Five: Out of the Pit (Five #2)

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© 2014 Holli Anderson
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For Harley and Rayce, who bring more joy to my life than I ever thought was possible.

halbriri
. I should have guessed—the Demon of Blindness.” Joe threw something, probably a small rock, at the boulder that made up one of the walls of our new hideout. I heard it hit and then fall to the sandy floor of the multi-boulder enclosure.

It took us about a month to walk the thousand miles from Yakima to Moab, Utah. We’d stayed as far away from civilization as we could most of the time, but Joe allowed us an occasional trip into a town for a night in a hotel room where we could actually take a shower. At one of these stops, Johnathan and I had our first date—and he vowed to find a way to fix my blindness. That vow caused a flood of terror to spill through my veins—following through with a vow to save Johnathan’s soul was how I’d lost my sight to begin with.

One benefit of walking that many miles was that we were in the best shape of our lives and had plenty of time to train and learn about what and who we were: the
Quinae Praesidia
—the Five Protectors, or, just The Five for short. I also took advantage of the time to invent a sonar spell that bounced off things in my path and warned me when I needed to change course or step over something, meaning I learned to walk without holding on to someone. I would have preferred to have one of those amazing seeing-eye dogs but my sonar was a better solution than tapping a cane.

Joe, a member of the previous Five and now our mentor, hadn’t said a whole lot about the deal I’d made with a Demon in order to save Johnathan from a Lycanthropic curse. That is, until we reached our destination and found a suitable hide-out. Then he hit me with both barrels. He sure sounded angry to me, but he kept insisting on using the word
disappointment
to describe his feelings.

“Yeah, I guess that does make sense,” I half-whispered, laying my head back on the huge boulder Johnathan and I were leaning against. He lifted my hand to his mouth and pressed it to his lips.

“You are very lucky to be alive, Paige,” Joe continued. “Do you know what a huge disadvantage you would have put your friends at if you’d been killed—or
possessed?
Not just yourself, but Halli, too.” I pictured him moving his steely gaze to her.

“Joe, you can’t blame Paige for my part,” Halli protested. “She told me not to come and told me to stay away from her while she summoned him… it.”

“Yes, Halli, you made your own choice. I should be glad that you did, since without your help, Paige would be dead and a Demon would be roaming around free. I just can’t stop thinking about what could have happened and the consequences of losing two of you this early in the game.” His statement made me shudder as I realized the implication of the words
this early
. He fully expected to lose two or more of us at some time in the coming
game
.

“But Joe, everything we do is dangerous; I don’t understand why you’re so
disappointed
by my decision. I saved Johnathan from a lifetime of torment. How is that so bad?”

“It’s so
bad
, Paige, because you
chose
to put yourself and Halli in danger. And, you broke an unwritten rule by summoning and making a deal with a Demon. A demonic possession of one of the Five would be a world-destroying disaster. And, the result of your deal with
Shalbriri
has weakened your ability to fight, thus weakening the entire group. Do you think Johnathan will be able to concentrate in a battle when he knows you are unable to
see
what’s coming at you? He’ll be too busy protecting you to protect himself.
That
is why it’s so bad, Paige. That and many more reasons.” Joe’s feet thumped across the sand as he walked to the entrance of our boulder cave.

“Joe, take it easy on her,” Johnathan came to my defense. “We aren’t going to have to worry about it for long; I’m going to find a way to get her sight back.”

“You will do no such thing, Johnathan.” Joe’s raised voice echoed through the large cavernous space. “I would hope that we’ve all learned through Paige’s mistakes that we are not to dabble with Demons.”

“Johnathon, he’s right. Don’t even try. I knew what I was giving up. I can live with the consequences.” At least part of that was a huge lie—I’d had no idea what giving up my sight would be like. How hard it would be. I was already having trouble remembering exactly what Johnathan’s face looked like.

“Paige…”

“Johnathan,” Joe interrupted. “Leave it alone. This is dangerous business and we can’t afford any more bad decisions from any of you.” I imagined Joe’s cold stare boring into me. I repressed a twinge of guilt from escaping the careful walls I’d constructed around it. I knew I’d done the right thing and I would do it again without hesitation.

Johnathan tensed beside me. “You can’t tell me what I can and cannot do, Joseph.” The quiet coldness with which he uttered those words chilled me to the core.

“John, he’s right. Don’t put yourself in danger—”

“Really, Paige? You’re gonna tell me not to put myself in danger for you? That’s pretty hypocritical, don’t you think?”

“I could never forgive myself if…” I stopped as I realized how he must feel about this whole thing. Just as I felt at fault when the changeling bit him, he took the blame for my loss of sight. He was right; I was a hypocrite.

“You could never forgive yourself if something horrible happened to me because I was trying to help you.” He touched my face, ran his fingers down my cheek—so gentle. A tear slipped from the corner of my eye; he caught it and wiped it away. Then he kissed me. A quick kiss—his warm lips lingering for a too brief moment on mine.

Joe sighed and stepped back into the cave, stopping in front of us. “At least let me help you, Johnathan. Promise me that much. Please.”

The fact that Joe said please must have taken Johnathan by surprise, he hesitated before answering. “Yeah… maybe.”

I feared that was all the commitment Joe was going to get out of him.

The sound of footsteps and laughter came from outside.

“Sounds like Alec and Seth are back.” Halli had been so quiet I’d almost forgotten she was there.

Alec and Seth stampeded through the entrance like a herd of buffalo. “Hey guys! There are some
really
hot girls in Moab!” Alec exclaimed.

“That’s very important information, Alec. More importantly, were you able to get the supplies I sent you for?” Joe asked.

“Oh, yeah… we got tired of carrying them, so as soon as we were out of sight of town I portalled them to the creek behind our hideout.”

“I wanted him to portal
us
,” Seth said. “What? It’s a long walk into town.”

“Seth.”—Joe sighed—“I don’t know if he’s ready to portal himself
and
another person. Don’t tempt him to break the rules—he doesn’t need any help with that.”

“Come on, Joe. I was good. I told Seth you’d hex me in my sleep if I lost him in the
in-between
.”

“I’d do more than hex you, Alec. I’d sic Halli on you.”

That even drew a laugh from me. Not because it was funny to think diminutive Halli could do any harm to burly Alec—just the opposite in fact, we all knew Halli could beat Alec to a bloody pulp with her bare hands.

“Come on, Five. Let’s get a bathroom set up. You’re all starting to stink.”

Johnathan helped me up and we followed Joe out to the small trickle of water he called a creek.