The Blue Woods (2 page)

I have to get you out of there,
Jonah said, breaking the brief reverie that we had fallen into.

If your
Concilio
comes back to find us gone, they'll kill you.

And if they come back and you're still here, they'll kill you.
He drew himself up and paced back and forth in front of the barrier.
Do you know anything about this magic?

No. Bree would know, but . . . no.
I fluttered my wings.
Jonah—

We'll have to make it look like you broke out,
Jonah said, cutting me off.
And that I fought you.

That's all well and good but we still have to find a way out.

Jonah stopped and sniffed the bottom of the bars, as though he could somehow smell an escape route. I followed him along the length of the cage.
Jonah, I'm sorry. For getting Bree involved in this.

He raised his head, his eyes soft on my face.
It's all right. It wasn't your fault.

It was. If it wasn't for me, she never would've gotten hurt.

Alessia, if there's one thing I know about Bree, it's that she doesn't do anything she doesn't want to do.
He resumed his pacing.
You didn't force her into anything.

Yes, but I made her feel guilty—about you, about Mr. Foster. When I asked her to be our spy, she couldn't really say no.

Trust me, she could have.
He swung his head back to me, his green eyes narrowed.
Wait, did you say your spy? I thought she was just your mage.

She spied for us first. That's why—

She wanted the internship at my dad's office,
he finished for me.
Of course.
He shook himself, his fur bristling.
I wish I didn't know that. It's one more piece of information about her—about you—that they can torture out of me.

I shuddered, cold fear rippling over my feathers.
I won't let them,
I said, my words fiercer than my conviction.
I don't care if I get hurt, if they find out who I am. I'll protect you—

Jonah froze in front of me and once again that bubble surrounded us, my mind filled with every thought and emotion tumbling through him. I could tell from the way his whole body shook that it was the same for him, that he could hear everything that was inside of me, too. It was not like this with the other Benandanti—I only heard when and what they wanted me to hear. With Jonah, it was as if a great channel was open between us, as if the depth of our connection was a conduit through which our very souls flowed to each other.
Alessia,
he said. His voice reverberated deep inside me.
That won't happen. Because you are the light, and I am the dark, and I will lay down my life for you if I have to.

I had never wanted to be human so badly. I wanted to wrap my arms around him, bury my face in his neck, and never let go.
Jonah, we'll get you out. Bree says there's a way—

“Are you—
talking
to him?”

Nerina's voice jolted me out of the bubble. I spun to look at her. She stood at the far side of the cage, her face twisted with disgust. “Alessia,” she said. Her voice shook with a rage that I had never seen from her before. “Answer me right now. Are you talking to
that Malandante?
”

I didn't know if she could hear me in her mind since she was not transformed, so I nodded at the same time I thought
Yes
. Heath started, his blue eyes wide.

Tell her I want to help,
Jonah said.

He wants to help,
I echoed to Heath and Nerina.

“Stop it,” Nerina muttered. She pressed her hands to the sides of her head, her expression teetering on hysteria. “Stop talking to him. Stop it right now!”

Why didn't you tell me I could talk to him?
I demanded.
Why didn't I know Malandanti and Benandanti can communicate?

They can't,
Heath said.
I don't understand this—

Obviously we can because I'm doing it right now
.

“They can, but they must not.” An uncontained wave of horror rolled off Nerina, threatening to consume me. I had never seen her this unsettled, she who was always immaculately put together, she who always took charge and knew exactly what to do.

She stalked toward me, her stilettos so sharp on the concrete that I lifted myself into the air, away from her. “It is forbidden. Do you hear me, Alessia? It is unnatural, the ultimate taboo—”

Nerina, you don't understand. He's not like the others.

Nerina stomped her foot hard on the ground. “If you say one more word to that Malandante I will punish you in the name of the
Concilio
!” Wisps of red smoke spiraled around her shaking fingers, her magic loose and uncontained.

I froze, hovering unsteadily at the top of the cage. I had never seen anyone but a mage with magic like that, had forgotten that Nerina was just as powerful in her own right.
Nerina. Please. We love each other. I thought you knew that.

“I thought it was over!” Nerina shot her gaze between me and Jonah. “This must stop. You cannot be together. You are enemies. The Malandanti will come back and kill us, and he will be part of it. He has no love for you.”

You don't understand—

“I understand better than you think I do.” Nerina's voice was like barbed wire. “He is using you to weaken us.”

He is not! Do you really think I'm that stupid? That I would do anything to hurt the Clan?

“You are stupid where he is concerned!” Nerina shrieked. “You cannot be trusted around him!”

Please let me explain—

“No!” Her voice made the bars of light jitter and dance. “There is nothing to explain. The only good Malandante is a dead Malandante!”

Jonah roared so loud the world seemed to tilt. I shot toward Nerina, claws out, but Heath reared up onto his hind legs and shielded her from me. I buffeted up to the top of the cage. Heath forced Nerina to the back wall, his head pressed to her hip. I could tell he was speaking to her, but whatever he was saying, he'd blocked me from hearing. Nerina bent her head, her shoulders tense as she listened to Heath. Finally, she raised her gaze to me. “But we cannot trust him,” she said hoarsely.

Jonah growled and struck his paw against the light barrier. Though his body shuddered with the jolt, he didn't look away from Nerina.
Tell her
, he said to me.
Tell her that I asked you to help me get out
.

I fluttered a few inches into the air between them. The heat of their anger at one another was thick and stuffy.
He wants out
, I said, making sure Heath could hear me too.
He asked me to help him get out of the Malandanti.

Heath snapped his gaze to Nerina. She stood as still as ice, her hand pressed to her heart. “It's . . . impossible,” she breathed, her lips barely moving.

There is a way. Bree told me—

“An impossible way,” Nerina cut me off. She sliced her hand through the air. “That's not important right now. How do we know we can trust him?”

I fought the urge to snap my beak at her.
He wants
to help us! You heard what the Harpy said. She said he was wavering. That's why she left him in charge of us: to test his loyalty
.

Alessia
, Heath said,
if he lets us go, they'll kill him
.

I looked back at Jonah.
I know. We have to find some way out that makes it look like we overpowered him.

What's going on?
Jonah broke into my mind.

He—the Wolf knows what kind of danger you're in if you let us go.

I don't care. I told you.
He keened again, his paw lifted toward me.
I don't care if I die saving you.

Well, I do.
I hopped closer to the barrier, to him. We bent our heads to each other, the only thing separating his thick black fur and my snowy feathers the shimmering wall of light.
Besides, Bree would have my head.

“Without a mage,” Nerina said, making us both look up at her, “we'll have to use what magic we can access.”

Our auras
, I said.
Like when Bree and I broke into that room here.

She nodded and raised her hand, her palm less than an inch away from the barrier. “We need that burst of magic that comes when we transform.” The bars shivered as she waved her palm over them. “But this is dangerous magic, much more dangerous than that room. The Angel Falls magic contained in these bars makes them deadly.” She dropped her hands to her side. “You saw what happened when you collided with them.”

So what do we do?

Nerina narrowed her gaze at Jonah and curled her lip. “These bars will only affect a Benandante. But a Malandante . . .”

Jonah pulled himself up tall, his fur bristling.
Whatever she needs me to do, I'll do it,
he told me.

I repeated his words to Nerina.

“Oh, really?” Shadows darkened her face. “I need him to bind himself to the cage, use his aura to bring down the bars. Will he do that?”

Jonah rushed into the barrier. The light exploded around him, sending off long tentacles of electricity.
Stop!
I screamed as the shock reverberated through him. A cry of agony ripped across my mind and Jonah tumbled backward from the cage. He lay still on the concrete floor, his only movement the heaving of his sides as he panted.

“When I
say
, you idiot,” Nerina hissed.

I flew at her and stopped an inch from her face.
How dare you? He's trying to help!

“He's a Malandante. I don't trust him.”

He's our only chance out of here. If you keep treating him like trash he's not going to help any of us.

Heath padded between us, gently nudging me backward.
She's right, Nerina. We have to trust him right now.

Nerina looked from me to Heath and back again. A little vein at the base of her throat throbbed. “Fine,” she said through gritted teeth. She stepped around us. “Get up,” she said to Jonah, “and
listen
to the plan before you do anything.”

I clicked my beak but held my tongue. At least she hadn't called him an idiot again.

Jonah hauled himself to his feet.
Are you all right?
I asked him.

I'm okay. She's right. I should've listened before I did anything.

Maybe, but she's still being a jerk. I'm sorry.

He shook his head, his black fur glistening in the silvery light of the cage.
Can you blame her?

“Can you two please stop talking so we can get on with this?” Nerina pushed up the sleeves of her silk jacket and pointed to Jonah. “You.”

He has a name,
I snapped at her.

She ignored me. “On my count, you will rush the wall.”

You saw what just happened. He'll electrify himself
, I protested.

“No, he won't.” Nerina paced the perimeter of our prison, looking the walls up and down. “The magic will feed into him. It might hurt for a moment”—she waved her hand—“but he'll be fine.”

Nerina!

I'll be fine,
Jonah said.
Let's just get on with it.

“As the magic is feeding into him, I'll transform and direct our magic into the barrier. That should be enough to weaken it.” She turned in a circle, examining the cube of light that surrounded us. “I should be able to bring it down after that,” she murmured. “If only Bree were here . . .”

Cold crept into my feathers. Bree
had
been here, only hours before, trapped and tortured by the Malandante mage. If this didn't work, that was the fate in store for us.

Nerina snapped forward and faced Jonah. “Are you ready?” Without waiting for an answer, she went on. “On my count. One.”

Wait, what are we supposed to be doing?
I said as she held up a second finger.

“Get out as soon as the bars come down,” she said quickly. “And three!”

With a roar, Jonah sprang forward into the barrier. The air reverberated with electricity, fractured lightning bolts raining down on all sides of the cage. I dropped low and back until I was right up against Heath, sparks spewing in every direction. I watched the silvery bars shift into squiggly lines and slowly spiral around Jonah's body. A thin sheet of light shimmered where the bars had been. I fluttered forward, but Heath blocked me.
Not yet . . .

In one dazzling, brilliant burst of blue light, Nerina transformed into her mythical shape, a Griffin. Her enormous, magnificent wings stretched from one side of the cage to the other, her cerulean aura spilling out between the bars. The atmosphere shivered and danced all around us, making Heath's fur stand on end. I could feel the magic's heat on the tip of my feathers, singeing the air.

The celestial Benandante light crept its way around the dark Malandante magic, turning each bar sheer one by one. When the last bar was gone, all that was left was a translucent bubble of red smoke. The fatal magic of Angel Falls.

Nerina beat her wings against the cage. The red smoke uncoiled itself like a snake and licked at us, deadly tendrils creeping toward me and Heath, reaching to suck out our life source.

No!
Nerina shouted. She hovered over us, her wings covering us like a cloak. I could hear Nerina's spell in my mind, strange words that I didn't understand. I peeked out from beneath the shelter of her wings at Jonah. He was still bound into the barrier, its magic undulating around him. His head was bent, his fur bristled, but his gaze locked on me, his fierce green eyes never leaving my face.
Oh, God, Jonah . . .