Luca ran toward me, his hands outstretched.
“What are you doing?” I asked, narrowing my eyes.
“I told you,” he snarled, still on fire. “I have something to show you.” His thumbs pressed against my forehead and a jackhammer started pounding against my brain. I fell to the ground and, before the pain robbed me of my sight, I saw my flames start to die out.
Luca knelt down. His face was red. His mouth was twisted with rage. “You tell her this makes us even. Do you hear me, Dead Boy? This makes us square. You tell her that. And Dead boy,” he added, standing up. “I win.”
Then he kicked me hard in the gut and I passed out.
*******
The next thing I knew I was standing in a large field. The crops were dead, whatever they had been, and the ground was littered with burned trash and charred ground, signs of a fire.
Was this Luca’s idea of a joke, throwing me in some burned wasteland to punish me for the fire related assault I’d just thrown at him?
I shook my head and started walking. I had been screwed with enough lately to know that my body wasn’t actually here. In truth, my body was very likely still lying on the ground of the Meditation Grotto with my eyes rolled back in my head and my stomach in kick induced cramps. Only my mind was here…wherever here was.
“What is this, Luca?” I screamed, looking up at the heavens even though, with his track record, Luca was probably in the opposite direction. “You wanted to show me something. Well, show me!”
A sniffle sounded at my feet, startling me.
Looking down, I saw a little boy. He was barely dressed. A ripped shirt and pants so tattered that they were hanging on by a literal thread stared up at me. His eyes were red rimmed and tired and his hair had pieces of debris in it. His feet were bare and cut.
“Who is Luca?” He asked in a dialect from a small South American village that my Breaker mind translated instantly. “Is he your god? Is that why you call to him?”
“Hey there,” I said, matching his language and kneeling in front of him. “No, Luca isn’t a god. He’s a…” My voice trailed off as I tried to come up with a word that would both describe this loser and be suitable for a child’s ears. “He’s a troublemaker. What’s your name? Where are your parents?”
It occurred to me as the words left my mouth that this person might not be real. He might just be a construct of whatever weird world Luca had thrown me into. Damn seer powers.
“A-Alonso,” he stammered. “And my mother is gone. The fire took her.”
Tears welled anew in the little boy’s eyes and my heart started to break. But I steeled myself. This wasn’t real. It couldn’t be. Whatever this was, it was an attempt to hurt me.
“No, it isn’t.” Her voice sounded through the air. No, it sounded through me. I recognized it before I turned around. How could I not? I had heard it much more since she died than I ever had when she was alive.
“Wendy,” I said, and then turned around. Unsurprisingly, Wendy was at my back. Her hair was longer than it had been in life, but her eyes were still vacant and empty-like Luca’s. She wore a long white dress that covered every inch of skin save her hands, face, and neck. “I’d like to say it’s nice to see you…”
“Do not worry, Owen Lightfoot. I would not believe you even if you had.” She blinked and I couldn’t tell if she was looking at me or looking past me. No pupils and all. “There is not much in your life that you would describe as nice. Even though there should be.”
“What does that mean? You know what?” I shook my head. “Nevermind. It doesn’t even matter. Just tell me why you’re here. Because it certainly isn’t to cure me of my depression.”
“Don’t be so sure,” she answered, and moved fluidly around me, her hair blowing across her face. The day will come when you consider me a friend, Owen Lightfoot. And it shall come sooner than you think.”
“I do consider you a friend,” I sighed, my resolve faltering a little. “At least, I did when you were alive. Why is it always you?” I asked. “How come the crone never stops by for a visit?”
“Don’t be ridiculous,” Wendy waved her hand at me. “The crone is dead.”
“So are you,” I balked.
“There are many different ways to die, Owen Lightfoot. The Dragon should know that.”
“The Dragon doesn’t know much of anything these days,” I answered.
“That will change more abruptly than you would like, I’m afraid,” she said in her spooky nonsensical voice.
“What am I doing here, Wendy?” I asked, shaking my head. “Is this because of Luca? He said for me to tell you something. He said this made you even, that he was done with you.”
“Luca is an also ran, and not nearly vital enough to spend this time on. You should be more concerned with him.”
Wendy pointed behind me. I turned back toward the little boy. He was still there, sitting cross-legged in the desolate earth. But this time, something else was there too. A giant snake, hissing with a forked tongue and bared fangs, slithered around him, coiling him up in its tail.
“Fate’s hand!” I exclaimed and started to run toward the poor kid. But I couldn’t move. My body wasn’t working. My feet wouldn’t cooperate.
“You and she are more alike than you know. It’s quite infuriating if you’re omnipresent,” Wendy sighed.
“That boy!” I yelled, trying and failing to break free of whatever force was holding me in place. “He’s going to die!”
“Yes, he is,” she answered solemnly. “But not from this. The Serpent is not your concern Owen Lightfoot. The Constants move on their own. They abide a different master. Look past it. Look at the rest.”
“Wendy, I know you mean well, but I can’t let someone die. Now let me go! I said, watching the snake circling the child and rear its massive head into the air. It was going to eat the boy. It was going to swallow him whole.
“But isn’t that what you’ve been doing?” She asked, looking back at me. “With every day that passes, more people are sacrificed at the altar of what you believe to be true and just.”
“Not you too,” I said. “Don’t tell me that you want me to-”
“I am without desire. I do not ‘want’ anything. I serve only Fate, as was always the case.” She walked toward the boy and the snake, almost floating as she moved. “It is not the Serpent that threatens the livelihood of this boy, of this place. In fact, without the Bloodmoon the Serpent would be resting and free of its horrible duty.”
“Cresta did this?” I asked, not wanting to believe it.
“This village is home to an abundance of natural resources. Decades ago, an anchor was put into place that clouded the minds of any of wished to denigrate the beauty and sacred nature of this land. But the Bloodmoon has rendered this anchor, along with so many others, void. As such, the protection is gone. What you’re seeing is a reaction to what the Bloodmoon did, to what she’s still doing, and to what is to come. The anchors first, and the world follows.”
My eyes drug reluctantly across this place. This barren wasteland, was it possible that it had once been vibrant? That it had once been safe?
“Even if that is true, she didn’t know. She didn’t realize what she was doing,” I said, still stuck in place.
“And does the wave harbor ill will toward the mountain? Either way, it breaks it down. Centuries pass, and the mountain is reduced to nothing. Such is the Bloodmoon. Such is the world.”
“I don’t believe you,” I answered quickly.
“Yes you do. Of course you do.” Wendy’s voice was unaffected. She was a seer. She knew what was coming. “And you do not lack strength, Dragon. But you do lack the perspective necessary to do what you must.”
“I won’t kill her Wendy! I’ll never kill her!”
“You’ll do what you must, because you must. It is why you’re here; to see and hear that which you were always meant to see and hear.”
“It won’t matter,” I said through clenched teeth. “This is horribl
e, but it isn’t enough.” The still sat there, ready to strike. “I’ll get to her. I’ll convince her to undo it.”
“One can easier cut a star from the sky than change a fixed point.” I had heard that a thousand times, most notably from the Council members who told my mother that nothing could save me. Still, it sounded different coming from this girl.
“I’ve heard it before, but it doesn’t matter. There’s nothing you could show me, Wendy. There’s nothing you could say that would ever-”
“Quiet,” she said softly. Then, blinking hard, she moved toward me. If I could have shuddered, I probably would have as she arched onto the tips of her toes and leaned into me.
“There-There’s no-The-“
Now my words weren’t working either. Damn this girl.
“I said quiet. You need to listen.”
She leaned in, pursed her lips against my ear. My eyes went wide. My blood pulled to a stop in my veins, and tears pooled in my eyes- eyes that Cresta had always loved so much.
And it was all because I was wrong. So very wrong.
Wendy had said something to me.
And it changed everything.
Chapter 23
Husband and Wife
When I woke from my daze, the sun had set behind the Great Wall. It had been hours, at least. Hours, and not one person had come looking for me. I was still right here, flat on my back in the heart of the Meditation Grotto.
The air was cool as I sat up and my back was wet with dew. But that was the least of my concerns. Wendy’s words ran in my head, slamming against my brain like a battering ram.
It wasn’t a dream, I knew that. Dreams were hazy. Dreams were vague and incoherent. What I had just experienced, the words that Wendy had whispered into my ear, were as clear as anything in the world. I could hear it all; the warnings, the promises- even the tone. I could also remember her telling me never to tell anyone what I knew now and that, if I did, it would change everything.
I hadn’t been sure what Luca’s goal was in sending me to Wendy, but after she told me what she told me, it all became clear. He wanted to guide me, convince me to do what I had to, what Fate demanded of me.
And, though before I fell on this damp earth, that idea seemed beyond ludicrous, the truth was, it had actually worked.
Before today, the Council would have had to drag me out of this place kicking and screaming if they wanted me to come up against Cresta. But now, I was seeing things differently. Now I would play along.
I stood up, rubbing rest from my sore eyes and thinking about everything. Now that I knew what to do, I needed to see her. I needed to find Cresta and fulfill my destiny. She would hate me. They would all likely hate me. But it had to be done, and I was finally ready to do it. No apologies, but plenty of regrets.
I marched back toward the hospital, taking a left and heading to the room where Merrin had been resting.
After finding the bed empty, I learned she had been discharged. Grabbing a coat from the communal registry, finally left that Fate forsaken place. Cresta wasn’t the only person Wendy mentioned in her diatribe. I had other things to do too. And to get them done, I needed to find my wife.
After weeks of marriage, Owen Lightfoot was finally coming home.
*******
I pushed through the door of my house, ready to find a team of medics surrounding Merrin, ready to deal with her condition.
It seemed strange to think of this as my house, or even to consider the fact that I had a house of my own at all. While it was true that I was years late on marrying Merrin, a part of me still felt like a kid playing dress up. Add to the fact that I had never in my entire life sat foot in this place, and it added to the sense of displacement.
The place was eerily quiet when I walked in, and that made me uneasy. I walked through the living room, a quaint area filled with black furniture (the Breaker color of commitment) and white carpet. It didn’t surprise me that the space was sparse. As a newly joined couple, we were given the bare minimum in terms of material goods. We were meant to earn those with our commitment to both each other and to the cause. It seemed our statuses as ‘Dragon’ and ‘Bride of the Dragon’ respectively did nothing to change that fact.
A dark idea crept into my mind. This place was so quiet. Certainly, if Merrin was here, there’d be someone with her. She was far too weak to carry on by herself. What if she hadn’t made it? What if I was too late and she had died while I was busy licking my emotional wounds or untangling Wendy’s cryptic riddles?
No. Wendy would have told me that. After what she said to me back in that desolate place, certainly she’d have let me know if my wife was dead.
This was my house. Merrin was my wife. Would I ever get used to that? Did I even want to?
My heart sped up as I realized just how reasonable my fears were. She had been so sick, and I was so damn stubborn. What If she was dead? What if it was my fault? What if I never got to make it right?
“Merrin,” I called. My voice came out hurried and worriedly. “Merrin.” I repeated louder, but there was no answer. “Merrin!”
“What?”
Her voice sang through the air like a pardon. I spun to find her standing at the top of the stairs. She was dressed for bed in a long white gown that got sheerer the further down it went. I felt the strength that came with being near her. Why hadn’t I felt that before? Why hadn’t I let myself?
“You look…you look good,” I said, my eyes trailing her. And she did. Which didn’t surprise me because, after all, she was Merrin. The girl knew how to make just about anything look amazing. What surprised me, what really had me taken aback, was how healthy she looked.
Her skin was bright. Her eyes were light and easy. The smile that graced her face spoke of life, not death. Like her Breaker name would lead one to believe, Merrin was glowing.
“What happened? I thought you were…” I couldn’t finish.
Luckily, she did it for me. “Dying?” She asked. “I am. We both are. The Council gave me a mixture of herbs and elements to deal with the symptoms and help with my energy. That’s what you’re seeing.”
I started up the stairs toward her.
“It won’t stop what’s happening though. It’ll come back, and soon the herbs won’t be able to help. It’ll happen to me first, and then you. The only way to stop it is-”
“Stop talking,” I said, smiling and looking at her. It had been so long since I just looked at her without putting the weight of all that had happened on her shoulders.
Fate’s hand, she was beautiful. And she was mine.
I swallowed hard before continuing.
“What’s wrong?” She asked, narrowing her eyes. She was either reading my expression or gauging my feelings in her own mind.
Thank you, symbioses.
“Nothing,” I assured her. “Nothing beyond the routine. It’s just…” I took her hand in mine, which caused her already narrowed eyes to nearly shut completely. “I saw Wendy today.”
“Wendy the seer?” She was already shaking her head.
“Yeah,” I answered.
“Wendy the dead seer?”
“There are a lot of different ways to die,” I said, mimicking what she told me. Well, part of what she told me. “It doesn’t matter. The point is, we talked a lot, and she opened my eyes about some things.”
“Is this when you were unconscious?” Merrin asked me.
“Which time?” I retorted.
She rolled her eyes.
“Listen to me!” I exclaimed, squeezing her hand tightly. “I have a lot of stuff running around in my head and I want to make sure I say it just right.”
“You’re serious?” She asked, probably reaching into my mind and feeling only truth inside it.
“I feel like I’ve been asleep, Merrin. I feel like I’ve been asleep for a long time and I’m finally waking up.” I grinned wide, like the idiot I was. “I don’t really know how to explain it other than to say that I’m ready. I’m finally rea
dy to do what I have to.”
“What you have to?” She repeated, crinkling her nose, untangling her hand from mine, and walking down the stairs. “And I suppose I’m one of the things you have to do? How very romantic of you.”
I sighed hard. I was stupid about this. Of course I was. I’d had exactly one girlfriend in my life, and she was the only one I ever wanted. It made sense that I wasn’t a Casanova. Still, I could do better than this. All I had to do was speak the truth.
I darted in front of her, stopping her halfway down the steps.
“You know that’s not what I meant,” I said. “But I’m sorry nonetheless.” I stared at her hard, hoping those eyes that Cresta was always talking about would do more than I could to prove my point. “I’ve known you since we were younglings. Not once have you let me down. Not once have you made me feel like I was less than the most important person in your life. And if I’ve ever done that to you, then I’m truly sorry.”
She looked at me for a long time, searching my eyes, searching my mind. “You really are serious,” she muttered. She couldn’t believe it. I could tell from the waves of emotion coming off of her.
“Of course I’m serious,” I answered, my voice breaking a little at the end.
“I appreciate that,” she said, her eyes flickering down to the floor. “But it doesn’t matter, Owen. You love her. Even now, I can feel it.”
“So?” I asked, my brows raised.
“So?” She was incredulous. “Did you really just say that?”
My eyes darted back and forth. I really was bad at this. “I didn’t think that mattered with us,” I murmured.
“Well, maybe it does,” she admitted, blinking hard.
“You’re my perfect. You always have been. When has love ever mattered?”
“When I saw the way you looked at her!” She balked. She darted around me, descending the stairs and settling in the living room of our new home. “I lived in her head and I watched you watch her. You’ve never looked at me like that. Fate’s name, I’ve never seen anyone look at another person like that. You could never love me that way.”
The Breaker's Resolution: (YA Paranormal Romance) (Fixed Points Book 4) Page 18