"I'm not sure... but it felt a lot like the last few head-aches."
"Remember what Millicent said, she said you need to focus on the vision."
"No, I don't think it's a vision this time, Lilly. I think he might be trying to communicate with me again."
"I don't understand this at all. You never used to get headaches before. I thought the headaches only came with the visions? said Lilly.
"Yes they did but something's changed. I don't know what though. But I need to get home, I need to speak to Millicent."
Lilly thought for a moment. "Can you orb?"
"I don't think so... not with this pain, I wouldn't be able to concentrate."
"Well, either we call someone for a lift and wait for them to turn up or we walk."
"Let's do both... can you call my Mom and we'll start walking too."
"If you're sure?"
December nodded as they both stood, but the second Lilly started dialling her cell phone, a car drew up in front of them.
"Monty! How did you know?" asked a relieved Lilly.
"Millicent told me you needed a ride so I came down as fast as I could."
"Monty, you're a star," muttered December as the pain came back again and she winced. Monty hopped out of the driver's seat and helped her into the back of the car.
Millicent was waiting outside the front door as the car drove up the driveway. Her blue jeans were covered in paint splatters of all different colours and her white T-shirt was no longer white but more of a tie-dye effect.
Lilly chuckled at the sight of her.
"Thank you Millicent."
"That's quite all right, Lilly. I felt it straight away... I think he's trying to communicate with her again. This is good," she said, following Monty into the house, who held December in his arms.
"Oh darling, darling. Are you all right? Whatever happened?" asked a concerned Ruby as she was placed carefully on the daybed in the newly decorated living room.
"She got one of the bad headaches again, right in the middle of World History," relayed Lilly, stumbling in, carrying both of their school bags. As she dropped them on the floor, she sighed and plopped herself down onto the new fluffy cream carpet as Moira came rushing in, drying her hands on a towel.
"Millicent believes he's trying to reach you, honey. Did you hear him?"
December shook her head but the pain prevented her and she cried, holding on tightly to the green quartz stone she now kept with her at all times.
"Focus on that pain, December. Remember you can control it. Don't let it control you. Focus on the pain.... on the pain, nothing else. Moira, perhaps a cup of sweet tea might help?"
Moira scuffled out of the room into the hallway, almost falling over the boxes that still hadn't been unpacked from the move and into their new kitchen which was twice the size of their old one.
"Tea... tea, where did I put the tea?" she yelled to no-one in particular.
"Moira, why don't you go and sit down with your daughter and I'll make the tea. It's all right, I'll find it," said Monty, carefully turning her around so she faced the kitchen doorway, gently pushing her out of the room.
Absent mindedly, she wandered back into the living room and sat down, watching as Millicent tried to make her daughter focus on the pain.
Colour returned to December's face and her grimace turned to a smile.
"I can hear you. Can you hear me? Where are you? But more importantly... Who are you? she asked as the others waited with baited breath to finally discover the identity of The Lost Soul.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
Jack laid down beneath the soft blanket smiling. He couldn't quite believe it. He'd finally managed to get through to the girl, which had enabled him to recall another missing memory. The memory of when his daughter had been trapped within a falling cave. He had somehow managed to speak to her, keeping her awake until help had arrived.
"Your name is Jack?" the girl had said almost hyperventilating. "Jack.... Tulugaq?" she'd asked.
Nodding to himself, Jack responded as Zalea looked on in fascination.
"Yes, that's me. When we communicated before I never got the chance to explain who I was. How did you know?"
"I'm... I'm with your daughter," she'd squealed into his head. He could almost feel the excitement that grew within her.
"Lilly? Is she okay? Tell her I'm sorry. I miss her. I'm trying to get home to her..." he'd mumbled trying to get all the words out at once.
At the mention of his daughter, Zalea had sat up with a grin, wishing she was able to hear both sides of this bizarre conversation.
After a few more minutes of speaking to the young girl whose name was December, Jack's head began to throb. As the pain became too much to bear, he'd had to stop the communication. Both had agreed to try again in a few hours time, after they'd rested.
As he held his head in his hands, Jack couldn't stop smiling. He was elated.
"Tell me, Jack. Tell me everything," Zalea said, watching him rub his eyes.
"The girl, December, she's my daughter's best friend. She has special abilities, actually she said she's a witch. A good one, mind you. She recently had visions of me in the caves so they somehow tried to get through to me and it worked, Zalea, it worked. My daughter, Lilly, she's fine. She's more than fine, actually. She's great. She's in Canada with my family. I can't believe it, I can't quite believe it. After everything that's happened, she's managed to escape that evil woman and is back with my family. My family. My father..."
"Slow down, Jack," laughed Zalea.
"I'm just so excited."
"I know, I know. But you need to rest so you can try and speak to her again, and you need to gather your strength ready for the rest of our journey."
Jack nodded, looking out at the darkening orange sky. He felt different than he had that morning. Something else filled his body. It was hope.
As the sky lightened to a yellowy orange colour, Jack sat waiting for Zalea to stir from her sleep. He had managed a few hours but the excitement of speaking to December had been too much to bear. The thought of getting back to his daughter had filled his mind and prevented him from relaxing sufficiently for sleep. But he didn't feel tired. He was just eager to get back in touch with her and eager to continue on the journey to find Tiffanimelicomelea and his way home.
The thoughts in his head were soon busy focussing on the shooting pain than ran from the base of his skull to his forehead. He could feel December trying to get through to him. He did as she had suggested and focussed entirely on the pain, until the throbbing became more of a dull ache and the sound of her voice filled his mind.
"Can you hear me, Jack?" she said.
"Yes, December. How are you both?"
He heard her giggle, "We're great. Lilly is sitting beside me. She so wishes she could talk to you."
"Tell her we will have a lifetime of talking to do when I get home," he smiled.
He waited a moment for her to relay his message.
"We think it's important to tell you what we have discovered," she said before continuing, "We believe you were taken by the Nephilim..."
Jack interrupted her immediately, "That's right. They kept me captive in their caves. Somehow I got away. I don't know how... it's a memory I seem to have lost. All I know is that I was found by the Faeries. They say I was on death's door but they saved me and nursed me back to health..."
"The Faeries?" asked December.
"Yes, I know it sounds bizarre but it's true I can assure you. I have one of them with me now. She is helping me find my way home, while we also search for her sister who is missing."
December was quiet for a few moments, presumably as she spoke to Lilly.
Her voice was different when she spoke again, "Did you say your faery friend's sister is missing?"
"Yes, that's right."
Again, a pause.
"Jack, I'm with a group of people at your father's house. It's all very complicated to tell you about them now as our time is li
mited but I can tell you there is a faery currently living here. Her name is Tiffani, oh, hang on a sec.... no, her real name is Tiffanimelicomelea. She got lost from her home a while ago and the Elders found her."
Jack laughed aloud, "I don't believe it," he whispered.
"Zalea... it's your sister. She's with my family. She's safe."
Zalea broke down in tears, real tears of joy.
"Jack, I can't talk for much longer. The pain is getting worse, I need to rest. We and the Elders are trying to find out where you are. We're trying to find a way of getting you home and Tiffani back to her home. I'll try and speak to you again when we have news," she said, her voice cracking under the pain.
"I understand. We'll continue our journey... we're trying to find the Nephilim. Perhaps we can find our way out from there. Don't worry, I will speak to you if we discover anything."
As Jack said goodbye to December, after she had told him repeatedly to be careful, he turned to find Zalea still sobbing. He held her in his arms until eventually she was able to speak.
"Thank you, Jack. I would never have known she was alive were it not for you."
"It's okay... December told me Tiffani is very well. She's actually living in my father's home with Lilly."
"It's so strange how this has all happened, isn't it? she asked dreamily, "this connection you have with December, how you found yourself here and my sister found herself there. I wish I could understand how our worlds work together."
Jack nodded, not knowing what to say. It was a coincidence, just a bizarre coincidence but he was relieved they no longer had to search for Tiffani. Now they knew she was safe and well, their only mission now was to find their way home.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
Lilly found it difficult not to smile as she donned her simple black dress, opaque tights and boots. She was dressing for a funeral for a girl who wasn't actually dead. Well, technically she was dead but very much alive in the vampire sense. But the smile was for her father.
After all this time of not knowing if he was alive or dead, she now knew. He was alive and well, albeit he was still in danger.
After December had spoken to him, Lilly had been so overwhelmed with emotion that she needed to be alone so she could run with nature in her other form.
Leaving Moira's house, she had run home before shedding all her clothes and heading into the forest, where, the moment she was out of sight, she relaxed her muscles and allowed the transformation to take place.
Her fingers snapped back to become claws and her pale skin became covered in a sheath of black fur. Her eyes widened into their true feline shape and in a split second, Lilly had become a beautiful black mountain lion.
Letting out a low growl of contentment, she jumped from tree to tree, scratching her dark claws, sharpening them against the bark, arching her back gracefully as she moved. Turning to look at her surroundings, she put her nose to the ground and took in the thousands of widely differing scents of the forest that had become so familiar. Her favourite being the smell of the damp trees, so fresh and clean.
Running, she felt truly liberated by the knowledge that her father was okay. She wondered where he was and how we had got there. But her thoughts soon turned darker as she remembered the Nephilim and what Badrick had told Millicent. They somehow took people and tortured them before killing them. The Nephilim were pure evil. An evil she needed to know more about.
From now on, Lilly decided her sole purpose was to learn enough about them to be able to rescue her father from their clutches. He had told December he was trying to find them in order to find his way home. She shuddered again. I need to get him home before he walks right into their lair. Before it's too late, she thought, turning back and running as fast as she could towards her home.
As Lilly finished getting ready, she stepped out of her bedroom and into the living room where Oliver stood in a smart dark suit.
"You look gorgeous," she said, wrapping her arms around his neck and kissing him gently on the lips.
He chuckled, "I was just thinking the same about you... although all this black reminds me of when you first arrived."
"And that is why I'm also wearing this," she said, tying a bright orange scarf around her neck. "December lent it me, but you probably guessed that already," she laughed.
"Is everyone ready?" asked Zoltan who appeared from the room he shared with his girlfriend, Tabitha.
"Almost!" yelled Tabitha, hopping into the room wearing black jeans and a deep red blouse, one black boot on and the other in her hand. "Yeah, yeah, I know. I ought to be wearing all black but I just thought, you know, she's not really dead so...."
"It's okay, Tabitha, we understand," said Rose who had just walked through the front door with Walter in tow. Both wore black trouser suits. Behind them stood Chris awkwardly, who was wearing a suit that was a tad too big.
"You look great, Chris. You're almost the same size as Ben," said Lilly with a wink and he smiled in return.
"Okay then, let's go. Everyone else is meeting us there," said Zoltan as he picked up the car keys and headed out the door, leaving Tiffani and Sammy behind, who wouldn't exactly be welcomed into the church with their ample wings on display.
"... We beseech Thee, O Lord, in Thy mercy, to have pity on the soul of Thy handmaid;
do Thou, Who hast freed her from the perils of this mortal life, restore to her the portion of everlasting salvation. Through Christ our Lord, Amen."
"Amen" repeated everyone who stood by the final resting place of Jemima Dickson. Well, or so most people there believed.
Lilly looked around at the sea of black that surrounded her. A sea of grieving faces. If only the people knew the truth about the supernatural world, then this kind of thing would never have to happen, she thought to herself as she watched Jemima's parents drop two red roses atop the casket before it was lowered into the ground. Her mother's face was one of utter devastation and her father's was completely blank, as if the truth about his beloved daughter's death hadn't quite sunk in. No parents should ever have to bury their children. But they wouldn't have had to if they could accept the truth. The truth that vampires exist. As do werewolves, faeries, elves and all other so-called mythical creatures. We are real, she wanted to shout out loud.
She felt someone's hand on her shoulder. Turning, she faced her Aunt Meredith, who had lost her own husband not so long ago. Meredith had a knack of reading the thoughts of those dear to her and just then, at that time, it was no different. She knew exactly what Lilly was thinking and she sympathised with her.
"I know, my dear, I know what you're thinking but it can never happen," she whispered, turning away to watch as people began to disperse from the graveside.
Lilly approached and looked down at the flowers and wreathes that lay waiting to be placed atop the gravestone. The biggest and most beautiful had a simple note attached that said, "We will miss you, Jemima. You were one of the brightest lights at our school. Rest in Peace, PR High School."
Taking out her camera phone, she took a quick picture of it so she could show Jemima later.
"She'd like that," said Meredith simply before she walked away arm in arm with her youngest son, Cormac.
"I ch..ch..chose the flowers," said another voice from behind her.
Lilly turned to find Syd standing aimlessly with a tear-stained face. He rocked back and forth on his toes.
"They are beautiful, Syd, they really are."
"P..p..p..pink was her favourite c...c...colour. I can't believe she's g..g...gone, she's really gone."
Lilly just smiled sadly as Syd's closest friends came and took him away without saying a word.
"Well, that was awkward," whispered December who had been standing right at the back of the group. Lilly just nodded as they linked arms and walked back towards the rest of the family but not before turning to take one last look at Jemima's grave.
Almost everyone had left, just one person remained. A young woman who wore a bright red scarf around
her head. Lilly didn't recognise her. She certainly wasn't a student at the school, and she wasn't anyone she knew from town.
December followed her gaze.
"Oh, she's stunning," she said, "I've never seen anyone so beautiful. Do you know who she is?"
Lilly shook her head, "She must be one of Jemima's relatives or something. From out of town, maybe?"
"She looks like a supermodel," concluded December as the girls turned away from the cemetery without a second glance.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
They had been walking for about six hours and were exhausted. Zalea eventually gave up and asked Jack if they could take a break when she noticed the small river just up ahead.
"Sorry, you should have said something sooner. I never even noticed how tired you look."
"That's okay... I know you're eager to find this place."
He smiled as they wandered over to the water's edge and knelt down to take a few gulps. Zalea followed suit and used her small hands to scoop up the water to her mouth.
"The water's quite warm," he said.
"Oh, that's better. I was starting to get so hot. Actually, I think I'm going to have a swim," she said as, without a seconds thought, she dived gracefully into the water, fully clothed.
"It's wonderful," she giggled, swimming with the grace of a dolphin.
"Come on in, it's quite refreshing," she said as she gently splashed him before he jumped in by her side.
They swam quietly for a few minutes before Jack stopped to lean back on the riverbank and take in their surroundings.
As they had walked from the forests that morning, the silvery colours had eventually given way and revealed trees of lush golden browns that twinkled beneath the orange sky.
They were gradually getting closer to the mountains they had spotted from the distance the previous day but there was still a long way to go. It was there Jack believed he would find the caves where the Nephilim resided. He didn't know how we knew, he just had a feeling it was where he needed to be.
As he lay back on the soft golden sands, Jack turned his attention to the beautiful faery that swam in the warm waters of the river. The water twinkled off the back of her lilac wings and she swam on her front before she turned over and began floating on her back, every now and again kicking the water with her strong long legs to help keep her afloat.