by Krystal Wade
Brad gets off the chair and paces back and forth between the door and me. He shakes his head and mutters inaudible words, fists balled.
I don’t understand his increased agitation; I’ve never seen him this way.
“Brad, this world is my world. I was born here, and am back here now to help end a war, but you have to go home. Tonight, we’ll ride you out to the clearing, so you can go back to your dad. Do you think you can handle that?” I ask, hoping to bring him out of his agitated state.
Brad keeps pacing and muttering. He stops and looks at me; an expression of limitless anger spreads across his face. “I meant it, Kate.”
“You meant what?” My hands tremble. I take a deep breath. This is Brad. He won’t hurt me. I shouldn’t be afraid of him.
“What I said to you before the coma, that I want to marry you. I’ve known since the first time we met. And yet, you still don’t care? Have you slept with him?” He’s so close to my face; his breath warms my cheeks.
“Brad, that’s none—”
“So, you have, then! I poured my heart out to you on my deathbed, and you’ve been fucking another guy! I thought you were better than that. I thought you had feelings for me, too. Why did you kiss me back? Why didn’t you just let me die?”
Tears stream down my face. I don’t dare tell Brad that Arland and I have absolutely not slept together. Brad’s anger flows so freely, I’m afraid he might hurt me, on purpose this time.
He returns to pacing.
Sitting in shock, I remain silent, trying to work up enough courage to bolt from the room. I press my feet to the floor, but he blocks my escape and leans face-to-face with me.
Brad narrows his eyes. “We would’ve been really great together. We could’ve had kids, opened our own vet clinic, or operated our own farm. You would’ve made me the happiest man alive. I’ve had a ring picked out for a long time. Without your parents, I realized this trip was perfect for us to be alone. I’d planned on telling you everything, but now you’ve ruined everything! I can’t believe I wanted to marry you!”
God, please, help me.
This is not the Brad I’ve known since we were little, not the Brad who plays with my hair when I’m stressed, or helps me with my homework. That Brad never so much as raised his voice to me. He’s accusing me of ruining his life. We’ve kissed once; why on Earth would he have picked out a ring for me?
Mom was right. I should’ve told Brad how I felt, years ago, but after coming on the trip, I kind of thought there might be a future … until I met Arland. Besides that, I found out about Mark, and now, I’ve seen the way Brad treated Arland. Brad is too possessive, obsessed, even. Everything he’s ever done has probably been a lie and a way to get closer to me, or to keep others from me.
He spreads out his arms, palms facing up. “Are you going to say anything?”
“I—”
There’s a knock at the door.
“Kate? Your mother would like to speak to you,” Flanna says.
“Leave us alone,” Brad yells over his shoulder, then scowls at me. “Don’t you think you owe me some kind of response?”
I close my eyes; the magic burns inside. Without looking, I know my skin is ablaze with the brilliant blue color. A renewed courage takes hold of me. Opening my eyes, I look at Brad’s angry face. He doesn’t step back, doesn’t seem to see the fire engulfing my skin.
There’s no choice. He has to go home now.
“I love you, Brad, but it’s never been the same way you love me. This could’ve all been avoided if you had been honest with me much earlier in our lives. Please, will you ride to the clearing with us, so we can take you home?” I try hard to keep my voice void of emotion.
Brad crosses his arms. “No! I’m going to wait here until your little boyfriend drops you on your ass, and I’m going to laugh at you when he does.”
He spits in my face.
“Arland!” I yell, knowing it’s wrong, but I want Brad to hurt. He’s a mean liar and deserves to be punched after his tirade.
Arland bursts through the door. “Kate, leave now!”
I run from the room and throw myself into my mother’s loving arms. She brings me away from the hall, leading me toward the kitchen.
“So you’re Kate’s baby-sitter now? I hope you enjoyed screwing the only woman I’ve ever loved.” Brad yells before Mom and I are out of earshot.
The door slams before I hear Arland’s response.
My heart aches worse than it ever has. Tears blind me. I’m cold, but sweating.
Mom rubs my back and pulls hair out of my face as a wave of vomiting takes over. “Flanna, get something under her.”
Flanna rushes a wooden bucket under my mouth, and I puke for what seems like way too long, considering how little I’ve eaten today.
My stomach twists and burns. With each heave, my chest constricts and my muscles weaken.
I sit on the floor, then lean against the wall.
“What happened?” Mom asks.
I tell her everything: how Brad accused me of having sex with Arland, how Brad made it seem like I was cheating on him, how he wanted to marry me, how he had a ring picked out, how he spit in my face.
She wraps her arms around me, squeezing my numb soul. “Kate, I’m so sorry. I never expected Brad to react that way. He’s been hiding this very dark side of himself well.”
“What do you think they’re going to do to him?” I expected Arland to hit him and be out of there already, but it’s been at least fifteen minutes, and I haven’t heard the door open even once.
“Kegan and Arland are going to wipe his memory.”
“What?”
“We discussed it while you were talking with Brad. If he had willingly come with us to the clearing, we would’ve left his memory intact, but his dark obsession with you is too powerful. I don’t know if it’s possible, but I fear he might try to come back through the portal.”
I pull out of Mom’s arms. “I didn’t even get to say goodbye!”
“Why would you even want to? He spit in your face and basically told you he hopes Arland leaves you broken and miserable.” Brit hops up onto the counter.
“That will never happen,” Arland says, walking into the kitchen without a smile. He stares at me. His face is emotionless, but his eyes tell exactly how much he’s bothered by the situation.
“Kate, will you walk with me for a moment?”
I nod.
Arland reaches out for me.
Linking my shaky arm through his, I walk with him toward Brad’s room.
Arland pauses outside the door. “I did not hit him. It took a lot of restraint not to do so. We have cleaned his memory of everything that has happened since he caught us outside the communications room. Would you like to say goodbye to him now, or would you like us to finish?”
Confused by the question, I look at Arland. After everything that’s happened, do I want to say goodbye? A moment ago, I was upset about not having the chance to say goodbye, but now that it’s here, I don’t want it.
“Finish it.”
Arland re-enters the room.
Cadman has his hand on Brad’s shoulder; the two stand by the bed.
He catches sight of me before Arland closes the door. “Kate! Let me go! I have to see her.”
Before I change my mind and burst through the door, I wrap my arms around myself and run back to the kitchen. How did it come to this? How did I lose the boy I put stars on my bedroom ceiling with, when we were little? How did he turn into this monster? How come I never saw this?
“What did Arland want?” Flanna asks.
Tears stream down my face. “He gave me an opportunity to say goodbye. I didn’t do it.”
Flanna leads Mom, Brit, and me up to the stables, then puts us to work. I have a feeling she’s doing it only for me, to help clear my head, but Mom and Brit don’t complain. They take care of the cows and goats, while I spend time with Mirain.
She welcomes me in her stall, giving me li
ttle nudges with her nose. Resting my head against her chest, I listen to her breathe for a while, before I finish brushing her.
No one talks in the stables; we only work. Shovels hit the earth, and straw rustles as it’s spread about. Except for an occasional sigh, it’s quiet in here with Mirain. My spirit has not lifted at all, but being with her helps.
I grab some oats from a bag and offer them to her. “Who sent you to me, girl?”
Mirain eats the oats from my hand. When her mouth touches my palm, a vision flashes. A beautiful, bright-golden-skinned man with long, silver hair and a matching beard, dressed in a white robe, revealing a chest full of rippled muscles, stabs a sword into the ground, then turns to walk off. Beside him, a golden mare stands. The vision fades, but I want to see more of it. The man was elegant, warm.
Instead of giving me the same man, a second vision replaces him. Arland, Mom, Brit, Flanna, Cadman, Perth, and I all stand with our backs against a damp rock wall. Light blazes out of all of us, revealing an army of hundreds of thousands of approaching daemons.
There’s nowhere to run.
The daemons are led by a man covered in blood from head to toe, wearing no clothes at all. He carries his sword, and an evil smile mars his face. His eyes are hollow and black. On the ground around our feet, and as far as can be seen in the dark, lie the dead. Daemons hover over the bodies—possibly eating them, I’m not sure. I’m so disturbed, I avert my eyes.
My knees fail me.
I fall, trembling.
This is the end.
“Brad, please don’t do this!” I scream to the naked man before me.
Chapter Twenty-Four
“Tell me again. What happened?” Arland’s voice thickens with concern.
“She was with the horses, while we were on the other side of the stables,” Mom says. “After an hour, she started screaming. We weren’t sure what happened. We found her on the floor, convulsing.”
“Her eyes rolled back in her head. We could not get her to look at us or talk to us.” Flanna sniffles.
Has she been crying?
“How long has she been like this?” Kegan asks.
I imagine he’s ready to jab a needle into my arm, put me under the way he and Shay did to Brad. The thought of Brad sends a stabbing pain through my chest. The vision of his naked body, attacking us, killing innocent people … .
“She’s been under nearly three hours,” Mom whispers.
Three hours?
“Maybe she has a concussion from Brad punching her?” Brit chimes in.
Oh, Brit, always the drama queen; although, she makes a valid point. I haven’t ever passed out this long from a vision.
“And she was with Mirain?” Arland must be coming to the same conclusion I already have, that Mirain shows me things.
“Yes,” Mom, Brit, and Flanna all announce together, with a slight edge. It’s clear they have told Arland this before.
”I believe she had another vision.” Arland brings my hand to his mouth and gently kisses my fingers.
“Kate, if you can hear me, please, wake up.”
I’ve been awake long enough to know how concerned they are for me; it’s not fair to eavesdrop while they worry. Opening my eyes, I smile, but quickly stop. The left side of my face stings. I touch the warm, tender skin. Swelling reaches halfway down my face, over my nose, and up to my temple. The skin has to be discolored, as well.
Relief is on the faces of everyone around me, except Arland. He clenches his jaw, narrows his eyes, and his hands hold the edge of the bed, as though he wants to tear the mattress apart. He looks like he wants to run from the room, scream obscenities, and hug me, all at the same time.
“How do you feel?” Mom asks.
I’m not sure I want to look away from Arland, but I do.
Blood thrums in my ears. “L-like my eye is on fire, a little confused as to why everyone is standing around me like I’m in a hospital d-dying, and somewhat worried about some things going on in my life, but otherwise I’m fine. Thanks f-for asking.” My sarcastic response does little to cover the uneasiness I’m feeling.
Mom rests her gaze on me, and everyone laughs nervously. But when I sit up, and they see I am fine, the joke catches on and the laughs become more honest.
Arland watches me. He hasn’t spoken, hasn’t touched me since he kissed my hand.
I cannot breathe. Why is he so angry? What did I do?
“Why did you pass out, Kate?” Brit asks the question that is surely on the tip of everyone’s tongue, the question I don’t want to answer in front of Kegan.
“I don’t know. Exhaustion, maybe.”
Arland looks at me cross-eyed. He knows I’m lying. I’m pretty sure everyone in the room does, too, but I don’t want to tell them about my visions. Finding out what they mean is more important than causing a panic over Brad. And after the day we’ve had, causing a panic doesn’t seem like the best idea.
Whatever is bothering Arland, he snaps out of it. His grip on the mattress relaxes; his back straightens.
“Kegan, go check in with Lann. Let him know Kate is okay, then begin inventory on our medical supplies. Send Saidear to the training facility. Have him gather all the remaining weapons, and a few targets for practice, and bring them into the sleeping quarters. Due to the daemon activity, we will not be traveling between the two buildings for the remainder of our stay. Flanna, get Brad something to eat. We will leave for the clearing at 3:00 a.m.,” Arland says.
The instant the door closes, Arland sits in the chair next to the bed. His face softens. “What did you see?”
Meeting his eyes, I put my hand on his cheek. “Tell me why you’re so upset, first.”
He’s pale and clammy; his expression shifts between angry and happy to see me.
Mom squeezes Arland’s shoulder. “Kate, Arland wiped Brad’s memory. When you take someone’s memories from them, you get glimpses into their minds, their life, their thoughts. You see things the way they did. Anything Brad ever did with you or thought about you, Arland has seen and felt through Brad’s eyes. You can imagine how hard that must have been for him.”
Oh my God, hard? That must have been horrible. What did he see that’s angered him so much? Why does he look like he wants to kill Brad? If he saw and felt what Brad was feeling, does that mean Arland is mad at me?
I have to know. “What did you see?”
Mom shakes her head. “I don’t think it would be a good idea for Arland to tell you.”
A tear hangs from Brit’s chin. “Mom, I think it would be great for Kate to hear.”
“Arland? Please?” I beg.
He sits on the bed next to me and takes my hands in his. Keeping his eyes down, Arland rubs his thumb lightly over my knuckles. “Kate, I saw a young boy who loved you very much, but as that boy grew, he became obsessed with you, when that love was not reciprocated. I saw him leading a life full of lies, so he could be close to you. He betrayed you more than once, and he enjoyed when you were hurt, so he could be closer to you. I saw a boy who was sad, who felt like a shadow in your world.”
I never meant to hurt Brad, and I never expected him to hurt me. “W-what else?”
“When he saw us together, Kate, he had murderous thoughts—”
“That’s enough.” Mom gives Arland a stern look.
I feel like someone has taken a sledgehammer and slammed it into my chest. I’m capable of taking only short breaths. I see Arland, Mom, and Brit through the tears, but I cannot hear anything they’re saying. My hands are cold. I’m sure Arland saw a lot more than he’s telling me. Brad and I were friends for a long time, and he was always there, but for some reason, Mom doesn’t want Arland to go on.
How could that sweet little boy from the playground turn out to be such a monster? Why did none of us recognized how bad he was? He saved his mother’s life once; if he was such a bad person, why would he have done that?
Blinking the tears from my eyes, I see concern in Arland’s.
N
o. I refuse to wallow, refuse to let Brad get the best of me, refuse to be upset over this. I’m mad. I think, for the first time in my life, I might actually hate someone.
Taking deep breaths, I focus on those in front of me, those who love me for who I am and what I want—or rather, for what I’m going to become. Wiping the tears from my face, I grip Arland’s hand. “In the stables, I was feeding Mirain. I asked her who sent her to me. She showed me a vision of a man with a golden mare. He was beautiful. Before the vision faded away, he stabbed a sword into the ground and left it there.”
Anger flows through me, making my skin burn. I throw the wool blankets from my legs.
Mom sits on the foot of the bed. “Is that when you fainted?”
She doesn’t show it, but she must be shocked I’m not reacting worse to the news about Brad.
I’m not going to let him affect me any longer.
I take another deep breath. “No. There was another, horrible vision—”
“Hold up. Did you just say Mirain showed you the vision?” Brit asks, voice raised.
“It is not the first time Kate has experienced visions while in proximity to Mirain,” Arland says, reminding me of the first vision she showed me, the one of Brad killing him.
I fight an urge to flee the room and punch Brad in his eye.
“Mirain was a gift from Griandor.” Arland rubs his thumb over my knuckles. I think he’s trying to calm me, not himself. My fury must be visible on my face, in my words, in the sweaty grip I have on him.
“I believe you are right, Arland. Griandor seems to have a lot of involvement with Kate.” Mom turns to face me.
“Kate, what was the other vision?”
“Brad led the army for Darkness. Everyone had been murdered except for the four of us, Cadman, Flanna, and Perth. Brad had us cornered. I begged him to stop, but he didn’t. That’s when I fainted.” I leave out the details of Brad being naked, with hollowed eye sockets, and covered in blood. Those details will remain locked away; they are too painful.
Arland stands so fast his chair falls back. “Can you ride?”
“I thought you’d never ask,” I say.
“What are we going to do?” Brit asks, legs bouncing.