J. Souders - Revelations

Glancing back down at Evie, I brush a strand of hair from her face and then sigh when she murmurs something about Timothy. “More than you could ever believe,” I say. “Much more than you could ever believe.”

Even though I wasn’t going to tell Asher the whole messy story, when I sit back down by the fire it all slips out. I don’t know why, but once I start I can’t stop. It’s like reliving it all over again, but seeing it from someone else’s perspective. My whole body feels separated from itself. I don’t feel any of the terror I experienced the first time. I tell him about finding the tunnel in the cave, and the long trip down that ended with my hunting partner and I stumbling into Elysium, and the turret, which detected unregistered DNA, that claimed his life. Evie finding me, protecting me from Mother’s wrath, and how she gave up everything to help me escape. How, because of me, she found out she’d been brainwashed to be an assassin for Mother, then later turned into breeding stock because of Mother’s whims. The whole story of her being an Enforcer, and what it does to her.

When I finish, Asher is just staring at me, his eyes wide. He glances down at Evie and shakes his head. “Maybe it’s better that she doesn’t remember any of it.”

“I thought that at first, too, but now she’s got these damn nightmares every night. And flashes of memories when she least expects it. Sometimes, I barely recognize her anymore. Not to mention these strange episodes. I’m not sure if that’s any better.”

Asher goes back to staring into the fire. After a minute, he looks up at me again. “Why didn’t you ever tell anyone?”

I frown. “Tell anyone what?”

“About me? You’re so set that I ruined your life. Yet you know something about me that could destroy me, yet you haven’t ever told anyone.”

I blink. It takes me a minute to realize what he’s talking about. I shake my head and roll my eyes. “One, because it’s not any of my business, or anyone else’s for that matter. And two, I’m not like you. When someone tells me something in secret, I don’t share it with anyone for any reason.”

He narrows his eyes at the fire, as if he’s trying to puzzle that out. I decide that I’d rather be lying next to Evie than sitting out here with him. To make sure she can’t sneak out of the tent without me knowing, I slide into the sleeping bag with her. Before long I find myself falling in and out of sleep, waking several times throughout the night to soothe Evie back to sleep when she has another of her fits.

When she wakes me for what feels like the thousandth time with a sharp kick in the shin and screaming incoherently again, I know I’ll need to talk to Asher first thing in the morning and go over the map with him to come up with a better, faster route to the city. Evie needs help and she needs it quickly.

The birds singing in the trees wake me. I groan as I sit up. The little bit of sleep I’ve been getting is only a giant tease that makes my muscles sore. My joints pop when I stand and stretch.

To my surprise, Asher is already awake and poring over the map.

Trying to rub the sleep away, I run a hand over my face. “What’cha doin’?”

He startles, but moves over so I can sit next to him. “Trying to come up with a faster route.”

I don’t know why it annoys me that he had the same thought as me. I would have had to ask for his help anyway, since he’s gone back and forth from the city much more than I have. At least this way it isn’t a favor. So I nod and glance down at the map. “What do you think?”

“The fastest route is this way, through this town.” He slides his finger over a black dot. “If we go that way, it will shave off at least three days from our trip. With any luck we could be in that town tonight and then another day, maybe two, and we’d be in Rushlake.”

“Why didn’t we go this way in the first place?”

“No one does.” He won’t look at me.

“Why?”

He hesitates, before finally saying, “I don’t know. But my father was adamant that we never go that way.”

Well, that’s ominous. I think about it, weighing the risks. It’s not smart to ignore that kind of warning in the Outlands. But with Evie getting worse and worse …

“Let’s do it,” I say.

We don’t waste any more time; we both head back to camp and start tearing it down.

“We’d move faster if we don’t carry anything that isn’t necessary.” Asher folds up his tent.

I lift an eyebrow. “You want to dump it?”

He shakes his head. “Starshine can carry it. This will be nothing for her. And then we’ll have both hands free if we need them.”

I nod. “Yeah, okay, let’s get it all together.”

We spend the next few minutes packing everything up and only when I have to, do I wake Evie. She’s groggy and her eyes are still glazed with sleep, but she’s lucid and able to walk and talk.

It worries me how flushed her skin is, but I can’t think about it right now. There’s nothing I can do about it. The only way to help her is to hurry our asses up and get her to the city.

Asher helps Evie onto the horse, while I break down our tent and then start securing our supplies to Starshine. I’ve just about tied the last supply, when I realize it’s gotten really quiet. Too quiet. I look around, trying to figure out what has my instincts humming. The only sounds are Asher and Evie talking quietly. He’s got her laughing again, with that stupid fake Southern gentleman charm he likes to use. Reluctantly, I have to admit I’m grateful. He’s taking her mind off what happened last night. And considering how far it is to the city, and my increasing fears she won’t make it all the way there without having another issue, making her happy needs to be a priority. Even though she’s smiling and laughing, I can’t help but hear how tired she sounds.

I glance around again, reassured that Evie is safe.

All of a sudden a scream tears through the silence. The three of us share a startled look and fear makes my nerves vibrate. I don’t know what’s screaming, but whatever it is, that’s a sound of terror and pain. I’ve heard it before in the Outlands and it never leads to good things. The worst part is, it doesn’t sound very far, and it’s growing closer.

“What is that?” Evie’s voice is shaky, and she’s watching me with equal parts fear and trust and that scares me to death because I have no idea what to tell her. But I know we have to get out of here.

“You don’t want to know,” I finally say. “But we have to move. Now!” I fumble trying to tie the last item to Starshine, because the screaming is now so close I know whatever it is, is going to break into the clearing any second. My heart is beating so fast, it practically hurts and I can feel it pound in my head.

Then my worst fears come true: the animal—a deer, I think—bursts into the clearing. It’s hard to tell exactly what it is because chunks of its skin are shredded off, claw marks mar the parts that aren’t torn off, and blood covers the rest of it. One ear is completely gone and its mouth is open in its scream. And surrounding it, trailing behind it, is a whole flock of birds.

They’re huge. At least three times larger than any bird I’ve ever seen. I curse under my breath. I’ve never heard of them being this close to the village. And I’ve never personally seen one, even considering I’ve been hunting in these woods since I was a kid. It makes me nervous that they’re here. Not just for us, but for what it means for the village.

I can only stare in shocked horror as two of the birds grab the deer on each end of its body, lifting it into the air. I want to close my eyes. I know what’s going to happen. I want to run to Evie and block her from seeing this, but I can’t move. I’m petrified, stuck exactly as I am, forced to watch the deer’s grizzly end as the rest of the flock latches on to it.