Chapter 104 104
Kaelen's POV:
We didn't make it far.
Maybe half a mile into the forest, and my legs just stopped working. One second I was walking, Marlen and Lucian holding me up on either side, and the next I was on the ground with pine needles in my face and both of them yelling my name.
"I'm fine," I tried to say, but it came out as a mumble. The world was spinning again, gray and green and the faces of my siblings blurring above me.
"You're not fine, you idiot." Marlen's voice was sharp but her hands were gentle, rolling me onto my back, checking my chest. "The wound reopened. You're bleeding again."
"Just... need a minute."
"You need a hospital. Which we can't go to because they'd ask questions about the giant hole in your chest." She looked at Lucian. "Help me get him against that tree. We need to stop the bleeding."
They dragged me to a pine tree and propped me up against the trunk. The bark was rough against my back, scratching through my shirt. Marlen pressed her hands against my chest and I felt that golden warmth again, weaker this time, flickering.
"Mar, don't. You already gave too much."
"Shut up." But her voice cracked and I could see how pale she was, dark circles under her eyes, her whole body trembling with exhaustion. "Just shut up and let me help you."
Lucian sat down next to me, close enough that our shoulders touched. He didn't say anything. Just sat there, his presence steady and warm, and I realized he was trying to give me what little energy he had left too. Both of them, still trying to save me even though they had nothing left to give.
"Stop," I said, and this time I meant it. "Both of you. I'm not dying. The wound is closing, just slower than before. I just need to rest."
Marlen didn't move her hands but she stopped pushing energy into me. "How do you know you're not dying?"
"Because I've been hurt before. Not this bad, but bad. And I know what dying feels like now." I tried to smile but it probably came out as a grimace. "This isn't it. I'm gonna be okay."
"You better be." Lucian's voice was rough. "Because if you die after we saved you, I'm gonna be really pissed."
"Noted."
We sat there in the forest, the three of us, while my body slowly knitted itself back together. The bleeding stopped after a while. The pain didn't, but it became manageable, this dull throb instead of the sharp stabbing that made it hard to think.
I kept reaching for Annabeth. Every few minutes, automatically, like checking your phone for messages. And every time: nothing. Silence. That horrible void where she should have been.
She wasn't dead. I kept telling myself that. If she were dead, I'd know. The bond would have broken completely, and Marcus had said that felt like getting torn in half. This was different. This was like someone had put a wall between us, blocking the signal but not severing the connection.
She was alive. She had to be alive.
The sun was starting to set when we heard footsteps.
Marlen was on her feet instantly, putting herself between me and the sound, which was both touching and stupid because she could barely stand. Lucian tensed beside me, ready to run or fight, I couldn't tell which.
But then Marcus emerged from the trees, and something loosened in my chest.
He looked like hell. His clothes were torn, there was blood on his face, dried and dark, and he was moving with that careful gait that meant he was hurt but trying not to show it. But when he saw us, when he saw ME, sitting against that tree with my chest torn open and my siblings collapsed on either side, something crossed his face that I'd never seen before.
Fear. Marcus was afraid.
It lasted maybe half a second before he buried it, but I saw it. And somehow that scared me more than anything else.
"You're alive," he said.
"Barely," Marlen answered. "No thanks to your contact."
Marcus's jaw tightened. He crossed the distance between us and knelt down, his eyes scanning over me, cataloging the damage with the precision of someone who'd seen a lot of injuries before. And also a lot of death.
"The contact sold us out," he said. "The whole thing was a setup. They sent six operatives to intercept me on the road, keep me busy while the real attack happened here." His voice was flat, controlled, but I could hear the rage underneath. "They weren't trying to capture me. Just delay. Buy time."
"They wanted Annabeth," I said.
"Yes."
"They got her." The words tasted like ash. "I tried to stop them. I transformed, I killed... I don't know how many. But there was a sniper I couldn't see. He hit me with this harpoon thing, went right through my chest."
"Dragon-killer rounds." Marcus was examining the wound now, his fingers careful around the edges of the torn flesh. "Tungsten core, barbed tip, designed to penetrate scales and cause maximum internal damage. They're expensive to produce. The Order only uses them for high-value targets."
"Lucky me."
"You're not lucky. You're alive, which is more than most dragons can say after taking one of those." He sat back on his heels. "Your siblings?"
"They saved me." I looked at Marlen and Lucian, both of them watching Marcus with wary eyes. "I was dying and they came back and they... healed me. Together. I didn't even know that was possible."
Marcus was quiet for a moment. When he spoke again, his voice was different, a bit softer. "It's rare. Requires a bond strong enough to share power across bodies. Usually only works between mates." He paused. "Or family."
"They almost killed themselves doing it."
"But they didn't. And neither did you." He stood up. "We need to move. My car is about a mile west. I have supplies, enough to patch you up properly and get through the night. Can you walk?"
Yes, I could, but barely, so it took all three of them to get me there. Marcus supporting most of my weight, Marlen scouting ahead, and Lucian bringing up the rear with his eyes constantly scanning the trees. We moved slow, stopping every few minutes so I could catch my breath and try not to pass out.
Marcus's car was parked off a dirt road, hidden under low-hanging branches. The trunk was full of the kind of supplies you'd expect from a man who'd spent decades on the run: medical kit, canned food, water, blankets, a portable camp stove. We found a spot nearby where a cluster of boulders formed a natural shelter, and Marcus set up a makeshift camp while my siblings collapsed against the rocks.
He made me lie down on one of the blankets and started cleaning my wound with real supplies. Antiseptic, gauze, things that hurt almost as much as getting shot in the first place. Marlen and Lucian huddled together under another blanket, both asleep within minutes.
"They came back for me," I said, watching them. "The plan was for them to run. To get to safety and wait. But they came back."
"Of course they did." Marcus didn't look up from what he was doing. "You're their brother."
"I've spent five years trying to protect them. Trying to keep them safe. And today they almost died protecting me instead."
"That's what family does." His hands paused for a moment. "The people who love you don't stay safe when you're in danger. They run toward the fire, not away from it. No matter how much you wish they wouldn't."
There was something in his voice that made me know that he was talking about more than just today.
"Marcus." I waited until he looked at me. "How do you know so much about the Order? Their weapons, their tactics, their facilities. You knew exactly what kind of round hit me before I even finished describing it. Back at the hotel you knew that sedative they used on Annabeth, said you'd seen it before."
He was quiet for a long moment. His hands resumed their work, finishing the bandage, but I could see the tension in his shoulders.
"Because I've been where Annabeth must be now," he said finally. "Twenty-five years ago. Before I ever met her mother, before any of it. The Order captured me and kept me in their central facility for almost a year."