“Nasty little buggers, aren’t they?” He took it from me and looked it over, then handed it back with a nod. “Harder to carve than the standard, too. They’ll snap like a dried spaghetti noodle if you aren’t careful hollowing out the center.”
It wasn’t enough that I had to learn how to use the gun. Mac made me carve out every dart I used. I’d gotten much better at it, simply because a bad dart wouldn’t fly, and I couldn’t really train when a part of the weapon didn’t function. That first week of training, I sat at the kitchen table for eight hours a day taking out my aggression on the tiny sticks until I had piles of them, until they were perfect.
“The good thing about the hollow is you can fill it with a hefty amount of toxin that will release into the skin on impact,” he continued.
“So that’s her kill shot?” William asked. He looked at me, studying my confidence, making sure I knew what I had to do if I ever needed to defend myself.
“Yep,” Mac answered.
I stared at the slender wooden needle with a sick feeling. I imagined what it would be like to slide that dart into the gun, knowing it would be the end for whoever happened to be my target. I silently hoped to myself that I would never see the spotted black feather fly through the air, as sure to kill as a bullet to the heart.
Mac adjusted the shotgun on his shoulder. “What else?”
“I made some of these last night,” I said, holding up a shorter solid version with light brown feathers. “Tell me what it does,” he added, testing me.
“This one is absorbent,” I answered, examining the etchings my knife had made. “The wood will suck up moisture and slow release into the target.”
“Right.” Mac nodded. “That’s the one I used on the doe.”
I remembered the animal he had used to test me vividly. Her black eyes were full of fear as I bent down to heal her. It was the only way Mac could be sure it was me taking refuge in his safe haven, and not an intruder. Things had changed so much since then.
“And you,” Mac said to William. “I’m glad you brought your arrows, kid, but you won’t be shooting this morning.” He chuckled to himself like he knew something we didn’t. Then mid-laugh his faced turned serious, and he stopped abruptly. His arms shot out in front of William and I, pushing us behind him. I’d never seen him get so quiet.
William stepped closer to me, becoming more alert. He removed the bow from his back and loaded an arrow.
“What is it?” I whispered.
Mac looked at me like I was the crazy one. “Don’t talk to someone in situations like that, Ellie.”
“Situations like what?”
“You don’t talk, you look,” Mac grumbled, pointing from his eyes to the space in front of him. Without more explanation he continued walking ahead, waving us forward. “And what do you say when you meet someone you ain’t sure of?”
“Once harm has been done, even a fool understands it,” I repeated. It was something they’d used in the last war, a simple phrase that separated the good from the bad.
Mac looked at William. “And what should they answer?”
“The outcome of the war is in our hands; the outcome of words is in The Council.”
“Good.”
William scanned the trees ahead. “So, what was out there?” Mac shrugged and smiled his crazy-man smile as he looked back at us. “Nothing to worry about.”
I rolled my eyes and jogged a little to keep up.
“So, tell me again why I’m not training to use a semiautomatic or a sniper rifle?” William asked with a smirk. His eyes found me, and we shared a knowing smile. “A bow and arrow seems pretty weak in comparison.” He adjusted the strap on his quiver and returned the weapon to his back.
William knew very well why Mac had him training to use a bow. He’d been having him hunt and bring home dinner every night for a reason, but it was still fun to rile him up over the subject.
“If you don’t know that by now, I’m gonna to slap you upside your head,” Mac muttered.
William and I waited, knowing he would continue unprovoked.
“Sure you could use a shotgun, but that won’t teach you accuracy. You could use a long-range weapon but that won’t teach you stealth. The bow will train you in ways a gun never will. You get over confident with a gun, forget to stay low because you think you can take on whatever you encounter. We’ll work with guns later. Right now we need to focus on how to make the most of your abilities.”
He had been leading us into the woods as he ranted, but stopped to look William in the eyes, as he made his final point.
“Your ability is powerful, but it does nobody any good unless you can get in close, unseen. You can’t affect people from a long way off, and what good will you be if you get yourself killed walking into an enemy camp like a bull in a china shop? Sure, a gun is a better weapon, but for us, better weapons don’t mean you’ll win the fight. During the first war I lost some good friends to a Descendant of Chronos. Doesn’t really matter what kind of weapon you have if you get caught by somebody who can stop time.”
“All right. All right,” William answered with a laugh. “I’ll listen. What are we doing first?”
“Like I said, Elyse needs to learn to use her blood with the darts.” Mac turned to me with a menacing grin that had me worried he was about to get even.
“But I already have. I’ve practiced on hundreds of deer.” I didn’t understand why he was anxious for me to paralyze more animals. It was kind of cruel.
His overly excited eyes moved back and forth between William and I, holding the suspense. “Well, today William will be the target.”
“What? No way,” William and I protested together.
He had to be joking. If he really thought I was going to try and gun down the one I loved with sharp needlepoint darts, he had another think coming.
“Are you going to take this seriously or not?” he roared.
“I’m not doing it,” I said, firmly standing my ground.
He bent down to my level, unaffected by my strong voice, and stared into me.
“If you don’t do it, I will,” he threatened, “and I won’t use the little splinter of a dart you’ll use.”
“What the hell, Mac,” William said with outrage.
Mac changed his focus to William. “You have a thirty second head start. If Elyse finds you in the next thirty minutes, she gets a hammer dart to the thigh, so if you don’t want her to get nailed with this, you better stay out of sight.”
I could see how this would motivate William to hide. He wouldn’t want to see me impaled with the massive spike Mac held in his hand. It was the length of a pencil and at least twice as thick.
“I might as well sit down right here and wait for the thirty minutes to be over. Why would I want to find him if I’m just going to get a dart in the leg if I do?”
“Well, if you don’t find William in that same time,
he’s
getting the hammer dart to the thigh.”
There it was, the condition that would have me hunting down my lover like a wild boar. In order to save him from the pain, I’d have to find him and take it myself. After what happened with Anna, it wasn’t a hard decision, and he knew I wouldn’t let him win.
“Who’s it going to be?”
A sick grin curled into Mac’s cheeks with such a disturbing sense of pleasure, it was hard not to believe he’d follow through with his threat. William and I looked at each other, both knowing neither of us was going to forfeit, to let the other take the dart willingly.
“You’re crazy, Mac,” William said as he ran off into the forest away from me.
I tensed to run, but Mac stopped me with his thick hand. “He gets thirty seconds.”
2.
“ALL RIGHT,” MAC SAID with booming enthusiasm. “He’s all yours.”
I threw back a nasty look before charging into the thick mass of trees. I ran until Mac was completely out of view, scanning the area with each step. William had gone in this direction, but I had no idea if he had changed course. He could be anywhere.
I tried to pull myself together. I only had thirty minutes to find him. I stood perfectly still, listening for any sign of movement, a rustle of leaves, a snapping twig, the crunch of heavy feet as they tip-toed over dried foliage—there was nothing.
I walked with quick, quiet steps in one direction, then the other. My eyes flickered from tree to tree, up in the branches and far into the distance, hoping to spot some sign of him.
After what felt like twenty minutes, I leaned my back against a nearby trunk and sat completely hopeless on the ground. The sun was starting to rise, and faint light was brightening the forest. Maybe if I just waited quietly he would expose himself.
That’s when I saw it, a small freshly broken branch dangling and swaying in the breeze. I pressed myself up, looking around for another sign of him, but tree trunks and shadows in the distance only played tricks on my eyes. I smiled as I approached, realizing there were tracks. A vague impression I could only assume were his footprints led me hopping through the woods like a fox following a trail.
As I pursued the tracks, I started to notice something was off. They were small, too small to be either Mac’s or William’s, and I had never been to this part of the woods before.
I froze when I sensed the presence of someone other than myself up ahead. There, behind that tree. My heart hammered, and everything I had learned over the past weeks kicked in as I reached for the dart gun. I pulled out a thin but sturdy dart from the satchel strapped to my hip, thin because I was being cautious. I didn’t know who was out there. I pressed the two gold buttons on my bracelet, which was wrapped snuggly around my left wrist, and felt the blades slice into my skin. I was used to it now, and didn’t flinch. As the blood began to flow, I dipped the dart in the small hole at the bottom of the gold ring. It would be just enough to debilitate the person, to slow their reaction time down and hinder their muscle movements.
I crouched, hiding behind a cluster of brush as I loaded the blood-dipped dart slowly, careful not to make noise. I readied my grip, took a few silent deep breaths to prepare my lungs, and stood up to shoot. I was hoping it was William, even though deep down I knew I’d meet someone else’s gaze. The eyes that found me were more familiar than I’d expected.
Kara’s expression was nervous, but prepared. She could see every thought I was having and knew I had a dart ready and meant for her. I didn’t know if she was armed, but if she was, it was only a matter of who would act first. My face hardened as I looked at her, but neither of us spoke. She didn’t try to communicate with her mind as she tended to do. Instead we stared, predator and prey, into each other.
Even with my gun still aimed and ready, tears began to well up against my lower lids like unsteady dams ready to burst. I held them in, and her face dropped as she read my thoughts. She knew I blamed her for the loss of Anna and Chloe. How could she have betrayed me like that? Without thinking I took a breath, deep and full, aimed the gun, and shot the dart into the fleshy part of her shoulder. Maybe I had it in me after all. Maybe I could be a killer.
She cried out a quick, painful moan and crumpled to the ground. I’d never shot anyone before. Her wild black curls covered her face, so I couldn’t see if she was conscious. I watched her, waiting for her to move.
Another cry echoed through the forest with such unrelenting agony that I shivered at the sound. It was William. It must have already been thirty minutes, and I had failed to find him. I sighed with frustration as I glanced back at Kara’s limp body on the ground. If it wasn’t for her, I might have. My heart gave a lurch as I took off in his direction, leaving Kara behind to fend for herself.
I didn’t have room in my mind to think about her, to bother with how she had gotten into our safe haven. What if she had brought The Council? What if William’s screams were not from the hammer dart but from something far worse? I sprinted with all my might to him, switching the bracelet to my right wrist, the healing side. If he needed it, I would be ready.
I found him moaning on the forest floor, holding his thigh where the dart protruded from his leg.
“Is everything okay?” I asked Mac, using my hands to brace myself against my thighs.
“Well, not exactly,” William answered with a wince. “I have a hammer dart in my leg.”
My dry throat ached as I caught my breath. “So The Council’s not here?”
“Did you poison
yourself
somehow?” Mac laughed. “No. The Council’s not here.”
I looked around, still worried, but lowered myself to the ground beside William. “I can’t believe you did it,” I said, glaring at Mac.
He shrugged like it was nothing. “Said I would.”
“Will someone please do something?” William pleaded.
“I’m sorry,” I apologized as Mac pulled out the thick wooden dart. William’s cry of pain made me clench my teeth with regret. “It’s my fault. I’m so sorry.”
I pressed the two gold buttons on my bracelet willingly. The blood dripped steady and quick into the wound as William sighed with relief. I caught myself glancing into the woods as the skin on his leg healed up. Kara was still out there.
“I can’t believe you, Mac,” he muttered as he rubbed his thigh through the tear in his jeans.
I was distracted and didn’t realize William had a hold of my left hand until he spoke.
“Why didn’t you use my blood to heal yourself?” he asked, suddenly worried about my blood loss. His blood was my cure as much as mine was his.
“I forgot,” I answered, looking down at the two cuts resembling a snakebite on my wrist. “It’s nothing, though. I’ll be okay.”
Without asking he took a knife from his pocket and slid it across his thumb. “William, it’s fine. One cut from the bracelet won’t affect me—”
“Wait,” he interrupted. “Why did you need blood from the left side? You weren’t anywhere near me.”
“I was about to ask the same thing.” I raised my eyebrows at Mac, remembering that nobody was supposed to be able to get in here. It was his safe haven. If Kara was here, he had
let
her in. “Mac let somebody in. I shot her in the forest.”
“Who?” William asked, sealing up my wounds.
I ran my fingers across my newly flushed skin. “Kara,” I answered with resentment.