The Void Hunters (Realmwalker Book 2)

by Jonathan Franks

  “We know where the Chamber is supposed to be,” Hope said. “Let's head there.”

  “What about the city?” Shae asked. “Shouldn't we check on the fairies who are here, in The Marsh, first?”

  “Let's make sure the Chamber is where we think it's supposed to be first,” Herron said. “We only have a couple days until the new moon. We don't want to miss it when the Chamber opens.”

  They released hands and they all turned back around.

  “Should we walk or fly?” Gen asked. “I'm worried about losing my bearings if we're in the air.”

  “Let's walk for a bit,” Herron said.

  “The ground is different,” Gen said. “I mean it's not repeating or anything. It looks like we're getting somewhere.”

  No one answered her. They walked for about ten minutes and the grayness ahead of them abruptly gave way. Patches of grass and pools of murky water lay ahead of them. The sky was dirty gray and was bright as though it was daytime but no sun was visible.

  “This looks like The Marsh,” Herron said. “But it's so muted. The color is really faded out. The buzz of the bugs is really faint. And there's usually a smell, an earthy, swampy kind of smell. I can barely smell it at all.”

  “Look!” Gen pointed past one of the pools. “There's one of those cracks. You guys saw the ground cracking apart when The Meadows went into The Void.”

  “I think we can fly now,” Shae said.

  Herron nodded. “Let's get going.”

  They flew over The Marsh, seeing many more cracks in the ground. Hope flew over to one of them and peered in. It lead down into darkness. When Hope hovered over the narrow chasm, thousands upon thousands of small black roach-like bugs spewed from the hole in waves. The bugs scattered across the ground. Some of them crawled down into other cracks and some scurried away.

  “Ugh,” Hope groaned and flew a bit higher. The undulating carpet of insects made her stomach turn. “I shouldn't have done that.”

  They flew onward. A while later, they passed the corpse of a giant frog. More of the black bugs were crawling all over the body and in and out of its open mouth.

  “Gross!” Gen said.

  “Good reminder to be careful around here,” Herron said. “That's a small one. The bigger frogs can swallow a fairy whole.”

  “Are these bugs usually here?” Gen asked.

  “No,” Herron said. “These aren't Marsh bugs.”

  “So they're like gross Void maggots?”

  “More like Void roaches,” Shae suggested.

  “Yeah, mini Void roaches,” Gen said. “Gross.”

  “How much farther?” Hope asked.

  Herron checked the map. “It's about fifty miles away. At this pace, we'll get there tomorrow about mid-day.”

  “Then let's keep going,” Hope said.

  They flew over more of the shiny black creatures running in packs of four or five across The Marsh. The eyeless creatures always sensed them coming and stretched and reached and leaped to reach the fairies flying above them. Some of the groups of creatures would chase them for while before giving up.

  They kept flying and Gen began to slow. “I'm sorry, guys,” she said. “I need to stop. I can't pace myself because there's no sun moving in the sky. I can't tell how long we've been going.”

  “It's okay,” Hope said. “It feels like it's about time to stop anyway.”

  “Where can we set up a camp?” asked Shae. “There doesn't look like anywhere dry and flat and... you know... safe.”

  Herron looked around. “No, there's not a great place. We're going to have to take watches tonight.”

  They found a dry place to set up a camp. Herron didn't know whether the creatures could sense heat, but they decided to chance it and use a heatstone anyway. It didn't get dark and the sky stayed the same color of gray.

  They ate and talked quietly, then Herron and Shae took the first shift and let Gen and Hope go to bed.

  After a few quiet hours, Shae said, “I shouldn't have told you, I'm sorry.”

  “Told me what?” Herron asked.

  “That I saw us going to bed together.”

  “Oh.”

  “I was tired and we were having a fun night and I got the a premonition and a memory mixed up. It happens sometimes and I really feel bad about it,” she said.

  “It's okay.”

  “Good. Then stop acting all weird toward me.”

  “I'm not acting weird,” Herron said.

  “You kind of are. You feel awkward and you shouldn't. It was my fault.”

  “How am I acting weird?”

  “That was the last night you told me about the stars or let us really spend any time alone together. You and I were supposed to go get dinner when we got to Wuhr, but you sent Gen, instead. You and I would have found someone selling your favorite brandy from The Sky, from where you're from, and we would have drank and stayed up late and left late in the morning. Instead, Gen and I got food. There was no brandy. And we left early and we ran across those monsters,” Shae explained.

  “Okay. I just don't want to give you the wrong impression. But I guess it's too late for that.”

  “It's never too late for—”

  Herron shushed her and stood up, listening. He drew his sword.

  “Wake up Hope and Gen,” he whispered. “Quickly.”

  Shae flew to their tent and crept inside. Herron took off and scouted over the campsite. He heard a rustling in the grass and before he could turn to face it, one of the black creatures leaped on him and tackled him in midair. Herron twisted and positioned his sword so when they crashed to the ground, the creature impaled itself on the blade. He shoved it off of him and got to his feet as three more of the creatures surrounded him.

  One of the creatures squealed and stiffened, then fell over, dead. A half dozen arrows stuck out of its back. Hope aimed for the next one and loosed more arrows at it. Gen and Shae ran to the other one and circled it with their swords drawn. The creature lunged at Gen and caught her across the stomach with its claws. She yelled and spun away, clutching her abdomen.

  “Gen!” Hope called.

  “I'm okay,” Gen said. She rushed at the creature and slashed at it, scoring a deep cut across the its hamstring. It fell to one knee and swiped at Gen again, but she rolled out of the way. Shae dived in from the other side and jabbed her sword into its throat and the creature fell over and died, gurgling in its blue blood.

  Hope rushed to Gen after Herron dispatched the last creature. She examined Gen's wounds - four shallow scratches across her stomach.

  “I'm okay,” Gen said. “They're not very deep.” She poked at them gingerly. “Yeah, I'm fine.”

  Hope wrapped a bandage around Gen's midsection. “These are pretty minor. You'll be all right. But, you know, your first combat wound.” She grinned at Gen.

  “Yeah. Combat wound. Yikes.”

  “You move similarly to Ivy,” Herron said, “and some of your moves are the moves I taught her. But you don't fight quite like she does. You're much better than I was afraid you'd be.”

  “Oh, thanks,” Gen said sarcastically.

  “You did good,” Herron said.

  “You sure did, honey,” Hope agreed.

  “Good job,” Shae said. “I just felt like I should join in and give you a compliment, too.” She smiled at Gen.

  Gen laughed. “Thanks. Why don't you two get some sleep? Hope and I can keep lookout for a while.”

  “Sure,” Shae said. “If you think you're okay?”

  “I'm fine,” Gen said. “Go and get some rest.”

  Herron climbed into his tent and Shae into Gen and Hope's.

  “This is kind of surreal,” Gen said to Hope a few minutes later.

  “What do you mean?”

  “We're trapped in this terrible place. There are gross bugs everywhere and monsters are trying to eat us.”

  Hope laughed. “All true.”

  “Just another day for you, huh?” Gen said.

 
“Nah. These are all special treats.”

  Gen smiled widely at her and kissed her. “Thanks for being here with me.”

  “Of course.”

  They sat quietly for a long time, listening carefully and watching for danger.

  Gen asked, “Hope?”

  “Mm?”

  “You don't just love me because I look like her, do you?”

  “No.”

  “Are you sure?” asked Gen.

  “You're different than Ivy was. It's different. But I fell for you just as hard.”

  “And that's not weird?”

  “What?”

  “That she and I are so alike. That you're... you know...” Gen said.

  “No, I don't know. What?” Hope asked.

  “That you're... Well, gay...”

  “Gay?”

  “Yeah, since you like girls.”

  Hope looked blankly at Gen.

  “You don't have a word for that? For people liking the same sex as them?”

  “No,” Hope said. “Why would it need a special word? Fairies want to be with who they want to be with.”

  “Wow,” Gen said. “Back where I'm from, there's a big stigma that goes with it. You have straight people and gay people. Straight people are men who like women, women who like men. Gay people are men who like men. Lesbians are women who like women. But lesbians are still gay.”

  “That's very confusing,” Hope said. “You can't fall for someone who's a man and then break up and be with a woman?”

  “Those people are called bi-sexual.”

  “Well, where you come from is weird,” Hope laughed.

  “Yeah,” Gen agreed. “I guess it is.”

  chapter 11

  Jim and Larry Clark waited. The waiting room was pleasant enough - it had a pair of comfortable sofas, some tall potted plants, easy listening music playing through the speakers. A woman sat on the other sofa, reading a magazine. Jim didn't want to be there. These hadn't been a good few days for him.

  When the police searched Andrea Leeds' apartment, they found a baggie of heroin. That made the police more suspicious of Jim's presence there the day she died. They told Larry about the drugs to find out whether Jim was there to buy, or possibly sell, drugs. Larry made Jim take a drug test, which came back negative. But since Jim wasn't very forthcoming about what he was doing there and what had actually happened, Larry brought him to a psychiatrist.

  Jim did not enjoy these sessions. He was waiting for his third. The first two was more like an interview. The doctor asked him a bunch of questions, mostly not about the event, but about himself and what he liked to do and what he thought about certain situations. In the second session, Jim hadn't said very much. He and Dr. Ramsey had sat in silence for most of the appointment. Now, for the third session, Jim had no idea what to expect. His dad was sure to get mad if he spent another session without saying anything.

  Maybe it would be a good idea to talk about some of these feelings, Jim thought. I didn't talk to anyone after mom died and I locked myself away. Now Gen left and all I want to do is hide away again. Jim hadn't spent this much time with his father in years. Just the time spent driving to and from the appointments for the last two weeks was more time than they'd spent together for a long time.

  The door to the office opened and the girl who had the appointment before his skipped out into the waiting room. Both times before, Jim was surprised by how happy the girl seemed. What is she doing in therapy if she's so happy? he wondered. The girl was about five years old and was adorable. She wore a blue dress with white flowers, ruffley white socks, and blue shoes and she had blue plastic barrettes in her thick, black hair.

  The past two times, the girl looked at him while she skipped past him and leaped into the woman's lap. This time, though, she paused in front of Jim and looked closely at him. He looked back at her, surprised, not knowing what to say.

  “Don't worry. She'll be back,” the little girl said.

  “What?” Jim asked. “How do you know...?”

  “You just have to remember her and you need to keep something close in your heart.”

  “What's that?” Jim asked.

  “Hope.”

  Jim's lungs suddenly felt like all of the air had been sucked out of him. He gasped sharply.

  The girl ran to her mother. Her mother looked curiously at Jim and Larry, then took the girl by the hand and they left.

  “You know that girl?” Larry asked.

  “Uh,” Jim stammered. “No. I don't think so.”

  “What was she talking about?”

  Jim shrugged, still staring at the door the girl just walked out of. The doctor can't talk about his patients to other patients. How did she know about Gen? How did she know about Hope?

  The doctor stepped into the doorway to her office. “Jim?” She said, “You can come on in now.”

  Jim walked into the office and sat down on the sofa. “Who was that girl?” he asked.

  “I'm sorry, Jim,” the doctor said. “I'm not allowed to discuss my patients with anyone.”

  “Not even her name?” he asked. “Just her first name, I mean?”

  “I'm sorry. I can tell you something curious, though. Today, she asked me the same thing about you.”

  “Really? That's weird,” Jim said.

  “Last time, we were discussing your relationship with Genevieve.”

  Not really discussing it, Jim thought. More like you drilling me with questions and me not answering them.

  “Yeah,” Jim said.

  “Is there anything you would like to say about her?”

  “She left me,” Jim said. He hadn't planned on saying anything but the words were suddenly falling out of his mouth. “She left.”

  “I'm sorry to hear that, Jim. I really am.”

  “She said she'd never leave me.”

  “Sometimes people move on, or they find they aren't compatible, or maybe they think they're more in love with someone else. Break-ups are terrible, Jim, but they do happen. They happen to all of us.”

  “But she said...” He made a noise something between a grunt and cough, trying to stop himself from crying. “My mom said that, too, and look. They both left me. The only two people I ever loved.”

  “I'm so sorry, Jim.” She handed him a box of tissues.

  Jim took a tissue out of the box but he only held it. He didn't wipe his nose or his eyes.

  “What about your father?” Dr. Ramsey asked. “Don't you love him, too?”

  “I don't know,” Jim said. “That's different. We're... He and I, see... We're not close.”

  “I know, Jim. He mentioned that. But he also mentioned that was something he'd like to change.”

  “He said that?”

  Dr. Ramsey nodded. “He did. He's worried about you.”

  That was too much for Jim and he started to cry. He couldn't hold it back anymore. “I know why she left. I understand. But what about me? What about what it would to me? Why did she have to leave me?”

  “I don't know, Jim. I really don't. I know this is hard to understand right now, with everything that's happening, but it doesn't reflect on you. You're a good person and a painful break-up doesn't mean you aren't.”

  “I'm not on drugs, you know,” Jim said, sniffling.

  “I know. The drug tests all came back clean. What were you doing at the apartment complex, Jim?”

  Jim's voice was clipped and defensive. “I told you before. I was just riding my bike around the neighborhood. I got Burger King and I just wanted to eat somewhere quiet where I could watch the sunset. That's all.”

  “Okay, Jim. It's all right. Let's talk about something else. You sounded surprised when I mentioned that your father was worried about you. Why was that?”

  “Because I don't think he cares about me at all. He said he wished I'd never been born.”

  “Jim,” Dr. Ramsey said, “sometimes when grown-ups are angry or scared, they lash out and say things they don't mean. Your father told me
about the fight you had and how sorry he was that he said those things. Has he apologized to you?”

  “Sort of, I guess.”

  “That's a step in the right direction, then. Don't you think?”

  “I guess so. Just... Why does everybody leave me? My mom died. My dad pretty much disappeared after that. Now, Gen. Is that my destiny? Any time I want to love someone, it's good for a little while and then they leave?”

  “No, Jim. That's not your destiny. It's always easier to remember a pattern of bad events than any number of good ones. It's how the human mind works, to learn to protect itself, to build defense mechanisms. You have to make sure you remember the good stuff, too, even though that's more work than only remembering the bad.”

  “I'm trying,” Jim said.

  “How's school been?”

  “Fine.”

  “Good. Are you still involved in your computer club?” Dr. Ramsey asked.

  “No. We haven't had a meeting since Mrs. Gates died. It's been weird. I guess I could find a different teacher but it just didn't feel right. It was something Gen and I started together. I just...”

  “You just what, Jim?”

  “I just didn't feel... right, I guess... Complete, maybe, but that sounds dumb. It just didn't feel right doing it without her. Like I don't know if I can actually do it without her.”

  “You can do it if it's what you want to do. You can do it if you try.”

  “Yeah,” Jim said. “I'm just not sure I really do want to.”

  “Are you spending any time with your friends?”

  “Yeah, some. I'm not sitting by myself at lunch anymore. But they joke around a lot and a lot of the time I just listen.”

  “Why is that?”

  “I just don't really feel like joking.”

  “Maybe laughing with your friends might help you feel better.”

  “Maybe.”

  “I'd like you to try an exercise for me,” Dr. Ramsey said. “I'd like you to start keeping a journal. I want you to write your thoughts and your feelings in it. It'll help you get them out and into the world, not just clouding up your mind.”