Warrior Everlasting (17 page)

“Next one, Ashra. Can you get me close enough to jam this thing in its chest?” She expected Ashra’s snarky comment about Scout daring to doubt her. There was no reply. Instead, Ashra tucked one wing and soared closer, coasting on the wind instead of using her own strength. For just one brief second, it was as if the demons didn’t exist, and they were back in Paradesos, Ashra diving through the sky, trying to cure Scout’s fear of flying by sheer force of will. The wind rushed through Scout’s hair, tangling it even more than it was, cooling the sweat at her temples. They were free.

And then Scout plunged the wicked curve of her scepter into the soul stealer’s chest, lighting the creature up with an internal fire as its claws ripped at her face. From behind, Trey did the same, shoving his scepter into its back as if he’d read her mind and knew her plan, without Scout even having to speak a word. They blew it to pieces.

“Three down, four to go! We got this!” Scout yelled.

Trey gave her a lopsided smile over the demon’s falling ash and blood before Torz swung away.

“What’s next, playmaker?”
Ashra sounded tired. So tired.

Scout bit her lip, scanning all the thoughts in her brain like they were files, desperately searching for a way to give Ashra her strength. There had to be something…

She came up empty.

“I can help, Scout. You just keep fighting. I’ve got Ashra.

Scout nearly sobbed as Lil Bit’s voice whispered in her head — in every battle she’d ever been in, when she hadn’t had the strength to keep fighting, when she wanted to quit or when she was too scared to go on, her sister had been there, giving Scout her strength, her will, her courage. And now when Ashra needed her most, Lil Bit was there for her, too.

Ashra’s head suddenly jerked, and her ears twitched as if looking for the sound, and Scout, scared, frustrated, and angry, couldn’t help but smile. Because she knew Lil Bit had just broken through Ashra’s barriers. It was as if someone had infused Ashra with just a little bit of light. Her horn burned brighter. Sparks flew from her wings and she nodded. “Okay.”

There were four more. Torz and Trey had one of them on fire already. Scout thought of using a conceal cloud and letting Torz and Trey take them all on in the blackness, but she was pretty sure Ashra didn’t have the strength to hold it.

“It wouldn’t work anyway. With their souls, they can see in the dark.”
Ashra didn’t sound nearly so tired now. Not her usual, sarcastically enthusiastic self, but not on the verge of collapse, either.

“Okay, so…” Scout said, feeling more hopeful than the situation warranted. “We’ll just have to work together with Trey. We’ve done it before.” She glanced across the sky at the boy she loved, torn because she didn’t want him in danger, but he was so
hot
when he was fighting, and, perhaps more importantly, they made a great team.

“Yeah. Teamwork. Go team. Rah, rah, rah. Let’s do this already,”
Ashra said drily.

Scout raised her hand to get Trey’s attention. He glanced at her, at her scepter resting across her lap, and nodded. Just like that, he knew what she wanted. What the plan was. She was such an idiot. What kind of girl let that kind of connection go?
A girl who got hurt and didn’t want to be stupid. You were just trying to protect yourself. But you didn’t need to.
She wasn’t even sure who was in her head now
.
Her voice and Ashra’s sometimes sounded interchangeable.

“That was all you, Princess. Get ready.”

Scout nodded, realizing belatedly that Ashra couldn’t see her. She lifted her scepter and pointed it at Trey. Thankfully, unicorn magic couldn’t be used on other unicorns. Scout wasn’t as positive that it couldn’t be used on other people. So instead she started praying like crazy that Trey really had read her mind. Her scepter lit. Ashra’s horn exploded in sparks. A rope of flames wound its way through the sky, straight at Trey’s chest.

Scout screeched.

But Trey moved just in time, his magic and Torz's combining in a rope of their own, threading through Scout’s and Ashra’s rope, making it stronger, brighter. More powerful.

And then the unicorns shot forward, galloping across air, fiery wings pumping hard. They hit the first two demons at the same time, clothes-lined them right in the stomach, and the force was so much it nearly knocked Scout off her unicorn.

Trey, too, struggled to hold on as Torz and Ashra pushed forward, their necks lathering, wings and hooves pushing them ahead, one inch at a time.

Scout’s arms shook. Her entire body trembled with effort, and sweat soaked her temples. It wasn’t going to work. The demons were too strong. They couldn’t cut them in half. It wouldn’t work. Scout wanted to hang her head in defeat, but she couldn’t because Ashra didn’t give up, and if Ashra wasn’t giving up, then neither was she. So she kept her chin up and her teeth gritted in determination, and she sent all her energy to Ashra.

Don’t give up. I’ve got you.

And then there was a snap.

It wasn’t as loud as Scout had been hoping. For all that effort, she’d expected something that would make her eardrums bleed, or at least not be drowned out by the other soul stealers’ wailing. But it was a little thing, actually two little things, as the creatures split in half, their bent, mangled spines severed in two.

Two more.

Scout wanted to cry. She had absolutely nothing left. All her earlier enthusiasm and electric anger was gone. Ashra’s wings pumped weakly, but the mighty unicorn was done, too. Torz and Trey couldn’t stay in the sky, either. They were slowly sinking through the air.

“What now, Princess?”

The remaining soul stealers screeched, their keening throbbing at Scout’s ears and her brain, and even her eyes stung. They dove, shooting past the stalled unicorns, racing to the ground, leaving a trail of blood dripping through the sky like rain. Their claws stretched, reaching…

Reaching for Scout’s family. For Trey’s family. For Lil Bit.

Suddenly, Ashra was racing after them, so fast the wind tore at Scout’s hair, and the wind burned her already stinging eyes. Fire shot from Ashra’s horn, leaving a trail through the darkening night.

Scout’s scepter lit without her even summoning it. She leaned low over Ashra’s back, hiding in her mane, and remembered a different battle when Ashra had nearly killed them to save someone else. When her speed had saved them all. As they raced through the sky, toward her sister, she remembered Ashra’s indomitable spirit…

Scout had a horrible, horrible feeling she knew what Ashra was planning. It wasn’t possible. She couldn’t. She wasn’t brave enough. She wasn’t strong enough.

“But I am,” Ashra said quietly.

Scout swallowed hard. Dug deeper for whatever courage she had left. “How can we…?

Ashra didn’t slow, nearing the leading soul stealers, where they had the unicorns trapped.

“We’ll save hundreds of lives, Scout. There’s no other choice.”

She really does have a death wish, Scout realized, her stomach sinking. Courage, where are you? “Are you fast enough?” Scout’s voice was surprising in its hardness.

“For a while.”

Chapter Twenty-One

“Princess, wake up! Not a great time to be daydreaming!”
Ashra’s tail whipped her, snapping her back to the present.

Holy snowballs. This really was a bad time to be remembering past battles.

She could feel Ashra’s breath coming in gasps as her hooves cracked the air around them, fast, so fast, faster than Scout had ever seen her fly before. Smoke trailed after them from her wings, like a falling jet.

The soul stealers were too far ahead. Too fast. Too close to Lil Bit, who was trapped in the canyon below.

“No. They’re not.”
Ashra lowered her head and put on a burst of speed, somehow finding the strength to give more when Scout had thought she had nothing left. They caught up to the demon, and Ashra’s horn lit with dangerously dark flames, nearly black with her anger, and Scout lifted her scepter, gritting her teeth and feeling her own rage fuel the fire. Their attack exploded, shooting through the sky and into the back of the soul stealer. It howled in pain, a shriek that felt like it would shatter Scout’s brain.

“Again!”

Scout found the strength she needed in her anger.
“Stay. Away. From. My. Sister!”
she screamed as they came parallel to the soul stealer, the attack hurtling through the air to slam into the creature again. And again. It crumpled, collapsed, folded in on itself as it fell to the ground.

By now Trey and Torz had caught up and were already shooting attacks at the other soul stealer, but it was too close. Tate and Liam stood in front of Lil Bit protectively, holding her behind them even as their transparent bodies shook with fear. But her parents, Trey’s parents…

Scout’s head snapped toward them as she heard her parents scream.

“Hey! Over here! Over here!”

No. No, no, no. They were racing away from Lil Bit, waving their arms, howling, anything they could do to distract the creature. To get it to chase them, instead. Trey’s parents raced in the opposite direction, doing the same thing, desperate to protect their families.

“Mom! Dad! No-o-o!” Trey screamed as Torz raced after the soul stealer.

Ashra swung around to follow, giving Scout a clear view of the sky behind them.

It was full of demons.

The dead black eyes told her they weren’t souled, but there were so many. They didn’t have a chance. And they were coming right in through the valley.

“Ariston has realized keeping you is more important than fighting Iros.”
Ashra’s voice had a grim finality.
“We’ve got maybe ten minutes before they get here.”

Scout’s eyes snapped back to the demon they’d been chasing, to her parents.

It was gone.

They were gone.

“Trey! Where’d they go?” she screeched.

He and Torz were flying in big circles, searching. He looked at her, utter desolation clear on his face. “I don’t know.”

Ashra flew closer so Scout’s screeching could be heard. “What do you mean you don’t know? You were following them!”

“I know that, Scout,” he snapped. “But I saw the horde coming and got distracted. Just for a second. When I looked back, everyone was gone.”

“There.”
Ashra’s bright horn lit like an arrow.
“There’s the souled one, joining the others. But he doesn’t have your parents.”

“Torz, take me down. Maybe my brothers know where she went.”

Torz dipped his wings, and they soared to the ground, Ashra following close behind.

Trey slid from Torz’s back before the big hooves had even hit the soft moss and sprinted over to his brothers. “Are you okay? Did they get to you—”

“Trey! Where’s Mom and Dad?”

“I don’t know. I lost them. Did you see—”

“No. We were trying to shield Lil and—”

They were all talking over and under and all around each other. Scout slid from Ashra’s back, her legs numb, and stumbled over to her sister, who still hid behind Tate and Liam.

“Scout? Mom and Dad are gone because of me.”

Scout wanted to crush Lil Bit to her chest, to stroke her hair and tell her it would be okay. But she couldn’t do any of those things, so instead she dropped to her knees and searched Lil Bit’s eyes. “Mom and Dad are out there somewhere, and they’re safe. They did it to protect you, Lil. Because they love you that much. But they’re super tough, right?” She tipped her head sideways until Lil Bit met her eyes. “They’re super tough, and they’ll never leave you. That’s how I know they’re okay. We’ll find them, and we’ll bring them home.”

Lil Bit’s bottom lip quivered. “Do you promise?”

“Yes,” Scout said fiercely. “I promise.”

“We need a plan.”
Torz was watching the skyline as it became darker and darker with the oncoming soul stealers. There was absolutely no way they could fight them all off.

“Run?” Tate asked, trying to be brave, trying not to shake. Scout’s heart ached for him as she met Trey’s eyes.

“We could hide. But not forever,” he said. “And we can’t hide all of them. There are thousands and thousands of souls.”

“I don’t care about the other souls! I care about Lil Bit. That’s all,” Scout cried, throwing her hands up. But the words felt like venom, eating away at her throat. She felt tears stinging the backs of her eyelids.

Trey’s eyes softened, and he raised a hand and brushed away the escaped tear with his knuckle. “That isn’t true, Scout. And you know it. You came in here to save them all.”

“And I failed. Aella is already dead,” Scout whispered. Aella’s beautiful, kind face flashed across Scout’s mind, and her heart ached more. Much more aching, and it would crack into a thousand pieces. That’s what happens when a heart is shattered too many times. Eventually, it starts falling apart too easily.

“You freed her. She’d rather be dead than locked in that cage for even one more day,”
Ashra argued, but she wasn’t looking at Scout She was watching the horizon.

Scout glanced up, too, wishing she’d see unicorns instead of demons. But it had taken her little group more than a day to walk this far, and they hadn’t been fighting things every step of the way.

“Iros will use part of his force to rescue souls trying to escape and take them to Paradesos where they’re safe. The rest will be trying to get to us,”
Torz said, seemingly reading her mind.
“But even with Havik leading them, there’s no way they could get here before the Taraxippus do.”

“Do we have time to look for my parents at all?” Scout asked, choking on desperation as she spun in circles, scanning the jagged cliffs and shadows for any sign of either her or Trey’s parents. There was nothing.

“By the time you run to the end of the canyon, the Taraxippus will be here.”

Trey sucked in a breath. “Scout. We need to gather the souls in this canyon and get them behind us so we can protect them.”