"Sebastian is alive? You saw him?"
"Yes, or he was alive, but something terrible has happened. Blood and Abby," Galla clutched at her stomach.
Elda knew that Galla could feel Abby's injury and grew cold wondering if they might find her dead.
"Tell us what you saw, Galla?" Faustine asked urgently.
Galla mumbled and started to fall to one knee.
"It's the hair. Take the bloody hair out of her hand," Thomas growled.
Faustine jerked the hair away and Galla shut her eyes. When she opened them, she had regained some of her composure
"It attacked them in the night, but Abby was not in the bed. She found the bed empty and bloody," Galla's eyes were far away again. "It's like a bird, it ripped her open. She is nearing death."
When they reached the cars, Galla held up a hand to stop them.
"Faustine, you must take Demetrius and Max and go to Oliver. It is unsafe to go into the lair because they trapped him, I am sure of it. But you must go and watch the hole. He is alive and they are saving him and Lydie both for something, which is why they must not know we are near because they will do something extreme. We will go to Abby." She gestured to Elda and Thomas. "Be vigilant. This thing is new, and it will not be predictable."
Thomas drove and Galla tried to tell them more, but already the images had lost their potency and she struggled to describe the feelings that overpowered her.
"First grief," Galla told them. "Her heart so broken and then he was there. Sebastian lived. But then I saw her coming into the room and the comforter on the floor streaked with blood and the sheets and when she emerged from this cabin... yes, it was a cabin..." she said slowly, thinking, "...it fell upon her and it tore at her." She groaned as if she still could feel the pain.
"But she's alive, you're sure she's alive?" Elda asked.
Galla did not answer right away.
"I believe that she was still alive five minutes ago when I held her hair."
****
Galla directed them to a secluded stretch of woods almost seventy miles north of Trager. Why Abby and Sebastian had chosen that location, no one knew but, as they turned onto a two-track road and began to bounce over roots and rocks, Elda grew concerned. When they finally stopped in front of a tidy log cabin, a rusted Buick parked near the shed, Elda almost jumped out of the car.
She walked to the steps and saw a pool of blood beginning to dry. The blood dotted the dried grass and disappeared into the trees. She followed it, without waiting. It was too much blood. That was the first thing that she knew without a doubt. A person died when they lost that much blood.
They found Abby, floating face up, in the glassy lake. Her hair fanned out from her face in a dark halo and the angelic, waxen smoothness of her skin made Elda's breath catch in her throat. She splashed into the water, barely registering the icy shock. Before she could grasp Abby's broken body and pull her to the shore, Thomas's voice rang out.
"Wait. Look at her stomach, Elda!" he cried.
Elda did, and reeled away in horror at the twelve inch gash running horizontally across Abby's mid-section. Her shirt had been ripped open as had her skin and, it seemed, the organs beneath her skin. Elda saw the raw inflamed edges of Abby's intestines. Her body no longer hemorrhaged blood as it surely had when the wound was first created, but that only made Elda more terrified.
She stood, cemented to the marshy lake floor, until Thomas strode into the water beside her.
"Lay hands upon her," Elda implored him, knowing that he, a gifted-healer, might have the power to save the young witch.
Thomas placed his hands on each of Abby's temples.
"She's in there," he said. "She's alive."
With Thomas's words, Elda found the energy to move.
"We can't keep her here," Galla said, surveying the small cabin that Sebastian had been abducted from. The air felt electric with the violence of the previous night and all three elder witches shifted uncomfortably, their eyes darting into the trees around them.
Elda, flustered, tried to think of safe havens and grew embarrassed at their lack of connections on the shore. It served as yet another reminder of how disengaged Ula had become from the living world.
Thomas had tucked Abby carefully into the back seat after suturing her belly closed with a crude thread and needle they had found in the cabin's little bathroom. They had also found a small backpack with Sebastian's things, but seemingly nothing of Abby's except a pair of dirtied jeans hanging over the shower and a ripped, bloody sweatshirt. Galla had touched these items and retrieved fragments of Abby's first attack the day before.
"There is Lydie's home," Elda said, hesitating. "From your vision, Galla. Her mother was a great witch, an herbalist. The plants around the cottage are surely still teeming with useful remedies."
"How far?" Thomas asked, knowing that they needed to begin healing Abby soon or she would be dead by nightfall.
"It's near Trager City in the Sleeping Bear Forest. I think half an hour from here."
"Let's go."
****
"I am at fault," Julian sighed, maneuvering into the left lane and passing a slow-moving semi.
They had realized, after more than an hour, that Sebastian had never returned from 'checking out the pool.' Rod claimed ignorance and Adora would have been reluctant to believe him except that she knew he wanted to leave as badly as Sebastian, not to mention Sebastian had taken all of Rod's money. If Rod had known, he would likely have insisted that he join.
"I was thinking aloud to myself before we left France and he heard me. He must have feared for her life."
"Well, now he's put us all in jeopardy," Adora said, trying to keep her hands steady in her lap, but unable to stop their shaking.
She knew how to appear calm in every circumstance, but her steely resolve grew more tenuous every minute. Once upon a time, curses did not exist. Of course, Adora had been a witch too long to suffer in such blissful ignorance. As she and Julian uncovered bits of evidence, her unease had doubled and then tripled. She wanted to believe that it did not exist and that they would find Sebastian anxiously rowing his way to Ula, but unable to break through the coven's barriers.
Julian cocked his head to the side and then slowed the car, exiting the freeway.
"I need you to drive, Adora," he told her.
They changed seats and Julian took a moment to dig a bag of crystals from his small leather suitcase. He held them in his lap and closed his eyes.
"I have just had the most vivid image of Faustine come into my sight," he whispered, mostly talking to himself. "He needs us..."
Adora returned to the freeway, pushing the car over one hundred miles per hour while simultaneously cloaking the car in a spell of concealment. They were not invisible per se, but merely under the radar.
After several minutes in deep concentration, Julian came back.
"Elda is at the Nook," he said, looking curious.
"The Nook?"
"Yes, Lydie's childhood home. It's been years since I've been there. I'm amazed it's still standing."
****
Sebastian threw up and rolled onto his side on the cold steel floor. He pressed his forehead, on fire, to the metal and tried not to throw up again when his stomach heaved at the smell of the vomit spreading out beside him. Overhead a fan whirred and something sucked and sputtered, like water caught in a hose. He opened his eyes and stared to his right where the shiny floor was marred by the black clawed legs of a table draped in dark sheets.
His head swam with whatever rushed through his veins and his vision grew blurry, focused and then blurry again. The sucking sound tried to draw his eyes up, above the table, but when he shifted his gaze, the world tilted with him and he vomited again. He felt as if he'd just stumbled off the Gravitron, Claire's favorite fair ride when they were children.
He thought of Abby and tried desperately to remember what had transpired after they'd fallen, sweaty and elated, into bed. He knew that one mome
nt his hand rested on the small of her back as she lay beside him, and the next, something dark and foul had taken hold of him and dragged him into the black night. He felt sure that the creature had bitten him and lighted briefly on waves of green leaves flashing by as if they were above the trees, flying.
He planted both palms on the floor and pushed, rolling onto his back with a gasp as pain coursed through his entire body. Bodies hung from every available wall, held in place by thick black straps. Tubes ran from their noses and mouths. Some of their heads were shaved, making their nakedness seem even more complete, and complex helmets, streaming with wires, were fitted to each of their heads. The tubes fed into an enormous metal cylinder that sounded like a washing machine. Sebastian could see a lifeless hand dangling over the edge of the black gurney.
Chapter 32
She stumbled through the woods, the snow falling in thick layers and blotting out the world around her. She waded, more than walked, and twice fell forward into the deep drifts, almost wishing that the hard earth would greet her and put an end to the writhing in her belly. It was time. She could feel the wetness spreading out from within her. It saturated her thighs and made the skin raw beneath her fabrics. Her tears froze hard and glass-like in the whipping winds. When she saw the tiny stone cottage, she cried out in relief. The frozen door would not give and she threw her weight against it again and again. Finally it cracked and then inched open. She pushed again and this time it swung into the tiny room, barren except for a pile of hay and dusty wool blankets in one corner.
She slammed the door and dropped to her hands and knees. She crawled to the bed of blankets and fell onto her side as another wave of pain rushed through her abdomen. She felt the hands of a giant clamped tightly on her belly trying to squeeze her empty.
She cried and gasped and fought her damp and frozen clothes from her body. Blood immediately began to seep into the straw. She shuffled onto the blankets, screaming, and biting the glove that she'd pulled from her hand when another storm of contractions coursed through her.
The baby came quickly. She pushed and felt its slippery weight gush into her hands, barely able to reach it, before it slid onto the makeshift bed. She had seen at least a dozen births, but the new mothers were always surrounded by her circle of women. She had no one to help her and no tools to sever the life cord. She raised the baby toward her face and bit the cord, barely acknowledging the stream of hot liquid that rushed out. In her tribe, the liquid would have been preserved and the mother would have consumed it, bringing the power back into her own body, but Kanti spat it out and thrust the cord away from her face.
She stared at the oddly silent infant through exhausted eyes and thought, briefly, that it had died. But then the child, a girl, blinked and let out a feeble mewl. She held the baby to her chest and felt the girl's tiny mouth easily find her breast and attach to the nipple. She laid her head back and drifted away.
* * * *
Abby woke with her hands pressed against her belly expecting to feel the weight of the child from her dreams—but not her dreams, Kanti's dreams.
Slowly, her own life materialized and she blinked the room into focus. Elda's solemn face peered down at her.
Elda clasped one of her hands and held it to her heart.
"Thank you," she whispered, her eyes shifting toward the heavens before her gaze returned to Abby. "Just now you seemed to go away. I thought we had lost you."
Abby didn't speak, but pressed her hands into the bed beneath her and started to sit.
Elda pushed her back down.
"You can't get up, Abby. You were gravely injured."
Abby looked down at the place her hands had been and saw thick gauze layered across her stomach. It was soaked with blood. For a moment she thought that the dream had been real and then she remembered the creature attacking her. Its claws had ripped her open.
"Sebastian?"
"He's not here. We found the cabin, but someone took him Abby. I was hoping that you might be able to help us. We know that he lives and that he was taken from you in the night, but that is all..."
"It wasn't a Vepar," Abby said, surveying the room. They were not at Ula, or anyplace else that Abby recognized. In fact, they seemed to be in an old cottage. Leaves and twigs were brushed against the base of the walls.
"We're in Lydie's childhood home," Elda told her. "Ula has been compromised and we cannot return there."
* * * *
Sebastian took in the faces. Lydie, Oliver, Isabelle and then others that he did not know. People barely shackled, but hanging lifeless to the walls, something being drawn out of them and into the vat in the center. He braced his hands on either side and looked in. The fluid that poured in from the various bodies looked clear and very bright, almost like liquid light, but it did not pool. The metal interior funneled into a small black hole the disappeared into the floor beneath him.
He needed a plan and fast. His body ached, but the nausea had abated. He felt sticky wetness where claws had ripped into his skin and he remembered again the monster that took him. Its wolfish face had leered at him with knowing eyes, familiar eyes. When it bit him, Sebastian felt fire moving through his bloodstream and then the world had faded to black.
He turned slowly, wishing desperately for water to quench his thirst, but hoping at least for a weapon or some means of escape. The large room had only one opening, a small trap door in the ceiling, but no ladder was in sight. He began to move among the bodies, checking for pulses. Everyone was alive, though several people had pulses so weak he wasn't sure he'd felt one at all. He had the feeling that they'd been in the room for days, if not weeks.
He considered unhooking them, but he knew that he operated on borrowed time and at any moment the beast might return. He stared at Oliver hanging limply from the wall, his blond head resting on his chest. If anyone could help him, it was Oliver, and the creatures probably would not notice if a single stream stopped moving into the basin. His ego wanted to do it alone. However, he knew that his humanness made him weak. He had no element to draw on, no storage of ancient wisdom to unlock the mystery surrounding him.
He took the tube moving into Oliver's arm and pulled gently, grimacing at the spurt of blood that poured out when he drew it from his flesh. He removed the tube from his right arm and then went about carefully, slowly, extracting the tiny metal filaments poking into his skull. They were long and copper and each time he removed one, he expected the trap door to fling open and the wolf beast to pounce on him. When he had removed all of the wires, he put his arms beneath Oliver's armpits and lifted him gently from the wall.
Oliver was an earth element and Sebastian knew that they were underground, which meant Oliver should have access to power. Sebastian pressed Oliver's palms flat against the ground. He remembered the small pouch that Julian had given him. He'd hung it around his neck and when he reached inside of his shirt, he was shocked to feel it still intact. He pulled it out and loosened the tiny leather strap. Inside, Julian had placed four stones. He had labeled them protection, power, healing and wisdom. He placed the stones of protection and healing on the tops of Oliver's hands. In his own hands, he held tightly the stones of wisdom and power. He closed his eyes and imagined his body growing lighter. In his mind, a long suture split the ground above them and a brilliant shaft of light snaked through the crevice into the earth and filled their bodies with light. Minutes passed, but he no longer felt the pressure of time. The world had ceased its heaviness and buoyancy overtook him He felt like a bubble floating just above a tranquil ocean. He imagined dropping into the ocean and being absorbed by the powerful sea. He started to feel the muscles in his body vibrating, communicating with his brain. Without thinking, he stood and walked the room, soundlessly tapping each wall. His palm met thickness on every wall except one. Near Lydie's tiny form, he found the hollow echo that told him he could break through.
"Ugghhhhh..." The moan startled him and broke his concentration. His heart skipped in his chest.
> Oliver groaned again.
"Shh." Sebastian knelt beside him. The stones had fallen onto the floor and he placed them in Oliver's palms. Oliver's eyes, unfocused, blinked rapidly and then the film that drew across them started to dissolve.
"Water." he croaked.
"I wish I could," Sebastian told him. "But I think I've found a way out. I'm going to need you, though."
Oliver squeezed his eyes shut in pain. When he opened them, he lifted the healing stone and pressed it against his forehead. He did not move for several minutes and Sebastian started to grow impatient.
Finally, Oliver set the stones on the floor and, with great effort, pushed up to sitting. He teetered back and forth and Sebastian placed a hand on his shoulder to steady him. His hair was disheveled and prickled with bits of dried blood. His face looked swollen and scratched and his bare torso was a puzzle of cuts and wounds, but Sebastian could see them growing less vibrant and sore with each moment. Oliver took the stone and pressed it to each wound, wincing, but also sighing with relief. His right arm was mangled and mostly useless. He held it tight to his body.
"This is powerful," he whispered hoarsely as he examined the stone.
"Julian gave it to me."
"Julian?"
Sebastian nodded and Oliver understood. There was no time to discuss it.
Oliver's eyes drifted over to Lydie and he shot to his feet, making it halfway across the room before his legs gave out. He would have crashed into the swirling vat of fluid had Sebastian not caught him. He held him around the waist and waited until Oliver seemed capable of standing.
"What is this?" Oliver's eyes darted around the room, taking in the others. Sebastian saw fear.
Suddenly Oliver grabbed his head and tipped to the side, crashing to the floor. Sebastian scooped him back up.
"There was something in there," Oliver whispered as if the 'something' might hear him. "It knows I'm disconnected." He looked puzzled as he spoke.
Born of Shadows- Complete Series Page 58