The Void Hunters (Realmwalker Book 2)

by Jonathan Franks

  Jim smiled all the way to biology, looking forward to seeing her again after school.

  -

  Gabrielle kicked over the bucket in front of her stool.

  “Stupid thing!”

  She righted the bucket and placed it under the cow's udders and began to milk her again.

  “It's frustrating work,” she said to the cow, “but satisfying.”

  The cow mooed in reply.

  A voice came from behind Gabrielle. “Mom?”

  Gabrielle turned around and saw Gen. Well, almost Gen. The young woman in front of her was toned, lean, mature, and a pair of black, white, and orange butterfly wings swept proudly behind her.

  “Genevieve?”

  Gen rushed forward and hugged her mother tightly. “Oh, mom, it's so good to see you!”

  “How...?” Gabrielle asked.

  “We're dreaming.”

  “Oh,” Gabrielle said, disappointed.

  “It's really me, though,” Gen said. “I'm not part of your dream. I'm still in the fairy Realms. But I have a friend here who can link our dreams together. That's how we're here together right now.”

  “You look amazing,” Gabrielle said. “What happened to you? You look... You look older!”

  Gen looked down at herself. “Yeah, everything about me is older.”

  “Are you coming home soon?”

  Gen's face dropped into a sad expression. She shook her head. “I'm afraid I can't.”

  “Why not?”

  “I'm stuck here. The Bridge I used to cross over is gone. I can't get to it anymore.”

  “Oh, Genevieve!” Gabrielle cried and embraced Gen again.

  “It's okay, mom. I'm okay. I miss you guys so much. How is everyone?”

  “We're keeping it together. After what happened, it's really tough.”

  “What happened?” Gen asked.

  “Oh, god, Genevieve, I'm sorry.”

  “What?” Gen asked, louder.

  “Gregory is dead.”

  “What?” Gen yelled.

  “He died at school. A boy in his dorm had a gun and was talking about killing himself. Gregory went to talk to him while someone got the police. He shot Greg, then shot himself. His funeral was two days ago.”

  “Oh, mom...” Gen started to cry. “I'm so sorry I couldn't be there.”

  “It's okay, Gen. Really.”

  Gen shook her head. Her lower lip trembled and tears ran down her cheeks. Gabrielle hugged her daughter again and Gen wept in her mother's arms.

  “Genevieve?”

  Gen sniffled and cleared her throat. “Yeah, mom?”

  “How long do we have?”

  “Not much longer. I'm sorry. I don't want to take up all our time crying. Don't worry, I'll cry plenty when I wake up.” Gen laughed weakly.

  Gabrielle smiled at her. “Keep your spirits up. It'll be okay. Are you safe? Are you getting enough to eat?” She felt Gen's stomach. It was tighter, flatter, and more toned than she'd ever seen it.

  Gen laughed. “Yes, mom. I'm fine.”

  “Do you have anything you'd like me to tell anyone?”

  “Tell daddy I love him very much and I miss him. George, too.”

  “Of course,” Gabrielle said. “They love you, too. Everybody misses you. We said that you went to a boarding school for gifted children.”

  Gen laughed. “That's funny.”

  “We had to think of something quick. I don't know what we're going to do if you're not back by summer. Will you be?”

  “I really don't know. I'm sorry, mom. I'm sorry I left without saying goodbye. It was a matter of life and death. I had to come.”

  Gabrielle nodded. “I know. And I'm proud of you. We all are.”

  Gen hugged her mother again.

  “What about Jimmy?” Gabrielle asked.

  “Jimmy...” Gen said guiltily. “That's... complicated.”

  “Why?” Gabrielle asked.

  “Mom, I'm not the same person I was before I left. So much has happened. It's so hard to explain.”

  “What do you want me to tell him?”

  “I don't know.”

  “Is it that fairy you brought back?”

  Gen swallowed hard, knowing her mother could read the guilt on her face.

  “It's him, then? The one you saved?” Gabrielle asked.

  “Herron? Oh! No.”

  “No?”

  “No. It's complicated. Ivy was... Do you know who Ivy was?”

  “Yes,” Gabrielle said. “Jim told us the whole story.”

  “Ivy was in love with Jim's fairy, Hope.”

  “And now you're in love with this Hope, too? You’re in love with Jim’s fairy?”

  Gen nodded. More tears fell from her eyes.

  “I see. I guess that makes sense. What do you want me to tell him?”

  “I don't know!”

  “This Hope,” Gabrielle said. “Is he treating you okay?”

  “Uh,” Gen stammered. “Mom, there's something about that.”

  “What's that? He's not treating you well? I can't imagine that Jim's own fairy would treat you badly.”

  “No, mom. She treats me just fine.”

  Gabrielle gasped, then sat upright in bed. She was drenched in a cold sweat. She shook Geoff awake.

  “Geoffrey! Wake up! I just talked to Genny! She's all right!”

  chapter 18

  Gen was surprised by how fast the fairies of The Marsh returned to their normal lives back in the Realms. The wild rice they ordinarily sowed didn't grow very well in The Void, but now that The Marsh was back where it belonged, it grew quickly. The ponds used as fisheries were nearly empty. The black creatures had eaten many of the fish, so the fairies concentrated on accelerated breeding. Aid came in from all of the surrounding Realms: food, supplies, seeds, and healing solutions.

  The freedom Gen had enjoyed so much until now was gone. Since she had accepted the position of Keeper of The Marsh, she was in need all the time. There was a constant stream of demands, questions about where to use supplies, where to distribute food, who was responsible for maintaining certain sections of The Marsh.

  “You stopped listening to me a while ago, didn't you?” Shae asked.

  “Sorry,” Gen said. “I have all of this Keeper business still on my mind.”

  “If you'd known what they'd want you to do,” Shae asked, “would you still have accepted?”

  Gen nodded. “They need me.”

  “They sure do. And you can handle it.”

  “You sure?”

  “I'm sure,” Shae said.

  “What do I do if I don't know the answer to whatever they're asking me? They ask me some really stupid questions.”

  “Make it up!”

  “Make it up?” Gen asked. “What do you mean, 'make it up?'“

  “If they're really stupid questions and you really don't care, or you really don't think it's important either way, just pick an answer and go with it.”

  “What if I'm wrong?”

  “Then change your mind!” Shae laughed. “You're in charge. I think you can change your mind as much as you want. Anyway, as I was saying, Herron and I were setting on the roof of the house. He was holding my hands in his. He was wearing this bracelet, an open wrist band made of a silver metal twist, with balls at either end. I don't think I've seen him wearing that before.

  “He looked into my eyes with this look… This really heart-felt, understanding, 'I get you,' come-hither look. His eyes were pulling me into him, even though his hands were only holding mine. I told him, 'I promised you that I wouldn't make the first move.'

  “He told me he remembered. I said I knew he was going to say that, and he said, 'No, you didn't.' Then he leaned forward, without pulling me close to him at all, he just leaned forward and kissed me.” Shae sighed dreamily.

  “Wow,” Gen sighed. “That's so sweet. When was this? Or when will it be? I don't know how to ask, but you know what I mean.”

  “I foresaw it while I
was in bed last night.”

  “Mmm,” Gen grinned.

  Shae shrugged and smiled. “Not all of us have someone to take care of things for us! But I think it was soon. Not tonight, but definitely before we leave The Marsh, since we were at the Keeper House.”

  “I hope it all works out. Herron's a really good guy.”

  “I've seen it work and not work so many times, it's very distracting. Sometimes I wish we'd just get it over with, either way, and I could stop seeing it so often.”

  Gen thought about that while she flew around The Marsh. Shae stopped all of a sudden.

  “What's wrong?” Gen asked.

  “Herron is going to want to talk to me tonight. I need to figure out where I'm supposed to be,” Shae said.

  “Where you're supposed to be?”

  “Yeah. I've seen this coming, a couple different ways. If anyone else is around, it always goes badly. If we're alone, I can save it. I have to figure out where we can be alone.”

  “How about the fairy ring?” Gen suggested.

  “That might work. I just can't tell. Nobody around here is sure enough about where they're supposed to be right now. Since they feel all up the air, they haven't made a lot of their decisions yet. It's hard for me to see. Okay, I'll try there. Thanks, Gen.”

  “No problem,” Gen said as Shae flew away.

  Gen continued her flight, surveying The Marsh and the fairies' activities restoring their home. The Marsh fairies were very patient and supportive to The Meadows refugees learning new ways to do things. The environment was very different here from The Meadows, and the new residents had new skills to learn before they could really contribute or make it here on their own. Gen knew what they were going through. She'd had to adapt to a new home, herself.

  Gen returned to her new house, which everyone called Keeper House. It was a large house. Gen would almost have called it a mansion, except that the house wasn't especially fancy - just large. Since so many refugees from The Meadows were here, all of the rooms were occupied, including the sitting rooms, parlors, meeting room, and gallery. The only two rooms in the house that didn't have anyone staying in them were the kitchen and the dining room.

  She snatched a rice ball out of a bowl on the dining table and went up to her room. She saw a pair of Hope's pants draped over the foot of their bed and she smiled, then noticed a note on the bed.

  Gen,

  Herron and I went scouting to see if any more nasties are still here. We should be back a little after dark.

  I love living here with you. You make me happy.

  By the way, don't wear anything to bed tonight. There are things I need to do to you.

  Love always,

  Hope

  Gen smiled broadly held the note to her chest. She sighed happily, then put Hope's pants away where they belonged.

  -

  Shae flew through town instead of all the way over it. Herron wouldn't show up at the fairy ring until it was dark, so she had plenty of time to wander. Commerce hadn't really begun to strengthen again, but vendors had stalls set up and shops were open for business. Shae stopped at one of them and looked at an eclectic mix of items. The stall had treats like candied moss and dark red candied ginger on one side, and shiny baubles and trinkets on the other.

  Shae's breath caught in her chest when she saw a silver bracelet on a hook. It was a silver twist in three quarters of a circle, with balls on either end. That's the bracelet I saw, she realized. He gets it from me.

  “How much for the bracelet?”

  “Twenty quid,” the seller said, “but for you, my lovely, fifteen.”

  Shae absently counted fifteen coins from her purse and set them in a stack on the counter. She took the bracelet and walked to a bench in the plaza, staring at the bracelet.

  “You know you're supposed to haggle his price down,” Rommy called to her from across the plaza.

  Shae nodded without looking at him and continued to stare at the bracelet. She slipped it over her own wrist and flew to the fairy circle. She replayed several bits of foresight in her mind and watched the sun go down, waiting for Herron to join her.

  A while after dark, he did.

  “Hi,” Shae said.

  “Hi. I just came to sit and look at the stars for a while. I can go…” Herron offered.

  “No. Please, sit with me.”

  Herron sat on the same mushroom, but not close to Shae. Shae stretched out and lay atop the mushroom cap and gazed at the stars.

  “I see the serpent,” she said, “but I don't see the butterfly.”

  “The stars look a little different in each Realm. Different Realms have different stories about what we see in the sky at night.”

  “What do we see here?”

  Herron put one arm behind his head and lay down. He pointed straight above them with the other hand. “Up there is the toad, and over there,” he pointed to their left, “is the frog.”

  “Aren't frogs and toads pretty much the same thing?”

  “They're similar, but, no.” He pointed above and between the two constellations. “That's the flamingo. See how its legs stretch down like that and its neck curves?”

  “I do! What's their story?”

  “For years and years,” Herron said, “the shiny, green, speckled frog would sit on his log and the dry, bumpy, brown toad would sit on its rock. They would stare at each other all day. Each of them thought that he was beautiful and the other was ugly. They would taunt one another and insult one another. This went on for a long time, until one day a beautiful pink flamingo overheard their arguing and strutted over to investigate.

  “'You're both simply disgusting!' the flamingo shrieked, horrified. Then it ate them both. But both the frog and the toad had skin that was terribly poisonous, and the flamingo died before it could digest either of them. They worked together to climb out of the flamingo's mouth, then the frog sat on his log, and the toad on his rock, and they admired one another in mutual respect for the rest of their lives.”

  “That's a beautiful story,” Shae said. “I love when you tell me stories.”

  Herron chuckled. “I guess I do know kind of a lot of them.”

  “Yeah. I like it. Oh!” Shae said up and slipped the bracelet off of her wrist. “I saw this and it made me think of you. I want you to have it.” She held the bracelet up to him, took his free hand in hers, and slipped the bracelet onto his wrist. Then she quickly let go of his hand.

  He held his wrist in front of his face, examining it. “Interesting. I like the twist. It makes it almost look like a braid, but it's one piece. That's very thoughtful. Thank you.”

  “You're welcome!” Shae beamed.

  As Herron began to speak, “Look, Shae,” Shae sat up and turned toward him.

  “I know you're interested in me.” He looked into her eyes. “And I'm attracted to you, too. But I have to know, I have to be sure, that these feelings are really coming from me. I have to know that I'm choosing you, and not being affected by fate or destiny. I won't be manipulated by choosing a word here, a gesture there to influence my decisions because you know how they're going to turn out.”

  “I know, Herron, and I'll say again that I'm so sorry I was so forward before. I wasn't trying to manipulate you. I wasn't trying to put any ideas in your mind. If I was simply a regular fairy without this gift, if I didn't have foresight, and I had tried to kiss you that night after we left The Peak, you wouldn't have felt so threatened.”

  “You're right,” he agreed. “It's unsettling that you know whatever is going to happen.”

  “But I don't! I don't know whatever is going to happen. Sometimes I have these visions of foresight that let me see a possible future, or even a bunch of possible futures. There are times I know I could help steer things to get an outcome I want. But every fairy does that to some extent. I have an unfair advantage. But that's also why I'm here, and why we met in the first place.”

  Herron nodded.

  “I'm not going to pressure you
. I like you, and I would even if I hadn't seen us together. It's up to you. I promise you I won't pressure you for anything and if you decide for yourself that you're interested, then you make the first move - however long that takes. Even if you never do, that's okay. It's up to you.”

  Herron sat up and drew his knees to his chest. He looked at the bracelet again, then into Shae's eyes. “Thank you. The bracelet is lovely, and I appreciate that you told me. How do you know you're really attracted to me, and that you weren't just influenced by a future you saw?”

  She looked back into his eyes and tried hard not to melt into him even a little. “Because I know. You're wonderful, and I enjoy being with you. And even if you decide you don't want me, I hope we can still do this - that you'll tell me stories about the stars for as long as we're friends.”

  Herron nodded again, then stood up. He looked down at Shae and twisted the bracelet on his wrist. “Give me some time to think about it. I won't leave you hanging forever. I promise.”

  “Okay, Herron. Take as long as you need.” Shae stood up. “I'm heading back to the Keeper House now. I'm tired.”

  “Me, too. Come on. I'll fly you home.”

  When they got back to the Keeper House, they went upstairs. Their rooms were next to each other, down the hall from Hope and Gen's room. They were walking past Hope and Gen's door when Shae stopped and crept to the door. She put her ear against the wooden door and grinned. She closed her eyes and listened.

  Herron glared at her and hissed, “Come on!”

  Shae made a gesture with her hand, indicating that Herron should go on without her. He scowled at her, flew quietly to her, took her wrist, and pulled her down the hall. She giggled all the way to her room.

  “They were having sex!” Shae tittered. “It sounded so hot! Okay, I better go to bed now, then.” She grinned at Herron. “Good night, and thanks for talking to me.”

  “Good night, Shae.”

  She closed her door. Herron looked back at Gen and Hope's door, then at Shae's door, and shook his head, chuckling, as he went to bed himself.

  chapter 19

  “It was just a dream, Gabby.” Geoff was trying to sound supportive, not condescending, but he didn’t think he was doing a good job.