When the Raven Calls

Chapter 9

AS IT TURNS OUT, SOMETHING did come, but not in the way I expected and not in an entirely unappreciated way.

"Are you ready?" Macey asked as Thomas walked by.

"Yeah," I said, my gaze on him.

"Sam? I know you like him. You should just tell him," she said discreetly, changing topics entirely. I kinda wished she had stuck to talking about the heist we were about to pull.

"Um, no, and no. Because I don't like him." Liar.

"Liar. I've seen the way you watch him, and it's more likely for a shooting star to hit Illvonya than me to be wrong about this," she said, matter-of-fact. I looked at my best friend, bemused.

"Did you do calculations again last night?"

"Better than sitting around doing nothing," she said with a shrug.

"I highly disagree. Sitting around and doing nothing is therapeutic."

"It's a waste of time!" she argued.

"No, it's a way to expand your mind," Thomas said, sitting down. He didn't notice that glance Macey sent me, or the way I stiffened and very determinedly didn't react to the way he smelled right next to me. Pine and cinnamon...

"You're impossible. I can't believe I'm friends with people so unproductive," she joked, leaning back against the stairs, still warm from where the sun had hit them a few moments ago. I watched as she relaxed, closing her eyes as a breeze from the open window lifted a few of the hairs of her face, setting them dancing, shadows melting and reforming across her skin as the trees swayed outside.

"Yeah, but you love it," I said with a smile. Thomas grinned at me, and a perfect contentment settled over me. I wished that it was just like this all the time--no worry, no arguing, no secrets holding us back.

I could feel my secrets crawling up like ants in my throat, desperate to escape, to fill the comfortable silence. Every fiber of my body said that now was the time, that I could trust them, that my best friends would never sell me out.

But as I opened my mouth to speak, my heart in my throat, Macey's eyes opened.

"I guess we'd better get going, huh? Syrena will be mad if we aren't on time and ready to leave. And besides," my best friend said, grinning lazily at me, "we don't want her mad at you. She finally let go of that stupid, 'she's Tainted' idea."

"Yeah," I said, forcing a smile as Thomas stood and helped me up. "We wouldn't want that."

We stood, and a mixture of relief and regret spread through my body.

Ah, well. There's always next time, I guess.

***

A little less than an hour later, we were scattered along a long driveway, crouching in trees and lying in wait behind bushes as a carriage drew past. I watched as it approached, holding my breath and flattening myself against the ground as it passed, listening as the horse's steady clip-clop filled the air. It moved past me, turning slighting to go along with a gentle bend in the road, gold leaf edging glinting in the sunlight, and went at least another twenty-five feet. It was directly under the sprawling maple, when we struck.

Thomas went first--leaping down from the tree, with its many handholds, and landing neatly on the roof of the carriage. Syrena came bolting out from a few feet away, her dual swords glinting in the sunlight for just a moment before the horses bolted away and the driver slowly slumped over, then tumbled to the ground. Macey and I were on our way with bags for anything we could sell for money, and Thomas had just swung off the roof and opened the door. We were all hidden beneath masks and concealing clothing. Everything was going just as planned.

And then, suddenly, it wasn't.

It was a loud noise that cracked through the rustling air that shattered everything--the crack of a rifle, followed by the surreal sight of a body flinching and staggering backwards. The figure stumbled once, twice, then fell to the ground, unmoving. The world seemed to have stopped spinning, and there was one instant where none of us moved, unable to believe this had happened.

Unable to believe Thomas had just been shot.

We've pulled this stunt half a dozen times. Why now? WHy did this have to happen now? I thought, holding back desperate sobs. I couldn't afford to fall apart right now, not while he depended on me.

"Oh, my god, Thomas..." I heard Macey say, following me to his body. Syrena still hadn't moved, and I knew she was in shock.

"Macey, make sure Syrena's okay," I ordered, fumbling with his shirt, terrified by the amount of blood already soaking through and coating my fingers.

Thomas let out an inhuman cry as I probed the skin around a nasty-looking hole in his skin. My stomach started doing flips as I saw just how many layers of skin were visible from the wound, filling with blood.

"Oh, god," I murmured. For just a second, my mind lingered in the comfort of not accepting the truth, not accepting the fact that I might loose one of my best friends, my family, and my love, all in one blow. And then that second was over, and it was hitting me all at once, these horrible possibilities. The thought of anything happening to him... it was unbearable, unthinkable. I couldn't breathe, because the fear had wrapped itself tightly around my throat and lungs.

It was that instant that lead to what happened next, to the one thing that changed everything.

My mind retreated into itself, and somewhere, I slipped into the haze where I could feel, could sense the lives around me. It hurt so badly, to feel the world around me, brimming with life, and watch as his drained away. I was moving, trying to cover the wound, trying to put pressure on it, and he was crying out then passing out. His skin was practically white, but my mind was still locked away, even as I tried to save his life.

I honestly don't know exactly what happened next. The best way I can describe it is as this... I don't even know. It was just this surge of energy, like a tidal wave crashing over my senses, and then it was as if someone had carved out part of my chest. The last thing I remember is a sharp, burning pain lacing through my veins, and Thomas gasping back to life as I collapsed.

And then the world turned dark.