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  After turning the engine off, he closed his eyes, trying to get the words out right, trying to convey exactly what he felt for her without screaming or punching the windshield.

  “You don’t even know me. We literally just met,” Ava said.

  Cale had dreamed about his rider all his life, imagining the strongest warrior to fight beside him. Someone cunning, someone agile and fierce. He hadn’t pictured someone like Ava, but now that he’d met her, now that he’d seen who she really was, who she could be, he knew he’d never Choose anyone else, even if he could.

  “Ava, you amaze me.” He opened his eyes and started the truck back up. “No matter what you Choose to do.”

  Ava reached over and put a hand on Cale’s shoulder. “You’re a sweet guy,” she said. “Maybe we’ll spar again sometime, yeah?” And she got out of the truck. “Thanks for the ride, and for dinner.” She patted the truck’s hood and walked to her front door. Cale waited until she was safely inside before he could summon the strength to drive away.

  Four

  Guests

  Ava made it to her room without event and threw herself onto her bed. She pressed her toes against the lump that the twenty dollar bill made in the sole of her shoe. Her thoughts were a jumble of guilt and relief. Oddly, she liked the Anders family. They were loud and colorful and kind. They respected privacy and they crossed boundaries. It was evident that they were different, and it wasn’t just the icicles and all the talk about dragons. It was how they interacted, how they ate, how they communicated. Doesn’t matter. I’ll never see them again, anyways.

  Ava sat up, her thoughts cut short. Somebody downstairs?

  She knew she’d checked the driveway for Jim’s car, but maybe he had come home earlier than usual. On weekend nights especially, he tended to stay out late “working.” Ava knew it meant he was sleeping around with campaigners, but she didn’t bother to break it to Miriam. At times, her foster mom was so deluded that Ava had half a mind to give up on her.

  She jumped to her feet as she heard a crash. Could it be that Jim is home and drunk? She checked the clock. It was only eight. Ava peeked across the hall to make sure that Miriam’s bathroom light was still on. She checked the driveway from the window and Jim’s car still wasn’t there. Then, she grabbed her cellphone and primed it so that 911 was just a call away. She tiptoed down the stairs, keeping close enough to the wall to stay hidden.

  Ava saw them, but they didn’t see her. Her heart picked up its pace. How did they get past the alarm? Three intruders, dressed all in black. They made the hair on the back of Ava’s neck stand up. She was about to press "call" on her cellphone when it lit up. She blocked the light with her hand in a panic, thankful that she always kept it on silent. She didn’t recognize the number and thought about ignoring it. Instead, without understanding why, she swiped her finger across the screen and pressed the phone to her ear.

  “Ava?” His voice was deep, calm. “Don’t say a word, just listen. I’m on my way back.”

  She recognized the caller immediately. Inexplicable relief fell over her, like she had just dived into a pool of it.

  “Find a safe place to hide,” he said. “Then, look at their feet. What do you see?”

  Their feet? Ava peeked around the wall that was separating the staircase form the kitchen. The intruders were whispering to one another–hissing really. They looked…odd. Their hair flowed like silk, hiding their faces, impossibly dark against the whitest skin Ava had ever seen. Their features were sharp angles in perfect proportions. They were stunning, and each wore a plain matching necklace of crude leather and iron.

  Ava studied their feet, just as Cale told her to. She had to blink a few times to make sure she was seeing correctly. Instead of shoes, Ava saw black shadows, curling and wrapping around their ankles, writhing up to their knees–like snakes, like spitting and coiling darkness.

  Ava’s heart stopped. Any relief that she’d felt a moment before was replaced by raw fear. What are they? What are they? Ava’s hands trembled as she pressed the phone to her ear again, saying nothing.

  “Sirens,” Cale said, cursing under his breath.

  Ava didn’t even have to speak. By the pace of her breathing, Cale knew she was terrified. “I’ll tell you what to do, Ava, just stay quiet, okay? Find your backpack and look through the front pocket. Inside you’ll find a leather pouch. Open it and press the little grey stone on the front of the blade.”

  Ava fought against hysterics to keep her brain working. She could fight off a grown man if she had to. She’d prepared for things like that, trained for it since she was a little girl. But this wasn’t the same. The rules she’d been programmed to follow didn’t apply to people who hissed when they talked and dressed in shadows.

  “Cale,” she whispered, out of fear, out of pure fear.

  Three heads, three pairs of shining eyes in perfectly sculpted faces turned to her in one heartbeat, so sharply that Ava dropped her cellphone.

  “Run, Ava,” Cale shouted from the phone that lay upturned on the stairs. “Run!”

  Ava didn’t need to be told again. She raced up the stairs on all fours, unwilling to waste the time it would have taken to stand upright. She made it to her bedroom, to the backpack, to the front pocket. She pulled out a leather pouch she’d never seen before, her hands fumbling with the object. What is this? How did it get here?

  The black trinket inside looked like a pocket knife, so Ava pressed the gray stone on the handle. A black blade sprung outward just as Ava was tackled from behind. She screamed as she was thrown forward, the knife skidding across the room. Instinctively, she threw her head upward so that it connected with her assailer’s face. A hiss and a cry of a pain as Ava slipped out of its grasp and ran for the knife. She grabbed it and twisted her body so that the next time the creature lunged at her, the blade sunk into its chest. It whimpered and fell to the floor.

  Ava got to her knees, ready to stand, ready to run, but another hand grabbed onto her leg and pulled her back. She screamed again as the second creature forced her onto her back and pinned her arms down.

  Fangs the length of Ava’s entire hand gleamed inside the open mouth of the creature, saliva creating a glossy web between its lips and its teeth. The beauty of its porcelain skin was convoluted by the purple veins that scrawled their way across its face.

  The only thing that scared Ava more than the monstrosity bearing down on her was the scream that came from the doorway.

  Miriam.

  No, Ava thought, panic seizing her on Miriam’s behalf. She curled her knees up to her chest to keep the creature’s fangs from getting any closer to her and tried to fight her fear off long enough for her to think of a way out. Be brave, Ava, she told herself. Save Miriam.

  But the monster hissed at her again, its fangs retracting. Purple liquid welled in the creature’s eyes, spilling over onto its cheeks. Tears. Ungodly tears.

  From its throat came a song. A shrill peak and a low moan all at once that froze Ava’s blood in her veins. She could do nothing but listen and watch as the creature’s voice floated into her ears, as the thick, purple tears oozed down its cheeks, to the tip of its chin. Then, the monster’s eyes flashed and Ava gasped as its fangs returned, bathed in saliva, poised at her throat.

  A blood-chilling shriek, then a clean slice. The head of the creature that had cornered Miriam rolled across the floor, an expression of pain frozen onto its flawless face. The one that had been attacking Ava flew toward Cale, its fangs extended. He sidestepped it, then lunged forward, forcing the blade into its heart just as it reached him. The thing shrieked unbearably until Cale swung his weapon over his head and brought it swiftly across its neck. Its head tumbled off of its body and onto the floor. Then, he slashed his blade through the throat of the motionless beast Ava had already stabbed.

  As if they were being boiled, the bodies and heads of the creatures sizzled into the floor and disappeared, leaving behind the plain metallic necklaces each had been wearing. Cale press
ed the stone on his blade and it retracted into its handle. He hurried to Ava, who was already standing, trying to press herself into the wall, trying to hide.

  Cale grabbed her by the shoulders, his golden eyes strange, almost serpent-like as they bore into hers.

  “Did they hurt you?” he asked.

  His voice was gravity. It made her blink, made her senses start working again. Ava took a rattled breath. She didn’t feel hurt. Just afraid. More afraid than she’d ever been. Miriam was crying in the doorway, her hands over her eyes. She didn’t look wounded–just as scared as Ava felt.

  “I think–I’m fine,” Ava said, ashamed at how shaky her voice sounded.

  Cale pressed a palm to her cheek, holding her face steady, like he didn’t want her to fall apart. The way he looked at her–it was as though she meant more to him than…than anything.

  Then, without theater, Cale knelt on the floor as casually as he could manage. When Ava saw things like that in movies, when people collapsed, wounded after a long battle, it always seemed so dramatic, like the person wanted attention. But Cale was quiet, calm–kneeling simply because it was too much work for him to stand any longer.

  “Did–did they hurt you?” Ava asked. She still didn’t sound like herself. “I should call an ambulance.”

  “No,” Cale said. “They can’t help me. It would be better if you called my mom. She knows what to do.” He reached into his pocket and handed Ava his cellphone. Then, slowly, he lay back onto the floor, his hand resting on his stomach like he was trying to relax.

  Ava searched through his contacts and dialed Karma’s number. She answered after the first ring. “Cale? Where are you?”

  “Uh…” Ava couldn’t think of words. Her mind was all jumbles, as though all the wires in her head had been plugged into all the wrong places.

  “Ava?” Karma didn’t sound surprised. “Is Cale with you?”

  “Yes. He said to call you. I–think he’s hurt.”

  Cale reached out his hand for the phone and Ava had to force herself to pass it to him. His fingers were covered in the reddest blood she’d ever seen. It soaked through his light blue t-shirt, spreading like ink on paper.

  “Maman,” Cale started.

  He spoke in a language Ava had never heard before. It was beautiful really–falls and rises, guttural rolls that sounded like he was being punched in the gut, hushes that tickled her ears when he lighted on them. When he was finished, he handed the phone back to Ava.

  “Ava, I’m on my way,” Karma said. “First, make sure you have a weapon on you, just in case. Do you?”

  “I do.” The mysterious knife that she had found in her backpack was at her feet.

  “Good. Next, you need to examine Cale’s wound for me. Tell me what it looks like.”

  Ava put the phone on speaker and peeled Cale’s shirt up. The gash was just below his ribs, so deep it could have been done with a watermelon scoop. Around the edges, where his blood pooled onto his skin, was a dark purple ring of liquid.

  “It doesn’t sound too bad. He should make it until we get there,” Karma said after Ava explained. “No need to worry.” She sounded so cool and sensible that it grounded Ava. She felt her courage returning to her in small doses. “Go make sure your mother is alright, but stay where Cale can see you,” Karma said.

  Ava left the phone next to Cale and crossed the room to Miriam. She was still sniffling, still terrified. Ava pulled her foster mother’s hands away from her face.

  “Miriam, are you hurt?”

  She shook her head furiously, her pale blond hair flapping around her ears. “Did they get you?” she asked Ava. Her voice sounded swollen, thick with confusion. “What–what were they?”

  Ava tried not to think about that. It would only scare her again and she needed to stay sharp. “I’m fine. But my friend Cale over there is hurt. I might need your help to look after him until his family gets here.”

  Miriam nodded, not even bothering to wipe away the streaks of tears on her cheeks.

  Ava hesitated. “Miriam, there’s a lot of blood. Don’t look if you think you’re going to faint.”

  Miriam swallowed. Then swallowed again. “I won’t faint. I want to help you.”

  She followed Ava back to Cale. Only a few seconds had passed, but he didn’t look the same at all. Perspiration beaded on his forehead and neck, dampening the collar of his shirt. He was breathing faster, shallower.

  Ava picked up the phone. “Karma, are you still there?”

  “I’m just ten minutes away, Ava. Cale already told me how to get there.”

  “Okay, good, because he looks like he’s in a lot of pain.”

  Karma fell silent.

  “Karma? Are you there? What should I do?”

  “Check the wound again.”

  Ava gasped as she examined it. The purple had spread underneath his skin, a swirling mess of it moving upward towards Cale’s chest like a hideous network of spider webs. He groaned every time it spread a little further.

  “The purple stuff…it’s moving.”

  “Is he perspiring?”

  “Yeah, a lot. And breathing really fast.” Suddenly, Ava wanted Karma to be there right then. No waiting, no ten minutes away. “Karma, what should I do?”

  “Hold the phone to Cale for me,” she said.

  Cale could hardly speak in between his shallow breaths. They exchanged words, Karma’s quick and sharp, Cale’s staggered between winces. Finally, Karma asked Ava to put the phone back to her ear.

  “I won’t make it in time.”

  Ava looked at the phone as if Karma had just burped her alphabet into it. “What does that even mean?”

  “Ava, you’re going to have to help him. You need fire. Like matches or a grill lighter. Quickly.”

  Ava set the phone down, ready to race downstairs to the kitchen, but Cale grabbed her hand.

  “No,” he said between clenched teeth. “Don’t leave me.”

  Ava tried to pry his fingers loose, but he just grabbed onto the hem of her shirt, desperation in his eyes, his breathing even faster, like he was choking on something.

  “Ava, please, don’t leave me,” he said. “You don’t understand.”

  It sounded like he might cry. Still clutching her shirt, he pulled her closer, resting his head back against the floor because he couldn’t bear to lift it anymore, but refusing to loosen his grip.

  “Miriam,” Ava called. “Can you get the grill lighter from the kitchen? As fast as you can.”

  It was clear that Miriam didn’t want to leave the relative safety of the room, but she took a look at Cale and gathered her courage. She scurried down the stairs and Ava listened as she rummaged through the kitchen drawers. She padded back up and into the room in under a minute.

  “Okay, I have the lighter. Now what?” Ava asked Karma.

  “This may sound crazy to you, Ava, but I need you to light the fire and hold it to Cale’s skin. Start as far as you see the poison stretching, then move closer and closer to the wound, as if you’re chasing the poison back to where it started.”

  “You…want me to light him on fire?”

  “Yes. He won’t ignite and the fire won’t hurt him. But if the poison reaches his core, he’ll die, Ava.”

  Light him on fire. Ava almost laughed at the ludicrousness of the request. “I can’t do that, Karma.”

  Cale’s grip on her shirt relaxed a bit, but not because he was ready to let her go. Because it was getting harder for him to see, to move, to hold on. His skin paled. Ava reached out and touched his forehead. It was ice cold.

  She hung up the cellphone. “Cale, this sounds crazy insane to me, but I’ve seen some crazy things tonight. If you’re still in your right mind…I guess, I just need to know if this what you want me to do.”

  “Yes.,” he said, barely squeezing his words out. “If you think you can”

  Insane. These people are insane. But Ava took a deep breath and pushed her thumb against the lighter so that the tip of i
t burst into flame. She looked over at Miriam for reassurance, but her foster mother was just as wide-eyed as Ava. Finally, Ava moved the lighter until the flame danced against Cale’s skin. The curling purple ink froze in place, then began to shrink away from the heat.

  Cale bit his lip, trying to keep from shouting. Ava stopped, pulling away instantly.

  “I’m hurting you,” she said in shock. She shook her head. “I can’t do this.”

  Suddenly, it was all too much. The terrifying creatures, the decapitations, the poison, the fire. Tears clouded her vision. “I think I’m losing my mind.”

  Cale forced his eyes to stay open. “I promise I’ll die if you don’t.” His speech was beginning to slur.

  He reached out and put a shaky hand around Ava’s ankle. He did the same to Miriam, forgetting about politeness or boundaries.

  “Cover my mouth,” he said to Miriam.

  She looked at Ava, bewildered. Ava bit her lip, studying the boy on her bedroom floor. If he was right, if he did die, it would be her fault. It would be because of her cowardice.

  “Just do what he says, Miriam,” Ava said.

  So Miriam placed her hand over Cale’s mouth. Ava lit the lighter again and pressed it to the poison. It recoiled, moving away from the flame as Ava chased it, slowly, carefully. It reminded her of the shadows at the feet of the creatures, but instead of letting the fear take over, Ava pictured Cale slicing through them, like they were pathetic, like they were nothing to be afraid of.

  Cale screamed into Miriam’s hand, squeezing the circulation out of the ladies’ legs while Ava worked. Finally, the poison was nothing but a pool of dark purple settled into the gash in his abdomen. Ava let the flame rest there until the poison hissed away completely.

  Unbelievable. The longer she left the flame on Cale’s skin once the poison was gone, the faster it healed, right before her eyes. His flesh knitted together until he relaxed, letting go of them, closing his eyes in relief. It was soothing to him. Like medicine. He breathed normally at last, and even his sweat began to dry up.