The Guardian (Callista Ryan Series) (19 page)

             
It was easy this time, probably because she was already so stressed out from being here. But within a matter of seconds, she had forced herself into the woman’s nearest memory.

             
Inside of the memory, Callie found herself on a ship. She was onboard, on the deck, and clutched at the railings as the boat swayed back and forth. Turning, she saw that the island wasn’t far off; she recognized the beach.

             
She looked behind her, and was shocked to find that it was the woman whose mind she was inside, only the woman was…wrapped up with a man. They were lying on the deck, uninhibited, aggressive. The man was human, from what Callie could tell. She looked around, and realized that this was a fishing boat. With a smirk, Callie understood that this was what the myths had been talking about. The Siren had lured in another sailor.

             
Callie felt her breath go icy as another Siren, the one that this woman was speaking to in present time, passed through Callie’s body. In the memory, this second woman landed on the deck, exactly where Callie was standing. Callie took a step away, disliking the feeling of having her ghostly memory-body invaded like that. The second woman began screaming at her indisposed friend in the same, harsh language that they had been using before. The friend quickly stood up, unashamed in her bare state, and retaliated by lunging at her friend and shoving her backwards, off of the boat. Then, like a fury from hell, the second Siren rose from the water, dripping wet, and flew at her friend. She clutched onto a piece of her friend’s hair, yanking it out completely, the bloody strands hanging from her fingers in limp lifelessness.

             
Callie felt the bark beneath her fingers in the present world. She focused on this sensation in order to step out of the memory, and when she opened her eyes, she was in real time once again. She looked with amusement at the two women sitting in front of her, talking as though they were the best of friends.

             
But something was wrong. The woman whose memory she had just invaded was looking around now, alarmed. Callie swallowed. There was no way she could have felt the intrusion…was there? The woman said something, not looking at her friend, as though she were sounding a warning. Soon, others began to congregate closer to her, looking around just as searchingly. Callie stepped backwards, away from the tree, careful not to crush any leaves under her feet.

             
But something crunched behind her, and Callie felt her blood turn to ice. She turned her neck, and saw a Siren descending from a tree branch, staring at her curiously. She landed loudly, and asked Callie a question in a language she couldn’t understand.

             
Callie felt sweat begin to break through her pores. This couldn’t be happening. Emeric had warned her what would happen if they found her; the very first thing he had said about Sirens was that they would break her neck as soon as look at her.

             
“I—“ she stammered, backing away from this Siren. But she bumped into something behind her, and when she turned, she saw that it was another one. For a heart-stopping moment, the Siren remained silent, simply watching Callie. In the next second, however, she opened her mouth and let out a maddening roar in some foreign tongue.

             
And then there were dozens, gathered in a tightening circle around her, their faces blending together in a terrifying array of anger. Callie began to breathe shallowly, unable to draw deep breath.

             
“Please,” she said. “I don’t…I don’t understand—“

             
“English,” one said. “She’s an American.”             

             
“She’s a
human
,” another spat disgustedly.

             
“What is she doing here?”
              Callie felt someone yank on her shoulder from behind, turning her around. She came face to face with a blonde woman, taller than she was, glaring down at her. “How did you find us?” she asked.

             
“She couldn’t have
found
us, Akisha,” one yelled. “No one has stumbled upon us in all the time we’ve been here.”

             
“She was sent here,” another suggested.

             
“Check her back.”

             
“She has no wings, though.”

             
“She may have buds.”

             
“A Guardian spy?” one asked.

             
“Check her back!” the other screeched. Callie felt her dress tear as harsh claws ripped it away.

             
“Stop, please,” Callie begged, feeling herself on the verge of fear-induced tears. “Please, don’t.”

             
Prying fingers pushed against her spine, tens of dozens of fingers, probing for wings that weren’t there.

             
“She has none,” someone said from behind her.

             
“They could have sent her still,” one replied. Callie looked through the throngs of women, beginning to hyperventilate. Through the masses, one emerged, stepping into the center of the circle.

             
Callie’s eyes widened. She knew this one. This was the woman with red hair that she had seen in Emeric’s cottage that day. Callie was amazed to see that along with the fire-red hair, this woman had pure, purple eyes, which bore into Callie now.

             
The crowds hushed, quieting now that this woman was in front of Callie. The woman pursed her lips, stepping once more towards Callie.

             
“Who sent you, girl?” she asked quietly. Callie shivered.

             
“No one,” she said meekly. She didn’t know what they would do if these women found out that Emeric had sent her, but she knew she’d be worse off than if she kept quiet.

             
The woman narrowed her eyes. “Do not lie, please. It is irritating.”

             
“I’m not lying,” Callie said, trembling. “I was…out, boating, and walked onto the island.”

             
The woman asked, “Where is your boat?”

             
“On the beach. Please, let me show you,” Callie asked, hoping that she could lead them out onto the beach, where Emeric would see them.

             
“There is no boat,” the woman said. “There is never a boat that passes by here without our knowing. I will ask you again: who sent you?”

             
Callie knew then that they weren’t going to let her go. It was the look in this woman’s violet eyes—cold, unsympathetic. Callie did not matter to them. They would not risk exposure by setting her free. She took a deep breath, and closed her eyes, making peace with what was about to happen. And then she stopped caring about what they thought of her.

             
The woman, seeing the resolve in Callie’s face, clutched Callie’s chin in her hand. She took a step closer, her lips peeling back in annoyance, and began to crush Callie’s bones beneath her hand. Callie reared backwards and spat in the woman’s face.

             
All of the anger that she’d had inside of her, anger towards Serena and Emeric and Alex, emerged full force. She wrenched her arms free of the restraining hands which held her, elbowing one woman in the face with stunning force.

             
Another swooped down and wrapped a hand behind Callie’s neck, and Callie, locating her attacker, shifted her weight onto her left foot before driving forward with her right, landing a brutal kick in the woman’s chest. A third pulled Callie’s arm so hard that Callie was sure her shoulder was tugged out of its socket, and Callie swung her arm around, using the momentum to thrust her fist into the woman’s eye.

             
They were moving in on her now, each trying to bring her down. Callie knew there were no odds that spoke in her favor, but if she was really going to die today, she wasn’t going to do so quietly. She felt a searing pain in her leg, and felt warm, sticky blood begin to pool at her ankle. With a scream of fury, she began to land her elbows and knees and fists into whatever flesh she could find near her. She felt the bones in her fingers snap as she landed particularly forceful punches. Her elbow hit something hard, probably a tree, and a firework of pain shot out of it. But meanwhile, she had scratched one woman’s face so hard that it bled, and had pulled one woman’s shoulders down as she rammed her knee upwards, knocking the wind out of that particular assailant.

             
She felt horrible and wonderful. Pain was radiating from every nerve ending in her body, but the adrenaline of finally being able to fight without fear, knowing it would all end the same anyways, liberated her from all the restraint she had used, not just in the past few days, but in the past four years. Every jibe she landed, every surface of skin she broke, every eye she blackened, was a small victory for the hermit she had been for the past months. And every time she made a woman cry out, that was a victory for the helpless girl she’d been for the past week.

             
She didn’t even realize when she began to lift higher above the crowds. She was still shrieking and flailing in wild release.

             
“Callista!
Callista!
”

             
Callie froze, stopping herself, catching her breath. She looked up, and saw that Emeric was holding her.

             
“Emeric?” she asked, looking below now. The forest was far behind, just a pinprick once again. “Wh—How did you get me? How did you know?”

             
“I heard the shouts,” he said, flying with rampant speed away from that hellish place. Callie saw Alex in the distance, getting closer each moment. But they didn’t stop when they had reached him. Instead, as soon as they had passed him, Alex began to fly with them at the same breakneck speed.

             
“She’s hurt!” Alex cried above the soaring sound of wind.

             
Callie felt it then; the honest burn of all of her injuries. The adrenaline was beginning to wear off, leaving her pain in its rawest form. She glimpsed her body, and was horrified to find that her dress had been ripped almost all the way off, hanging limply now around only half of her body. Her skin was leaking blood from every surface, and where it wasn’t, the flesh was blackened and purpled.

             
She whimpered in realization of the extent of it all, beginning to panic once again.

             
“Shh,” Emeric whispered, holding her more tightly as he sensed her fear. “Do not look,” he ordered. “We will be home soon.”

             
Callie felt the sky begin to spin around her; her head was light. She knew that she had only moments of consciousness left, and looked over Emeric’s shoulder at Alex. He was staring at her with a murderous look in his eyes, his anger flaring so brightly that she was afraid he was going to turn around and take on the Sirens himself. But before she could add this to her list of concerns, the world slipped from her grasp. It was happening more quickly that she would have liked. She’d always thought that when she died, she would have a chance for goodbyes. But there was no chance now, no time left. This was it.

             
“Emeric,” she mumbled.

             
“Shh, it’s alright,” he said. “Don’t speak.”

             
She shook her head flaccidly, needing to say it. She knew he’d risked himself to save her from that forest. It wasn’t his fault that he’d been too late. “Thank you,” she murmured.

             
He looked down at her, finally, with a mixture of surprise and guilt written across his features. He seemed at a loss for what to say, but in that second, Callie saw through his usual polite pretense, to a certain underlying defenselessness.

             
Her last thought before she lost complete control was that Maggie would have to bury another family member now, but at least she was going to see her parents. And then, without another second of warning, the darkness closed over her.

Chapter Eleven

Awakening

              The first thin
g
that Callie could feel was a distant, throbbing pain in her head. Slowly, she began to feel other, more prominent areas which required her attention. She hissed, even as her eyes opened, when she felt a sudden sting on her leg. When an unmistakable pressure was applied, she bolted upright.

             
“
Ow,
” she said.

             
Shay looked up dully. “Oh, you’re up,” she said, blotting a particularly nasty looking divot in Callie’s leg with a hot cloth that smelled like peppermint.