Eternity

by M.E. Timmons

  Chapter 32

  As I lay down in bed, I couldn't help but think of the past and all that happened in my long life. It seemed like so much, but for me it was only the beginning. I thought Amun, my oldest and closest friend over my entire life, and I wondered what he was doing. I searched for him with my mind, but he was hiding from me, so I couldn't tell where he was.

  I thought all the way back to the beginning, which was over five thousand years before. In fact, I had missed my five thousandth birthday during my life as Juliet. It had happened when I was a year into my new life. I thought about my family, who I always missed. My father was a king, and a good man, though generally quite stern. My mother had been beautiful, and she was kind to me, though we had never been close. I had been closest to my older brother, who had looked out for me, and I had looked up to him. It was his duty to become the king when our father died, and he took that seriously. He had married and had children after I left, so I never met them, though there were still a few descendents alive.

  I had left when I was only around twenty. I'd fallen in love with a servant in the palace, and we had left together. I never went back to Greece until years after my family had died. I had been so young then, and everything had seemed so new. I wanted to see the world, and I did, with my first love by my side. I had wanted to go back home eventually, but it had been too late. My family would have been frightened by my youthful appearance, since I should have been an old woman. They had never known what I was.

  That was all so long ago, and it really felt that way. I no longer felt young and curious. I mostly just felt a deep depression that constantly threatened to consume me, but there was little I could do to alleviate it other than staying distracted. I had felt it for hundreds of years. Once, only forty years before, I had let it take over, and I had ended up in a mental hospital for several months. It had been music that had brought me back then. If it happened again, I wasn't sure what I would do.

  I had no actual need to sleep, and I felt like I'd been sleeping for long enough, so I got out of bed. The other girls were all sleeping soundly despite the trauma that they had been through. They didn't notice a thing when I disappeared.

  I went home to Asantis. When I stepped out from the jungle leaves onto the white stone path that led to Luma, I felt a sense of peace. It didn't take long for the village to come into view, and my heart soared at the sight of it. I had always thought it was my greatest creation. The entire village was made of white stone that gleamed in the bright sunlight. It was small, but it was cozy and beautiful. I walked to the courtyard in the middle, where there was a fountain and many flowering plants and some stone benches. The temple was on the opposite side of the courtyard, with its stone columns and flowering vines.

  The people there were surprised to see me, since I hadn't been there in seventeen years, but happy nonetheless. I recognized all of the older faces, though there were a few young ones who had been born since I'd left. They were excited to meet me, and I gave them all gifts.

  I visited Terra and Morta as well. The villages were not connected by pathways through the jungle, so the only ways to get between them were through the passages under the castle or by boat, since there was a small river that went by all three. Instead of just psychoporting, I took a boat to get around. Terra looked the same as it always did, and the people were hard at work tending to the fields of fruits and vegetables. I stayed a while and talked to some of my old friends there before moving on. Morta's population had grown the most out of the three villages, and the library there had been added to, though the underground library in Luma that was beneath the temple was still much bigger.

  It may seem like Terra was the only village that produced anything useful because all of the food for the three villages came from there, but they all traded with each other. Luma was known for making fabric and clothing, and Morta had a blacksmith, so they all had something to offer each other, and the people from each village tended to be mixed with people from the others. When I was around I often threw parties or balls for the people in the castle so they could have fun and get to know each other better. I decided that I should try to do that over the summer.

  When I was in Morta, which was a village of black buildings located on an almost barren slope, I walked up the path that led through the center. It went up the hill to what looked like a fairly simple round stone dais that was a deep black color. There were patterns ingrained in the stone, and it was surrounded by black columns that held up nothing but air. It was the only place on Earth where you could communicate with the dead.

  There was no one using the dais when I got there, so I went up the steps and stood in the center, on top of the carving of a skull with wings. I called upon the first person I thought of, and it didn't take him long to appear. All spirits take the form at which they were healthiest, so he looked like he did the last time I saw him alive.

  "Isadora, you look lovely as always, though I'm not sure blond hair suits you very well," my brother said in our native language. I was a natural brunette, but I had changed my hair color to fit in with my new family. It was the only thing I had changed.

  I grinned. "It's good to see you. How are things in the spirit world?"

  "As peaceful and boring as always. I think my favourite thing to do is watch you. I can't believe you didn't tell me what you were when I was alive. It was a bit of a shock when I died and looked for you in the spirit world, and found you still here looking exactly the same as always."

  "You had your own belief system, and I didn't want to ruin that for you," I explained. "It's not an easy thing to learn. How's everyone else in the family?"

  "They're fine, though I don't know why you're asking me when you could ask them yourself. They all like watching you too. Mother has been worrying about you, especially after that incident forty years ago, and father wants you to play more music because he likes listening to it. He always has."

  "I know; I used to play for him all the time. It was one of the few things we did together."

  We continued to talk and reminisce for a few minutes before saying goodbye. It was nice to be able to talk to people from my past occasionally, though I tried not to do it often because it could become addictive. I usually only talked to my family members, and I tried to avoid past loves because they could be difficult to talk to. Sometimes it was just best to move on. That didn't mean it never happened, though.

  It was very close to morning by the time I finally got back to Winterwood, and by then it felt strange to be going back to school. The girls were still sleeping soundly, and they hadn't noticed that I had been gone. I snuck back into bed and stayed there until it was time to get up.

  As we were all getting dressed and ready, Melissa came up to me. "Did I just have a really crazy dream, or did everything really happen?" she asked.

  "It happened," I confirmed. "Parts of it do kind of seem like a dream though. If I didn't still have my memories and powers I would probably be asking the same question."

  "It's probably even stranger for Jack. I mean, he almost died. That might be a confusing thing to live with."

  "Yeah, it could be. He seemed alright last night though. I don't think he remembers much about being in the infirmary."

  "Ugh," Heather said, coming out of the bathroom still in her pyjama top. "I just broke the strap of my tank top. It's my favourite one, too."

  "I can fix it for you," I offered.

  Her face lit up. "Hey, that's right, you can," she said, and she handed me the shirt, which I handed back seconds later looking brand new. "Thanks," she said.

  "No problem. If you guys don't mind I have to get going. There are a few people I need to talk to, and I'm eager to get started," I said.

  "Sure, no problem," Heather said. "We'll see you later."

  I left, and I walked toward the north wing. When I got there I found the person I was looking for right away. She was sitting i
n the common room with a stack of books, but I knew she was waiting for me. She moved some books out of the way so I could sit down beside her.

  "Sorry about the mess," Anna said. "When you read as quickly as I do you need to make sure you have lots to read. Of course, you don't have to read at all, do you?"

  "Not anymore, though I still enjoy it," I said. "A lot has changed in the past 24 hours."

  "You did it, then? How?"

  "I did, and I probably never would have thought about it if you hadn't been there. You saved Jack's life, and for that I will always be grateful."

  "You saved his life, Isadora. I only gave you an idea of how to do it. You didn't answer my question. How did you do it?"

  "I did the best thing I could think of at the time. I didn't want to cut open an artery or anything because it would take too long and it would make a mess, and I figured suffocation would cause me to suffer more than I wanted, so I jumped off a cliff. It took time to get there, but the actual dying was fairly quick."

  "That still sounds unpleasant. Does Jack know that you died to save his life?" Anna asked.

  "Not at all, and I'd like it to stay that way," I said. "He'd probably feel guilty or something, and I don't want that. I'd do it over again, even if I died permanently."

  Anna smiled. "He's lucky to have a friend who cares so much. It took a lot of courage to do what you did."

  "I wasn't really thinking much about it at the time, so I don't think courage had anything to do with it," I said. "There was actually something else I wanted to talk to you about as well. The first time we talked, you said I had a soulmate. Why?" It had been bothering me a lot since I jumped off the cliff.

  Anna looked surprised. "I told you that because it's true. You can check for yourself now, since you're more powerful than I am. Have you?"

  "No, I haven't. I didn't believe you were telling the truth. I've been alive for over five thousand years, and I've never had one before. Neither has Amun, so I always assumed that it was never going to happen. I still believe that it will never happen."

  "Well, if you don't believe me, why don't you check yourself?"

  "I don't think I can," I admitted. "I'm not incapable; I just don't want to know anymore. Most people die not long after their soulmates if they are together, but if I meet my soulmate and he dies I won't be able to, and it would destroy me. I've been through enough as it is."

  "But what if he's immortal? He could be a vampire, or maybe there's a new god that you don't know about," Anna reasoned.

  "If that's the case, then I don't have to worry about it now. Not everyone can be as lucky as your parents anyway. They must be very happy together. I'm glad Kalinor finally found his soulmate. We were good friends long ago, before he decided to sleep. I haven't seen him since he woke up."

  "They are very happy, and I'm sure they would like to see you. If you do visit while you're here you should take me with you. I miss them, and I'd like to see them, but I hate flying in planes and running or swimming takes too long."

  "I definitely will," I told her. "I think we could become great friends. It'd be nice to know someone else who will be around for a long time."

  Anna smiled. "It would be wonderful. We'll have to stay in touch."

  "Yes, we should. I have to go now, though, because I have a few other people to talk to this morning. I'll get back to you later."

  I left Anna and headed toward the stairs that led underground. Adrian was being held in one of the locked rooms used for werewolves during the full moon, which I found a bit extensive, especially since he hadn't even started the fight. He was being guarded by Victor, who let me in to see him without any trouble.

  When I opened the door to the room, Adrian jumped up from where he was sitting on the floor. When he saw it was me he swore and turned away from me. He was actually scared of what I was going to say because he thought I hated him, per usual. He expected me to yell, scream, and cry. I just cleared my throat, which made him cringe.

  "Would you turn around, please?" I asked, since he was facing the wall. He reluctantly turned, but he wouldn't meet my eyes.

  "Adrian, I don't blame you for what happened. Jack said himself that he was the one who started it."

  He finally looked at me, but he was very upset. "I thought I'd actually killed him, Juliet. I would never have been able to forgive myself if he'd died. Is he doing okay? I just heard that he'd live, but they didn't tell me anything else."

  "Then you'll be happy to know that he's completely healed," I said. "There won't be any lasting physical damage."

  Adrian looked surprised. "How is that possible?" he asked.

  "I healed him myself. It seems I have the ability to do that as well. He came very close to death, though. It was a scary thing to see."

  "He's really lucky he has you," Adrian said.

  "You have me too, you know," I told him.

  Adrian sighed and leaned against the wall. He slid down until he was sitting on the floor, and he looked down at his hands as he spoke. "How can you still love me after everything I've done to you? I almost killed you and your best friend. No one should be so forgiving."

  "I know what's in your heart, Adrian," I said. "I see no evil there."

  "So you don't judge people at all by their actions?"

  "No, I don't. I don't think people should be punished for their mistakes unless it's in their nature to be cruel. When you have a good heart, the guilt you feel is enough of a punishment."

  "But guilt doesn't change anything. By the time I feel guilty, it's too late to take back what I've done."

  "I know, but it won't be like this forever. Like the rest of your kind, you'll find your strength."