BRIDGER (32 page)

Pulling away from the kiss, his eyes were triumphant. “Was that okay?”

“Definitely better than okay.”

He pulled me closer to him, and I curled into the crook of his arm. My head rested against his chest, where I could feel his heart beat. He sighed. “I love you, Ashlyn. You’re more than I could have ever hoped for. I hope you’ll let me prove to you that I’ll never leave again.”

I pushed off of his chest, leaning over him and smiling. “You could start by kissing me again.”

He grinned as he ran his fingers across my cheek and down my neck. I leaned down into him to kiss him once more. This was Oscar-worthy. This was worth the wait. I knew this little hill and church were special.

TWENTY-FIVE

We got home a little while later.
 
I was having trouble managing the freight train that had replaced my heart.
 
It had to sound like it was going to explode from my chest.
 
Liam looked exceptionally content in the passenger seat. Our hands were intertwined, his thumb lightly tracing patterns on my wrist. Before we walked into the house, Liam gave me another gentle kiss to my forehead, then one on my lips.
 
So much for calming down. Even the simplest kiss from him sent shivers of excitement through my body.

Memaw greeted us, grinning broadly.
 
“Have a good time, kids?”

Liam grinned so wide I wondered if we’d ever see his eyes again.
 
“Yes ma’am, we did.
 
I saw all of Fairborn.
 
More than once.”

Memaw laughed, then looked at me devilishly.
 
“Did you see anything else?”

I blushed the deepest shade of red imaginable.
 
“No, he didn’t, Memaw!
 
Jeeze!”

Mom came in and was laughing as well.
 
I shook my head, forcing myself to breathe evenly.

Memaw noticed.
 
“You’re doing well to control your shifts.”

“What do you mean?”

“Your eyes are still as purple as they were when you first walked in.
 
You’re controlling your emotions sub-consciously with much more ease.”

Well, that was a surprise.
 
“I feel like I’m going to explode.”

“You may feel that way, but you’re controlling the impulse to shift because you’re not changing with your mood.
 
That’s a good sign.
 
You might be ready to learn more,” Memaw said, speculating over things she hadn’t voiced yet.
 
She kept her eyes on Liam, seeming to think he might attack.

He all but did.

Liam pulled me behind him, shielding me from Memaw. He took a step toward her and began to yell. “You have got to be kidding! What is she, your granddaughter or your guinea pig?”

Liam must have reacted exactly as she had assumed he would.
 
She had her glorious, immortal, twenty-year-old hand on his chest faster than anyone could see it happen.
 
From the tone of her voice, her eyes must have been black slits.
 
Liam cringed away and leaned backward into me. I pushed him back toward Memaw. He started it, so he could finish it. Memaw put her hand on Liam’s shoulder. “Liam, she was meant for this. You’re her protector, but she needs to do what she was meant to do, too.”

The turn of the conversation was compelling. “What are you talking about?”

Memaw turned and walked away, the bloody hem of her skirt fanning out from the quick twirl.
 
Although it was proof of her deadly abilities as an assassin, it was also reassuring to know that no one could ever match her in a fight.
 
She was an unstoppable force and had been for centuries.
 
I wondered what the other Glaistig were like; if any of them compared to her in beauty or lethal capabilities.
 
If they did, I wasn’t sure why Ankou was still breathing, curse or not.

I ducked under Liam’s arm bar and put my hand on Memaw, turning her around.
 
Memaw eyed both of us as she spoke.
 
“How opposed to having after school classes are you, Ashlyn?
 
Liam, how would you feel about moving in here?”

Liam’s eyes remained hard, although he made a joke. “That would be nice.
 
Living with Reese hasn’t exactly been a stroll in the park.”

I looked at Mom, waiting for her reaction to this proposal.
 
She looked at me, resignation in her eyes.
 
“Ashlyn, do what you need to do.”

“I guess we have work to do, then,” Memaw said as she rubbed her hands together. The excited glint in her eye wasn’t particularly reassuring. Memaw was at her most dangerous when planning something.

* * *

Liam had gone to Reese’s house to pick up his belongings.
 
Returning to the house, he found me flat on my back in the wooded area of our backyard, sweating from exertion.
 
Memaw was towering over me, yelling like one of those second-rate personal trainers.

“Ashlyn, you can do this!
 
Get your weapon and fight!”
 
She yelled as she walked away.
 
She flipped the five-foot spear back toward me without even looking in my direction. I rolled to the right just in time to hear the head of the spear stick into the ground, right where my chest had just been seconds before.

Liam rushed forward, indignant.
 
“Emily, don’t you think you need to teach her what she’s supposed to be
doing
before you expect her to fight like you? Chucking lethal weapons at her while she’s on the ground isn’t going to do anything except give us both holes in our chests. Personally, I wouldn’t really care for that.”

Memaw spun on a dime, in Liam’s face for the second time today.
 
“Liam, sit down on that fallen tree over there and be a cheerleader.
 
This doesn’t concern you in the slightest.
 
You know I won’t harm my granddaughter, so leave us.”
 
She walked away, dismissing him like a child.
 
Memaw in warrior mode was a terror.

I stood up, watching her turn back towards us. “Watch my hands.”
 
She went into an intricate spinning cycle with her spear, rolling it between her fingers, over her hands and finally behind her back before jamming it into the ground.
 
The mud squelched as it sucked the spear into its grip.
 
“Did you see it all?”

Surprisingly, I had. When completely focused, I had been able to see every twirl, every slight movement her fingers had made.
 
It was as though the spear had been moving in slow motion. “Yeah, actually, I did.”

“Good.
 
Now take your spear and do it.”

I pulled the spear out of the ground.
 
Turning the weapon, it felt heavy and awkward in my hands.
 
As I tried to spin it, my hand grazed the edge and was sliced open. “Shoot!” I exclaimed, dropping the spear to watch the subtle cut begin to bleed.

“Can you
please
keep her in one piece?
 
I’d like to have the least amount of scars possible, thanks,” Liam called, keeping the palm of his left hand closed tight. There was blood dripping from his fist.
 
My cut had become his cut.
 
This was crazy.

“I’m so sorry, Liam!” I called, cutting the bottom of my ratty old t-shirt off with the blade of the spear.
 
I wrapped my hand tightly in the makeshift bandage, tying it off in a knot. Liam had come prepared; he had brought bandages with him and was nursing his own wound.
 
My wound.
 
It was kind of messed up he was keeping a med kit ready for when I would cause him to sustain another injury. Wasn’t there any way around that?

Memaw pulled my chin up so that our faces were inches apart.
 
Gently, she pushed the hair that was stuck to the sides of my face behind my ears.
 
“You can do this.
 
Take the spear.”
 
She handed hers to me and nodded, stepping away.
 
“Focus on my hands, on what you saw.”

I remembered perfectly what her magnificent hands had done.
 
I felt my hands mimicking the motions, pretending to do what she had done.
 
Except, when I looked down at them, they
were
doing what she had done.

“For the love of all that’s holy…” Liam started.
 
I glanced over at him, continuing Memaw’s routine without breaking my concentration.
 
Liam walked up to stand by Memaw. They both watched in amazement at my sudden ability to weave the weapon in and out of visibility like a master seamstress, stitching the most beautiful dress.

The spear was an extension of my body, not a foreign object.
 
I knew it intimately.
 
Eyes closed, I let my instincts take over, feel the spear for me. I wound the iron over and under my arms, behind the back, even throwing in a half cartwheel.
 
I was dancing with this lethal appendage, making it look effortless.

I came to a stop with a subtler ending, choosing to pull up short and hold it out in front with both hands, Jackie Chan style.
 
Reese would be proud.
 
Memaw was grinning from ear to ear, her eyes a rich gold color.
 
Liam was opening and closing his mouth like a fish, eyes as wide as half-dollars.

Relaxing, I held the spear at my side, completely astounded at what had just happened.
 
Memaw bounded forward, embracing me in her arms.
 
“I’m so proud of you, Ashlyn.
 
You need to learn everything, then we need to go see the Glaistig for our next instructions.”

I was still in shock at the sudden display of dexterity. “How did that
happen
? Did I seriously just do that?”

Liam continued to mouth inaudible words.
 
Finally finding his voice again, he half-heartedly attempted a joke. Maybe he was a little worried. “You both could kill me in my sleep.
 
Can my mum do that, too?”

Memaw laughed at us, choosing to answer Liam first, but also answering my question in the process.
 
“No she can’t, Liam.
 
Tess has to practice and learn everything many, many years before she becomes a master.
 
She’s truly human in that sense.
 
Ashlyn, however, is more Glaistig than I imagined.
 
Only Glaistigs are able to recall and retain what they have seen as though they have been learning the trade for eons.”

As Memaw explained this, what had happened to that poor EMT when dad died began to make more sense.
 
“That medic with Dad…”

Memaw smiled and nodded.
 
“You saw something and were focused on it. Then later on, you could mimic it perfectly.
 
The Glaistigs will love this.
 
I would be surprised if they don’t grant you immortality after seeing what you’re capable of.”

I looked up at Memaw. “Immortality?”

Memaw was beaming. “Yes, little one.
 
You’re rare, gifted.
 
One-of-a-kind.
 
They won’t want your gifts to disappear after a single lifetime.
 
You don’t even know half of what you’re capable of yet.
 
You could be the most amazing faerie we’ve ever encountered.”

I looked at Liam, who was determinedly not looking at us.
 
I knew he must be looking at this from the perspective he would inevitably die, which was a cruel joke in light that everyone around him would live forever.

“Is there any way that if I take immortality, Liam won’t die?
 
Any way at all that he doesn’t have to be my Protector?”

Liam’s head snapped up, eyes shining.
 
“That doesn’t matter to me, Ashlyn.
 
I swore to protect you.
 
I knew the dangers involved before committing.” He shoved his now cut hand in his jeans as if to hide the evidence I bore on my own hand.
 
I looked at my palm, knowing what was happening to him by his sworn allegiance to me.