Eden's Creatures (9 page)

Cal shook his head in defiance. “I’m not going anywhere.”

“I can handle this, Cal. Just go.”

Fast as a darting viper, Bannon struck out at Cal. Stassi swung around and blocked the punch with her forearm, gritting her teeth from the jolt of pain that radiated up her arm. Just as fast, Cal twisted her back around and swept his leg behind Bannon’s knee, causing the bigger Faedin to stumble.

Stassi didn’t hesitate. She spun again, slamming the heel of her foot into the back of Bannon’s neck, sending him all the way to the ground.

He’s down!

A moment of stunned disbelief coursed through her that they had managed to take down the experienced warrior. But her relief was short-lived. Two more howling Faedin charged toward them in a frightening rush. She felt Cal flinch against her back and thought he might run, but he didn’t. In fact, he turned them so that he was facing the threat.

With a growl, she whipped them around so she was in front.

He snarled and did the same.

Their little game ended when one of the Faedin reached out to pull her away from Cal. She hammered the palm of her hand upward into his nose, snapping his head back and sending him to his knees with his hands cupped to his face.

Number two.

“Stassi!”

Cal linked his arms with hers at the elbows and she instantly understood what he intended her to do. He flipped her over his back and she screamed out as she planted a powerful kick into the chest of the third Faedin. The unexpected maneuver sent the warrior crashing back into the dirt.

Stassi leapt to her feet in a crouch, eyes frantically searching for the next fight, but they were done.

Bannon approached with his customary smirk in place. “An unusual stunt, novices.”

“But effective,” Stassi pointed out as she straightened.

“Agreed.”

“Three kills!” roared one of the defeated warriors. “Perhaps our little
Rupa
can defeat old Zakiel himself!”

“Zakiel?” Cal asked, sidling up next to Stassi.

“I will explain later.”

Abrupt shouts drew all of their attention.

“What’s that about?” Cal asked.

Stassi shrugged and sprinted from the woods, the others close on her heels. The Faedin were gathered around the lake, looking down into the water. Stassi hurried over. “What has happened?”

“It’s Gilad,” Leeah answered with a wistful smile. “His foot slipped on the edge of the water and he fell in.”

“It is his time then,” Stassi stated pragmatically. “We will see him again on the other side.”

“What are you talking about?” Cal asked, arriving at her side. “Can’t he swim?”

“Swim?” she asked incredulously. “Of course, he can’t swim. No being that breathes air can swim, Cal! He’s gone.”

“You can’t just let him die!” Cal ripped off his coat, which she just now realized had been tied to his hand, pushed by her and dove into the water.

She sucked in a horrified breath. “No! Cal!” She ran after him and stopped at the edge of the lake to peer helplessly into the dark, swirling water.

I’ve lost him! Why would he do such a thing? The Wonder is to be earned, not sought out!

A sharp pain stabbed at her stomach and she fell to her knees. Leeah put a soft hand on her shoulder.

Suddenly, Cal’s head erupted from the water, followed by a limp Gilad.

Stassi lurched back to her feet.
He’s back? How is that possible?

“Help me!” Cal shouted and moved through the water, tugging an unresponsive Gilad behind. “These wings weigh a ton!”

Bannon cautiously stepped forward and held out his hand, easily pulling them both out.

Gilad lay on his back, his wings limp and sodden. Cal dropped down next to him, rolled him on his side and patted his back. After a few harsh blows, water spewed from Gilad’s mouth and he began to cough.

He’s alive! Cal cheated death somehow and brought Gilad back with him.

She slapped Cal in the head. “What have you done?”

“What? What did I do?”

“You pulled Gilad from the Wonder. It was his destiny and you interfered.”

“I saved him!”

“No, you stole his reward from him. He will not be pleased.”

I
n one smooth, powerful movement, Bannon lifted Gilad up onto his shoulder. “I’ll get him to the infirmary!” he shouted and sprang into the air with his burden.

Cal fell back against the ground to catch his breath, his head still ringing from Stassi’s slap. What was it she said? He stole Gilad’s reward? What reward?

Stassi’s face floated into view above him and he flinched back from the look in her eyes.
I just saved a life, didn’t I? So why is she looking at me like I committed murder?

“I don’t get it. How did I steal from Gilad? What is this
Wonder
you’re talking about?”

“Where all paths end, Cal. Surely, even a human knows that.”

“Where all… are you talking about the afterlife?”

“Of course!”

He rose up onto his elbows. “So I prevent Gilad from going there before his time and I’m the bad guy?”

“Are all humans as ignorant as you?”

“Some more so,” he said with a grin.

“Your smile is misplaced.”

He snorted. “Because I don’t crave death? I’ve got a crappy life, yes, but I still know it’s too precious to give up so easily.”

“The Wonder is more precious than we can imagine,” she snapped. “When it is our time, we willingly embrace it.”

“
This
is the Wonder, Stassi!” he said, spreading his hands. “
Life
is the Wonder. Not death.”

She mumbled something that sounded suspiciously like
idiot
and walked away. Cal staggered to his feet, picked up his coat and followed behind. He briefly debated leaving. Just slipping away into the woods and making his way back home, only — according to Ross Taylor — he no longer had one.

When they arrived back at Stassi’s tree, she leapt into the air without a word, leaving him down below. He sighed and plopped down against the base of the trunk. God, he was tired. And wet and miserable. He pulled his knees up to his chest to try and stop everything from shaking. It didn’t work. Instead, he put his coat on, curled into a ball and closed his eyes.

Cal wasn’t sure how long he had been there, pressed up against the tree, when he heard the flap of Stassi’s small wings, but his stiff joints told him it had been several hours.

He peered up at her, not sure what he would find.

She settled gracefully down beside him. “You are a mystery to me,
Rupa. ”

“Likewise.” He left the smile off this time.

She pulled her long hair over one shoulder and ran her fingers through the strands. “I have been wondering. How did you come back from the water?”

“I swam.”

She sniffed noisily. “No Faedin who goes into the water ever surfaces again.”

“Probably because of your wings. At least the white ones. Those things are like anchors in the water.”

She sat silently as she considered his words.

Cal winced at a sharp stab of pain in his hand and cradled it to his chest. Dried runnels of blood stained his arm red.

Her busy fingers froze. “What happened to you?”

He pulled Gilad’s knife from his back pocket. “Gilad challenged me to a fight.”

“And?” she asked with no more concern than if he had told her the sky was blue.

“I refused.”

“He challenged you, Cal! By Faedin law, you had grounds to kill him!”

“I’m not going to kill anyone!”

“It is the Faedin way.”

He shot to his feet. “I’m not Faedin, Stassi! I’m a loser, okay? I get beat up on a weekly basis. My own mother doesn’t like me very much. My stepfather…” He paused to laugh bitterly. “Let’s just say he has his own form of hatred for me.” His eyes drilled into her. “And what about you, Stassi? Huh?”

“Me?”

“You call me weak all the time. Doesn’t say much for how you think of me, does it?”

She frowned. “I never called you weak.”

“You call me
Rupa!
They all call me
Rupa
now!”

“It does not mean weak.”

“No?” he scoffed. “What does it mean then?”

She hesitated. “It means broken.”

Cal swallowed uneasily, the anger dying in his throat. “Why? Why would you call me that?”

For the first time since he had known her, Stassi seemed unsure of herself. “I… I have seen you. I have watched you for a very long time.”

The confession took Cal by surprise. “From behind the veil?”

“Yes,” she admitted softly.

“How long?”

“Years.”

He thought back to all of his rants, his breakdowns, his tears. “You know what I am then,” he told her, embarrassment coloring his cheeks. “So why am I here? Why did you choose me?”

She stood slowly, but kept her eyes on the ground as though searching for the words somewhere in the dirt. “I wanted you to teach me how to laugh. To feel.”

Her simple but unexpected answer touched him in a place he never knew existed, a sensation that struck deep, verging on the point of pain. New desire awakened inside as he suddenly saw her in a new light. A softer light. “I can do that.”

She nodded her head in a formal bow. “Thank you.”

He took one of her hands in his. “And you must teach me, Stassi. I don’t want to feel like an outsider any more.”

A strangled yelp forced its way from his throat when she jumped into the air, picked him up by his coat and flew him to the top of the tree. She set him down inside the nest and landed beside him. “In order to fit in, Cal, you must become Faedin.”

He pressed his beating heart back into place and sighed. “So in order to fit in, I have to be something I’m not.”

She gripped his arm. “You
are
Faedin now, Cal!”

“What does that mean?”

“You ate the flesh. You will become one of us.”

“If that’s the case, I should be getting my wings any day now, right?” he teased, wiggling his eyebrows.

“Soon, I hope.”

The smile died on his face. “You’re kidding, right?” He asked the question even though those lips of hers, pressed so tightly together, seemed to indicate just the opposite.

“Take off your coat.”

“Stassi…”

“Take it off.”

Cal swallowed and did as she asked, but he couldn’t help but feel self-conscious about his body after seeing the Faedin men.

“Turn around.”

Slowly, he turned and she gasped. “Your back! What happened to you?”

“I told you. My… my father hates me.”

She ran her fingertips lightly over his scars. “He is a monster to do this.”

“I can’t argue that.”

She rubbed the crease beneath his shoulder blades. “Here is where your wings will come in.”

He shuddered beneath her touch and glanced over his shoulder. “Look, Stassi, I know you believe that what you’re saying is true, but—”

“It is true, but it will not happen until we—”

“Mate,” he finished for her and turned back around.

“Yes.” She placed a hand over his heart. “Do you feel me here, Cal?”

He thought back to his frenzied need to find her after he returned home. “Yes. More so when we’re separated. It sounds crazy, but it feels like we’re tied together now by some invisible string.”

“We shared the flesh,” she whispered, standing on her tiptoes so their faces were inches apart. “We are bonded.”

The words wafted over him, intoxicating him, causing a dull ache to throb down low. He cupped the side of her face and rubbed a thumb across her jaw. “Do the Faedin kiss, Stassi?”

“What is kiss?”

“Pressing lips together?”

She shook her head. “No.”

“Can we try?”

At her nod, he caught her face in his hands and placed his lips gently against hers, savoring the taste, the touch. He slipped his tongue inside her mouth and she instinctively responded, twirling hers with his in a fiery dance. A soft moan escaped her throat and it took every ounce of willpower he possessed to stop himself from giving her those damn wings she wanted. Right now. Every single feather. More than once.