Journey 'The Chosen One Trilogy: Book Two' (9 page)

The couple on the bench stood and
left.

Brice grabbed my hand, led me into the
bushes and through a narrow opening in the wall. He paused before
leaving the safety of the wall. He shifted and cocked his head in
both directions.

He shifted back. “I can’t hear
anything. Let’s go.”

I followed him out. We were in a dense
forest. “Follow me. Step exactly where I step.”

I did as I was told.

We had been walking for about an hour
when Brice picked up the pace. “There are no traps after this. It’s
safe to speed up now.” I felt completely devoid of any energy.
Brice carried me off and on to try and quicken the pace. We ran,
then walked, then ran again. We finally stopped just as the sun was
starting to come up.

“Come, we’ll have a rest in here.” We
walked farther into the cave and Brice let go of my hand. “I’ll be
right back.”

I watched him walk back toward the
mouth of the cave.

“Brice!” I screamed and he fell to the
ground as two arrows stuck into his side. I ran toward him and he
started to scramble backwards into the cave.

“I’m fine! Get back in there!” He
stopped, broke off the arrows and got to his feet. “This way.” I
took his hand and he led the way deeper into the cave.

“I used to come here when I was small.
There are about fifty different tunnels that lead out of these
caves.”

The caves were damp but not dark. There
were vines that grew up the walls that gave out a soft blue glow.
Every once in a while something would scurry away before I could
see it. I could hear the sound of running water ahead of us. It got
louder the farther we went along.

Brice led me to the underground river.
“I found this exit quite by accident,” he grinned at me. “There is
one section where you have to hold your breath for about twenty
seconds or so. Other than that, it’s a fun ride.”

He turned and the blood drained from
his face.

“Let me fix you first,” I
said.

He shook his head. “There’s no
time.”

“But…”

“No. Now, don’t let go of my hand.
There’s one place I need to stop to grab something.”

I frowned. The blood was soaking into
his shirt and I knew he was acting stronger than he actually
was.

Brice jumped into the water. I had no
choice but to follow. The freezing water engulfed me and I gasped
when my head broke the surface. The current took us along at a fast
pace. Brice turned toward me. “Duck on three and hold your breath.”
He looked ahead. “One… two… three!”

I ducked under and felt Brice tug me
along under the water. I kicked to help move us along a little
faster. My lungs were starting to scream for air and just when I
thought I was going to have to take a breath or die, we came up in
a large underground lake. We swam to the shore and I helped Brice
get up on the bank.

He lay on his back, his eyes closed,
his breathing fast. “Do you see that little ledge behind
us?”

I looked up. “Yes.”

“
Do you see the flat stone?
It’s a dark green color.”

I walked to the ledge and looked.
“Yeah.”

“Lift it and take the sac out of the
hole.”

I did as I was told. The flat stone was
heavier than it looked and I had to use two hands to move it. Under
it was a small bag made of deer skin. I took it out and went to sit
by Brice. I took his hand and put the sac in it.

He shook his head, his eyes still
closed. “It’s for you.”

I opened the sac and looked in. “What
is it?”

“It’s a displacement stone. I stole it
when I was young. There was a sorceress that came to the city. She
was selling all sorts of stones and potions. My friends dared me to
steal one.” He chuckled. “I didn’t know what it did until a group
of older boys were chasing me one day. I was holding the stone and
all I could think about was how great it would be to be here
instead of where I was at the time. The next thing I knew, here I
was.”

“So why did you hide it here? I would
think this would be a handy stone to keep around.”

“Oh, it was. I did keep it on me for a
while. But when Braw gave me my shifting stone, I found that the
two of them cancelled each other out. Since I had to shift to
pretend I was on the queen’s guard, I hid the displacement stone
here for safe keeping.” He took a deep breath. “I want you to use
it.”

I shook my head. “I’m not just going to
leave you here.”

“Hayden, you dying isn’t an option.
Now, take the stone, think of your cabin, and get out of
here.”

“No. I’m not leaving you. You dying
isn’t an option either.”

“By the moons, Hayden, I just handed
you over to a man who was going to use you to wipe out the
shifters.”

“And you got me away just like you
always do when I get in a mess. Do you think I should hate Luke for
abducting me?”

He shook his head. “Luke was following
orders. And he brought you back.”

“So how is that any different from what
you just did?”

“I have been lying to you for a year;
lying to Jasper for seven.”

I was quiet. He opened his eyes and
looked at me. The fact that he had been lying to me all this time
was what cut the deepest. But he was still Brice and I still loved
him. I leaned down and gave him a kiss on the forehead.

“I don’t care.”

I repositioned myself so I was
kneeling. “You might want to bite on that bag. These are pretty
deep.” I took a deep breath and worked the arrows out of his
side.

Brice groaned and bit down on the bag.
Tears ran down his face.

It took a while and by the time I was
done both of us were sweating and shaking. “I’m sorry.”

He placed a hand on my arm and pulled
me down so I was lying in the crook of his arm. “Give me a minute.”
His voice was a hoarse whisper.

I put a hand on his chest and felt his
breathing slowly get back to normal. “Are you ready?”

He shook his head. “No, but get on with
it.”

I knelt by his side once more and
pulled the green waves in front of me then picked the safe one and
spread it over his side. I pushed the wave with my mind and
concentrated his energy on where he needed to heal. I could see the
tissues heal; the vessels reattach, and finally the skin close
again.

Brice jerked under my hands. He took a
few deep breaths then laid his arm out on the ground. I lay back
against him and he pulled me close. “Get some sleep. I’ll try to
figure out how I’m supposed to get you back to Jasper.”

I yawned. “You need some sleep, too.
Will anyone think to look for us here?”

“I don’t think so. If anyone does come,
you make sure to use that stone.” He looked down at me. “Promise
me.”

“I promise.” I closed my eyes and let
sleep take me away.

*****

When I awoke I was warm and dry. I was
also naked. Soft lips kissed my neck. Fingers laced with mine and I
heard a contented sigh. My eyes flew open and I found myself
looking into the fireplace at our cabin. I slowly gazed back over
my shoulder and got lost in the perfect blue eyes that were smiling
at me.

“Good morning, Shlova.”

For an instant I didn’t care how I had
gotten home. All that mattered was that I was there. I turned and
crushed my lips to Jasper’s.

He groaned and pulled me against him.
“I still can’t believe we’re home,” he whispered into my hair. He
ran his tongue along my lower lip and I moaned. “Hayden.” His voice
sounded funny. I looked up at him.

“Hayden, wake up.”

I blinked, and when I opened my eyes
again I was staring into blue green ones. My heart sank.

Brice gave me a lopsided grin. “It’s
not that I don’t appreciate being woken up like that, it’s just
that I would rather both parties involved be awake.”

I blushed. “Sorry. I had a dream I was
home.”

“That’s kind of what I thought.” He
gave me a kiss on the forehead. “So, let’s get you there.” He stood
and helped me up. “You know, I was thinking, you saved me from the
archers. Do you think you’ll be able to save me from
Jasper?”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean, the last time Jasper saw me, I
had a dagger to your throat. I saw the look on his face. The next
time he sees me, I’m a dead man.”

I had seen the look he was talking
about. “He’ll see you’re bringing me back. He’ll see that I’m not
hurt.” I grinned up at him. “Don’t worry. I’ll protect you.” I
hoped.

Brice laughed. “I’ll hold you to that.”
He took my hand and started to lead me toward the water.

“Hang on.” I pulled back on him so he
would stop. “I want to try something.” I took the displacement
stone out of my pocket. “I want to see if I can get it to carry
both of us.”

“You can do that?”

“I’m not sure. But if I was able to
project that thing to the shifters, I think I might be able to
project this too.”

“What should we do?”

“I think if you hold me, it might be
easier to transfer it if we’re touching. And we’ll have to think of
the same thing.”

“Jasper?”

“Jasper.”

Brice wrapped his arms around me in a
bear hug and leaned his chin on my head. I thought of Jasper and
tightened my hold on the stone. It started to warm my hand. The
warmth made its way up my arm, and slowly enveloped my whole body.
I pushed the warm wave over Brice. It crossed over to him easily
enough to start with but stopped short then began receding back
toward me. I felt the power of the shifting stone trying to deflect
it. I pushed it harder and was relieved when the warmth of the
displacement stone covered the other’s energy and I had him
completely engulfed. I concentrated on Jasper, of having his arms
around me. The heat gradually warmed up until the sensation was
almost unbearable.

I was suddenly free falling and I held
on to Brice as hard as I could. As quickly as it began, the feeling
was gone and there was ground under my feet again.

The first noise I heard was the sound
of a cat growling. The second was of a man screaming in
pain.

I opened my eyes and saw Jasper
crouched low, his body tensed, tail twitching, ready to dodge as a
man came at him with a dagger. Dodge was farther to the left,
spinning from side to side, trying to keep three men away from him.
His new wings were folded tightly over his back.

I noticed five more men coming out of
the woods. A glance at the ground showed me my swords beside our
packs. I dove and rolled, pulling them out of their scabbards as I
stood up.

Jasper’s attacker was joined by two
more. One of the men made their way toward me.

Brice shifted and circled around so
that the three men going after Jasper were caught between the two
of them.

Jasper gave some unseen signal. Both
cats leaped toward the men.

All I heard were the screams as I
focused on my opponent. He lunged forward aiming for my chest with
his dagger. My swords swung up and scissored together. Blood
sprayed me, the man’s arm cut off just before the elbow. He
screamed and clutched his arm to his chest and ran into the woods.
I let him go.

I looked over at Dodge in time to see
him jump forward and bite one of his challengers in the face.
Jasper and Brice took care of the other two.

We all stood, unmoving, waiting for
another wave of attackers. The only noise to be heard was our heavy
breathing. Jasper shifted back. He still had his battle face
on.

I bent down and quickly strapped my
scabbards to my back but didn’t put the swords away. The movement
drew his gaze to me. Perfect blue eyes looked into mine and
blinked. He turned to look at Brice who had shifted
back.

If Brice saw the punch coming he wasn’t
quick enough to dodge it. His head snapped back and his nose
spurted blood.

Jasper picked his dagger off the
ground, stuck it into his belt and stalked over to me. I sheathed
my swords and ran to him, wrapping my arms around his
neck.

“Thank the moons,” he whispered. He
simply held me tightly to his chest and I felt him take a long
shuddering breath.

“Shush. It’s ok.” The words barely made
it out with my sobs. Tears were running from my eyes. He smiled and
wiped them from my cheeks, then used his arm to wipe his own away.
He held my face gently in his hands and kissed me softly. My lips
tingled and my heart jumped. I felt him smile before he kissed me a
little harder. His tongue found mine and I moaned.

He was breathing hard when he pulled
away and leaned his forehead against mine. “You’re
alright?”

I nodded. “Are you?”

“I am now that you are with me
again.”

I hate to interrupt, but I’d
like to get away from here and closer to home if we
could
. Dodge was walking toward
us.