Seeker

Quin pulled Yellen to a stop as a tingling pain, and then numbness, spread across her chest. She was suddenly finding it hard to breathe.

Shinobu was racing toward her on foot. She brought the athame up over her head and pulled the lightning rod from her cloak.

“Hold on to me tightly, Mother!” she said. She could see Fiona’s arms around her waist, but she couldn’t feel them.

Shinobu had covered only half the distance to her, and now John was back on his horse, kicking it into motion. John himself was injured, but he was in a desperate fury. Quin knew she could end this now; she could give the athame to him. He was begging her to help. But she couldn’t do it. He had hurt Fiona and tried to shoot Shinobu, two people who had never done him harm. And if he could injure them in his attempt to get his hands on the stone dagger, what would he do once he possessed it?

“Hold on, Mother!” she cried again, and she kicked Yellen toward Shinobu. “Hurry, Shinobu!”

She managed to strike the athame down against the lightning rod, despite the fatigue creeping through her muscles.

Beneath the sound of John’s horse racing toward them and her own labored breath, she could feel the vibration of the stone dagger. She was getting dizzy and her arms seemed to weigh hundreds of pounds, but she pulled Yellen to a stop. Grabbing his mane, she leaned forward and used the athame to cut a huge circle in the air in front of the horse.

Shinobu was almost to her, his red hair streaked with ash, his eyes fierce as he ran all out. John was not far behind.

The tendrils of light and dark were growing together, forming a circular doorway in front of them, the edges thrumming with energy that pulled inward, toward blackness.

“Quin, no! Please wait!” John yelled.

She could not feel her chest, and the numbness was spreading to her arms. There was pressure at her waist as her mother’s grip tightened. Quin dug her heels into Yellen, and the horse leapt forward, a high, perfect jump, like Quin was taking him over a fence. He brought them neatly through the opening, just as the tendrils began to grow soft, hissing as they undid themselves.

“Shinobu!” She was trying to yell, but her voice came out muted.

Shinobu was there. He threw himself through the closing anomaly behind her. The black-and-white tendrils were now like a ragged river, carrying Shinobu with them into the darkness. Quin turned her head in time to see John, who had ripped off his mask and was still galloping toward them. His face was anguished as he looked at her through the diminishing doorway, his eyes not on her face now but on her chest.

“Oh, God, no … Quin …” she heard him say.

She looked down and saw a huge patch of red growing darkly across her shirt. She had been shot.

Then the anomaly mended itself, closing out the world of the estate and leaving them in darkness.Published by Nôv'elD/rama.Org.