“If he does not show up here bright eyed and bushy tailed in ten minutes, we leave. That’s all there is too it!” And with a wave of his hand through the air, Sean left it at that. His word was definite.
Trey followed behind him. This vehicle hanger was extensive in all directions. The Hunter was unsure whether there was an end to it at all, well with the exception of where they were headed. Their walk was shorter than he had been expecting. Staring at each, tank, jeep, and four wheeled drive that passed the time considerably. They were in the perfect location for launching their mission. Since they were underground, no one would be able to see their descent into the sea that connected to their little lake.
Pulling into the NSSH’s parking lot, Ian thoughtlessly drove right pass his usual parking spot. ‘Did any of it matter anymore?’ Was the one thought on that repeated in his mind. Once he decided on a spot to park, he sprang out of the vehicle. For the first time all morning, Ian had checked the time.
“Damnit, damnit, damnit!” He chanted all the way into the building and to the ground floor.
“Damnit is right!” Sean’s grinding voice rang through his head.
“Sir!” They began a telepathic conversation. “Why did you not notify me of the hour?” His thighs chaffed while he hopped down the stairs two at a time.
“Should I also cook your meals and prepare your baths?” Ian could picture how angry Sean looked.
“Eh?” Ian had known better than to add any sort of quip.
“Get your ass on the boat and I don’t want to hear it.” He gave Ian a kick to help him on his way.
Ian shared a boat with the other lieutenants, Commander Sean, Trey, and four Private class officers.
“Strap in to your harnesses and brace for any sudden shifts that can occur on takeoff.” Sean did not like the tone of their captain’s voice. He knew this man all too well. “Three, two …” And with a sharp jerk, they were on their way to Farous.
An hour or two into the trip, Sean had briefed Ian with an added lecture.
“It is your mission and yet everyone, with the exception of you, showed up with plenty of time to spare!” And there seem to be no end to it.
At the other end of the boat, the violet and red haired woman, Lieutenant Gillian, practiced her ability. Pointing out and in a wave motion, she moved her hand in front of her face and in its place streamed small wisp’s of dazzling lilac flames. They were similar to Trey’s Hunter flames in both that they were chain linked, but separate. With a flick of her wrist, the flames danced in a circle before her face before slowly coming together to form a fully bloomed rose. Her gaze fell from her practice and over to Trey, but he was not paying attention. The rose’s petals subsequently wilted.
Commander Sean was sitting up against the back of the boat, every so often looking Ian up and down. His looks were not going unnoticed. Ian had known from the first minute he had stopped lecturing him, that Sean was eyeing him, as if sizing him up for some unknown qualifications. Each glance was followed by Sean mumbling something to himself and from what Ian could hear, it was something about his flaws.
“What!” His words shook the others out of their daydreams.
Sean tried to play it off by acting as though he did not know who Ian had been referring to even though he was looking directly at him.
“You have been staring at me from the moment you stopped yelling at me!” Everyone’s attention was now on the two highest ranking officers in the boat’s cabin.
“Sit down, boy! You are being paranoid.” All Sean wanted to do was diffuse the situation.
“No!” Maybe being trapped in that boat almost nine hours was getting to them all. “I want to know what it is you keep saying about me under your breath, as you keep doing! And I am not being paranoid. The only one being paranoid here is Trey!” He gestured to the golem cradled on his seat in the fetal position.
Trey had been rocking himself back and forth before Ian’s comments. “Of course you would be a little ‘off’ being stuffed in this tin can of death. The only thing holding the aluminum together is duct tape and chewing gum.” His blazing sapphire eyes shifted to Gillian. “And what is your problem? Can you not smell all the fumes in the air!?”
“Huh?” She was caught a little off guard and stopped her little show, her mouth hanging slightly open.
“Yes you. Playing with your flames and waving them all through the air! You could set us all on fire.” For some reason, Trey’s hysterical outburst had a comical effect on Ian who was now giggling away in his chair.
“Oh and you think that is funny, do you? Why don’t you tell us all of what you think of our target? Hm?” A small confrontation had turned in to a full blown spectacle.
Trey did not even have to mention her name and already Ian was blushing from the embarrassment. “Wha… What is that?” Between chocking on his nerves, he had been taking deep breaths to calm himself. It had been a long time since Ian last thought about her. The shock of her image suddenly popping into his mind was unsettling.
This was turning in to a soap opera, much to the rest of the crews delight. Not bothering to be discreet, they had inched closer to hear everything that was going on.
“You know what I am talking about. Just look at you.” Everyone gave Ian a good look. “You are so red right now that you look like you have fallen asleep in the sun! What exactly do you two have going on?”
Ian’s view turned to Sean, pleased with his eye’s for help. “Damnit!”
“Dude, she’s like twelve!” Someone shouted out amongst the crowd.
“Got a little thing for the enemy, have you?” The taunting continued.
“Aren’t you married?” There was no end to it.
He retreated to his seat, knowing the commotion was not going to die down any time soon.
“Are you sure, momma?” A scared young girl, no more than three looked to her mother for reassurance.
“Just relax, honey. Just step in front of it and let it take you. I am right behind you.” The mother gave her daughter all the encouragement she needed.
On the damp dirt, Recarie was waking up. “Hello?” She had heard two sets of voices in the black abyss, a mother and a daughter. Not a single reply other than the trickling of water off in the near distance. “Shit!”
Dark surrounded her in all directions. There was nothing to do put pick a direction and follow to the end. Recarie dusted herself off before finding her strength to stand up.
“Ugh!” She had touched something wet and soft on the ground where she had placed her hand. Immediately she took off in the fears that it was the monster that brought her there.
“Mm?” The thing she had touched was waking up. “Hello?” He spoke out to no one. “Anyone there?” Obviously he could tell he was alone.
A light blue shine emanated from the walls around him. From what Tory could tell, he was in underground tunnels somewhere under Farous. Placing one hand on the closet wall near him, Tory started off in a random direction.
“Stupid girl…” He kicked a pebble into the distance. Tory was referring to Recarie who he had been following all night. “Nice quiet life till she showed up…”
The fair blue light had grown brighter as time passed in the tunnels. By now Tory could see how they were in fact, small carvings into the stone wall. Spirals, triangles, and block shapes repeated in no specific pattern. The carvings could have been hieroglyphs or random children drawings.
Further into the tunnel Tory was able to hear the chanting of several voices, both male and female and then he saw it; the outline of a pair of silver wings bouncing in front of him.
Recarie ran her fingers over the carvings on the wall, taking a guess as to what each on meant. With her other hand she tried to use any of her abilities, but they were not working. Something was blocking them or more like cancelling them out. Maybe it was whoever making those loud thuds behind her. She picked up her pace as did her constant pursuer.
In moment of clear thought, Recarie
stopped. “Why am I the one doing all the running?” Recarie could be brave when she wanted to be. She turned on her heels and headed back the way she had come and it was not long until a figure came into view.
“You?” The first thing she wanted to do was ring the little neck of the black haired boy. Her eyes narrowed as she clenched her fist and gritted her teeth.
Tory stopped. Recarie looked pissed and ready to tear him apart. Her speed increased and, if he was not terrified out of his mind, Tory would have dodged her fist that was aimed squarely at his head.
“What the hell!” He stuttered throwing up his hands in front of his face.
“Yeah, seriously!” The wall next to his face cracked under Recarie’s brute strength. “Why are you following me?!” She held her anger back, to a point.
“Shit.” Tory watched as solid stone crumbled to dust an inch from his skull.
“I said,” Recarie hit the wall on the other side of his head to the same affect. “Why have you been following me since the café?!” She dropped him to his feet.
“Look, I am just going to come right out and say this as I have no need to lie to you. I do not trust you. From what I have heard, you have come from Disten and could very well be one of their little spies trying to break their own laws and step foot on Farous land!”
Now she was getting somewhere. It was no secret that Tory had not instantly fallen for her like the rest of his friends and customers at Acanelle’s had. There was definitely something not right about her and Tory was determined to find out what it was.
“When I came to get you at the café tonight, you were out of there faster than I could see you. I followed you through town and into that creepy old house. The last thing I know is that you had sent that liquid metal like creature after me.” Getting it all out in the open began to fill Tory with enough confidence to push Recarie’s hands away from him. “You have everyone under your little spell with your ‘cute’ and many voices, but I am not convinced.”
“Uh!” No one had spoken to her like that before. It was strange and stung her heart. “Forget this.” Recarie turned her back to him and carried on her way.
Satisfied with clearing the air, Tory followed Recarie with a fair distance between them. As the time passed they carried on in silence.
“What are you doing?!” Her anger had returned.
Without thinking, Tory had tossed his hands high in the air. “Look I am just trying to find my way out. So what? You just happen to be going the same way I am. I don’t know how many hours, or days for that matter, I have been down here and I want out of here before those creepy voices drive me insane.” He pushed past her.
“Oh, you hear them too. I thought it was just me going mad.” This girl’s temper had its moments of flaring up and cooling down in a split instance.
All other thoughts fled her. Her attention turned to the back of Tory’s head. From this distance he was not too bad looking and she did not have the instinct to want to stab him through the chest and watch his blood spill slowly from his body.
“No!” She felt torn. Recarie could fell legs weakening. Her hands trembled, not from nerves but hunger.
Tory had heard her weep, but had no care to check on her. It was when the tunnel began to dim did he look back. There on the ground, back up against the wall, was Recarie.
“What is your problem?!” Tory stood next to her, arms crossed. “Not that I care or anything.”
“Then what do you want?” She made an attempt to punch his knee cap in, but could only swing her fist.
“It would seem that if all persons in this tunnel do not keep in motion, the light goes out. Either you move your butt or I am stuck down here for eternity.” He half lied.
“Food?” By this point she was weak and vulnerable.
Tory searched his pockets and threw a granola bar at her. “Here, food. NOW! Can you get moving?”
The granola bar was unwrapped and consumed faster than it took him to finish his sentence. “Thank you.” She did not have to like him in order to show proper manners in such a situation.
“… Ever.” Recarie could hear the last word Tory had said with no heart. She was pretty sure that the first word to that sentence was ‘what’.
Silence. The sweet sound of silence began to dig its way into the back of her head. If it was not broken soon, Recarie was going to snap.
“You know I am not as bad of a person as you make me sound like.” A futile attempt at a conversation. Tory remained silent. “Sure, you know I have killed a dozen or so people, but all in a power induced trance and for self-defense.” Recarie watched him cringe, but at least she could tell he was listening. “And those ‘voices’ of mine that you mentioned, I cannot help it! It is like a self-defense thing. I try to have everyone like me and not to cause conflicts.”
“… And you seem to be doing such a great job at that.” Sarcasm was all Tory seemed to be capable as far as conversation skills went.
“You are impossible, you know that?” Recarie walked past him, her dull mauve hair swishing behind her with every step she took. She would not try to make peace with the boy who did not even bother to acknowledge her attempts. “Not that I think you care, but I can smell the outside up a head.”
“Oh.” He picked up his head. Tory did care they were almost out. Being in those tunnels was making him claustrophobic and jumpy.
A golden shine shone through the end of the tunnel. At first small rays of light and then Recarie emerged into the full warmth of the morning sunshine. Dried oak leaves crunched underneath her feat. Above her, birds sung and squirrels pranced around the trees. All she wanted to do was spread her now invisible wings and join them in the sky, but a voice in the back of her head spoke up. That little voice told her to wait on Tory and make sure he made it back to town safely.
“Humph, humph, humph.” Behind her, Tory popped out of the tunnel and out of breath. Maybe being alone in the darkening tunnels made him panic. Maybe.
“Do you know where you are?” Recarie kept her distance.
“I hear seagulls, so I am guessing not far from the beach. Humph.” He took in another breath full of air.
“Good, then do you need any further assistance here?” Recarie avoided directly asking if he needed her help specifically.
“It was you who had gotten lost in the first place.” Tory walked off in the direction he knew was headed toward town.
“Ah…” On a sudden draft of comforting wind, Recarie followed it off the grounds.
Less than a minute of flying towards the scent of the salty sea, she had left the little forest and soared above a rippling meadow. Each blade of grass moved with the wind, making the land, from Recarie’s view, looks glossy from the sun’s light. At the end of this meadow came cliff so fragile, the most averaged sized person weight could send it crumbling into the sea below. But it was not the land that was calling her.
Soaring to the very point that split the land from the body of water surrounding it, Recarie could not escape its pull. A feeling of urgency and fear crept under her golden tan sparkling skin. On the wall of the cliff a tree root stretched out in the air towards the sea.
In the corner of her eye, the gleam off of a dull metal surface caught her attention. Perching on the suspended root coming out of the side of the cliff, Recarie watched the preceding on the beach below her. Several boats lined the shallow waters and out of those boats poured NSSH officers. Recarie could tell it was the NSSH when a familiar face emerged from the tin ship.
Trey stepped onto the crushed marble sands of the beach, turning handfuls of it to glass with each step. Back on land, or more like on the edge of it, Recarie instinctively ducked her head down out of any of theirs possible sight.
“Oh crud! Humph!” All the air seemed to have escaped her lungs in a single exhale. In seconds, she was up in the air again headed towards the café.
Thoughts of her previous life in Disten came back in the form a blinding white light and a throbbing migraine.
Ian, the Hunter, all the people she had supposedly murdered, and those locked up in the NSSH Zones. Recarie’s stomach had turned inside her. She had forgotten about all those people’s lifeless expression…
“Gawd! Why me?” Tilting with her back towards the draft, she descended to the approaching brick road. “They’re here for me!” Her legs could barely support her on the uneven path she stood on. “What do I do? Tell Caleth? What will Daouen think?” Several seconds later, after replaying the last sentence over again and again in her mind Recarie started walking. “Why do I care what he thinks? Since when did I get like this?” Crawling out of an abandoned back alleyway, she stumbled in to people while in her daze. “Where did all that come from? Hm…”
“Now this is the last time we will have direct contact.” Ian was now taking his role as leader. “If you do not know your roles, then it is too late to and so good luck then.” Behind him, Sean was as ever watchful as usual. “NOW GET LOST!” Obviously he was still feeling the effects of half a day of being cramped in the tin boat with the teasing of his subordinates and commanding officer.
“We promise not to harm her pretty plush face for you, boss.” And the taunting continued even as they went in to the thicket that separated the beach from the town.
When the last of the privates and their lieutenants left the beach, Ian was left with Sean and Trey, if you could count Trey. He was busy watching the back of Gillian disappear into the brush.
“Dude, I think I’m in love.” Trey punched Sean.
“You know it is only because your abilities are so similar and nothing else.” Ian turned to face the ocean. “Hunters will pick up on the wavelength of other Hunters and when they are of the opposite genders, sometimes it attracts them to each other.”
“I don’t care what it is as long as it never goes away.” Trey straightened up his back which made him appear taller. “When I’m around her she makes me feel like I want to be a better man. Like a house in the suburbs and two point five children.”
Misery Saves the Night Page 12