Emerson’s Story

Chapter 13

Thirteen

I barely hear my scream as I plummet toward my death. Foamy water and jagged rocks rise rapidly to meet me. Faster, faster, faster—

Then my body decelerates abruptly and a dark shadow swoops below me as I come almost, almost, almost to a halt. Then I’m tumbling out of the air and into a pair of strong arms, and someone’s saying, “Don’t worry, I’ve got you.” I land clumsily on the back of a creature with wings and find myself sandwiched between it and whoever it was that caught me. An arm wraps around my stomach. I squeeze my eyes shut and cling more tightly to that arm than anything I’ve ever held onto. I don’t care who or what it is. I don’t care if it’s an Unseelie faerie or a guardian who wants to lock me up or some kind of new being I’ve never met. My brain cares about only one fact right now: I’m not falling anymore.

We begin moving upward. It’s a jerky, flapping motion, but at least it’s up and not down. I don’t open my eyes. I don’t want to see anything. Up and up, sideways, and up some more, and all the while I silently repeat, Don’t let go, don’t let go, don’t let go. Then we plummet downward, and an involuntary gasp escapes me. But it’s over, and we’re landing amongst the trees, and that strong pair of arms is pulling me off the winged creature. “She’s fine,” he says to someone as he deposits me on the ground. “We were almost too late, but she’s fine.”

My legs are shaking so badly they can’t hold me up. I land on my butt, blinking and gasping and taking in the people around me in disjointed snapshot moments. Three faeries. Blink. A man, dark blue, bending closer to me with concern on his face. Blink. A woman, purple, saying something I can’t hear. Blink. Another woman, watching something through the trees, hair of actual gold sliding over her shoulder. Dark tattoos weave across her arms and reach up the side of her neck.

“Emerson? Emerson!” I refocus on the woman who’s now crouching beside me. The one with wide eyes of vibrant purple who somehow knows my name. “Can you hear me?”

I try to speak, but words won’t seem to come out of my mouth. Every time I blink, I see water, rocks and death rushing full-speed toward me.

“You’re safe now,” she says, her hand reaching toward me. I jerk away, my body still shaking uncontrollably. ‘Safe’ doesn’t mean a thing to me anymore. Her companion may have saved my life, but didn’t Dash save my life too? And a day later he tried to kill me.

“Vi, they’re coming this way,” the golden haired one says. “No time to get the gargoyle back into the paths. Can you keep Emerson quiet while they pass?”

The woman in front of me nods. “Emerson,” she says, leaning a tiny bit closer, but not attempting to touch me again. “We’re all going to turn invisible now. It’s nothing to freak out about. Just an illusion to hide us while the guardians pass. But we need to keep quiet, okay? Completely quiet.”

I nod jerkily, despite the fact that her warning isn’t necessary. Even if my brain was capable of manufacturing words right now, I wouldn’t make a sound while anyone from the Guild runs by. Not after they so readily tried to dispose of me. A moment later, all three faeries vanish. I look down—and manage to hold back my squeak of terror when I find that my body is gone. I know she said ‘invisible,’ but I didn’t realize I wouldn’t be able to see myself either. I thought … I don’t know what I thought.

At the sound of hurried footsteps, I look up. I almost scramble backward when I see the guardians running straight for us, but they swerve and continue running past. “… might not have been this way,” Councilor Ashlow is saying to the rest of her guardians, “but we have to check. Especially if the rest of the team can’t find her body. And find out who that cloaked person was. It didn’t look like he or she was with the Unseelies.”

We wait in silence for at least a minute after the guardians pass. Then: “I think that’s fine, Calla,” the guy who caught me says. The three of them reappear. When I look down, I’m relieved to see my own body once more. I’m not shaking as much as when we first landed, so I push myself up onto my feet. I still feel weak in the wake of more adrenaline than my body’s ever produced in one go, but at least I can stand now.

“Sorry about the dramatic rescue,” the man says, reaching over and patting the leathery winged creature I haven’t looked at properly until now. Ridged horns curve out of its head, and fangs protrude from its wide mouth. “We ran out of time to get a better plan in place. Vi, can you open a doorway? We should get going.”

“I—I’m not—um—” I cut myself off when it becomes clear I can’t utter more than a few stammering words. I hate sounding so weak and confused. It isn’t me. I’m stronger than this, dammit, but everyone has a limit to what they can endure without completely breaking down, and I think I’m fast approaching mine. I swallow and breathe in deeply before trying again. “I’m not … I’m not going anywhere with you. Thank you for saving me, but I don’t know who you are.”

“Right, sorry,” the man says. “I’m Ryn, and this is Violet.” He gestures to the woman with the dark purple hair. With a nod toward the tattooed, golden haired woman, he adds, “And that’s Calla.”

“You can trust us,” Violet says. “We know everyone’s been after you since you arrived in this world, and we can keep you safe.”

I press my hands over my eyes and suck in a shaky breath. “I don’t trust you,” I whisper, finding myself dangerously close to tears. “I don’t trust anyone. Everybody wants to lock me up or kill me.”

“Emerson.” I lower my hands and find Violet right in front of me, staring intently into my eyes. “You can trust us. You know why? Because we’re exactly like you.”

I shake my head. “What do you mean?”

“We’re all Griffin Gifted.”