Geezzzz, this chapter was... It was something, lmao. I don't know why I've been having trouble writing lately. Like the words just haven't been happening for me, so I apologize if the writing and descriptions aren't as good as they normally are.
I'm also going to California in a couple days, so next week there won't be a chapter and maybe the weeks after that *winces* but we'll see. I think my brain needs a break from writing lol. But the next time I post, Dagen meets Nevaeha! I'm so excited I've already written most of it and it's a lot of "oh, shit" and "who the fuck is this dude?"
Anyways, I hope you guys enjoy the chapter : )
Norah
With nothing to do while Topher and Dagen slept, Norah filled the time in taverns, sometimes leaving with another at her side. Now, she strolled in a city with more canals than roads. Boats bobbed along the dark water, city lights shimmering like liquid fire on its surface.
The night was quiet, the cool breeze combing through her hair with gentle fingers. She enjoyed the quiet, sometimes stopping when the streets and canals were empty to try and talk to a flower in full bloom. She only got feelings, strange urges instead of pictures like she got with Squirm. Most of the flowers rejected her, their energy turning sour on her tongue.
Norah took in the city with its polished stone and giant houses. It reminded her of her home in Belonia where each house had perfectly maintained yards and too many rooms rarely used. It reminded her of house parties and dinners that felt as proper as eating with the queen. She thought about the old Norah. A girl too eager to please. Who only thought about fighting--about doing good in the world. Who didn't see that a council room was as much a fight as any battle.
Then Norah wondered what her darkness would do to this city. She wondered how the buildings would crumble in a sea of darkness, their demise silent save for the howls of her storm. The streets would be destroyed. Her storm wiping everything away.
Trips to the front were meant to test the limit of her power. But Norah had yet to reach that limit. Or rather, had yet to find it.
Destruction came to Norah too easily.
Norah walked through the city, her heels clicking on the sidewalk--splashing in the puddles of the night's rain.
Black Reaver.
That's what the monsters we're calling her. A creature that robbed and seized and pillaged anything in its path.
Norah liked it.
She lifted her chin and scanned the sparkling streets until she reached the hotel room the others were staying in and found Dagen sprawled across the couch while Topher showered.
Dagen gave her a long, measuring look. Probably taking in the wrinkled clothes, the rat's nest that was her hair, and smeared liner. He was rather quiet, even Eoin sitting on the floor was missing his usual smiles and bright eyes.
Norah knew why Dagen was mad, and could guess why Eoin's mood shifted. The front wasn't meant for a child, even a ghost child.
Norah went to sit on the couch, stepping over Dagen's legs in the process. Still, he refused to acknowledge her.
It was petty, but Norah understood where he was coming from.
Norah waited for a commercial before she said, "Hey, Dagen."
Slowly, his attention slid to hers. His gaze flicked to her, side-long. Flat and dead. Like she'd seen in Raider City.
She hesitated, guilt curdling her stomach. She hoped the sincerity showed in her eyes as much as her voice. "I'm sorry."
Something bright flickered in his eyes before being snuffed out. Surprise. "What for?"
But they both knew what she meant.
"When we were over the wall, in the office, I kinda..." She tried to think of the right words. "I was angry and it came out on you. I'm sorry about that. It was wrong and you didn't deserve that."
He stared at her for a long moment, the commercials changing in the background.
Eoin stared at them, quiet and wide-eyed.
"Alright," Dagen said, settling into the couch like he'd done some great task. "I'll recall the assassins."
Relief came to Norah like the wind in humid summer. "Thank you," She said. Then a bit sassier. "I'm so grateful."
Dagen eyed her side-long, considering as much as weighing whatever he saw. "Do you always get angry after using the darkness?"
It was an innocent-sounding question, but Norah knew that not everything was as innocent as they seemed. Especially with Dagen who gathered information like lint to clothes.
"Maybe," she answered. His eyes bore into her. She shifted, suddenly irritated. "That's as good as you're going to get."
"So yes." Dagen sniffed. "And you still smell like a Middle-Eastern spice market. You should take a shower before Topher starts sneezing or I'll never fall asleep." Norah stared at him long enough that Dagen turned to face her fully, frowning. "Can you be more obvious?"
"I can," she sneered before throwing his hood over his head and pulling.
He cursed, like a cat sprayed with water. He tried to grab her, trying to throw her onto the couch but she was already standing.
Dagen lifted his hood, scowling at her. "The assassins are staying."
Her eyes gleamed. She pressed the palms of her fingers to her lips and tried to slap Dagen's cheek.
He recoiled, grabbing her wrist and yanking.
Norah braced a foot in front of her, bringing her face to face with Dagen and his smug, lazy smile. He glanced at her lips, then patted her cheek and shoved her away.
Norah worked her jaw, her feet phasing through Eoin as she worked her way back to the door. She gave Dagen a vulgar gesture and he returned it.
"Bye, Topher," she hollered.
"Use protection," he shouted from the bathroom, the shower no longer running.
She waved a dismissive hand at him and left.
------------------------
Plants and vegetation dominated most of the park. Vines crept up the willow trees, twisted with bright flowers now closed for sleep. Wind rustled the grass softly as Norah strolled over the sidewalks.
Sometimes Norah hated that her mind never shut off. There was no rest, no sleep, no break for her without nightmares.
She wondered how she would get Dagen to Khalier without being followed. He could get in and find his way around, but if anyone recognized him--if Cedric's people saw him--the spymaster would have him tailed. And Dagen, as good as he was, wasn't trained like Cedric's people were.
Obviously, a second location was in order.
And Dagen would want money. That wasn't the problem, Norah could provide that now that her bank accounts had been set up. Several, actually. All of them with different purposes and nothing that could be linked back to her.
"Is someone there?" A young boy cried. Norah turned, searching the darkness. "It's too dark, I can't find my way. I'm so scared."
There were lamps down the street, floating orbs of yellow.
She listened to the soft breeze and whisper of grass but heard no footsteps.
Norah wasn't fucking dumb, she knew when she was being played. But the voice did sound like a child, so she couldn't deny its possibility.
Norah made no move to get up.
A low, quiet sob started in the dark and Norah couldn't place it to any particular location. "Please," the boy whispered. "I'm scared."
A hard body slammed into her, too wide, its limbs too long to be human. She went rolling across the grass, pain throbbing in her ribs. Gold flooded in, enveloping the damages in cool water.
Norah tried to take in the park--to find whatever hit her as she rose to her feet. But all she managed to catch was a flash of grey.
Then black, as her darkness surged forward.
The grey was supposed to meet her attack but the creature moved faster than even Quinnlyn. Razors slashed her stomach, making her hiss.
She lashed out with her ice.
Another blur to her right. Norah ducked, ice shooting from the ground to latch onto it. But the ice shattered. Norah fought as the attacks came, only able to block or dodge, never strike.
Dark stars collided in her eyes, the taste of dirt lay on her tongue. She spat, her back pulsing. That bright energy flooded across her back and Norah found herself able to stand.
Another flash.
Norah leapt, rolling across the grass. A tremor shook the ground where she had been. Norah twisted, the temperature plummeting. Ice raced over the grass, sharp and spiked like nails.
A screech.
Nothing like Rima's, which was an endless alarm, but a gutted, deep scream. Rough like gravel on gravel, unlike the smooth voices she'd heard.
She didn't waste a precious second. She found her feet, heart steady as she blasted another wave of ice and cold at the creature.
Creatures, Norah realized.
Two of them were pushed back onto their haunches. They went utterly still, their slitted eyes so tiny a decent archer would have trouble aiming for it. They moved like spiders on four limbs, their muscles shifting under that grey, wrinkling skin. Their heads were long and rectangular, with two sets of teeth as long as her fingers, needle-thin and sharp.
Norah took them in, never forgetting that more could linger in the shadows.
Ice swords formed in her palms, black as night and frothing in the warm night.
The creatures prowled, those long talons piercing the dirt like a knife in butter.
When they struck, Norah was ready.
Her darkness rose like a pillar. It flared, curling inward. Trying to wrap the creature in its black fingers.
She saw the other one coming. Her darkness was already building. But the creatures were fast. They came at her with claws and teeth. Too quick to catch. And too smart. Then they rushed at her together. At different angles. Sometimes different times.
Norah tried to find another pattern. Some trick she could use that wasn't total destruction.
But they came at her so fast she had to shift her focus wholly onto dodging away.
Until she got sick of it.
She waited for them to attack. Then she twisted, the darkness shooting out across the grass. The creatures recoiled, running away. But the darkness rose high above them and folded.
The wave collapsed, taking the creatures with them. They screamed but quickly died in the raging winds.
Norah sent her power out around her, but they had been too close. And now her own magic shriveled her clothes. Norah moved her arms, turning the black tide of death, and pushed it outwards until it dissipated into nothing.
The creatures were dead. Not even a body left. Not even the grass remained. Just dirt.
Norah scanned the park for more, but found silence and trees.
How long had these creatures known about her? How long had they been following her?
Norah didn't know. But if more came, she couldn't have her scent lead back to the others. Or if more had already found them...
Norah didn't hesitate. She ran for the hotel room.
---------------------------
Norah's lungs burned. Her throat was dry as a cat's. There was only the pounding of her feet on the ground and the sound of her thunderous heart. And then there was a door in her way.
She thought about destroying it as she pressed her ear to the wood. Nothing.
No screaming. No clattering.
She unlocked it, finding endless darkness.
She flipped on the lights, shutting and locking the door behind her. "Get up," she demanded, struggling to calm her breathing.
Topher threw something at her.
Eoin worried his lip, fingers fiddling. "What happened to you?"
Her anger spiked. Talking was wasting time. She needed them far away from here.
Norah bared her teeth at the living, only because they were all facing away from her. "Get up now, we're leaving. Pack your things."
"What are you blabbering about?" Topher grumbled, rolling onto his back, peering under the pillow over his eyes just enough to see her and the ruined clothes, the blood.
She threw the pillows back at them as hard as she could before running to her back and hauling out her armor. She strapped the quickest pieces on that she could, her sleeves ruined. Like acid rain had poured on her.
Her attention flicked to Dagen, slowly rising from the bed, his black hair mused but his eyes were sharp and wide-awake as he took her in.
"Can't even sleep," he grumbled, as if he knew what she had been thinking. His eyes lingered on the slashes over her shirt, right over her stomach. The injuries were healed, no more than red scars now, but he couldn't see that.
Norah moved to peer out the peephole of the door. The hall was empty. She strapped plating to her forearm, then the other as the other's gathered their things. She knew dragging a dresser in front of the door would be useless, whatever was after her was clearly strong enough to burst through walls.
Eoin eyed the blood. "Are you hurt?"
"Never for long." She calmed her breathing enough to start and create a decent plan. Their room had a window but they were too high to jump. But they could go through the rooms.
"Hey, hey, hey." Topher waved a hand at her. "Whatever's got you read ain't coming here, right?"
"I thought it was already here," she said. "You're wasting time. Get up."
"Silent Stalkers?" Dagen asked.
"No." Her voice was clipped, fast, unfeeling. "I don't know what they are."
Norah hated not knowing and hated their questions. But she had to focus on more important things.
Armor was already on her forearm and calves, a sword laid out on the dresser across from her. A bow and quiver propped by her feet--
The peephole went dark and Norah stopped. It was like paper sliding over a projector, you could see the shifting as the creature examined the door.
Norah waved at the others, her tendrils already carving a hole in the wall leading into the other room. Mercifully, it was empty.
"Hello?" came a sweet woman. "Help me please."
The others grabbed their bags, taking her cue and silently moving into the room over. Norah grabbed her things and strapped on her weapons.
In the third room, a family of four was sleeping. In the fifth room, two women gaped at them. One looked ready to scream but Dagen moved, a dark blur, and crushed his hand to her mouth.
Topher held up a finger to the other lady and she nodded slowly, wide-eyed.
Norah stalked behind them, easing her way toward the blonde girl who gaped at them. Norah met Dagen's sharp eyes and tapped her temple, the order simple. They moved as one, Norah slamming her bow against the girl's temple. Dagen used the end of his dagger.
Norah opened the door slowly, peering into the hall. The creature had its front legs pressed above the door, its giant head peering into the center of the door where the peephole was. It fiddled with the doorknob but its hand slipped.
"Let me in," it said. "It can't hurt you."
Topher gaped at the creature while Dagen slipped past him, jaw set and something in his eyes Norah couldn't place. Silently, Topher opened the door to the stairwell.
The metal lock clicked.
The creature's head snapped to them. It inhaled, the sound like someone guzzling in only a sliver of air. "Don't be scared, it can't hurt you!"
"Go," Norah hissed, shoving Topher into the stairwell.
"Don't go!" It wheezed. "Don't leave me!"
The door slammed shut, the only sound being their thundering footsteps.
"What the hell is that thing?" Topher breathed.
Hinges whined--the door opening and closing. Then silence.
Norah pushed her people faster. Topher slid down the stairs while Dagen took three at a time. Dagen had the audacity to look back at her and smirk.
"It's hunting us," it breathed, the words rushed--out of breath like Topher. "It knows we're here. Hide, Sarah, hide!"
Something stirred in her peripheral vision. Norah loosened an arrow. It broke uselessly against a wall.
"The Echo takes them all." The voice shifted, turning smooth--feminine. Her voice. "It's still out there."
Topher flung open the basement door, not bothering to hold it open for Dagen or her. They ran into a cement hanger, the glossy floor rising low and steady toward the back streets where delivery came through.
The door opened behind them. Heavy breathing followed, sounding like the times when your lungs heaved after sprinting and your legs threatened to buck. "No!" It shouted in the voice of a younger man--almost a child. "Don't leave me! Open the door. Brother, please, it's still out there!"
Norah heard it run, a hundred steps at once. She dropped her bag, bow raising but it was too close. She dove instead, rolling to her feet, releasing an arrow. The creature whirled, her arrow skimming its arm.
"Don't open your eyes," it breathed, racing for her. "It's coming!"
Norah dropped the bow, raised her hands. Darkness became her shield. Then her sword. She sliced, her hand moving in a smooth arc.
The creature growled, the sound sending shivers through her entire body. A hand grabbed her leg and pulled. Her teeth rattled, claws sinking into her shin. She thrust ice at its head but the creature was already gone, coming at her from the right.
She scrambled back, pushing to her feet. Darkness flowed onto the floor, spreading like spilled oil that the creature sank into. It screeched, yanking free--leaping out and onto the concrete.
A dagger hit its head and bounced off like a bouncy ball, clattering to the floor.
Norah took the opportunity to send a blast of ice into it. The creature went back, a tumble of limbs across the garage.
Dagen and Topher tried to distract it, but it had hunger only for her.
The creature hissed, more of its many voices screaming at her. Like the ones she heard from the dead and terrified.
Norah found the others a safe distance to the side, both unsure how to help and knowing that not getting involved was for the best. She met their gazes, one the green of forests, the other the color of storms.
She couldn't stay here.
Norah felt a cool breeze kiss her back, cooling the sweat collecting at her neck. The creature found its footing.
Norah met Dagen's stare, brought two fingers to her temple, and saluted. Right before she was tackled.
Talons scraped her shoulders, teeth snapping for her throat. She forced it back with her darkness, not tendrils, but something unseen to the eye. Pain exploded through her back only to be consumed in a blissful coolness.
Norah sent out the darkness, enough that the monster released her. She rolled onto all fours, gritting her teeth through the pain as she stood and charged for the exit in front of her.
"Don't leave us with this thing!" Topher cursed, but Norah was already halfway up the slope. The thing howled after her.
Norah slid into the street and down into the streets, searching for a park. Any open space that wasn't occupied by the living.
Ice walls went up behind her, shattering too quickly for comfort. She froze the ground, leaving a sheet of ice behind. Claws ripped it apart and probably the street too as the creature tore after her.
But Norah's head was clear--sharp. Her heart raced fast, but steady. She didn't know what this thing was or how it found her, but everything fell to destruction.
She hurtled over a bench, the cobbled stone now soft grass. Trees rose around her, sparse or lining the paths. The city fell away, its bright lights dimming as she ran into the park's center.
"Do you think it sees us?" came a young voice, no more than Eoin's age. "What do we do? Brother? Brother! Where are you?"
The voices rushed up to her. Too far then too close.
Norah spun, hand swinging. The darkness followed, eager for violence. She saw teeth bared for her throat, grey flesh and then a blast of black flames.
She sent her darkness out, creating space. Norah could let go. She couldn't fully unleash, but she had more space and opportunity here than she did in the garage. Norah wanted to learn as much as possible about these strange creatures that attacked her, but knew she was a beacon to everything extraordinary.
And Topher and Dagen would most likely be chasing after her.
This would need to end quickly.
The creature paced like a caged beast. Back and forth. Back and forth. Before launching itself at her.
Norah didn't give it thought as she twisted. The thing danced away from her tendrils, ducking, and diving, and leaping. She threw up walls to force space between them, but the creature was learning her as she learned it.
She loosened an arrow. Released one after the other. Some grazed the darkness, wood and metal dissolving.
The voices returned, old and young, woman and man. They overlapped each other like a million tape recordings playing at once.
An arrow pierced its side, hissing as acid met metal. The creature didn't seem to notice and slashed at her with its claws.
She wrapped a tendril around its wrist and squeezed.
Flesh cut. The creature screamed, recoiling only to attack even harder and faster as its hand hit the ground.
Blood seeped into the grass as the creature's wrist dripped. This was getting too messy and taking too much time.
Norah sent her magic out and wide, wrapping around the creature like a cocoon. It tried to jump over it, but she sealed its tomb. Norah breathed out, keeping her hands at her side as she tightened that cocoon.
Power clawed at her skin, trying to rip her seams, begging to be unleashed. It wanted out. It wanted everything. And Norah wanted to lose herself in that eternal anger so badly. She found herself considering it.
The city would be gone anyways once the Thrawlers overtook it.
Tighter her cocoon closed around the creature. Tighter and tighter.
Until release.
The darkness fell away like smoke, leaving behind the remains of a half-rotted body and dirt where the grass had once thrived.
Norah stared at it as static scrambled her mind. Set fire to her blood. Her darkness trembled, begging to be let free. Wanting more.
Heavy breathing came behind her. Two people. Dagen and Topher. She didn't care about them. If they tried to attack, they'd die.
Norah inhaled slowly, allowing the moment to let her anger rise and settle into her bones. Gold tendrils mended her wounds and bruises as she took in the environment again and the familiar energy that only gods seemed to have.
Norah said, in a low, deadly voice. "I thought I was too precious to risk being killed."
She turned, finding Dagen and Topher sharing a questioning look. But Norah didn't care about them, only the goddess standing under a canopy of trees, her body shroud in shadows.
"You would not have died. I was here the entire time," Vaella stated, stepping into the light. Her staff gleamed, the sharpened ends winking with each step. Her wings were tucked high and close to her back.
The rage flared into a wall of flames.
"So you saw the other two?" Norah seethed. She didn't know why she was angry, she expected this from a god.
"No." Vaella studied the body with a stone face.
The mortals stiffened but Norah held the goddess's hard, stony stare. Far more stern than she normally saw. Norah knew why and hid her smile. Vaella examined the remains of the creature with sharp, weighing eyes before they snapped up and bore into her.
"You are not supposed to be here," the goddess scolded the mortals, her wings ruffling.
Norah shrugged, trying to hide her panting--tried to ease her heartbeat because she knew the goddess could hear it. "If they get killed, I'm going to have a really hard time focusing on my training," Norah said sadly. But the attempt failed miserably.
The goddess stared at her, her face tight and unamused. "Why do your emotions hide behind such false lies?"
Norah rose on rigid limbs. The rage scratched at her mind, dragged its long nails down her limbs, splitting her nerves with pain only the tendrils could create.
"Why are you here?" she questioned.
"You were not where you were supposed to be," Vaella said. "After that, it was not difficult to find you."
Norah knew where this was going. Back to the cabin. "I can't just leave."
"You can and you will," Vaella said.
Norah's stare intensified. "I can't just leave them unprotected."
Vaella gave her an odd look and Norah wanted to rip it off her face. The goddess glanced back at the others. Norah knew she hadn't forgotten Dagen and Topher, but merely did what gods did and ignored the mortals until they were either a bother or needed.
"Very well." Vaella's tone turned flat and hard as her spear sliced the air.
Norah fell into a silver world and fell ass first into the cabin.