Chapter 8
It was late in the afternoon when I woke up. Feeling better now, I decided to go down the stairs to see how Von was doing. I stopped at the foot of his bed not wanting to disturbed him. He looked so pale, almost translucent, like a ghost. For a minute, I feared Loquis had lied to me, that Von had died. My fear subsided when he stirred and his eyes opened to meet mine. I smiled and walked over to him. He sat up as I approached and took my hand when I sat down.
“I owe you my life.”
“You owe me nothing.”
“I thought I had more time, but...”
“We do. Loquis was wrong. You are alive.”
“Cassiea, I love you. I love you for so long.”
I smiled and was about to reply when there was a knock at the door. Shuron came in.
“I am sorry to interrupt. The elders have gathered.”
I didn't know what was going on, but I helped Von to his feet and we followed him to the gathering. Mirra was there. She looked down at our linked hands and turned away abruptly. We were the last to arrive.
“I have bind us,” Loquis began, “to make sure that no words spoken here will be uttered outside of this circle. If anyone should speak of this...”
I stopped listening. I couldn't concentrate on what was going on around me. My mind drifted and I thought again of Uncle Ned and our times together. And the times we would never have. I felt broken. Lost. He was the glue that held me together. He was the only family I had. What would I do now? Where would I go? I remembered him in his favorite chair with an unlit pipe in his mouth, a habit that stayed after he quit smoking. I remembered all those walks we had shared in the early mornings, when he would accompany me through the park on my way to work. The camping trips we had gone on. And, the times he had held me, on those days and nights, when I cried during the anniversary of my parents' deaths. There was an empty space inside of me that I didn't even know existed. It grew even more now that he was gone. I wondered how much bigger it would get before there was none of me left.
I felt a light touch on my hand and looked up to see Von with an expression of concern on his face. He was still so pale from his near brush with death. I gave him a reassuring smile, an assurance that I did not really feel. Would he be taking over my uncles place? The glue that holds me together? Would he be the one to hold on to me when I cried in mourning over my uncles death? Did I even have the right to ask that of him? Uncle Ned died because of me. Von almost died because of me. And as long as Keya's magic was still in this crystal, he would always be in danger. Should I be selfish to use him that way?
I was jarred from my thoughts when Mirra abruptly stood up.
“No. absolutely not. We can not take her to our home. We will be defenseless to any attacks if Nara or anyone else tries to get to her. It is best if we keep her in one of our clans campsites.”
“I am in agreement with the elders. Our numbers are greater if we protect her at home and the opal will give us an additional protection,” Shuron said.
“And what about the children? They will be in harm's way,” Mirra said.
“They will be protected.”
“I agree with her,” I got up to say. “The fewer people who are in danger because of me, the better.”
Shuron turned to me. “It will be difficult to keep you safe at a campsite when an enemy can come from all sides. And also, there are not enough scouts to secure the three-mile radius of the campsite to prevent possible attacks. There are protective barriers surrounding our home that are used to prevent any animals or creatures from wandering in, which can be easily modified to prevent certain people from entering.”
“But what if they do get in?” I said. “You told me before that Nara almost took the crystal. If it wasn't for the spell that was cast on it, she would have it already.”
“She is right,” Mirra said. “If we did not cast a spell, Nara would have the crystal now. And, we had lost a lot of people that day trying to stop her.”
“She was able to get in because one of our own betrayed us and there were too many of us who knew where the crystal was. This time we have taken precautions from the very beginning when we knew Cassiea was coming to us.” Shuron turned to me. “The only people who knows of our plan are us. I had Loquis bind us from speaking of this to anyone. If someone speaks of this out of their own free will or from any outside influences we will all know it and be ready.”
“But what about the people at the campsite? They know that I am here.”
“Yes, they do. That is why we will be moving.”
“Cassiea, Shuron is right—you will be safer at our home,” Von said to me.
I looked into those cobalt-blue eyes, so mesmerized by them. “Are you sure Von? I don't want anyone get hurt because of me.”
“I promise you everyone will be fine and Nara will not come near you while you are there.”
I nodded in agreement. I had a feeling he was right and it was the safest place to be.
“Then we better go. We have stayed in one place far too long,” Shuron said before turning to the rest of them. “We will part here.”
“I want to go with you,” Mirra said.
“Mirra—”
“Let her go.” Loquis intervened before Shuron could object.
Shuron looked at him. I could tell he wanted to argue with him, but nodded his head instead. I watched in amazement as each of them held out a crystal, said something under their breath and several images of the four of us appeared beside each elder and Loquis. Shuron explained that this would confuse, distract and make it harder for anyone who wanted to find me. They then drew a line in the air. When the opening appeared, they stepped through. Once they were gone, Shuron made an opening for us. I could see another campground on the other side.
“We will stay here for a short while; just enough for everybody to spread word of your presence here before moving on. Then we will move through several campsites before camping in the forest on our own for the rest of our journey,” he said to me.
I nodded in understanding. He turned and walked into the opening. Mirra went next. Then Von took my hand and gave me an encouraging smile before leading me through. I was exhausted by the time Shuron was satisfied with the breadcrumbs we placed for anyone who was looking for me.
Uncle Ned and I had done a lot of hiking in the forest during our camping excursions. Most of the time we would take complicated, hard or treacherous trails just to spice things up, as he liked to call it. He was always up for a good challenge and he got me hooked on it. So, I wasn't worried and was actually looking forward to it when we started heading into the forest. But after a couple of days, I regretted it. There pace was fast and grueling. It didn't help much that my legs were shorter than theirs; for every one step they took, I had to take two. They only needed a few minutes of rest between each hike that I was unable to build up my energy before moving on which made it even harder for me to keep up with them. Sometime we would travel during the early morning, during the day or during the late afternoon. Other times, we would travel by night. Von told me it was their way of keeping us safe; not just from anyone who was looking for me but also from the creatures that lived in the woods. I don't know how in the world they were able to walk or find their way in the forest, in the dark at night, with just the moonlight guiding them but they move gracefully through the forest without trouble. I, on the other hand, stumbled so many times that I ended up holding onto Von's arm in a death grip. I was a little bit peeved that they didn't even look a bit tired or disheveled as I did. By their appearance, they looked as if they were just strolling though the park. I was determined not to say anything or make any noise that would give away how tired, exhausted and unprepared I was, despite my experience. I had to admit to myself that I was stubborn to ask them to slow down or to rest a bit more. And, I was eager to get to our destination. When we finally stopped, after what seemed like hours of walking, night has fallen. I prayed this meant we were going to camp here for the night.
/> “We will rest here for a little while,” Shuron said to me and only me.
I guessed he knew I was on the verge of fainting with fatigue. I sat down and closed my eyes then I opened them to see dawn was breaking through the sky. I stretched and then winced at the stiffness of my muscles. I smiled as I watched the sunrise and thought of all the memories I had of walking through the park. Though it was only a couple of days since I met them, I already miss those times as if it had been years. And, I wondered how many more days were left before my life would be back to normal. Sensing someone watching me, I turned around to see Mirra standing some distance way. When our eyes met, she motioned me, with a tilt of her head, to follow. I searched and found Von and Shuron leaning against a tree, asleep. Quietly as I could, I got up and followed her. When we were some distance away, she stopped and turned to face me.
“You are a very loud sleeper. Loud enough to wake the dead. I am surprised no one has found us from all the noise you have made,” she said as she glared at me.
My face turned red from embarrassment. Gee, what am I supposed to say to that? Umm, sorry? It will not happen again? A picture formed in my mind of Von watching me snoring and I groaned inward in embarrassment. I was snapped out of my thought when she started to speak.
“I do not like you,” she bluntly said. “I think they were wrong in letting you run free. You should be locked up and heavily guarded until that magic is absorbed within you. You are irresponsible, stubborn, and selfish. You do not know how to use this magic to protect yourself and yet you place yourself and Von into a situation that none of you can handle on your own. You refused to listen to reason when we warned you that going back was not safe. You do not care about us or the danger you will put us in if the crystal falls into the wrong hands.”
I was already feeling terrible for what I had done and she made me feel even worse. Even though what she said was true, and no matter how ashamed I was of myself, I pushed that feeling deep down and let my anger surface. I was officially pissed off. I had enough of them, their stories and their magic. I definitely did not need or want this. I took off the necklace that the crystal was attached to and held it out to her.
“Take it,” I said to her when she just stood there looking at me.
When she still didn’t move, I threw it on the ground next to her. “You are right. I did put him in harm's way. I am stubborn and refused to listen to all of you. And, I don't care about anyone but me. I did not ask for this. All of this was a shock to me. I had only a day to come to terms with this huge responsibly. I had only a day to change my belief in magic, something that, throughout all of my childhood, I was led to believe wasn’t real. I had one day to let it sink in that there was another world within mine. I had one day to know everything about your people. And frankly, I just don't care anymore. If you feel so strongly that I will do more harm than good, then you take it. You can keep that magic within it and I will gladly take the responsibility off of my hands and go home. My home.” Or what was left of it, I thought to myself.
I walked away feeling a little bit lighter now that I didn't have to worry about magic and people coming after me. Of course this feeling didn't last. I heard Mirra calling out to me and her foot steps coming near. She turned me around and placed the necklace on my hand. She seemed oddly relieved to be rid of the thing considering she was totally against my involvement in having it. I gave her a questioning look and waited. It didn't take long.
“I am sorry. It is just—” She turned slightly in frustration. I could see there was something she wanted to tell me.
“If I don't know everything, I will never understand why this is so important to all of you.”
She turned back to me. With a short nod, she said, “All of them do not want to tell you this. They are afraid that if you knew, you would be scared and will not help us.”
“What is it?” I encouraged her.
“Loquis had visions of your future. Over time, you will turn evil. He has foreseen the destruction you will cause and the many lives you will destroy.”
They were right. I was scared and very tempted to back out. I am not a courageous person. I am no hero. “I don't understand. Why on earth did you guys want me to be here then? Why do you want me to have this magic?”
“Because when Loquis told us about you, we looked into possible futures.”
“What do you mean, 'possible futures'?”
She gave me an impatient look, as if I should have known about this already and my interruption was not appreciated. “One of our people has the gift to see the pareal, to see into multiple or possible futures. When she looked into a vision of a future where your involvement was non-existent, in every scenario, it means the destruction of the whole world. Everyone on Earth will be destroyed along with every living thing in it.”
I sucked in my breath and let it out slowly. I guessed ignorance is bliss. “So, I am the lesser of two evils.”
She nodded. “If you have the magic, at least it will only be us who suffers. Having the magic within you will give you immense power. None of us knows how great the power of this magic is. But since your knowledge of using it is almost non-existent, we have a better chance of defeating you and killing you if we have to. Once the magic is absorbed within you, we can destroy it if we need to.”
I was a hairline away from running. What stopped me was that I knew for a fact that, no matter where I might go, they would find me. “So all of you are waiting for me to absorb the magic in order to destroy it by killing me.”
“No, I said that if we needed to, we can destroy it. In the visions we also saw your benefits to us and to your world. Loquis especially saw what your future with us will be. He believes strongly the good you will do will out-weight the bad you will become. Our lord and the elders agree with him. They have decided to entrust Shuron with the responsibility of looking after you and if the time comes, when you turn, he will be the one to kill you.”
“Well that will not happen. I will not let myself turn. Now that I know everything, I can change it.”
“You are fooling yourself if you think that is true. Loquis was chosen to be our visor because his visions are never wrong.”
“But I have changed it. Von is still alive. You told me that he was supposed to die, but he didn’t.”
“Stop being stupid!” she snapped. “You may have saved him this time, but the vision of his death in your arms is just as strong. That is because Loquis' vision has not come to pass. He still sees Von's death.”
“But...why did he lead me to believe—why didn’t he tell me...,” I said as I turned to look at Von as he lay sleeping.
“That is something you will have to ask him about.” She watched me for a while before saying, “I know how you can help him.”
I turned around and she continued. “I also do not want to see him die. I had a vision of you in a cave. You were able to absorb all of the magic within you. I do not know when this will come to pass, but I do know where the cave is. I can show you how to get there. If you are able to absorb the magic sooner, then Von will not need to protect you.”
“Where is it?”
She came over and touched my left temple with her finger-tips. Suddenly a flash of what I could only describe as a very fast movie or video playing in my mind that started from where we were standing to my final destination. I stepped back to steady myself from the slight dizziness I felt after it was over. Amazing. Within minutes, I knew exactly where and how I would get there.
“You better go. The sooner you leave the sooner you can absorb the magic.”
“You are not coming with me?”
“I have to stay and wait until they wake up. I have put them into a deep sleep that will keep them from awakening to any sounds or disturbance for a couple of hours. They will be vulnerable out here in the forest if I do not stay to protect them.”
“They don’t know about this then.”
“They do not. They will prevent you from going. Do
you want that?”
I shook my head. But still, I felt uneasy at the thought of walking into the forest alone.
“Can't you create an opening?” I said while motioning with my arms in the air. “Like what you guys did before and transport me over there?”
“The distance is too great, plus any magic we use, others might sense it. We do not want Nara or any of her minions to know where you are.”
Well, I guessed that was why we had been walking through the forest instead of using that hole or doorway or whatever it was called to travel.
“Not to worry, I do not foresee any trouble for you,” she assured me.
Somehow I had a feeling that this was not true, but since I didn't have a choice, I sighed and took a deep breath. This must be how Dorothy felt, I thought before I started to walk.
Chapter 9