Under the Winter Sun (Elemental Enchanters Series Book 3) (30 page)

Ava clenched her fists, and stared into the black eyes of the saberwolf in the front. She imagined the saberwolf drowning, but nothing happened. She couldn’t catch her breath, and her heart echoed in her ears. The other saberwolves attacked the group, except one who cornered Ava. 

The giant saberwolf jumped and knocked her to the ground. Its growls boomed over her. She kicked, and it only growled louder. It bared its razor sharp teeth as saliva dripped onto her. A puncture from one of the long canines and she’d be dead. It snapped at her, grazing her skin. Ava grabbed its head. The coarse fur was soaked from the snow. She pushed the wolf hard, and with everything she had, she punched it in the heart. It yelped loudly, nearly deafening her. She cringed, and the wolf fell to its side.

She exhaled after seeing other saberwolves dead and the group still standing. Panting, as if she’d run a marathon, she rolled over away from the saberwolf, and closed her eyes.

“Ava!” She heard Lance’s frantic voice and she slowly opened her eyes. He cradled her in his arms.

“I’m losing my strength. It took forever to defeat that saberwolf. I can’t take up more time.”

“It’s okay. We’ll get there.” Lance lifted Ava to her feet.

“We need to get a little bit higher,” Sean said. “We can see better. Can you make it?” he asked Ava.

“Yes.” She drew a ragged breath, and with Lance’s help, they followed. Her legs shook with every step. Her lungs yearned for more air. But she persevered.

Something scurried out of the corner of her eye. She jerked her head toward the trees on the right. “Did you see that?” she asked and stopped.

“No, there’s nothing there,” Lance said.

She heard a rustle once more. “There it is again,” she whispered. She saw a flickering of light in the distance and watched it grow.

“There’s a fire. Someone’s out here.”

“Ava, stop shouting,” Peter said, taking her hand in his. “It’s our campfire. Come on, it’s gonna start storming.” He tugged on her arm.

Narrowing her eyes, she looked around. There wasn’t any snow. Instead, dead leaves and branches lay flat like a carpet on the ground. She recognized the woods. She was near the cabin from home. “How did we get back here?”

Peter cocked an eyebrow. “We live here.”

She shook her head. “We were going to save Melissa and Jeremy. What happened?”

“They died, don’t you remember? They were burned alive.”

Ava searched his eyes. “No. Havok put that in my head. Why are we holding hands?” She pulled her hand back.

“Am I not allowed to hold my girlfriend’s hand? What is with you?’

She stepped back. “This isn’t real.”

“But you wish it was real.” Peter’s face grew dark. “You wish you could feel my arms around you. Feel my love for you. I’d hurt you over and over. Worse than before.”

“No, stop!”

“They all died because of you. Including your father. Only because you won’t join us.”

She covered her ears and shook her head. “No, this isn’t real.” She shut her eyes tight, trying to pull herself from the vision. “Get out of my head.”

“Why are you screaming?” Peter asked.

As if darkness lifted, she opened her eyes. She saw the snow and Lance, Savina, Gabriel, and the rest of them. She clutched her chest and drew several ragged breaths. “I had a hallucination.”

He frowned. “I can’t seem to protect you from them.”

“It’s okay, Peter.”

“No it isn’t. You don’t know what it’s doing to me to see you always hallucinating, and being unable to stop it.”

“What was the hallucination about?” Savina asked.

“Peter and I were back home, and he kept taunting me and said everyone had died because I didn’t join Havok.”

“That’s what he wants you to think,” Gabriel said in a low voice. “Don’t fall into their trap. They want you angry with Peter so you’ll avoid him. It’s all fake.”

“I do not know if this will help, but it’s all I have.” Savina pulled a vial out from her robe and handed it to Ava. “Someone is watching us. Sending Havok messages. He is not near or I would feel his presence.”

Ava looked to Gabriel.

“Drink this,” Savina said. “It may help you block him from your mind.”

She took the bottle, tilted her head back, and drank. It tasted like milky lemon coated blackberries. 

“The night is falling,” Sean said. “We need to hurry to set up camp.

“I can’t waste any more time,” Ava said. “We need to keep moving.”

“We will in the morning,” Savina said. “You must rest.”

Ava clenched her teeth. If Havok wanted her so much, she was coming. No more games. She knew she could die, but she was willing to do whatever it took to save her father, and everyone else. It was finally time to face the demons that had made her wild with paranoia. It was time to stop wasting time and kill them all.

She took a step forward.

Gabriel snatched her wrist. “Don’t even think about it,” he said, frustration in his voice. Anger flashed in his blue eyes, but then they softened. He loosened his grip on her.

She jerked her arm away from him. “Don’t tell me what to do.”

“You wanna get yourself killed?”

“I don’t need your help,” she spat. “I’m tired of trying to figure out what’s real and what’s not. I’m tired of the mind games from Havok and from you.” She stared at him, angry that he always hid his feelings from her and that he was a Cimmerian.

“You think I’m playing mind games with you?”

“You’re a spy for him, aren’t you? You’re the one communicating with him. You’re leading us right to him so you can turn us all in. You never cared for me. You just want your glory with Havok—.”

“Ava, stop,” Lance warned. “Come on, you’re tired and it’s been a long day. Let’s rest for the night, okay?” He took her by the elbow and they caught up to the rest of the group. “Why do you think he’s one of them?”

“You saw the same thing I did. But I take it you never told Savina anything.” She halted. “What did you give me last night?”

Lance sighed. “It was something to help you sleep.”

“So now you’re drugging me? What else are you doing?”

“Stop all this, okay?” His eyes held hers with a stern glare. “No one here has betrayed you. Your mind is messed up, and I’m sorry for that, but remember that we are all in this together. No one is against each other. I don’t know how, but we have to find a way to clear your mind and stop all these paranoid delusions.”

Her eyes watered. Lance had never spoken to her so harshly before, but he was right. She was paranoid, and she couldn’t stop it. She nodded. They climbed a little farther, finding an overhang with a cave underneath. Ava hoped it wasn’t a home for saberwolves.

Savina lit lanterns while a few of them had gone to a nearby river and caught fish for dinner. The potion Savina had given Ava seemed to work fairly well. At least she hadn’t hallucinated since the last time. She wondered why Savina hadn’t given it to her sooner, but guessed she didn’t have very many since Aaron probably had most of them for his group.

They lined their sleeping bags along both walls of the cave. It was dark, but Ava could see the moon’s reflection on the snow outside. She was too exhausted and afraid to sleep. Lance watched over her until it was Gabriel’s turn. He lit a lantern and sat close to her, reading the same thriller he had in the cabin that night.

Ava studied him. His beard had grown thick, his eyes weary. He’d obviously not slept in days, and Lance had mentioned him being a wreck while she was out. If he was the other voice she heard telling her to wake up, did that mean he was at her side through the whole ordeal? She hadn’t been very fair to him. She missed talking to him. Missed being around him. How could he have been a Cimmerian? He had always been there for her. Her heart ached at his betrayal.

“How could you?”

Gabriel lowered the book in his lap and turned his head to her. “How could I what?”

“Tell me what happened. Did you make a deal with them?”

His body tensed and the muscles in his jaw tightened. “I was never a Cimmerian, Ava. Not exactly. I didn’t know at the time who they were.”

“So you
were
one of them? You said that you met Eric first.”

He let out a troubled sigh. “I met Eve first. When my uncle decided to bail, rather kick me out on the streets, I didn’t know where to go. I couldn’t control my ability, and because I was so young and naïve, I found myself teleporting in places at random times. I would think something, and then there I’d be.”

It was hard for her to believe that Gabriel had been naïve.

“I had friends but they knew something wasn’t
right
about me so they were rather cautious of me. We went out one night, and that’s where I met Eve. While my friends drooled and hung on to her every word, I wasn’t impressed. But something she did caught my attention. My friends were too drunk to notice, but she kept changing her eye color.”

“Did she know what you were?”

“She could tell I was different.”

“How were you able to be around your friends if you couldn’t control your ability?”

“I could keep it under control if I kept my thoughts focused. It wasn’t easy though.”

“So what happened with you and Eve?”

“I told her what I could do and she wanted to learn more about me, but I couldn’t give her any answers. She felt sorry for me, and told me about Corbin and how there were people like me. She took me to his castle and Corbin was immediately impressed. I learned how to fight, how to keep my ability controlled, and how to block my thoughts. He told me about this powerful Enchanter who could read minds, and that she and his son had betrayed him.”

“Savina and Colden.”

Gabriel nodded. “They convinced me to join because at the time I was angry that my uncle left me. I was lost and they were the only people I knew who were like me. It was everything Corbin said it was. How Ephemerals hate you and fear you and blame you for everything gone wrong. But I never wanted to kill them.”

“Your friends didn’t seem to hate you. Did you hate Ephemerals?”

“No. My friends never knew the truth, though. I’m sure if I had told them they would’ve freaked out and abandoned me. I didn’t hate Ephemerals, just certain ones. I’m sure you can relate to that.”

She could. Valerie Hammond and Amanda Russo came to mind. But also Jonah and Drew, the two boys she killed because they were trying to kill her. “Yes, I can,” she said.

“There was never any purpose to the massacres in my eyes. Corbin liked to kill and was set on revenge.”

“What was it like there?”

“It was dark, like a cloud hung over you constantly. Sure, you could do whatever you wanted and your actions had no repercussions, but you had to prove to Corbin you were worth being a Cimmerian. Like you belonged there. It became a competition. See who could bring the most desirable Enchanters to their side. Or who could kill the most Enchanters on Savina’s side. I never liked being there. I didn’t like that every day we were forced to practice fighting. Like we could only have some fun when we were recruiting Enchanters.”

“That’s all you did? Train and recruit?”

“Mostly. It wasn’t like with the Elders. You’re free to live your life. There, it’s like a cult.”

“Did you stay because of Eve?” 

“No. I was around her all that time, only because most of the others were angry, and it was easy to feed off of that. She fell in love with me, but I never could reciprocate those feelings. Sure she was attractive and fun and strong-willed, but I wasn’t drawn to her. She was a bit possessive.”

“I didn’t notice that at all,” Ava murmured.

He arched an eyebrow. “Do I detect jealousy?”  

She remained silent. Yes, it was jealousy. She couldn’t believe she accused Gabriel of being a spy. She was wrong and she hoped he’d forgive her. “Why did you stay?”

“I didn’t know any other way. But when Sean showed us what you went through and I saw Eve, I knew she would turn you against me.”

Ava’s heart couldn’t find a regular beat. She hated that Eve did that. And hated herself more for believing Eve. “Did you kill anyone? Did you murder any Ephemerals?” They were dumb questions, but it was the only thing she knew to say to keep the conversation going. She felt as if she was going to burst out of her own skin.

Gabriel’s eyes softened, and he raked through his black hair. “Yes,” he murmured.

She wasn’t angry with him, and the deep regret in his eyes told her he didn’t like what he’d done. He was baring his soul. “How did you escape?”

“I was sent on a mission, luckily without Eve, to recruit, and I met Eric. He was ridiculously normal but good-hearted. I liked how carefree he was. At first, I thought he was an Ephemeral.”

“You didn’t know he was an Enchanter?”

“No. I was never good at that. We eventually found out that we were Enchanters. He told me all about Savina, and I told him about Corbin. We were both hesitant at first when we mentioned Corbin and Savina, but he could tell I had no idea what I had really gotten myself into.”