Rival Demons (5 page)

I couldn't imagine a life where I would be
standing next to him, yet forbidden to touch him.

I would go to his Underground. Get my strength
back. Learn to take control of my own magic so that someday I would
be able to leave and fight the Order on my own. There was no way I
could stay there for the rest of my life.

Beside me, Mary Anne shifted and moaned. I
leaned over her and felt her forehead. Her fever seemed to have
passed, but her skin was still deathly pale except for the red
scratch across her cheek.

Jackson was hoping to leave this afternoon, but
I wasn't so sure she'd be ready to travel.

Her eyes opened slowly and she squinted up at
me. "Harper?"

"Hey," I said with a smile. "How are you
feeling?"

"Like I got bit by a tiger," she said. She
laughed, then winced and grabbed her side. "There's something I
never thought I'd say."

I shook my head and felt the guilt tear through
me. "I'm so sorry," I said. "I got you into this mess."

Mary Anne placed her hand on mine. "It's not
your fault," she said. "I came here of my own free will."

I paused. "Why did you come?" I said it softly,
not wanting her to think she wasn't wanted. I just didn't
understand why she risked her life to come save me.

She held both hands out to me so I could help
her move into a sitting position. It took her a few seconds to get
herself upright, but when she did, the color started to return to
her cheeks. "You're the closest thing I have left to a family," she
said simply. "I wasn't about to let them hurt you. Besides,
eventually the Order would have figured out that I was the one who
told Jackson where to find you. I don't think they would have liked
me too much at that point."

I raised an eyebrow. "You have a point
there."

"So what are those two up to over there all
secret-like?" She nodded toward Jackson and Lea at the cave's
entrance.

I turned to look at them, an instant pang biting
into my heart. Lea was a demon and therefore, completely fair game
for him. He said his feelings for me wouldn't change, but who knew
what might happen after years of being in the Underground? And the
two of them already had a past I didn't understand.

I did my best to shake it off. "They're planning
our trip to the Underground."

Mary Anne grabbed a bottle of water and just
nodded. Apparently, the Underground was not news to her. They must
have talked about their plan before they left our world.

"What do you know about it?" I asked. "The
Underground?"

She shrugged and swallowed. "Not much, I guess.
Just that it's deep under the surface and that magic can't be
tracked down there. Some kind of shield blocks it from the upper
world," she said. "Jackson said we'd be safe there for as long as
we needed to stay. I just hope they let us in."

"Did he tell you that they don't like
humans?"

"Yeah," she said. "But only because they've
never really known any humans that weren't a part of the Order. I
think they'll warm up to us pretty quickly. Especially after they
hear about what we've done to fight back against the Order."

I nodded, but I was worried. What if we'd just
traded one miserable life for another?

Miserable or not, there was no turning back now.
Jackson and Lea decided on a route that would take us to one of the
Underground's portals. They were used to traveling fast by demon
form, but using their magic would set off warning signals to both
the Order and Lea's father. It was too risky. Especially if Lea's
father had already realized she was here. He might already have his
Sentinels out searching for her. We would have to walk it.

By the time Mary Anne felt well enough to walk
on her own, the first sun was already setting. Walking in the dark
made me nervous, but Lea said we would do better under the cover of
darkness anyway. Since one of Jackson's many talents was that he
could see in the dark, he led the group up the side of the steep
cliff.

My feet argued with each step I took on the
black rock. I tried to maneuver to the smooth places, but every
once in a while, I would hit a jagged part and the pain would shoot
through my entire leg. In a way, I almost didn't mind the pain. I
felt numb after hearing Jackson's news, so the pain in my feet was
a reminder to keep moving forward.

I kept one hand on the cliff wall at all times.
Somehow, we all made it to the top. When I stepped out onto the
blue-green grass of the nearby field, I realized just how tense I'd
been holding my body. My shoulders were practically attached to my
ears.

I took a deep breath in and out, letting the
panic melt away. No amount of breathing could get rid of my fear
and sadness, though.

"We're heading toward the Obsidian Forest,"
Jackson said. He pointed off to the east. "See there?"

In the far distance, I could see a wall of
trees, black as night and thick as any forest I'd ever seen.

"Ominous," Mary Anne said.

"We should keep moving," Jackson said. He was
all business. "Stay close and be as quiet as you can."

"Yes sir," Mary Anne said. She followed close
behind Jackson, but the way she limped made me wonder if she was
really up for this trip. Lea had offered to carry her part of the
way, but she'd refused and said she was fine.

I hung back from the group a little bit. Being
too close to Jackson right now just made me ache.

The grass slid under the bottom of my feet like
oily snakes. Had it rained here? The ground squished with each
footstep, and I had small seeds snuggling between my toes.
Definitely an improvement over the solid rock, but I kept glancing
down to make sure there were no bugs crawling on me.

Soon, though, the second sun began to slip under
the horizon, leaving nothing but darkness and the light of a single
amber moon that rose slowly above the trees of the Obsidian
Forest.

No one spoke as we walked, and unlike home,
there were no crickets or frogs to sing into the night air. The
only sound in my ears was the sound of the light wind as it hissed
across the tips of the grass. I let the steady rhythm of each
footfall lull me into a kind of hypnosis. I wanted to forget the
horror of the attic at Shadowford. The nightmare of facing death.
The heartache of forbidden love.

Walking here in the grass under a foreign moon
might be my last real taste of freedom for a long time.

I opened my heart to it, letting myself be
vulnerable to the night for just a moment. I tried to remember a
simpler life, but when had my life ever been simple? Maybe in the
very earliest of days before the first fire. Before my powers had
ever manifested. But my memories of those days were few and far
between. It was easier to remember the tough times. The bad foster
homes and the fear of knowing I was different.

My whole life, I'd longed to fit in and belong
somewhere. I'd wanted to find other girls like me who could move
things with their mind and see the world the way I saw it.

Be careful what you wish for.

I sighed. Who would have ever thought that
finding those girls would lead to all this?

As we walked in silence, I wondered what Lark
and the others were up to back home. Had things gone back to
normal? Did they ask about me? Or had the Order wiped their
memories? I thought about the fact that somewhere in that town, I
had a half-sister. A real flesh-and-blood family member. Everything
had happened so fast after the night I'd first read my mother's
journal, I hadn't had time to think about my sister very much. She
might only be a half-sister, but I wanted to find her more than
anything. She was my father's daughter, and maybe if they both were
still alive, we could have a normal family someday.

Well, normal except for the witch thing. Was my
sister a witch? I guess I'd never given it much thought. Just
because she'd been born in Peachville didn't mean she was part of
the Order.

Still, as I looked up at the rising amber moon,
I wondered when I would ever get back there to look for her.

Up ahead, Jackson froze, then crouched down
toward the ground. He put a finger to his lips and motioned for us
to get down. I broke away from my thoughts and dropped to my knees
in the tall grass. I looked all around, trying to figure out what
had him spooked.

I held my breath, not wanting to make a sound in
the near silence. Somewhere in the distance, the grass rustled with
movement. My legs tensed, ready to run. I didn't know who I was
more scared of. The sentinels, the hunters, or the crazed twin
whose sister I had killed. My heart raced.

I turned my eyes to Jackson, waiting for some
cue to run or fight.

After a few minutes, he stood and gestured for
us to follow again. This time, I kept my attention in the present,
not wanting to make a mistake that could cost us our lives. We only
made it another half-hour before seven flames appeared in the
distance.

Jackson must have seen them the split second
after I did. Quickly, he ducked behind a large boulder, furiously
signally for the rest of us to hide.

I watched as the flames drew closer. I could see
now why Jackson looked so frightened. Walking in a straight line
across the field were seven men in matching black and red uniforms.
The Sentinels? It had to be. Magical orange flames hovered in the
air beside each of them, illuminating the area like large
torches.

I held my breath and crouched even lower to the
ground. Everyone else in our group was dressed in dark colors, but
my white dress stood out against the night. If the light caught it
at all, the Sentinels would see us for sure. Then what would become
of us? Jackson made it sound as if we'd all be thrown into the
dungeons.

The Sentinels drew closer, their light reaching
almost to the rock where we hid. Five or six steps to the right and
the flames would have given us away.

The four of us huddled close, a mass of tension
and beating hearts. Even Lea seemed frightened of her father's men.
I don't think any of us took a single breath or moved a muscle
until the men had safely passed us by.

"That was close," Lea said.

"Too close," Jackson said. "We're going to have
to try to move faster. I think we'll be safer once we get into the
darkness of the forest."

I stood and stretched out my aching legs. I
reached my hand out to Mary Anne, helping her up from the ground.
She winced and held her side for a moment.

"Are you okay to keep going?" I asked her.

She nodded, but I could tell she wasn't feeling
well. "Let's just get somewhere safe," she said. "I'll be
fine."

Not wanting to waste another moment, Jackson
once again led us toward the outline of trees in the distance. Even
though we'd already been walking for a while, the forest still
looked far away. It was going to be a very long night.

I wasn't sure how much time had passed when I
could have sworn I heard a twig break nearby. I turned around,
frightened and half-expecting to see a Sentinel standing behind me.
But the area was dark and silent.

Jackson came back around to me, following my
gaze toward a couple of outlying trees. "What is it?" he asked.

"I heard something," I whispered. "Like a branch
breaking under foot."

He listened for a moment, then shook his head.
"I don't see or hear anything," he said. "Maybe it was just an
animal or something."

"Yeah, maybe," I said. A feeling in my gut told
me otherwise, but maybe it was just my fear talking.

Then, about twenty minutes later, I thought I
heard footsteps behind me in the grass. Just in front of me, Mary
Anne flipped her head around. Judging from her wide eyes, I'd say
she heard it too.

"Jackson," I said. "There's someone following
us. I heard footsteps."

"Me too," Mary Anne said. "But I don't see
anyone."

Worry darkened Jackson's features. He looked
toward Lea. "What do you think? Do you sense anyone? See
anything?"

Lea turned in a circle very slowly, taking her
time to study the areas around us. "If someone is following us,
they're very good at concealing themselves."

She motioned toward a cluster of small bushes
and rocks just ahead, then whispered something in Jackson's ear. He
nodded, then told us to follow him as if nothing were wrong.

When we reached the bushes, Lea stealthily
dropped from the group and hid behind them while the rest of us
kept moving forward. I wasn't sure exactly what was going on until
a few seconds later when she leapt out from behind the bushes and
placed her hands around the biceps of an unusually small man with
spiked hair and a very large nose.

As soon as we saw what was happening, the rest
of us ran back toward her.

"Why are you following us?" she asked, her eyes
locked on the man's face with a deadly focus.

"Princess," the man said in a breathy voice. "It
really is you. Your father has placed a reward for anyone who finds
you, you know."

He struggled against her grip, suddenly breaking
free. His body started to turn to black smoke as he shifted to his
demon form, but before he could complete his transformation, Lea
reached into her pocket and threw a glittering powder on him. The
man froze like a statue in mid-shift, half-man, half-smoke.

"Damn," Jackson said. "What do we do now?"

"We keep moving," Lea said. "Only faster this
time. The powder will only hold him for an hour. Maybe two if we're
lucky."

"There's no way we'll make it to the portal in
an hour," Jackson said.

"Not if we keep wasting time," Lea said.

Without even discussing it, she lifted Mary Anne
onto her back and began to run toward the tree-line. Jackson turned
to me, our eyes meeting in the near-darkness as he reached out and
lifted me into his arms. I threw my hands around Jackson's neck and
buried my face in his shoulder as he ran.