Unhidden (The Gatekeeper Chronicles Book 1) (19 page)

Then Alex interrupted my desolate thoughts. “Emma, grab the wheel!”

I did as he asked without hesitation, leaning across Alex as he lifted his staff again, calling forth that shimmering shield. It wrapped around the back end of the car, and as the chimera’s blast slammed into it, the force lifted our rear wheels off the ground, thrusting the car forward the last few feet into the safety of the Holland Tunnel.

The chimera touched down at the entrance to the tunnel and blew an angry blast of fire into the enclosed space. With nowhere to disperse, the heat and flame consumed the tunnel, melting asphalt and heating up the inside of the car, but Alex’s shield held.

Once we were out of its reach, Alex dropped the shield and slumped against the driver’s seat in exhaustion, reducing speed to give us precious extra minutes for recovery before we had to engage again.

“So, what now?” I asked. “We can’t hide in this tunnel forever, and we have to get rid of that thing before the sun rises and the streets fill with people.”

Lilly pulled out her cell phone and started texting. “I’ll text my father and brother to come help, but it may take them a little bit of time to get here.”

“We need to make a stand,” said Jason, his voice weak yet determined. “On the other side of the tunnel is Liberty State Park. It’ll give us some open space, with less chance that anyone will wander by. We’ll never make it farther than that with this thing flying on top of us.”

“Our best chance of defeating it is on the ground where it’s slower and has less maneuverability,” Alex agreed. “Its wings are the most vulnerable part of its body. If we can inflict enough damage on them, we can bring the chimera down.”

“And how do you propose we kill it? Do you have a magic spell that can strike it dead instantly?” Jason asked hopefully.

“If I did, don’t you think I would have used it by now?”

“Okay, we do this the old-fashioned way,” I said. “Jason and I will shoot it out of the sky. Alex, can you figure out a way to put out its flame again?” Alex nodded. “Once it’s down, we surround it and hit it with everything we’ve got, aiming for the soft spots—eyes, belly, mouth, wings.” Everyone nodded in agreement, though without much confidence.

We all armed ourselves as the car inexorably approached the tunnel exit.

“Is everybody ready?” I asked.

With silent nods all around, Alex stepped hard on the gas, shooting out of the tunnel with tires smoking. The chimera was on us in seconds, breathing fire and slamming its body against the already very damaged car.

We made it to the park and came to a grinding halt in a lot close to the promenade along the river. We threw ourselves from the car, taking cover under some nearby trees, seconds before the vehicle was fully engulfed in flames.

Jason and I pulled out our rifles and opened fire, aiming for the chimera’s wings. It was difficult to hit a moving target in the black of night, but at least some of the bullets found home. They tore through the soft membrane and boney spines, riddling the wings with enough small holes they could no longer catch air.

The creature wailed in pain and anger. It tried desperately to stay aloft; however, even the frantic beating of its wings could not sustain its flight for long, and its feet alit on the ground.

Alex stepped forward just as another fireball left the beast’s mouth. Raising his staff, he called forth a gale and swept his arms forward, sending the winds straight at the creature, reversing the fireball’s direction back into its throat. The creature choked and burped, coughing plumes of black smoke, then it swept out a massive claw and caught Alex in the gut, sending him flying into a nearby tree. Alex landed limply on the ground beneath the budding branches, unconscious.

Jason crept around the creature’s rear, trying to attack it from the opposite side, but the snake tail swiveled, catching the movement. I screamed a warning, but it was too late. The snake hissed, baring fangs dripping with venom, and struck as quick as lightning. When it pulled away, Jason stood stunned for a few moments. Then I saw a trickle of blood slide down his throat, and he toppled to the grass.

I lifted my Kalashnikov, shifting it to semi-automatic, and fired at the snake. As bullet after bullet slammed into it, chunks of flesh were torn from the tail until it was severed from the chimera’s body and my ammo ran out.

I dropped the rifle, feeling as spent and empty as the weapon, but forced my feet to move around the creature until I reached Jason. I dropped to my knees at his side, pressing my fingers into his neck, desperate for a pulse. After a few seconds, I found one, although it was slow and stuttering. I didn’t know whether we would be able to defeat this creature before Jason’s heart gave out.

I was thirsty for the chimera’s blood, wanting to kill it for hurting Jason and Alex, but I had nothing to fight with. I clutched the amulet under my shirt, squeezing it hard, trying to hold down that old feeling of helplessness. The amulet grew warm under my hands, and I could feel that strange thrumming, like a live electrical wire. The vibration moved out of the stone, into my hands and up my arms. A sense of calm assurance flooded through me. I felt invincible.

Slowly, I got to my feet and walked purposefully straight toward the raging chimera. All sound had ceased. I heard nothing other than the rush of my own blood in my ears. I continued to move slowly, as if in a dream. The creature’s head swung toward me, jaws wide, teeth bared, wisps of smoke trailing from its nostrils. It drew in a deep breath, stoking the fire in its belly with oxygen. The red glow began at the back of its throat, and I braced myself for the onslaught.

Flames shot from its mouth, and I met them with fire of my own. I held the amulet in front of me like a wand, and green tongues of flames licked out, meeting and consuming the chimera’s weaker orange fire. It pressed into and around the chimera, burning its hide and searing its insides. The creature flailed and twisted, unable to escape. I felt elated, high almost, at the sheer power I was wielding. I was drunk on it, laughter bubbling up from my chest. However, as quickly as it had come, it vanished, and I crashed—hard.

I hit empty, and the green flames sputtered out as my legs gave way beneath me. The chimera was significantly injured yet not dead. It was a blackened husk, covered in melted scales and oozing blisters. It cried and screeched, lashing out blindly at anything in its path. I had nothing left, though. The chimera would kill me easily and then go on a rampage, possibly killing hundreds of people.

But death didn’t come that night, the elves did. A dozen of them swarmed in with bows, arrows, and swords. I expected them to look like Legolas from
The Lord of the Rings
; instead, they were dressed in jeans, sweatpants, graphic tees, sneakers, and a couple were even in slacks and suit jackets, like they had just come from an evening out at a fine restaurant. Nevertheless, they all had long hair to hide their pointy ears.

The elves surrounded the beast, nimbly leaping in and back, randomly stabbing and hacking from so many different positions the creature couldn’t get a bead on any of them. I lay on the ground unmoving, watching the butchering of the chimera by the elves. It was clear this small band probably couldn’t have taken it down at its full strength, but the beast was severely compromised.

Arrows bounced harmlessly off its hide, though the swords were another matter. When the chimera was distracted, defending its rear from attack, two elves gracefully moved underneath the creature, and in perfect coordination, they stabbed upward, plunging two swords through the creature’s heart.

The chimera stiffened, shuddered, and fell. I should have felt vindicated and satisfied, but I didn’t. I didn’t feel much of anything. I looked up at the lightening sky as dawn approached, when a face entered my vision. I met Alex’s compassionate gaze.

“You’re okay,” I managed to croak, barely able to stay awake any longer.

“Just a bruise. Otherwise, I’m good.” He smiled then cradled me in his arms, and I could feel myself being lifted off the ground.

I closed my eyes and rested my head against his shoulder, taking comfort in the warmth of his body and the feeling of his strong arms holding me. The last thing I remembered was the sensation of him resting his cheek on the top of my head before I drifted into a dreamless sleep.

W
hen I awoke the following day, the sun was already setting. The room I found myself in was unfamiliar, and it took me a few moments to remember where I was. The night before, I had regained consciousness long enough to learn that Alex and Lilly felt the safest place for me to be right now was at the farm owned by Lilly’s family, although the word “compound” was a better way to describe it.

They lived in the largest log cabin I had ever seen. Lilly had said her father and twelve brothers had built the ten-bedroom home themselves about a decade ago. Despite its size, it was warm and rustic, almost all of the materials coming from the fifty-six acres of land the home sat on. Even the furniture had been fashioned from trees surrounding the property. The rugs, bedding, and the family’s clothing were all made from soft wool shorn from the flock of sheep that roamed the open grasses alongside cows, goats, horses, and chickens.

It was secure to the extent that it was in the middle of nowhere and difficult to find, and no one outside of our small group knew I was there. I didn’t like the idea of hiding, but acknowledged that we needed time to regroup and figure out our next steps, not to mention eat. I was starving. Hunger and a desire to see how Jason was doing drove me from the comfort of the feather bed.

Before I had fallen into bed last night—or this morning, actually—Jason had been carried off to another bedroom to be tended by Lilly’s grandmother, who was apparently a woman with great healing skills. I had wanted to stay with him; however, the wizened old woman had unceremoniously ushered me out of his room, telling me the spirits preferred to work alone, whatever that meant.

I moved down the hall to the room where they had brought Jason last night. I knocked lightly, not wanting to wake him if he was resting, but I heard a weak, “Come in.”

Opening the door slowly, I peered in and saw Jason lying in a bed covered with sheepskin blankets. The curtains were drawn, leaving the room dim.

“Hey, you,” I said softly. “How are you feeling?” I closed the door behind me and walked across the room to sit on the bed next to him. He looked pale and tired and had some kind of herbal-smelling wraps tied around his burned arm and bitten neck. Regardless, he greeted me with a smile.

“A little old lady with pointy ears told me I’ll live, so I’ve either gone crazy, or I might be dead already and just don’t know it.”

“Neither. Believe it or not, she’s an elf. So is Lilly. We’re at her family’s house in Cortlandt, upstate New York. They allowed us to use this place as a safe house for now, but I don’t plan to overstay our welcome. When you’re feeling up to it, we’ll need to figure out our next move.”

“I don’t think I could get out of bed right now, let alone pick a fight. That snake venom really did a number on me.”

“No worries. You rest as long as you need to. The bad guys aren’t going anywhere. I’ll work it out with Alex and Lilly, and I’ll let you know the plan.”

“Yeah, okay, Em. I’m going to go to sleep now,” Jason responded, his voice drifting off as his eyes closed, and his breathing turned slow and deep.

I leaned forward and gave him a soft kiss on the forehead. What would I do without him? I didn’t even want to think about the possibility. He was my best friend and my only link to the world I remembered. He made sense to me, kept me grounded when the rest of my world was being twisted inside out. I couldn’t lose him.

I made my way downstairs to a rustic yet modern kitchen. Its centerpiece was an enormous island covered on all sides with multi-colored fieldstones and topped with a beautifully carved butcher-block slab. Lilly’s grandmother was bustling around, chopping herbs and vegetables and tossing them into a tall pot on the stove while humming softly under her breath. She had to stand on her tiptoes to reach the top of the pot with her slight four-and-half-foot frame. A long, white braid that reached past her waist swung gently as she moved.

Alex and Lilly were sitting at the handmade oak trestle table with two men I assumed were her father and one of her brothers. I took the open seat next to Alex with Lilly and her brother across from us and her father at the head of the rectangular table. They had been deep in conversation over several sets of maps laid out before them, but all eyes shifted to me when I entered the room.

Alex placed a warm hand on my arm. “Hey, sleepy head. Feeling better?”

I was taken aback by the endearment. It seemed so unlike Alex, especially given his frequent animosity toward me. Did that mean maybe he didn’t see me as the enemy after all?

“I’m much better, thanks. I checked on Jason, and he’s doing well, too. He just needs a little more rest. What are you guys working on?” I recognized the map of Manhattan immediately, though the one underneath looked completely unfamiliar.