“You?”
“Yes. My mother became the Vaun after my Grandmother was taken.” He hesitates from sad thoughts. “And I became the Vaun after my mother was taken.”
“Your family has so much tragedy,” Grandma says, “I understand your desire to not let anyone close, I do. Just understand my desire to have my family prepared.”
Rick walks to the light switch on the wall. He looks to Grandma. “Ask him your questions.”
Grandma watches the room darken. Her Fearling Shanawl appears standing beside her. “Wow.” That is all Grandma can say at first as she stares at the large shadowy image that is Sevol fading into vision beside Rick. “Wow.”
CHAPTER 3 - PRESENT
It is eight years after Grandma and Tom were taken. Rob, his son James and his son’s eight-year-old friend Stewart are in James’ room. It is dark and the Fearling Kynar is present. He just answered Rob’s question.
“He will?” Rob asks. He doesn’t like the answer and is a bit surprised by it. He really thought it would skip a generation. “James is going to have a Fearling?”
“I knew it,” James says. He is excited and he is not trying to hide it. “Will I meet him tomorrow?”
Kynar looks down at the child and answers in his quiet whispery tone. “Yes.”
“No,” Rob argues. He is not happy. He does not want this for his son. “No. That’s not how it works. It skips every other generation. It does, that’s what it does.”
“No,” Kynar says. The shadowy image takes a step back and watches as Rob reaches for the switch.
“I am not happy Kynar,” Rob says, “I did not want this for him.” He turns the light on and Kynar fades from vision. He looks to his son and Stewart. Both have big smiles on their young faces.
“Dad,” James asks, “Why did you do that? He was telling me about my Fearling.”
“I’m sorry,” Rob says, “James, Stewart; I was not ready for this. I am going to go talk to your moms’.” He takes a breath as he speaks words he thought he would never have to speak.
“You will meet your Fearling tomorrow.” He leaves the room and walks downstairs to the kitchen where his wife and Julie sit at the table talking, the meal getting cold.
“How are they?” Ann asks. She knows that her husband is nervous about their son turning eight, about him potentially becoming a Vaun. “Are they nervous?”
“I know Stewart isn’t,” Julie says. She doesn’t want James to be a Vaun but she also has learned from experience that they have to be prepared. “He can’t wait and is praying that James is a Vaun. I told him that it normally skips generations.”
“Not this time,” Rob interrupts. His tone tells the ladies to listen, that his upcoming words are important. “Kynar says that James has a Fearling and that he will meet him tomorrow.”
“What?” Ann keeps her cool but she wants to make sure she heard her husband right. Rob nods and she knows that she did hear him right. Her worst fears come true. Her son is a Vaun and now he will have a Fearling. She has many thoughts. She cannot control them and she starts rattling them off one after another. “He’s not going to the Gathering. He’s not. He’s too young and it’s too soon. And what does that mean? Does that mean there will be two Fearlings, not just Ekabar? Does that mean that two of them can attack us?”
“Baby,” Rob says. He sits next to his wife. He sees that she is trying to remain calm but is slipping. “Hey, we will handle this. As far as the gathering is concerned, he will be fine and trust it is never too soon to learn. In this case the sooner the better. It is a good thing that Rick and the Professor are coming to his party tomorrow.”
“Do they have flashlights?” Julie asks. She is always worried when she leaves the kids alone but now with this new information she is even more worried, “Lights and candles on?”
“Yes, and they have flashlights,” Rob says. He knows why they fear. He also knows that there is nothing they can do but try to be ready and he has accepted that. His experience gives him a calm focus most of the time. “We will handle this, and it doesn’t matter because the kids are excited and eventually they won’t listen to us and they will turn the lights off.”
Ann knows her husband is right. She takes a breath and watches him reach for the phone on the nightstand.
“I am going to call the Professor right now.”
CHAPTER 4
The Professor is staying in the same town as Rob’s family. He is there for a couple reasons. One lamp provides light along with the TV on the dresser.
“Rob, I understand,” the Professor says, “We will learn my friend. I promise you that. Rachel and I will be there tomorrow. Rick won’t.” He smiles. “You know how he is.” His tone is sincere as he walks around to sit on the bed. “You tell Ann we will handle whatever happens, and that you are right. James has to come to the gathering with us.” He sits on the bed and when the voice on the phone stops, the Professor ends the call. “Ok, we will see you tomorrow.” He hangs the phone up on the nightstand then he takes a breath. He looks to the darkness in the corner by the entrance to the bathroom.
There is nothing in sight. There is nothing in the doorway or in the bathroom. The Professor is visibly alone in the room but he talks as if he is not alone.
“You know she does have reason to fear. Ann is smart but she must let James go to the gathering.” He hesitates then stands. “If the boy does have a Fearling then the sooner he learns the better. Ann knows that.”
The Professor stops talking and there is silence for several seconds. The Professor shakes his head. “No,” his tone is definite, “I do not believe that. I do not. They are not all doomed. We will learn more tomorrow, then we will learn more at the gathering the next day. We will become stronger in knowledge, just like we did from the first gathering and every gathering since. We will. We will.”
PAST
It is three months after Ekabar took Grandma and Tom. Rob and Ann are married and they have found out that Ann is pregnant. Rob is trying to keep his control and is following Grandma’s path before she was taken. He has met the Professor and stays in regular contact with the man his Grandma trusted.
The Professor has found two Vauns. Rick, whom they already know about, and Rachel, the nineteen-year-old from the east coast. They are meeting with the two Vauns at a location Rachel has picked.
It is at the high school where Rachel graduated a year before and they meet in the cafeteria. All four sit at the end of one of the long tables. The Professor and Rob sit on one side and Rick and Rachel sit on the other. They are in the middle of a conversation where the Professor is not hiding his dislike for Rick’s hesitations.
“Knowledge, knowledge, knowledge, you know that Rick?” Professor asks. He rolls his eyes in doubt. “You believe what, that knowledge does not make one stronger? Is that what you truly believe, really?”
Rick stands. He paces a few feet away. He turns back to Rob who stares at him.
“If that is what you believe then why are you here?” Rob asks.
“I am here because of your Grandma,” Rick says. His tone is quiet and direct. “I met her just once. We talked forever that night. We talked to each other and to Shanawl and Sevol all night long. She was an amazing woman. She would have helped me without needing to be asked. You do not always meet people like that. I don’t know what you all want from me.”
Rachel turns to Rick. She smiles her youthful and energetic smile. “Don’t be like that. It is so cliché.”
“My Grandma, my best friend,” Rob says. His tone is serious, matching the look in his eyes. “And now my wife is pregnant. I need to know everything. It’s as simple as that. I need to know everything. We all do.”
“I agree,” Rachel says. She smiles just because that’s what she does. She bounces her stare from Rick to Rob as she talks. “My family history is not like yours or yours. We do not have the history of the attacks and people being taken. And we have lots of records from the generations.”
“Those
are items I would like to study,” Professor says.
“Sure,” Rachel says.
“Your family has never been attacked?” Rob asks.
“No,” Rachel says, “and our records go back a few hundred years or something like that. I have not read all of them but I do know most of them. But our stories are different.”
“Amazing,” Professor says, “No attacks, just amazing.”
“We meet our Fearlings at eight just like your family Rob,” Rachel says, “but at thirteen our Fearlings go to their resting and we do not see them for five years. They return to us as Molawners. Like Teelah, she is a Molawner and she can protect up to thirty feet not twenty like Sevol. She is very powerful.”
“Five years,” Rob says, “You went five years without seeing her? I can’t imagine not seeing Kynar for that long. And you’re not afraid of the dark during this time?”
“Well,” Rachel says. “That’s when we get a little not normal.”
“What?” Rick asks.
“We don’t do the whole dark thing during this time.”
“What?” Rick asks again, “The dark thing?”
“Yeah,” Rachel says. “For five years we don’t see one bit of darkness. Always lights, candles. We even have a house in Alaska, you know for like when it goes for a long time without night?”
“Amazing,” Professor says. “For five years you see no shadows. Amazing, the discipline your family has, just amazing.”
“Can Kynar do this resting and become a Molawner?” Rob asks. He doesn’t like the idea of not seeing his Fearling for five years but he likes the sound of Kynar becoming a Molawner, becoming stronger to help protect his family. “Can he?”
“Yes,” Rachel says.
The Professor stands and walks across the floor to the wall. He reaches for the switch then stops. He turns to the others. “I say we all introduce ourselves.”
Rick turns to the Professor. He doesn’t like the idea but he knew that they were going to do it so he is ready.
Rob takes a breath then nods yes.
“Yeah,” Rachel says.
The Professor has an eager smile on his face. He flips the switch and the room darkens. The hall lights shine through the open doorways on both sides of the large room providing visibility to all but a dark area in the middle. That is where the three shadowy beings fade into vision. The smaller Kynar is first and is quickly followed by Teelah and Sevol. They each step forward to the edge of the darkness.
Rob stands and takes a step back. He stares at the three beings in front of him. He is not afraid but the sight intimidates him a little.
“Amazing,” the Professor says, “You three are amazing.”
PRESENT
The Professor looks around his empty hotel room and continues to talk as if someone is present.
“That night we learned a lot and became stronger for it. I will say this. That Kynar is stubborn. He will not do the resting. He will not leave Rob. He says that he has to protect him, always. Well, we can do that while he is resting.” The Professor is annoyed at his own words. “And if he returns a Molawner, he will be able to protect Rob with ease over Ekabar who would still be a Fearling.” He walks over to the bed and sits down. He takes a breath then stares across the room. “Well, it doesn’t matter, little James is going to meet his Fearling. Tomorrow could be very interesting.”
CHAPTER 5
The next day there is a small gathering for James Kelly’s eighth birthday. Julie is there with her son Stewart and they sit in the kitchen across the table from Rachel and the Professor. There are several flashlights on the table within reach of Rachel and the Professor.
Ann stands beside Rob at the counter. They both nervously watch their son opening his last present. They know that as soon as he is done he will be very eager to meet his Fearling.
“Look at him,” Ann says. Her eyes tear as she thinks about the night Grandma and Tom were taken. Quick images of Ekabar dragging them away flash with her thoughts. Her eyes tear but she keeps her calm. “He doesn’t know what could happen.”
“No,” Rob says. His thoughts are deep and excusatory. “What were we supposed to do, scare the hell out of him from the time he was born. There is a reason that we wait. There is a reason they have always waited. It is what works best most of the time.”
“I know,” Ann says. “It’s the reason every room in our house has lots of lamps, candles, lighters, matches and flashlights.” She watches her son smiling as he stares at the new chess set he just got from the Professor.
James puts the box on the table. He looks at his friend Stewart who shares his excitement of meeting the Fearling then he turns to his parents standing a few feet away. He wants to flip the lights off and meet his Fearling. He gets up and runs to the light switch. “Can I mom?”
“Look at you,” the twenty-five year old Rachel says. She has known and stayed very close to Rob and his family over the last eight years. She has, without letting Rob or Ann know, innocently talked to and prepared James for this moment. “Can’t wait another second, just like me when I was your age.”
“Wait,” Ann says. She knows that there is nothing she can do. This moment has to happen. She and Rob reach for the flashlights on the counter at the same time. She stares at her friend Julie sitting at the table. They exchange the same look of fearful caution.
“Go ahead,” Professor says. He doesn’t have the hesitation the others have. He is like Rachel, welcoming the new experience. “Go ahead James.”
James flips the switch and the room darkens. The adults tighten their grips on the flashlights they hold as they stare around the dark room.
The shadowy images of Kynar standing beside Rob and Teelah standing behind Rachel fade into vision. Everyone stares around the room waiting, anticipating. Several seconds pass.
“Maybe the boy does not have a Fearling,” the Professor says. His tone shows disappointment. At that second two shadowy Fearlings the same size as James fade into vision on either side of the eight year old. “Look at that,” the Professor says, “Two. The boy has two Fearlings.”
“Did not see that coming,” Rachel says. Her tone shows surprise but no fear.
Julie pulls her son Stewart back, close to her. “Mom,” Stewart complains.
“Rob?” Ann’s tone shows fear of the unknown.
“I,” Rob says. “I ... didn’t know.”
“What are your names?” James asks. He isn’t afraid.
Their voices are soft, whispery as they answer their Vaun.
“Drawk.”
“Hydron.”
“What does this mean?” Rob asks. He looks across the dark room to the Professor.
Ann walks to the switch and flips the lights on. The shadowy beings fade into the light. “Light the candles.”
“Hey,” Stewart says.
“Mom,” James complains.
“We all need to talk,” Ann says. She sees the look on her son’s face and cuts him off before he can speak. “You wait James. We all need to talk.”
A few minutes later James and Stewart sit at the table playing with some of the birthday gifts. There are several candles lit throughout the room and multiple lights on.
In the living room, Julie sits in a chair while the Professor and Rachel sit on a couch. Ann and Rob pace around the room as they talk, Ann is full of worry and keeps looking back toward the kitchen.
“Ann,” Professor says. “Relax. Heaven forbid anything happens, the children are still within Teelah’s range of protection.”
“There are two of them,” Julie says. “Does that mean that there can be two more Fearlings that attack us?”
“No,” Rachel says. “This has happened once in my family, a couple hundred years ago or something like that. There were twin Fearlings but there was only one bad Fearling. The fact that James has two means that he will have twice the protection. You can even have one stay when the other goes into resting. He could have two Molawners protecting him. He would be safe fro
m everything.”
“We are taking James to the gathering tomorrow,” Professor says. “Yes, right?”
Rob looks at his wife as she hesitates but nods yes.
“Good,” Professor says. He stands. His tone shows anticipation. “I believe that the experience will be good for him. I do.”
Ann is struggling with everything. It is overwhelming her. She turns and walks down the small hall to the kitchen. She stares at her son and Stewart sitting at the table placing the chess pieces on the board.
James turns to see his mom. He smiles as he asks his question. “Can I keep them?”
Fearlings Two (The Fearlings Series Book 2) Page 2