A Life Unexpected: Holly Nather Book One (Holly Nather Series) (27 page)

“Let’s just say his love life is…was
really
messed up.” Luke whispers back and rolls his eyes.

“Is there a story behind that?” I ask and Luke nods his head yes.

“Would you two, please, concentrate? I know you two are all happy to be back together, but we don’t have time for all that right now.” Brody says. Luke responds by pushing him back flat on his butt with his magic. We all start laughing, and that makes Brody even more annoyed.

“Sorry.” Luke says in between bursts of laughter.

“Whatever.” Brody says while brushing grass off his shirt. About that time, Arlo and Mallory come out of their tent. Luke and Arlo make eye contact for just the briefest moment.

“So what is the plan?” Arlo asks, and no one says anything. I guess Brody, Jett, and Mason are all on Luke’s side and can’t stand Arlo either. They are being so immature.

Jett finally man’s up and answers him. “We know that the King and Queen know we will be coming. They don’t know how many of us there will be, but they do know that Luke could kick everyone’s butt all by himself so I’m sure they are creating an army. Luke saw a vision that Lana and her parents were released and are helping them. We think it is best to go now. They already know we are coming so we might as well get it over with.”

Grrreeeaaatt, they released the psycho witch that will want to kill me first. Plus, his mom hates me with a fiery passion. I can basically count on her searching me out. Two against one does not sound like good odds. I was letting thoughts run through my head when Luke wrapped my hand in his.

“If any of you are not willing to risk your life for this, then back out now. I don’t know if any of us will make it through this.” Luke says looking at everyone with a serious expression, even me. No one speaks up, except for Mallory.

“Prince Luke… my parents are Edward and Amelia West. Your parents took them captive when they became ill and couldn’t work and produce wages for them. Did they kill them? Do you know anything about them?” Mallory’s hands are shaking, and she has tears in her eyes.

“That was a couple of years ago, wasn’t it?”

“Yes.” She replies on the verge of crying.

“I don’t remember much, because I was on Earth at that time, but I remember hearing about it from Jett. His parents told him about it, and he told me. I don’t know where they are now. They may still be in the prison, and they could be…” He doesn’t finish what he is saying. She starts crying. Luke wants to apologize, but Arlo stops him.

“Just save it Prince. You left Terre. You could have been here to make a change, but you didn’t. You just ran away when you didn’t get your way. Don’t even try to act like you care now.” Luke doesn’t look at Arlo when he says that; he keeps his eyes locked on mine.

Trying to stay calm but failing Luke says, “You don’t know how bad I wanted things to change. Just like I wanted my brother to have a chance to change, but he didn’t get that. Don’t even try to act like for one single minute that you even understand what it is like to be in my shoes.”

“Luke, stop.” Jett, Brody, and Mason all say in unison. Luke looks away from Arlo and at them.

“Mallory, as soon as we get rid of the King and Queen and whatever army they have, I will personally go and find out where your parents are. I promise.” I say.

As Mallory wipes away tears she says, “Thank you.”

“We should probably go. Is everyone ready?” Brody asks. Everyone nods yes, except for me.

“All this magic stuff is still really new to me. What is the best thing for me to do?”

“Just do the best you can.” Brody says with a smile.

“That’s not good enough.” Luke says and looks like he wants to punch Brody for saying that. “She will die out there being so new to magic. You know they don’t care if she dies!”

“We don’t have time to train her more.” Brody states matter-of-factly.

“Can she morph yet?” Mason asks. Now all eyes are on me.

“I haven’t tried…” I admit.

“Try.” Luke says.

“How? I don’t even know how to begin to morph. This is all so new to me.”

“She needs to feel threatened. It will be instinct for her to change if she can.” Okay, did you catch that Jett said
if?
That means it is possible that I can’t. Being the mortal who got magic kind of sucks, because it has never happened before. What would really suck is if I lose my magic in the middle of a fight. I’m on the verge of a mental meltdown.

“I’ll do it. I don’t want anyone accidentally hurting her.” Luke says, and then he looks at me and mouths
I’m sorry
.

All of a sudden I feel a large jolt in the ground beneath me quickly followed by stronger shaking. The shaking feels violent—making it difficult to stand up. I have never experienced an earthquake, but I’m positive this is what it would be like. I am trying to concentrate on steadying myself when a sudden, rapid and intense variation in brightness flashes before my eyes. Some sort of magnetic energy is suddenly released from Luke’s hands and headed in my direction. The temperature is rising rapidly and I’m not sure if it is my magic or the ball of fire getting uncomfortably close. I instinctively duck and miss it just before it can make contact. I look around and realize the ground is only shaking under me.
Get control of your thoughts…come on, you can do this!
I fall to my knees and place my hands on the shaking ground and imagine it becoming motionless. As the ground becomes still I concentrate on stopping Luke from his next attack. I make eye contact with him and he falls flat on his butt. Everyone is laughing, even Luke.

“Did I do that?” I ask sounding shocked and laughing.

“Yes!” Jett says while laughing.

Luke gets up and smiles at me. “Good job, but I don’t think you are going to be able to morph into anything.”

“Is that a bad thing?” I ask.

“No not really. It just helps to throw off your enemy when you do, but it shouldn’t be necessary. But the way you just fought back was great. You should be able to put up a good fight. Just be sure to keep your concentration on your magic and your surroundings.” Arlo says, and Luke gives him the evil eye for speaking to me. I hit Luke in the arm.

“Did you let me do that to you?” I ask Luke.

Luke shakes his head no and says, “I do believe I have finally found competition.” He kisses me and everyone starts grunting and groaning. I guess they don’t like PDA.

“Can we be on our way now since we know that your wife can take you down?” Brody asks.

“Hey, she did do that, but I did go easy on her!” Luke says trying to defend himself. Everyone starts laughing at him.

“Yea…sure you did.” Mason says while laughing.

Luke rolls his eyes. “Shut up and let’s go.”

ANTICIPATION. FEAR. ANXIETY.
There is not one word in the dictionary that could describe how I feel as we approach the castle. The immense amount of guards standing in front of the castle causes me to feel ill. I take a deep breath and look around. I do a quick head count of those on my side and of those against us.
This is not good.
My pulse picks up rather quickly, and magic begins to bring my blood to a boil. As the guards see us approaching, it reminds me of a fire ant mound. Even slightly disturbed, the ants will surge out in an incredibly fast rush. They can latch onto your flesh in just a fraction of a second—biting and injecting venom. I look to Luke for an answer of what to do next when suddenly we are engulfed in a dust storm. I gasp as the dust enters my lungs and start coughing. It takes me a minute to wrap my mind around what is happening when a wave of searing, burning pain sweeps upwards from my legs to my arms. A surge of terror takes over me spurring me into action.

I run without a clear vision of where I am going while screaming for Luke. Major problem—the dust is so severe I can barely see my hand in front of my face, how am I supposed to find Luke? Or anyone else for that matter? Thankfully, the pain I experienced a moment ago has subsided, helping me to concentrate on fighting rather than the pain. When I make my way out of the giant cloud of dust, I see Luke as well as everyone else in the middle of war. I start running towards Luke who is now screaming at me to stop. Abruptly stopping causes me to stumble a little but I manage to re-balance myself. I look up to see Luke grab a guard by the neck, forcing him down on the ground. Luke waves his hand for me to come over. Not hesitating, I run to him and throw myself into his arms. I know there is no time for this, but I can’t help it. Luke wraps his arms around me, holding me tightly against him. In our brief moment of peace I look around at the guards who now lay motionless on the ground.

Out of breath Luke asks, “Are you okay?”

“Physically yes, mentally no.” I say breathlessly while looking at the spark-lacking eyes and limp bodies now mangled and lifeless scattered across the castle grounds.

Putting both hands on my shoulders, Luke makes me pay complete attention to him. He is talking so fast; I almost ask him to slow down. “Holly what happened out here is nothing compared to what is waiting for us in there.” He points to the castle and then looks me straight in the eyes. “You have to promise me you will do everything you can to protect
yourself.
Don’t worry about me or anyone else. If you have to kill, do it! All I care about is you coming out of this alive. Do you understand?”

“Yes.” I lie. There is no way I won’t step in and try to help him if I need to.

Sighing and in a hurried voice he says, “I know what that look on your face means. Not even me, Holly. I’m serious. I will not watch you die. You have a life back on Earth if something happens to me. Without you—I have nothing. Promise me.”

“Okay, I promise! Now let’s go before they come out here!” I lied again. I will do everything I can to keep him safe, but this is neither the time nor the place to argue about semantics.

I take a deep breath and cringe when I think about what is waiting for me behind the castle doors. I am not prepared for this. Luke gives me a re-assuring nod that doesn’t help me to feel any better. No one is saying anything. I am sure everyone’s minds are going crazy, making them unable to speak. I feel like I need a motivational speech or something. Why a scene from the movie Pretty in Pink is going through my head right now, I’ll never know…but,
seriously
, where’s Ducky when I need him?

The king is standing at the doors with a fierce expression, the Queen by his side. We stop as we reach the steps. Luke is standing in front of us, with Brody, Jett, and Mason beside him. Arlo, Mallory and I are behind them. Luke says something to his father, but I can’t understand what he is saying. My nerves have overtaken me, and I can’t concentrate on a thing. All I hear is the loud thud of my heart beat, and I am trying to remember to breath.

“Luke, is this really necessary?” The king yells. Luke doesn’t say anything. He starts walking up the steps with us following behind him. I don’t know how my feet are moving, because my brain is begging them to stay put.

As we get closer to the king and queen, my magic feels like it is about to take a mind of its own and go nuts. The king smirks, and I believe he can sense my lack of control. He throws his hands in the air and, suddenly, each step I take is in slow motion.
What kind of spell is this
?

Positive that this spell is making us easy targets, I begin to panic. Luke is pointing at his head reminding me to concentrate. I’ve been a normal human being my whole life, have only had magic for a few days, and he expects me to concentrate? Easier said than done in the midst of chaos! The amount of magic being used by everyone is over-whelming. I’m looking to everyone, trying desperately to follow their lead, but I can only focus on each step I take. I start to attempt to get myself out of this spell when it is suddenly lifted and everything is back to normal speed. I fall to the ground from the sudden change in speed but quickly jump to my feet and give Luke a worried look. Luke squares his shoulders and with his hands creates a cloud of smoke aiming it for his parents—temporarily impairing their vision. I hear Luke yelling at me to run; after a moment of hesitation, that’s exactly what I do.

Luke throws both his hands out in front of him sending his parents flying towards the doors. They crash into the doors with forceful impact. Luke’s father immediately stands up and pushes back causing us all to plummet to the ground. We all quickly stand up and as if on cue—all of us send magic towards the king and queen with force so extreme that they go shattering through the wall and inside the castle.