Warrior Beautiful (7 page)

Either her attempts to muffle her sobs failed miserably and he had heard her, or he just guessed correctly, but Trey knelt on the floor next to her, stroking her hair away from her face. “Hey. Hey, it’s going to be okay. Lil Bit will be fine. She’s tough, Scout. She’ll be fine.”

She shoved his hand away. “Why are you doing this? Why are you suddenly being so nice? Your girlfriend is downstairs, Trey. Go comfort her and leave me alone!”

Trey sat back, and she saw the brief flash of pain before he hid it behind a mask of coldness. “I’m being nice because you don’t have anyone else, Scout. Apparently that accident made you incapable of making real friends, and I’m the only one you’ve got.”

“That accident made me realize who my true friends were, Trey. It wasn’t the drill team. It wasn’t the jocks or the geeks or anyone else from school and it certainly wasn’t you. It was Lil Bit.
She
was the only one there, day after day. No one else matters but her!” Scout leaped from the bed, feeding on the anger, welcoming it because anger was so much better than hopelessness and despair. “You wanted to come here, Trey. I didn’t invite you. So go take care of your girlfriend and leave. Me. Alone.” She ended at the door, flinging it open and glaring at him until he got up.

“Fine, Scout. One day you’re gonna realize you need someone besides yourself and you’ll regret pushing everyone else away.” He gave her a long look before he passed her, shutting the door behind him.

Scout stayed on her feet for five long seconds before she slowly slid to the floor. “I do need someone besides myself. And she’s waiting for me to save her,” she whispered, burying her face in the stuffed puppy.

She let herself cry for two minutes. When the two minutes were up, she pushed herself to her feet. First, she decided, she should change out of her pajamas. She wasn’t sure what, exactly, one should wear to go unicorn searching, but she was pretty sure it wasn’t comfy fleece pants and an old t-shirt. Jeans were probably okay, and a long sleeve shirt. She was allergic to dogs and cats. Would she be allergic to unicorns, too? Her hiking boots seemed like a smart idea as well. She pulled her straggly hair into a ponytail while she crossed the room to the window.

It opened smoothly, only squeaking a bit in protest. She shoved the screen out and set it inside, because screens were expensive. Her dad had made her buy a new one once when she’d torn the old one sneaking out of the house to see the boy currently downstairs with another girl. She glanced around, hoping for something else to delay her, but there was nothing.

Fear tried, briefly, to strangle her — fear of falling to her death, fear of getting caught by the soul stealers or whoever enforced the quarantine laws, but mostly fear of not finding the unicorns. She swallowed, hard, forcing the fear out of her throat and somewhere around the proximity of her stomach. Before she could change her mind, Scout clambered out of the window, sliding a bit on the shingles before her boot caught.

One thing she hadn’t considered in her brilliant plan was the fact that when she used to jump off this roof, she hadn’t had a serious, life-altering injury. Now just the thought of the jump made her back ache. She bit her lip, but there was no other way down and if she went back inside and out the door, she’d have to explain herself. And she didn’t need Trey being sympathetic that she’d lost her mind.

She inched closer to the edge. It wasn’t that far. A hill rose in her backyard, so it wasn’t too awful far to drop. “Ugh.” She sat backward and slid over the edge, hanging by her hands until her fingers throbbed. With a surge of will she didn’t know she had, she let go and dropped to the ground. Pain instantly shot up her back and she squealed, rolling on the ground for several seconds, sure the agony would kill her.

It didn’t, although for a few seconds she kind of wished it would have. She knelt on her hands and knees, trying to breathe normally before she could push herself to her feet. “Holy Hannah. That was less fun than I was expecting,” she groaned.

On the horizon, the sun sank below the trees. She’d wasted too much time trying to escape out her window. Staggering away from the house like the zombies she’d been visualizing earlier, she headed for the forest. If that was the way Lil Bit had run, it seemed the smartest place for Scout to start. “How, exactly, does one find unicorns that one isn’t positive even exist?” Scout asked aloud, because the eerie silence was creeping her out.

“
Believe
.”

Scout froze, whirling in a circle, nearly decapitating herself on a tree branch. She was positive she’d just heard a voice, but there was no one there. Confused and frightened, she slowly started again, walking in silence, listening, shaking, trying to pretend she was brave and not in pain all at the same time.

She felt the rush of dark, frightening power slide past her — the same thing she’d felt at the hospital. “Hello?” She spun again, but in the quickly fading light everything looked ominous. It hit her again, swirling around her. Her ponytail whipped her face and the leaves exploded into a mini tornado. She heard herself screech, but it was from a distance.

And then a different feeling, one more hopeless, more full of pain and evil, surrounded her, closing around her heart. The darkness was crushing her. She fell to her knees, only aware that she was still screaming because her throat scratched and tore. Blood seemed to fill her mouth. She crawled, blind, trying to escape. The breeze, like something big brushing by her, nearly blew her over, and all at once she was free. Shoving herself to her feet, she ran.

Soul stealers. They
’
re here. They
’
re here.
Her panicked mind froze on repeat as she sprinted through the forest, dodging trees, feeling the power, the darkness, two separate terrors right behind her. She leaped over a gnarled root, landing on one foot as pain shot up her leg and through her back. She fell, her screams dying in her throat, crashing like a wounded bird through the undergrowth. She felt the branches tearing at her hair and face, her hands uselessly trying to protect her.

“
Believe.
”

She finally came to a stop, and the entire world seemed to stop with her. There was no sound, no movement. She moaned, tried to move, failed. Her body felt like she’d been hit by the semi all over again. “Where are you?” she gasped. “She said you’d help. She said you were here. But you’re not here. You abandoned her.” Scout lay on the ground, staring at the stars through the trees. “You abandoned me.” She forced herself up, her back protesting against the agony. She only made it to a sitting position before it refused to cooperate again. “
Where are you
?” she screamed at the sky. “Where are you, you stupid unicorns? Why aren’t you here?”

“
We are.
”

Scout felt the darkness again — the power, a different kind of darkness than the soul-crushing evil — before she actually saw it, staring at the sky as she was. She jerked her eyes down, searching, panicked because she knew full well she couldn’t run.

“You only had to ask. We’ve been here the entire time, luv.” The voice was male, but she couldn’t see who spoke. A ghost, maybe? A hallucination because she’d completely lost her mind?

She saw the glowing, throbbing light first. It took her eyes several seconds before they acknowledged that what she was seeing was the brilliant fire of a
horn
.

From the edges of her vision she saw the black, hulking shape she’d seen the night Lil Bit had been caught.

“Soul stealer.” She tried to scrabble backward but couldn’t move. A scream froze in her throat as the shape solidified in front of her. Her terrified mind tried desperately to grasp what she was seeing.

It was beautiful.

A gigantic black horse, bigger than any Clydesdale she’d ever seen, pranced in front of her. Shimmering charcoal wings folded and unfolded restlessly, flapping against thick black armor that covered the entire body. A single horn of twisted fire, rising from the center of the majestic head, glowed brightly in the enveloping darkness. Its mane and tail seemed to be a mist, fading in and out as she watched. The horse slowly lowered its head until she could meet its gaze — sitting in the grass, the top of her ponytail only came to its forearm. Black eyes stared at her, just darker than the darkest brown.

“
We won
’
t hurt you.
”
The voice seemed to reverberate around in her skull, deep and soothing, not terrifying at all.

“You’re the unicorns? You
fight
the soul stealers?” she asked, trying to sound braver than she felt.

The gigantic creature in front of her nodded slowly, the bright horn swirling with what looked like colored sparkles on fire.

Her eyes locked on the horn, unable to look away or even blink. “I need your help,” she whispered.

“
This is the mighty warrior we
’
ve been waiting for? Are you kidding
?” Scout heard the voice in her head, not aloud, but very clear. She blinked rapidly, searching for the source, and realized beyond the giant in front of her, there were two others, nearly as large and frightening as the first one.

“Give her some time. She’s not a natural innocent. She’s found us because of desperation.” This voice, a man, wasn’t in her head. She heard it with her ears.

Scout scrubbed her eyes, trying desperately to make her mind understand what was going on while ignoring the screaming pain when she moved her arms. “I’m not a mighty warrior. My sister—”

“
Lil Bit told you about us. We know.
”
Another male voice, again in her head.

“
Wait, she can hear us?
”
The first voice again, distinctly female.

Her eyes roamed from one dark face to the next, finally settling on the one in the far back. “Yes, I can hear you.”

The unicorn blinked in surprise.
“
Well. Maybe it
’
s not a lost cause after all. Do you think she can fight?
”

“Fight? No, not me. You. I need you to save my sister. I—I can’t even move. My back…” Her words died in her throat as a man slid from the back of the unicorn in front of her. She hadn’t even seen him until now.

He was
hot
and not much older than she was. His hair was short with dark, loose curls. Strong jaw. He wore all black, which was why she hadn’t seen him before — he blended right in with his ride, and he wore a thick leather belt low across his hips with a sword or something strapped to his side.

“Let me see.” He knelt in front of her; light green eyes peered at her under thick brows.

“It’s—it’s nothing. I hurt it a year ago, in a car accident. It just flares up… I wasn’t supposed to walk again.” Her voice trailed off, feeling stupid as he waited patiently for her to shut up.

“I know. I can see that you were healed by unicorn magic.” He had an accent. Not quite British, but beautiful.

“No. Not if these are unicorns.” Scout shook her head. “The one I saw was small. Pretty. Peaceful…”

He chuckled. “These,” he swept his hand behind him, “are our warriors. Our Irwarros. Not all unicorns look like them.” He looked back at her, smile dying as worry crinkled at the corner of his eyes. “Can I see your back? We might be able to fix it here, if it isn’t too bad. We don’t have a Leerha with us.”

“My—my back?” she squeaked. “Leerha?”

His lips quirked. “That’s where you’re hurt, right? And Leerha, our healers.”

“
She
’
s a bright one,
”
the female voice said. The sleek, dark one in the back shook her head violently.

“Do they ever talk aloud?” Scout asked, scowling at the insult.

“No. Only the innocent can see them. Or the desperate who almost believe, apparently.” He frowned, “But only the truly innocent should be able to hear them. And you, Scout, are not truly innocent.”

Scout’s face burned. “I’m a virgin…”

The man threw his head back and laughed. “That has nothing to do with true innocence. True innocence is wonder, hope, acceptance,
believing
.”

Certain she was going to die of embarrassment any second, Scout mumbled, “Oh.”

“No offense, but you have a lot of bitterness in your heart. And very little hope. That explains Ashra’s surprise that you can hear her.”

Scout wanted to argue, but it was true and she knew it. “Ashra?”

“The sarcastic one in the back. She’s usually glaring, but it’s hard to tell under her armor. And I’m Iros, by the way.” His lips quirked. The darker, sleeker of the unicorns tossed her head again and stomped a sharp hoof in annoyance.

“Can I see? If it isn’t too horrible, Havik can probably fix it.” He had very kind eyes and his accent…

Scout blinked several times, trying to pull her head out of the clouds. “The name Havik doesn’t exactly inspire confidence.”

He chuckled again as Scout leaned forward, yelping as pain shot up her spine. Gingerly, he pulled her shirt up in the back, and Scout clutched the front tightly, blushing as her stomach was exposed. “This is pretty bad, missy. Havik can help, but we need a Leerha for this.” The gigantic unicorn snorted angrily and the man held up a hand, laughing. “Sorry. It’s true, she’s messed herself up beyond your power.”

Scout had been so lost in her own pain that she didn’t hear the footsteps through the forest until Trey emerged across the trees from them. “What the—? Who are you? Get away from her!”

Iros dropped her shirt back into place and stood slowly. He was roughly the same size as Trey, but all in black, he looked much more frightening. “I’m Iros. I’m here to help.”

“Scout? Are you okay? I heard screaming.” Trey looked past Iros to Scout, searching her face.

“Yeah. I’m fine. Trey…” He didn’t see them. If he did, he wouldn’t be standing there calmly, within kicking distance of Ashra’s powerful hooves. “Trey, he rides the unicorns.”