In Pursuit of Light

by Sarah B Meadows

  He takes her face in his hands, forcing her to look at him. “Kia! You’re okay. Take deep breaths for me,” Rolland affirms softly. Kia relaxes for only a second before she starts trying to yank his hands away, but he refuses to let go. With her back to me I can’t see her eyes, or see what emotions are playing across her face, but the slightly annoyed look in Rolland’s eyes worries me. What’s going on with him?

  “Kia, look at me,” he demands softly. She tries pulling her head from Rolland’s hands again, but his grip stays firm. “No, Kia, I’m not going anywhere and neither are you,” Rolland says somewhat forcefully. “Kia, listen to me. Whatever just happened isn’t your fault and no one blames you. Just take a deep breath and give me a minute to speak to Sebastian,” he continues firmly, still holding her head steady.

  Kia continues to struggle in Rolland’s grip, and I begin to think she’s never going to stop. I hear him grunt just as Kia finally stops fighting him. “Thank you,” Rolland says, satisfied though still sounding a bit annoyed.

  “What happened, Seb?” he asks me, though he doesn’t look away from her as he speaks.

  “The same thing that happened in the pool. She zoned out, then was set off by Gerry coming home. I managed to calm her down, but a noise in the hallway got her riled up again. Once she snapped out of the rage and realised what had happened, she tried to scramble away from me,” I explain.

  Rolland's eyes remain on Kia as his face changes from annoyance to compassion. “Kia, I know this is frightening and that you don’t understand what’s going on. Neither do we, but please don’t push us away. We will figure this out together,” Rolland pleads before pulling his lips into his teeth, his eyes searching her face for some kind of response. “Please, Kia, we know we haven’t completely earned your trust yet, but we’ve not given you any reason to doubt us thus far. All we ask is that you take these small steps with us.”

  Silence surrounds us as we wait to see what Kia will do. Rolland continues to hold her head, keeping his focus sharp on her face. Finally, Kia’s head slumps forward followed quickly by the rest of her. Rolland takes her into his arms, wrapping them around her lower back and behind her head, drawing her into the shelter of his body as he moves them over to the bed. Kia tucks her head into his neck, and I can see her shoulders shaking as she silently cries, but she’s a lot calmer now. Holy. Shit. What the hell are we going to do? I rest my hands on my hips as I look up at the ceiling, contemplating how, and what, we’re going to tell Jack and Matt. Fuck, and then there’s Gerry to deal with.

  I look back over at Rolland, and I can tell he knows what’s going through my mind. Sighing heavily, I slowly make my way over to the bedroom door, trying to delay the inevitable. Damn it, why do I always get lumbered with having to relay the heavy info? Which reminds me, I still haven’t caught Rolland up with everything Jack said earlier. A weight settles on my shoulders as I open the door.

  Glancing to the right down the hallway, I spot Matt holding up one of his shields, blocking Gerry’s path. His back is to me, but he seems to be standing steady, seemingly not fazed by the death glare that Gerry is giving him. Gerry stands with his thick arms crossed over his solid chest, looking about ready to kill Matt as soon as he drops the shield.

  Gerry is just a few inches shorter than me. At six foot five, he has a sturdy frame and solid shoulders, that, along with his square shaped head, gives him a roughness that reflects his moods. The dark combat gear he’s wearing makes the bags under his emerald green eyes look even worse and the few days of stubble covering his straight jaw and his hard, angled eyebrows make him look deadly. He’s nearly as soft as Matt on the inside, but no one ever gets to see that part of him. His need to protect and defend all of us drains him more than anything, so having someone in our home that he doesn’t know, or hasn’t even met, is causing his temper to flare. Matt stopping him from investigating won’t be forgiven easily. The last time one of us brought someone home without running it past him, he took half the house out on the far side.

  Stepping over so I’m shoulder to shoulder with Matt, I match Gerry’s posture, keeping my eyes on him as I speak to Matt first. “You okay?” I inquire. Matt’s hand holds steady as he too keeps his eyes on Gerry.

  “Yeah, I’m fine. Is Kia okay?” His soft voice is full of concern.

  Gerry still doesn’t move a muscle, keeping his death glare solely focused on Matt.

  “She’s a little shaken still, but Rolland is calming her,” I explain quietly. Deciding to get it over with, I try to find the right words to summarise everything that’s happened. “Gerry, there’s a girl in there that’s been through a hundred types of hell. We brought her back from last night's mission and we’re in the process of healing her.” Gerry still doesn’t take his eyes from Matt, so I continue, hoping that by giving him some information he’ll calm down.

  “Jack says she’s not from here and most likely won’t be able to return unless we can cleanse her. You’re not going anywhere near her until you’ve calmed down enough to listen to either me or Jack, and I’m not going to explain it while we’re standing outside my door where she can hear us.”

  He finally drags his gaze from Matt and runs his deep-set eyes over my face and body, trying to get a read on me with his heightened senses. I doubt he will smell much past the shield, but his eyes and ears will be picking up on every detail and sound. “I want to see her,” he bites through clenched teeth.

  “Not happening. I’ll call Jack down here and have him move you. I’m only asking for you to hear us out and calm down,” I emphasise with raised eyebrows. His steely glare pins me in place but he says nothing further. A few moments later he turns and skulks off. I let out the breath I didn’t realise I was holding, then turn to Matt. “You good?”

  “He’s never going to forgive me, but I can’t say I care, Seb.” Shocked at his lack of care for Gerry’s rage, I frown at him a little. He drops his shield and faces me fully. “Can I come in and see her?” he asks hesitantly. Concern is plainly evident in his eyes.

  “Of course, just keep it quiet and remind Rolland to get her to eat. His mind will be fully on keeping her pain down and her emotions level.” He nods and ambles into the room. Rubbing a hand over my face, I realise how mentally tired I am as I make my way through the house in search of either Jack or Gerry. Having Jack back my words up will help, but I’d rather not let Gerry out of my sight for too long in case he decides to return to my room before I’ve spoken to him. Making my way up the stairs to the second floor, I decide to pop my head into Brad’s room, to see if Jack’s still there.

  I knock first and wait for an answer. Brad’s heavy voice comes through, muffled by the thick door, but I take it as an invitation to come in. Stepping into Brad’s room, I find Jack is thankfully still there, his back to me as he looks out over the side garden through the room’s bow window. Movement to my left draws my attention away from Jack to where Brad’s gigantic frame looms. He’s pulling a black cotton shirt over his thick muscles. I just catch a glimpse of the dragon tattoo that covers the whole of his back, fully detailed with various symbols scattered throughout it. He turns to me as I close the door softly, running his sleepy amber eyes over me, helping to calm some of the anxiety and tension that weighs on my shoulders.

  Where Jack’s hair is white, sometimes almost silver in colour, Brad’s hair is dark and buzzed. Thick, dark eyebrows frame his amber eyes and warm beige skin oddly reflect his easy go lucky approach to life

  Unsure of what Brad knows, I look to Jack for clarification, but he’s still got his back to me.

  “Jack tells me you’re in need of something to cut through diamond infused titanium,” Brad says over his broad shoulder, breaking the heavy silence within the room as he picks things up from his dresser. “I should have something put together within a few hours.” His deep bass voice rumbles through my ears.

  Wondering if Jack still hasn’t told him, I stop Brad as he heads out of the room.

  “Hold on, Brad
,” I pause him in his tracks. “Jack, have you not told him?” I ask hesitantly. Jack doesn’t reply as he continues to look out the window.

  “Jack!” I say louder, which seems to jolt him ever so slightly. He finally turns to face us. I frown at him, confused as to what the hell that was all about.

  “Apologies, my thoughts were elsewhere,” Jack says distantly. What the? Does this have something to do with the others like him?

  Jack looks over at me for a moment, then turns his attention to Brad. “Rolland brought back an Ayran from last night’s mission. Her name is Kia and she is under a significant amount of mental and physical stress from the endless months she spent in the imprisonment of a Gjinn and other beings that we do not know the full identity of yet. The blade I asked you for is needed to cut through the diamond-infused titanium shackles that are still attached to her wrists. I am unsure how long it will take for her to fully heal, but I hope you can be sympathetic enough to allow her to stay within our home whilst she recovers. There is also the issue of the Gjinn that knows she is here. They consume and manifest fear whilst weakening the mind. Extended exposure to them will lead to any normal person becoming a shell of what they once were. Kia and her kind have higher brain function and as such, are able to put up some amount of defence. But given the amount of time in which she was exposed to them, she may have sustained some permanent damage. There are stones in place in Sebastian’s room to keep it warded off, but I do not have enough to cover the rest of the building. This leaves you all exposed and vulnerable. There are ways you can train the mind to keep the Gjinn out, and I will instruct and show you how this can be done once I have returned with more stones. The Gjinn is too weak to return immediately so you will be safe until this evening when I have returned with more of them.” He finally looks back at me, then takes a step in the direction of the door.

  “Wait, Jack. There’s something I think you should know,” I say, stopping him in his path toward the door. I flick my eyes over to Brad, knowing this is going to sound bad to someone who hasn’t met Kia yet. “Kia has-” I start, but pause, wondering how to best put it all into words. Shit, how do I put this so it doesn’t sound like we’ve got a possessed person in the house?... Fuck, maybe she is. Lost in my own thoughts my eyes drift down to the floor.

  “Sebastian, Kia has what?” Jack’s polished tone pulls me from my internal festering. I look up to find Jack’s face full of concern. What happened to the stiff-shouldered, stoic Jack?

  “Twice now she has gone into some kind of rage. It’s almost like she loses herself to it. I’m certain it stems from defence as opposed to malice or hostility. The first time it happened, I was healing her back, and she seemed to be in the same stupor that we found her and Rolland in when we returned to the pool. She turned on me and Rolland couldn’t get her to calm. It wasn’t until he told her that I wasn’t going to harm him and I moved a distance away from them, that she finally snapped out of it. It just happened again when Gerry came in the front door. I managed to calm her before she went into a full onslaught, but noise in the hallway seemed to breach through the state I had her lulled into. Each time she finally snaps out of this state of mind, she wants to take off. If I had to guess, I think she scares herself more than anything.” Jack’s face has gone from puzzlement, to worry, and now all I can see is concern in his eyes. He takes a deep breath before releasing it.

  “Thank you, Sebastian, I think we should pay Gerry a visit,” he suggests before turning to Brad, who’s looking stunned and at a loss for words. Shit. “Brad, the sooner you can make something to remove the titanium shackles off of Kia the better.” Jack declares before stalking out, leaving me with a very confused Brad. Oh man, not again.

  “Sorry, Brad, but I need to catch up with Jack about speaking to Gerry before another part of the house is destroyed,” I explain quickly. Brad says nothing, just raises a thick eyebrow at me and shakes his head a little. I see my chance and head quickly out the door after Jack. For fuck sake. Which way did he go? This house is far too big to be playing hide and go seek with Gerry.

  Gerry’s room seems the wisest place to start, and with any hope, he’ll be in there shaving his face and getting cleaned up. Turning right out of Brad’s s room, I head to the other side of the house. After winding my way through the gigantic house, I finally get to his room and knock on the slightly open door. There’s no response so I poke my head in to see if he’s in his bathroom, but no there’s no noise coming from it. Shit. Maybe he’s taken to the healing chambers to recharge.

  Heading back the way I came I take the route via the kitchen to make sure he’s not there. I hear voices coming from the kitchen and I recognise Gerry’s blunt, pissed-off tone. Bingo. Stepping into the room, I find Gerry busy chopping what looks to be mushrooms and onions. There are a bunch of eggs set to one side and my guess is he’s making an omelette of some kind. His deep emerald eyes find mine as I inch further into the kitchen.

  “You know how I feel about people I don’t know coming into our home, Seb. I don’t care how badly injured they are - I don’t trust what I don’t know. You have five minutes to explain yourselves before I start throwing knives,” he demands firmly. His eyes are still full of fury, but his body language has relaxed somewhat. I look over to Jack as Gerry continues cutting the vegetables. Thankful to Jack for having just explained this all to Brad, I begin sorting it all out for Gerry in the best that I can.

  “As I said earlier, Gerry, we brought Kia back from last night’s mission. She was trapped deep within her own mind and Jack had to pull her out.” I flick my eyes over to Jack and he gives the smallest nod of his head. “Since then, Rolland hasn’t left her side other than to take a piss, and it’s taking every ounce of his concentration to keep her pain and emotions at bay.” I take a tentative step closer to the marble countertop where he’s working, hoping to get a better gauge on his reactions to what I’m telling him. “I can only heal small amounts of her body, as she has no nourishment or strength left in her,” I continue. Gerry starts to crack eggs into the pan as though he is barely listening.

  “So far, I’ve managed to heal a bullet wound, both hands that were sprained with several broken fingers, two sets of broken ribs, and her feet that she couldn’t stand on. She’s still got broken bones in her kneecaps and her back is-” Kia’s back flashes across my vision and her reaction to me healing it pulls at my heart. How am I ever going to heal it without triggering a flashback? My mind wanders off to the dream that I’m sure now wasn’t a dream - the one of her in the building with what I think was the Gjinn.

  “Sebastian? Everything alright?” Jack’s sotto voice pulls me out of my thoughts. I look over at him and see his stoic mask well in place, but a small crease across his brow is just visible.

  “Yeah, I’m fine.” I rub a hand over my face, feeling the heavy pull of tiredness crawl over me. “As I was saying,” I look back at Gerry to find he’s paused in his chopping but continues when my eyes find his. “Kia’s back is bad and I’m not sure how long it’s going to take to heal it.” I take another glance at Jack and hope the next part comes out correctly. “Jack tells us she’s not from here and is what is known as an Ayran. They have gifts like us but are a lot more powerful.” Gerry is still busying himself with the pan, but I know I’ve got his attention. “She’s also had a Gjinn draining her for the past several months, and we had the pleasure of meeting it just an hour or so ago.”

  Gerry stops what he’s doing to peer up from the frying pan. Ire flickers through his eyes, but he quickly pulls it in, refocusing on poking at the omelette. “Rolland and I were completely paralysed, but fully aware of our surroundings till Jack appeared to weaken it enough to send it back to wherever it is hiding now. Fortunately, Matt came in and put a shield up, keeping it off her till it was gone.” Not fully brave enough to share with him how Matt couldn’t lower the shield till she let him, I continue on. “Which brings us to you coming in. Every noise has her on edge and she can’t talk to ask questio
ns because her vocal cords are too badly damaged.” The omelette Gerry is making is nearly done and damn, it smells good. He raises his eyes to me, studying my body language - he knows I’m hiding something but doesn’t know what.

  “What are you not telling me, Seb? The muscle in your right arm is twitching, and even though you’re hiding it well, your voice is strained. Your heart rate has escalated twice since you started speaking. Once because of a visual your mind conjured from speaking about her back. The second time has something to do with Matt,” Gerry comments vaguely, taking two plates from the cupboard and serving up the omelette. Hoping the second plate is for me, I begin eyeing it. He isn’t as good as me in the kitchen, but he can still cook, I’ll give him that.

  “Going by Matt’s behaviour outside your room, I’m guessing he has a little more to do with this than you’re letting on,” Gerry proclaims. Knowing he has my attention with the bribe waiting for me, he continues as he puts down two sets of cutlery beside the plates and takes a seat. “Now you can either tell me and join me for a bite to eat,” he raises a flat eyebrow provokingly, “or I’ll find out shortly what you’re hiding and give this breakfast to Brad. Your choice, Brother.” He takes a mouthful of his omelette and gives me a smug, irritating smile, satisfied that he has me where he wants me.

  My stomach rumbles and I become more aware of how hungry I am. You’d think I’d be satisfied after two bowls of soup, rice and fruit, but healing Kia coupled with the lack of sleep has left me starved. Giving in, I walk over to grab the plate, but it’s snatched up and held out of my reach. “Now, now, Seb. Once I’m satisfied that you’ve told me the whole truth, it’s all yours,” he taunts, bobbing his eyebrows. “I’d hurry up though if I were you, Seb, as it’s getting cold quick.” Letting out a breath of frustration, I give in and tell him.