by Jaymin Eve
Lucy lost it then. She laughed until she was breathless. I would have laughed too, but unfortunately this was actually my life.
“And lastly, I’m setting out to find some half-Walkers – that don’t exist apparently – and prevent an apocalyptic universal battle of mother-effing proportions.” I threw my arm over my eyes. “You know: because I’m just that awesome.”
“And lucky,” Lucy tacked on, “don’t forget lucky.”
I snorted at the mere thought.
Lallielle interrupted us, appearing above our heads. “I have organized a little after-dinner in the sitting room downstairs.” She smiled down. “That way we can all be there when Aribella officially turns eighteen.”
As I looked down the long length of my tight black dress, I realized I had no idea how I was getting up off the floor. At least my shoes were off again, and nothing was making me put them back on. For the fiftieth time I flexed my pained toes.
“Lalli, you could have included a huge slit up the side of this dress,” I complained. “I can’t get my butt up off the floor.”
Josian appeared out of nowhere and hauled Lucy and me up together. He threw us each over a shoulder.
I gasped as he dashed from the room; his super speed was breath-stealing.
We ended up dropped together into one of the big soft couches downstairs.
“Superman at your service.” Josian got a total kick out of our descriptions of superheroes.
He was sure many of them were based on Walkers. Lucy giggled as she tried to sit up. Josian left us and we were there for at least ten minutes before the others made it to the room.
Quarn looked happier now the crowds were gone. He walked arm-in-arm with Francesca.
I guessed no one had told him that it was her false predictions that had sent us all to Earth. I still hadn’t really warmed to the soothsayer. She was unnerving, knowing things the way she did. Plus her eyes had never become any less creepy.
Brace, Samuel and Lallielle were the last of the group to arrive.
Josian stepped back into the room. In his arms he carried a massive bouquet of pink and purple roses.
Struggling out of the couch, I bounced over to him. “They’re gorgeous.”
“Happy birthday, baby girl.” He kissed my cheek. “These are menorial roses. If you put them into water, they won’t die.”
I was relieved to hear that. Much as I loved beautiful flowers, I hated that they died so quickly.
Lallielle organized a huge vase to be delivered, half full of water. I placed my roses one at a time. Their floral and deep musky scent filled the room.
“Lucas? What are you still doing here?” Samuel shifted in his spot next to Lucy.
Lucas had just walked into the room unannounced. His jacket was off and draped over his shoulder. It was clear no one had known he was still there.
“You cannot have her, Lucas; she’s not the Empress.” Lallielle spoke fiercely, marching to my side. Never mind that last week she had been sure that I was.
“I’m not here to take Abby,” he said, as if I were a piece of furniture he needed delivered. Without expression, he continued, pushing back his blond hair. “Brace explained the mission you’re to undertake. I want to assist.”
Josian leaned casually against the wall. “Why would you want to do that?”
I knew him well enough now: that was his suspicious voice.
Lucas shrugged. “This seems to be the way to repair First World.” He looked directly at me. “I would think that was my job more than anyone’s.”
I hated to say it; the unease was still there, but I couldn’t shake the slight curiosity. That didn’t mean I wanted him along on the journey. But I was interrupted as I opened my mouth to object.
“Are we getting this party started or what?” Francesca’s light-hearted words broke the tension. Surprisingly, she had a wicked sense of humor. She’d be enjoying the strain in the room.
“You knew this was going to happen, didn’t you, Frannie?” Lallielle glared at her. “So Aribella goes with Lucy, Samuel, Brace and Lucas? Is there anyone else about to join the group?”
Francesca shook her head, her mouth apparently too full of cake to speak.
When I looked out the window, the large glowing numbers in the sky told me it was eight minutes to midnight. Eight more minutes before I stopped being Abigail, Earthling, and my destiny as Aribella, First Worlder and Walker, kicked in.
Leaving the arguing group, I stepped outside. I needed a few minutes to walk, so I scooped up the train of my long dress and strode out onto the sand.
No one knew what to expect when I reached my power enlightenment. Josian had told me that full Walkers were born with their powers; they just develop further as they age. First Worlders’ powers kick in at maturity, which is twenty-eight. They assumed I would fall somewhere between this.
“You shouldn’t wander off by yourself, Red.”
Brace appeared at my side. He was as sneaky as Josian sometimes.
I was standing on the edge of the water line, allowing the cool water to wash over my aching feet. I mentally made plans to burn those heels the next day.
He too was barefoot, with just dress pants and his white shirt, the top two buttons free. “What are you thinking about?”
I glared at him. “You can’t actually expect me to share my thoughts with you, disappearing Chuck.”
He sighed, staring out into the horizon. “Actually, I’m almost hoping you don’t share too many of them. You already drive me crazy with your words. Thoughts are sure to be much worse.”
Did I really want to know what that was about?
Once again I found myself turning to leave the crazy tension he created. I’d never think of myself as a coward, but something about Brace scared me to death.
It didn’t matter, though. Brace captured my hand, preventing me from escaping.
I’d had enough. Using his bulk, I brought myself in close, lowering my shoulder, and flipped him cleanly over my back. I was lucky enough to have taken him by surprise. Yanking my dress up, I went to pin him down, but he was too fast. Within seconds he reversed our positions. I found myself on my back in the sand, staring up at him. He used his bulk to hold me down before bringing his face close to mine.
“You are important, Abby.” He was serious. “These events are much bigger than you and me.” His velvet brown eyes softened. “Despite the fact you constantly irritate me.” He leaned closer. “But I would take on anyone to keep you safe, by my side, where you belong.”
The last part was barely a whisper. I wasn’t sure if I would hear any more over the beating of my heart.
I sucked in a ragged breath. His lips were inches from mine.
He shook his head. “Why did it have to be you, Abigail ... all this time?” His thick sooty lashes framing those captivating eyes, his expression and body against mine was driving me insane.
And then he kissed me.
His full firm lips pressed into mine and I forgot everything.
His strange behavior.
The long absence.
My lips opened as the kiss deepened. He kept the bulk of his weight off me, as if he knew I would hate the loss of independence. All that touched were our lips. I could escape at any point – not that I wanted to.
He did bring one hand down to cup my face. Fireworks exploded behind my closed eyes. A fire burned through me.
Brace groaned against my lips.
And in that moment the time clicked over to midnight. A surge of energy arched me under Brace. The pain was suddenly everywhere, sharp and intense. I looked down to see if knives were filleting my bones from my body.
“Red, what is it? What’s happening?”
Pain arched my back again. Brace held me as he tried to figure out what was attacking. With a bloodcurdling scream, my body succumbed to the pain and I writhed on the ground for a few endless moments. My sole aim: just keep breathing.
Chapter 15
Clarity returned
in an instant. All pain ceased.
I was still in the sand. But I was alone.
Sitting up, I looked around. I was overwhelmed by the crashing influx of sensory information. I noticed immediately my eyesight was clearer. Even in the dark, I could make out certain landmarks I’d never have seen before. My hearing was also improved; I could hear Josian yelling from inside the house. Within moments, he was at my side.
“Baby girl, Brace said something happened to you.”
I must have been down only seconds.
Josian’s shock was apparent as he helped me to my feet.
The rest of the group were making their way along the beach to where we stood.
Josian kept staring at me.
“Dad, I’m fine.” I grimaced at him. “But you could have told me about the pain. That was brutal.”
I rubbed my face; the ache of dicing knives hadn’t quite left me yet.
Josian shook his head. “There shouldn’t have been pain.”
I looked at him closely. Disbelief laced his tone.
“What’s wrong?” I looked around for the problem.
The rest of the group reached us. Their faces were as shocked as Josian’s.
I looked at Lucy. “Is my skin green? Do I actually look like an alien now?” I patted my face again, disturbing large chunks of sand residing in my hair.
“Your marks, Abbs ... We can all see your marks,” she said in a kind of stuttering awe.
Shaking my head in surprise, I looked down to see if my necklace had fallen open. It was resting in its usual spot, closed up tight. But, pulsing in the moonlight, my marks ran down my arm into the black of my dress.
Without thought, I raced back up the beach, pounding across the deck and inside to the nearest mirror: the downstairs powder room.
I used the energy stream to turn on the lights and open the door.
I stared at my reflection.
The marks were fainter than under the moonstale crystal, but they were there. And my knife wound had disappeared. The pink puckered scar, which had been hidden under my dress strap, was gone. In fact my skin looked perfect, not one spot, scar or blemish. Besides my Walker marks pulsing away at me.
Josian crowded in behind me. I turned my shocked eyes in his direction.
“Why has this happened?”
He shook his head. “I don’t know, baby girl. I’ve never seen this happen to any Walker before. But you are the first half-Walker that I’ve seen reach power enlightenment.”
He paused for a moment. Everyone else had crowded into the room behind us. I found myself pressed right against the sink that sat below the mirror.
“You told me the original Walkers had their marks on display, Jos.” Lallielle’s panicked voice came from the back of the group.
Josian sighed. “Yes, but this has to be something different. Aribella is only half-Walker. I don’t know if this has something to do with the combination of First-World and Walker powers or something else entirely.”
I glared at my reflection. “This is probably why people wanted to kill me as a baby. No one likes the unknown.”
“Josian, we need to figure this out. We cannot send Aribella out to the youngling planets with Walker marks on display.”
Lallielle spoke again as she forged her way to us.
“The average person doesn’t know about our marks,” was his helpful reply.
“Do not worry yourselves. This is meant to be for Aribella to complete her task. There is nothing more that can be done,” Francesca chimed in from the back of the room.
“Thank you, Frannie, succinct and crazy as usual.” Lallielle was becoming much too adept at sarcasm.
“No need to be a witch, Lallielle. I was just imparting my wisdom.”
Sisters are the same no matter what planet or age. I ran a hand along the pulsing pattern on my arm. I now had the world’s biggest ice breaker. Something this out-there was sure to be useful when trying to make friends on other planets.
“We should think up a cover story for your marks,” Lucy said as Samuel lifted her up for a better look. “Although, you look gorgeous. They really suit you.”
“Thanks, Luce, that makes me feel so much better.”
She shrugged. “Who cares how you feel? Haven’t I always taught you: it’s how you look that counts.”
I stuck my tongue out at her.
Turning, I started shoving people back so I could leave the powder room. Brace halted me with a hand on my arm. His expression appeared to be light hearted, but his eyes were a smouldering cauldron of emotion.
“Lucy is right, Red. You do look gorgeous. But please, if you value my sanity, no more screams of pain.” He leaned in closer, talking so low I almost missed the words. “I know my kisses are potent, but that was more of a reaction then even I expected.”
Flushing, I elbowed him in the ribs as I continued to move past. His kiss had been potent, and hot, and ...
Focus, Abby.
Taking a breath, I finally made it out of the room and back into the hall. Lallielle, who had followed me, took one look at my expression before turning to the group.
“Alright, everyone, to bed now. You’re leaving in the morning and you all need as much rest as possible.”
Thank god she’d seen that I’d had enough for tonight.
“I want to speak with Aribella before she goes, but, the rest of you, we meet back here at 0800 hours.” Josian reinforced her words.
I pointedly ignored the worried glances thrown my way. One by one they filed out of the room, taking off to finalise their lives.
Lallielle stopped Lucas with a hand on his arm. “If you are leaving with them tomorrow, would you like to stay here tonight?”
He nodded. “That would probably be the easiest. I’ll have my assistant drop off a bag.”
Lallielle nodded before gesturing for Lucas to follow the rest. He saluted us politely and walked off down the hallway. The edgy feelings disappeared with him.
Francesca stopped in front of me.
“I don’t know everything. For some reason I am getting less information than usual.” She laughed in her crazy way. “But I do know that this has happened to you, Aribella, because you were born to stand out. You’re important. You’re needed. And one day I hope my crazy visions all come together and make sense to me.” She shook her head.
Smiling in a calm manner, I patted her on the shoulder. Her insanity would never make sense to anyone, but it had to be annoying to just get snippets of an ever-changing future. And then be expected to make correctly interpreted predictions.
Lallielle watched her walk away and then kissed my cheek. “I know this is very stressful and confusing, but try and get some sleep tonight. You will need to be at your best for this journey.”
She hadn’t completely erased the worry from her eyes. My gaze followed her along the hallway.
Once the space was clear, Josian had my sole attention.
“Okay, before you leave, I need to make sure you can access the basic Walker powers. Have you noticed a change since you awoke?”
I nodded. “Yes, my senses are all heightened.”
Josian looked happy with that. “Excellent. Your powers will continue to change and grow as you age and as you practice using them.”
“So they might just burst out of me randomly?” I asked in horror.
He shook his head. “It should be a slow growth. But then I never expected the marks, so what do I know?”
I could see Josian wasn’t used to being unsure. I grabbed his hand and squeezed it. He clutched me a little closer.
“I need to make sure that you can access the energy wormholes and open doorways to other worlds. I will not be letting you leave, no matter what Frannie says, if you don’t have the ability to escape.”
He took a deep breath.
“I am going to show you a crude way of creating a doorway. Once you are more in tune with your abilities you will no longer need to resort to this type of energy manipulat
ion.”
I nodded once, running my tongue nervously over my lips.
“Okay, as we have practiced, take some of your energy.”
I closed my eyes and reached into my inner spot. It was still there, in the exact same place. Only this time it was different. Now, there was a bottomless pit of energy pulsing. It was alive and electric, with the same burning warmth I’d felt during my enlightenment. But thankfully muted.
“Draw from the energy, continue pulling it like string. Send it outside yourself, looping into a continuous circle. But do not let go of the end yet.”
The substance was still like sticky taffy but there was a tensile strength now that it had lacked before.
“Visualise the completed circle, but hold on to the end of the string. In the inner space of the circle project an image of your bedroom upstairs.”
I followed Josian’s words, picturing my gorgeous king-sized bed.
“Open your eyes,” Josian directed. “And let go of the string.”
I obeyed again and as my lashes flicked up I gasped.
In front of me, shining brightly, was the dark night of a Walker doorway. Not as large or clear as the one we had taken to Earth. But it was there. And I could see my bed, not too far in the distance.
Without warning, Josian took my hand and pulled me in. I was encased by the familiar sucking sensation. But it was different this time. Instead of an over-abundance of energized cells, moving at the speed of light, I simply drifted with the currents. It was a much shorter trip and at the end we exited onto my bed. No drama.
“That was amazing.” I smiled in achievement.
Josian, demonstrative as always, pulled me into a tight hug. “When all of this is over, I will show you the right way to open a doorway and walk between the worlds.
“And remember, if you need to transport more than one or two people, you have to make sure your doorway is strong enough. At least two rounds of energy per person.”
I nodded as I pulled back. “Thanks. And I’ll be careful, I promise.”
He smiled and moved to exit my room. “See you in the morning, baby girl.”