The Mountain

I have so very much learned my lesson about posting things that aren't finished. My plan is to rewrite this story, but I don't want to leave it unresolved for those who have cared enough to follow it for all this time. This chapter contains a ton of info dump of stuff that probably should have been mentioned earlier. Write and learn! *shrugs*

I know it seems like I haven't been writing at all-but I've actually written two entire novel-length (50k+) works in the same universe as "The Mountain." (It's super easy to write things you're not stressed about finishing!) I plan to post at least one of them here when I'm done with edits.

For now, here is chapter eight of what will be ten or eleven chapters total. There will be significant changes in the eventual rewrite (and because of that I very much welcome your comments and ideas!) But the major story points will likely be the same.

If you've given up on this story, my apologies. If you're still along for the ride, thank you so much for your patience and understanding. Writing is hard.

#

Sheera led them confidently through the labyrinth-like interior of the mountain. Lucy clutched her hand, feeling like a child. If they were separated, she would be lost and alone.

I'll find you.

Warder had told her to run. He had promised to come for her. That promise-it should feel like a threat. But Lucy knew that part of her fear came from the idea of leaving Warder behind. He was imposing and domineering and frightening.

He was her mate.

Warder's blood was sticky on her hand as she tightened her grip on Sheera. Lucy thought that she would know if he were dead, even if he were dying. If what Ysabel said was true, death would break the bond between them. She thought she would feel a thing like that.

"We're getting close." Sheera's sharp whisper seemed to echo in the dark.

"Close to what?"

"Outside."

Lucy's heart started to pound in her chest. So much had happened that she had been momentarily distracted from what it felt like to be trapped inside the mountain. Now, with the possibility of escape so near, she felt as if she were being squeezed from all sides.

Sheera was eager to leave the mountain behind, too. She sped up, dragging Lucy towards the end of what she could now see was a rough tunnel cut into the rock. Lucy started running to keep up, still clutching Sheera's hand. Together, they tumbled through the opening of the dusty tunnel and into a building Lucy had never seen before.

The moonlight streamed through old glass. Large windows covered every wall with skylights overhead. Here and there, vegetation was growing right against the glass, shadowy tendrils of ivy and kudzu pressed in stubborn patterns as they crawled across the slick surface before burrowing into the next bit of brick.

"Where are we?" Lucy breathed, dropping Sheera's hand and turning in a full circle.

"The old hydro-power plant," said Sheera. "My Dad used to think there was a way into the mountain through here because of the way the water flows underneath. Turns out, he was right."

"How did you find it?" asked Lucy.

Sheera took down the hood of her cloak, shaking out her bright blonde hair. "Luck?" she said, shrugging her shoulders. "Sheer fucking stubbornness? I knew I had to get to you. If this hadn't worked, I think I might have found a way to claw through rock with my bare hands."

The way Sheera spoke made Lucy want to shut her eyes and run back into the tunnel. It was the pull of Warder's influence, certainly. But also, a sense that she was ridiculously unworthy of all of this trouble. Sheera was standing in front of her declaring that she would have done anything, risked anything to save her. And what had Lucy done? She had cowered and raged and let herself be trapped. She had given herself to Warder when she was sick and even when she wasn't. She had kissed him-because he asked, but also because she was lonely and because something about him called to her despite everything she did to push those feelings away. Warder was inside fighting Hadren because of what she had done. And the islanders-they were being slaughtered for their foolish attempt to save her.

"What's wrong?" Sheera's face fell as she looked closely at Lucy. She reached out and wiped some of the dust off of Lucy's face, as if to better read her expression.

Lucy shook her head, twisting the hem of her jacket in one hand. Warder's jacket. "Nothing. I set the antenna," she said. "Tonight-right before you found me. I don't know if it was high enough and the rocks might block the signal. But I did set it. I did what we came to do."

"It doesn't matter," said Sheera. "What matters is that you're safe."

Unbidden, Lucy felt anger racing up her spine, hot and fast and thick. "What do you mean

it doesn't matter

?" she bit out. "It's the whole reason we went there in the first place! It's the reason we got caught and it's the reason I was trapped inside that mountain for god knows how long."

"Luce-," Sheera held up her hands in instant surrender. "That's not what I meant. I'm sorry. That's not what I meant. Tell me what happened," she said. Her voice was maddeningly calm. Lucy wished that she would yell.

"I don't even know where to start," said Lucy.

"Three and a half weeks," said Sheera. "That's how long you were gone."

"I tried to keep track at first, but after a while everything kind of blurred."

"It will get better. You'll tell me everything as soon as I get back out."

"What?"

"I have to go back into the mountain," said Sheera. "I have to try to help the islanders. I might be able to get some of them out the same way I got you." Sheera shut her eyes and took a deep breath before opening them again. "Miles is in there, Luce. I-I might have been able to stop him, but instead, I goaded him. I told him he wasn't brave enough."

"Sheera," said Lucy. "You could get killed."

"I know what I'm doing," said Sheera. "I got you out, didn't I?"

"Yes, but-"

"I know the mountain better than those idiot rebels," said Sheera. "I have to do this."

"Fine," said Lucy. "I'll go with you."

"You're not going back in there!"

"What? You can risk your life but I'm supposed to go hide?" As if she couldn't do anything useful. As if she always needed protection. Warder had done the same. Told her to run while his own blood stained her hands. "I risked my life on that mountain! I lost everything,

everything

while you got to go home. I did what

we

set out to do."

She saw Sheera reel back at the emphasis she put on "we". It wasn't fair to act as if Sheera had abandoned her. Especially not know when her friend had found her and shown her the way out. But fair didn't matter. Fair didn't undo the fact that she was permanently changed. Because, if she was honest, the real reason it was so easy to be angry at Sheera was that her best friend's presence proved that the normal she had longed for didn't exist anymore.

"You're free now, Luce," said Sheera, as if she were speaking to a frightened animal that could bolt at any moment. "

"You don't know," said Lucy. "You don't understand."

"You have to go and find my father. Tell him about the antenna." Sheera was already moving away from her, disappearing back into the tunnel.

"Sheera, wait!" Before Lucy could run after her, Sheera, just out of sight, let out a scream. Lucy ran towards the sound, stopping only when Persephone emerged from the tunnel holding Sheera clasped in front of her, a knife to her throat.

#

"Why don't you introduce me to your friend?" Persephone said.

"Let her go and I'll come back to the mountain with you," said Lucy automatically. She didn't want Persephone to know Sheera's name in case there was some chance she didn't recognize her. Sheera had already been kicked off the mountain once. She had been warned not to go back.

"Very noble and all, but that wouldn't be the smartest move at the moment. The mountain is in a state of fucking chaos thanks to your merry marauding islanders."

"Is that why you left?"

"I left because Warder sent us to find you," said Persephone. "Believe me, I'd much rather be inside doing something important."

Lucy could see that Persephone was holding herself awkwardly, favoring the knee that she had landed on while they were trying to run from Ysabel. She also had a gash on her forehead, probably from when she fell after Ysabel's attack. "We?"

"Persephone?" Another voice sounded from the tunnel and Cenia appeared, her light hair streaked with dust. "Lucy! You're okay." Her eyes flickered down, taking in the blood on Lucy's hands before she returned her gaze to her face, concern in her pretty blue eyes. "Are you okay?"

"Yes," said Lucy.

Sheera snarled and writhed in Persephone's grasp. Cenia seemed to notice her for the first time. "Persephone, what are you doing?"

"She's an islander," said Persephone. "She's a threat."

"She's not," said Lucy.

"Are you sure?" asked Cenia.

"Yes," said Lucy. "Make Persephone let her go."

"I meant, are you sure she's an islander?" asked Cenia, confusion furrowing her brow.

Persephone glared at Cenia, a look of disgust on her face. Then, she leaned in, her thin, patrician nose sniffing at Sheera's neck. A look of shock passed over her face and she laughed. "My god." She shoved Sheera away from her. Sheera stumbled but caught herself, instantly making her way towards Lucy and trying to shield her.

Lucy pushed her gently away, her focus on Persephone. "What's going on?"

"What's going on is we're taking you somewhere safe until Warder can come for you."

"She's not going anywhere with you." This from Sheera, one hand pressed to her neck where Persephone had held her blade.

Persephone let out a growl of frustration and darted forward, grabbing Lucy's arm. Sheera leapt to her defense, but Cenia blocked her, holding her arms. Soon, the four of them were moving back into the tunnel, a flurry of arms and legs and shouted threats. Amidst the commotion, it took a moment for the other sounds growing around them to register. Only when rock began to rain down on their heads did each of them slowly realize what was happening.

The tunnel itself was shaking.

"Run!" said Persephone, letting go of Lucy and pushing her back towards the mouth of the tunnel. "It's caving in!"

Jagged pieces of rock began to shower from the ceiling of the tunnel as it cracked apart. Lucy ran, blinded by the dust, pelted by rock. She stumbled and felt a hand wrap around her upper arm, dragging her towards safety. When her feet hit the cracked concrete of the power plant floor, Lucy turned around, expecting to see Sheera. But it was Cenia who had dragged her out. Her eyes swept the room, barely registering the hulking, rusted shapes around them, looking for her friend. A split second, and it was clear they were alone. Without another thought, Lucy wrenched herself out of Cenia's arms and ran for the rubble of the tunnel.

"Sheera!" She clawed at the rock, feeling her eyes fill with tears as it slid through her fingers like sand, filling in what small divots she managed to make. She dug more deeply, scooping debris away in fistfuls, ignoring the way the small, gritty pieces tore at her skin. "Sheera! Can you hear me?"

She heard Cenia talking, but she ignored her. It was an unwelcome, but distant, distraction. She said something like, "Lucy, you need to stop."

Lucy remembered what she had done when Ysabel threatened her, the light that had seemed to flow from her fingers. As alien as it had been, she knew that light. She knew it was a part of her, that she had summoned it. So, where was it now? She leaned back, her knees digging into the gravel, she closed her eyes and let the fear and the pain rush through her, the joy of thinking she was going home and the horror, moments later, of knowing that Sheera might not be going with her. The light had come from something like this place - despair, desperation. It had all been the same.

It had to have been the same.

But something was missing. When the light rebounded, she had felt a kind of stillness, a steely reserve that seemed to belong more to someone like Warder than someone like her. A power that was bigger than anything that was meant to exist in her body.

"They could be all right," said Cenia softly. "We've seen cave ins before. Pockets develop and the people in them can be saved."

"Then help me to dig," said Lucy, distracted from her dissection of the light. She brushed her hands over the debris again, calculating instead of panicked. If she couldn't access that wild power, at least she could remind herself that she was smart. Resourceful. Being petted and dominated by Warder had almost made her forget.

"We aren't going to be able to do anything without tools," said Cenia. "They'll know about the tunnel. There are sensors all over the mountain. A security team is probably already working from inside."

"We can't count on that. It's a disaster inside. Bad enough that Warder let me out."

"He sent us after you immediately. And you know he didn't mean for you to leave the mountain. He only knew you would try."

Ignoring that revelation, Lucy changed tactics. "Persephone's in there. You must care about her even if you don't care about my friend."

"Lucy, I would do something if I could," said Cenia. She looked at her earnestly, as if she could will Lucy to believe it. "For both of them."

"You can go with me into town. We'll get people to help."

The anxious openness in Cenia's face shuttered. She looked down at her boots. "We should not go into town," she said. "Persephone and I were following you to keep you safe. Town is not safe."

"It's my home," said Lucy. "That is my home." She pointed to the collapsed tunnel, tears in her eyes. "My friends. My family. They're all on the outside. Or...they're supposed to be." She felt tears gathering in her eyes and brushed at them, impatient with herself. She wasn't sad. She was terribly angry. All of this was Warder's fault. For doing what he had done to her. For not letting her go.

"With the attack, emotions will be running high. The islanders can't be trusted."

"I

am

an islander," said Lucy. "If town isn't safe there, and the mountain isn't safe-" Lucy choked back tears, swiping a hand across her face to try to hide the fact that she was about to break down. It was about Sheera. It should be entirely about Sheera. But Warder-his image filled her mind too. He had told her to run. After weeks of chasing her, cornering her, protecting her, he had sent her running away from him.

Which-why should she care?

But it hurt. It hurt like a physical wound. Like the sound of the cave in and the silence that followed. She had no home. No place was safe.

She felt Cenia's arms wrap around her shoulders. She was all muscle, wiry and slim, but strong. "Someone will help them," she said. "And it won't be like this forever. But-things have changed. The safest thing to do right now is to lay low."

"Lay low?"

"I don't know another way back in that won't attract attention. Is there somewhere we could go? Somewhere close to town but not in it?"

"Don't pretend you don't know this island like the back of your hand."

Cenia nodded. "I know it the way a soldier knows it. I'm asking for your advice. Where do you feel safe? If town isn't an option? If-" she trailed off.

If Warder isn't an option?

Was that what she was going to say? How long would it take to get over this feeling, hating him but hurting for him at the slightest distance? She still planned to escape. If she managed it, physically, how long before the bond between them burned out? How long would it hurt?

"There's a place," said Lucy slowly. "Sheera and I used to hang out there. Go camping. No one that I know of uses it otherwise. The path from town isn't great."

"Where is it?" asked Cenia.

"Near Folly Beach," said Lucy. "It's on the side closer to town. If we-"

"I know the way," said Cenia. "Let's go."

#

When they reached the small cave in the woods above Folly Beach, Cenia did a sweep of the area and declared it passable. Then, she handed Lucy a bag of trail mix and an emergency blanket out of her pack.

Convinced she wouldn't be able to sleep, Lucy huddled against the wall of the cave with the blanket around her knees and focused on the sound of the not-too-distant surf breaking against the beach. "Folly Beach" took its name from the incredibly rocky, sharp sand that littered most of the shoreline. Comfortable paths to the water were few and there were other much friendlier beaches scattered across the island. Still, Lucy was desperate to feel the water rushing over her toes after weeks trapped under the mountain.

Something kept her from suggesting it to Cenia. She doubted that Cenia would deem swimming in the dark a safe activity. And Cenia was clearly on high alert. She sat at the front of the cave, one hand on the knife at her belt, scanning the darkness beyond the cave for any sign of threat.

Giving up on the beach-for now-Lucy decided to occupy herself with a different activity. Cenia, after all, had been the one to tell her about omegas. And if that was what she was-what they thought she was-she needed to learn more. Lucy got up, crouching slightly to avoid hitting her head on the top of the low cave and letting the emergency blanket crinkle noisily so as to alert Cenia to her approach. Cenia turned her head and waited for Lucy to settle next to her. Then, she scooted a little closer and turned her attention back to the woods outside the cave. "You okay?" she asked.

"Sort of," said Lucy. "Do you mind talking?"

"Never," said Cenia amiably. "Although your tone suggests that you might plan to ask things I can't answer."

Lucy hadn't been aware she had a tone. Cenia noticed more than she expected. "When I met you, you called me an 'omega,'" said Lucy. "You said you were one, too. That omegas stick together. So...what are we?"

"We are peacekeepers," said Cenia.

"You're a warrior."

"Not because I want to fight," said Cenia. "War is part of our lives and if I'm in it, I can influence it."

Lucy considered that. "Nothing about Ysabel seemed peaceful."

"Ysabel's situation was not-it wasn't what it would have been like for an omega, before we came here."

"What's different about the island?" asked Lucy. "Why come here at all?"

"I didn't mean the island," said Cenia. "I meant-before we came here. To this-" she lifted her hand and gestured around her, a small gesture, but one clearly meant to encompass the entire world. "We weren't always here, in your world."

"My...world."

Cenia nodded, her pale hair a flash of color in the dark.

"You're telling me you're aliens or something?"

Cenia laughed. "Or something. We didn't come from up there," she pointed to the endlessly starry sky over their heads. "We came through...I guess you would call it a portal. An opening."

It was crazy. But what wasn't? Even with the occupation of the island, even with the sense that the mountain people were in some way alien, it had been almost possible to rationalize. To make excuses. But just hours earlier, she had seen light flow from under her own skin. She had killed with it. Other worlds seemed...possible.

"Why come to this world?" Because it was the next thing she wanted to know if she was willing to take the existence of other worlds for granted.

"Curiosity," said Cenia. "At first. And your world-it's more peaceful than ours. At home, we were in a state of near-constant war and part of it had to do with a lack of territory. There are large portions of our world that aren't really inhabitable. Here, there was room."

"Earth isn't exactly known for not being crowded," Lucy pointed out.

"You couldn't understand it unless you've lived it," said Cenia, not unkindly. "You have prairies, grasslands, forests. You have islands. And mountains."