123 | NO BREAK

Most high school seniors look forward to the one week in march where we’re released from the prison of school to just relax and have fun. Of course, those seniors don’t have the threat of an impending Revenant attack looming over them like a cloud of randomly striking lightning. So, naturally, my spring break is a week of training.

From the ass-crack of dawn and well into the night, I train with Hale in my back yard. We’d considered training at the Coven…but he’s still not thrilled about the last time I trained over there and put a crack in the side of the library…or the craters I’d left. Blue tries to watch the first day, but after his constant growling and worried looks when Hale knocks me on my ass, I eventually force my mate to leave.

Hale drills new forms into me, certain things I’m sure won’t work on anything besides a Revenant, but I make myself ingrain the movements into my muscles. Things like blocking, then immediately striking, or jumping back in anticipation of another move. I’m getting increasingly better, and listening to my instincts is easier after some more practice, but I know it’s still not enough. I’m still getting my ass handed to me by my old man.

I stare up at the sky, watching as bright hues streak across the sky whiles the sun sets behind the trees. I’m struggling for breath, rather attempting to stay conscious while my lungs reactivate from the throw I just suffered. Finally, my body stops freaking out and I gasp. Pain lances through my spine, but the damage caused by my back slamming into the ground is already healed. A moment later, Hale’s leaning over me, looking a little sheepish for his enthusiastic throw.

“Nice one, old man.” I groan after a moment of gasping. My father winces a little, but gives me a solemn look. We both know his strength and speed aren’t much compared to that of the Revenant, and the fact that I was injured so easily… If the Revenant had actually been here, I’d be dead right now, no question.

“You’re progressing well,” Hale tells me after another beat, his jade eyes trained on me, carefully assessing. I growl at him, not wanting to be ‘progressing’. I want to be ready. I need to be ready.

This morning, we got fresh reports about the Revenant’s reign of terror. The nests - something like a tiny Coven, but with Revenants and not vampires - have been popping up in the cities between Kiwina and Colton. Sightings from Hale’s people have been coming in during the patrols, and the Azures are riled up with the scents of the Revenants nearby. There were days when we’d heard nothing, couldn’t pin down the location of the Revenant, but now it seems the attack’s being planned.

*I need to be ready.*

I close my eyes against the fading sunlight and let my mind go blank as I ground myself in the moment. It’s not like I think I wouldn’t be able to put up a decent fight against the Revenant, but if there are more than one? What if they all attack *en masse*?

If three came this time, we’d be screwed. But if the Revenant has any sense left, there would be more than just three the next time around. The town, Coven, and Azures would be overrun and… I shiver, forcing my thoughts away from any sort of imaginings on how *that* would play out.

Hale’s a great fighter, but he needed Zoe to help him with the last Revenant he faced. That tells me that my assessment of my father is all too accurate: the man’s getting old. Even though he’s still kicking my ass, he couldn’t face a Revenant alone. Hell, even Mina saw fit to send him home with an entourage - and thank God she did. Without the Queen’s foresight, who knows if my father would have even made it back.

But if Hale’s not able to fight solo, and he’s still kicking my ass into next week, how do I expect to be ready to take them myself? What chance to I have against even one of them? Though I was able to hold my own relatively well, it’s not like I gained any serious ground. I just held my own long enough to get some help. Then, and even then, the Revenant got away. What’s it going to take for me to actually kill one of them?

Then, I remember when I was able to fight against the Revenant. When I was controlling time. My eyes snap open and I blink at the sky, staring up at a stray cloud that’s slowly billowing past. *Is that what it’ll take? Me* spending time, *as Nikki called it. Should I be trying to get some control over that power to help me fight?*

I chew my bottom lip as I contemplate the possibilities. I should be able to fight the Revenant without using such an extreme ability, after all not all Guardians have special things that they can use to fight. Just their trust in their instincts and training. *Should I even be entertaining this idea? What if I can’t control it? What if I screw up again and Death comes to kill me?*

I sigh and sit up, my body re-cooperated enough that I’m able to breathe regularly.

There’s only one way I can know for sure. I’m going to need to call Nikki and have a chat about all this.

“Hale,” I sit up and look to my father. “We done for the night? I’ve gotta make a call.” My father looks over my face carefully, understanding twinkling in his jade eyes as he nods once.

“Give my regards to the Ancient.” He tells me, a slight bitter edge to his tone. I agree softly, not bothering to track him with my eyes as he blurs into motion and leaves me alone to summon a part of Death. I had told him about Nikki and the role she’d playing in…I guess I should call it what it was: Nikki collecting my mom’s soul. Hale wasn’t too thrilled about me holding back on telling him, but he seemed to understand well enough that I needed time to process it myself.

I take a deep breath as I get off the ground and dust myself off, prolonging the inevitable conversation. I mean, who wants to talk with the being who just ferried her mother’s soul from this life to the next? I grind my knuckles into my breastbone as the familiar ache of loss and pain resurface and make me cringe. I grit my teeth and duck back into the house, searching for the little stone with the button to summon the Ancient.

It takes a lot less time than I’d hoped to find the little device. I sit on the edge of Blue and my bed, staring at the little thing in my palm, button up, and debating putting this talk off a few more minutes… I let out a hiss of annoyance at myself and force my thumb to jam against the button. This takes precedence over what it is I’m feeling towards Death. Mom’s passing aside, Nikki is one of the only resources I have that’s helped me fix the shit-storm Blue and I created. Without Nikki helping us, we’d have never had known what we did screwed with the universe and the apocalypse was coming.

*Is coming*. I remind myself, closing my eyes as the cloying scent of decay hits my nose and the air around me seems to cool a few degrees.

“Nikki,” I greet quietly, taking in another breath as I force my eyes back open to see the woman in white standing in the doorway.

“Scarlett,” Nikki replies in her breezy voice, bright orange eyes glittering with what looks like real glitter. Shards of dancing speckles of iridescent, winking silver. That’s new… I think to myself, letting the change of her weird-ass eyes throw me back in time. I can’t help but wonder what her real eyes look like…if these strange colors belong to her, or are some how connected to the souls she’s ferried to the other-side. My stomach pitches at the thought of the Ancient one day wearing my mom’s eyes.

“I need your help.” I announce, forcing the words out before I loose my nerve or start screaming for answers. As it is, my voice is tight, the memories of the last time I saw the Ancient flooding my brain.

“Of course,” Nikki nods solemnly to me. “However I may assist.” I nod once in response, not really seeing the being in front of me as I launch into a quick summary of what’s been happening and what I’ve been trying to do…and what I want to do. With each passing word, Nikki’s eyes darken a degree until they’re an almost sienna shade of brown, completely absent of the dancing brightness.