Excerpt: Sewell Saga II: The Tides of Elphenlan / The Marked Man

“Miah!” she screamed as a crumbled form staggered out of the woods and collapsed onto the trail. Keira poured on the speed and dropped down on her knees next to him.
He wasn’t in a good state at all. The man’s clothes – his NESO-approved clothes woven from a fabric that was supposed to be able to stop bullets – was torn to shreds. He was huddled in a fetal position, groaning in pain like Keira had never heard from him before. Miah was clutching his stomach, his hands coated in red. Blood. There was blood everywhere. His entire stomach was covered in it. Even though his clothes were black, Keira could tell that most of the fabric was soaked in his blood.
“Hold on!” she said panic-stricken, not quite sure what to do. “Hold on!”
With one hand supporting her brother’s back, she grabbed her communicator from her holster. Taking a deep breath, she pressed the button of the person she knew who would closest to them at that very moment.
Tristan gave her a withering look when he picked up. “What do you want?”
“Trist, I don’t have time. Get a jeep over here fast!”
He sighed and rolled his eyes. “Why should I do anything for you? You can’t tell me what to do.”
“Trist! Please!”
He still wasn’t moving. “Why? What’s going on?”
“Just get over to the woods! Fast!”
“I want to know what’s going on first!”
“We don’t have time!”
“You’re going to have all the time in the world if you don’t…” His words stopped suddenly. “Is that blood?”
Keira had just wiped her forehead with her hand. She realized she must be covered in blood too by this point and probably had left a streak of red over her face. She took a deep breath and forced herself to speak without crying.
“Miah’s hurt. Get over here.”
Tristan’s attitude changed instantly. “Where are you in the woods?”
“I don’t know exactly…”
“Never mind, I’ll find you.” The transmission was ended and Keira threw the communicator to the ground and turned back to her brother, who was groaning quietly on the ground in front of her.
“Miah, Miah, you’ve got to stay with me! Tristan’s on his way. He’s going to get us out of here.” Keira wiped away the tears that were starting to well up in her eyes. But the blood that was on her hands got into her eyes and caused them to burn and her to cry even more. In all their years, she had never seen Miah seriously hurt before. It was terrifying and something she never wanted to see again.
“Miah? Say something, please!”
Miah groaned and struggled to open his eyes. It took forever for his eyes to focus on the face that was right in front of him.
“Keira. It’s not safe out here. I’ve got to get you out of here.” His voice was hoarse and strained. It was taking all of his strength to come up with those words.
“You don’t need to worry about me. Tristan is coming to get us.”
Miah rolled his eyes and moaned. “Tristan? Oh man…”
“My thoughts exactly, but he’s the closest.” Keira gently pushed Miah’s hands that were holding on to his stomach out of the way. She did her best to control the gasp that begged to come out when she saw the wound.
“Miah, what did this?” she said, her voice carrying with fear. It looked as though a hunk of his flesh had been ripped off of his body. The only thing that she could imagine doing such an act was a rabid animal. She shuttered at thinking that whatever did this was still out there.
“I don’t know…” he whispered. “I was right behind you, then I blinked and… and…”
“Did you see someone?” Keira asked.
Miah swallowed hard and nodded. “Cady. She was… she was leaving. She told me to come with her, so I could say… so we could say goodbye.”
“Did you walk off the path?”
“Just a step,” Miah replied. He groaned and pushed Keira’s hands away and went back to clutching his torso. “And then… she changed. I can’t remember. And then… and then this…”
Keira hushed him and held him close. At this point she knew that both of them looked a mess, but she didn’t care. All she was thinking about was getting the two of them back into town as quickly as possible. She whipped off her vest, balled it up, and held it over the open wound. The fabric was immediately soaked with blood, and more streamed out underneath with nothing to absorb it. Keira took some deep breaths, doing her best not to get sick from the imagery. Miah had stopped talking, which made her sicker than anything else her eyes could see.
The roar of an engine cut through the silence of the woods, and Keira instantly shot up and strained her eyes to search for the vehicle. From a distance, a car door slammed and the sound of pounding footsteps getting closer came to her ears. Keira ran forward, not caring that branches were whipping and cutting through her face as she flew.
Up a hill she ran, and at the top she saw a clearing below. In it sat a rusty old jeep that was still spitting and sputtering. Tristan was halfway up the hill. He stopped though when he saw Keira waiting for him at the top.
“Are you hurt too?” he asked, actually sounding concerned.
She sniffed and shook her head. She couldn’t even start to imagine what she looked like right now. He probably saw all the blood on her and thought she had been in the accident as well. But it didn’t matter.
“I’m fine. It’s Miah… it’s Miah’s blood. Come on, you’ve got to help me! I can’t carry him myself.”
Tristan was by her side in an instant, and the two were running back through the woods. “What happened?”
“I’m not quite sure,” Keira replied. “We were just walking, and we somehow got split up.”
“I told you not to come in here,” Tristan growled. “But you never listen.”
“Look, you can attempt to give me a lecture later, but now I need your help!” Keira cried. She passed by him and ran ahead by herself.
“Oh my god.” She could hear Tristan start to mutter and swear as they rounded the corner and Miah’s bloody heap of a body was visible on the trail. Before she could say anything, Tristan had passed her and picked Miah up without a word. Keira felt the dull ache in the pit of her stomach worsen when Miah didn’t make a sound even while Tristan jostled him.
“Whatever you do, stay on the trail!” Keira shouted as she turned and started to run back to the jeep.
The two sped back through the woods and down the trail. Keira did her best not to look back at Tristan, who was only a step behind her even with her brother’s added weight. She ran down the hill as she saw the jeep in sight.
“Get in the passenger seat!” Keira cried as she ran to the driver’s side door.
“Oh no you don’t! You’re not driving!” Tristan shouted.
“Yes I am! Get in!”
Tristan reached over the side of the jeep and lowered Miah in the back seat before wheeling around and scowling at Keira. “You can’t drive yet, you’re not ready!”
“What? Keira’s driving?” Miah moaned from the back.
“No, she’s not,” Tristan said firmly.
But Keira was already sitting in the driver’s seat and shifting the car into forward. Tristan had to jump over the jeep door and settle in before she started going too fast.
“What are you doing?” Tristan hissed. “Let me drive!”
“Is Keira driving?” came Miah’s nervous voice from the back. His voice was shaking a little more than they’d like, and both Keira and Tristan had a feeling that it wasn’t just because of his flesh wound.
Neither of them answered Miah. Keira turned to Tristan and hissed, “Just sit down and shut up. You’ve taught me enough already. I can get us back through here.” And with that, the jeep squealed as she through the vehicle into reverse and jerked the car around to face the trail that would lead them back to Graylake.
“You’ve been teaching her?” Miah’s voice rang out loud and clear, making both of them wince.
“Miah, you’re hurt. Shut up,” Tristan deadpanned.
“Plus, I’m way faster than you,” Keira said.
“Oh, this isn’t good…”
“Miah, keep quiet,” Tristan repeated.
“This is not how I was planning on seeing my little sister drive for the first time,” Miah moaned, his hands over his face. “Especially if she drives faster than you, Trist.”
Keira ignored her brother’s plaintive cries. While clutching the wheel with white knuckles, she threw the jeep into forward, released the clutch bar, and pressed the second ignition button. The jeep rocketed forward a lot faster than its parts wished, and the vehicle dived forward through the forest, Keira jerking back and forth on the wheel as she wove through the trees.
“I think I’m going to be sick,” Miah moaned.
“You’re not alone,” muttered Tristan.
Miah attempted to sit himself up on his elbows, but immediately dropped back down when he saw the view. “Tristan, if I don’t die, I am going to kill you. Once I can, I am going to kill you so bad.”
“Unless Keira does us in first,” Tristan replied, his wide eyes unable to be torn away from the trail barreling by in front of them.
“Just for you to know, I’m ignoring both of you,” Keira said calmly.
The three drove in silence for the rest of the trip through the forest. The only sounds coming from Tristan, who occasionally uttered a small gasp if he thought Keira was cutting it a little too close to a tree. Keira’s eyes wildly took in the entire woods surrounding them, searching for even the smallest shadow or sign that whatever it was that hurt her brother had come back to finish the job.
Finally, the light broke through the last remaining trees, and the jeep barreled through the forest line and onto the rocky shore. Keira shifted the jeep again, and jerkily they started climbing the rocky terrain back up to the village.
“You know, you really shouldn’t have driven in second that entire way,” Tristan said quietly. Keira glared at him, and he quickly went quiet.

*****

Mark felt like he was walking on eggshells throughout dinner that night. He eyed both his dad and mom nervously while they passed around the dishes, wondering if dad had already told his mom, or if his dad was expecting Mark to bring it up himself. He decided to play it safe and remain as silent as he could be throughout the meal.
“Stromboli?” was the first thing Bianca said when she sat down at their kitchen table. Their living quarters above the restaurant weren’t the largest, especially for four full grown people. Bianca had slammed into the back of Mark’s chair to get by, knocking him forward and also making him get tomato sauce all down his front. He breathed though and refused to say anything. He knew that if he said anything nasty out loud to his sister, the “remedial science” discussion would immediately begin.
Bianca was still making a face as she placed the smallest piece of stromboli on to her plate and passed it grumpily to her father. “It’s so fattening. Why can’t we have something lighter? Something healthier? I’m sick of all this.”
“Just eat it,” Mark grumbled under his breath. “You’re too skinny already. It’d be good for you to eat that. You look like a wet rat.”
“I do not!” Bianca shouted, breaking up their parents’ conversation at the other end of the table.
“What was that?” Lidia said.
“What’s going on, Bianca?” Sergio asked.
Bianca smirked at Mark before saying very loudly, “Mark said I look like a wet rat!”
“Well, it’s true!” Mark snapped, shoving a bite of tomato and dough into his mouth and chomping down on it furiously.
“Marco, you didn’t mean that,” Lidia cooed. “Not my Marco.”
“Your Marco is an idiot,” Bianca muttered.
“Shut up, Anca!”
“Bella…” Sergio turned to his wife, his face cast in seriousness. “I heard something interesting in the restaurant today. From some of Marco’s friends.”
“Oh?” Lidia looked intrigued, like it was going to be a good thing. Mark held his breath. Boy, was she going to be in for a surprise.
“Yes. Turns out that Marco is in a remedial science class,” Sergio continued, his voice completely flat, refusing to give away what he thought on the subject, though it wasn’t hard to figure that out.
“Mark? Is that true?” Lidia whispered, her hand clutching her chest.
“Of course it is, he’s an idiot,” Bianca said to her plate while she pushed her food around.
Mark kicked her under the table. “No, it’s not! I just had to meet with Mr. Bell after class, that’s all.”
“That doesn’t sound so bad,” Lidia said slowly.
“Yes, but what for?” Sergio asked. He wasn’t letting his son off that easily.
Mark sighed; there was no point in trying to hide it now. “My grades in science aren’t that best.”
“And math, and social studies, and history…”
“Shut it.”
“Marco…” Lidia strung his name out into at least a dozen syllables. She made a clicking sound with her tongue. “That’s not good! What are we going to do with you?”
“I’ll tell you what we’re going to do!” Sergio cut in. “We’re going to lock him in his room with only his science books until we get a passing grade out of him, that’s what we’re going to do!”
“This isn’t going to look good on your college applications, Marco,” Lidia went on. “I don’t know what we’re going to do! We’ve got to get those in soon, you know.”
“Mom…”
“Don’t start again,” Sergio grumbled. He was shaking a bite of stromboli on his fork at his son. “I don’t want to hear you protesting about going to school. It is an honor to be able to continue your education! We’ve been saving up the money for this ever since you were a baby, Marco. You are going to go to a nice local university, so that you can stay here and help with the family business. This is your destiny, you must face it!”
“But what if I don’t want to?” Mark asked. “You didn’t even ask me! It’s like you have my whole life planned out! What if this isn’t what I want to do with my life? Did you ever think of that?”
“Marco, dear, we just don’t want to see you get hurt,” Lidia said, rubbing his back gently. “This is the best plan for you. Believe me, we know.”
Mark jabbed a finger over at his sister, who looked surprised at her sudden inclusion in the conversation. “What about Bianca? You never make this much fuss about her!”
“Bianca is younger, Mark,” Sergio replied calmly. “We’re not at this point with her yet.”
“Oh gee, I can’t wait,” she muttered under her breath.
“You’re growing up, Marco,” Lidia continued. “Coming of age! You are the one we need to worrying about now! And right now, I’m really worried about that science grade!”
“No, it’s going to be okay, really!” Mark protested. “I’ve been paired up with Lily Moon for a science project. It’s going to count for a big part of my final grade, so Mr. Bell said that if I do well on it, I’ll be all right.”
“Ah… that’s the girl. Lily Moon,” Sergio said slyly, giving Mark that look that he hated so much.
“Lily’s too good for him. She only like smart boys.”
“How do you know, idiot?”
“Children!” Lidia hissed, waving her napkin at both of them. “This Lily girl, I know that family. Her mother works at the library, I see her there every time I stop in. They are very smart. You’re very lucky to be working with her, Marco. Just don’t make her do all the work for you, okay?”
“Don’t worry, I’m going to work very hard, mom.”
“Hard on the science project, not your love life, Mark.”
“Why don’t you ask Bianca why she isn’t eating anything tonight?” Mark asked loudly.
The attention at the table immediately flipped over to Bianca and her barely touched plate. Her face reddened as she had to face her parents’ inquiring looks.
“Bella, are you feeling okay?”
“Why aren’t you eating, dear?”
“She already ate!” Mark said with a smirk. “Over at Four Corners with that guy, Tyler Renaldi.”
A collective gasp went over the parent end of the table, and Mark leaned back in his chair happily, knowing that he had finally won. Bianca tried to shoot him a dirty look, but she didn’t get much time with all the questions that she was suddenly bombarded with.
“Bella! What were you doing in Wavleyham!”
“That’s too far! You’re not supposed to be all the way over there by yourself… or worse, with a boy!”
“And you already ate dinner? Bianca Rosa, that’s not how we do things in this family!”
Bianca glared at Mark, who was eating his stromboli with glee. It tasted much better now.