The Marked Son (Keepers of Life) (19 page)

“I wish I were overreacting.” Her eyes sparkle like sharply cut gems, edging out the misery that clings to her. “The one thing I’m completely sure of is that you must leave here and never come back. Promise me, Dylan. Only when I know you’re safe can I be at peace.”

I shake my head, denial flooding my brain. “You can’t be serious. I can’t leave like that.” The thought of disappointing Grandpa, of abandoning Grandma so soon after Mom’s “Long time no see, by the way, here’s my son…gotta go,” churns my stomach. The pain Mom put them through was unbearable, and I won’t add to it. I’ve fought too hard to not go Mom’s route.

I shake my head again and step back. “I’m not leaving.”

She grabs my hand, and warm compassion touches the brittleness of her gaze. “Every day, their memory of you will fade just a little bit, until it will be as if you never were. You mustn’t think on it. You
must
save yourself.”

It feels like a vise is crushing the life from my chest. “No. You’re wrong.”

Misery returns to her eyes, and her voice turns insistent. “Humans don’t have the ability to remember us for long. We become unreal. Part of their dreams. Fantasies.”

“I’m not a fantasy,” I growl and shake off her grip. “I’m
real
.”

My world pitches, and everything suddenly becomes crystal clear. All my life, I’ve easily faded in and out of peoples’ lives. Not because I didn’t matter enough to remember, but because I’m really more fantasy than flesh and blood. I can’t accept that.

“Someone will remember me,” I insist.

“For a time…”

“It’ll break my grandma’s heart if I leave.”

“Even if it means saving her?”

“From what?”

“From those who are hunting you. Your father must have left your mother to save her. Don’t you get it? War tore into our land. Rules were made. Humans abandoned. Those with mingled blood were terminated.”

She has no idea what she’s saying. “My father’s disappearing act didn’t save my mother. If you knew her, you’d know that.” I search for a way to explain the impossibility of what she’s asking me to do. “I get that you’re scared, but I can’t go with you. Not yet.”

Silence falls. Kera curls her fingers into the fabric of her gown and glances away. She’s pale. Her teeth nip at her bottom lip. “How can I make you understand? There is no more time. You can’t stay here, Dylan…and you can’t come with me either.”

My heart stops for a split second, and a hot flash of warning burns along my skin. “If we go our separate ways, it won’t save me, either.”

“Don’t say that. You have to leave. Forever. This isn’t a game. It’s real.”

Whatever’s going on, she believes it wholeheartedly. I graze my knuckles down her cheek. “I’m not going anywhere without you.”

Frustrated, she pounds her fist on my chest. I can feel the heartache and need clashing within her. “I refuse to let anything happen to you.”

“Something already has.” I bury my hand in her hair and gently still her struggles. When her eyes find mine, I tell her the truth. “I love you. I have for a long time. When I’m with you, everything feels right. Everything
is
right. If you make me go, I’ll be miserable for the rest of my life.”

A groan rattles from her throat. “I was wrong to find you. I’ve destroyed the one person I would love forever.”

“Then you love me?”

“You must listen. Believe me. I can
never
see you again.”

I shake my head. This can’t be happening. She doesn’t mean it. The scent of burnt molasses coming off her is overwhelming. She thinks she’s trying to save me, but it won’t work. “Answer me, Kera. Do you love me?”

“To our kind, love is a curse as much as a blessing. To be loved and then abandoned is a torture that will never fade. For the humans who truly love us, it’s even worse.” Misery colors her face. “You must leave. It’s the only way you’ll be safe.”

Pulling her to my chest, I kiss the top of her head. “Kera, do you love me?”

Tears stain her cheeks. “I won’t see you die.”

“I won’t die. I’ll find a way for us to be together. I swear it.” I close my eyes and hold her tight.

Kera moans like she’s in pain. “How can I say goodbye when my heart begs me to stay?”

I tilt her face up to mine. “Then stay with me.”

Her expressive eyes soften. She rises on her toes; our lips coming closer, inch by slow inch. She believes. I’ve won. No more talk of leaving.

My expectation is met with a passion-filled kiss. Pleasure ripples through me. I feel strong, like there’s nothing I can’t do.

Without warning, she breaks free and backs up, killing my short-lived joy. Grief lines her face, and her eyes fill with sorrow. “Whatever you plan, it won’t work. You’re a half-blood. If I don’t love you, then we’re safe, and we’ll both forget. You’ll find another.”

“I don’t want anyone else.” Why is she being so stubborn? I step forward, my hand outstretched. “Come on, Kera. Don’t give up. Not yet.”

She moves further away and places her hand on a nearby tree to steady her footing. Her body quivers with each breath she takes. “I won’t risk your death.”

On a sob, she turns and dashes into the woods.

I race forward, only to have the tree’s branch suddenly block my way. Angry, I wish the tree gone, and no sooner do I think it than the tree uproots and crashes to the ground, splintering into a billion pieces. I plow after Kera, leaving a path of destruction in my wake. When I finally catch up, the mist’s glittering fingers are closing around her.

“Kera!”

She looks back at me. The unearthly vortex whips her hair and clothes into wild collision.

“It’s too late. You love me,” I say.

Sadness clouds her eyes, and her lips part on a whisper. “I always have.”

Before I can reach her, the air swallows her whole, and nothing remains but the soft echo of her words.

I place my hand where she disappeared, and the heat of her warms my fingertips. I splay my fingers and concentrate. The heat of her begins to move away. I follow it to the right, and as I do, the air ripples. For the first time, I can see the barrier that separates our two worlds—a mirage of energy that has become my enemy. Slowly, I drag my fingers along its invisible force, following the heat of Kera’s body as she moves along its length on the other side. She pauses and so do I.

My hand hovers over the pulsing hot spot. “Can you hear me?” I whisper. “I won’t leave you.”

A handprint shimmers in the air before me, and I press my palm to it. I could push through the barrier, grab her, pull her through. It wouldn’t take much.

And then it’s too late. She’s gone.

I stand there, jaw clenched, as the pain of her leaving slices through me. It’s so deep and so profound, I nearly pass out. I can’t live the rest of my life without her. This is no schoolboy crush. It’s real, it’s raw, and it’s ripping me apart.

This is what my mother felt after my dad left. Only now do I understand.

Part Two

Misplace the mind,

wait and see,

The wonders of what cans’t,

can be.

Falling Over the Edge

I try to force my hand through the barrier, but the wall fades into nothing, like it doesn’t exist.

I quickly retrace my steps. My fingers slip along the rapidly dissolving energy field until I come to a point where it feels cool, and slightly moist. This is it. This is where she broke through to her world.

I concentrate on the spot, and for a second, the air splits, and I can see a small opening slowly knitting itself together. I grasp the edges. They’re hard as ice, and their cold bite stings my hands. It doesn’t stop me from pressing forward and pulling it apart. Thick mist rushes around me, its fingers splintering the darkness. The familiarity of the forest shatters as a whooshing sensation pulls at my limbs, drawing my body into a whirling vortex. For a second, I’m blind to everything but the white heaviness that clings to the air…and then the damaged barrier spits me out. The mist slithers away as my feet touch solid ground. Cobblestones, to be exact.

I’m shaken, my head’s spinning, and I’m sucking down air. I drop my head between my knees and fight the blackout that threatens to overwhelm me. It takes a moment for the world to settle. Unsteadily, I turn to see where I’ve come from and find a real wall, bricks and mortar running in a staggered line until it meets with the buildings on each side. I’m standing in a dead-end alleyway. I run my hands over the bricks until my fingers clasp the edge of the capstone and then jump, hoisting my stomach onto the top of the wall. It’s solid. Real. The wall runs for yards and yards in either direction. It’s part of a bigger structure. A walled town. Beyond the town is a stand of trees that widen into a forest. I jump back down and push on the wall. It appears solid. I move my hand to the left and the rip appears.

I pull away and whip around, my eyes taking in my surroundings.

I expected trees, a mirrored image of my world, but what I see is far from that. More like a living museum of the past, complete with sounds and smells of a time on the brink of modernization. I can even smell the oil burning in the streetlamps. It doesn’t take long for me to begin to panic.

“Kera,” I whisper harshly. “Kera!”

I take a step forward. There’s no sign saying
Welcome to Teag
. What if there’s a trick to entering her world? Like maybe I was supposed to think about my destination, and since I didn’t, I’m lost in another realm?

Apprehension, like tiny bullets, riddles my thoughts. The night lies thick and heavy, broken only by the odd sounds of animals. Horses, I think. A few dogs bark. Then, from my right, footsteps. The thought of standing here, waiting for whomever it is to find me, attacks the vulnerability I’ve tried for years to hide.

I’m weaponless other than my ability to manipulate nature. Stuck in a lifeless alleyway. Any form of nature is over the wall and far away. Kera said the power comes from the earth. It’s time to find out if I can tap into it wherever I am. I reach out and power rushes into me. I’m stunned by the feeling—it’s like I can feel all the way down to the core of the earth. My hands light up like I’ve dipped them in radioactive goo. Even my vision has turned night into day.

Kera breaks through the night, her gown swirling around her ankles as she comes to a stop at the mouth of the alleyway. Her face pales with shock. “Dylan! Y-you can’t be here.”

My vision instantly dims. The nightlight effect fades, and I go to her, wanting to hold her, even as I fight the frustration her defection has caused.

Desperation flares from my core. If I blow this, I might as well stop breathing. “How can you think you’re doing the right thing? You love me. This is ridiculous. You’re trying to get me to leave so I can live, but you don’t get it. Life without you isn’t worth living.”

A loud clang of a clock sounds. She puts a hand to my mouth and shakes her head. “You have no idea what kind of danger you’re in.”

She grips my arm and pulls me forward, muttering under her breath about hiding me until she can send me back. We exit the alleyway, skimming the edge of the street like shadows. I hiss her name to get her to stop, but she won’t.

Why is she being so stubborn? With a firm tug, I pull her to a stop. Her mouth rounds with surprise. I peel off her fingers and kiss her palm, feeling her hand curl against my cheek. Her skin is hot and smooth, and with each breath I grow stronger and more convinced I’m exactly where I should be.

With her.

I stare into her eyes, forcing her to see the truth. “It’s too late. You can’t hide me, and I’m not going back, not without you.”

Her eyes widen, and she tries to pull away. “It’s impossible.”

It’s not quantum physics. Okay, traveling through to another dimension is, but what
we
have is simple.

She bites her lips a bright red, making me uneasy. She’s not telling me something.

“What’s really going on? Tell me, Kera.”

“I can’t.” She yanks free and rakes her fingers through her hair. Her gaze roams the area. Mine follows. This place could be a Hollywood sound stage of an old New England town. There’s an apothecary, a boot maker, and a photography shop showing the tintype process of capturing one’s image. The roads are narrow, built more for horses and carts than cars, and there’s a lingering odor of burning oil and coal and soiled hay.

I can’t stop to think about where we are. I don’t really care. I’m with Kera, and from what I can tell, the street’s deserted, but something’s making her jumpy. When she turns to face me, her lips are pinched of color.

She looks lost and so alone. Uncertainty rolls off her. I step closer, shielding her with my body. I bend close and whisper gently into her ear. “It’ll be okay. I won’t let anything happen to you. Let me help.”

I kiss her temple, willing her to trust. She shivers, and I can feel the war waging within her. Those violet eyes turn pleading, begging me to stop her from saying anything more. But I can’t. I need to know. I urge her confession free. “What aren’t you telling me?”

Her voice is pale and hard to hear. “I…” She wraps her arms about herself. “I-I’m like you. Exactly like you. I’m a half-blood, tainted by a human mother.”

I couldn’t have been more shocked if she’d spontaneously combusted into a pile of ash. “But you said they kill half-bloods here.”

“Only if they know.”

I shake my head, disgusted by the risk she’s taking. “What’s wrong with your dad? He should’ve sent you to your mother.”

“She died soon after my birth.”

Her confession chokes all the anger out of me. “There has to be someone—”

“He had no other option. After my birth, war broke out. It decimated whole families. Before he knew it, the gateways were locked, separating our worlds forever.”

“Until now.”

“The gateways are still locked and guarded. I’ve done a terrible thing. I’ve turned the barrier’s magic against itself. That’s how I entered your realm. And each time I have, I’ve met with trouble.” She nervously scans the street as if she’s expecting someone to jump out and grab her. “My father’s risked so much to protect me, and look what I’ve done.” Her violet eyes widen. “Trouble falls in threes. Did you know that?”

“I’m not superstitious.”

Hopelessness drowns out her scent of summer, covering it with the frost of winter ice. Even her hands are freezing. “You being here is a disaster.”

I’m a disaster. Yep, that sounds familiar. I’m losing her. She’s melting into a pile of emotional goo. “Kera, it’s not as bad as you think.”

“It is!” The vein along her neck jumps heavily with each heartbeat as her gaze skitters from window to door and beyond. “You’re marked for death, and if they find out I’m not who they think I am, they’ll kill me, too. The council’s right. Nothing good comes when our worlds intermingle.”

“We’re not going to die.”

Her glare sharpens. “Oh, really? I’ve seen what they do to people like us. I’ve seen the lengths they’ll go to, to purify our land. Death will be a blessing, Dylan, and there’s nothing we can do about it. Nothing.”

“You’re giving up too easily.”

“You have no idea what’s happening.” The smell of a stoked fire finds us. Her muscles tighten as she searches the rooftops. “We can’t stay here.”

She tries to push away, but I won’t let her go. I run my hands up and down her arms. “Look at me.”

It takes her a moment, but she finally does. I dig deep for whatever power this land holds, call it to me, and when it appears, it surges through me and into her, and she gasps. Our eyes lock, and I rasp, “I’m not afraid.”

It’s a crazy thing, this confidence I have. I don’t know where it’s coming from, but I have no problem embracing it. “This feels right. I was born to be here, to be with you, and no one has the right to tell us differently. I’ll protect you. Do you trust me?”

Her eyes search my face, and her voice grows thick with emotion. “I want to be who I really am. I’m just afraid.”

We really are two of a kind. I slip a stray curl of her hair behind her ear. “We’ll find a way to make this work, Kera. I swear it.”

A bird swoops down and chirps in her ear. “Someone’s coming,” Kera says.

She grabs my hand, but it’s too late. A man lopes into view, sees us, and shouts for us to stand still. Yeah, right. We take off down the street, turn the first corner, and stumble into a series of crates. Kera mumbles something under her breath, and they snap into stairs like Lincoln Logs. We run up them, and as soon as our feet leave the first tread, it disintegrates. Before I can even process the feat, we vault over the wall and run for the trees. The guard isn’t far behind us, blowing his whistle and shouting for his partner.

The trees slow us down. We need cover, some way to blind him. As soon as I think it, dirt swirls around the man and he staggers back, rubbing at his eyes. I throw Kera to the ground and roll, commanding the leaves and debris to surround us. When we finally settle, we’re completely camouflaged, tucked beneath a patch of brambles.

The wind stops. Another man joins the first. “What’s going on?”

“A couple. I gave chase, but the wind blew dirt in my eyes, and now…” Confusion twists his face.

The second man comes within feet of us. “I don’t see anyone.”

“I told you. They’re gone now.”

“Come on.” The second man moves off, his footsteps rustling in the scattered debris, and the first man grumbles a bit before joining his friend.

Silence sharpens until the same bird wriggles his head between the sticks and warbles a sharp song.

“They’re gone,” Kera says.

I command the debris clinging to us to fly off, and when it does, I slant a disbelieving look at Kera. “You can talk to birds, too?”

She rolls away and sits up. Her eyes grow dark violet as she stares back at me. “What did you do?”

“What, this?” I stand and shake off the dirt clinging to my clothes. “We needed to hide, so I thought if we could somehow get covered with leaves, they wouldn’t see us. The next thing I know, we’re covered. Pretty cool, I’d say.”

“I’ve never seen anything like that.”

I pause in plucking twigs from my clothes. “It’s kinda new to me, too.”

She looks me up and down as if seeing me for the first time. “Maybe we
can
find a way to make this work.”

I help her up. “So you believe me now?”

She examines my hands. “I don’t understand what’s happened to you, but they’re right. You keep doing things you shouldn’t be able to do.”

“Ever since I entered your world, my power has grown. I belong here.”

“What about your grandparents?”

“I’ll explain it to them. They’ll have to understand, just like your father will have to understand.”

She slips her fingers between mine. “My father isn’t the problem.”

Euphoria conquers all my doubts. I’m with Kera, and that’s all that matters to me. “Everyone will understand. You’ll see.”

Hands clasped, we quickly move through the woods and away from the men. The trees sigh and rumble as we pass, while tiny lights flitter thorough the branches like floating diamonds. “Are those what I think they are?”

She doesn’t bother looking. “
Pux
. They wouldn’t dare harm us here.”

“Why do I have a hard time believing that?” I throw out an image of me plucking off their wings and feeding them to hungry rats if they continue to spy on us, and they dart away. It seems whatever I want is granted. Power surges through me, bolstering my confidence. “We need a plan. A way to be together without freaking everyone out.”