by Kim Cormack
~
Kayn and Chloe wandered through a breathtaking field of buttercups, hand in hand. They twirled and giggled together as they danced amongst the flowers. No bees graced the yellow petals today. There was not a one. The little girls strolled hand in hand in silence now. Neither of them spoke a single word in an attempt to hear the familiar humming sound. Chloe stopped walking and sat down in the sea of yellow and green. She tugged Kayn down with her into the plush feeling foliage.
They each picked a single flower from the ground. Chloe plucked the petals off of hers almost immediately, but Kayn didn’t want hers to die. She even felt guilty for removing it from the earth. They understood these things about each other. Kayn aspired to heal, and Chloe’s first impulse had always been to destroy.
It was Chloe that spoke first, “Promise me one thing. Promise me you will keep living your life in the light. Never allow me to draw you into the dark.”
Kayn said, “We can find the middle ground together.”
They both turned towards the echo of voices that seemed to be coming from beyond the horizon.
Kayn took her sister’s hand, and Chloe whispered, “I think it’s almost time for us to go back to the others.”
Chloe was absorbed into Kayn’s hands in a burst of glorious blinding light. Kayn felt the warmth of her sister’s half of their soul as it travelled up her arms and came to rest in her heart. She felt whole and unusually alert. The voices of her friends seemed to be much closer. She gasped and attempted to open her eyes, but they wouldn’t budge. She was not able to escape her dream. She inhaled the scent of the ocean and opened her eyes to find that she was standing alone thigh deep in liquid heaven. There was nothing but water as far as she could see in every direction. Brightly colored shells and starfish adorned the ocean floor of shimmering white sand. She had the feeling that she needed to choose a direction to start walking in, but how could she? Which way would lead her to the shore?
Kayn stood with her feet stubbornly in place until flashes of white light whirled through the water close to her feet. She attempted to leap out of the way, but she lost her balance and tumbled backwards into the water. Around her dozens of white gleaming orbs sped past her. Her heart began to race, but instinctively she knew there was nothing to fear. The spheres gathered just outside of her reach. The glare from the sun as it reflected off of the water made her have to squint in order to see. She gently moved her hand through the water towards them. They circled around her fingers and scattered in every direction across the surface of the water in a burst of blinding light, leaving her sitting in the center of what seemed to be a giant star.
She covered her eyes with her dripping, salty fingers, and started to laugh. When she uncovered her eyes, her breath caught in her chest. A stunning golden stallion made its way towards her through the shimmering water. She slowly and very carefully attempted to rise to a standing position. She didn’t want to frighten the remarkable animal. Inch by inch she rose to her feet. She did not know very much about horses, but she did know that she did not want to be in the path of its hooves. The stallion stopped advancing towards her about five feet from her outstretched hands. She attempted a step towards the regal being.
Kayn whispered, “It’s okay, I’m not going to hurt you.” A light breeze made his majestic mane ripple as though it were a cape trailing behind him. Kayn wasn’t sure, if she had ever laid eyes on anything this wondrously free. This was what she imagined freedom of will to look like. She ached to touch him. She needed to, if only for a second, so she slowly inched her body towards the exotic creature.
She whispered, “Who are you? What are you doing out here with me?” Kayn was almost able to touch him when beneath her feet thousands of the little white lights sped past her in the same direction. Then the stallion reared up, whinnied, and began to gallop away in the same direction as the lights. Kayn turned around to see what they all ran from and coming at her was a wall of water as large as a mountain.
All she had time to say was,” Oh shit.” She opened her eyes gasping for breath. Her last moment of consciousness had been a wall of blinding pain. She had received the message from that lesson loud and clear. Always look behind you. Especially if there is something unusual that is distracting you in the opposite direction.
The first faces she focused in on were Kevin and Frost. Her heart warmed to both of them, and she had her first inkling of how complicated her new life joined with Chloe could become. She had to hold on to the person that she had been. She would not let Frost know that Chloe’s love for him was still alive inside of her. Kevin was her future. He had given up his own, without a hint of hesitation, to be with her. This was of course before either of them had known that there had never been a choice. Her mind whispered, don’t look at Frost. Look at Kevin.
Kayn said, “That was unpleasant.”
Kevin replied, “What was unpleasant?”
Kayn sat up and shook her head, “I just got hit by a tidal wave the size of a mountain because I was busy watching a horse in the water.”
Frost sarcastically chuckled, “You really didn’t see that one coming? I bet it didn’t seem strange at all that a horse was just randomly there to entertain you in the water?”
Kayn mumbled, “You are such an asshole.”
He quipped back, “I know, and I thank you for noticing. I do try hard at it.”
Grey added sweetly “You will find Frost much less of an asshole, when there are no stupid people around.”
Frost petted Grey on the shoulder and said, “Thank you, I’m touched, buddy.”
“Trust me, do not even bother,” Lily whispered to Kayn, “You may start asshole fest. Frost thinks calling him an asshole is a compliment.”
“Great, thanks for the heads up,” Kayn whispered back. She genuinely wished she hadn’t said a word to him. Frost kept looking at her like a dog with a savory bone. Kayn sat up, and Kevin leaned over and hugged her.
He whispered in her ear, “Is it still you?”
She squeezed him extra tightly and whispered, “Yes, It’s still me.”
Frost had heard their conversation. Kayn could tell by his mannerisms. He turned away from her and began to school Kevin on Tiberius’s capabilities. “Now your grandfather can procure information from people, and he can turn off the ability to feel pain. Now being the sadistic douche that we all know and despise, he opts out of using it to help his own clan out. He’s one of those take it like a champ, kind of leaders.”
Kevin replied, “I can see people’s memories and learn from them. I would never clean slate someone, but the ability to turn off pain would be an amazing gift to have.”
Frost added “You have your grandmother’s memories, don’t you? You will have to filter through them all. She was a feisty old broad. I know she was paying attention to how Tiberius did things. A healer’s gifts are compassion based. I know your grandfather’s gifts are rage based. You don't look like a guy with rage issues or one who can get angry on command.”
It was Kevin’s turn to be sarcastic now. He fired back, “I have nothing to feel rage over? Are you serious? From what I understand our only option seems to be that we run as soon as we get home in an effort to lead the other clans and demons away from our families so they won’t all be brutally murdered. If the other clans are already there when we get back, we are shit out of luck. Everyone we love dies. My brother Clay gets to become a skin coat for my Grandpa. My Mom, well she’s a sitting duck. My dad is obviously dead the second he walks through the door. What’s left of Kayn’s family is going to die. Then there’s Kayn … the thought of someone hurting her again makes my blood boil. We have been enlisted into a clan where we get the privilege of being supernatural chew toys. My grandpa is Satan and my Grandmother was just ripped into pieces by my Grandfather. Have I missed anything?”
“Nope, I think you got the gist of it kid,” Frost quietly said.
Kayn could see his asshole juju gradually slipping into the emotional quicksand
that was empathy. Frost spoke with a courteous tone now. Kayn could almost see the light from the bulb between his ears that had just began to shine. Kevin could be their clan’s new pain guy.
Frost said, “I think we should try to test your pain removing abilities. So sit quietly for a while and try to sift through Winnie’s memories.”
Kevin shook his head and shut his eyes, and it was obvious he was trying to locate what Frost wanted.
Kayn sat on the ground with her knees tucked into her chest and her arms encircled around them. She tried to resist the urge to start rocking back and forth. There was no way to explain how it felt each time you asked your mind to wrap itself around something completely crazy. You could hear your inner voice whisper Are you crazy. That’s not even possible. You can’t handle any more. You are pushing me too far. With each new thing that she was asked to just except, her heart felt heavier and heavier. It had become a dead weight inside of her chest. She could hear her mind whispering we have to shut them off. We have to shut off your emotions, if you are going to have a chance.
Kayn began to rock back and forth even though she tried to stop herself. This whole ordeal would be a lot easier if she could succumb to the insanity. She needed to permit herself to go just a little bit crazy. Not skin coat wearing, dancing around wearing someone’s scalp as a hat certifiable, but just crazy enough to have someone ask her to do something nuts, and she would say let’s do it, without requiring some kind of rational reason. She felt a hand squeeze her shoulder, and when she looked down at the fingers she knew it was Lily.
Lily whispered, “I know it doesn’t feel like it, but someday all of this will seem normal. I was told something years and years ago, and it has gotten me through everything that I have faced so far. I whisper it whenever I feel there’s no way through something. Do you want to hear it?”
Kayn had ceased to rock, but her eyes were still pressed shut, and her arms were still coiled around her knees as she nodded her head.
Lily replied, “Just breathe in, breathe out, and put one foot in front of the other, until it gets easier.”
Kayn tried it. She began to focus on breathing. After roughly a minute, she loosened her grasp on her knees and opened her eyes. She turned to look at Lily and saw that she was actually smiling at her. And not a fake one, but a genuine one.
Lily said, “It works doesn’t it? From now on just concentrate on the basics. Try to follow orders without taking them on as your own. It’s all white noise in the grand scheme of things. Everything that happens was going to occur with or without you involved. Someone’s death is just the end of one experience. If we weren’t involved, it would be some kind of chance accident. Death is only an opportunity to rise again. It’s not the conclusion to someone’s story. There is no end. Once you comprehend that one thing, everything becomes clear. We are all immortal. The only difference between us and them is we get to keep the boxes we came in.”
Kayn instantly felt better. She took Lily’s hand in hers and clasped it and said, “Thank you.”
Lily answered, “No problem, that’s what friends are for.”
Kayn grinned for she had never expected Lily to become her friend. Kayn looked for Kevin, and he was still sitting there with his own eyes closed, but for very different reasons. She wanted to shake him out of it and tell him everything Lily had just told her. Kayn had a whole new perspective on everything now. Her best friend needed to hear this, but she didn’t dare bother him until he found what he was looking for in the memories that he was rifling through.
Kayn stood up and took a deep breath and everything looked brighter. She walked towards the others with a smile on her face as her mind whispered breathe in breathe out, left foot and then your right foot. You are doing great.
Grey was speaking, “How do we train without knowing for sure that Lexy is still outside of her tomb and able to heal us?”
Frost stood there grinning for a second. A giant boulder materialized in his hands.
“Bloody hell.” Grey stammered. He began to run away. Grey ran from the clearing towards the woods.
Frost didn’t move for a second. He grinned as he wound up and threw the boulder with everything he had at Grey, who went down in a splash of blood and meat.
Frost beamed at Kayn and declared, “Never say I haven't ever done anything sweet for you.”
Kayn could not help but find it a little humorous with her new perspective on everything. Frost thought that murdering someone for her in the same way that they had killed her during training was sweet.
Kevin strolled up behind her and chuckled, “You’re going to ask me to slay someone to prove my love to you now, aren’t you?”
Kayn smiled and said, “No, I think I’m all good with flowers or a zombie pen holder or something.”
The group walked far too casually towards Grey’s mashed up carcass. Kayn had never been on the other end of this moment. She had always been the victim. She watched in wonder as his broken bones began to visibly shift back into their original setting. Then his flesh instantly healed.
Frost quipped, “Question answered. Lexy is still running the tombs. It’s all good.”
Grey was laying face down in the soil. He moaned, “Don’t you think that perhaps it would have been a good idea to try out Kevin’s pain dulling ability first, you jackass. You know before you gave me a backwoods lobotomy. He thrust himself up with his muscular arms and glared at Frost.
Frost said, “Sorry … jumped the gun. We will just have to do this again. Kevin try to get rid of Grey’s capacity to feel pain first, this time.”
Grey said, “No, we will not kill me again. We will kill you. You run away, and Kayn will throw a boulder at you.”
Frost laughed aloud and agreed,” Sounds like a plan, let’s do it. We don’t even need to test Kevin’s ability first. Our Kayn can’t even manage to swing a sword.”
Kayn looked at Grey and said, “All right … Let’s do this.” She stared at her hands and thought of holding a giant boulder and one appeared. It wasn’t as heavy as she thought it would be. She wondered if she could manage to throw it at Frost while he was running away. Frost started to slowly walk in the opposite direction. He bounced from side to side slowly and laughed.
He shouted, “Tell me when I should start running.”
Kayn hollered, “Start running.”
Frost slowly jogged away from her in slow motion. Kayn shook her head. Lily smiled and signaled for Kayn to pass the Boulder to her. Kayn grinned and did just that, with no qualms whatsoever about fair play. Frost didn’t seem to value the idea of fair play while dealing with other people when he was the one holding the weapon. If anyone deserved a good attitude adjustment it was him. Lily wound up and hurled it at him. She flawlessly recreated Grey’s demise by boulder. They were all laughing as they made their way towards Frost’s body.
Grey snickered, “Wouldn’t we feel like a bunch of douches, if he didn’t heal, and Lexy showed up.” They stood around him waiting for him to heal as Grey had, and there was a bit of a pause before he began to heal. It alarmed them all for a second.
Lily said, “Don’t tell him it was me. Let him think Kayn did it. He is in dire need of a little life lesson.”
They smiled at each other as Frost pushed himself up onto his knees. He turned to give Kayn a knowing smile and said, “I didn’t see that one coming.” Frost stood up and made his way towards her.
He teased, “Did you get that chance you needed to release some of your pent-up aggression? I am glad I could be of service. Now that you have some of your strength back, let’s see how you handle a sword.”
She felt like groaning from his ill attempted innuendo. She sighed, “You never give it a rest do you?”
He spared, “No rest for the wicked.” A Sword appeared in his grasp. He dragged his sword in the soil towards her. Dust rose from the line in the dirt.
Kayn thought of a sword and one appeared in her hand. Her sword was not heavy like it had been before. S
he said, “You haven’t said a word about Chloe. Are you so old that you have forgotten her already?”
Frost smirked and said, “Miss Brighton, Did you actually just make an attempt at trash talking? I’m honored. Get your halo dirty. It must be difficult for you wearing that nun habit all the time. Tell me … Does it get hot under there?”
Kayn elevated her sword with no issue at all this time. She said, “Oh please … the innuendo is beginning to become painful, and as a matter of fact. I adore black. You have had almost no reaction to losing her. It’s just an observation. There’s no need to get all touchy about it.”
Frost replied, “Sweetheart in a real battle nobody is going to put down their weapon until you get your emotions in check.” He swung his sword at Kayn and she swung back blocking the blade.
She thought for a split second that she had done something right, but Frost looped his arm around hers and tugged her against him. Kayn attempted, having no reaction to the length of his lean body against hers.
He spoke softly into her ear, “Chloe is right here. She hasn’t gone anywhere. She’s inside of you. I won’t lose you to another clan.” His breath tickled the tendrils of hair that framed her face.
Kayn swallowed a lump of emotion and said, “Fine, then quit messing around and instruct me.” She elbowed him away. He laughed and stumbled backwards. She swung her sword once again. This time she struck his arm.
It looked like even give and take as they fought, but Kayn was aware that he was taking it easy on her. She lost her footing and landed with an ungraceful thud in the grass. Frost bent over and held his hand out towards her as a peace offering. Kayn hesitated for a second. She could tell by the expression that flashed across his face that he was up to something. Against her better judgment, she took it. Her hand slid perfectly into his masculine grip. He pulled her up and into his arms again. It might have looked like an accident, but she knew he was playing with her.