Uninvited: A Paranormal Urban Fantasy Novel (The Dark Skies Trilogy Book Two) (18 page)

T
he two massive
creature circle each other, snarling and pawing at the ground. Raki is so much bigger than Tom.

Both animals are bound to protect us: Tom is my guardian while Raki protects Calliope

As the beast size each other up, no one knows what will happen.

“I can’t stop him,” Calliope says. “He feels threatened by Tom.”

“Sort of seems like Raki is the threatening one,” I suggest. “What will happen?”

Jax says, “Either they’ll become friends or…

Calliope finishes his thought, “Or they’ll fight to the death.”

They each attack, their bodies slamming into each other. In a tangle, they fall to the forest floor, rolling end over end, knocking down everything in their way.

“We have to stop this!” I plead with them.

I glance at Calliope and swear I see a little glint of pride in her eyes. My dark suspicions resurface. She wants Raki to win. She wants Tom dead.

“There’s no way we can’t stop ten tons of fighting Drolgons,” Jax shakes his head. “We can only stay out of their way.”

Tom gets blind-sided by the sharp sting of Raki’s tail. Raki follows up with a vicious attack that leaves Tom whimpering in the dirt.

But then suddenly, Tom rebounds. He springs up, knocking Raki off balance with his body weight. Calliope’s bigger Drolgon tumbles to the Earth.

The tables have turned. “Yes! Tom!” I cheer him on.

Tom has the advantage. He may be smaller, but his stamina is greater. He manages to get Raki pinned the ground. But Tom doesn’t kill her beast. Instead, Raki bows his head, and Tom steps off.

“What’s happening?” I ask, confused.

“Well, I’ll be! Raki’s become submissive,” Jax smiles. “Your scruffy cat just beat a Greater Valarian Drolgon twice his size.”

Tom allows Raki to get up. Defeated, the larger creature slinks off into the woods.

Tom turns toward me, and I’m about to run to his side. I’m so happy that he’s alright.

But before I get to him, a blast booms out behind us.

Tom’s hit, a wound in his side. He wails in pain and thunders down to the ground.

“He’s been shot!” I cry out to my two companions. But their faces show no emotion. Then I spin in the direction of the blast to see a horrible vision from my nightmares.

The Crimson Lord, standing nearly ten feet tall with his thick reptilian skin and metal armored uniform, emerges from the forest, holding his weapon. He’s terrifying.

I’ve stood in his dark presence before. And even though it was just a hologram-like projection, something about the Crimson Lord, felt real enough to rock me to my core.

But now, standing among the swaying pines, I see the silhouette of the massive Draconian moving toward me, and I realize, with terror in my heart, that this is no hologram.

This is as real as it gets.

The Crimson Lord, Ciakar Rigel, is here on Earth. After vowing to kill all seven of the Sisters of Light, he has found us. This is the worst possible case scenario.

But then the craziest thing imaginable happens. Out of the corner of my eye, I see Calliope and Jax reverently bow their heads and take a knee as he approaches.

“No…” I gasp. This can’t be happening. Jax has betrayed us.

The Crimson Lord speaks to them, “Rise. And be seen.”

“I don’t believe it…” I hear myself utter. I didn’t trust Calliope. But Jax? Not Jax. “Tell me this isn’t true.”

Their dark expressions and cold eyes betray the truth. Then an evil smile creases the corners of Calliope’s mouth. “I came to find my beloved and my betrothed.”

“The prince from the Fluxrun system?” I think back to Calliope’s words. I turn my disbelieving eyes toward Jax. “It’s you. And all this time I trusted you. We all trusted you.”

Jax finally has the decency to reply. “It is what the prophecy foretells.”

“What does it foretell?” I spit out at Jax, daring him to answer. “You traitor.”

“There can be only one.” The Crimson Lord levels his cold eyes on me like I’m a spider he’d like to squash. “And since you two are the last remaining Sisters of Light, once Calliope kills you, then she can seize the throne and fulfill the prophecy.”

“The only two remaining?” I repeat, shocked by this news. We knew that three of the seven sisters had been killed. But it was believed that four of us still remained scattered across the galaxy.

The Crimson Lord says, “The threat of the seven sisters is almost passed. And now, at last, only the two of you remain.”

“Yes, Lord,” Calliope and Jax respectfully reply.

“The time is yours to seize with both hands, my lost sister,” he says, his cape billowing in the wind. “You must slay the final plague if you want to rule by my side, Calliope.”

I guess that’s me - the final plague.

“But why?” I turned to her and ask.

“You didn't actually think the Alliance could ever defeat the Draconians, did you?” she asks and then shakes her head with pity. “Oh, how sad. You did. You believed the lost sister would somehow eek out a victory.”

Disgust fills me. “Lost sister. That defines you. You are truly lost.”

“Now, I am found. It is the found sister who will be the last standing,” Calliope says, plucking the chignons from her hair and transforming them into her wicked-deadly double bladed swords. “I have come to kill you. And kill you I will.”

I pull the umbrella from my back and spin it around as BrightSky comes sailing down, all shiny and gleaming. I can feel the metal vibrating, quivering with expectation as if she knows what is to come.

We circle each other. Meanwhile, the sound of the distant fighting is getting closer and closer to us.

Calliope attacks. Her two short blades are moving so fast I can barely avoid them. But if I’m going down, then it will be with a fight.

Our blades connects. The loud
ting
the metals make when they collide is almost musical. We go back and forth. Each strike is blocked and met with a counter attack.

Finally, she slices my shoulder. I feel a dull ache and see blood seeping through my sweatshirt. Now I only have one good arm.

“Prepare to die, Astrid,” Calliope snarls, seeing that I am at a disadvantage. “If only you had listened to your teachers. You had two great teachers, yet you squandered your opportunity to learn from them.”

“Shut up!” I bite back, but in my heart, I know what she says is the truth. I never took my weapons training as seriously as I should have. I never knew that I would need it.

With renewed strength, I surge forward. My advances force her to back up.

But it doesn’t take long for her to regain her composure. She almost takes my head off with her blades, and I’m forced to duck. This causes me to drop BrightSky. She kicks it out of my grasp.

All the while, the Crimson Lord watches. He does not step in. “End her and let the new era begin, Lost Sister!”

I’m now unarmed. With fire in her eyes, she raises her short blade, preparing to plunge it into my heart.

“Do it!” Jax yells to her.

Just as I close my eyes, a shot rings out, and the short blades fly from Calliope’s grasp.

We all turn to see a dark silhouette standing in the shadows. He steps forward into the clearing.

It’s Chad Olson.

His head is still bandaged, but his eyes look bright, and he seems strong.

I use the diversion to sweep my legs out and trip Calliope. Then I scramble away, out of the reach of her deadly blades.

“Come on Astrid!” Chad calls out just as Fitz’s team comes streaming in behind him.

When I turn to look back, Calliope, Jax, and the Crimson Lord are gone.

An instant later, a small Draconian pod shoots up into the sky.

“They got away!” I call out.

Like they’re one hive-mind, the gunfire around us goes quiet. We see streaks of light zoom off into the air. The battle is over. The alien threat is departing.

As the smoke from the battle clears, we return to the spot where Tom fell. I fear the worst, but he stirs and lets out a small growl, so I know that he’s at least still alive.

“They’re gone,” Chad says, kneeling at my side.

“But so is BrightSky,” I say, with pain in my heart. Without my sword, I can’t defend myself. I can’t open the Stargate. It is the one thing that defines one of the Seven Sisters of Light. “I would have been better off to have lost my arm.”

“No,” Chad says and pulls me into a hug. We stand like that for a long time.

My tears fall on his shoulder.

“They may be gone,” Chad begins, gently helping me to my feet. “But you’re still here. And that’s the most important thing.”

I nod, as we begin the slow walk back toward the monastery.

T
hree days later
, I'm out of bed before dawn breaks. I dress quietly so as not to wake Ruby. I reach for BrightSky before I remember that she's gone. I’m like an amputee who still feels their lost limb.

In the cold, quiet morning, I walk across the compound to the darkened gym. Everyone at St. Benedicts is still recovering from the attack. We’re to be relocated soon. No one knows where.

The cut on my shoulder hasn't healed. But I can't afford to wait to continue my training. For the first time in my life, I'm taking it seriously. Now that I know that not only my life depends on it, but the fate of so many depends on it.

I’m still reeling from Jax’s betrayal. None of us saw it coming. I’ve spent the last few days trying to think back to see if there were any signs, any hints that he was working for the Swarm. So far, I can’t think of anything. Somehow, that frightens me all the more.

Chad is now in the medical ward. He’s been released from the underground infirmary where he was initially held. The bug in his head is still there, but so far remains inactive. Coming to my rescue set his recuperation back by a couple of weeks, but he’s expected to make a full recovery.

For now, Chad, Ruby and I all have to stay in the protective custody of the Eye in the Sky organization.

The gym is still dark and quiet when I enter. Tyler and Jake have taken over my training. They almost always arrive before I do.

I reach to flip on the lights as a voice cuts through the darkness, “Proud to see you working so early, my girl.”

I nearly jump out of my skin. “Uncle?”

This is the first time I've seen him out of bed since we arrived. He sits calmly on a stack of mats with two tattered wooden bow staffs resting by his side.

“I'm so happy to see you up.”

“Dr. Maggie said it’s about time I get some exercise,” he says, throwing one of the bow staffs at me.

I catch it and freeze.

“What’s wrong?” he asks as he stands.

An overwhelming sense of defeat fills me. “It’s just… I have failed you in every possible way. You’ve risked your life for nothing. You were almost killed for nothing.”

“It was not for nothing,” he shakes his head. “I would do it all again. A thousand times over.” He stands and pulls me into a protective embrace. “Even though you are not my child by blood, I have loved you as much as any father has ever loved any daughter. You are my chosen. You are 100% a princess. Don’t forget it. You are a Sister of Light.”

Tears fill my eyes. “Thank you.”

“I have sworn an oath to train you. And I shall see that you — Astrid of Lyria, Master of BrightSky, Princess of the Council of Light — are the last sister standing.”

I raise my bo staff. It’s not my gleaming sword of stardust, but it will do for now.

One thing is for certain — they will come for me again. The Draconian Swarm and the Grey Menace will not stop. But, next time, I will be ready.

“I want BrightSky back,” I tell him.

Ready to restart my training, he steps forward into his familiar fighting stance. “Then let’s go get it.”

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L
ysa Daley is an author
, book reader, dog wrangler, karate blackbelt, cat lady, ballet school dropout, coffee addict, and french fry expert. Not necessarily in that order.

At this very moment, she is holed up in her tiny garden office finishing the final book in the
Dark Skies Trilogy
entitled UNDONE.

She lives in sunny California with her family of muggles and non-magical creatures. There’s a rumor that she used to be a Hollywood screenwriter. She will neither confirm nor deny.

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