Matt Archer: Bloodlines (Matt Archer #4) (18 page)

“That’s…just wrong.” I gazed up at the “M” adorning the side
of the mountain and my breath caught. “In more ways than one.”

When we’d been in Africa, Zenka’s sketchbook had identified
the wielders as guardians of the five points of a pentagram—protectors the four
elements, and of light itself, the one they called the Sentinel. Based on some
of our major battles, Ramirez had been identified as Earth, Jorge as Water and
Parker as Air. But, there’d been some doubt as to who would be Fire and who
would be the Sentinel. Will and I were still on the hook for either role. Now…I
thought I might have my answer.

Jorge had given me an arrowhead once with an M carved into
it, a sign from him that I was a warrior, part of his people’s prophecy. Here
was another M, and this one pointed to something I wasn’t sure I was ready to
know.

“You okay, Archer?” Johnson asked. His forehead had
worry-lines wrinkling all the way up his bald scalp.

“Not really,” I said, unable to tear my eyes from Mount
Sentinel. If this was a sign—and I had no doubt it was—I’d be the one to face
the Shadow Man, the one who had to end the war, or watch the world burn if I
failed. Without noticing what I was doing, I thrust my hand into my pocket and
fished around for my St. Christopher medal. I needed something to hang on to.

“Guess I’m in charge of killing of the fire-breathing
lizard, huh?” Will said, sounding grim. “Assuming it ever shows up.”

“Guess so.” A heaviness settled across my shoulders, the
weight of the world. Literally. Uncle Mike always told me to face one problem
at a time, though, and right now Mamie was the priority. “Let’s keep going, see
if anything else turns up.”

We tracked across campus until early evening. At one point,
we noticed broken branches across a trail that led out to a hiking path that
headed southeast, but no prints. Whatever was roaming out here had stayed in
the grass, leaving us without a clue as to where it went after the killing
spree.

“We’re going to have to go deep if we want to find them,”
Johnson said. “They wouldn’t risk staying out in the open.”

“That’s what I’m afraid of. If they’ve taken to the
mountains, we’ll never find them without air support,” I said. “Think the
general will send a team?”

“Let’s take stock of our other options first,” Johnson said.
“We should get back to Colonel Tannen. It’ll be dark soon.”

“Wait!” Will walked over to the edge of the tree line and
crouched at the base of an aspen. After sifting through some groundcover, he
pulled something white from the choke of vines. “Look at this!”

He brought it over and all I could do was stare, not daring
to hope. “It’s a hair ribbon.”

“A
monogrammed
hair ribbon!” Will held it out in the
waning sunlight and pointed at the letters embroidered on the edge: MAA.

Marguerite Anise Archer.

“It’s hers! Mom gave her those last Christmas, just in time
for her to stop wearing ribbons on the ends of her braids. Mom gave Mamie some
crap about that.” I snatched the ribbon from his hand and clutched it to my
chest. “She must’ve dropped it as a clue.”

Johnson gave us a small smile. “Only Mamie would carry hair
ribbons with her to leave as clues. She really does think of everything.”

“Well, now what?” Will asked. “Take the trail and see if
anything else is out there?”

Johnson looked at the setting sun. “We’ll go a little ways,
then check in with the colonel.”

We started down the trail, scanning the ground for other
clues, any hint as to where Mamie had gone. If I lost her, I wouldn’t survive
it. And Mom would hate me for the rest of my life. I had to find her. Had to.

“Tink? Anything?” I muttered, kicking at a small bush to see
if any notes fell out.

Yes. She was here, but…she’s not now.

“I could’ve told you that!” I snapped, too worried to
control my temper. “Where did she go?”

I’m not a Mamie-detector any more than I’m a Geiger
counter!
Tink sounded equally pissed.
Look sharp. She’s a smart girl. I
imagine there’s something else out here.

Up ahead, Johnson stopped short and held up a fist—the
signal to halt. Will and I stood side-by-side on the trail while he climbed down
into a little gulley. After thrashing around in the undergrowth, he climbed
back up and jogged over to us, holding a tiny piece of paper.

It was a receipt from the university bookstore for a text
called
The Birth of the Universe: Essays on the Big Bang and Beyond.
Only my sister would buy a book like that and carry the receipt around with
her—a notion that was proved true as soon as I flipped the slip of paper over.

On the back were four scrawled words:
Headed north. 93
Bison.

Finally, a real clue. I allowed myself to feel a tiny bit of
hope. If she was able to leave clues, it meant she might still be alive. “It’s
her handwriting. She left this for us.”

“Ninety-three bison?” Johnson asked. “What does that mean?”

“The National Bison Range is to the north of campus and
Highway 93 runs up that way. She’s trying to tell us which way they went.”

“It makes sense that they’d go there.” Will said. “Easy food
supply and lots of lakes and rivers for fresh water. Perfect place to hole up.”

“Yeah, but why take Mamie with them?” I asked, leading
everyone back toward campus. “It makes no sense. Why not just kill her?”

Johnson gave me a strange look. “They want her. That’s the
only explanation.”

“But why? To get at me? Why not just come to Billings?”

He didn’t answer. Frustrated, I jogged ahead, ready to tell
Mike what we found so we could get on the road.

“Hold on, sis,” I muttered under my breath. “We’re coming
for you.”

* * *

The night was chilly but clear, with only a few clouds
racing high in the sky. Running up Highway 93 to the Bison Preserve, it seemed
like the road—bordered by mountains, wooded hills and small towns—went on
forever. A ribbon of gray, striped with yellow and white, extending out into
the night. The headlights illuminated the pavement ahead of us but didn’t
really seem to cut through the dark. We were about ten miles from the national
park, passing through a really wooded part of the mountains when a sense of
dread started to prickle down my spine. I scanned the highway, trying to figure
out why—then I saw it. Up ahead, a road sign had been knocked askew and a white
ribbon clung to the metal, fluttering in the wind.

Our next clue.

“Stop!”

Johnson glanced in the rearview mirror. “What—?”

Before I could explain, two dark shapes barreled out of the
trees and one of them leapt impossibly far, landing on the hood of the truck.

Johnson lost control and we veered off the highway, into the
tree line. The truck bounced over the grass, and he locked the brakes down, but
we still struck a huge pine hard enough that the airbags deployed in the front
seat. Will and I cracked heads and my seatbelt cut a welt into my chest.

Before I could even get my bearings, a huge mass fell on the
cab hard enough to dent it in. The ceiling brushed against my head. Another
blow like that, and it would crush my skull. I unbuckled my seatbelt and dove
for the floorboards. Will did the same.

 “What’s out there?” I asked. When Johnson and Mike
didn’t answer, my feeling of dread increased. “Will?”

“If I had to guess? We found our monsters.”

To underline that thought, another one hammered the front of
the cab, cracking the windshield and denting the ceiling so that it bumped
Johnson’s head.

He groaned and stirred. “Watch out for the pelicans.”

“Got his bell rung,” Will muttered. “Colonel? You alive?”

“I am now,” Mike answered, sounding groggy. “Why’s the truck
caving in?”

I craned my head, trying to see out the window. It was
cracked into a thousand spider webs. “Anyone see what hit us?”

“Other than that tree? No,” Will said. “We need to get out
of the truck.”

He was right. As much as I hated the idea of leaving cover,
if the beasts kept jumping on the cab, they could just flatten it and squash
us.

“We’re getting out,” I told Uncle Mike. “I don’t know how
many hostiles are outside, but Will and I are going to force our way out and
distract them so you can work yourselves free.”

Growls broke the silence outside and another shadow crept
out of the woods. If we were going to do this, we had to go now. I pulled my
door handle but the door didn’t budge. The whole frame had bent when the
monster crunched the cab, rendering the door useless and the window too narrow
to crawl through. From the soft stream of curses to my right, Will had the same
problem.

“Cut your way free,” I told him and went to work sawing
through the steel. Tink buzzed in my head, feeding me a slow, controlled stream
of magic. The knife’s handle glowed blue in my hand and the blade sliced
through the truck’s door like it was made of cardboard. Once I’d cut a big
enough square to squeeze through, I kicked the panel out.

By now, Uncle Mike had come around more. “Two at your twelve
o’clock. Another one at two o’clock. Don’t know how many are behind us.”

“Yes, sir.”

Will had kicked through his door and we slipped outside. The
moon was almost full, but I didn’t need its light. Tink’s gradual power-feed
had shifted my eyes into night mode, so I was able to appreciate how much
trouble we were in.

For each of the three shadows Mike had seen, at least three
more crouched low in the woods. Their silver signatures were bright and I
finally understood what we were dealing with. They were Bears, in the same way
the new and improved Dingoes had been Dingoes. This latest eclipse had built
better, stronger monsters. The Bears were ten feet tall, with hands like
catchers’ mitts ending in curved, hook-pointed claws, and sharp tusks jutting
out of their mouths. A few had breasts—the only sign there were females in this
pack. All of them were covered in shaggy fur.

We were downwind and their scent—charred wood and decaying
mulch—made my eyes water. The weird thing? Not one of them moved. They just
stood and stared. How could we create a distraction if they wouldn’t come after
us?

Okay, maybe a little trash talk was in order. “Hey, Ginormo,
why’d you crash our truck?”

The biggest bear, a giant male, bared his teeth. “We can’t
have you following us, wielder.”

The Bears I fought before could barely string two words
together; these were definitely the upgraded version. It made me uneasy. They’d
been wily even when they were stupid. I jerked my chin at Will. “Watch our
backs.”

Leader-Bear shook his head. “We could’ve killed you easily
just now. We don’t want a fight—we want to parley.”

Parley? Did he think this was a pirate movie? “Not
interested.”

“All we want is the girl. Our master would prefer we kill
all of you, but we know the girl is the prize, and we’re not so in thrall that
we’d trade our lives away so easily. Stop this pointless chase, and we’ll
disappear. These mountains are full of game and fresh water. We’d never trouble
humanity again, you have my word.”

“Tell that to the two women you killed last night,” I
snapped.

“We will be judged for those deaths, but they were
unavoidable. We had to have the girl and didn’t understand our own strength at
that point. They tried to fight us, and were more…breakable than we realized.”

Anger pounded in my temples. “If you know the girl’s
important, then you also know she’s my sister and the only way I stop hunting
you is to give her back or kill me.”

“And I’ll be right behind him,” Will said, his tone full of
venom.

The leader sighed. “We would prefer not to fight, but we
will oblige if that’s the only way.”

“Against two wielders who killed a hundred monsters in one
night in Australia?” I said. “There are, what, thirteen of you? Not good
odds…for you.”

The three Bears standing in front of the truck drew together
and whispered to one another. The Leader Bear nodded and turned to us. “If we
don’t retrieve the girl, our lives are forfeit anyway. We thought we could come
to a peaceable solution, but you leave us no choice.”

I tightened my fingers around my knife handle and time
slowed down. Two Bears behind the leaders were already on the move. On Will’s
side, four stalked out of the tree line.

In the space of a heartbeat, they were on us. Will and I
spread out, away from the truck, but keeping our backs to it, so nothing could
sneak past. Despite their claims for a “peaceable solution” these monsters came
claws-out and ready to rumble. One more joined the initial group and I was
forced to dance between them in a horrible game of keep-away to protect the
truck. Over my shoulder, a rifle shot cracked.

Leader Bear stood up straighter and held out a paw. The
bullet dropped from its fingers.

“God, did it just
catch
that slug?” I said, bringing
my knife up to counter a blow. The blade sliced through the creature’s forearm.
It shoved me hard enough to knock me down and I hit my head on the dirt.

Two Bears darted around me, heading for the truck. Seeing
stars, I staggered upright, but the Bear who’d shoved me waited and swung at my
head. Claws whistled through the air. Somehow I ducked below its arm. I was
moving slow, though, and it grabbed me again and tossed me a good five feet. I
landed on my side and skidded over grass and rocks. The Bear turned its back on
me and started for the truck.

Pissed now, I jumped up, hurt or not, and chased it down.
With an assist from Tink, I leapt onto its back and stuck the knife between its
ribs.

 One whimper and it fell.

More Bears slipped from the trees. Between them and the two
trying to gain access to the truck, I had no idea where to turn. A rifle fired
again and again, but it wasn’t doing more than slowing the monsters down.
Without ordinance, we were outmatched. I was dizzy from the blow to the head,
but I wouldn’t give up. Gritting my teeth, I faced off with the three
newcomers. They surrounded me, aiming kicks and punches at my chest.