by Garr, Amber
“What did they do to me?” he asked, rubbing his fingers over the veins. Wide eyes glanced up at me. “Have you ever seen this before?”
I shook my head and opened my mouth to answer but a voice interrupted my response. Go to Charles. He needs you both. “Did you say something?” I asked Jason.
“Yeah, I asked if you knew what the hell was going on?” He continued to stare at his chest, eyes flickering between the knife on the ground and his wound.
Nora. You must let Jason help him.
I knew that voice, just as I’d recognized it earlier. Jumping to my feet, I turned to the man still standing at the end of the alley. His face was hidden by the darkness, but now that I took a closer look, the duster gave him away.
Theron? I did not speak the question out loud. For some inexplicable reason, I didn’t want Jason to know who had just saved us.
Charles groaned and rolled onto his back. Everything had happened so fast, I hadn’t spared a thought for him after the Hunters left. Swallowing the ball of guilt that formed in my throat, I ran to his side with Jason right behind me. Apparently recovered from his injuries, Jason snapped into medic mode and began assessing my oldest friend.
“He’s been cut. We need to put pressure on the wound.” Jason pressed down on Charles’ stomach while examining the rest of him. “Why is he bleeding?” he shouted. “I thought we couldn’t bleed!”
Grabbing my hand, Jason maneuvered them over Charles. He’d been gutted like a fish, with a gash longer than my arm bisecting his stomach. Warm, dark blood consumed my hands in an instant. “Charles?” My voice broke as I called his name. “Oh, Charles, what did they do to you?”
Hollow eyes stared up at me, but my friend was still alive. Sparks of light flickered in his pupils, his soul fighting to come back to us. In my four decades as a Warden I’d never experienced an encounter like this before. My head spun with questions and my heart ached for explanations for the pain and confusion.
“Nora, move!” Jason demanded, pulling my hands from Charles’ stomach. “I need to pack something in there until we can get him back.” Jason suddenly looked up at me. “Will he heal if we take him back to our realm? Can he die?”
“I…I don’t know if he’ll heal and, yes, he can die.” I stumbled over my words. If Charles passed through the light, he would be lost forever. Whatever lay beyond the light was the final resting place for a Warden’s soul. I shivered with the thought then refocused on Jason. “I don’t even know how he got hurt in the first place.” Anger built behind my tears. With heart racing, I stood and turned to face the Hunter in the alley. If that was really Theron, then he had some explaining to do.
I ran at him without a second thought.
“Nora!” Jason yelled, but I kept running. “Where are you going?”
Ignoring the fear in his voice, I sprinted down the alley. Theron didn’t move, and instead watched me intently. The closer I got, the more I was sure it was him. His height, his stance, the jacket…it all screamed Theron. But why was he here? Why had he called the Hunters back from their mission of death?
As I scrambled around puddles and jumped over trash, a fleeting thought had me wondering why Theron had that much power over them. What had he been able to accomplish in two years that made him so dominant? Something deep inside me trembled with fear. He was completely lost to me. The old Theron I knew just didn’t exist anymore.
Or did he?
“Theron!” I screamed when I got halfway down the alley. “What’s going on? How did they do this to us?” Knowing I sounded weak and distraught, a part of me hoped it would appeal to his kinder nature. The one that held all the good memories of when we’d lived together and worked together. The one where we swore to always watch each other’s back.
But just as I got close enough to see his face, his body began to shimmer. “Theron, no!” I yelled. “Don’t you dare leave!”
He said nothing as his form wavered in and out of the realm, and by the time I got within grabbing distance, he was gone. “You coward!” My screams attracted attention from the passing crowd at the end of the alley. But they continued walking, as all city dwellers do, ignoring the crazy girl talking to herself in the dark.
If Theron knew what was happening, I needed to use him to find out. But how? I thought to myself. I had no way of summoning him. No way of following him into the dark world where he now dwelled.
Frustration pulled at my emotions, fighting against the sheer anger brought on by my ex. I had no doubt we would be required to explain this to our Elders, yet I also had no idea what we would say.
“Nora!” Jason yelled. His voice echoed off the brick walls, enhancing the desperation I felt. With one last scream of frustration, I turned and ran back to the scene.
“We have to get him home,” Jason said. His voice quivered and the arms holding Charles’ stomach shook with fatigue.
I looked down at Charles, whose eyes were closed and whose face now seemed to be at peace. His skin almost glowed and I didn’t know if that was an illusion or the result of the poor lighting. But as I examined him further, I saw the real source of the illumination. “Jason?” I asked tentatively.
He glanced up at me quickly, then focused on Charles’ stomach again. “I don’t understand. How did they cut him? Why is he bleeding?” Jason choked back a sob and cleared his throat. “I don’t think I can stop it.”
“But you are,” I said. “Look.”
I pointed to his hands and the eerie blue light now emitting from them. Jason followed my finger with his eyes and then sucked in a quick breath when he saw what was happening. He jerked back so violently, he lost his balance and fell to the side. “What the hell?”
The moment he removed his grip, Charles started to thrash in agony once again. Pain pierced his gaze and he screamed loud enough that I looked behind us to see if any of the humans had noticed.
“Put your hands back where they were!” I yelled my command only a second before Jason figured it out for himself.
“Nora?” he asked, trying to return his fingers to the exact same spot. “I don’t understand what’s going on.”
“Neither do I, but we have to get him home.” I heard scuffling at the opening of the alley and I worried we didn’t have much time left before someone decided ignorance was not bliss and came this way. “Can you keep your hands on him while we pull him up?”
Jason nodded and without saying anything else, we hoisted Charles to standing, our arms wrapped tightly underneath his shoulders. Jason kept one hand on his stomach and helped me carry Charles’ full human body weight with the other.
Suddenly, Jason chuckled. “What are you guys wearing?”
Despite the situation, I laughed too. Nodding my head toward Charles, I replied, “His idea. I think he’s a bit too fascinated with your cowboy stories.” We moved forward a few steps, trying to get the balance and rhythm right so we could walk as a trio back through the realms.
“I promised I’d take him riding sometime,” Jason said. His voice shook and I knew terrible thoughts were racing through his mind. Because I was thinking the same thing.
“He’s going to be okay,” I said with as much confidence as I could manage. “You ready to cross through?” We’d stopped in the darkest corner of the alley, behind a dumpster that hadn’t been emptied in weeks. The smell alone should have deterred any curious human from following us back here.
Jason nodded and I let out a deep breath. Three steps later, we left the living world. Moving through the betweens with two other people attached to my side felt odd. The transition seemed to be slower, almost as if parts of me were being pulled back into the place we’d just left. I’d never experienced that before, and it disturbed me just as much as all the other abnormalities that had surfaced this night.
After crossing in and out of a dozen realms, we finally arrived outside of my house. Stepping through the forest and into a haze of pinks and blues sent a wave of relief sweeping through me. Surely Charles cou
ld heal himself now that he was home.
“Help me get him inside,” Jason said. He hadn’t moved his hand, and I could still see the glow underneath Charles’ now tattered flannel shirt.
Once we reached the door, Jason bent forward and lifted Charles up as if he weighed nothing more than a baby. Knees bent and head resting against Jason’s chest, the old Warden looked so fragile. I tried not to let the sadness consume me, so instead I said, “You know, he’s going to hate that you’re carrying him.”
Jason smiled, even though it barely reached his cheeks. “Then I’ll remind him of it constantly.”
I opened the door and watched Jason lay Charles on the bed. The gentle way he handled his patient made me wonder what kind of bonding the two of them had done while I was in my Sani-induced coma. Perhaps it was more of an indication of the kind of doctor Jason would have been had his life not been cut so short.
“Do you guys use bandages or alcohol or anything here?” Jason asked. He unbuttoned Charles’ shirt and slowly maneuvered it off his arms. Balling it up in his hand, he used the rag to wipe blood off of Charles’ chest and stomach.
I stepped closer to the bed. “No, we don’t usually have a reason to keep any of that stuff. Warden’s can’t get hurt.” I knew those words weren’t accurate, but they had once been the truth to me. A truth I now had to accept as a lie.
Charles stirred and I took a closer look at his stomach. The Hunter had cut him from hip to hip, but where a gaping wound once threatened to take my friend, there was now a stark white scar stretching over his abdomen. Jason’s hands continued to glow and I swear I saw Charles’ skin tightening, healing underneath.
“Wow,” I breathed.
Jason looked up at me with a crooked grin. “It is pretty cool, isn’t it?”
I smiled back and placed my hand on his shoulder. Heat seared through his shirt and warmed my skin, like he had a fever. But I didn’t pull away. I didn’t know how to explain it, and I knew he would ask. A few minutes later, Charles began to breathe in a slow, regular pattern and Jason lifted his hands away.
Stretching his arms out in front of him, he slowly rotated his hands back and forth, examining them like a science project. “Do you have any idea what I just did?”
Remembering the Hunter’s strange reaction to touching me as well, I sighed. “None.” I had a thousand questions racing through my mind and someone needed to answer them. Someone who seemed wise beyond his years, preferably. Someone with special drinks “But I know someone who might.” I leaned forward over Charles and ran my finger across the healed gash on his stomach. The scar tickled my skin but felt surprisingly smooth. It was also warm and I briefly wondered if it would remain like that for all time.
Kissing Charles on the cheek, I quickly stood and focused on Jason. “I need to go talk to someone and find out what the hell just happened today. Can you stay here with Charles?”
He nodded but stood beside me. Tossing the bloody flannel to the side, he wiped his hands on his pants. “I’m sorry.”
“What?”
“I’m sorry I left.”
In all the chaos, I’d completely forgotten how we’d ended up on the streets of New York City in the first place. Jason had tried to collect a charge listed in his register that shouldn’t be here. Without saying a word, I walked over to the place where his dark brown book with a black stallion carved into the cover, sat alone on its very own pedestal. It was the same size as my own and I wondered how many names it already contained. Jason was new, not even two weeks dead, and yet he was already expected to escorts souls? It didn’t make sense. None of this did.
I reached out to admire the dark horse without touching the book. Standing tall on its rear legs, the animal looked wild and uncontrollable, yet magnificently frightening.
“Kind of perfect, right?”
I jumped, unaware of Jason’s close proximity behind me. He placed his hands on my shoulders and chuckled. “Sorry.”
I shook my head and continued to look at his register. “It’s okay. I guess I’m just a bit skittish after everything.”
The heat of his touch and my need to feel safe was a combination that completely overwhelmed me. I leaned back against him and stood there, simply enjoying the fact that I wasn’t alone anymore. He kissed the top of my head quickly and wrapped his long arms around my chest.
“Me too,” he said.
All of my fears…Charles getting hurt, Jason being stabbed…everything started to fade into the depths of my mind. With a sense of peace, my body relaxed into his strong embrace and complete calm filled the void in my head. Out of the corner of my eye, a slight glow caught my attention but I ignored it. Thoughts of Theron kept sneaking into the forefront, although soon they were lost as well. The glow intensified and after a few moments, it snapped me back to the present.
“Are you doing that thing to me?” I asked, stepping away from Jason and stumbling into his pedestal. I almost knocked the whole thing over in my haste to get away from his glowing touch.
“I…no…I didn’t mean to.” Jason’s frantic eyes searched his hands again as though they held all of the answers. “Why? What did you feel?”
Not sure if I should tell him the truth, I sighed. “I felt great. Like you were taking all of the confusion and heartache away.”
“Heartache?” he asked.
I didn’t want to tell him about Theron, so I waved my hand at Charles. “You know…him and you. I didn’t really enjoy watching you get stabbed.” I tried to smile but it just felt wrong.
“I didn’t enjoy it either.”
I couldn’t help but chuckle. “Fair enough.”
“And I’m sorry, again. I thought that since this thing was here,” he pointed to his register, “it meant that I had a job to do.”
“I understand,” I said, reaching out to squeeze his hand. “And I need to find out what’s going on.”
Jason raised his eyebrow. “This isn’t normal, is it?”
“Not at all.” He held on to my hand, refusing to let go. I didn’t mind.
“Will you please come back this time?” he joked. “I don’t know if I can handle another week of Charles’ questioning. Did you know that he’s never been to a rodeo?”
Laughing, I finally dropped my arm to the side. “Jason, I don’t think most people have ever even seen a rodeo on TV.”
He looked shocked, appalled almost. It cracked me up. “I’m going to go talk to Sani.”
“Who?”
“My new Advisor.”
“Oh.” Jason hung his head.
“I won’t be gone too long. Besides, I have no doubt we’ll be summoned as soon as word spreads to the Elders. So you and Charles should prepare your stories now.”
Jason stepped closer to the bed as I move toward the door. “I wouldn’t even know where to begin,” he said, defeat filling his voice.
“Charles can help you get started.” I smiled. “He’s had a lot of experience dealing with them.”
Jason’s faced dropped. “What would have happened to him if…if I wouldn’t have been there?”
“You mean if he would have died?”
Jason nodded.
“When we step through the light as a Warden, we’re done. There’s nothing waiting for us, no chance for our soul to return to another life. My understanding is that once we choose to leave this realm for good, it’s final.”
“And Charles doesn’t want to leave?”
“Not yet.” I attempted a smile. “Especially now that you’re here. He’ll have entertainment for several more centuries.”
He lifted his brows and chuckled as I turned to go. The further away I stepped, the more confusing the thoughts became as they scampered through my mind. Hunters. Theron. Charles. Jason. A battle with a knife that seemed to pulsate with wickedness and the glowing hands that seemed to heal the pain. The vision and feelings of the Hunters touching me…it all piled up, crushing me with despair.
I needed answers.
And answers I would get…just not in the place I expected them.
The last thing I remembered was stepping through my white picket fence and concentrating on finding Sani. I’d assumed he’d be in his tiny room in the castle, so I’d headed that way. But a moment later, my body disintegrated and reformed on top of my rock in Arizona. Nausea clawed at my stomach, but this time I held everything down. Although in all fairness, I don’t think there was anything left.
Now early dawn, the morning sun had yet to crest over the desert mountain peaks, but it lit the sky in a thousand shades of purple that I could have never imagined. Birds called out in the distance, and I swear I heard the plants awaken.
“I’ve been waiting for you.”
I whipped my head around to see Sani sitting in the middle of the stone platform, smoking something and watching me with keen yellow eyes.
“How’d you know I was coming?” I asked.
Offering only a smile, he gestured for me to sit across from him again. I complied, knowing cooperation would be in my best interest.
“You transported,” he stated.
I swallowed. “Yes.”
“And this is new?”
“Yes.” Even though Charles had tried to teach me before, I could never quite master the skill. I figured it was because I hadn’t been a Warden long enough. “Well, it happened earlier tonight too.”
“When you were scared?”
“Yes,” I said hesitantly, wondering how he knew.
Sani nodded and inhaled a long, deep breath from his pipe. Holding the smoke in his mouth, he offered the object to me. I shook my head in refusal. Sani grinned and my face was suddenly surrounded by his exhaled smoke, forcing me to cough and wave my hand in front of my nose for relief.
“Would you stop doing …” I couldn’t finish my sentence because the second the smoke cleared, I noticed I was surrounded by my ancestors again. The old woman materialized in front of me, still wearing the same ceremonial dress. Through her translucent body, I could barely make out the Sani’s outline sitting across from me on the rock. Her closeness startled me, but I tried not to react for fear of being seen as disrespectful in her eyes.