OLIVIA…
My head lay on someone’s leg. Fingers stroked my hair. Nothing touched my back, thankfully. The slight vibration under me assured me that we were once again in a vehicle and moving. Not that it would do any good.
“She needs to dream,” I said through pain-clenched teeth.
“Can you tell us what happened?” Winifred said. “Grey swears it looked like something removed the skin from your back.”
I wanted to snort. Now I could travel in the main vehicle? The time for secrets was at an end. And, my patience was at an end, too.
“I told you. There’s a fourth race. I see them. I talk to them. They help me in return for a piece of my flesh. What don’t you get?”
“What help did they just give you?” she asked.
“I asked them to control Blake for three days. Three days for three strips of flesh.”
Not nearly enough time. Had I been sure I could have endured more and still have been useful for the Judgement, I would have tried. Even now, I could feel Blake in my head, his anger at war with moments of soothing calm.
“Holy fuck,” Bethi said.
“Is it true that you Claimed Blake?” Winifred asked.
“Yes.”
“Why?” Her complete disgust and confusion annoyed me. Hadn’t she listened?
“Because I needed to live this time. Please, just leave me alone.”
No one spoke, and I drifted for the next several minutes.
“They’re just behind us now,” Gabby said, breaking into the peace-filled blanket of oblivion that had slowly begun to wrap around me.
“Where the hell is the city? This looks like Hicksville,” Bethi said.
Their conversation jolted me further into awareness.
“City? No. We can’t be by a city. We need a wasteland.”
“Well, that’s what this looks like,” Bethi said.
I struggled to sit up and grunted at the pain lancing through my back. Winifred’s hand on my arm helped me. That’s when I noticed I wore my sweater again. Weird that I couldn’t feel it on the wounds.
“I butterfly bandaged the gashes once we got the bleeding to stop,” she said. “I didn’t think we had time for stitches.”
Her words held little meaning as I stared at the nothingness around us. The Others outlined an occasional home within the distant whiteness. The rural area gave me hope.
“How close are they?” I asked. Blake didn’t feel close. He still felt like he waited on the east coast, where I’d put him.
“Not far.”
“I’m not asking you, Gabby,” I said, not unkindly.
The groans and moans of the Others filled the car. I listened closely, turning my head to watch the swirls of grey behind us.
“So many,” I whispered, more to myself than anyone in the car. “Please tell me you’ve dreamt something, Bethi.”
“Yeah. I died hung upside-down, throat slit. I’m not even sure which of us that was anymore. Not you. But one of us.”
She has the answer, the Lady whispered.
My anger almost slipped. I felt Blake’s emotions pull back. He’d felt it.
“What else about the dream, Bethi? Think. I said this wouldn’t be easy. The answer won’t be clear. What else was in your dream? She says you have the answer. Use your head.”
“You know what? Screw you. My throat still hurts.” The girl curled into her Mate’s side.
“Of course. Very insensitive of me to forget your pain.” Who was this bitter person I was becoming?
Facing ahead and careful not to lean against the seat, I exhaled slowly and forced myself to focus on my breathing and not the anger and frustration that wanted to well up.
“How long until they reach us?” I asked.
“A few minutes,” Gabby said. The Others confirmed her answer.
“If they kill any of us, the Judgement won’t be made. Do you understand, Bethi? What happened to me will happen to all of us when the time of the Judgement comes. The veil holding the Others back will disappear. They will flood this world and wear every human, werewolf, or Urbat like a pretty body coat. If you think having your throat slit hurts, wait until you’re skinned alive by the Others. They feed off your pain and agony. Even now, more swarm around you than any of the rest of us.”
“That’s enough,” Winifred said sharply.
I could hear Bethi’s ragged breathing and feel Luke’s angry gaze.
“No, Winifred. It’s not. The world will burn in their wild abandon, and Bethi will relive everyone’s pain because we will still be born again.”
Bethi began to softly sob behind me.
“There is no end for us. Not even at the end.” And that was the cruelest truth of our sorry lives. “We cannot die this time.”
“We’re almost there. I can see humans ahead,” Gabby said.
“We need to stop. We’ll risk them,” I said.
“If what you just said is true, the humans are at risk no matter what,” Winifred said.
I sat in suppressed anger and struggled to think what I could do to prevent us from being injured. I could call Blake now, but he wouldn’t believe any lie I told him, not with the Judgements right here listening.
Use Peace.
“This fight has to be Isabelle’s,” I said. “She needs to use her power to kill them all.”
“She can’t,” Winifred said. “It almost killed her last time.”
“The Lady said—”
The bite of my seatbelt robbed me of air as the vehicle braked suddenly. Loud bangs filled the interior. The Others were in such a frenzy, I struggled to see what was happening. I focused on my other senses. Growls just outside. The splintering sound of glass. Tires screeching on asphalt. As soon as the vehicle came to a stop, I unbuckled and reached for a door. A hand over mine stopped me.
“Wait here,” Winifred said. The growls grew louder, a sign the door had opened, and something brushed past me. The coppery scent of blood burst into the air.
“Get out of the way, Luke,” Bethi said. Their steps and the whisper of clothes said they’d left the vehicle, too.
I turned my head, ignoring the pain in my back in my search to see if I was alone. Fixated on the fight, the dancing grey of the Others had left the vehicle, so it was hard to tell.
“Move it, albino!” a rough voice yelled nearby. An Urbat, given the pet name.
I reached forward, releasing my hold on my fear, and got out of the car.
Bits and pieces of the scene flared to life as the Others danced within the chaos. Beast attacking beast. Some falling. Some moving on to the next. One moved faster than all the rest and killed more quickly.
“Where are the Judgements?” I asked.
Some of the Others focused their swirls around a group of people who stood in the center of a protective circle. One stood apart in the pandemonium, kicking and punching, moving with a fluid grace that seemed at odds with the killing going on around her.
“Shields!” Isabelle yelled. Something tugged at my chest. I put a hand over it, but felt nothing. The tug came again, harder. All my fear left me, weakening me to the point that my knees gave out. I fell to the snow and closed myself off.
No one touched me. The fighting continued around me as if I really wasn’t part of that world. I stood on shaky legs and moved forward.
“You can’t hurt them,” I yelled. “The Judgement is too close.”
Something knocked into me, and I fell onto the snow.
“Stay down!” a voice snarled at me.
Ignoring the warning, I pushed myself to my hands and knees.
Do not fear. There is Hope, the Lady whispered.