Page 16

Hawthorne

I didn’t dare move. Enid’s hand gripped mine to the point of pain as we laid as still as possible and tried not to breathe. I listened, waiting for more sounds of the trees attacking but there was nothing but silence. Silence and the roaring of my blood pumping through my ears.

‘Thorne,’ Enid’s shaky voice cut through the quiet and I startled. ‘Thorne, I think it’s over now.’

Well, there was only one way to be sure. If we were taken then at least we’d be with Oz again.

Slowly, carefully, I sat upright. Soil and long, torn blades of grass fell from my body like they were a rockslide and I was a mountain, the noise soft in reality but echoed loudly to my own ears. I winced, my heartrate increasing as another round of adrenaline coursed through me and I had to work extra hard to keep the volume of my shallow breaths from drawing any attention.

My gut twisted with dread in that way I knew was a physical manifestation of my Clairvoyance, but my power was telling me that the trees weren’t a threat any longer. No, something more terrifying was coming and we needed to get ahead of it before it had the chance to catch up to us.

‘Get up,’ I ordered Enid in a firm tone that brokered no argument.

‘What is it?’ she asked, obediently following my commands. She knew well enough that when I said to do something it was best to just do it and ask questions later.

‘Something’s coming.’

‘More killer trees?’

‘No. Something else. We need to move.’

‘What about the others?’ she asked, grief colouring her tone. I could sense that he was still alive and I said as much to assuage her fears, but he was on his own now. Or not, if that purple guy truly had his back. I hoped so, but right now we had to focus on ourselves.

‘Come on. We have to go. Now,’ I urged restlessly. We were running out of time.

I helped haul her up the rest of the way to standing and held onto her hand as we sprinted across the meadow. My steps faltered when I finally saw the change, however. All the trees were gone, the meadow now an open field as the shadow of the trees moved off into the distance.

Magic twisted in my gut again as I ran the opposite direction and I stopped with a groan. ‘You’re not going to like this, Enid.’

‘Like what? Just tell me.’

‘We need to follow the trees.’

She cursed. Loudly. It roused the few others that had escaped the roots’ clutches and heads popped out of the ground like the Hun army after the avalanche in Mulan , mounds of dust and dirt cascading from their heads as they emerged. There weren’t many, perhaps a dozen or so of various races, but I didn’t stick around to count.

Enid and I took off in the direction my power was leading me, ditching those who didn’t follow but not stopping those who did.

A scream sounded behind us that was quickly cut off with a garbled, strangled noise like someone was choking. I didn’t want to look but I couldn’t stop Enid from turning to look over her shoulder. She stumbled, a whimper catching in her throat at whatever it was she saw and I couldn’t help myself. I needed to know what the new threat was we were facing.

What I saw didn’t make much sense. A black cloud, like pollen congealing in the air settled over the ones that hadn’t moved fast enough. It dispersed as it made contact with someone, settling into a stream that then poured itself into any available orifice it could find. Eyes, ears, nose, mouth, it was like they were sucking it inside themselves despite their frantic attempted to get away.

Black veins spread out from where it entered them, and even from here I could see their eyes bleeding into black as they choked on it, gasping for air they could no longer receive. They fell to their knees and heaved, then convulsed on the ground and contorted into painful angles as the infection took over their bodies.

I didn’t need to see any more.

Still holding onto Enid’s hand, I yanked her with me as I sprinted as fast as I could as far from the black smoke as possible. ‘ Move, move, move!’ I shouted out into the air, praying to the gods that those closest to us understood my words enough through my tone to snap them out of their horrified stupor and run.

A chilling shriek pierced through the air, followed by another, and then another. I didn’t turn to check if those that were infected were giving chase. The only thing that matter was the next leap, the next breath, the distance we put between us.

I lost track of how long we ran. When we felt ourselves begin to slow as exhaustion took hold we muttered a simple spell to replenish our energy to keep going.

The trees finally began to slow enough for us to catch up when the sun began to dip down below the horizon. I should have felt wary about entering wedging myself into their closed ranks, but I couldn’t bring myself to feel anything other than relief. The shrieking had long since softened to a mild echo in the wind, and I would rather be with Oz in whatever hell he was facing that go head-to-head with a malicious cloud.

I wasn’t sure how happy I was that the trees didn’t bother us when we joined them. They behaved as if they didn’t even know we were here, so I didn’t think we would be reuniting with Oz and the others any time soon. However, we were safe for now beneath their multicoloured canopy, their equally as colourful trunks now stationary as their roots dug into the ground to fix them in place.

Exhaustion pulled at me and I took the risk of sitting down with my back leaning against the trunk of a tree. We were deep enough inside their ranks that we could no longer see beyond, and though I knew it was a false sense of safety since we were still stuck in these damn trials, but I felt a little better at having the added barrier of the trees between us and that smoke.

Enid practically fell in my lap as she collapsed beside me, leaning heavily against my. I wrapped my arms around her, seeking the comfort we both needed.

‘What are we going to do?’ she asked in a small voice.

I sighed tiredly through my nose. ‘Whatever we have to do to survive.’

Without warning, my muscles seized and I groaned in dismay as the telltale signs of an incoming vision took control of my body. My eyes rolled into the back of my head and I began to ache as my muscles began to convulse, the reaction beyond my control. I felt Enid lower me gently to the ground and whisper soothing words in my ear, and that was the last I felt or heard before the vision sucked me in.

For the third time I was forced to endure the heart shattering scene of Juniper being intimate with another man. This one wasn’t as unusual as the others. There were no brightly coloured skin tones or rippling scales, but he certainly wasn’t human either. In fact, this one was remarkably familiar and it took a moment for the memory to resurface. He was one of the Fae that had been hypnotised alongside Juniper, one of the two that had walked out of the forest with her as they were pulled to the portal.

Long white hair that was falling out of its braids in the heat of their passion cascaded around their faces like a thin curtain blocking them off from the rest of the world. The tips of his pointed ears poke through that curtain that she reached up to caress. He seemed to like that, a deep, vibrating groan vibrating from his chest at her touch, and I wanted to hurl at the way his muscles bunched and sweat rolled down his pale skin as he thrust forcefully inside her.

She cried out, enjoying the rough way he fucked her and grabbed at him as she attempted to pull him closer. What hurt the most wasn’t even seeing her with another man. It was the way they looked at each other with so much awe and wonder, the love shining through so clearly as they came together.

I had wanted that with her for what seemed like my entire life. I could hardly remember a time when I hadn’t been in love with Juniper Olwyn, and now I had just been forced to watch her fall in love with three other men and none of them were me.

As the vision dissipated around me I caught sight of the other two in my periphery. Lilac and darkness watched over the couple lost in their passion. Which one would she choose?

It seemed an important question, like the fate of everything in existence depended on the answer. Why Juniper’s love life was so imperative to our survival I didn’t know, I just knew that her decision would make or break us all.

When I blinked away the last vestiges of the vision, my power sinking back beneath my skin, I was greeted to the sight of Enid looming above me. She had my head in her lap and was stroking my hair away from my face, a look of tender concern creating a deep V between her brows.

‘Hey, you. That was a rough one, huh?’ she spoke in a low voice, considerate of the wicked headache she knew I’d have as a result of the amount of power it took to receive a vision that potent.

I groaned, my entire body aching as I moved to sit up. She helped, supporting my back and helping me scoot back until I was once against resting against the tree. Sweat stuck my shirt to my torso, rubbing uncomfortably against my skin. My nipples pebbled through the material scraping painfully against my shirt whenever I breathed.

‘Here,’ Enid said as she held out a large leaf filled with water.

‘Where did you get that?’ I asked her, my movements slow as I took it from her hands and lifted it to my mouth.

‘Believe it or not, the trees.’

I almost choked on the cool liquid at her words. ‘What?’

Her answering smile was one of disbelief as she gestured to where more leaves lay filled with water, fruits, nuts, and berries. ‘The trees noticed you having your vision and they brought these.’

I glanced between her and the brimming leaves, then up to the tree I was resting against. Tentatively, I pressed a hand against a root that was poking from the ground and gave it a gentle pat. ‘Thank you.’

A branch suddenly descended from above, slowly reaching down to me where it ruffled my hair and then rose to rest facing the sky.

‘Holy shit,’ I gaped and Enid giggled. It was a sweet sound that caused the cogs in my brain to start moving. It was the same giggle as the woman I wanted, but it was familiar and comforting in its own way.

I looked at her then, really looked at her. Smooth, tanned skin dotted with the occasional freckle. A small beauty mark beside her nose and another one beneath her eye. Full, luscious lips I’d already had the pleasure of tasting. Her breasts were large and I knew from experience they were comfortable to rest my head on. And they were fun to suck on, too.

Guilt swamped me as her eyelids lowered, her eyes darkening with lust at my perusal of her body. I hated that my heart was taken by a woman who didn’t even want it. Who didn’t even know she had it. Not for the first time I wished that Enid was that woman. She was gorgeous and loyal, she knew me inside and out, and I trusted her implicitly. She was also in love with me, which was more than I could say for Juniper.

Her gaze hardened and her lips thinned when she noticed the change in my demeanour, already knowing where my thoughts had taken me.

‘I’m sorry,’ I whispered dejectedly.

‘Want to tell me about your vision?’ she asked, probably assuming it was a change of subject but in reality was just rubbing salt in the wound.

‘Which one?’ I asked, scrabbling for a little more time before I projected what I’d seen into the world. It would be more real then. Once I acknowledged it, I wouldn’t be able to take it back. I wouldn’t be able to pretend I’d never seen it.

She tilted her head to the side, the mind already starting to piece things together. She was too smart for her own good sometimes.

‘They were about her, weren’t they?’

I was suddenly very focused on dirt covering the hem of my jeans, but I nodded to confirm her suspicions.

Seeing my utterly defeated, pathetically sad reaction, her hardness softened and she placed a supportive hand on my arm. ‘What happened?’

I took a shaky breath in a failed attempt to ground myself, but I pushed ahead anyway. There was no point in prolonging the inevitable any longer.

‘I keep getting visions of her… with other men.’

‘Oh, Thorne…’

I hated the pity in her tone, anger rising in me that she felt the need to pity me at all. But I pushed it to the side. She didn’t deserve to have me take out my frustrations on her.

‘This was the third one. The third man. I think…’ I hesitated, struggling to get the words past the lump in my throat. ‘I think she has to choose one of them, but her decision will have an impact on us all.’

‘Wha… How so?’ she asked, stunned. ‘Why her?’

I shrugged half-heartedly. ‘I don’t know. I just keep seeing her having sex with these men, and none of them are Human.’

‘Do you know who?’ she asked tentatively.

‘The first one was that purple Deamon that tried to help us keep her from stepping through the portal. The second one… I don’t know, I think he was a Shifter but I didn’t recognise him at all. This last one was one of the Fae that walked out of the forest with her when the portal called to them.’

‘Shit… that’s… Fuck, Hawthorne, I don’t even know what to say.’

‘There’s not really anything to say. The Fates are laughing at me.’

‘You don’t think they want you to help her choose, do you?’ she asked, horrified.

‘I think that’s exactly what they want me to do,’ I muttered glumly.

‘No,’ she said firmly and my head snapped up in surprise.

‘No what?’

‘If it’s that important she choose out of these men, then I’ll be your middleman. You won’t have to talk to her about this at all if you don’t want to. I can’t relay any messages you need to tell her.’

I shot her a small smile, pleased with the way she was trying to take care of me. To protect me. ‘No, it’s okay. You don’t have to do that. I’m a big boy and I’ve known for a long time that nothing was ever going to come from my feelings for her. I can’t keep running from it.’

She eyed me suspiciously. ‘Are you sure…?’

I nodded decisively. ‘I’m sure.’

‘Well, the offer still stands. If it ever gets too much for you I can take over any necessary interactions.’

She released an adorable little squeak when I reached out to her and pulled her to me, my arms wrapping around her in a tight embrace. ‘Thank you,’ I whispered into her hair. ‘If it comes to that, I’ll let you know.’

I pressed a kiss to the top of her head and she relaxed into me. We stayed that way for the rest of the night. While we took turns sleeping so the other could keep watch, neither one of us let go. Neither one of us wanted to.