Eden's Creatures (27 page)
But he didn’t tell her this. He didn’t want her to go to the Wonder knowing her entire life had been forfeit. She had been a hero in life and she would be a hero in death.
He kissed her gently on the mouth. “You’re the answer to every prayer I ever had. You came for me in the dark when no one else would. I love you.”
Her lips twitched up into one last smile and then the light faded from her eyes.
Cal wasn’t sure how long he had been lying there next to Stassi’s body. It may have been seconds or hours. The pain had stopped, but his broken body was growing heavy as though a weighted dumbbell lay across his chest. He couldn’t move anything below the waist. He couldn’t do anything but wait to die.
His mind played tricks on him. Strange images appeared before his eyes. Sometimes he saw his mother and Landon standing over him and blowing him kisses. Another time, he saw Stassi swinging on a playground swing set, a smile on her face and the wind in her hair. Once, he even saw a tiger walk by.
So when the Elder appeared, he thought it was just another hallucination.
The Faedin knelt down beside him, his blue eyes twinkling. “You have done well, child.”
“Well?” he cried. “The Faedin! They’re all dead! Stassi’s dead!”
“The world is safe and the Faedin have gone to the Wonder. They are where they belong.” A gentle hand covered Cal’s forehead. “I knew you could do it. That is why I left you the feather.”
The heaviness in Cal’s chest grew until he felt like he was melting into the ground. “You left me the feather?”
“Yes. I knew a Faedin could not do what you just did. Your will to survive and your love for Stassi is what saved the day.”
“Who are you?”
The Elder ignored his question and placed something round in his hand. “I was asked to give this to you by someone who misses you very much.”
Cal struggled to lift his arm. A white baseball lay in the palm of his hand. Tears flooded down his face. “But… how?”
The smile widened and the Elder stood and held a hand out to Cal. “Come. It is your time, too, child.”
“Wait!” Cal’s weak arm clawed for Stassi. To touch her one last time. To etch the feel of her into his soul so that no matter where he went, he would remember her always.
“Here,” the Elder whispered and placed Stassi’s limp hand in his. “Go together. That is my gift to you.”
Cal brought their intertwined hands to his lips and with his final breath, told his warrior girl one more time just how much he loved her.
A
strong wind blows over the land. A cleansing wind. An enchanted wind. It sends spirits onward and flesh into the ground, leaving no trace of the scars of battle.
Earth to earth. Ashes to ashes. Dust to dust.
From which all new life grows.
Life.
Unstoppable.
Inexorable.
For there is nothing more potent than the will to live.
To exist.
The first blade of grass pushes through the new ground, reaching for life. Others follow and soon the clearing is covered in a fresh carpet of verdant grass.
A daring squirrel scurries out across the unexpected growth, searching for food. Birds chirp as they fly overhead. And, somewhere nearby, the soft breathing of two.
The boy and girl lay together, their fingers intertwined, their faces upturned toward the winter sun.
The boy opened his eyes in fright. “Stassi, wake up!”
The girl stirred with a soft moan and sat up.
“It’s late! We must have fallen asleep out here. Your father is going to kill me!”
“Oh, no, Cal! We’d better hurry!”
Cal pulled Stassi to her feet and they ran from the wooded clearing. Giggling like schoolchildren, they sped along the trails and didn’t stop until the white fence in front of Stassi’s house came into view.
At the gate, Cal pulled her tightly to him. “See you after cheerleading practice tomorrow?”
She nodded. “I get done at five.”
“I’ll be done with football practice at four-thirty, so I’ll wait for you and walk you home.”
He kissed her nose just as a discreet cough came from the front door of Stassi’s house.
He looked up at Stassi’s father waiting on the porch, his arms crossed at his chest, his long gray hair pulled back in a ponytail.
Cal waved. “Hey, Mr. Julius! Sorry we’re late.”
Stassi’s father waved back, but he didn’t look happy.
Cal shrugged and ran back down the road to the long driveway that led to his house.
He ran up the porch and shouldered his way inside. “Hi, Mom!”
“Hi, honey! I’m in the kitchen.”
Cal could smell the fried chicken from the doorway and his mouth started to water. He found his mother standing at the stove and his brother, Landon, sitting at the table, licking the chicken grease from his fingers.
“It smells great, Mom.”
“It better — it’s your favorite.” She wiggled her eyebrows at him. “Oh, before I forget, congratulations.”
“For what?”
“Look in the envelope on the table.”
Cal reached for the letter, opened it up and read. It was his acceptance to the University of Pennsylvania. Cal whooped and ran to his mother, picking her up into the air and twirling her around.
His mother threw her head back and laughed, hugging him fiercely. “I’m so proud of you, honey. But what am I going to do without you around here?”
He put her back down. “You need a boyfriend, Mom.”
She snorted. “Maybe someday. Right now, all I care about is you and Lan.”
“I need to go call Stassi.”
Cal went into his bedroom and flopped down on the bed. He couldn’t believe how happy he was. All of his dreams were coming true, and the biggest was yet to happen. At the end of the school year, he planned to ask Stassi to marry him.
They were young, yes, but he knew that there would never be anyone in this life for him other than her.
He turned on his side to pull out his cell phone and a sharp prick pinched him in the back. “What the…?”
He reached behind and pulled out a large, white feather.
“Hmm… where did this come from?”
Most likely something Landon found out in the woods. Then again, a feather this big probably wasn’t even real.
He shrugged and let it drop to the floor. He closed his eyes and put his hands behind his head.
Suddenly, without warning, a pervasive dread flowed from the top of his head down to the tips of his toes, soaking him in sweat.
His eyes popped back open.
I remember.
The End
Thank you very much for reading Eden’s Creatures. I so hope you enjoyed it. Please reach out with comments at my website at www.valeriezambito.com. I would love to hear from you!
Below are links to more titles you may enjoy.
Once again,
thank you!
I couldn’t do what I love to do without your support.
Island Shifters
An Oath of the BloodAn Oath of the Mage
An Oath of the Children
An Oath of the Kings
Angels of the Knights
FallonBlane
Nikki
Valerie Zambito lives in New York with her family. A great love of world building, character creation, and all things magic led to the publication of her epic fantasy series, ISLAND SHIFTERS, in October, 2011. The first book in her paranormal fantasy series, ANGELS OF THE KNIGHTS, followed the following year in 2012.
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