Watching Sara slowly wake up she knew that it had worked. She just didn’t know what was going to happen when she was fully awake. She didn’t have to wait long. As soon as the last of the binding magic was gone, she sat up and looked at her surroundings.
“Alix?” Sara said seeming confused, but that only lasted a few seconds. She got off the bed and ran straight for the cell door. She bounced off the magical barrier and ended up on the floor. Her face was a snarling mask. Alix couldn’t bear to see her like that, so she thought “sleep” and touched one of the metal bars. Sara stopped moving.
“Can we put her on the bed?” Alix asked.
“Of course,” Ruth told her. She opened the door and a Warriors scooped Sara up and placed her on the bed.
“At least we know she’s still the same,” Ben said. “I was really hoping she might have been back to her normal self.”
“Me too,” Alix said and yawned.
“We need to get you some sleep,” Ben told her.
“I’m not even going to argue,” Alix said. “Ruth, are you going to try coming with us?”
“I don’t think now is the time to worry about that. I need to get back to Fox Hollow and check in with the rest of the Council and report what happened here. I’ll be in touch soon.”
Alix nodded and headed back to the door they’d come in. Ruth waited and was going to leave after their group was gone. Back in the room of rooms Alix struggled to get up the stairs. The exhaustion was suddenly hitting her. Ben helped Alix up the stairs. When they left the closet, he led her to her room while everyone else went about their regular daily business.
“You need to sleep,” Ben told her, when they walked into her room. “Do you need to change?”
“Uh, yeah, I don’t want to sleep in my clothes. Will you stay with me?”
“Anything you want, Alix. I’ll be back in a few minutes so you can change.”
When Ben left, Alix found her PJ’s and quickly changed. She washed her face, brushed her teeth, and crawled into bed. Ben knocked and she told him to come in. He had his pillow and a couple of blankets. He started to make a pallet beside her bed when she stopped him.
“Would it be okay if you slept up here with me?” she asked him.
He grinned. “Like I’m going to say no to that.” He added his pillow to her bed and got under the covers next to her. “I’m not complaining, but why do you want me to sleep with you?”
“I just don’t want to be alone. It really freaked me out what Sara did in the van. And if I have another nightmare, I don’t think I can handle it by myself right now.”
“I’m here for anything you need, never forget that.” He shut off her bedside lamp and pulled her close to him. “It’s just like when we were on the boat,” he said smiling.
Alix could hear the smile in his voice and had to smile as well.
“Close your eyes and sleep, Alix.”
She closed her eyes and was asleep within minutes.
Chapter 12
Alix was sitting at a table with three people she didn’t know. Two men and a woman in strange clothing, like costumes or something from a different time.
“Who are you?” she asked them.
All three of them smiled at her.
“I am Jessica,” the woman smiled.
The man beside her took the woman’s hand and said, “I am James.”
“And I am William,” the second man said.
They looked at Alix like she should know who they were. She really thought about it for a minute and was shocked when she realized who they were.
“You are my ancestors.”
“Yes,” Jessica said.
“Why are you here?”
“We thought you might have some questions for us,” James said.
“Um, it’s kind of been a busy day for me. I haven’t had time to really think about a lot of things.”
“Understandable,” William said.
“I know this is a dream, but how is it possible that you are all here right now?”
“The tattoo on your hand makes many things possible,” James told her.
“Okay, I can agree with that. But since you’re all here I have to assume that there’s a reason. There always seems to be a reason.”
“I think that part is up to you,” Jessica said. “We are merely here to answer anything you need to know.”
Alix looked at the three of them looking at her. She thought about what she needed to know. There had to be a reason for them being here with her, she just had to figure it out. She closed her eyes and thought about the journal and letter she’d read earlier. The one thing they had in common was the visions.
“Is it safe to say that all of you have had the dreams or visions?” she asked them.
All three of them nodded.
“That may be the reason for this meeting then,” Alix said smiling. “When I learned about the white room earlier, I wanted to learn more about my dreams. That’s how I came across your journal, James. I was having so many nightmares I wanted to find a way to stop them. Or maybe, direct them so I could figure out what I needed to know. So, I guess that’s a good place to start. Have any of you ever been able to cause the outcome of a dream?”
“I have not,” Jessica said. “My dreams just seem to happen out of nowhere.”
“Have you had any that have had a bad outcome?” Alix asked her.
“No. My dreams primarily only give me small glimpses into the future. My most vivid dream was just after meeting James and our shared dream about you.” Jessica smiled at her. “It is actually a pleasure to be meeting you after all this time.”
“Don’t you mean it’s a little strange?”
“No, it’s definitely a pleasure. Who knew that our meeting would eventually lead to the Kaelneth being of our bloodline?”
Alix could see James squeeze her hand and smile at her. She could tell that they were really in love and that made her strangely happy.
“James, William, what are your dreams like?” Alix asked.
“Mine are the same as Jessica’s,” James told her. “Maybe you should tell us what yours are like.”
“When I have a vision dream it’s like I’m actually there living it at the time. Before my seventeenth birthday I kept having the same dream about a cabin and a tattoo on my hand. I was raised not knowing anything about the Nykara world, so when I woke up with the tattoo, I thought I’d gone crazy at first. The next set of dreams ended up telling me to find three missing hikers that the Grynn had taken. They led me to their location. In one of those dreams I hurt my ankle in it and when I woke up it was actually hurt. I think that’s part of the reason I’m so scared of the nightmares. I know what I dream might end up being my reality.”
“Do you have the visions without the dreams?” William asked.
Alix nodded. “I’ve had several visions when not dreaming. Although at least one of those was put there thousands of years ago for me to find. It showed me how Stonehenge was created. All of my visions were something for me to learn that would eventually help me save others.”
“That’s remarkable,” James said. “You truly are special.”
“I have had visions like you describe,” William said. “The only one I ever recorded was the one in the letter that you read. That was by far the most important one I ever had. The others may have helped me learn a few things, but it was not to save anyone.”
“Well your letter helped me save my friend. She most likely would have been killed by the Grynn if we didn’t rescue her. But they’ve done something to her, and she attacked me. We have her contained, but I need to find out what they did. I need her back to normal. This was the second time the Grynn have taken her because of me.”
The room they were sitting in was beginning to get a little hazy around the edges.
“It is time for us to go,” Jessica said. “We will be here if you shall ever need us.”
Alix watched as they started to become transparent. They were almost
gone when William said, “Beware The Essus.” Then they were gone.
****
Alix woke up with those words repeating over and over in her head. “Beware The Essus, Beware The Essus.” There was only one problem with that, what the heck was an Essus?
She went to get out of bed and realized that Ben was still sleeping. She knew he didn’t get any more sleep than she’d had, so she crawled out the other side and left him sleeping. Grabbing a change of clothes, she went to her bathroom to have a shower. When she was done, Ben was gone. She got her phone and looked at the time, it was 2:00 in the afternoon. Four hours of sleep was better than none.
When she got to the kitchen, she was surprised to find Shelley there.
“Hey Shelley, what’s up?”
“Alix, nice to see you again. Ruth called me about Sara. I came to see if I could do anything to help.”
“Have you been down there yet?” Alix asked.
“No. I was waiting for you,” Shelley told her.
“Thank you, I appreciate that. I just need to get something to eat. I can’t remember the last time I ate and I’m starving.”
“Not a problem. I’m here as long as you need me.”
Alix made her coffee and then looked in the fridge for something to eat. She saw some deli meat and made herself a sandwich. Actually, she made two knowing that Ben was going to be just as hungry as she was. Just as she sat down to eat, he walked into the kitchen.
“I made you a sandwich,” she told him.
He went over to her and kissed her cheek. “Thank you, I’m starving.”
“I figured you would be since I was.”
Ben got his sandwich and joined Alix and Shelley at the table. He was done way before Alix and got up to make himself another one.
“I’m assuming you’re here to help with Sara,” Ben said, after taking a few more bites.
“Yes,” Shelley answered. “This seems to be new and it never hurts to have another mind or set of hands to help out.”
“I can’t disagree with that,” Ben said.
When they were both done, they went with Shelley to the black room. Sara was still out cold on the bed.
“Do you think it’s safe to go in?” Alix asked.
“We don’t need to,” Shelley said. “I thought Ruth explained that all magic will work on her if you do it while touching the cell.”
“She did,” Alix replied. “But it just seems weird to do it that way.”
“It may seem weird, but it’s safer.”
Alix couldn’t really argue with that, so she said, “How do you want to do this?”
“Before we try anything, I want to make sure I have all the facts straight,” Shelley said. “Sara was here Saturday, and everything was fine. You didn’t hear from her and called to see if she was at work. She wasn’t and you became suspicious. A team of Warriors tracked her cell and found her abandoned car and personal belongings at the university in Bozeman. You read a letter that told you how to find her and you tracked her to a ranch in Wyoming. You went there to rescue her and ended up in an ambush. But you somehow stopped time and saved everyone and destroyed the Grynn and the ranch house. On the way back here, you removed the Sleep of Death and she tried to kill you. Then you got back here and put her in the cell, woke her up, she tried to attack, and you bound her again.”
“Uh, yeah, that sounds about right,” Alix said. “But when you say it all together like that it seems worse than it did at the time.”
“That’s usually how things work. Adrenaline can be a great thing sometimes,” Shelley said. “Now we have to find out what’s causing her to attack like that. We need to do a full body scan with magic and see what shouldn’t be there. I’ll start the scan. Alix you touch me while I’m doing it so you can feel what I feel. Okay?”
Alix nodded and touched Shelley’s arm. This was very interesting to Alix. She was amazed that she was able to feel as if she was touching Sara and sending magic into her. And it wasn’t just touching Shelley that had her feeling like that. The way the magic worked in the cell was just like doing it on the actual person. When she had time, Alix thought about coming down here and examining the magic in the cells to see if it could be duplicated.
She ‘saw’ into Sara as Shelley’s magic continued to sweep through every part of her body, but they weren’t finding anything.
“I know there has to be something there,” Shelley said frustrated. “People don’t just suddenly wake up and start attacking people.”
“Why don’t we ask her what’s wrong?” Ben said.
“What do you mean?” Alix asked him.
“If we can find out why she keeps trying to attack us, maybe we can find the solution,” Ben said. “Think about this for a second. Both times she woke up, she seemed to recognize you, then just as quickly she attacked you. That doesn’t make much sense does it?”
“When does anything the Grynn do make sense?” Alix said.
“True, but I think it’s worth trying.”
“So, do I,” Shelley said.
“Okay then, let’s see what happens.” Alix said.
She touched the cell and woke Sara up. There was a hint of recognition then the look of hatred in her eyes was so strong Alix took a step back.
“I’ll kill you,” Sara said, in a voice that didn’t hardly sound like her.
“Why?” Ben asked. “Why do you want to kill us?”
“All Grynn need to be killed after what they did.”
“What did they do?”
“They made Alix one of them. And you too. Nothing will stop them now. They must all be destroyed.”
“But I’m not a Grynn,” Alix told her.
“Don’t lie to me,” Sara yelled. “I can see it. I can see the blue aura.”
Ben and Alix looked at each other and stepped far enough away from the cell so that Sara could hear them.
“Does it seem like she’s seeing things?” Ben asked.
“Yes. I mean, why else would she think I’m a Grynn?”
“I think we need to further examine her brain,” Shelley said. “But to do that we need to physically touch her. The brain can be tricky, and I’d hate to cause something permanent to happen to her by accident.”
“So, we bind her or put her to sleep and then we can go in,” Alix said.
“That seems like our only option right now,” Shelley said. “I hope we don’t regret this.”
Chapter 13
The three of them went back to the cell. Sara appeared calm until she saw them and was very agitated again. Shelley touched the cell door and Sara was suddenly frozen in place. She touched a different place on the door, and it opened.
“She’s bound,” Shelley said. “We should be okay. Alix, would you like to examine her head?”
“Yes please.”
Alix slowly walked over to Sara and put her hands on either side of her head. She closed her eyes and gently pushed her magic into Sara’s brain. This wasn’t the first time she’d done this, but last time she was searching for memories. Now she was searching for something that shouldn’t be there. Starting at the base of the skull, she made her way to the top. She didn’t find anything.
Just as she was about to pull her magic back something caught her attention. It was like a tiny tug on a string. She followed it and it led her to Sara’s eyes. There was something on or in her eyes. She removed her hands and turned to Shelley.
“We need to look at her eyes,” she told her.
Shelley used her fingers to open Sara’s eyelids. Alix got as close as she could to Sara’s eyes as she could. Looking directly at her eye, she didn’t see anything, but when she turned her head, she noticed something. Gently putting her finger on Sara’s eyeball something moved that wasn’t attached to her eye.
“I think she has contacts in,” Alix told them. “Ben can you run and get two small containers and some saline?”
“Sure. I’ll be right back.”
“I’m taking it that contacts would
be unusual for her?” Shelley asked.
“Yes. She doesn’t wear glasses or contacts.”
“Okay. Then it’s important we get them out. I’ve never seen Grynn put contacts in a Nykara, but I wouldn’t put anything past them these days. They’re very creative when it comes to finding new ways to do evil.”
They were going to wait until Ben returned. Alix didn’t want to take a contact out and not have anywhere to put it. She was actually a little nervous about trying to take it out. She’d always had perfect vision and hadn’t even ever seen someone put in or remove a contact.
A few minutes later, Ben was back with the things Alix asked for. She asked Ben to put a small amount of the saline in one of the containers and stand next to her. She took a deep breath and steadied her hand. As soft as she could, she put her finger and thumb on Sara’s eye as Shelley held it open as wide as she could. It took her a couple of tries, but she eventually got it out and into the container. She did the same with the other eye.
The three of them stepped out of the cell and Shelley closed and re-locked the door. Then she released Sara from the binding. They watched as Sara opened her eyes. She looked confused and worried, then she saw them looking at her.
“Alix, what’s going on? Why does it look like I’m in jail?
“This may sound strange,” Alix said. “But when you look at me do you see me like you always do?”
“Yes.”
“So, you don’t want to hurt me or Ben?”
“Oh my God, why would I want to hurt you? I owe you my life.”
“I take that as a good sign then. What is the last thing you remember?”
“I went to Bozeman Sunday morning,”
“Is that a normal thing?” Alix asked.
“No,” Sara said. “One of my professors was having and extra credit session. I want to soak up everything I can, so I signed up for it.”
“But don’t you normally work on Sunday at Lyla’s?”
“Yes. I was going to be able do the extra session and still get to Lyla’s on time. Wait, what day is it?”
“It’s Monday afternoon.”
“Monday afternoon,” Sara exclaimed. “So, I’ve lost over a day?”
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