I Belong to the Earth (Unveiled Book 1)

by J. A. Ironside

  It was a magic eye picture. A twisting kaleidoscope of migraine-bright colours, shifting as soon as they started to make any sense. Fragments of images passed before I could grasp them. It didn't matter. I relaxed. Mellow and floating. I couldn't remember how I got here but it was a good place. Somewhere to rest. I'd been very afraid but since I couldn't remember why, I decided it didn't matter.

  A scent blew across my face. Rosemary. Violets. In a rush I remembered the dream I'd had before. Mum. Her head turning on her broken neck. The hissing, inaudible words she’d spoken. I trembled, too afraid to turn around. The scent grew stronger. I stared fixedly ahead.

  Mum?

  Don't be scared.

  The words weren't spoken aloud. It was Mum's voice, though. As if she had spoken.

  It's okay, Emlynn.

  Mum, I miss you!

  I miss you too sweetheart. You've kept me away so long. My stubborn girl. But there's something you need to see. We don't have much time.

  Now that I wanted to turn around, I couldn't. A warm hand rested on my shoulder. The smell of rosemary and violets was strong and comforting.

  Mum?

  Hush. Watch.

  The collage of twisting images solidified into the moor around Arncliffe. There was no sign of the road. Only a wide dirt track, winding through the hills. The lights from the distant village were too faint to be electric. They glinted like small change in the dark recesses of a purse. It was night but there were no stars overhead. Only a vast empty gulf where the sky should have been.

  A figure moved through the darkness. Tall, broad-shouldered, methodical. Sweeping through the heather, searching, searching. I saw another figure making her way towards him. Her long skirts swept the ground behind her. She'd kilted them up in front. Long dark hair streamed around her face though there was no wind. She would see him in a minute. Or he would see her. I felt the rightness of them finding each other. Like a fundamental equation had been solved. A riddle of logic worked out. I waited for the reunion but it didn't come. They moved right past each other unseeing. Not once but many times. Over and over again. My stomach knotted in anxiety.

  Why can't they find each other?

  Keep watching, Emlynn.

  So I did, and again and again they came within a breath of each other only to miss by fingertips. I saw the man's lips forming words. Her name. He was calling her name. I couldn't hear him but I saw the anguish on his face. It stabbed into me as though it was my grief, not his. I knew him. Oh god, I knew those black, pitiless eyes. I'd never seen them look so human. And the girl….I knew her too, didn't I? She was screaming soundlessly for him.

  Hardiman.

  That was the word her lips formed. Hardiman. Where had I heard that before?

  Now remember, Emlynn. The smell of rosemary and violets was fading.

  Remember. His voice. Haze. Or Robbie. Hardiman…it was his real name. I was sure of it….

  Mum?! Mum don't go!

  The scent was being replaced with a sharp, antiseptic smell.

  "Emily? Emily, it's time to wake up now, love."

  "Ungh?"

  "That's it Emily. Come back."

  I tried to raise my right hand but it was too heavy. I raised the left instead. My eyes flickered open. I blearily tried to focus, running my fingers across my cheek.

  "W-why is m-my face wet?" I asked thickly.

  The nurse looked at me with something like pity in her face. "You were crying in your sleep, love."

  Oh.

  Remember.

  I will.