When Silver Moons Rise (Lost Immortals Saga #2) (9 page)

“That won’t be me,” I say, feeling conflicted. Her green eyes turn back on me then.

Scoffing a light laugh she says, “Keep telling yourself that. Eventually, you’ll start to believe it. Maybe, before it’s too late. But with you, I don’t see that happening.”

“Thanks for feeling so confident about me,” I say.

“Confidence is always in the beholder’s eye.” She takes another look at the compass in her hand, a worried look in her calm features. It’s the same kind of instrument Faris used to turn back time for me back when we fought together during the Costing Ceremony.

“What is it?” I ask.

Sighing, she tucks her lip and waits so long to answer that I start to think she’s not going to say anything. “This is a mer-compass, a demon slayer’s best friend. This is also how we know where our group mates are located. See the little tip? It’s green, Tobie’s color. The tip points west. Now, watch this.” She twists one of the three small knobs on the edge of the compass. The tip turns a bright red. “This is Faris’s shade. It’s pointing to the Northeast. The two of them are hundreds of miles apart.” Our gazes meet. It’s not hard to read what she won’t say. Our paths are taking us in two different directions.

“I know my brother. He wouldn’t just leave and not contact us. He’s in some kind of trouble. I need to go after him. I’m sure you and chromo-fr—Jalen will be just fine without me.”

“I understand. You know I do,” I say, thinking of Micah. This new information opens a door I knew I’d eventually find. But can I walk through it, though? “Desi, I need a favor.”

Rolling her eyes, she says, “Man, oh my, Chela, you just don’t know when to quit. Gotta admire you for having guts, though.”

“Just please listen. When we reach the borders of the first Dim City, I want you and Jalen…” I sigh because what I have to do bothers me more than any decision I’ve ever had to make. “I need for you to keep Jalen on the train with you. Take him with you to find Tobie.”

Desi makes a light laugh and pokes at the fire pit. “Wait a minute. You convince me to come all the way out here. At risk of Nina skinning me alive, let me add. Now you want me to leave you all alone?”

“I don’t want Jalen to get hurt again. I promised my brother I would bring him along. I held up my part of the bargain. But now, he…This is so hard. He needs to head West with you,” I say quickly.

“You think I’ll be able to keep him from following you? Are you blind, or what? Have you seen the way he hovers over you?” She plops down and tosses aside the twig she was using to poke the fire. We both steal a glance at Jalen who is still preoccupied with his saber. “How will you even know where to go looking for Faris? Do you have a map that shows you how to get to the Ice Prison? You’re not exactly what I’d call the street smart type.”

I swallow hard, because this question bothers me the most. “I have Faris to guide me. I can feel him that way. I’m not worried. I just know that Jalen can’t go where I’m headed, for some reason.” I don’t want to talk about the nightmare I had about my best friend, the one that I’m almost certain is a vision.

“You can feel Faris? No way. What is it with you and guys? You’ve got the slayer wannabe over there thinking he’s ready to take on the Outcasts. Faris has gone off on some crazy man’s mission that’ll probably get him killed. All because he’s in love with you.” She says the last few words of the sentence in a sing-song kind of tone. “And then there’s…never mind.”

“Go on. I can hear the words you won’t say.”

The look she shoots at me rotates between disgust and awe. Sensing people’s emotions has become like second nature for me since I unlocked the power inside me. “Oh, so you can read minds, now?”

“No. But you’re not hard to figure out. I despise Seth Alton,” I say for her. “He’s guy number three right? I don’t want anything to do with him.”

“But he wants you, though,” she mutters.

I have never thought of Seth wanting me in that way. The thought makes me shudder in disgust. I assure her by saying, “That’s ridiculous.”

“I’ve seen the way he looks at you. You punched him in the face at the mall that night we rescued your friend. He could’ve snapped your little body in two, but he didn’t.”

“Doesn’t mean anything,” I say, feeling uneasy.

“He has ways of getting what he wants,” Desi says.

“You’re so out there with that theory. My heart is one hundred percent occupied,” I say.

“Good. Hold on to that thought. I think you might need it,” Desi says.

“Will you help me with Jalen, or not?”

“We’ll kill each other. You do know that, right? And then, Faris will kill me for letting you go off on your own.”

“I don’t think Jalen wants to hurt you,” I answer. “He’s only ever teased the girls he was crushing on in school.”

“Great. I feel so much better. Did he threaten them with a sword too?” Desi says, a smile creeping on to her lips. “On a serious note. I’m going to have to drug the fool—sorry, Jalen to keep him from following you. And I’m not cool with this idea, either. Yeah, you’re a badass seraph chick, and all. But, Chela, you couldn’t even pop an itty bitty lock.”

“No need to rub it in, okay? Tobie’s in trouble. And so is Faris. We split up and all of us will meet up somewhere in the middle. I mean, Faris has one of those compass things. I’ve seen him use it once or twice. So we should be able to find one another again.”

“I do hope you know what you’re doing.” Desi stands and walks away, leaving me alone with my thoughts. Sleep comes to me that night in a way like I’ve never experienced before.

Chapter Ten

A Midnight Fire (Chela)

Heat from Mother’s necklace stings my neck. This is the first time in months that the seraphinite has shown any sign of life. I open my eyes and glance over at Jalen and Desi both still sleeping soundly. The clothes I’m wearing make me feel odd and dirty. I mean, where did Desi get them? She never told us; and I desperately want a bath. We’ve been riding the train for what seems like a week when only one day has passed.

I stand up and think how I could really appreciate a restroom that isn’t inside of a horse’s cabin. The funny thing is I don’t even smell the dung anymore.

A sharp pain files along the side of my neck. I roll my head around to make it stop.

Darn hay bed. Definitely not made for beauty sleep.

Burying feelings of guilt for leaving Father the way I have, I turn toward the spot where I’d been sleeping and gasp. I inhale sharply, as I stare at my body still lying on the ground, sleeping just as soundly as Desi and Jalen who are asleep in the areas across from me.

“What the freak?” Neither of my traveling companions stir the slightest bit. I glance at my hands and arms. Okay, so they appear to be normal, but something tells me that they’re not. Nothing is normal about this moment.

Oh no. I’m dead. I ate something poisonous.

“You’re not dead, Jewel Face. Come to me,” his voice says. It’s Faris. I turn, my gaze darting around the cabin. Where is he? The animals in the stalls stare right at me. Of course they can see me. Animals can always see the paranormally strange. “Faris! How do I find you?”

“Close your eyes,” his voice says in multiple echoes.

I obey and instantly feel my feet lift into the air. I’m floating as though my wings are back again. I must be in some kind of strange dream. Opening my eyes, I drift up through the boxcar’s open rooftop and float even higher into the sky.

I laugh out loud to keep my sanity in check, because this whole experience seriously freaks me out. Drifting across the unfamiliar lands, I allow whatever this wondrous thing is to guide me toward him. I have no clue what I am: a spirit, a phantom, an astral projection. Whatever it is, feels just as energized as it would if I were truly experiencing this moment in the flesh.

Moments pass and I come to a land covered in snow. Mountains of various heights and sizes cover the landscape. My initial excitement fades because I know this place. Father spoke of it all the time. The Ice Prison. My worst fears have come true. Faris is being held in this awful place.

At once, time speeds up, and the earth blurs, a flash of white and lights inside the nighttime sky. When it ends, I stand inside of a cell. In the distance, isolated screams fill the air. Across the dark room I’m standing in, a tall machine sits, and a thin body is secured between the posts.

Dread passes through me and the thought of Faris being held inside this place almost floors me. That is until I feel a set of arms wrap around my waist, and warm breath tingling my ear when it says, “Don’t go over there. I’m right here, Jewel Face.” Even the cold and terrible scene around us changes to one that has a field full of meadow grasses and red flowers. The sun shines and there’s not a gray cloud visible anywhere. My drab brown clothing turns into a flowing silver dress.

I spin around, my heart racing so quickly that I know he can hear it. “Faris!” I gasp and turn around to face him. I don’t wait for permission or explanations, none of that.

I crush my lips against his, and he returns my kiss with enough eagerness to consume us both. My chest tingles and my body is on fire. I’ve never felt anything quite like the pull inside my stomach right now. Forever passes before we decide to break away from one another. We place our foreheads together, and Faris holds me tightly in his arms. I don’t need to hear his words. I can tell he never wants to let me go.

“What are we doing? Is this a dream?” I ask as I glance around the scene I know Faris has created for me.

“Yes, and not really,” he answers.

“How can it be both ways?”

“Our bond is causing this. Through our connection, your spirit can communicate with mine,” Faris explains. I stare into his eyes, those liquid pools of silver fire pouring into my soul. He’s dressed in silver shirt and white pants. His hair has grown since I last saw him, and it even blows in the wind; but he’s still my Faris.

He caresses my cheek. “I miss you.”

I wrap my arms around him, placing my head against his chest. Listening to his heartbeat, I inhale deeply, wanting to take in as much of his earthy scent as I can. He’s gotten so thin, I can’t help but to be worried about him. The boy in my arms is just a ghost of the warrior I left back at Oceania.

I pull back and glance at him, etching each detail of his glorious face into my mind. Memories of the agony, his screams, and the pain he felt when he was hooked up to that machine I saw when I first entered this dream, all come back to me. Tears burn behind my eyes and my nose stings.

Our connection holds steady, and our love remains true.

“I miss you,” I whisper and place a hand on his face. His skin is clammy, but he feels so real to me. “For this to be a dream, you sure do feel good.”

“I can’t believe you’re here, Chela.” His voice sounds tired, and his handsome face droops. “What we’re doing could be dangerous, though.”

“It’s only a dream, right? That means no one can hurt me,” I say.

“Chela, I—you have to…” I place two fingers on his lips, silencing him. 

“I jumped onto a moving train in order to find you. Don’t you dare tell me to leave. Save your strength for when I come back to rescue you,” I promise. “We’re not too far away.”

“We?” he asks.

“I’m traveling on a train with Jalen and Desi. She’s trying to find Tobie. And Jalen, well, you know him. He thinks he’s my dark knight.”

He gives me a sad smile. His one-dimple grin isn’t even the same. I don’t like the way his breathing sounds, either. Each breath sounds like a struggle for him. But the way he stares at me right now erases all of the doubts that have haunted me.

“I just—I don’t know. I have a bad feeling about Jalen coming here. I even had a nightmare where he was hurt by this weird looking bull,” I say and move several floppy strands of hair out of his face. It has grown longer since Seth chopped all of it off months ago.

“Describe the bull,” he says.

“Huge. And it’s white with these really big horns that are almost as tall as a little kid.”

“A fire bull. I’ve heard the guards talking about one that was spotted in this area,” Faris says, looking puzzled. “The weird thing is the fire bulls are sacred Bardonian animals. I have no idea why one would’ve been seen on the human side.”

My worst fears have come true. If Jalen goes with me to the Ice Prison then he’ll be killed. But can I make this trip on my own? I did survive my assignment in the Ruins. This can’t be too much worse. I hope.

“I have to leave them,” I announce.

Faris stares at me a short moment. Will he make a fuss? “The dark knight won’t let his maiden get away. What’s that silly name he calls you? Chela the Fair?”  Faris makes a light laugh and shakes his head. I love seeing him smile. My heart flutters each time he does so. It fades once his gaze rests on my face.”You’re not serious, are you? Chela, I don’t want you heading out by yourself, either. Desi can find Tobie. She’s used to being on her own.”

“I have already caused my friends enough pain, Faris. And I have our bond to protect me. I know how to make myself blend in. Do you trust me?” His silence and sad eyes answer my question.

Faris inhales deeply and sighs. “If we can connect this easily, then you’re not too far away from me, now.”

“I’ll keep heading North until I find you,” I say, my heart speeding up because he believes in me. I know I can do this thing now.

He takes my hand and places it against his chest, in the area over his heart. “Close your eyes and listen for this. My heart is beating. Waiting. Staying alive for you. Let our bond be your guide.”

In this moment, I realize I don’t want to spend another moment alone. I don’t want to inhale another breath without the boy I love by my side. I want him, all of him. We’ve suffered and waited long enough.

“Kiss me,” I whisper. He closes his eyes, inhales deeply, and moves his lips toward mine. 

But love can be a funny thing where I’m involved.

Talons rip through the dream, silver ones, the claws of a bird. Something pulls me out of Faris’s grip, and I fight like crazy to make it let go. No luck. Panic and fear surge through me—the first emotion is because I’m being taken away from the boy I love…again; and the second one happens because I’ll die if I’m forced to leave him. But the invisible thing pulls me away.