“Do I say my questions out loud? Or do I just think them?” Cheryl asked Hylee.
“Say them out loud,” Hylee advised. “A vampire’s mind can be quite muddled.”
Cheryl looked down at the ball. Back to Hylee again. She was nervous.
“What’s going to happen when I ask them?”
“Just dive straight in, dear. You’ll be fine.”
Cheryl nodded. She put her fingers to the ball, and shockwaves flowed from it, inward and deep.
“Question one,” Cheryl began. “Is resurrecting Synrith something we should pursue?”
While Reiko and Hylee continued to stare at her, Cheryl’s gaze dropped to the ball.
The purple glow it radiated dimmed a touch, and then peeled away all together.
A shiny, emerald green light. Metal reflecting off the moon. Cheryl could see it. It was the torso part of a green knight’s armor. As the image became clearer, she could see it was Synrith.
He was with her.
Not inside the ball, nor inside the tree.
They were out by the cliffs overlooking the beach, in the middle of the night. They were standing together, watching the headlights of various motorcycles racing across the beach towards them. But they were still far away.
Synrith took her hand in his and bent down to whisper something in her ear.
“I love you, Cheryl…”
Cheryl jumped. She was still in the tree with Reiko and Hylee.
Her hands were away from the ball and it was glowing purple.
“What did you see?” Reiko asked.
“I was … it was like I was sucked into the image. I mean, was that really happening or –?”
“It’s just a vision, dear,” Hylee said. “You’ll get two accurate ones, and a false one. What did you see in this one?”
“I was with Synrith. He was wearing this … green armor. We were at the beach together – right where he died. And down on the beach there were the bikers … like we were there, just before he was killed.” Cheryl opened and closed her eyes a few times. “What does it mean?”
Hylee looked at her, considering. “Abstractly, it’s saying you should pursue the resurrection. I guess … it’s also saying you will.”
“If the vision was real?” Cheryl said.
“Correct.”
“Well, I guess I have to ask how we’re supposed to do that.”
“Go on then.”
Cheryl took a deep breath and placed her fingers on the surface of the ball.
“How do we bring Synrith back to life?” she asked.
The swirling purple glow diminished. The ball was complete darkness. It engulfed Reiko and Hylee. It engulfed the room in the tree. It engulfed everything so that Cheryl couldn’t even see herself.
But she could hear her own breathing. Was she trapped somewhere?
Or hiding from something?
Suddenly there was bright light. A green sword smashed into the top of the closet Cheryl was crouching in, and the door was torn to pieces.
As she crawled out she saw she was at the feet of Synrith, again who was wearing the green armor.
His eyes were filled with bloodthirsty rage, and his next swing of the sword was aimed directly for Cheryl. She rolled out of the way just in time and staggered to her feet.
“Why?” she pleaded. “Why are you angry with me?”
As she backed away from him, her surroundings became clearer. She was inside Synrith’s office of his skyscraper tower. He advanced, still seething.
“No,” Cheryl said. “This wasn’t I asked for. You’re supposed to show me how to bring him to life.”
Synrith appeared not to hear her. He continued until Cheryl was caught up against the back of the window.
“Just don’t,” Cheryl whispered.
Synrith raised his sword and lunged at her, smashing the window, and sending the both of them falling into the darkness below.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
When Cheryl opened her eyes again she was on the floor with a blanket over her, shivering. She sat up. Rain and hail could be heard coming down outside.
“What happened?” Cheryl asked.
Reiko and Hylee were still sitting as they had been.
“You suffered some shock,” Hylee explained. “It can happen sometimes.”
“Do you remember what you saw?” Reiko asked.
Cheryl took a few deep breaths. “We were at Synrith’s castle in the city. Just he and I. He was attacking me.”
“What was the question you asked again?”
“‘How do I bring him to life?’ What does my vision mean?”
“What do you think it means?” Hylee asked.
“Well, it’s not straight forward is it. I think … well, at the end we both fell out of the window together. So we both died together. So … it’s saying he can’t be brought back to life, or if I do … he’ll try and kill me?”
“That’s one interpretation,” Hylee said.
“Well, feel free to share yours, because I’m lost.”
“Perhaps it means you have to sacrifice yourself to save him,” Reiko suggested.
“But we both died,” Cheryl countered. “Both of us – out the window.”
“Maybe this is the false vision,” Reiko said. “What do you think Hylee?”
Hylee seemed hesitant to answer.
“What is it?” Reiko asked.
“You’re asking the ball the wrong questions,” she said finally. “That’s why you’re getting these metaphorical answers.”
“What question should I ask?” Cheryl shot back.
Hylee closed her eyes. “I’m afraid to tell you. Because it could mean your end.”
“Come on, Hylee,” Reiko urged her. “Just tell us.”
“There will be no resurrection for Synrith,” she said. “No bringing him back to life. You must ask it how you can –”
Bang, bang, bang.
Hylee stood up. She moved slowly over to the wall where there was a long pipe protruding. She put her eye-socket to it.
Then whirled around in alarm.
“Who is it?” Reiko said, standing up.
“It’s Rafe,” Hylee said.
CHAPTER TWELVE
Bang, bang, bang.
Hylee wasn’t going to be able to hold him for long.
As Cheryl and Reiko hurried up the stairs she said to him, “Do you know why he’s here?”
“Not a clue. But we’re going to find out.”
The room above Hylee’s meditation area was storage for her potions, alchemy ingredients and other contraptions. Reiko sat near the edge of the stairs so he could hear the conversation. Cheryl sat directly behind him.
The door was now open and Rafe was lumbering up the stairs.
“In here, Rafe,” Hylee sang out.
The footsteps eventually came to a stop.
“Hylee,” he began.
Then they could hear the sharp inhale through his nostrils.
“So they’re still here.”
“Who is still here?” Hylee said politely.
“You know who,” Rafe barked. “I guess I’ve lost the element of surprise.”
His attention turned to the top of the stairs. “If you stay up there, you’ll only make matters worse.”
Reiko sullenly got to his feet. He helped Cheryl up as well.
They climbed down the stairs to face Rafe.
“So we’re all here,” Rafe declared. “Good.”
“You knew I was alive?” Reiko asked suspiciously.
“I know a lot of things,” Rafe said. “And I can see by your being here, you’re not letting any of this go.”
“Let what go?” Reiko said in low voice.
“You’re so stupid,” Rafe said. “The both of you. Instead of focusing on what you’ve lost – you should be focused on what you have. Which is a lot.”
“You killed my girlfriend,” Reiko said.
“You killed my boyfriend,” Cheryl said.
“Both of you – get over there with Hylee.”
They moved round where he pointed, as he stood in the path of the stairs.
“First of all – Jet killed your girlfriend – not me. If you and Cassandra had kept your bargain and gotten me that dagger as you promised, I would never have had to deal with the likes of him. I was rooting for you guys, I really was.”
He turned to Cheryl.
“Synrith was not your boyfriend. You might have had your thing – but trust me, I spared you. Not only from myself, but from what he would have done with you.”
He approached slowly.
“Look at the two of you. Crusading against me. Scheming. Trying to get the upper hand. You … have each other. Why not try to make friends with me? What will it do if you kill me? Bring anyone back? I don’t think so. And now you’re here asking about resurrections. Please just stop. Move on. Because you are becoming a great worry to me.”
“So you want a truce?” Reiko asked. “You’re not here to kill us?”
“Please,” Rafe said waving his hand. “I don’t doubt your usefulness. If you return to my mansion tomorrow night, I will have some work for you.”
“In exchange for what?”
“Money of course,” Rafe snorted. “Oh – and what’s the other thing you wanted? Jet? I’ll help you with that. When the time is right. But behave yourselves you two. Stop thinking about me as the enemy. Understand?”
Reiko nodded.
Cheryl followed his cue and nodded also.
“We’ll shake on it tomorrow night,” Rafe said. “It’s late. Rest here. Hylee will look after you. But no more fucking around. I’ve got my eye on both of you.”
He gave a mild shrug and then set off down the stairs again.
Reiko and Cheryl stared at Hylee in disbelief.
“How did he know we were here?” Reiko asked.
Hylee stared back solemnly. “He has help. Eyes in this forest. Eyes that saw you come here.”
The door closed down behind Rafe.
“So are we supposed to go along with this?” Reiko demanded. “Is that really what’s for the best?”
Hylee shook her head. “Stay here a moment.”
She went upstairs, doing her best to go as quickly as she could.
“Are you really considering being his friend again?” Cheryl asked.
Reiko shook his head. “I don’t know. I … He was right about one thing.”
“What was that?”
“About us. Having each other.”
Their eyes met.
Cheryl looked away. “Don’t…” she whispered.
“Don’t what?”
She moved towards the stairs.
Hylee was coming back down.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
Hylee made a gesture with her hand as if she was throwing something Cheryl’s way. As she couldn’t see anything coming towards her, Cheryl made no move to catch the invisible object. It bounced off her chest, giving her a fright.
“Put that on,” Hylee said.
“Put what on?” Cheryl babbled.
“That’s an invisibility cloak,” Hylee said joining her at the level’s edge. She picked it up from the floor and handed it to Cheryl.
“Oh,” Cheryl murmured. She could see her hands right through the cloak, but still feel it as though it was there. “Wow, this is so cool.”
“No time for gawking,” Hylee hissed at her. “Put it on.”
“Okay. Uh … how?”
Hylee took the cloak from her and helped Cheryl’s arms inside of it. When satisfied it was on properly, Hylee stepped back.
“Okay,” she said. “If you want to save Synrith you have one last chance.”
“What is it?”
“I have no time to explain,” Hylee continued. “But you must follow Rafe and see where he goes.”
“Quickly.” She pushed Cheryl. “Go.”
Cheryl stumbled back and then found herself moving towards the stairs once more. She looked back.
While Reiko was looking extremely confused, he wasn’t making any argument against it.
“Hold up,” Hylee said. She rushed across to the mat and picked up her ball. She went to the stairs with it. “Where are you?”
“I’m here,” Cheryl said.
Hylee threw the ball into her lap. Cheryl caught it.
“You still have one more question,” Hylee said.
“But this belongs to you. How will I –?”
“It doesn’t matter!” Hylee cried. “There’s no more time! Just go!”
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
Cheryl could see Rafe’s figure in the far distance for a moment before he dropped out of sight. At least he appeared to be walking, and not running.
Cheryl went after him.
While the invisibility cloak may have kept her hidden from the eyes of suspecting witches in the trees, it did not protect her from the harshness of the storm that was now upon her. The ground had become wet with mud, so she had to be careful of slipping up.
After a breathless minute or two, she came to the space where she had last seen Rafe. There was still no sign of him.
She turned and saw that the tree she had just run past had its front door ajar a little.
She looked back to the forest worried he might still have ventured that way, and this tree could be a fatal detour for her.
Cheryl clutched Hylee’s ball in her hand. Should she ask the ball about this?
What if it lied?
Suddenly a woman in a blue mask appeared in the window of the tree. She was a few levels up, looking at the ground below. From what she was wearing, Cheryl realized this was likely to be Lady Glowshark, which she had seen earlier.
She decided to enter the house to ask the witch if she had seen Rafe come this way.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
Upon entering the house, it became apparent that Cheryl was correct to come here.
Rafe was arguing loudly with Lady Glowshark upstairs.
“No, I will not leave!” Rafe yelled. “Not until you tell me what’s going on!”
Cheryl began to creep silently up the stairs.
“It’s all part of the plan,” Lady Glowshark’s voice droned. “If you mistrust my judgment after all I have done for you, then clearly our partnership should be concluded.”
“Partnership? Concluded? Is that what we’re calling it?”
“Rafe, my sweet Rafe. You cannot doubt what I have to say. If I was working against you on this, why would I have called you here at all? I did it because I need your trust. You can go back there, kill all three of them – there’s nothing I can do to stop you. But listen to me when I say you need them. The vampires will prove crucial to your victory in the coming future.”
Cheryl peered over the level’s edge.
Rafe let out a deep sigh and fell into an armchair.
The Lady was still standing by the window.
“I suppose you’re right,” Rafe said. “I do still trust you. Of course. It’s just … what’s to stop them from performing this resurrection? Hylee has the power, does she not?”
“Not by herself,” the Lady said. “She would need my help.”
“And you wouldn’t help her, would you?”
“Synrith has no place here. Not anymore.”
Rafe put his hands together. “Sometimes I wonder if I shouldn’t have taken your word to begin with. Perhaps I would have been happier as a vampire. Life would have run its natural course.”
“There is no such thing as a natural world,” Lady Glowshark said. “Not in the sense that people govern their own actions.”
“Well, I’m just saying. Maybe I made the wrong choice.”
Lady Glowshark walked towards him. She put her legs around his knees and sat on his lap.
“Are you in the mood for it?” Rafe asked her. “Why don’t you take off your mask? There’s no one else here.”
Cheryl swallowed.
“No,” the Lady said. “You must go now. I’ll s
et things right here with the vampires. I will make sure they will not disobey you. And we will all meet tomorrow. To discuss how we’re going to run this city.”
“Okay,” Rafe said. “Get off then.”
Lady Glowshark got off him and moved to one side.
Rafe stood.
“You know if you don’t want to do any of this,” she said, “if you really believe you made the wrong choice –”
“I know –” Rafe said.
“Then make it again.”
He smiled at her.
“Sometimes I feel like I don’t know you at all,” he said.
“That’s because you don’t.”
Rafe frowned. Then turned his back to her. “Goodnight.”
He then started moving towards the stairs.
Cheryl quickly backed away but after a moment realized he was going up, not down.
She continued to follow him up the stairs.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
At the seventh or eighth level of the tree, the stairs ended and there was no higher they could go. Rafe pushed past a dark veil hanging over the level’s entrance, and Cheryl nudged her way through it also.
There was nothing in the room other than a door at the opposite end.
Cheryl watched as Rafe took a key from his pocket and unlocked the door, opening it.
Behind this door Cheryl was immediately dazzled by a storm of swirling colors and lights. She put her hand out to block it, but by the time she had, Rafe had closed and locked the door behind him. She hurried towards it, panicked she may have missed her chance.
She put an ear to the other side and listened.
There wasn’t a sound to be heard.
“Don’t be frightened,” Lady Glowshark said from behind her. “But I know you’re here.”
Cheryl turned around.
The woman in the blue mask was standing at the foot of the stairs.
Neither of them moved.
“Cheryl,” Lady Glowshark said. “I know that it’s you.”
Cheryl pulled the invisible robe over her head and set it on the floor. She wasn’t sure whether to be frightened or relieved.
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