Authors: Bella Forrest
“
U
gh
. Where the hell are they?” I hissed to Kailyn. My nerves were fraying and this blasted jungle heat was doing nothing to help my temperament. As capable as I was of wielding fire, I couldn’t stand this level of humidity. And it wasn’t like we could thin ourselves either. We needed to stay at least somewhat visible to make it possible for one of the missing to spot us.
We had been searching for miles through these jungles, looking for Ben, Grace, Horatio and my brother, all the while witnessing the leaves of the trees surrounding us wither before our very eyes—the smoke seemed to be affecting all green plant life, not just the peach-colored trees.
It felt like we would be searching for a hundred miles more before we ever found them. It was like they had just… vanished.
“Maybe we should return to the portal,” Kailyn muttered, wiping a sheen of sweat from her brow with the back of her hand. “It’s possible that they found their way back and have already returned to Bermuda.”
I supposed that was a possibility. In any case, I was out of ideas and patience. “All right,” I said, exhaling in frustration. “Let’s head back.”
We turned back on ourselves and whizzed through the toxic fog. But we didn’t make it as far as the portal. We crossed paths with Ben and Horatio as we reached the clearing where the IBSI kept their machinery. Now, I could hardly make out the machinery through the smog.
Ben gazed from me to Kailyn, wide-eyed and worryingly expectant.
Then the same question blurted from my mouth and his simultaneously:
“Where’s your father?”
“Where’s my father?”
We gaped at each other, our jaws dropping.
“He’s not with you?” Ben asked in an almost accusatory tone. A tone I really did not appreciate in this moment.
“No! He’s not with us!” I shot back. “We thought he was with you!”
The four of us stared at each other, speechless for several moments.
“Maybe he returned through the portal,” Kailyn said. “Like I suggested before.”
“No,” Ben replied. His throat sounded tight with worry. “He hasn’t.”
“How do you know that?” I asked him. “Where have you guys been?”
“We went with Grace to find Lawrence,” Ben replied, “But that’s a long story. We just came from the other side of the portal—we spoke to Safi. She’s returned to The Shade with Grace now, but she has no idea where my father is.”
Oh, great. That’s. Just. Great
. I supposed I ought to feel grateful that at least we could cross Ben, Horatio and Grace off our list of missing persons… But my brother still being lost hardly allowed me to appreciate the relief.
“So we have to keep looking,” Kailyn said firmly. “He must be on this side of the portal, in Aviary, if he hasn’t passed through.”
“Keep looking
where
?” I whispered, gazing cluelessly around the treetops. “He could be anywhere in this place.”
“Maybe the hunters got him,” Horatio said in a low tone. He voiced what we were all too afraid to think of.
My fists clenched. I sure hoped that Horatio was wrong. If the hunters had found Derek, I doubted that he would still be alive by now, after everything my brother had led the League to do in The Woodlands and The Trunchlands…
“We just have to keep moving,” Ben urged. “And we should split up again. You and Kailyn stick together, I’ll go with Horatio.”
And so we parted ways, either party turning in opposite directions. Kailyn and I continued forging ahead through the sweltering heat in search of him.
Hold on, little brother. Wherever you are, hold on…
M
y head felt
close to exploding as consciousness slowly returned to my brain. I became aware of a strong gust of wind blowing over me, prickling the hairs on my arms. Beneath me was something sharp.
Lifting my eyelids felt like the fight of my life. As my vision came into focus, directly above me was a ceiling made of jagged rock, uneven walls surrounding either side of me. I was lying on layers of twigs. Layers that were molded in a curved fashion, like the shape of a giant basket… or a nest.
What the…
I flinched as I struggled to raise my head. It felt like a brick. A splitting headache seared in my skull. Sitting upright, I spotted the source of the light that trickled into the cave—an oval entrance that looked out over an ocean of trees.
I rubbed my head and blinked rapidly, trying to remember what the heck had just happened.
The green gas. That’s right. Then the choking. The blackout.
It was clear here; the air smelt pure. I supposed that was why I had woken up in the first place; the effects of whatever that smoke was must have faded.
I glanced down at my arms and the rest of my body. My pants were thoroughly torn, and as for my shirt, I might as well have been wearing none.
Gripping the edge of the strange bed of twigs, I slid myself out of it before standing on unsteady feet. Slowly, I approached the entrance. I stopped just before the sun’s rays could hit me directly. Outside was a narrow ledge. I was among the heights of one of Aviary’s mountain ranges.
God. What happened to everyone else? Sofia
. She had been right next to me. And Rose. Vivienne. Almost every one of my family members had been with me in that tree.
Why am I alone now?
That was somehow a more chilling thought than how I had gotten up here in the first place.
I grimaced as I stared out at the sunny landscape. Being human would have come in handy. I could have begun my descent down the mountain without fear of being burnt to a crisp. But it seemed I would have no choice.
I had to find the others.
Steeling myself, I swept out of the cave and into the sunlight. The rays immediately dug into me like lasers. But I had experienced this agony before. More times than I could count.
It’s nothing I can’t handle. I just have to get to the ground
. Once I had reached the foothills and reentered the jungle, it would be easy to find shade. Though I had to avoid that smoke again at all costs. Hopefully, it wouldn’t have spread so far.
My skin frying, sweat dripped from my hairline as I began lowering myself down the face of the cliff as fast as my still-unsteady limbs could manage.
Then I heard a familiar sound.
A resounding, deep-throated squawking coming from somewhere above me. I recognized that noise from when I had been waiting among the treetops with my family. It had blasted overhead.
Something told me that I did not want to look up.
Instead, I cast my eyes downward at the steep drop that still remained beneath me. Squinting in the sunlight, I attempted to gauge where I might land while keeping injuries to a minimum, since the foothills were spiky and uneven.
As the squawking multiplied and grew closer—I suspected at least two creatures to be above me—I let go of the cliff and went hurtling down in a gut-clenching freefall.
My feet touched down amid a pile of rocks, the force of the landing sending a tremor from the soles of my feet up to my skull. I bit my tongue against the pain of the sun’s rays as I raced forward, my vision tunneling in on the borders of the jungle.
But as fast as I raced, before I could reach the beginning of the trees, broad wings fluttered across my vision. The next thing I knew, a giant feathered bird had planted itself in front of me, blocking off my path. Its beak was long and hooked at the end, perfectly engineered for tearing into meat. Its wide wings were as green as envy, its eyes were slanted and beady black. One of the many dangerous resident species here in Aviary. Apparently, I was its meal.
Extending my claws, I lashed out. It screeched as I caught the tender flesh of its rounded breast, creating a line of blood. But it in no way relented. Then a second feathered beast dropped down next to it, almost identical in size. The two beat their wings, creating a dust storm, before swooping down on me at once with speed no ordinary bird would possess. Their gnarled talons wrapped around my shoulders and arms. I couldn’t fight them off before they beat their mighty wings and raised me into the sky.
These must have been my “saviors”. The birds must have found me after falling unconscious from the green gas among the trees. They’d taken me back to their lair in the mountaintops… But I couldn’t understand why they hadn’t killed me already. I was a vampire, after all. I would’ve thought, after what Cruor did to this realm, every species would be instinctively opposed to vampires.
I continued struggling and thrashing in vain as the birds soared with me exactly the way I’d just come, up the mountainside. They touched back down outside the cave. When they released me, I dropped to the ground and immediately lurched to leap off the cliff again, but they closed in on me before I could, cornering me against the entrance and making it clear they wanted me back in the cave.
I tried to lurch forward again and slip through the gap between my two unwanted wardens. I needed another chance to dive down the mountain and reach the jungle, where I would have a better chance of escaping from them, finding somewhere to hide. But I didn’t even make it to the edge of the small plateau. The second bird, whose beak was tinged reddish, grabbed me with a single talon and shoved me roughly toward the entrance of the cave.
I reluctantly acquiesced, backing just a little into the cave, only so that I could get a brief reprieve from the sun. I felt utterly confused as I stared at my two captors. They were still making no move to dig into me, tear me apart. They just wanted me in this cave. Maybe they planned to save me for dinner.
The red-backed bird fluttered its heavy wings and clicked its beak, drawing me still further inside.
I had two choices now. Continue my attempts to get past them, or obey their wishes and remain at the back of this cave, and wait.
I didn’t think that I could suffer the latter, so I tried five times more to steal through the gaps between and on either side of them, but each time was a failure. They were both four times my size, and managed to grab me and thrust me back to the cave every time. These strange wardens were not letting me go. So, as much as it killed me, I wasn’t sure what else I could do but obey, and reseat myself on the twig nest at the back.
“What the hell are you playing at?” I grunted in frustration. Of course, these were not the supernatural creatures we called Hawks, so they could not respond to me. These birds, as sharp as they were, were still animals.
I found myself gazing around the interior of the cave, hoping to spot any kind of hole, or crack, or
something
that I could slip into to escape. There was nothing. Just solid, jagged walls of rock. The only way out was ahead, and they remained protecting it like guards.
It being cooler back here, at least I was in less pain. My fried skin had already begun to heal.
I tried to steady my breathing and calm my mind. Perhaps I would just have to play their game for a while. Whatever this game was exactly. Maybe I would even have to wait until they fell asleep, or at least one of them rested, making my chances of escape less slim.
If only I had my fire…
And so I waited. My eyes never leaving the birds, I watched for even the slightest moment of weakness, of inattentiveness.
I saw my chance sooner than expected. I had no way of telling the time, but I suspected less than an hour had passed. The birds ruffled their feathers and, to my surprise, took off into the air at once. It was like they had gotten bored of waiting, lost interest in me. Not skipping a beat, I leapt from the nest and darted to the entrance, the sun once again piercing my skin and impairing my vision. But I barely felt the pain. Relief overwhelmed me as I raced to the edge of the cliff. I was about to leap off when a voice spoke.
“Hold your stance.” It was a scratchy male voice.
I froze. Taking one step back away from the edge and turning slowly, I found myself standing face-to-face with a group of men, who looked almost human except for the wings sprouting from the backs of their shoulders and sharp beaks where their noses and mouths should have been.
A flood of memories washed over me. Of all the supernatural creatures I had come across in recent years, during missions with the League, I had not seen a Hawk for decades. I believed the last one I’d seen in the flesh had been my father-in-law, Aiden, before the witches had managed to sort him out. That was when Rose and Ben were still children.
“Who are you?” I asked.
“My name is Tidor, second cousin of Arron the Great,” the man standing closest to me at the front of the group responded. His eyes were coral in color, his wispy hair dark brown.
Arron the Great.
I grimaced internally. That Hawk had been many things, but great wasn’t one of them. I despised the man, even after his death, given his history with my family, The Shade and Earth in general. Though I should have been at least a little grateful to him, I supposed, for having provided my son with a vial of liquid that ended up saving his soul—even if that had not been the Hawk’s intention.
“And are you responsible for bringing me here?” I asked, even as I found it odd that he didn’t ask me my name in return. I got the sense that they already knew exactly who I was, recognized me somehow, even though I was sure I had never met these Hawks personally.
“Not exactly,” Tidor replied. “Although the two birds who carried you here are our scouts—our foragers and spies, ever since the humans set foot in Aviary.”
I raised a brow while shuffling back to stand beneath the shade of the cave’s entrance to save my boiling skin. “You are so afraid to forage and spy yourselves that you send your pets in your place?” I asked. “Are you so afraid of mere humans?”
Tidor’s face darkened. “They are not mere humans,” he responded, clipped.
I supposed he was right. More and more of the hunters these days were being injected with whatever powerful drug they had developed that caused them to become fast and tough like supernaturals.
“In addition, they have brought with them fire-breathing mutants,” Tidor added.
Ah, yes. Those cuddly things.
Still, the Hawks ought to at least
try
.
“But they are invading your homeland,” I countered. “You might be weakened and diminished in numbers—as I have heard—but have you no pride left for your country? No courage?”
Tidor’s coral eyes narrowed, as if he was incensed by my words. “I suggest you keep such questions to yourself if you wish to remain with your neck intact.”
As intimidating as their appearance was, I wasn’t afraid of them. I found it difficult to experience fear for men who wouldn’t even attempt to hold their own ground.
“How many of you are left?” I couldn’t help but ask. “And where do you live now that your city has been overtaken?”
“We abandoned that city long ago,” Tidor spat, still seething from my insult. “And it is none of your business how many of us are left.”
I frowned at him, then cast my eyes over the stretch of jungle beneath us. I shrugged and let out a sigh. “Well, since you seem to have no interest in conversing with me, I wonder why you had your pets scoop me up in the first place? And why me?” I added, my mind returning to my family. I had been hoping that the Hawks would not have been so hostile. As much as I distrusted them, I desperately needed to find my family. Flying would be the best and fastest way to do that, especially if the jungles were still blanketed with that toxic smoke. I wouldn’t be able to travel on foot if they were—at least not for long. But I wasn’t sensing any leeway with these Hawks, so it didn’t seem like I had a choice but to venture out alone.
“Our foragers were searching for food,” Tidor replied. “Not that your vampire flesh is worthy of eating… for us, anyway,” he added. “I suppose you caught their eye as the largest piece of meat.”
I held Tidor’s glare a few moments longer, then turned my back on them all, even as I wondered if they would try to stop me. “Well,” I muttered beneath my breath. “I won’t take up your precious time any longer. You obviously have far more pressing matters to attend to than the invasion of your country…”
Leaving my words hanging in the air, for the second time in the span of a few minutes I was about to leap from the cliff. But I found myself stalling yet again as a different Hawk cleared his throat and spoke up. “Wait.” He was the Hawk who’d been standing on the right side of Tidor. He shared the same murky brown hair, though his eyes were closer to yellow than coral. “I am Killian,” he said, stepping forward. “And I must say what my brother is too proud to say.” Tidor scowled, looking anywhere but in my direction. I looked this new Hawk deep in the eyes.
Brother of Tidor.
“Perhaps you will then also explain to me the reason why you have kept a vampire like myself alive?” I said. “I assume you were aware of my presence before I woke, and were waiting for me to come to.”
Killian nodded, glancing furtively at his brother.
“We have heard,” he began, “via acquaintances in other lands, what you and your comrades did to these human brutes in both The Woodlands and The Trunchlands… Novak,” he said, resentment in his tone, “We are weak. Weaker than you might think. There are several hundred of us left, but although our bodies might look intact and capable of war… our minds are not.”
I crossed my arms over my chest, scrutinizing the man in front of me. I knew desperation in a person’s eyes when I saw it, and this Hawk’s were swimming in it.
“Go on,” I said.
Killian swallowed. “Since Arron died, our people have lost faith. There is no single Hawk among us—neither myself nor Tidor—who commands the respect required of a leader. Of a commander to lead them to battle. Since Arron’s death, every one of us has migrated to the northernmost tip of Aviary, where we live simply to survive. None of us has ever shown the competence that Arron once showed. And all of our other leaders who commanded respect alongside him died many years ago in the war that wrecked our spirits. As much as my brother and I have attempted to find ways to embolden them again, we have…” His voice trailed off as he exhaled heavily. “We have no sway among them.” Killian’s fists clenched at the admission. Tidor looked like he wanted to punch his brother, yet apparently as much as he despised the truth, by his silence, he agreed with every word.