“Crap,” I muttered, “I was... I was,” I said as I tried to come up with an excuse.
“You were going outside.” It wasn’t a question.
“I was, but I’m not anymore, seeing as I got caught.”
He sighed and began to say something, but my hand caught his attention, “Why aren’t you wearing the ring?”
I rolled my eyes, “You could figure out I was going outside to fly, but not why I took the ring off? It could’ve fallen off,” I pulled out the necklace that now held the ring and my Light Stone, “Plus, it’s on this necklace, so I didn’t take it off.”
He smiled and leaned in to kiss me. I pulled away, shaking with fear, eyes wide with worry.
“Luke,” I whispered, “I know where their base is.” I grabbed his arm to keep myself stable, “Do you remember, before I was in the Hold, what I did after I came to your room around midnight?”
Luke’s face went dark and he nodded, “After Joseph.”
“Yes, I jumped out of a window, remember? Well, I flew a bit and found this meadow. There were all these flowers and there was a rose, an Light Stone rose. My mother’s symbol. It was the last of her. That was where she died and she died at their base.”
“At least we know where it is!” He exclaimed, “We should plan an attack soon, since it’s so close.”
I nodded, but something was bothering me. “But, Luke, when I was there why didn’t they attack?”
He shook his head, “I don’t know.”
I sighed, “I want to know.”
Luke pulled me into his arms, “I’m just glad you’re safe.”
I shook my head, “I’ll never be safe.”
“I promise, Leigha, someday you will be.”
We stood there in his arms for about a minute and then Alex came racing up.
“Leigha, Leigha,” she said, jumping up and down, “Can I see it? Please!”
“What?” I asked.
She rolled her eyes, “Your ring.”
“Oh,” I said. I held it out to her on the chain, “It’s not some huge deal, Alex.”
She just smiled at me and said, “Alright, I’ll leave you two alone. I’ve gotta get back to Claire.”
Luke looked down at me, “If you want me to get another…”
“No, I like it simple.”
~~~~~
Claire was uncomfortable. Wess made her feel that way because she was still confused about him. He had come after Alex had left to find Leigha and see her ring.
“Is someone with Leigha?” Wess asked, standing in the doorway.
“Luke is, I think,” She replied.
“Look, Claire, I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have done that, kissed you like that, I mean.”
Claire looked down at her hands, letting her blonde hair fall in her face so he couldn’t see her confusion.
“Please, Claire. At least tell me to leave.”
She shook her head, “I’m not mad at you. I’m just…confused.”
“I get it, it’s okay,” he turned to leave.
“Wess,” she stood.
He turned around quickly. “Yes?”
“Don’t go, please. I’m sorry.”
“Claire, I told you it’s fine. It was my fault.”
She shook her head again, “No, it wasn’t.”
He walked back over to her, “I never meant to upset you.”
“You didn’t, I wanted you to do that. I just…,” she blushed. “I don’t know what to feel.”
“You think too much,” Wess said and then he leaned down and kissed her just as Alex was walking in.
“Um, Claire? I hate to interrupt, but...,” Alex said.
Wess pulled away. “Yes, Alex?” Calire asked, her cheeks turning redder.
“I still have to go get Marie and Cece, but I saw the ring, so we can start.”
“Alex…” Claire began gently, the color in her cheeks draining away. “When I was standing in for Leigha we were attacked and-”
“Did Cece end up in the Care Rooms again?” Alex interrupted.
“No, Alex, Cece was…she died, Alex,” Claire told her, her voice choking up.
Alex’s hand flew up to cover her mouth as tears spilled out. She ducked her head, trying to force the tears back. “Let’s just start, okay?” she whispered.
“Start what?” Wess asked Claire softly.
“We’re planning the Binding ceremony. Don’t tell Leigha because she’ll stop us,” Claire said distantly, more concerned with how Alex was handling things.
“Oh, I’ll leave, then,” Wess said. “I think you should sort this out alone.”
~~~~~
“Do you have to be here all the time?” I complained, dropping into a chair.
“Wess can watch you instead, if that’s what you want,” Luke said, standing up.
I sighed, “No, but what about Claire or Alex or Cece or Marie?”
“They’re busy. I get it, you just don’t want me here,” he joked, sitting back down on the couch.
“No! I just don’t like being guarded, by you or anyone else.”
“I could go stand outside like guards in movies.”
I rolled my eyes, “You’d still be guarding me.”
“Well, if you wouldn’t keep trying to get out…”
“I know, you’ve told me enough times already.”
“I won’t let you get hurt, Leigha.”
“I won’t get hurt. You have to trust me! I can take care of myself!”
“You might.”
“I told you, I can protect myself!” I got up and walked over to him.
“I can’t let you get hurt again. I know you’re strong enough, but.. Leigha, I hated seeing you like that.”
I sat down next to him. “It was my fault, Luke. I’m sorry,” I whispered.
“Stop apologizing.”
I looked up at him, “You shouldn’t forgive me for what I did. I was so horrible.”
“I have to forgive you, Leigha. I’ll always have to because I love you.”
I smiled, pulled his face to mine, and kissed him softly. I dropped my hands back to my lap, but his face stayed inches from mine.
“But you shouldn’t.”
“Love you or forgive you?”
“Both,” I breathed.
“Why?”
I looked at him intently, “What if I got hurt? I mean, what if I got hurt worse, Luke? What are you going to do?”
“There isn’t a ‘what if?’ I won’t let you get hurt, period.”
He pulled me too him and held me against him. I almost started to cry, but I gulped down my tears and just let him hold me.
“Leigha, tell me what’s wrong,” he said, holding me at arm’s length.
“I...well, you know how I have more power than most fairies?” I took a deep breath, “I have a secret one. I’ve had it most of my life, almost as long as I can remember. It’s a secret no one’s ever known about, not even my mother knew. I...I see the future.”
“Why haven’t you told?” He asked.
“I didn’t want people to try to make me see things. It’s all random. I can’t choose what I see. That’s not the point, though.”
Luke’s hands were on my shoulders and I though he was going to start shaking me in his urgency. “What did you see?”
“You have to understand that it’s only a small clip. I don’t see much, just enough for me to understand what happens. I don’t know how it happened or when it will happen, but...I-I saw myself... Luke, I’m going to die. Soon.”
“No!” he cried, standing angrily. “You saw wrong.”
“I’ve never seen wrong, Luke,” I said calmly.
“I won’t let this happen, not so soon. I’ll stop it.”
“It’ll happen anyway, no matter what you do. Don’t try to change it and get yourself killed in the process.”
He pulled me to my feet and hugged me again, “You can’t leave me,” he said into my hair, “Please, not yet.”
~~~~~
/> Somehow, I’d ended up in my bed. Maybe I’d fallen asleep on Luke and he moved me to my bed. I heard Claire and Alex whispering on the floor and propped myself up on my elbows.
“Good morning, Leigha,” Claire said.
Alex jumped up, “Guess what!”
“What?”
“Alex,” Claire warned, but Alex ignored her and charge ahead.
“Your Binding’s tomorrow!” Alex exclaimed. She was so excited I thought she would burst.
I tried to glare at them, but I couldn’t hold back my smile.
“I told you she’d be happy,” Alex turned to Claire, hands on her hips.
Marie popped up from behind a chair, “I agreed!”
Claire rolled her eyes, “You two knew we had to be careful.” She turned to me, “We didn’t want you to say no.”
“That was a good idea then,” I said, “But how long have you been planning this?”
Claire looked uncomfortable and Alex piped up, “Claire and I have been planning since we first came here.”
I shook my head and Claire blushed.
Suddenly, we heard a huge bang. Everyone jumped up and started rushing toward the door. Right before we reached it, it swung open. Luke stood in the doorway.
I opened my mouth to speak, a protest forming on my lips, but Luke read my mind.
“No, you can’t go out. Not yet, but soon.”
“Why not? Give me one good reason,” I crossed my arms.
“You could die,” Luke and Claire said at the same time, but Luke had a more intent look on his face.
The second after they said that I felt a knife scrape my throat.
A low, girlish growl of a voice said, “She doesn’t need to go out there to die, now, does she?”
Chapter Twenty-One
I had a plan in seconds. I would whip around, grab her, and take the knife. Right as I started to turn she dropped the knife into my shoulder and pushed it in. It broke through my skin and scraped across my shoulder bone.
I gasped and bit my lip until I tasted blood to keep from crying out.
“Let me take her or I’ll get her wings good, too,” Marie said.
“No,” Luke growled, stepping towards us.
With her other hand Marie forced my wings open while she ripped the knife out of my shoulder.
Luke stopped moving and said, “Don’t you dare hurt her.”
“Marie?” Alex said, all innocence. “Why are you doing this?”
Alex had caught Marie off guard by the statement and Marie turned her attention to Alex. Marie pulled the knife away from me slightly and I took my chance. I pounced on her, pushing her to the ground. I pulled the knife from her hands and threw it to the ground out of her reach. Someone rushed over to grab it as I pulled Marie to her feet. I yanked her hands behind her back and locked her in my linen closet.
“Leigha, your shoulder!” Claire said.
“Shouldn’t it be healing?” I asked, but I knew it wasn’t from the pain.
Claire and Luke exchanged uncomfortable glances.
“Leigha,” Luke took my hand, “That chip that was in you has damaged some of your powers. One or two of them are now gone, making you like a human in those ways.”
I pulled my hand away in disbelief, “Which ones?”
“The healing and some other thing that we’ve yet to figure out,” Claire replied.
“Everything else is fine?”
“Other than that one other thing, if there is another, everything else is fine,” Luke confirmed.
Claire went searching for bandages and wrapped up my shoulder. Once she was done I walked into my closet and found my armor.
“Claire,” I called, “Come help me into this.”
I got into the armor and I morphed into my Light Form. We had to go to the armory to get everyone else’s armor and most of our weapons, but I already kept some with me, as did Luke. We liked to be prepared.
I walked out in front of Claire. “Let this war begin,” I muttered.
~~~~~
Once the four of us were ready we started toward the sound. It wasn’t far from the armory, so it didn’t take us long. Marie was the only thing that had slowed us down. On our way we’d found someone who could take her to the dungeon and that left me with one less thing to worry about.
When we arrived at the scene I couldn’t see anything because of all the Lights. We squeezed our way up to the front.
“What happened?” I called to a random Light.
“They broke through the force field,” he replied.
“Oh, no,” I muttered.
I looked at Luke and could tell he’d been listening. I nodded to him and looked up at the sky. A storm was coming. The wind whipped lose strands of my hair into my face, despite the fact that I’d tied it in a braid. I thought for a moment and an idea came to me, an idea that everyone would hate. It was worth a shot, though.
I struggled back through the crowd and ran to my room. I pulled out a dress very much like the one I’d worn to my coronation. It was close fitting until the waist where it loosened, allowing room to move. The pattern covering the dress was the same as my coronation one. One strap held the dress up on my shoulder, which was different from my other one, and there was a silver lining along the hem.
I pulled the silver hem between my fingers and whispered, “My silver lining.”
I pulled on the dress hastily and slipped on silver flats. I unbraided my hair and let it flow freely over my shoulders and down my back. The dress showed that I was unarmed and would have difficulty in hand to hand combat, perfect for my plan.
I pressed my hand to a window and made it disappear, then flew out, into the storm. I found the Dark army and searched for the First Obliviator. When I’d found him I landed in front of him.
“I have a deal to make with you,” I said, not bothering with any sort of formality.
“Oh, really?” He asked suspiciously.
“Yes. Do you want to hear it?”
“Is there a benefit for me?” the Obliviator retorted.
“A very big one.”
“Go on, precious.”
Bumps rose on my skin when he called me that and I shivered in disgust before speaking. “If you leave the shrine alone for four days, I will go with you. You can put me in a Hold and you won’t have to worry about the most powerful of the Lights being able to fight you.” The Obliviator had started to smile when I said, “But, in four days, when you attack, you have to take me back with you and set me free. You have to set me free.”
“What’s in it for you?” asked the First Obliviator, laughing now.
“My army has time to prepare. You must allow me to warn them, though.”
“Fine,” he replied, snickering.
“You have to remember that you have to set me free, let me go back to my army.”
“Agreed,” he said with a laugh. He thought I would kill my own army due to effects of the Hold.
I flew back to where all of the Lights were wearily watching the Darks approach. I told the first person what I was doing and told them to spread it. They probably thought I was crazy, I thought I was crazy. I just had to hoped my plan would work.
When I reached the First Obliviator again he waved a hand. Two Darks flanked me and forced my arms behind my back, tying them together. The look on the Obliviator’s face said he knew the Creatures of the Light were going to lose because of me. He thought I would be the downfall of my own kind, and he could be right.
~~~~~
I was put into a Hold at the Dark’s headquarters. I carefully made sure that the First Obliviator’s face was the last one I saw and I struggled to think only about him. I felt the urge come over me after very little time in the Hold. I had to kill him for what he had done.
~~~~~
The four days finally passed. I never saw the First Obliviator again after I was taken out, but that was good. If I saw him I would be uncontrollable; I would be even worse than people normally were after being in
a Hold. Two Darks, I had no idea what kind, took me to a place in the woods. I was set free the day the attack would begin, the Dark Siders thinking my hatred from the Hold would make me destroy my own people.
I wandered around until I found the Light army. I flew up and over their heads until I saw Luke, so I could land in front of him. The second he saw me he began to back away, unsheathing a sword and holding it tightly in front of him.
“Luke!” I said.
I ran toward him and hugged him in relief. My plan had worked perfectly. The only person I would have a Hold-altered reaction to was the First Obliviator.
“You-you’re okay,” he stuttered.
I pulled back. “I figured out how to mess with the Hold effects. The only person that’s affected in my head is the First Obliviator.”
Luke was still trying to push me away from him, trying to keep the distance between us.
“I swear, Luke. Here’s the thing, though, I can’t be in front. I should be near the middle, so the plan can keep working. Once I see him they’ll know I cracked the Hold. I’ll only want him to pay. The only thing on my mind will be to get rid of him,” I said, shaking Luke’s hands away from me.
“Do you have time to change into your armor?” Luke asked, eyeing my gown.
I looked down, “No, I can fight in this. I’ll just suffer more injury, but because of the Hold I’ll have more strength than I know I possess.”
“What, are you gonna be the Light of Death?”
I smirked, “Maybe so.”
He rolled his eyes, “Are you going to go completely crazy when you see him?”
“My mind and body will be set to kill. I’ll lose touch with everything else. I won’t notice pain or other people until he’s out of my reach.”
“Well, that’s nice,” Luke muttered.
~~~~~
Neither armies waited long to attack. We had just begun moving forward when their army appeared. Their goal would definitely be to send as many Lights as possible into comatasis and kill them all later. For us, on the other hand, it was much easier. Darks could die without any special help.
As I thought about how simple it would be to kill the Darks and win the war I heard a horn. It was sounded for the archers. They sent arrows, blazing with white fire, across the field into the Dark’s army. The Dark army sent ones blazing of black fire. Fires broke out throughout both armies. Lights began using magic to try to tame the fires, but Dark fires took a lot of power to tame. Lucky for us, the Darks were having more trouble than we were.
We continued our way forward, demolishing fires as we went. The archers from both armies kept firing arrows, but at this point we were getting too close for that. I waited what seemed like forever as our armies got closer and closer together, but, finally, they collided. I heard it happen as the sound of swords clashing replaced that of arrows sailing through the air.