Forever Young

Chapter 34

It was hard to tell what was or wasn't a dream. I saw flashes of faces, flashes of fire, heard the echo of voices. Sometimes it felt like my skin was burning, and other times it felt like I was freezing.

The only thing I was certain of was that it was Takoda's hand that remained on my forehead. It never left, and every now and then his fingers would brush against me. Sometimes I thought he was speaking to me, but I usually couldn't make out what he was saying.

Slowly, the world began to make sense again. The faces of Koda and Mato were real- anyone else was a dream. The fire was real- it was crackling less than a foot away from me. And the heat from it warmed the front of my body, to an almost painful point in some places, while Takoda's heat kept my back warm. Every once in a while, though, a gust of wind would slip through Koda's arms, and send a sudden chill through me.

Eventually, I was even able to open my eyes.

"You're sick," Mato said as soon as he saw I was awake. "We can't travel any further."

Koda's arms tightened around me. "We can't stay here, Mato. What if Elody is tracking us? And Ammie needs real shelter."

I just groaned, leaning further into Koda's arms. This was the worst I had ever felt. My throat was burning from my lack of blood, my head was throbbing, my entire body was sore. All I wanted was to go home.

Koda shushed me gently, his fingers moving soothingly through my hair. It reminded me of Esme. I missed her. Hopefully she wasn't too worried.

"Maybe we should-" Mato's words cut off suddenly. 

There was a moment of silence as everyone in the cave listened. And then I heard it, too. The footsteps coming towards us. Mama. Daddy. Aunty Kate. Jake. Whoever it was, I was just thrilled that they were here to save us.

But then Koda and Mato shifted suddenly, ripping through their only winter clothes. I was snatched up and pulled on to Koda's back, the blanket and fire abandoned as we were suddenly back out in the bitter cold. The sun was out now, at least, but it didn't seem to increase the temperature much.

The rocks that had been over us began to tumble down around us, smothering the fire. I covered my head as Koda and Mato both managed to just barely dodge the falling boulders. There was a flash of motion and suddenly Elody was there, standing in front of us. Her eyes were a burning red now, a stark contrast to the yellow color they had been before. 

Mato was right in front of Koda and I, and he didn't even hesitate. He rammed straight into Elody, throwing her to the side as we kept running. She was immediately on her feet again, pursuing us. And she was gaining fast. With me on his back, Takoda was slower. And in my weakened state I could already feel my fingers slipping away from his fur. 

The rope wasn't fastened around Koda anymore. It was just slung over his shoulder. But I hoped that I could wrap it around me and secure myself to some extent. As I reached for it, though, Elody suddenly rammed into Takoda and I, and we were thrown sideways.

We were falling. And we weren't stopping.

I hadn't even noticed the cliff that was next to us, but now we were tumbling down the drop-off. I thrust my hands out instinctively, catching both myself and Takoda in the air. But it was hard. It was so, so hard. I was much weaker than usual, and I struggled to lift us up, or lower us down, or anything. But all I could do was keep us precariously suspended, so high up. If we fell again, if my powers gave out, I didn't see any way that I would be able to catch us once more.

Above us, there was snarling and growling as a horrible fight took place. Mato. He was facing Elody all alone. And the sounds were so animalistic that I couldn't tell which came from the werewolf, and which came from the vampire.