by KT Webb
“So they’re all in the same place, they just look different depending on what is happening in that moment?” Thatcher asked slowly. He shook his head as he tried to comprehend what the girls were telling him.
“Look around you! The Creator made all of this. All of the strange and beautiful and vastly different places on Earth. Don’t you think he could make another plane that followed different rules than our own?” Nora asked.
There were so many unexplainable pieces of the story the Old Immortals had told them. The discovery of Eternity had gone a long way in explaining many of those pieces, but learning that it could only be accessed by someone with special abilities helped the final pieces fall into place.
“So, let’s say for a second that you’re not completely crazy and go along with this whole Potteresque ‘land of requirement’ thing. How exactly would we manage to get there? And how could we guarantee it would get us to the mountain?” Thatcher asked.
Hadley and Nora exchanged a look. The sun would set soon, and they needed to find a place to sleep for a few hours.
“Take us to the ruins of the Mayan temples,” Hadley said. “It was the last place they lived before they were cut off completely from the Creator. Maybe we can find evidence of another plane, or an entrance or something.”
They packed up the books and took one last look around them before Nora whisked them away.
Chapter Twenty-Nine:
Tahlia
The cold water splashed on her face again, forcing her back to consciousness. Her whole body ached, and she felt the searing pain of blisters and infected wounds. After she awoke from her time in Eternity, she found the Maladies had left her in a small, windowless room. It was no fun for them to torture her if she couldn’t maintain consciousness.
They hadn’t fed her for days, and she’d been given dirty water to drink that caused intense intestinal pain. The torture she’d endured previously was repeated by Pain and Malice many times; the others had left them to continue maiming her.
Despite what Lucien had told her, she tried to hold on. She had to give The Evolved time to accomplish their mission; she had to protect Keira for as long as possible. Now that she was strapped back into the chair and awoken, she was face to face with the entire group of Maladies once more. This could only mean one thing: another story time.
“Morning, sunshine!” Chaos sang in a less-than-cordial tone.
“Mmm,” Tahlia said as she fought to say something.
“We got tired of you asking so many questions, so Pain decided to put his sewing skills to good use,” Malice whispered conspiratorially.
Tahlia was confused at first but the pain she felt when she tried to open her mouth told her everything she needed to know. They had literally sewn her mouth shut.
“Now that we have your undivided attention, let’s continue with the lesson, shall we?” Avarice said coldly.
Tahlia saw Disease and Vanity off to the sides of the room. Neither had joined in to the torture or storytelling. Vanity was busy brushing her hair, and Disease was attempting to apply ointment to his pustules. She rolled her eyes. She may not be allowed to speak, but she was definitely going to give them attitude.
“The worst part about being trapped in that sphere was that the Creator had somehow figured out what Absalom was up to and decided to stuff one more thing into our already-close quarters. Elpis. Hope. You,” Avarice said in a voice that dripped with disdain.
Tahlia didn’t know how they remembered being in the sphere. Her earliest memory was speaking to Pandora after being released. She was now thankful that the Creator had spared her any earlier memories.
“By the time that woman finally listened to Absalom, we were ready to get away from all the light and warmth you brought with you. We took off as fast as we could so we wouldn’t have to bear another minute with you,” Rage told her.
“By then, of course, Absalom had been found out and banished. We helped him get out of the underworld just as he released us. He soon became our leader, and we served him happily for many years. We helped kill many of the worthless descendants of the Council of Immortals. But he kept us on a tight leash,” Chaos said.
“Now that he’s gone, we can do whatever we want. The bits of evil he left all over the world allowed us to directly infect people instead of having to worm our way in. The only thing standing between us and the perfect world we envisioned is you,” Malice said simply as she drove a knife deep into Tahlia’s gut.
“Mmmmm!” The scream threatened to pull her lips apart.
She felt the knife slide out of her, then slowly slide back in at another location. The pain was intense. She started to black out again, but was forced back to consciousness by a needle poke straight to the heart.
“This adrenaline stuff can be deadly in high doses. I wonder what it will feel like if you can’t die,” Pain said as he tossed the syringe away.
Her heart was pounding, and her whole body felt like it was vibrating. She just wanted the pain to stop as Malice slammed a knife into each thigh. Her cold laughter filled the room around her. Tahlia had lost so much blood and endured so much torture that she didn’t know how much more she could take.
Malice seemed to want to test just that, as she gripped each knife firmly and slowly dragged them through her legs. The agony of knives ripping through muscles and tendons as they scraped bone and slowly came to a stop left Tahlia retching from the pain.
The vomit oozed between the stiches that had been cruelly sewn into her lips, but the majority of it went back down her throat. The burn of acid and bile caused Tahlia to heave once more. The force of her heave caused her to rip the stitches on her lips.
A mixture of vomit and blood poured from her mouth as the Maladies looked on. Tahlia could take it no more.
“Please!” she cried out. “Please end this.”
“If only it were that simple,” Rage said. “Keep going.”
Tahlia closed her eyes and let the tears slide down her face. She remembered what Lucien told her. She had to let go. It was time for her to surrender and allow the spirit to find a new vessel. She didn’t know how she was supposed to do that. Her heart sank as she thought about spending the rest of her life in this endless torture. She would never see her family again. She would never have the chance to share her story with her daughters. She would never be with Eric.
It was hopeless.
In that moment, a blinding light flew from Tahlia’s chest and hit the Maladies in full force. They fell to the ground unmoving. The light hovered before Tahlia for a few moments, before swirling around her in a motion that resembled an embrace. When it had finished, the light flew away through the hole in the ceiling.
Instantly, the pain was gone. This must be death. Tahlia waited patiently for the darkness to claim her, but instead she heard a voice.
“Tahlia, you are free. You are whole, and you are free. You have served me faithfully. I am only sorry I could not prevent what you have endured here,” the Creator told her.
Tahlia felt her face, she felt her legs, and then she felt her stomach. The wounds were all gone. He had healed her. She stood and stumbled forward.
“You must go now. Call out for Nora while they sleep,” the Creator told her.
Tahlia nodded and stumbled outside without glancing back.
“Nora,” She called into the darkness of the night. “Nora!”
“Tahlia?” Nora asked.
It was so dark that Tahlia couldn’t see anything around her. There was no moon in the sky and no lights nearby. She tentatively took a step forward, hearing the crunch of gravel beneath her feet.
“Nora, where are you?” Tahlia whispered.
A hand touched her shoulder; she jumped, and a small scream escaped her. The hand grasped her tighter, and she felt a pull near her navel. Soon the darkness gave way to light as they appeared in the library at their home.
“Tahlia! What happened to you?” Dorian said with fear in his voice.
Tahlia looked down at
her clothes. Her shirt was ripped and covered in blood and vomit. Her jeans had two slices straight down her thighs. There wasn’t an inch of her body that didn’t appear to be covered in blood and vomit.
“I . . . ” Tahlia didn’t know how to explain what happened to her and didn’t know if she wanted to. She bit her lip and put her head down as the tears ran down her face.
“It’s alright,” Nora said softly. “Let’s get you cleaned up.”
“Let me do it. Go back to Hadley and Thatcher. Let them know she’s home,” Whitley told her.
Nora nodded and disappeared.
Whitley approached her, and Tahlia fell into her daughter’s arms sobbing. She had let herself to believe she would never see her daughters again. She allowed herself to be led to her room.
“I’m going to go start the shower,” Whitley told her.
A thought of water cascading over her in endless torrents flashed into her mind.
“No. I would rather take a bath,” Tahlia said softly.
“Alright then. I’ll run a bath,” Whitley replied.
When Whitley came back out of the bathroom, she excused herself to go change. Her clothes had been covered in the same substances Tahlia’s bore when she accepted a hug from her mother. Tahlia made her way to the bathroom and began to undress. Her body showed no signs of the injuries she had sustained.
She threw the clothes in the trash and stepped into the tub. The water was the perfect temperature. As she sank into it, she quickly grabbed the soap and began to scrub her body clean. The water around her slowly turned pink from the blood that was caked all over her.
Draining the water from the tub, she decided to go ahead and turn the shower on. She quickly washed her hair and turned off the water. Once her hair was wrapped in a towel, she wrapped another around her body and stood before the mirror. She leaned forward to take a closer look at her lips where she had torn through the stitching. There were no scars. It was as though none of it had ever happened; but the memories remained.
“Mom?” Whitley had reappeared.
Tahlia turned to her daughter and tried to smile. Whitley pulled a face and indicated that she should brush her teeth. When Tahlia turned back to the mirror, she saw the blood that appeared to have dried on her teeth. She quickly brushed them and used some mouthwash.
When she made her way back into her bedroom, she put on the sweatpants and tank top Whitley had laid out for her.
“I need to go talk to everyone. You all need to know what happened and what I learned,” Tahlia told her quietly.
They made their way downstairs and found everyone waiting for them in the library. Nora had brought Hadley and Thatcher back with her, and had also found Eric. He stood and strode straight to her. She allowed him to pull her into his arms and kiss her gently. She wondered how he would react to the story she was about to tell.
Chapter Thirty:
Keira
She opened her eyes in the dim light of her room. She looked at the table next to the bed and was surprised to find the small lamp was not on. As she began to wonder where the light was coming from, she saw it.
There was a light hovering at the foot of her bed. It seemed to be more than just a light as small wisps appeared to flow from it as it floated. There was something about this light that called to her. She wasn’t afraid.
Keira stood on her bed and walked to the light. It smelled of spring and sunlight and cast no shadows, despite the bright contrast to the rest of the room. Keira reached forward and touched the glowing orb.
As soon as she made contact with the light, it began to change. It circled her and wound its way around her like a cat rubbing against its owner. She giggled at the sensation.
The light began to flow into her as though it were claiming her for its own. She opened her arms and invited it in. Her heart felt light and whole. This was what it was to be the vessel. This was what it was to be hope.
When the last of the light was absorbed by her body, she floated up slightly, then fell lightly to the bed and was soon fast asleep.
When she woke, she got out of bed and bounded down the stairs in search of her family. She had to find out what happened to Tahlia. She knew that if she had become the vessel, something terrible had happened.
She came sliding into the kitchen to find everyone gathered around the table drinking coffee. Her eyes met Tahlia’s, and she squealed in delight when she saw that she was alright. Keira ran for her and flung her arms around Tahlia’s neck.
“Lia! I’m so glad you’re alright,” Keira whispered in her ear. “After the light came to me I thought it meant you were gone.”
Tahlia pulled away for a moment and looked at her. A slight look of concern crossed over her face as she examined Keira.
“The light?” Tahlia asked.
“Yes. It was above my bed. It went in here,” she said, proudly pointing to her chest.
Everyone at the table looked at each other as though accepting the fact that Keira had welcomed the spirit of hope into herself.
Keira smiled at her parents and grandfathers. She knew her mom, Hadley, and Thatcher would be leaving again soon. Keira climbed down from Tahlia’s lap and went to kiss her mother. As soon as she planted the kiss on Nora’s cheek, Nora began to glow.
Chapter Thirty-One:
Kerr
Keira gasped and stepped back from Nora. White light shot from Nora’s hands and she floated up from her chair. Kerr watched as his wife’s head relaxed back and a serene smile spread across her face. It was beautiful.
When she came back down to the ground, she opened her eyes and smiled. Thatcher and Hadley cheered, and Kerr let out a whoop. Keira seemed confused for a moment, until her mother swooped her up in her arms and covered her in kisses.
“The beginning will come from within me,” Nora mused as she looked at her daughter, then gave Kerr a small smile.
“Geez, now Kerr is the only one left. You always were a bit slow,” Thatcher joked as he nudged his friend.
He laughed at Thatcher’s joke, but couldn’t help but feel a twinge of frustration. Kerr knew his time would come, his prophecy still rang in his head every day he was supposed to embrace the present. He tried his best to do that every day, but his visions and concerns about the future were often at the forefront of his mind. He wasn’t sure how or when his prophecy would be fulfilled, but he knew it would be when he had truly accepted the present for what it was.
Later, after Nora and the other Evolved had left, Keira convinced Dorian and Romulus to play outside with her. They set to work building a fort for her to play in. They used blankets and clothespins to create the enclosure between two bushes next to the patio.
Kerr watched them from the kitchen window as he washed the dishes from breakfast. He loved to see Dorian and Romulus play with their granddaughter.
When they finished, Keira ran in to get Kerr so he could play with her. Kerr came out and stood smiling at the fort appreciatively.
“Wow, this is a great fort, sweet pea!” Kerr told her.
“Papa and Grampa helped me,” she replied with a hint of pride in her voice.
Kerr laughed at her and followed her into the fort. When his eyes adjusted, he realized something was off. They weren’t inside a fort in the backyard. They were in a cave.
“Keira?” Kerr asked uncertainly.
“Can you believe it? I can do magic. I was picturing my fort as a cave, and it became one,” Keira said proudly.
Kerr didn’t respond right away. He was concerned about where they had ended up. Was Keira developing the same abilities as her mother? Had she transported them somewhere?
“Where are we, little one?” Kerr asked her.
“I don’t know. Lida told me I could open a door whenever I wanted. So I did,” Keira told him.
“I see. So where did the door lead us? Into a cave?” Kerr asked her.
“I don’t know. But let’s look outside!” Keira said excitedly.
Kerr followed her to
the mouth of the cave. He couldn’t believe his eyes. They were up high, and from the dying light around them, he registered that they hadn’t truly been in a cave at all. He looked down to see steep stone stairs leading to an open grassy area. There were other buildings in ruin around them. He knew this place.
He took Keira’s hand and held on tight. Somehow, the little girl had brought them to Mutul. He had seen this place in Romulus’ memory. The ancient city had once been teeming with life. This was where the natives offered their virgin daughters as sacrifices to the Old Immortals, mistaking them for gods. This was where the future of the Old Immortals was irrevocably altered. Did Keira feel a connection with this place because of her roots? Her namesake had been born here; Romulus’ wife gave birth to Keiran in this very structure.
“How did we get here, Keira?” Kerr asked her cautiously. “Do you know what made you bring us here?”
“No. I was just thinking about a cave, but this is so much better, right?” Keira said excitedly.
A ball of light appeared from the trees. It floated across the open courtyard, illuminating the ruins of the village below. Kerr picked Keira up and carefully stepped back into the opening behind them. He motioned for Keira to be quiet.
Suddenly, three people appeared before them in the shadows. Kerr held on to Keira, ready to defend his daughter if the new visitors posed a threat.
“Turn the light back on! I can’t see a thing,” a girl whispered.
Kerr would know that voice anywhere. He set Keira down before the ball of light reappeared in front of them. He found himself face to face with Hadley, Nora, and Thatcher.
Chapter Thirty-Two:
Nora
“Keira!” Nora yelled in surprise. “What are you doing here, young lady? Kerr! What were you thinking?”
“Mommy, I built a fort with Papa and Grampa and turned it into a cave!” Keira said excitedly. “But how did you get here?”
Nora looked at Kerr, hoping for an explanation. Kerr looked just as lost as she was.