking man asked the younger men, about Quil’s age seated to each side of him.

  “That is what he said and they made it through the river.That can only mean one thing.”

  The old man gazed at me the same way Quil did—without any hint of what they were thinking.He did this for a few moments and I wasn’t sure if I should say something.

  “Humph,” the man finally said.“You have your mother’s appearance and the same strength in her eyes.”His tone wasn’t filled with the fondness of a memory, but more of an observance.

  “And this is the chosen one…” the young man said sitting next to him, but was stopped when the old man raised his hand.

  “I know who he is and he knows who we are.We don’t see eye to eye though, but that is something we must put aside as something greater threatens us both.”

  “He is a traitor—all of them.They gave into those Wall lovers.They protect it, guard it and they are so stupid that one day it will consume them as well,” said the same boy.

  His long, dark hair was pulled back and his golden eyes pierced mine.I held my stance, but felt like I wanted to hide behind Quil to get away from those eyes.The boy gazed at Quil waiting for a retort or at least say something in defense.Quil did nothing, sat there and held his ground like he had turned into an unmovable, quiet rock.I couldn’t stand the pending silence anymore.

  “He isn’t a traitor.”I blurted out.Quil edged his shoulder in front of me and glared at me with his burning eyes.I stepped back as the boy snickered and turned his face to the shadows.

  “Enough, all of this.Time is running out and we will all perish soon if the Wall isn’t destroyed and the Black Abyss sealed.That I’m sure we can all agree on.”The room fell silent.“All of you are dismissed.I wish to speak to Emily and the Outlander in private.”

  The boy started to say something but was stopped when the old man raised his hand without looking at him.The boy glared at Quil for a split second then left quickly and followed by the others.

  “You knew my mother?”I asked looking down at the old man.

  “Yes, and time we do not have to discuss this.You must go back to the others.The amulet mustn’t be here…it’s followed by blackness.”His words were quick as his eyes shifted from me to Quil.“As many have told you before, you have the key to do many things.The amulet is a living thing and I can feel your mother’s presence is strong over the rest.But, the glass people won’t rest for long.The amulet must go back to Atlantis and taken to the portal maker.He is the only one capable of doing this task.”

  “Who’s the portal maker?”I asked.

  He gave me a blank look, like I should know.“Your time is up here.You know the portal maker well. The glass people mustn’t know of us.We are the last of the true Eutopians and if we are lost, so is Eutopia.”He raised his arm as black smoke began to fill the room.“Quil, Aria will be waiting for you.”

  I tried to get up, but Quil pulled me close to him.I looked at the old man’s face.His eyes were closed and I stared at him wanting to know more until the grey smoke engulfed us into a fog.Everything faded into a surrounding stillness.The tree house had dissolved and I wondered if we were in the Black Abyss again.The grey fog began to swirl and the rushing air whistled in my ears.I closed my eyes tightly as the breath was nearly taken away from me.

  Just as quickly as everything enclosed around us, it dissipated like the sun burning off a morning fog.Moisture seeped into my pants, chilling my skin.The air was fresh and full of moisture.I kept my eyes shut for a moment and then slowly opened them.

  The lushness of a green forest dripping with water encircled us.I could only wonder where we were and then I realized I was facing Quil.

  His arms were still around me and our faces were breaths away.His topaz eyes contrasted with the variegated green hues of the forest.He didn’t let his hold on me lessen as I let my eyes entangle with his.

  “I think you can let go of me now.”I managed to say and slightly squirm from his strong arms.

  A flash of surprise filled his eyes as if he was in a trance that my words had broken.“We have to find Aria and if the Shaman does as he usually does, he sent us close to where she is.”Quil got up and looked around.

  “The man in the tree house was a Shaman—you mean like a fortune teller?”

  Quil took a deep breath.“He is older than the Wall and has much knowledge of Eutopia and its ancient ways.He is in hiding with his people protecting him.Aria is his daughter and she sought out to destroy the Wall in her own way that wasn’t approved by him or the other leaders.She is strong willed and very cunning.She chose to protect the Wall to get close to it and hopefully one day watch it be destroyed.”

  “You forgot to say how quiet I am and my ability to sneak up on anyone.”I turned to see Aria leaning against a tree.“Come on, it isn’t safe here.”

  She turned into the forest like a shadow.Quil’s face grew pale as he followed her and I followed Quil.

  I couldn’t see Aria as if she blended in with the forest, but Quil kept a slower pace and waited several times for me to catch up.The forest was pathless and fallen trees leaned among the living covered in thick, green moss.Quil leaped over them like they were merely pebbles on a road.I wasn’t as agile and climbed over the trunks slowing our pace.

  “We’re just about there,” Quil said in a reassuring voice.

  His eyes met mine as I straddled a large tree trunk.I stopped for a moment taken by his sudden concern as he waited for me.Our eyes again connected into something I couldn’t describe.I felt it was dangerous to stare into them, like they were a vortex of sharply cut topaz stones, beautiful as well as deadly.Suddenly, he slowly extended his hand and nodded for me to take it.

  His skin was hot, like someone with a fever but strong like I was grasping onto steel that was covered by skin.I swung my other leg over and landed on the ground with both feet in one quick movement.

  Quil’s eyes never left mine and I nodded as I pulled my hand from his.

  “Hurry, we’re here!”Aria’s voice echoed through the trees.

  We ran after Aria through the maze of trees.Quil ran behind me and as much as I wanted to look back at him, I couldn’t.His stare, the way he looked at me and his touch that felt warm and tantalizing, but I knew it wasn’t right.I still had feelings for Gabe.Quil was like an infected mosquito bite to me; it felt good to itch, but afterwards throbbed with pain.I have never felt this way for anyone before and I wasn’t going to let it cloud my judgment.

  “Em!”Claire’s voice pierced the warm air.“Em!”She now ran full bore towards me with her red hair pulled back into bouncing curls.

  “Oh, I thought I wouldn’t see you again.”She wrapped her arms around my neck nearly choking me.

  “I’m here, I’m alright.”I tried to reassure her as I wrapped my arms around her.

  “Where’s Gabe?”I pulled myself away from her and grasped onto her arms.

  “Your sweetheart is over there, princess,” Caleb said motioning with his hand to where he laid.

  I ran to him and looked down at his pale face.

  “Gabe,” I said in a soft voice as Zach knelt on his other side.

  Slowly his eyes opened and met mine.

  “I’m fine Em.Don’t worry.”His voice was weak and looked at me with his grey eyes that forced to stay open.I looked up at Zach asking for the real diagnosis.

  Zach looked at me and smiled.“I think he’s just playing you for all its worth Em, he’ll be fine.Alicia already healed most of the scratch.”

  “Scratch--” Gabe questioned as his closing eyes po
pped open.“It was more than that.”He tried to move and then closed his eyes tightly wincing in pain.

  “Don’t move too much,” Zach said guiding him back down.“I think you’re just trying to impress Em here, but we do need to get back to Atlantis and you don’t have to lead the way this time.”

  I looked at Gabe and then at Zach who got up putting on his cowboy hat as he turned his head away from me and went over to talk to Caleb.

  I ran my hand over the side of Gabe’s cheek.

  “It’s going to be O.K.”I tried to sound reassuring.

  Gabe smiled at me.“I know it is because you’re here.”His shaking hand reached for mine.

  I laced my fingers in his and for the first time they felt stronger than his.I could feel it run through me like ice water—Gabe had more than a scratch—he was dying.I didn’t let my sudden realization show on my face.I smiled at him and ran my fingers through his gold hair.I watched him until his eyes closed and he fell asleep.Then I began to cry.

  “It’s alright Em, we found a way back to Atlantis and Abe will be able to help us.We are fixing the portal.”Claire wrapped her arms around me and pulled me to my feet.Abe was the current leader of the Blackbirds and was a mentor to Gabe.

  “What is it?What happened?”My voice trembled.

  “Gabe was poisoned and I don’t know how to cure it,” Zach finally said as he turned to me.“It was something about Ulric’s sword—poisoned by something.”

  I looked at Zach who always seemed happy, but now had a shadow cast over his face and an uncertainty in his eyes that I knew he didn’t want to show me.

  “We’ll figure it out, don’t worry,” Caleb said.

  Claire still had her arm around me as Caleb and Zach tried to sound reassuring.

  “I know what it is,” Quil announced kneeling beside Gabe, “its poison form the glass people, I’ve seen it before and there is one cure I know that works.”