Page 57 of Of Blood and Bone (Chronicles of The One 2)

They charged each other.

Horrible, horrible, Lana thought, the blows, the hacking, the swipes of blades. The jerks of their body as the shocks ran through at the illusionary strikes and cuts.

Then, with a speed that made the boys cheer, Simon swung around, caught Fallon from behind, and slit her throat.

“Better than good.” Breath in rags, Fallon lowered to brace her hands on her thighs.

“You, too.”

“Show me that move.”

“Sure, but here’s the thing. If these knives cut, I’d probably have been weak and woozy from blood loss. Adrenaline might’ve pushed me through, but you came damn close to severing a couple arteries. That’s where you should focus if you can. Go for the brachial, the femoral, the jugular, and it’s going to be over fast.”

“I know, but the only way I could’ve gotten to them was to—”

She flicked her hand, jerked him back with a punch of power, then sliced a long line down his forearm. “Do that.”

“Why didn’t you do that?”

“First, I need the training. And more, I might be going up against someone with power, so I’d be pushing or blocking that while trying to get a debilitating or killing strike in. If the opponent didn’t have power, magicks should be used only to save lives. If you have to take a life with magicks, you can’t do it for convenience. You just—you just have to know.”

He shook his head, and looked at her—warrior to warrior. “Here’s what I know. You do what it takes to stay alive. Use what you need to use. Because if you’re dead, the fight’s over, and not just for you. For others under your command, others you won’t be able to protect. Innocent lives shouldn’t be lost because you played fair. Nothing’s fair in a war.”

He sheathed his knife, then caught her face in his hands, kissed her. “You wore me out, baby.”

As he spoke, Lana appeared at his side, offered him a cold beer.

“Hey. Nice, thanks.”

“We’ve been working on it. I think it’s time for a break. And, Fallon, I could really use your help with something,” Lana urged as she led her to the house and closed the door behind them.

“Your father doesn’t understand,” Lana began. “He knows using magicks to cause harm, and worse, is against what we are, but he also knows what it’s like to fight for your life and for others.”

“I get it. I do.”

“It was hard for me and Max to use our gifts to harm. It should be hard. But, Fallon, your dad’s right. He’s right. If you, any of us, need to use our gift as a weapon, we use it. Not lightly, not for—as you said—convenience—but we use it. Whether or not it’s power against power.”

“I’ve already used it. I don’t know how many lives I might have taken when I blew up those fuel tanks, and used magick to do it.”

“How many did you save? Good soldiers, and innocents? You did what you had to do, and I know, I’m afraid, you’ll have to do the same again and again.”

“You can slip into the dark,” Fallon said quietly.

“You won’t. Your fathers didn’t. I didn’t. You won’t.”

“The more I train, the more I’m here … I thought, and told Mallick, I needed time to be home. I thought it was for me, just to be here after two years away. But it’s more. I’m still learning. It’s about training, all of us, and learning.”

She paced away, back again. “I know people are out there, fighting, dying, suffering. And I’m here, still here. I thought when I took the sword and shield, I’d be ready. But it’s been months, and I’m still here.”

“It’s not just about fighting for you.”

“I know, I know, just like I know it’s not time for me to go.”

Restlessly, she walked from window to window.

“But there are people my age, younger, already fighting and I’m waiting to … lead,” she realized. “I’m waiting instead of working toward that, toward leadership. The farms, the village, right here? I’m not leading. I’m not learning who’ll fight, who has needed skills, or knowledge that can be used. We’re not training beyond right here. I’m stupid.”

“Don’t insult me. I didn’t raise any stupid children. You have your time, right here, and only here, with family. Training and teaching and practicing. If it’s time now for you to do more, to begin with neighbors, that’s what we’ll do.”

“If Dad goes with me. They’ll listen to him. They know him better, and with me, they’ll see a teenager.”

Pleased, proud, Lana nodded. “You need to build trust.”

“Yeah, and I will. I will. This is why I’m here.”

“Why you’re still here,” Lana corrected. “You’ve begun what you needed to begin, and now it’s time to begin something else. You are a teenager, Fallon. And you’re impatient. Building trust, armies, movements takes time.”

“Then I better get started. Tomorrow … Do you hear that?”

“What do you hear?”

“Voices. From…”

She followed them, with Lana behind her, to her room. To the crystal.

“Do you hear them?”

“I hear something now. It’s not clear.”

“Can you see?”

“It’s indistinct.”

“Take my hand.”

It cleared for her.

Men, women, in trucks, on horseback, incredibly in tanks. Heavily armed, Lana noted, all in dark clothes with faces blackened against the glow of moonlight.

A night raid.

“Purity Warriors,” Fallon told her. “And some Raiders. They’re likely in this for the bounty as much as the killing. Maybe the PWs paid them to join for this.”

“I know that road.” Fear squeezed at Lana’s throat. “It’s going to take them straight into New Hope. God, that’s one of the Mercers in the lead truck. He hasn’t aged well, and that’s a horrible scar on his face, but I know it’s one of them.”

“Lou Mercer. Don’s already dead. And this one got that scar in the explosion, the fuel tanks. He’s very pissed off. I have to go.”

She turned, picked up the sword she’d left on for hand-to-hand.

“This is coming, it’s yet to come, so there’s time to warn them. Time for them to get ready.”

“I’m going with you.”

“I need you here. I still can?

??t go through without the split. I need you to stay with what’s here. I need Will. Will Anderson.”

She put a hand over the globe, brought Will’s image into her head. And into the globe.

“Oh God, it’s Will!” Lana grabbed Fallon’s arm, looked closer. “And Katie. That’s Katie. Oh my God, look at them.”

She saw the woman with dark curly hair—and the eyes she’d passed down to her son—sitting at a table with Will.

“Where are they?” Fallon demanded.

“I’m not sure, I … The kitchen, in the house where Katie and Rachel live. Or lived when I was there. And Jonah. He moved in with Rachel. They’ve painted it, but that’s the kitchen. I can’t hear what they’re saying. I can’t hear clearly.”

“I have to go through.” She turned to her mother. “I have to warn them what’s coming. Two nights—it’s in two nights. I know where the house is. You told me, and even if I didn’t, the crystal would take me. But you have to stay here.”

“Tell them … just tell them I saw them.”

“I will. Stay here. Stay with me.”

Once more she put her hands on the globe, and this time, put the image of the house, of the kitchen into her mind.

And she slipped through the crystal.

She smelled something burning just before she completed the split. She drew her sword as Duncan swung around with his.

Steel clashed bright to steel.

“That’s a good way to get disemboweled.” He lowered his sword but didn’t sheath it.

“Don’t you bother to look before you attack?”

“Defend,” he corrected. “It’s my house you just popped into.”

“I’m looking for Will Anderson.”

“He doesn’t live here.”

“I know he doesn’t live here, but he was here. You’re burning something.”

“Damn it.” He grabbed the skillet, and now with hands full, turned off the heat with a flick of his head.

“Don’t blame me.” Clearly, by the look in his eyes, he did. “It was burning when I got here.”

“I like my grilled cheese crispy.” He flopped it—one side certainly crispy, the other definitely blackened—onto a plate.

“Just tell me where to find Will so I … It’s night.”

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