Drinking Life (Keeper of the Water Book 1) (26 page)

Cassie is a different story. She screams just about every curse word under the sun at the goon. When she finally says something about the goon’s mother that makes even
him
blush, it’s time for me to step in.

“Stop, Cassie!” I say, though admittedly it’s a half-hearted attempt to calm her. “He’ll shoot you.”

“I don’t care, I have no reason to live!” she snaps. Cassie takes a few steps forward, swinging the oar but coming well short of hitting the soldier. “Go ahead and shoot me!”

Not only does the goon
not
shoot Cassie, he also backs away a few steps. If I didn’t know better, I’d think he was actually afraid of her. He even lowers the bow to make sure it’s not pointed at her.

“We don’t need Ponce to take over the world,” the soldier tells her.

“Who’s Ponce?” Cassie asks in shock. When she has a second to think, another question comes to her, too. “Take over the world?”

“Come with me and we can become the most powerful people in the world,” he promises. “I will help you remember that this is your dream, that this has
always
been your dream.”

I don’t know what kind of game he’s playing with her but I don’t like it. I step in front of Cassie, whose confusion has calmed her anger.

“Leave her alone!” I yell.

But the goon has no problem aiming the bow at me. In fact, I see the way his muscles tense in his shooting hand and know he’s about to fire the arrow at me. I have time to dive out of the way but can’t risk an errant shot hitting Cassie behind me. Self-preservation takes a backseat to keeping her safe and I don’t move a muscle, even if it means my own demise.

From within the forest comes a light
crunching
noise behind the goon—someone is moving toward us
fast
. He also hears it and instinctively spins around but not before he lets go of the bowstring, which shoots the arrow straight at me. I close my eyes, awaiting the inevitable, knowing that at least I’ll be reunited with Dad and John…

Thud
. No pain. Nothing. I wonder if I’m dead. But I still hear the
rustling
though my eyes are clenched so tightly I feel tension across my entire face. I open them and look down to see the arrow embedded in the wooden raft oar, which Cassie holds just inches in front of my chest. Neither of us has time to be amazed by the way she saved my life.

Celeste bursts out of the forest and barrels into the goon, taking him down with ease despite their size difference. My bow drops from his grasp and Celeste punches him several times in the face as he scrambles to retrieve the weapon. Cassie and I stand, frozen in place, watching her mom kick some serious ass. Celeste beats him so severely that I don’t even consider jumping in to help. But even though the bow is out of the goon’s reach, the quiver of arrows spilled across the ground and he soon gets his hand on one.

The soldier stabs the point of the arrow into Celeste’s foot. She drops to the grass but does not cry out in pain, not even the slightest groan. She still tries to attack but he spins and kicks her in the side of the face. This time she drops harder, much of the fight taken out of her. Cassie doesn’t hesitate to jump into the fray and I immediately follow but I see something out of the corner of my eye that makes me stop.

My bow, the real one that my father gave me, the last present he would
ever
give me. Revenge takes control of my mind, revenge for my father and for John, revenge for myself as I still wear the shirt covered with my own blood. The goon will never stop coming after Celeste—never stop coming after the keeper—so I
must
end this right now. With my lone arrow still in hand, I lunge for my bow and take aim at the goon.

But just as quickly, he’s grabbed Cassie and uses her as a shield, holding a knife to her throat. The sight of her life in immediate danger sends intense tingles through me that makes my knees go weak.

“Please forgive me,” the goon whispers to Cassie, though he’s not so kind when he speaks to me. “Won’t you just
die
already? Now drop your weapon or I’ll kill your friend.”

Every instinct I have tells me to listen to him—to do anything to get Cassie out of danger—and the tingling becomes increasingly worse with each passing second he holds the knife to her throat. But for some reason, Cassie doesn’t look scared, more like defiant, and her eyes tell me not to drop the bow. The goon holds on to Cassie but pushes forward until he reaches the old bow I brought. He bends over and picks it up but does a good job not giving me a clear shot at him.

“You wouldn’t dare hurt me,” Cassie says. I think she’s being naïve but she throws her head back, smashing the goon in the face. I’m shocked to see her move so quickly, even more shocked to hear the
crunch
of the goon’s shattered nose, which gushes blood. But pain and shock are apparently nothing new to him. He doesn’t let the surprise attack affect him. As soon as Cassie is out of the way, I hesitate for just a split second, though that’s long enough for him to aim the bow at a
new
target. Cassie has all but dared the goon to shoot her but instead he’s taken aim for Celeste.

“Shoot him,” Celeste tells me, spitting out a mouthful of blood from where the soldier kicked her. “I will gladly trade my life for his if it means ending this ordeal.”

The goon is nervous now and I see the slightest shift of his muscles as he’s about to shoot. My bow can fire much faster but I can’t take the risk that he’ll get off a shot. At such close range, there’s no way he could miss the keeper.

“Don’t shoot her!” I yell at him.

“Put down your weapon!” he yells back, his hands starting to shake.

“Shoot him, Nia!” Celeste screams. “That’s an
order
!”

This is nothing like the cool showdowns I’ve seen in movies. My fingers tremble, wanting to follow Celeste’s command to send the goon on a one-way trip to hell. But I can’t sacrifice Celeste’s life to make ours easier. I drop my bow and the goon turns back to Cassie.

“Come with me or I’ll shoot her,” he says.

“Don’t listen to him, Cassie,” Celeste says.

Cassie looks from the bow to her mother to the goon. Clearly she’s torn about what to do. As the seconds tick by, I become certain that Cassie
doesn’t
have a problem sacrificing her mother’s life. But finally, she sighs with annoyance.

“
Fine
, I’ll go. God!” she says. “Just, like, don’t shoot her.”

The goon slowly backs away, headed toward the half-deflated raft. Cassie follows despite her mother’s pleas.

“Don’t just stand there, Nia!” Celeste yells at me when she realizes Cassie isn’t listening to her. “Stop them!”

A part of me feels the same urgency to help Cassie, even though the goon turns his aim at me.

“Please get into the craft,” the soldier tells Cassie.

“But it’s running out of air and nasty river water is seeping in,” she complains.

“It will stay afloat long enough,” he assures her. “Please, you’ll see that this will be best for both of us,
mi reina
.”

Celeste yanks the arrow out of her foot and hobbles a few steps toward the raft. The goon aims his bow back and forth between me and her until he follows Cassie into the raft. He pushes the raft away from shore and then aims the bow at me again. I don’t like the sadistic grin that appears on his face the moment our eyes lock. With Cassie securely on board, there’s nothing left to stop him from shooting…

Water
splashes
so loudly behind the raft that I wonder if an entire school of fish jumps out of the river. But it’s even better—and more unexpected—than that. John leaps up and grabs the back of his soldier’s shirt, yanking the man overboard. The goon releases the bow, shooting the arrow askew.

“John!” Cassie yells excitedly.

The arrow soars well above and to the side of me and Celeste but my mother sits in that direction. She’s still so in shock about my father that she didn’t budge the entire time that the goon threatened us, nor does she notice the arrow descending toward her. Mom doesn’t flinch until it grazes the side of her leg and cuts her open. Luckily, it’s the least of the injuries I’ve seen so far but my sigh of relief is short-lived.

Cassie screams as John and his soldier fight in the water. For someone supposed to be dead, John looks pretty good. But for someone who’s
obviously
still alive, he’s looked far better. Blood streams down the side of his head and part of his face is already badly swollen. The goon clearly wasn’t lying about hitting him in the head with a rock earlier. John is much slower than usual, too hurt to put up much resistance. The only thing that stops the goon from
really
hurting him is the fact that they’re drifting into deeper water.

Cassie remains in the raft and screams louder with every punch John absorbs. But when she sees her ‘boyfriend’ in serious trouble, she finally acts. She grabs the other raft oar and smashes it over the goon’s head. It staggers the huge man who is momentarily knocked away from John.

“Get her away from him
now
!” Celeste yells at John.

John grabs Cassie by the hand and drags her out of the raft. I expect her to complain about being in the river water but the only reason she fights John’s grip is to go
toward
the soldier instead of away from him.

“You’re going to pay for putting your hands on me, you son of a – ”

Cassie looks ready to rip him limb from limb but John picks her up around the waist and wades back toward land. She’s usually more of the talking type than acting type so this is a side to her I’ve never seen. Maybe she’s a fighter like her mother after all…

The goon recovers quickly and Cassie’s resistance has slowed her escape with John. But Celeste and I reach him before he gets to Cassie. He swings at both of us but we easily dodge the blow. Even with a hurt foot and being in waist-high water, Celeste moves quickly, maybe even quicker than me. She certainly
attacks
faster than I do, landing several punches to the goon before he knows what hit him. I channel my anger into a few strikes of my own but remain focused enough to dodge his next lumbering punch. Celeste fights back even more viciously, hitting the soldier so hard that more of his facial bones shatter as blood flies from his face. He staggers into the water but Celeste doesn’t let him escape.

“Get Cassie away from the
other
one,” Celeste orders me.

Despite the personal risks John has taken to help us, she still obviously distrusts him. I’m hesitant to leave the fight but it’s clear she doesn’t need my help. She hits him to hard that he finally falls, slipping under the water. But I no sooner splash my way back onto the land when John’s soldier breaks the river’s surface with the old bow in his hand. He swings the wooden weapon at Celeste, cracking her just under the chin and sending her flying clear out of the water before she
splashes
down. I know the bow’s frame is cracked but it’s still intact enough for him to load an arrow.

“I’m done playing games,” the goon says, one of his teeth escaping his mouth with the words. “Get over here
now
, your highness.”

Cassie looks confused by his words but doesn’t budge from John’s side.

“I’m not leaving John,” she tells the goon. “I don’t care
how
much you threaten me.”

I’m thirty feet away from the ‘happy couple’ but my bow is twenty feet in the other direction. The soldier isn’t focused on me but I’m sure any sudden movements will draw his attention.

“I don’t know why you’ve wasted your time wrapping all these girls around your finger, Ponce. In the end, you should just take them by force the way we always have,” the soldier says.

“I don’t need to
take
what I want. As you can see, Cassie would never leave my side,” John answers petulantly.

Cassie nods her head in agreement and wraps her arm tighter around his. The two share a look that says
nothing
will come between them. I know it’s petty considering the deadly nature of the situation, but the sight of those two standing so firm beside each other fills me with jealousy and anger. I’m ashamed to say that for a moment, I even consider
not
trying to help them. But karma quickly makes me pay for thinking so selfishly.

“
Someone
has to pay then,” the soldier says and slowly turns his bow toward me.

John doesn’t hesitate to unhook his arm from Cassie and leave her side. He rushes over to me, shielding me from any attack.

“Please don’t hurt her,” John says, the insolent tone of his voice gone.

The goon smiles but there’s no blood lust behind it. Instead, he appears very self-satisfied as he turns back to Cassie.

“Do you see,
mi reina
? He no longer loves you the way you want—I’m not sure he ever has,” the goon says. “Do you not see that he has fallen for another?”

Cassie’s eyes soften for a moment as she appears truly hurt. But in true Cassie fashion, her brow furrows and eyes narrow as that pain turns to anger.

“Is this true?” Cassie asks.

John looks at me with desperation. His mouth opens but it’s several seconds before any words come out.

“I
do
feel strongly for Nia,” he says, though his eyes suddenly avoid mine as he turns to Cassie. “But my feelings for
you
are the strongest I’ve ever felt in my life.”

Cassie glares at me—
there’s
something new.

“That’s good enough, at least for
now
,” Cassie says, turning to the soldier. “I’m
not
going with you again.”

The goon gingerly touches the side of his face; he’s a bloody mess. He’s taken such a beating and both his eyes are so swollen that I wonder how he can even see. But through all his bruises, I can see his expression twist into one of rage.

“I’m
through
trying to do this the nice way with you,
mi reina
,” he seethes.

The goon turns the bow on Cassie and I momentarily forget to breathe. But she doesn’t show a hint of the same fear that grips me. Instead of raising her hands in surrender, she puts her hands on her hips in defiance.

“Lower that bow
right now!
” Cassie yells at him.

The goon’s hands shake and he begins to lower his weapon as she commanded. I look to John for any explanation about why the men seem to follow her orders but he’s too focused on Cassie, sending a twinge of jealousy through me. But the soldier doesn’t listen for very long.

“No!” he yells. His normally deep voice raises an octave, his overconfidence replaced with despair. “If you don’t come with me, I’ll shoot.”

“Please, don’t,” Celeste begs as she crawls out of the river. She looks just as beat-up as the goon, clearly not the threat she once was. “You
must not
hurt her.”

The goon is distracted just enough to give me a chance to rush over to Cassie to shield her from the soldier. But I don’t take even a stop in her direction when we’re
all
surprised by an unexpected voice.

“Drop the bow,” Mom says, her voice heavy with surprising strength.

My bow is in her hands, pointed straight for the goon. The rest of us have been so distracted by each other that nobody paid her any attention, nobody noticed that she snapped out of her shocked mourning and grabbed my bow from the ground. The large bow looks massive in her thin arms, which shake uncontrollably. I’ve
never
seen my mother shoot before and it doesn’t take a genius to see she doesn’t have the correct form.

The goon forces a chuckle. “You don’t frighten me,
woman
. I know who you are, or more importantly what you
aren’t
.”

“Please, Javier, it doesn’t have to come to this,” John pleads with him. “This can all be over. You need to move on with your life. We’re young enough again to have plenty of years left to live.”

“Who would want to live
that
kind of life? A normal human life?” the soldier asks.

John and I look at each other, our eyes locked. In that single glance, we
both
say without words that
we
want that life as long as it’s spent together. But John’s eyes go wide upon hearing what his soldier says next.

“If I can’t live forever, I’ll make sure
nobody
can!” the soldier says as he finally releases the bowstring.

John spins and moves like a blur toward Cassie, diving in front of her just as the arrow reaches her. I barely hear the
thud
of arrow striking flesh because the
whoosh
of a second speeding arrow sweeps in the opposite direction. Within a second, one arrow lodges in John’s stomach while the other strikes the goon in his chest.

“No!” Cassie screams.

John hits the ground hard and I rush toward him, but not before watching the soldier splash back into the water, a look of shock on his face as the arrow sticks out of him. He begins slowly floating away to die a lonely death but I can’t even take satisfaction knowing that Mom has avenged Dad. Cassie, Mom and I kneel around John, whose face has turned ashen. Having just gone through this with my father, I can barely hold back a choke of despair.

“It’s okay, John, you’ll be okay,” Cassie says, though she can’t hide the fear in her voice.

“Doesn’t
feel
like I’ll be okay,” John says. He tries to chuckle but that only causes him to grimace.

“Is the First-Aid kit in the raft?” Mom asks.

“Doesn’t matter, it won’t help,” Celeste says, stumbling over from the river. She takes only a quick glance at John’s injury, not unlike the way she’d looked at my father earlier. But this time, there’s no sign of sympathy in her expression. “He’s a goner, there’s nothing you can do. Nice shooting, by the way. I never expected that from you.”

Mom nods solemnly. “I
do
have some of Nia’s blood in me. That’s for what he did to my… to…”

She begins to cry and I can tell she’s about to retreat back into her mental shell. My emotions feel like they’re being pulled in ten different directions at once but the sound of John’s labored breathing makes me focus on him. When I fight or run or hunt or shoot, I’m in my element—athleticism and strength define who I am
now
and probably who I
was
in a past life. But as I watch the life slowly bleed out of John, I feel utterly hopeless, worthless, uncomfortable—I’m positive I was
never
a healer of any kind.

“We have to do
something
to help,” Cassie pleads.

Celeste shrugs. “Believe me, Cassie, you’re better off without him. We’re
all
better off without that problem.”

“How can you say that?” Cassie snaps at her mother.

But if Celeste has any ideas for how to help, she gives no indication. At least not until my mother intercedes.

“You should help if you can,” Mom tells Celeste.

Celeste looks more stunned by my mother’s suggestion than she’s been when seeing Dad shot or John seemingly rise from the dead out of the river.

“Even after what he did to you?” Celeste asks. “After all the years we’ve spent looking over our shoulders for them?”

I still can’t imagine what John did to my mother but it’s clear Celeste will
never
forgive him. But my mom is a much gentler soul and when she looks at me, I
know
she can see the despair etched on my face.

“You saw what he did to save us,” Mom says, though a part of her is obviously torn by the decision. “People can change. He’s clearly not the same man who… the same man we once knew.”

“Guess I’m not as easy to convince as you,” Celeste says.

“He stepped in front of a speeding arrow to save your
daughter
,” Mom argues. “I think he’s earned our help.”

For a few seconds, Celeste stands completely still, arms crossed over her chest, not ready to help. But finally she sighs and forces her way between us, kneeling by John’s side. He’s growing paler by the second, unable to stop animalistic groans of pain escaping his lips. She studies his wound—shifts the arrow from side to side despite his cries of agony—but shakes her head.

“He’s beyond help, at least without the
proper supplies
,” Celeste says. “Oh well, you can’t say I didn’t try.”

A thought clicks in my mind when Celeste mentions ‘proper supplies.’ It’s obviously not something I’m supposed to know but I do. I think of the
other
soldier, who seemed dead but disappeared when nobody was looking, leaving behind only an empty glass vial. There’d been no bluish glow to that vial but he must have used all the magic water to save his life. John assumed water was being stolen from him; now his only hope is that
both
soldiers were taking some.