“Ellie!” Laxmi screamed up at her counterpart in the fight. “Take Tim! Grab Tim!”
Ellie glanced down and saw Wren holding him by the arm, both of them swinging at the reekail. Ducking him down when it was needed, but letting him swing my sword fiercely at the damn thing.
Little warrior, already.
Ellie dropped next to Wren, and grabbed Tim’s other arm, with the sword. Wren let go, and Laxmi ran around the creature to grab Wren’s arm.
The blue and red glow crashed as they switched partners. Instead a purple, though, there was a blinding white flash that consumed everyone’s vision, as we desperately ducked away and tried to screw our eyes shut.
As fast as it appeared, it was gone, and our eyes didn’t suffer at all.
The reekail, however was howling in pain, holding Ben over his head, threatening to drop him—or smash him. Miriam bolted.
All four of them, Ellie, Laxmi, Wren, and Tim shoved their swords into the side of the reekail at the same time, and a shock of black tore through its hide. Since it was already screaming, it started to thrash as well, coming dangerously close to crushing one or all of them.
“Neck!” I screamed. “Stab the neck!”
The four of them clearly heard me, because as the creature turned away from them in its thrashing, they all slashed at the side of the neck: Wren and Laxmi bottom up, Ellie and Tim top down.
Another black flash ripped through the creature and dissipated into the air, washing over us as it faded.
The claw released, and Miriam had Ben in her arms.
Ellie drove the flameblade straight down into the top of the creature’s head, the crunch of bone clear as a bell through the evening air.
The reekail started to shrivel, and suck into itself, while making horrible dying noises, which was bizarre because I’d thought it was dead.
“Stay there!” Miriam yelled, seeing the four of us straightening up and getting ready to move toward her. She rushed back holding Ben to her, but it wasn’t fast enough.
The reekail’s overall existence seemed to fail, and there was a sharp pop and snap through reality. We were all blown backward, hard. Miriam managed to turn and keep Ben off the ground, while Bastian did the same with Tabitha. But we all hit hard as the last of the scream ripped the air and disappeared.
The silence that followed was deafening.
It took each of us a few moments of just lying there before we could even move.
Our breathing was loud, and finally roused me out of the dirt that I’d been slammed into.
And in the next moment, I was on my feet running to where the reekail had been. “Wren!” I looked around. “Ellie! Tim! Where are you?”
In some bushes, dozens of feet from where they had been, I saw someone sit up. Aiming for the shrubbery, I ran as fast as I could to where they appeared to be.
Ellie was rubbing her forehead, her wings and sword gone, regular clothes back in place. She had her arm around Tim and helped him sit up, dusty and ragged and tear stained. He was still holding my sword.
Taking the sword from him, carefully, I shoved it back in it’s nothing place and pulled him and Ellie into me.
“You okay?” I asked both of them at once.
Tim nodded, but Ellie was looking around. “Where’s Mom?”
“Here,” Wren managed around a cough. “I’m here. I’m okay. Where’s Laxmi?”
There was another cough and rustle to the right, in the bushes, and we all turned and looked.
Laxmi slowly pushed herself off the ground and scrubbed a hand over her face. “Fuck, that hurt.”
She whipped around and stared at us, her black eyes wide and—brilliant. Her hair whipped around her in a non-existent wind, and her skin glowed in way that was nothing like anything we’d seen before. A dizzy spell hit me—
…dark and terrible and glorious.
“I am Laxmi.”
“I don’t need another guardian!”
“You do not have a say in this. I am here by command of El. I am formed by his words.”
Wren stood. “I don’t need you. You followed me around as a little black cloud, go back to that.”
A gentle hand landed on her shoulder. “She is not for you, Temperance.” Miriam walked around, her smile benevolent and kind. “She is my counter. A dark guardian for my light.”
Wren looked put out. “You don’t need help.”
“I need balance. You need balance. We are here only to keep the balance in check around you. Your brother worries.”
“He worries about everything.”
Laxmi nodded. “And with me here, he will have to worry a little less about you.”
Miriam offered a hand to the other guardian. “Come, Laxmi. Let us learn how our balance will work.”…
“Holy shit…” Bastian breathed walking up behind us.
Miriam stood directly in front of Laxmi, who was now on her feet. They just stared at each other for a long, long moment, and finally, handing Ben off to me, Miriam held her hand out.
Laxmi touched her fingers to her palm.
There was a crack and a bang and they were gone.
Wren let out a breath we all didn’t realize we were also holding.
“She remembered.”
Wren
Ellie curled around her brother, and the sight was a relief.
What was even better was the other two kids in the room with them. Tim and Bits were on the floor, on an air mattress, already asleep.
“This is better than we hoped,” Fischer whispered.
I nodded, backing the men out of the room. I motioned them down the stairs. “This is much better than I’d hoped. I’m so glad the twins wanted in on this.”
“Me too,” Lincoln said, his lips curving into a smile.
“Laxmi really remembered?” Bastian asked.
Fischer shrugged. “Apparently. The blast from the reekail did it, jarring her memories loose. I suspect we won’t see them soon, if the look on their faces was anything to go by.”
“Yeah, inclined to agree.” I smirked and nodded. “We also learned something else tonight.”
“We did.” Fischer’s head bobbed, agreeing with me. Bastian gestured for him to elaborate. “Timothy is Ben’s other versilange. He won’t be called for a long time yet, but the way he and Ellie worked together made it clear. We haven’t been sure if it was him or Bits, but now...”
“Tabitha is also versilange, though…” Lincoln said. “Who does she belong to?”
I snapped around to him, because the answer charged into my head. “Paige’s baby.”
All three heads turned to me.
“I’m not saying that on a whim, guys. I’m serious. It was just,” I tapped my head, “in there. And I’m starting to trust that more and more. Tabitha is a versilange for Paige’s baby.”
“She’s scheduled the procedure for next week,” Fischer said.
“Fuck,” Lincoln hissed.
“We can’t interfere,” Bastian and I said at once.
“I know that,” Lincoln bit out. “But that doesn’t change the sentiment.”
“What the hell do we do?” Fischer asked.
“Nothing,” I whispered. “There is nothing we can do. Free will.”