Page 49

CHAPTER FORTY-SIX

FRANKIE

“ELAN!”

“Who’s Elan?” I heard myself ask as I watched everyone else scramble for him.

“Their shaman,” Tenn answered softly as he sat me on my feet. “Their Bentley.”

“ Oh. ”

Koth reached forward but Everest held his hand up. “Wait. Back up. Tegan. ”

Tegan slid in front of us to lean over Elan’s eagle chest where smoke billowed in the air from his body. She held her pale hands over him, right over thick black sludge and ash clung to his feathers. Rainbow glitter sprinkled onto his chest and the smoke stopped lifting into the air but clung around Elan’s body.

“Tenn,” Tegan said without looking back at him or moving her hands. “Babe, slowly lift Elan off them and sit him on the ground but don’t move him far. Everyone else back up and no one touch him. Everest?—”

“Just get him off of me first,” Everest grumbled. Then he lifted his hand and wiggled his fingers. “I’ve called for Thorne. Go ahead, Tenn.”

“Dragons, please back up.” Tegan turned to Koth. “Please, tell them?—”

“ Back up, ” Koth growled. He’d already taken a few steps back, but the others hadn’t. “Now.”

Tenn waited until the other dragon guys had backed away then he used his magic to carefully and slowly lift Elan’s giant eagle body off of Everest and Saber and set him back down on the hardwood floor beside them.

Everest was already on his knees at Elan’s side, his pale hands hovering an inch above his feathers. Elan’s eyes were closed but he seemed to be breathing. Thorne emerged from a black hole right beside me. He frowned and then spotted the eagle and dove for him. Him and Everest were speaking Seelie to each other, I didn’t know the language, but I recognized it now. They held their hands over the eagle’s chest and did something yet I hadn’t a clue what was happening. The tones in their voices were sharp and worried.

The dragon guys watched intently, their legs bouncing and twitching to go to him.

Saber tried to rush over but Bentley held her back. Interesting.

Everest and Thorne dropped their hands. Everest turned to Koth. “Force his shift, slowly?”

Koth nodded and walked over. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath then held his hands out. The air pulsed then glittered around the Elan’s giant eagle body. As the glitter settled into his fur, his feathers faded away until a normal human-looking man lay in its place. The man had long, straight jet-black hair and deeply tanned skin. He was shirtless, wearing only some kind of brown leather pants. Every inch of his skin from the neck down had dark brown swirling lines.

Saber choked on a gasp. She covered her mouth with her hands as her eyes teared up.

Koth’s eyes widened. “ What . . . the fuck?”

I frowned. “What’s wrong?”

“Oh.” Everest’s face fell. He glanced back to Saber, but I couldn’t see his face.

“Who is that?”

“That’s not Elan?—”

“You’re not Elan?—”

“Where’s Elan?”

“Who the hell is that?”

Koth just shook his head, his jaw hanging open. He stared at the guy.

I looked around to everyone and spotted that they all wore matching confused expressions—-except for Saber, Bentley, Everest, and Thorne. “Guys? What’s going on? What happened?”

Silas crouched down by the guy’s face. “That’s not Elan.”

Thorne nodded in Saber’s direction. “Go ahead.”

She wailed and dove for him, sinking to her knees at his side. With shaking hands, she reached up and cupped his face. Words in another language spilled from her mouth. She cried and shook him when he didn’t wake. Everest rested the palm of his hand on her back. It was such a fatherly way of consoling her. I didn’t know how I missed it before. He whispered something to her, but she just cried and buried her face in this not-Elan ’s shoulder.

A deep, bellowing horn ripped through the night sky.

Saber gasped and sat up straight. “What’s that?”

“Help,” Everest said with a sigh and a small smile. He glanced to Thorne. “You called for him?”

Thorne nodded and looked to the sky just as another eagle soared towards us, except as it got closer, I realized it was gold—-as in, it looked almost metallic in color. The gold eagle had been nearly the same size as the other one but as it landed on Thorne’s shoulder it shrank down to the size of a regular pigeon. Even small, this animal was majestic. It threw its head back and that bellowing horn sound burst from its little mouth.

I was so busy watching the gold eagle that I missed Riah’s arrival until he appeared beside Thorne. His gold gaze was locked on the gold eagle. “Then next time you should wait for me.” Riah rolled his eyes and turned to the unconscious man on the ground.

Everest stood and shook Riah’s hand as he approached. They spoke in Seelie then Everest cleared his throat. “Thank you for coming.”

“Of course.” Riah crouched down beside Saber then glanced over his shoulder. “Orathain, would you?”

The gold eagle flew over and landed on Saber’s shoulder then nuzzled its head full of gold feathers against her face. She ran her trembling fingers over the eagle’s feathers. I had a lot of questions but was helpless to watch with everyone else. Riah pushed his hands into the man’s chest, silver magic billowed out around his skin. The black ash and smoke faded away until all that was left was a very human-looking bloody wound. A gnarly, hole in the chest kind of wound.

The man’s eyes flew open. Warm, chocolate brown eyes scanned all of our faces. Black lines spread across his face. His eyes rotated through every color in the rainbow before settling back on the brown. He sighed and closed his eyes again. “So that’s what this vision meant.”

Bentley snort-laughed. He walked over and crouched down across from Saber and beside Silas. He put his hand on the man’s shoulder. “I told you so.”

The man grinned and looked up to Bentley. “You’re too young to be that wise. It’s unnerving.”

“ Excuse me? ” Jackson snapped his fingers in the air. “Who the bloody hell are you? You’re not Elan.”

All of the dragon guys nodded and pointed to Jackson while keeping their glares focused on not -Elan.

“You’re Elan . . .” Koth shook his head and scowled. “But you’re not. I don’t understand what I’m sensing?—”

“Don’t.” Riah held his hand up. “The Unseelie magic forced you into your natural form, I cannot heal you entirely and you know that. For many reasons. That wound is too severe for you to shift or change forms.”

The man sighed. “ Riah ? — ”

“Do not fight me on this, little one.” Riah crouched down again. “I know you had other plans, but you made a choice today in taking that hit for Everest and now this is where we are.”

He spoke in a strange language.

Riah nodded then spoke the same language back. Thorne and Everest nodded with Riah, like they also spoke that language. No one else seemed to have any idea what they were saying or what was happening.

The man closed his eyes and took a deep breath then reopened them and looked straight to Saber. Those brown eyes glistened. He reached up and cupped her face in his big, tan hand. She burst into tears and dove for his face. The others looked to Everest, especially Braison and Malik—-who I hadn’t realized were even here until this moment. When Saber broke their kiss to cry and bury her face in his shoulder, the man looked over her head to Everest.

Everest shook his head. “What were you thinking? There was a better chance I survived that hit than you?—”

“Some risks aren’t worth risking,” he spoke softly. His eyes changed to a bright pink then back to brown. “You’ve waited too long to die now, right before it’s over.”

Everest crouched back down and took the man’s hand in both of his, squeezing it tight. “Thank you. But don’t you think of dying on us?—”

“I wouldn’t dream of it.” When Everest dropped his hand, the man ran his fingers through Saber’s black hair. “My secrets would start unraveling eventually.”

Everest stood and turned to Riah. “Will it be the same for him as the others?”

Riah pursed his lips like he was thinking about it. “Similar, but different. He will need the magic of his mountains to help him heal at first. Then he will need Issale.”

“Magic of his mountains?” Tyce scowled. “That’s not Issale?”

“ Appalachia ,” Savannah whispered. When everyone looked to her, she shrugged. “There’s magic in them mountains, ain’t no other talk’d ‘bout like them.”

“The Darkling is correct. From one Appalachian to another.” Riah winked at her. “Akecheta needs?—”

“ Akecheta? ” Koth flinched. His head whipped back and forth to everyone else like he was seeing if they’d heard what he had. “I don’t understand. No, wait, no. That’s no—-how—no.”

“My Lord?” Dace whispered.

“Akecheta was the first Shaman of Issale.” Koth put his hands on his hips and stared down at Akecheta. “Eight hundred years ago, minus a few months, a man named Akecheta arrived by escort of angels to Issale. Akecheta was our first Shaman. Our race’s survival is a product of Akecheta’s arrival.”

“I know the legend.” Silas narrowed his eyes. “Shifters are not immortal. You cannot be Akecheta?—”

“Oh, but I am. I am Akecheta.” Everest and Saber helped him sit up then slowly slid him over to lean against the wall. Akecheta let out a shaky breath as fresh blood trickled from his wound and slid down his bare stomach. The rest of us moved in close again. His eyes flashed different colors rapidly and those black lines spread across his face. “I am also Elan.”

“ How, ” Koth whispered.

“The what, how, and why I am is not a conversation for today. I am not yet free to divulge all my secrets, for the consequences of doing so would put other lives at stake. Lives I am not willing to risk.”

Saber squeezed his hand and held it up to cradle against her face. He stared at her with affection in his eyes.

Saber sniffled.

“OH.” When everyone looked to me, I blushed. “Sorry. I just realized—ignore me, keep going.”

Saber grinned. Everest frowned.

“But what I can tell you for now, is that Heaven saw you needed a Hierophant of your own but given the nature of Issale and her shifters they saw fit to make your spiritual guide immortal—-for reasons which will make sense later.” He pressed his free hand to his chest then flinched when he touched his own. “My name is Akecheta. I was born in the year 1200 in the Appalachian Mountains. When I was nineteen, my soulmate was fleeing a war and sought shelter with my tribe.”

And then he looked right to Saber.

She sighed.

“With her by my side, we traveled to Issale where we met Koth’s ancestors.”

“We’ve been through a lot together.”

Quite a few of the group looked back and forth between the couple and Everest, like they also thought she had been a girlfriend of his. This made me feel better that I wasn’t alone in the assumption.

“Then why . . . why—” Koth pinched the bridge of his nose, “—why have there been—- God, dozens —-of different Shamans? Have those all been you ?”

“Yes, my Lord.” Akecheta grinned. “Issale has never known a Shaman that was not me. For reasons we cannot yet discuss, but will soon enough, Heaven insisted I take a different form. To pretend to live a mortal life cycle and return to Issale as someone new. It has not been easy, but none of what any of us do is.”

Koth bent over and put his hands on his knees. “I cannot believe this right now.”

To my surprise, Silas chuckled. Everyone jumped. He shrugged it off. “Guess we know why Elan was so damn strange?—”

“Because he’s old as fuck.” Dace laughed with him.

Koth straightened like he’d been shocked. He narrowed those purple eyes on Akecheta. “Wait a minute . . . if you’ve been every shaman then that means you were around when my father?—”

“Yes.” Akecheta nodded. “Your father actually figured out my truth when he was a teenager. We were good friends. I have been anxiously awaiting the day you and I could speak of him—-and of what happened to him. But now is not that time, my friend.”

“Soon,” Riah added softly. He held his hand out and Orathain flew straight to him. “Tegan will portal you to Eden where you will remain until I say otherwise. Understood?”

“I assure you he understands,” Saber answered for him. “When you say, we will take him to Issale but not a moment sooner.”

Riah smirked. “I must tend to the students touched by Soneillon’s power tonight. I will come to Eden soon. Thorne, get back to Seelie.”

Then Riah was gone.

Thorne rolled his eyes. “I liked it better when I was significantly older than him. Covenlings, Everest, until next time.”

Akecheta grinned as Thorne vanished. But then the black lines spread across his face again.

“What’s that about?” I pointed to my face then to him. “It’s cool and creepy.”

“The lines appear when he has a psychic vision.” Everest glanced back to me, then did a double take. His eyes widened and his face paled. “Why are you covered in blood? Is that yours?”

Everyone turned to look at me.

I grimaced. “Um?—”

“ Francelina, ” Everest growled but I heard the panic he was trying to reign in.

I shrugged. “Long story short, I bit Soneillon’s thumb off.”

Silence.

Then everyone burst into laughter.

Everest closed his eyes and tipped his head back. “For the love of — why ?”

“I was very angry.” I patted my sais tucked against my right thigh. “Oh, I also sliced her across the face. Not sure if I blinded her but there’s hope.”

Tenn snort-laughed. “Why did you bite her thumb off though?”

“I don’t know, seemed like a good Idea at the time?” I frowned. “Wasn’t a whole lot of rational thought running through the noggin’ in the moment. She kept blasting me with all that rage magic and I went full Hulk smash mode.”

Everest was suddenly in front of me, taking my face in his hand. He moved my head around while he scanned me with narrowed eyes. Then he inspected my body. “Are you injured? You’ve drained yourself a great deal?—”

“Yeah, hence the thumb biting.”

I heard laughter behind him. Before I could make another joke, he pulled me against his chest and wrapped his arms around me tight. The second that cinnamon scent of his seeped through the smell of blood I never wanted to move again. I just cuddled into his chest and gripped his shirt on his back.

“My Lord, you and the Guard need to return to Issale.” Akecheta’s voice was firm yet soft at the same time. “They will call if you’re needed, or I will. But it is imperative you remain safe.”

Koth cursed. “Fine. But if I call you, answer your damn phone.”

“I’ll be ready and waiting, as usual.”

Koth growled.

“He’s right, Koth. Thank you for the rescue. Again. Please get to safety so we won’t have to worry about you,” Tenn’s voice held a different level of power in it than anyone else’s. “We’ll handle the mess here.”

I yawned.

Sharp pain pierced through my arm. I cursed and jumped back — and gasped. I wasn’t in the ruins of the cafeteria anymore. I was sitting on a couch in Coven Headquarters. Emersyn sat perched in her spot by the hearth poking the fire. All of the dogs lay puddled at my feet. I tried to wipe at my eyes, but my arms were too heavy to move.

“She’s awake!” Mei-Ling shouted.

I frowned and looked toward her voice to find her sitting on the couch next to me. “How did I get here? When? Why?”

“I brought you here.” Everest walked around the couch from behind me. He sat on the coffee table, our knees touching as he brushed his fingers over my face. “You fell asleep standing up.”

I grimaced. “Oh boy?—”

“You used a lot of magic in that fight and then the Prince siphoned some off of you.” Everest took my hands in his. “You’ve been out a little while now.”

“Where’s everyone else?” The living room was mostly empty. “What happened?”

“They’re in New York tending to the school and the students. Making it safe for them.” He cocked his head to the side. “What woke you?”

I pulled one of my hands out of his to rub my left forearm. “There was a sharp pain here.”

Everest gently pulled my arm out to inspect. We both gasped then leaned forward to get a better look. There on my skin, beneath my Tower Mark, were lines of elegant black writing.

“What does it say?” Mei-Ling asked over my shoulder.

Everest cleared his throat, then read the words aloud. “ Upon thy arm my word has come. To find the page crumb by crumb. On this night take thee rest, time comes near for thy quest. ”

My stomach rolled so hard I gagged but nothing came out. My quest. I’d somehow forgotten for a brief moment that I was taking a solo quest back in time. I had no interest in being Marty McFly though it was clear I didn’t have a choice. It didn’t make sense why I had to go alone. To why I was the only one who could sneak through Avolire to find the throne and the page. Hell, Braison had lived there. Cooper and Bentley had gone inside with me that night. They knew their way around.

“Frankie?” Mei-Ling squeezed my shoulder.

I jumped. “Yeah?”

“Do you have your bag ready?”

I scoffed. “Ready to time travel? How the hell am I supposed to know what I need?”

“I will see to the bag,” Everest spoke softly. When I looked to him, he wouldn’t meet my eyes. “Tegan and Bentley have already begun filling it. I will see to the necessities?—”

“Everest—”

“Oh, I also threw some stuff in there. Tegan said it was allowed.” Mei-Ling giggled.

“I think I know,” his voice was even softer now. “We wanted you to be ready at a moment’s notice?—”

“Everest.”

His gaze slowly lifted to mine. I saw my own fear reflected in the blue and white of his eyes. “You need not worry what to pack, we shall prepare for you. Right now you just need?—”

“Everest.” I leaned forward and let myself crash into his chest. “ Just hold me tonight? ”

He sighed then scooped me into the cradle of his arms. “Mei-Ling, tell the others I have taken Francelina to rest. If they need us, they can come find us.”