Blood Awakens

by Jessaca Willis

  The locket now hung loosely, teasing him from his hand, caution now rising in the back of his thoughts. His brown locks mimicked the necklace, swaying with mockery in front of his face. At its center, the amethyst twirled so that fragments of light danced across both their faces as it spun.

  “Oh, I’m sorry…I…I was wrong. I’ll let you get back to your show.”

  “Hope you find who it belongs to.” Mara took him in with sorrowful eyes before adding, “Into the mouth of the wolf.”

  There were many words and phrases Santiago understood in English, and this was not one of them. “What?”

  “Sorry, must be an Italian thing. It means good luck.”

  Santiago felt surprised. Instead of teasing him like he expected, she did the opposite.

  “Good luck to you too.”

  “Thanks, I’m going to need it, trying to walk around in this ridiculous thing.” Mara pulled at the sides of her dress, obviously feeling uncomfortable in it.

  The action was enough to distract him from plummeting into a never-ending abyss of thoughts, for now. “Then why wear it?” He forced himself to say as suavely and nonchalantly as possible.

  “Sean thinks it’s important for us to dress up for the occasion. He says it gives everyone the impression that we are more than just leaders here, that we are human above all else.”

  “You can still dress up and be human in something that you feel more comfortable in. As amazing as you look in that dress, I think you look beautiful—and surprisingly human—in what you usually wear too. We should never have to be something more than just ourselves.” It was a sentiment he himself thought about daily, though for different reasons.

  “If you want my advice,” he continued, “I’d lose the dress and put something on that you feel confident in. That’s the most human you can be.”

  And he’s back, he flattered himself.

  Now there was the confident and collective charm he remembered! Santiago was beside himself with joy. He didn’t want to risk ruining it though. It took every ounce of will to hold back his beaming pride.

  Careful not to say another word, he turned and made his way back toward the entrance. Before he shut the door to return to his sister in the stands, he caught a glimpse of a determined Mara rummaging through a clothing rack.

  Chapter Twenty-Nine

  Sean

  “Hello, everybody, I’d like to welcome you all to our second annual Tri-Lunar Festival gathering. Wow, that’s a mouthful.” He paused to allow the chuckle of laughter to ripple over the crowd and then quiet. “I’m Head Sentient Sean Turner, one of the original members of Hope. We started this place over two years ago...”

  He had given this spiel so many times now that it felt redundant. It was almost word-for-word what he would tell newcomers. Only now he included a few additional pieces of festival-specific information. He knew many people appreciated the background and history, so he continued explaining that there weren’t any shows during the first year, except for an end of the year celebration, the first Tri-Lunar Festival.

  “But I digress. If you would like to know more about Hope and how we began, please head down to our historical museum—which is really more like a junk drawer in my living quarters at this point.”

  Laughter broke through the crowd again.

  “Now for the real reason you’re all here today. As part of our annual festival, we offer some entertainment. We recognize that we’re living in hard times, many of us torn away from our families, robbed of our safety and freedom, banished from our former lives. We’re not foolish enough to believe that Hope will make all of your fears end and bring all of your dreams to life. However, we do believe that life must go on, and we take the time to acknowledge all that we do here for each other by presenting a day for celebration.

  “We might all have been strangers at one time, but we’ve lived similar realities and understand one another better than anyone else. So please, use this time to ground yourself in the community and support here. For today, let us not think about the atrocities we’ve faced, are facing, or will face, but let us be grateful for one another.

  “Today we enjoy the festivities of the Tri-Lunar Festival.”

  An agreeable applause trickled over the crowd.

  Scripted speech concluded, Sean didn’t wait to introduce the first performance. “Now, without further ado, please put your hands together in welcoming the comical and clever Shifter Sisters—Ryka and Meeka!”

  The crowd roared as the two women ran to centerfield, pumping their fists in the air in anticipated victory.

  Sean made his way off to the side, all too eager to remove himself from the spotlight, but more importantly, ready for a moment to check in with Mara alone.

  He joined her as she was calmly awaiting her cue at the sideline.

  “Comical and clever? I’m not sure that really describes either of them.”

  Sean ignored the taunt to discuss more important matters. “I’m concerned about Graciela.”

  “Why? She seems to be making a full recovery. Darach wouldn’t have released her otherwise.”

  “It’s not that. I was with her earlier and she…smelled…different.”

  Mara eyed him with revulsion before turning back to the performance. “I don’t need to hear about you smelling beautiful women.” Then with a dart of her eyes to his, and a mischievous grin, she added, “Someone’s got a crush.”

  Had he said Graciela was beautiful? Not that she wasn’t, but had those words escaped his lips by accident? Suddenly, the back of his neck tingled, requiring the attention of his wandering fingers. “It’s not like that. I don’t only smell women. It’s anyone’s blood.”

  Sarcastic enthusiasm lit Mara’s eyes, and her shoulders bounced. “Even better.” But the false elation fell. “Why do you insist on telling me these things?”

  “Mara, something is different about her. Everyone’s blood has a scent. It’s not a conscious thing I do. It just happens. Blood speaks to me constantly…” He couldn’t bring himself to tell her that it was a constant battle to fight his urges, so instead, he focused on what happened. “Today, Graciela tapped my nose. It’s not like I could not smell her. And her scent was nothing like I’ve ever smelled before.”

  This time, Mara thought about it seriously. “What do you think it means?”

  His eyes narrowed. “What happened to you leading up to your awakening?”

  Her arms clapped to her side. “What kind of question is that? I ate an omelet, I went to class—I don’t remember exactly, that was almost two years ago.”

  “Were you sick?”

  Mara’s jaw hung open but only for a fraction of a second before she clamped it shut. It tucked into a frown. “I vaguely remember being out of school for a few days around that time.”

  “I was sick too!” He couldn’t believe the connection and how he’d never noticed it before.

  “Do you think—”

  “I’m starting to think so, yeah.” His nods were rapid. “What if being sick triggers the awakening somehow? It would mean that everyone might be Awakened, they just haven’t been activated yet. Graciela could be—”

  Mara held up a hand. “I’m going to stop you right there. For one, it’s the Tri-Lunar Festival, the day that you insist no one works, but you always manage to find a way to busy yourself.”

  Sean’s jaw snapped open, preparing to retort, but it would be difficult to argue truths.

  “Just relax. She’s fine. I don’t see her hacking up blood or passing out anymore. Allora, she’s improving. If she is Awakened, we can talk to her tomorrow. Even you deserve a day off.”

  He exhaled in reluctant agreement.

  “Second, and I’m just going to say my peace and then we are moving on from the conversation, okay?” Sean didn’t answer, didn’t even nod, but Mara continued as if he had anyway. “Have you ever considered that maybe she smells alluring to you because you have feelings for her?”

  His chest rose. “I d
idn’t say alluring. I… I don’t—”

  “Ah-ah-ah. Not another fragmented sentence. I said what I needed to say. Now we’re done. Think about it. For yourself. But it’s not something we need to debate. You’re an adult and can make your own big boy decisions. Now can we get back to the performances?”

  Sean sighed. It was impossible for him to like Graciela in that way. He didn’t have the time or the energy to like anyone romantically. Mara knew that, especially since she was in a similar boat.

  And yet, what she was saying also resonated with him. Until he had time to think more on it, he decided it best to keep those thoughts to himself.

  In the center of the arena, the two sisters ran in opposing circles, waving dramatically and blowing kisses to the spirited crowd. The number of attendees grew exponentially with each passing celebration. It was the largest attendance Sean had ever seen in the stands, and he expected, in another four months, they would be fuller yet.

  Ryka’s hair stood like a cloud of white smoke on top of her head, two symmetrical streaks of blue on either side of her temples. Her makeup was dark and ferocious, focusing everyone’s attention on her arctic blue eyes.

  Meeka, on the other hand, had decided on a softer, more approachable look. Her blonde hair gently cascaded below her shoulders, showing off more of a strawberry tint. The full locks held luscious waves of curls that contoured her face perfectly. Where Ryka had chosen sharp lines and shadows to define her facial features, Meeka wore neutral makeup, accenting her eyes with browns and seaweed green.

  The two of them were a mirror of opposites, fraternal twins who only shared a date of birth.

  All the while the audience marveled at their stage presence, the way they strutted and bowed, a pair of roiders heaved two elongated boxes, large enough to fit a sperm whale inside. A large piece of fabric covered both boxes. The roiders didn’t stop pulling until they were also at centerfield, each of them bringing the box to a stop on either side of the stage, now a grain of rice in comparison.

  Ryka and Meeka were well-practiced and were such a spectacle that Sean guessed most people hadn’t even noticed the large boxes being brought to the forefront until now.

  The twins had been present during the very first Tri-Lunar to celebrate Hope’s one year “birthday”. Ever since, it was abundantly obvious that their performance and personas were a highly anticipated and loved component of the show. They were Hope’s prized daughters, adorned princesses, and infamous sweethearts. Suffice it to say, they were loved dearly.

  The crowd gobbled them up.

  Before too long, Ryka held her hand out to initiate a wave of silence. “Thank you, thank you. My name is Ryka, and this is my sister Meeka.” The audience cheered again, but Ryka continued through the roar. “And we are your beloved Shifter Sisters.”

  There was no containing them, the applause only growing louder when she winked to the blue quadrant folks. It was customary to sit with your neighborhood, after all, and she very clearly represented them in this challenge.

  “Now for the moment you’ve all been waiting for,” Meeka continued.

  Ryka’s icy gaze fell back onto the roiders. “Boys? Would you mind? Oh, silly me. I can do this just as easily.”

  Mara shifted and whispered to Sean, “Here we go.”

  “Any clue what they created this year? I heard they ran the temperals ragged.”

  “No idea, but you’re right. Ilana and Laramie have been exhausted for weeks now. Not sure how the others are faring.”

  Sean examined the massive boxes at centerfield. “Considering how big those things are, I’m guessing they needed help from more than just the two of them.”

  With a flick of Ryka’s wrist, the fabric on top of the massive boxes leisurely melted down toward the ground. Like candle wax, it dribbled, a thousand raindrops trickling off the surface of the mysterious rectangular shapes beneath. The pool that was fabric slunk to the floor, creating a bubbling black lagoon before finally settling into its solid fabric form again.

  Now revealed for the first time, two individual mazes lay before either sister, both unique to one another. Inside each transparent box was a series of rooms, three to be exact. From Sean’s position, he saw only one entrance and one exit, meaning that each twin would need to make it through each room in the given order to claim their victory.

  Meeka’s voice projected itself to the crowd. “For this Tri-Lunar Festival, each of us created a maze for the other that requires we use our shifting powers to complete a set of three challenges. I have not seen my maze, and she has not seen hers.”

  They continued the perfectly timed sibling banter, Ryka stepping into the forefront again. “Each box contains three rooms with a specific challenge inside, and each challenge will earn us a key to move into the next room.”

  Meeka circled her sister, adding with a light bounce, “Once we enter the starting chamber, we will have twenty minutes to make it through all three challenges.”

  “Or to get as far as you can, sister.” With a shrug, Ryka continued. “Once inside, we won’t be able to hear or see anything outside of the box. Only our own wit and expertise will help us persevere at the tasks at hand.”

  This was definitely scripted, Sean decided. Ryka wasn’t the kind of woman to use the word persevere.

  “Whoever completes all three puzzles first, or gets the farthest within the allotted time, wins the match. The loser will help serve breakfast and dinner for an entire week,” Meeka finished.

  The spectators cackled. Sean and Mara shared a look that simultaneously said, These are some high stakes and let’s hope whoever loses is good in the kitchen.

  “Well, Meeka, should we begin?”

  “I’m ready!”

  Both women took their place just outside the glass container, their hands resting on the doorknob. A dense silence blanketed the audience. Fervent eyes peered down in anticipation for the marker.

  One of the roiders held a gun aimed at the sky. Sean averted his attention from the weapon to Mara who casually shrugged it off as nonthreatening. Generally speaking, he didn’t like guns. He didn’t like violence, and he especially didn’t like having guns at an event such as this one. People, innocent people could get—

  Bang! The gun fired.

  With accelerated haste, the women raced into action, entering into their first respective puzzle rooms. Ryka, surrounded by knotted, steel bars, looked as if she had entered a distorted prison cell, one designed intently to keep someone confined. Bar upon bar of metal twisted before her, preventing any possible movement forward, beyond forcing a wrist or knee through one of the few, minute breaks.

  Idly, Sean wondered who had helped Meeka create this room and why they weren’t involved in the design of the real jail cells.

  At the same time, Meeka entered her room, an area so thick with heat that it was difficult to see the task she faced from the outside. Flames flicked the sides of the container in a truly terrifying inferno. Under normal circumstances, Sean would wonder why the box wasn’t melting. But then again they brought all the works out for the annual Tri-Lunar Festival. Even a display screen was used so that people sitting in the back rows had a decent show of the action. Power stopped working the same time society finished crumbling, so they relied on wind and solar energy for special occasions such as this, and the air temperals were dutifully on the job.

  Still, no camera angle could project a visible shot of Meeka.

  All that was visible was Meeka who remained frozen in terror, crouched at the far door, holding her arm over her nose. Most of the viewers likely didn’t know this, but Sean remembered a story about how Meeka was trapped inside a burning house once. She had been four. Luckily, the firemen had rescued her, but still to this day she didn’t like being around fire. He had never even seen her approach a campfire or the kitchen’s ovens for that matter. And now here she was, frozen in fear by her first test. What a cruel thing to subject your sister to, he thought.

  “They’re wearing
fireproof clothes, yeah?” he asked Mara, concerned for his ill-fated citizen.

  Mara shrugged as if to say it wasn’t a big deal. Sean felt his heart rate increase a little before Mara cast him a derisive look. “Of course, they are.”

  Ryka, after bending enough bars to create a path to her first key, pressed on. The crowd went wild as she placed her first key into the door, striding onto whatever challenge awaited.

  Meeka finally crawled into the heart of the room. Red and orange tongues licked every side of the box. There was no visible angle of her inside other than an indistinct shadow slinking through the room.

  Sean’s eyes widened every second she was inside. Mostly, he feared for his friend, but also somewhere in the mix were the responsibilities that fell on him as Head Sentient, such as preventing his citizens from entering burning rooms, or making sure burning rooms aren’t around in the first place.

  “Quit worrying. She will be fine,” Mara said.

  That was easier said than done. The welfare of the people didn’t rest on her shoulders. If anything were to happen, it would weigh on his conscious for the rest of his life. Not to mention, it would be one more thing he’d have to answer to the Awakened Authority for.

  Reluctantly, Sean leaned back against the wall and watched the feats of the festival unfold, all the while his nostrils flared in anticipation of the scent of blood.

  Chapter Thirty

  Graciela

  “Do you think she’s all right?” Graciela asked no one in particular.

  The others—Santiago, Caleb and Adelaide—were too enthralled by everything unfolding before them to look away anyway. Below, Ryka had bent her way through a forest of iron bars with nothing more than a snap of her fingers, her first key waiting on the other side of the room. That was the action, what most people watched. Meanwhile, Graciela was fixated on the room that was surely scorching Meeka to death.