It happened within seconds. One moment, I was floating inside the stream. Then the next, I was still inside the stream, but I was also standing right next to the man.
Whoa, this is a trip.
He nearly jumped out of his skin, and I realized that he could see me. He looked at me with petrified eyes.
I didn’t know how, or what kind of strange time laws I was breaking, but I could tell that he could hear me.
Hey, buddy, I said. I’m not here to hurt you, but could you be a doll and turn that page for me?
He was shaking but did what I asked, and the next thing I knew, I was learning about all of the ancient magics, spells, and energies that I’d only had a hint of while in captivity.
From there, I visited him often, although maintaining my state was incredibly exhausting. I had to build up my stamina bit by bit, and once I learned everything I could, I moved on to more threads.
Finally, I had a full and ready plan, and that was when I went after Krisjian. At first, I was afraid that somehow my friends wouldn’t get the memo, but I managed to manipulate time enough so that Mickey managed to get a dream.
So did any other awakened seers, I guessed, but I didn’t see any others in the endless stream I was in.
It was bizarre being able to watch Mickey have her vision but not be able to go into it. It was like there was a clear but impenetrable wall between us, but it was only one way.
She looked so sad. It really made me feel quite guilty. Yeah, she was alive because of me, but she was also torturing herself because of me. Maybe if I had just planned a little better, she would have both her life and her sister.
Well, I was doing my best to fix it.
And finally, Krisjian was off with my friends and all I could do was wait and float around in the aether, learning everything I could before I was sucked back out into real life.
Or, ya know, destroyed forever. I was hoping that one wouldn’t happen, though.
So much had happened since my death. I had accomplished so much and manipulated so much more. It was strange to just sit back and wait for things to pan out or fall apart forever, but there wasn’t much else to do.
There was something terrible coming on the horizon, something dangerous, and I needed to be there to stop it. But I also needed to make sure that I didn’t lose my connection to this stream. I was more in touch with what it meant to be a seer than I had ever been, and now I was connected to everything that had been and everything that would be.
I didn’t mean that in an egocentric way. As best I could figure, all seers were like that. This strange interconnected stream I was in was what we returned to whenever we passed, and what we left whenever we were born. Now, why I wasn’t being properly absorbed like everyone else was beyond me, especially since I hadn’t run into any other seers floating around and riding the waves like I was.
That would be nice, wouldn’t it? It would be a regular seer party up in the kaleidoscope. Just like—
Out of nowhere, I was yanked forward in the stream, flying through colors completely out of its natural flow. The movement shocked me, and for a moment, I was breathless, but it stopped just as suddenly as it happened.
“What the heck was th—”
And then I was rushing off again, like a human that had been accidentally strapped to a rocket. Colors flew past me fast enough to be nauseating, except for that whole thing about not being alive enough to have a stomach, or any other part of my digestive system for that matter.
I felt the edge of the energy hurtling toward me just a second before I was ripped out of it, and then I was surrounded by nothingness. But that lasted for only a moment before I was right back in my body.
I gasped, which only caused pain to rush through every single part of me. Pain? Did that mean I was alive? Was the ritual working?!
The crystal holding me began to crack then chip before it finally shattered, and I found myself falling to the ground, my body healing as I plummeted.
Except I didn’t stop falling when I hit the top of the hill. I passed through it, then images began moving so quickly that I couldn’t tell where I was. I toppled through layers and realities, rushing in incomprehensible blurs, until I slowed enough to recognize that I was rushing through the central hub.
We were doing it! I was going home! I was—
Not so fast!
I stopped short, and the stress made all of my joints pop, but the pain faded just as quickly, making me wonder where I was between human and specter. Looking down, I saw claws wrapped around my legs.
How about we make the trip together?
Get off! I cried, kicking at him. But the pull dragging me along started up again, and the two of us were yanked through the vast, empty, mangled expanse of the central hub.
The faster we went, the more the illusion of it began to crumble. Instead of being the ruined remains of the city I loved, or at least tolerated, it turned in a gray wasteland filled with only rot and carrion.
Do you see now? Mana’akua roared. The prison I’ve been locked into?
His other front leg came up, gripping my hip. Panic began to rise within me in earnest. I knew that I couldn’t let him out of his prison. His lust for power and penchant for destruction was going to ruin everything I loved.
So, I kicked at him with all of my might, swinging my fists down to slam against the scaled rim of his nose. He was just so big. His head was the size of my body and his relatively small fingers easily wound around my thick thighs.
Come now, this will be so much easier if you stop fighting it. It’s not like I’ll kill you or your sister. Imagine worlds populated only by our allies, and your people treated as the leaders they deserve to be.
It’s not as if you can do anything, after all. It took all of your ancestors to put me away, and you’re just one girl.
He had a point. He was so strong, so massive, and I was just a chubby high-school graduate with not a lot going for me beyond my recent vacation into the energy stream that connected all of us seers.
Wait a minute. I was still thinking too much about being alive Davie, and I wasn’t quite there yet. I could tell that by the lack of blood from my wounds and the fact that my pain lasted less than a second. Since I wasn’t alive Davie anymore, or yet, that meant I could be anything I could pick up in the energy stream.
We burst through the other edge of the central hub and then were rushing through a vibrant blue tunnel that wasn’t at all like the energy stream.
It was a portal. It had to be. No matter what happened, I couldn’t let this go any further.
I looked around for something, anything to slow me or get free, but there was nothing but blinding light all around us.
And then I saw it, the tiniest thread of something. I didn’t know if the portal was passing through the energy stream, or if I just had unlimited access to it now, but I didn’t question it. I reached out and grabbed it with all of my mind.
Suddenly, our direction changed, and we were yanked down, down, down, through the blinding blue wall of the portal-tunnel and out into the nothingness of…well, nothing.
No! What are you doing?!
Stopping you. I answered, feeling more alive than I had since I was a child.
Energy rushed through me, making every single cell in my body light up. I felt strength drench my being and I pulled my fist back before letting it collide right with his snout.
He roared, and we went spinning uncontrollably into the blackness. Deeper into the nothing. He glared up at me, incensed, and breathed a stream of fire so mighty that it quickly engulfed the two of us in a massive tornado of flames.
But it didn’t burn. It didn’t even singe my overly-processed hair. No, it only emboldened me, and I pulled back my fist again.
Let. Go.
I let loose with all the anger of all the seers he had cursed, with the pent-up revenge of the ancestors that had worked so hard to put him away. Every seer that had ever died by his hand, or his manipulations, found a
root in me and slammed my fist right against one of his massive, yellowed teeth.
The fire stopped, and I felt his front legs jerking in separate directions, trying to rend my very legs from my body. But I had one up on that. I grabbed the very tooth that I had just punched and yanked with all of my might.
The howl that left his mouth was music to my ears. He reared back, one of his hands losing its grip on me, but I hardly paid that any mind. All of my attention was on the sharp, decrepit tooth in my hand, bloody bits of rotted flesh stuck to its root.
Whipping it around to face the other direction, I allowed the now-enraged dragon the best smile I could muster.
Mana’akua, I’m not arrogant enough to think that I could do anything that would possibly pay for all of your crimes. Without another moment’s hesitation, I whipped my arm back and stabbed that tooth right into one of his malevolent, hateful eyes. But I think that’s a good start!
The sound he let out was one of absolute anguish, trumpeting my victory. Bringing my free leg up onto his carapace, I kicked off with all of my might, watching as he tumbled, screaming, into the abyss.
I had done it.
He was gone.
But at what cost?
Looking up, I saw the portal beginning to flicker. With no way to get up there, and no idea how to move through the void, I realized that I was doomed to wander through the nothingness without even my energy stream to accompany me. It truly was a fate worse than death.
“Take my hand!”
What? I knew that voice!
Looking up, I saw a glimmering rope of pure white illumination hurtling toward me.
“I swear on every dragon god that has ever been, you take my hand right now, Davie!”
Gasping, I reached up for the silvery lifeline, and when my fingers wrapped around it, it felt like I was grabbing onto the sun.
Take me home, I whispered, closing my eyes and wishing with all of my heart that the voice belonged to exactly who I thought it did.
I rocketed upwards, faster and harder than before. I could still see the portal flickering and beginning to collapse above me, but the closer I got, the more I could hear the voices of those I loved.
“Davie, don’t you dare give up!”
“Come on! Davie, I know you can do this!”
“Take my hand, Davie! Just take it!”
I reached up for it, fighting with everything I had to make it to the light before the darkness swallowed everything. I was almost there. I just needed a few more seconds!
Just as the last of the light was about to fade, a glowing hand reached out of the very end of the tunnel and grabbed me. The next thing I knew, I was yanked through a wall of pure energy, and in that moment, I was born for the second time.
I guessed that vacation would have to wait.
18
A Very Happy New-Birthday
Davie
I tumbled out of the void unable to see, or hear, or smell, but I could feel it as I toppled down to the ground only to land on something slightly softer than the earth. Strong arms wrapped around me, and I felt whatever I was laying on shake with what I guessed—or hoped—were happy sobs.
Pain.
That was what came through first. Everything from my scalp to my soles were throbbing like one giant bee sting. Goodness, was this how babies felt? No wonder they were so cranky at first.
Small drops of water landed on my face, and I felt someone grab my hands. Just like in the energy stream, my senses came back slowly.
First, I saw royal regalia under me, and when I craned my neck upwards, I saw the bottom of Bronn’s chin. He was the one holding me, and it was his tears landing on the upturned side of my face.
To my left was Mickey, kneeling beside me and holding my hand as she openly sobbed. The sight of the two of them made me want to cry too, but it seemed my body was figuring everything out still.
“Davie!” Wow. The first words I heard with my real, physical ears in what seemed like an eternity. Was Mickey’s voice always that reedy? I never thought so before… “Oh my God, Davie, you’re alive! You’re really, really alive?”
I tried to nod, but Bronn was holding onto me so tightly that it was hard to move my stiff neck about. Geez, death could really do a number on ya, it seemed.
Looking around where I could, I saw Mal and Mallory standing just a bit behind Mickey, the latter crying into her hands while Mal patted her back, and finally, just a bit behind them, was little Krisjian looking both utterly shocked and pleased at the same time.
It was a happy moment in so many of fear and panic, so I let myself just sink into it. I didn’t fight Bronn’s hold, or force myself to push through because sentimentality could wait until later. If there was one thing I had learned, it was to do things while I had a chance.
But as nice as it was, there was something looming on the horizon and there was only so long we could celebrate. I tried to open my mouth to speak, but my tongue just lolled about, and my lips wouldn’t move how I needed them to.
It was Mickey who noticed it and she bent close. “Can you speak, Davie?”
I managed the tiniest shake of my head and she nodded calmly. “That makes sense. It’s been a while since you used those. How about we take you home and let you rest? Technically, I guess today is your birthday.”
I tried to at least chuckle at that, but all that came out was a puff of air. But Mickey knew what I meant and smiled gently, stoking my hair out of my face.
“Bronn, can you carry her?”
“You’re mad if you think I wouldn’t,” he responded. “But I’d appreciate help not jostling her too much while I get up.”
A second later, everyone was around me, helping to pull my limp, heavy form off the prince. It seemed that death hadn’t had any effect on my soft waistline, which made me wonder if this was my old body reconstituted from another dimension, or an entirely new body that was just made to emulate my old body.
Magic, it certainly didn’t make things simple.
A few moments later, Bronn was off of the ground and dusting himself off. I expected him to turn around so that he could carry me piggyback style, but instead, he swept me up just like a bride and started walking, my friends falling in line.
Surprisingly, no one said much on our trek to the castle. I assumed everyone was caught up in their own thoughts, going over the insane thing we had just accomplished.
I was alive.
I had died, became a ghost-ish kinda thing, and now I was alive.
There were so many people who never got a second chance at life, and I was going to make sure that I did it right.
We reached my old room and my tears decided to start working right as we walked through the door. Warm and surprisingly soothing to my eyes, I wept silently from the rush of emotion.
I had missed all of them so terribly much. They knew that, right? Sure, I was always better at being sarcastic and snarky rather than open with my emotions, but I loved each of them dearly. Being separated from them for all eternity had been more than my heart could bear, and now that we were back together, I could admit to myself that I had been incredibly terrified of that possibility.
“Mallory, could you get one of the staff to fetch some cool water?” Mickey asked, using the bottom of her shirt to wipe my face. “And, Mal, a cool, damp washcloth?”
The two of them nodded and dashed off, leaving me with just Bronn, my sister, and dear little Krisjian.
The prince still said nothing, his eyes red and puffy as he stroked my hair. It was like he was afraid to break contact with me and, honestly, I didn’t blame him. Meanwhile, Mickey held my hand and I could hear her uttering prayers of gratitude and relief under her breath.
It was Krisjian who approached me first, looking nervous but relieved.
“It’s nice to meet you after all this time,” he murmured, barely daring to look up at me.
I couldn’t return the greeting, but I could shakily reach out my free hand to him. He stared at it
a moment, seeming a bit surprised, before hesitantly taking it. With an approving wink, I gave him the best handshake I could, willing him to know that he did a great job.
“…thank you,” he murmured, pride running across his features before he stepped back and allowed both Mallory and Mal to come closer with their items.
I spent the next half-hour or so being tended to by the group. It was quiet, it was full of a lot of tears, but it was utterly perfect. After so much struggle, I was back home.
I would allow myself a small bit of rest, but I knew that as soon as I had all of my body function back, I had some serious work to do.
I just hoped that, for once, I didn’t dream.
Wow. After being dead for so long, I had completely forgotten how awesome sleep was. It was different from being a corpse. It was a blissful sort of restorative rest that made my whole body feel renewed.
When my eyes fluttered open I wanted to sing, dance, or even do an entire conga line down the hall. It was incredible to just sit up and look around with a real, physical body.
It seemed that my friends had been serious about not leaving me alone, and I didn’t mind one bit. Bronn was sitting on the mattress, leaning up against the headboard as he dozed. His head was resting on his chest, and I wondered how long he had stayed up, watching me as I slept.
Mickey was still holding my hand, but she had pulled up a chair to the side of the bed and she was sitting in that while her arms rested on the mattress and her head was nestled safely in the crook of her elbow.
Mal and Mallory had pulled up a couch to the baseboard and they were snuggled on it, while Krisjian was curled on a pile of cushions just to the side of the bed.
It was nice to see us all together, everyone’s face contented for once instead of twisted in horror or stress or worry.
Stretching my mouth out, I decided to try the whole talking thing again.
“Good morning, everyone,” I murmured, seeing who would wake up and who was really out.
Power of the Seers (Dragon Oracle Book 4) Page 10