Escaped the Night

Home > Other > Escaped the Night > Page 8
Escaped the Night Page 8

by Jennifer Blyth


  “They’ll be here in a matter of minutes.”

  I grabbed onto Jayce’s sleeve. “We’re out in the middle of nowhere! No place to hide, no shelter.” Then I spotted his car and thought, they could easily break through the glass. Maybe if we drove really fast we could outrun them? “What are we going to do? This is bad, oh Jayce… this is really bad!” My voice trembled. I looked all over for somewhere to hide. I scanned everything high and low, but there wasn’t anything big enough. There was no place to go. The fairies scattered in different directions, sparks flying everywhere as they searched, frantically trying to help us find some kind of shelter. Trying to help keep us safe from what was coming our way.

  With all the chaos happening around us, another vision managed to flash its way into my mind. I tried blinking it away, clearly now wasn’t the time to watch. I needed to find somewhere to hide. However, the harder I resisted, the more forceful it became and I was left with no choice as I stood still watching it unfold.

  I saw a figure of a man drop to the ground and concentrated harder to see him more clearly. I saw him lying motionless, blood pouring from a wound, just out of sight. I knew he was dying because of how rapidly the pool of blood grew. I looked closer at the man only to find out that the figure was Jayce. I gasped in horror, but not before I saw myself. I didn’t appear to be as hurt, however I also lay dying on the ground.

  Jayce shook me out of the vision. “You weren’t supposed to see that, Shanntal. That’s not our future. It can always change. It takes a single moment, one different action; please understand, just one different choice is all it takes.”

  “Is that what’s happening now?”

  “No, please believe me. What you saw will never happen, EVER!”

  I didn’t have time to argue. Jayce grabbed my arm and dragged me down the beach in the direction of the waterfalls and caves. We reached the opposite end of the beach and Jayce ducked into the first cave we approached. He popped back out, due to the fact that it was too small. We tried another, Jayce went in first and I quickly disappeared inside after him. It smelt musky and I couldn’t really see because it was too dark. I waited, blinking a number of times hoping my eyes would adjust, but it wasn’t any use. I fumbled my way around in the darkness. Everything I touched felt either cold, wet or slimy.

  Fairies began flying in and their glows lit up everything so we could see our surroundings. Two tiny waterfalls streamed down the back side of the cave and markings covered the walls. Some of the markings looked like they were from ancient times, while others were noticeably more recent.

  Suddenly, a wave of terror riveted my body and I couldn’t ignore it. I darted around. “We’re in a cave, stuck in a stupid cave. What were we thinking coming in here? A cave doesn’t have a door to close. Now what? We’re trapped, sitting in a dead-end while our hunters stalk nearby.”

  Jayce wrapped his arms around me tight. “Hold on,” he whispered.

  Large thunderous booms and thudding crashes sounded near the entrance. My body shook from the rumbling. Suddenly, it felt like I was frozen to the spot and my legs wouldn’t move.

  Jayce stepped forward and pulled me back a few feet. “Terran now!” he yelled out.

  The ground rippled as the earth shook. The powerful earthquake loosened boulders, beginning to seal us in.

  “No!” I cried out.

  We were going to be trapped. There was no way we could get out. We were going to die in here, I thought to myself.

  Jayce was listening to my thoughts. He responded by saying, ‘They’ll get through the boulders. They know we’re in here. Terran is trying to buy us a little more time. The fairies need all the strength they can get.’

  I stared at him.

  “You’ll see soon enough,” Jayce assured, this time speaking aloud.

  I turned my head and watched as fairies swarmed the cave with such amazing grace. They maneuvered around the fallen obstacles as if they didn’t exist. There were so many pouring in, there was barely enough room left for us. I expected their glow to be brighter, but it seemed like they’d put their dimmers on. Guess they didn’t want to blind us.

  I felt a bit claustrophobic with so many of us in the cave. In an attempt to calm myself, I imagined I was sleeping. Safe and sound, at home in my bed, and this was nothing more than another bad dream. I started backing my way into a corner and Jayce followed. We let the fairies stay towards the front. After all, it wasn’t as if the vampires were going to be sucking their blood.

  The thunder of colliding rocks continued outside and I thought of the vision I had earlier. Was this how it happened? No, it wasn’t. Something didn’t feel right. In the vision we were both wearing different clothes and the atmosphere hadn’t been so cold and wet.

  Shadows crept along covering everything, in a moment we’d be in complete darkness. The earth rumbled one last time and Terran’s earthquake sealed us in.

  The fairies gathered tightly along the front of the cave. Minutes passed as we sat motionless in the dark waiting for the hunters to come. Silently and anxiously waiting. It was almost too much to handle, so I remembered back to when the darkness had actually brought me comfort. After a few seconds of deep breathing the same peacefulness came back and I found I didn’t mind the dark. Even though I knew danger was close, this felt like an escape.

  Jayce’s mind interrupted my zone. I tried releasing myself from the mighty grip of my mind, but had a hard time letting go of the comfort I had just found. There was something about all this that seemed so familiar, yet foreign. Before things became too incoherent and I got sucked into my mind further, I broke free so I could pay attention to what Jayce was saying.

  ‘Everything’s going to be okay. Help will come in time. I can see this now. It will work out okay. The fairies will help play a crucial part in keeping us safe until the others arrive.’

  It was a bad time to come across as pessimistic, but I asked anyway. ‘How exactly do you think cute, tiny, flying people are going to help us against blood thirsty, life-sized monsters?’

  ‘Have some faith. We’ll be fine. I promise you, Shanntal. This is a precaution because I don’t entirely know what they want. All I do know is I won’t let them have you. I need you too much.’

  ‘Oh… I’ve got an idea of what they want to do to me.’ I imagined every horror scene I’d ever watched that had vampires in it. Not once did it end well.

  ‘Silly girl, it won’t be like that. I love you and refuse to ever live without you.’

  I sensed his urgency and even though the situation around us was dangerous, I found myself wrapped up in his words.

  As we sat, Jayce wrapped one arm around me. With his free hand, he ran his fingers up and down my leg. Then, he positioned his hand perfectly back in mine. It felt as if nothing else in the world mattered, only us being together. I wasn’t afraid when I was with him, and I knew my life would never, ever be the same without him in it.

  Howls echoed off the rocks outside. They were getting closer, probably only moments away. We sat hand in hand, anticipating the upcoming meeting.

  Memories of my father, mother and sisters came to me. I remembered some of the good times we shared. Strangely, the memories began acting like glimpses or predictions. I couldn’t recall having any of these conversations before so I listened carefully, surprised to find that my family was speaking to me in present tense.

  The voices of my younger sisters spoke lovingly, as they always had. “Shanntal, you’ve always been the strongest and that’s why you remain. They can’t overthrow you. You’re simply too special. You’ll never be alone because we are always with you. Standing on either side, through time and distance. We love you.”

  My parents took turns speaking. My mother first. “We’re so proud of you,” she said sweetly.

  My father spoke in his authoritative, yet calming manner. “We’ve always been impressed at the paths you’ve chosen in your life. We’re proud to have been able to call you our daughter. You’re very sp
ecial and will be until the end of time. You’re truly one of a kind.”

  My mother spoke again. “You’ll succeed at anything you do and the world’s full of many opportunities. You choose your destiny; no one else can do this for you. You’re unique and it can be both very helpful and at other times, rather distracting. You’ll need to find light whenever the darkness invades. It may seem appealing, but please be careful, it’s deceiving. The light will always be true and it’ll show you a better way.”

  I nodded, acknowledging that I understood everything she said.

  My father’s wise voice spoke again. “When trouble comes, do not despair, you will prevail. Your protectors will come, but be very aware, they are appealing to both light and dark. They possess great strength, however they are only loyal to you. They’ll stand beside you as long as needed to keep you safe. They will be your family now.”

  My family left my thoughts and I felt re-assured by the directions they’d given. Even in death, our bond still grew strong. It was like they were here now, sitting alongside me. I thought back to the words my father said about the protectors. I assumed he was referring to Jayce and the others. I did feel safe with him around and Terran had clearly tried to help, as did the fairies, but I didn’t see any of the others as my protectors. Jayce was protecting me, I understood that much.

  Thoughts of the conversation with my mother came back to my mind. She’d spoken about light and dark. Light must have meant good and dark referred to the evil coming. I didn’t really dwell on the details of our conversations for too long. I’d never forget the feeling of having my family back with me and wondered why Jayce didn’t have any input. He’d usually interrupted me by now.

  Just then, he asked aloud, “What do you mean by that?”

  “I was remembering my family. Though some of our conversation, well… seemed to have more of a present tense.”

  “Present tense?”

  There wasn’t enough time for an explanation. A loud hideous snarl echoed throughout the cave, letting us know they had arrived.

  Daray’s group lurked just on the other side of the rocks. Jayce sensed their group had grown since the vision and confirmed that they now had three doomahorns with them. We were really outnumbered.

  I wished with all my might that help would hurry up and get to us before it was too late.

  Daray’s sensuous voice spoke through the rocks. ”Shanntal, I’ve been waiting a long time to find you. Why don’t you come out here and greet me properly?”

  Jayce stood up, moved in front of me, and pushed me back into the wall as he barked out, “Back off, parasite. You’ll never get her.”

  A captivating laugh rang back. “Keeper, don’t you know, you can’t keep everything?”

  I felt invisible as the war of words shot back and forth bitterly between them. They bickered over which one of them was going to keep me. Like I was nothing more than a pawn.

  “Daray, Jayce, enough already!” They went silent and I took a deep breath before speaking. “Daray, I’m not meeting you face to face.”

  “Oh? I think otherwise.”

  “No, you’re wrong. First off, I’m fighting mad with you over the deaths of my family.” Suddenly, a strange feeling came over me. For a brief moment I found myself intrigued, almost wanting to know him better. I realized my thoughts and shook them away quickly. My tone came out sharp as I spoke. “It’s best we never meet. Now go away!”

  “Alas, you’ll meet me soon enough, my sweets. This courtship is your destiny.”

  His words sent chills through me. My destiny?

  “It hurts me to hear of your loss. Your family always meant a lot to me. Come out here, you will understand. “ He sounded so sure of himself.

  What did he mean my family had always meant a lot to him? How did he know them? I was about to retort back, but as I opened my mouth to speak, the hooves and howls overpowered me. The rock wall Terran built shook as powerful hooves and claws struck it. Large boulders shifted at the top and dim moonlight crept into the cave.

  I couldn’t feel Jayce pressing on me. I looked around and found him on the opposite side of the cave. I could just barely see him through all the dust.

  “Jayce,” I called out, but he didn’t acknowledge me as he stayed facing forward, watching the rocks shift. I looked around hoping that by some form of miracle, another way out would’ve miraculously appeared. The nightwalkers were coming into the cave and there wasn’t any way of stopping them. That was clear, as the rock wall continued to tumble.

  The doomahorns’ strong hooves bore such great strength that with each kick the boulders turned into sheer dust. The cave soon filled with dusty smoke that burned my lungs and eyes. I blinked trying to clear my eyes, but it wasn’t working. Jayce and I started coughing at the same time, finding it hard to breathe. Soon the tiny fairies were all coughing too.

  “Makan… help,” Jayce choked out.

  A dominant wind whistled as it howled fiercely outside. The dust diminished as Makan’s airstream powerfully sucked it away. My lungs still burned and I was covered from head to toe with dust, but quite thankful for the fresh air.

  With most of the dust gone, I saw they’d almost cleared the entrance. Only a small wall remained between us. I watched as shadows belonging to the doomahorns paced back and forth while they guarded the entrance, allowing us no escape. Another giant kick stirred up more dust, and as the residual cloud began settling, they started to make their way in. However, the moment the werewolves and vampires began advancing, Jayce yelled out, “Aiden. You’re up.”

  In sync, the fairies, with help from Aiden, beamed a light so incredibly brilliant it nearly blinded us. I covered my eyes and felt warmth on my skin like pure sunshine. Their performance worked. The nightwalkers hissed and snarled in agony, retreating outside into the darkness. The tiny fairies managed to come to our rescue for the time being. They continued to hold their brightness for another ten minutes. Then the glows began to diminish and the nightwalkers started towards the entrance again.

  “Meriel… your turn,” Jayce said.

  An enormous wave rolled past the entrance, sweeping away the doomahorns and even a few vampires. The werewolves used their giant claws to grip onto the rocks so they didn’t get swept away by all the water. Meriel had really helped clear away some enemies, only another problem arose. We were knee deep in water and it was rising rapidly. I glanced over at Jayce, who was splashing around. Within a few seconds, the water reached our waists, then our chests.

  “Meriel enough,” Jayce pleaded. Instantly, the water levels lowered and some of the nightwalkers made their way back towards the cave, quite angry and sopping wet. A couple werewolves took the opportunity and pushed through the mass of fairies, swatting and snarling at the tiny beings.

  Two werewolves headed in my direction. I was pinned up against the wall with nowhere to go. I glanced around for Jayce, but couldn’t see past the wolves’ mammoth bodies. They let out rumbling snarls as drool spilled out of their mouths. The larger of the two reached a paw out to me. I shut my eyes. In the same instant, I felt what resembled a shock of electricity zapping me. I screamed out at the excruciating pain radiating from my arm. I looked down and saw where it clawed me. My head spun from the sight of my blood.

  Just then, a pair of hands pulled the beast’s massive head back. The wolf made a loud yelping sound and I heard a snap come from its powerful jaws. The injured beast retreated out of the cave. A split second later, the other one howled in pain and also withdrew.

  Two massive figures emerged. I closed my eyes, waiting for them to finish me off. Minutes passed and I didn’t feel any worse and the pain in my arm was starting to subside. I carefully opened one eye and saw a large chest beside me. I quickly closed my eyes tightly. A few more minutes went by and still nothing happened to me. Confused, I opened both eyes and looked first to my left and then over to my right side. Two muscular males stood in the same protective pose on either side of me. Then, things began maki
ng a bit more sense as I clued into the fact that these were the ones who’d fought off the werewolves.

  Through the entrance there was dark shadows moving. The vampires, doomahorns and remaining werewolves weren’t as close. I was thankful for the massive figures; because of them we now had a bit of space between the nightwalkers and us. I looked over, wanting to celebrate our small victory with Jayce. But he was nowhere to be seen. I searched frantically. Where was he? Was he okay?

  A female voice spoke with a hostile sharpness. “Shanntal, if you ever want to see your precious Jayce again, call off your protectors and get out here.”

  Protectors? This was what my father was referring to? He’d told me protectors would be coming for me soon and with them by my side I’d be safe. I now understood the true meaning of his words. I was safe. Safe from the werewolves who could’ve easily polished me off if it hadn’t been for these guys arriving at the right moment. I stepped forward, taking the opportunity to view both of my protectors. As I looked over their faces, I realized they were almost identical. A few years apart in age perhaps, but still incredibly similar.

 

‹ Prev