Preternatural (Worlds & Secrets)

by Lloyd Harry-Davis

  “Take good care of that, Jo. It’s been in the family for centuries. It belonged to your great, great grandmother, Alexandra Wittle. It contains great power. Something that will prove much more useful to you,” Tantrus told his daughter seriously.

  “How powerful is it?” she greedily asked. Girls and their thirst for power; I mean really.

  “Let’s say you could march as much as you want through time and not squash any butterflies if you wanted to.”

  “But that’s –”

  “Impossible? Yes, exactly why you need to be careful with it,” Tantrus added, stirring his drink as he moved his wrists around in circular motions.

  Tammy looked through the bag, but in a way that said she already knew what she was going to have. She pulled out a wrapped box. It was a case that contained some sort of jewellery. When she opened it, her eyes became a glowing amethyst. She extracted a long, silver, Tartalum wheat-chain necklace that had small metallic charms attached to it: a lightning bolt, an eye, a hand, what seemed like a tree, a metal figurine that looked like two people whose backs were fused together, a long canine, a leaf and a dagger. All those little objects were minuscular. Tammy lifted her hair up to attach it around her neck. But there was something else for her.

  When she had put on the charm necklace, a bracelet made of pearls appeared on her right wrist. Knowing what they were for, she ripped off a pearl, crushed it easily in her palm – reducing it to dust – and gently let the pastel powder glide to the floor like thin sand. Suddenly, the bracelet disappeared and dissolved into the air as white smoke filled the room from the pile of dust on the floor. We watched, enchanted, as the room soon changed into a holographic image of the solar system. We were surrounded by stars, nebulas and space gases. I looked underneath me, only to realise there was no longer carpet, but an eternal space of darkness bejewelled with diamond-like stars. Suddenly, emerging so gently, a series of loud whispers began to sound in the eternal plain. “What’s all that noise?” asked Jade.

  “It’s not noise – you have to listen,” said Tammy. She could hear many voices in unison but all were comprehensible to her. She then raised her palm over where the pile of dust had gracefully descended. In a flash, the projection around us attracted itself back into the dust on the floor. As soon as our living room reformed around us, the dust eddied and quickly re-solidified into the creamy, teal-hinted pearl it once was. Tammy’s bracelet rematerialized like white, chalky smoke. She picked up the pearl on the floor, brought it close to the bracelet and it suddenly reattached itself magnetically.

  “This is going to be extremely useful,” she said as she grinned at the pearls hung on her wrist. “Finally, my turn,” said Jaden.

  “Actually, we got you both the same things since your characters are beginning to say a lot about you two,” mum said. Jaden and I threw up our hands whist scoffing and grunted loudly in exasperation.

  “Every – single – time!”

  “Jaden, it’s like she’s hinting that she wanted one child.”

  “The time with the birthday presents.”

  “And the clothes.”

  “And the school! Wanting us to go to take turns to go to school.

  “Well, sorry if we’re such disappointments; we’ll just go and jump off a cliff –” Jade instantly stretched down to smack us both on our heads to cease our dramatic squabbling. Jaden and I stood up sheepishly and stood side-by-side as our elastic bodies stretched to their full height.

  “Here you go, darlings,” said mum, then opening both hands to reveal small jewellery cases seeming to contain some precious objects of some sort. We cautiously approached her, anxious to discover what she was concealing in her hands.

  We took the cases and opened them casually, expecting nothing great or surprising. When I opened mine, the most unimpressive things stared me in the face. Well this was probably because I was becoming an ungrateful, bitter, arrogant jerk but what did I care? Lying on a silk bed were four jewels: one was diamond with a clear transparency, the second was sapphire with an intense electric blue, the third jewel was a ruby with a fierce sweet shade of red and the last one was an emerald with a lively and flamboyant green colour. But these jewels were so small I had to hold one on the absolute tip of my finger. If they fell, I’m pretty sure I would’ve been unable to find them unless I used a microscope. The tip of my finger touched the diamond and they all lit innocently. My heart suddenly raced and a sudden heavy burden was imposed on my head, as if I was carrying an anchor. But somehow, the pressure kept me standing as blood rapidly rushed to my head; my face darkening to a light rubicund. As if I had crushed ice with my teeth, my canines felt as if they were painfully trying to recede into my gums. Finally, the jewels dimmed and suddenly faded into nothingness. Upon that, my face lightened to marble white and the pressure was relieved.

  “What? Hey, where did they go?” I asked, looking at the box and the floor, disbelieving that I had already lost these gifts. Mum scoffed and laughed to herself. Meanwhile, Jaden had only two jewels in his case that were the same size as mine. His were a diamond and the other was an obsidian of a deep mystical purple shade. He, too, touched them, causing them to glow and disappear with the same unbearable, five-second pressure imposed on him with remarkable dental agony. We turned and looked at each other. But when we did, we jumped in alarm. Our pointed canines had grown slightly longer – just long enough for the teeniest bit of their tips to show beneath our upper lips. Jaden stared at me plainly.

  “A.J., show me your teeth,” Jaden timidly asked.

  I did as he asked carefully. But to his surprise, my upper canines now had a jewel encrusted into each them. On my left fang was the emerald deeply encrusted and below it the ruby. On the other was the diamond with the sapphire underneath it. Even though they bejewelled my teeth, the precious stones were barely visible. One could only tell that they were there when the light bounced off of them because they glinted and sparkled for that split second. Other than that they were practically invisible. Jaden had the same thing; on his left fang rested the diamond and on the other the obsidian, deeply encrusted in his enamel.

  “Whoa!” we said pointing to each other’s teeth.

  “Those are Adherings. They are immersed into you that if one of them falls out or isn’t removed properly – which is extremely rare to happen – you would be left in a permanent headache that you would never be able to shake off,” mum explained.

  “Well, the headache doesn’t sound that severe,” said Jaden with a light grin.

  “That’s funny, because the headaches tend to kill people in a day,” mum said, followed by a very sarcastic smile. Jaden’s smile vanished and his eyes widened to the size of two large coins. Jaden and I looked at each other from the corners of our eyes at a certain angle suspiciously.

  “I won’t knock yours out if you don’t knock out mine,” Jaden told me undertone.

  “Deal,” I quickly replied, followed by a swift handshake.

  “And finally, Liam, could you come here please?” asked Anne. Liam walked over to the adults and knelt. They whispered things to him delicately, leaving the rest of us inquisitive as to what was so important that he had to be told privately. I saw mum’s hand stretch behind her chair as she pulled out a worn out, dented metallic case. Suddenly, she opened it and Anne extracted two objects that brought out an intense desire for me to have in my possession, whilst the adults continued to speak to Liam inaudibly and grimly. When we saw these things, we didn’t know what they were but our mouths dropped. It was like power welded into metal and we bizarrely hungered for them, progressively leaning forward and subconsciously reaching for them until Liam’s eyes darted back at us…at which point we calmed ourselves down and recoiled. They were metal wrist cuffs that seemed to have exquisite arcane symbols engraved into them.

  They were etched with marks and runes that seemed close to Celtic patterns but weren’t entirely. They were a dirty shade of grey, seeming like they were forged from strange iron and �
� being metallic and quite thick – had a few scratches and dents in them, as if they had already been used. But the mere fact that they looked used and dented made them look all the more antique and desirable to have. Around the top and bottom of the metallic cuffs, were a set of rounded studs in the same strange metal as the objects themselves.

  I didn’t know what these things were, but I also had no idea why the adults felt the need to give them to Liam more privately. By the time he walked back to us, he had them both clamped around his wrists, matching his somewhat muscular stature.

  “These gifts will help you all in more ways than you can imagine, so you should take extremely good care of them,” Anne said.

  “Not that Robbie has a choice to lose his,” I stated, causing everyone to go up in light laughter.

  CHAPTER 12.

  Flight

  Robbie twisted and turned. He grasped his pillow tightly, almost in pain. With a jolt, he woke up moaning and groaning with his hands over his ears. Outside, in the dark night sky, it drizzled softly. Robbie got out of bed and slowly walked to the door. He looked at of us to see if we were all soundly sleeping – which we still were – before slowly opening the door to leave. He came back a second later to get his white woollen turtleneck jumper and slid it on due to the cold, lip-freezing, bipolar weather. He walked down the marble steps gently as his hand slid over the chrome rail.

  “Are you alright?” Jaden’s voice suddenly sounded behind him. Robbie turned and looked at him, startled, mainly due to the fact that he wasn’t expecting anybody else to have woken up at this time.

  “Yeah, don’t worry about it.” He sat himself down on a step and Jaden joined him quietly. An awkward silence was floating between the two.

  “Are you scared?” Robbie suddenly asked Jaden whilst rubbing his hands together. Jaden scoffed as they both stared towards the entrance – which was then a wall.

  “You’d expect me to be. But given all the madness that has gone on in the last couple of weeks, I’ve slowly adapted. Maybe it’s just animal instinct – adapting to survive,” Jaden lightly joked. But the seriousness drifted back into his face. “But it is frightening. That any day near Christmas we’ll be alarmed by Tarmo – and we have to venture off to close the main doors from those who are out to kill us.” Jaden gulped.

  “You have all of us and your mum. We’ll prevent anything from happening to any of you.” My brother half smiled but Robbie could read the terror in his eyes.

  “Robbie,” his tone changed to that of a curious one, “– are you an orphan?” Robbie chuckled delicately.

  “Technically, that would be the term,” he said simply. A few seconds of awkwardness floated between the pair again.

  “What happened to your parents, if you don’t mind me asking?” Jaden had pushed in the question very carefully.

  “To be honest with you…I don’t remember them. In fact, I’m not even sure if I had parents. We weren’t adopted by the Wittles or your mum or anything like that – but we were known at the time.”

  “What do you mean ‘at the time’?” Robbie scrunched his face as he pondered; trying to remember.

  “About…two thousand, six hundred and twenty-eight years ago, I would say? It’s been too long,” Robbie answered unsurely. Jaden fell awestruck and stumped.

  “You’ve been alive for…how is that –? What? I mean, I know we live longer once we get to our twenties but you’re just fourteen –”

  “It’s quite complicated – don’t trouble yourself. It’s a long story anyhow. Someday I’ll tell you when I remember most of it. Would you like to go outside?” Robbie mumbled through the half-darkened downstairs area.

  “Sure,” Jaden replied, absent-minded. The pair went outside to see the dark and beautiful sky, complete with only a very few stars embedded in the mass of indigo velvet up above. Their bright lights were luminescent and their shimmering reflections dazzled on the faces of the two. The drizzle began to recede and upon their arrival outside, the grass became dry.

  The jade-green grass was crisp and dry beneath the canopy of trees planted circularly. The moonlight of both of our moons descended gracefully through the gaps of the broad intertwined leaves like chalky mist and fog. They went underneath the canopy and sat themselves down.

  “You know, I’ve been thinking: maybe we should tell the adults about the reincarnation doors,” Jaden’s voice spelled out through the darkness. Robbie took a sharp inhalation.

  “You’re really scared, aren’t you? Is it that hard? I understand your position, but we shouldn’t tell the adults just yet.”

  The sudden opening of the doors made the pair jump. But to their surprise, it was only the girls creeping silently in their pyjamas and hoodies towards them. Liam and I came trudging out after, whispering to one another and muffling our laughter and chattering.

  “Hey, guys,” Jade sat herself down. Tammy came out holding a book and immediately rested herself next to Jaden. She opened it and propped it on his lap. I wasn’t sure what he saw but his eyes widened and his mouth dropped.

  “You found it,” he whispered.

  “Found what?” Jojo asked, clueless. Jaden looked towards Tammy and smiled at her – canines showing, Adherings glowing – as she stared back at him with her brightly lit pink eyes fixed on his face in a self-satisfied smile.

  “Quick, light a campfire!” Jaden then urged. I could tell he was excited for this, but I didn’t know what the fuss was about.

  I raised my hands and looked upwards at one of the tallest trees whose thick branches spread out like twisted, crooked vines. My hair became mahogany brown and my eyes turned a leafy green as five logs of wood came tumbling down to the middle of the circular ground. They fell onto each other with no more than soft thuds. I lifted my hands above my head and shook my fingers. Leaves gently glided down onto the pile of logs just as I had commanded – I adored the fact that I was getting better at this stuff. I wasn’t superb – but I was getting better.

  I pressed my hands against the logs. From the centre of my palm, my hands started to glow a fiery red. They glowed, then dimmed, then glowed again, coming back hotter with redder luminescence. The flames that I could see in my glowing orange veins increased each time they appeared. Finally, a spark twitched on the logs and all-too-quickly, they burst into a blazing and crackling fire, causing embers to glide overhead as the charred wood continued to burn underneath dancing amber flames through the darkness.

  “What is it you found?” Jade asked again. Jaden shook his head, tussling his black and white hair away from his face. Jaden gripped the worn out book and gave Tammy one more bright look with his charmingly warm smile before starting. We looked at him eagerly and with deep interest.

  “Hey, zebu, wildebeest…African wild ass….anytime would be good,” I crankily said with creased eyes, still not fully open from me recently awakening. Jaden’s eyes brightened to gold. His skin turned rough as ginger fur surfaced halfway whilst his canines lengthened to sabre teeth. He growled at me and his face quickly returned to normal halfway of his transformation. He looked back at the book.

  “It says,” he began, “some have tried calling it the gates of hell – others, a place of no return. But the actual name given to this place of broodiness where evil and darkness spawn, is the Cavern of Worlds. According to Vernaescian folklore, what was once a historical place of Vernaesce, now bound with darker forms of kinesis, belongs to the Monarchs of Corlévati. It was said that when all was dark and cold in the latter half of the year after the Samhain celebration, they would tear themselves free from their void prison and appear there. But the stone doors of this place were made differently. If to be touched, from the exterior, by a person of mixed blood rather than one whose is set in stone, strength wouldn’t be needed to close the doors and the Barons of Corlévati would be trapped with no possible means of escape. This place was supposed to be in the Shadow realm, in the Lesantil whereabouts, underneath its treacherous waters. ”

  It all ende
d with a sharp gasp.

  “Do you realise what this means? They could have torn free and escaped any time they wanted during the years that have passed. But why then, haven’t they? Why now?” Jojo asked. We were all befuddled, but she made sense. It was quite unsettling, knowing that they had the power to break whenever they pleased, but instead they chose the year where we had found out about our true heritage.

  “What did it mean by ‘mixed blood’ and ‘rather than one whose is set in stone’?” I asked.

  “It’s obvious, isn’t it?” Liam quickly straightened up. We looked at him, ill-informed. He sighed and rolled his eyes impatiently.

  “Don’t you get it? Mixed blood – you need to be hybrid. Being set in stone are the abilities you are meant to be born with; like any of the elements, Shifftocasting or time-morphing.”

  “And what about when it spoke about ‘strength not being needed’?” Jojo added. Liam suddenly slouched again, stumped.

  “Maybe it meant that being a hybrid is all the strength you’d need to close the doors,” Jade responded.

  “But we have no idea where this ‘Lesantil’ place is,” Jaden said glumly. At that point, Liam’s eyes perked up as they looked through the flames wildly.

  “Spell that,” he instructed Tammy. She did as her brother commanded and he began writing the letters against the grass, wilting as he passed his static-ridden fingers over it. Liam straightened himself up to get a better view of what he had written.

  “Of all the years of research, this is when my geography and history is most useful,” he mumbled to himself. We looked at each other strangely, lost as to what was snaking through Liam’s mind. His eyes were transfixed on the letters as he looked at them savagely. He began to knock on his temples and slap himself rapidly, as if doing so would enable him to recall what he had forgotten. Jade quickly stood up and moved next to him.