by Lydia Deyes
I sighed. “Why me? What could I have to offer him? I’m just a little sparrow with weird eyes and no hearing and some sort of matter manipulation ability I barely understand. Surely, there’s someone more powerful than me that could strike a deal with him.”
“Not really. You’re the only one who poses a threat to him, Sheer. The only thing he’s afraid of… the prophecy. The only hope against the scourge, the hero shall restore the light,” he paraphrased. “Only you have something to offer that he might be interested in.”
“What would that be?” I asked. Does everyone know about this prophecy?
“Not to be a threat anymore.”
“Oh.” I thought about that for a moment. I had spent all of this time chasing phantoms from my visions to defeat the darkness and evil, to fulfill the prophecy like Samuel would’ve wanted. What meaning would my life have if I just let everything go? Would Nivek terrorize another region, even if I made a pact with him for this one? But would not making a deal with him be worse? Maybe making a deal would reduce some of the damage…
“How would he even find me to strike an agreement?” I asked. “Why would he even want to make an agreement instead of just leveling us all right now?”
“The way I see it, if he made an agreement with you and you were honor bound to keep it, he’s reducing the risk that you could somehow stop him from taking over everything else. He doesn’t have to know you aren’t actually strong enough to stop him. But don’t worry… he’ll find you. He always finds what he’s looking for. It’s scary, almost.”
I looked over to where Kevin had said his home was. Somewhere out there, Nivek was murdering and plundering human villages and swaths of forest and grassland.
How long before he finds us here?
In the distance, dark clouds that mirrored my thoughts were quickly forming. The air grew dense with coming rain. “Speaking of scary,” I said to myself.
“What’s that you said?” Kevin asked as I turned back to him.
“Nothing. Let’s get to a more sheltered place before it starts raining.”
“All right. I saw a tree hollow nearer to the center of the camp. We can go there.”
Together, we flew to the indicated tree. The hollow was an old squirrel nest, and it reminded me of my days before the thirteenth floor. It was homey but brought back memories of fleeing from hiding place to hiding place, never safe for long.
It wasn’t long before the sky unleashed a torrent of water. I shivered, watching the many silvery droplets plummet outside the hollow. Kevin looked at me with knowing eyes. “Afraid of rain?”
I nodded slowly, hesitantly. I trusted him, but I’d never voiced this fear before. Samuel had known, I was sure, but I’d never acknowledged it openly. “Don’t tell anyone.”
“I won’t.”
Kevin and I sat quietly, watching the rain for some time. Even though I was afraid of it, I was glad I had something to distract my mind from the horrible, bloody claw. After a while, Kevin shifted on his feet. “I hope you don’t mind,” he said, “but I do have to leave in the morning.”
“What? Why?” I didn’t want to lose this friend I’d only just found.
“I need to tell my family that there is hope… that you will protect them from Nivek.”
“Couldn’t you have brought them here?”
“No,” he replied. “My mother is too sick to make the journey. All the smoke isn’t good for her. I wish I could, though.”
“Oh. I’m sorry to hear that.”
“Yeah. I don’t really want to go. I’d rather stay here, with you, but I promised them I’d return. They need some good news. There’s been far too much bad news lately.”
“I understand. Family comes first. At least you have a family to go back to. You should cherish that.”
“You don’t?”
I sighed. “No. I watched my mother and sister die, and my father has probably been at the bottom of the Cave of Smoke for a long time.” Thinking about them made my heart wrench with a sadness I’d kept inside me for far too long. The sadness lingered, then morphed into guilt. There were so many things I could have done that might have prevented their deaths. Maybe if I’d given them the coffee first instead of indulging myself…
“Not the Bottomless Pit!” Kevin cried. “How terrible! How did your mother and sister die? If you don’t mind me asking.”
“The same way. Along with my best friend.” I tried to suppress the deep guilt rising in my gut as I remembered Barrie, but couldn’t.
“I’m so sorry. I had no idea. So you have no one, then? Is there no one else you can call a friend?”
“I had a mentor, Samuel… but he’s gone now, too. He lost his life to an infection after saving Amery. She’s still here, but… yeah. It’s hard to look at her and not wish Samuel were here instead.”
“So you have no one? Not a friend in the world?” Kevin’s eyes were full of sympathy.
I choked. “No one.”
“That’s so sad.”
“You’re telling me.” I wanted to look away, to forget everything again, but I had to keep my eyes focused on Kevin to understand him.
“Can I say one more thing?”
“Go ahead.”
“I don’t think it’s your fault your family and friends are no longer with you.”
“What… what do you mean?”
“Who was the one who created the Bottomless Pit in the first place?”
“Spike.”
“Well, yes, through Nivek. He was influenced by the darkness, remember? Pushed far beyond where he would ever go on his own.”
I nodded, starting to realize where Kevin was going with this. “He… he probably wouldn’t have been able to revive the extinct Beasts from the blood of birds without some external influence either. One of those monsters ate my sister.”
“Right! Don’t you see? How can it be your fault they’re dead, if it was the wolf who instigated it all in the first place?”
“And if the snake hadn’t been influenced by Nivek, she would never have created that world or captured Amery, and Samuel wouldn’t have had to risk his life.”
“Exactly! It’s not your fault at all. It’s Nivek you should be angry at. And now his full power is being unleashed on the entire world, not just through a few measly puppets.”
“You’re right!” I said, my guilt quickly fading and churning into anger. “You’re right, it’s all his fault! That does make me feel better… I just need to find a way to destroy him. To stop him from hurting anyone else. Thank you, Kevin.”
Kevin beamed. “At your service.”
XXVII
“You’re special, Sheer,” Kevin said. “I just know it.”
“What makes you say that?”
“Can’t you see? You’ve lost so much, yet here you are, a leader and a friend. You’re deaf, but you’re talking to me as if that didn’t hinder you at all. And you have special powers that, as far as I know, no one else has ever possessed. I wish I had been there when you used them. It must have been amazing!”
A hint of pride blossomed inside me. Everything he had said was true… maybe I was special. “Thanks, Kevin. You know… I could show you. If you want.”
Kevin’s eyes widened with excitement. “Would you really?”
“Just give me a moment to think of something.” Kevin’s expectations were high, and I wanted to exceed them. After his encouragement, I was full of confidence and felt sure I could accomplish anything. I wanted to try something new. I’d manipulated matter in the past, from rocks to bears to even my own body. But what about air itself?
I stared at the rain outside the hollow, concentrating, and steeled myself against the fear. My instinct was to close my eyes and draw back from the water, but I wanted to see my creation.
As I watched and focused, a small sphere devoid of rain formed among the downpour. I allowed it to grow to twice my size, then held it steady. Rain fell on and around it, curving around its shape until it was a shim
mering, watery orb. Finally, I released it. The sphere fell apart, and the drizzle filled its place as if nothing had happened.
“Wow,” Kevin said when I turned back to face him. “That was beautiful, Sheer.”
We watched the rain fall for a while, then drifted off to sleep. When I woke in the morning, the rain had stopped. Kevin was gone.
He left to go back to his family without saying goodbye?
I didn’t have much time to sink into my disappointment, because Amery suddenly popped her head into the hollow.
“There you are! I’ve been looking all over for you. Breakfast is starting.”
“Oh… okay.” She turned to go back to center camp, but I stopped her. “Amery, wait. About earlier… I’m sorry. I miss Samuel, but I shouldn’t have said that I wished you had died instead.”
Amery turned back to face me and sighed. “It really hurt me, Sheer. But I forgive you.”
We flew back together in silence. When we got there, I stopped in surprise. Kevin was there, eating breakfast.
“Amery, why didn’t you tell me that Kevin was still here?”
“Why am I supposed to keep track of him for you? Is he leaving?”
“Just, I don’t know, be more informative next time. We were together all of yesterday, and suddenly he’s gone, and you were just here, so you must have known. He’s leaving this morning, and I didn’t get a chance to see him off.”
“Well, now you know. Why’s he leaving, anyway?”
“Does it matter?”
“Yes, Sheer… why would someone come here, join Samuel’s family, and then leave the next day? Don’t you think that’s suspicious?”
“He’s going to see his family, if you must know. Don’t jump to conclusions like that. It’s rude.”
Amery fluttered her wings. Finally, she had no more to say against my new friend. I flew past her and joined Kevin for breakfast.
“Hey,” he said when I landed next to him. “Is everything okay? I didn’t want to leave without saying goodbye, so I decided to wait until you woke up. But then I smelled food being prepared and got hungry, so I came out here. I hope you weren’t too worried.”
“No, it’s okay,” I told him. “I’m glad you didn’t leave.” I sighed, pushing away my anger towards Amery. I didn’t want my bitterness to seep into my conversation with Kevin. I could see her watching me out of the corner of my eye. I sighed. There was nothing I could do to convince her to like Kevin, too.
“I’m going to need to leave soon, though,” Kevin said. “I’ll head out after breakfast is over, if that’s okay with you.”
“Of course.”
When we’d finished, we said our goodbyes and Kevin took off towards the mountains. Poison and her beetle clan, and Rebekah’s hummingbirds, also left to return to their proper homes. Spike’s crows took their leave, but Spike remained. After that, the day continued into what I guessed would quickly become routine. I patrolled our borders, and a few other newcomers joined Samuel’s family. I tried to scan them for darkness, but the claw still overpowered any vision I tried to conjure. This time, I didn’t let it continue far enough for the darkness to reach me. Instead, I cut it short as soon as I saw the claw and the darkness started to move in my direction.
It was a very long day, and by the time the sun began to set, I was exhausted. Most of Samuel’s family was going to sleep, but many others were nocturnal, just waking up. I perched on the highest branch of a pine tree and took a deep breath, savoring the scent of pine sap and crisp evening air. It would be autumn soon. I looked out at the clear sky, where a few stars were coming out and the full moon glowed brightly. I knew the frogs, crickets, and other night creatures would be stirring and joining their melodies together, like I’d heard in my first visions back when I lived with the squirrels. Amery had described the sounds to me multiple times as well; she loved to listen to them as she went to sleep. I wondered if the wolves were close enough that she could hear them howling. I considered asking her but changed my mind. She wouldn’t want to talk to me anyway.
I turned my thoughts from things I couldn’t hear to things I could see. The sunset was beautiful tonight. The perfect mixture of orange and pink just along the horizon contrasted the deep, dark blue of the coming night. The sun made it look like the edge of the forest was on fire. The wind shifted, blowing from the east instead of the west, and I froze. I smelled smoke.
I spun around, nearly losing my grasp on the branch, and saw the source: where the forest met the mountains. Kevin’s home.
XXVIII
I flew to center camp, where many of Samuel’s family had already gathered, waking in panic. Kevin’s home was nearly a day’s journey away, but the wind from the east carried with it the scent and threat of fire. It could spread to us quickly if we didn’t do anything. Everyone looked to me for answers, but I had none to give. We couldn’t possibly quench the fire in time. It was too far away, too large, and growing. We could try to keep it from spreading, but we’d run out of resources long before we got it under control.
I looked again at the sky. Why did it have to be clear tonight, of all nights? If only rain would come and quench the fire, or if the wind would change again and send the fire back towards the mountains and the wolves. I remembered back to my first days on the thirteenth floor, when I’d dreamed of deterring an evil wind. I didn’t know how to sing that language, but I could try. I whispered to the wind, not sure what else to do. “Please,” I said. “Please change directions. Please save us from this fire… and Kevin, too.” I felt stupid talking to the wind, and nothing happened.
Please help us, I called out in my mind, trying to channel my focus into a nonverbal shout. Please help us, please help us, please help us! The wind only blew stronger, still from the east. “Well, that did a lot,” I mumbled.
There was nothing else we could do. This was not under my control. “We’re going to have to escape through the city,” I addressed the crowd. “Before the fire…”
“Wait!” Amery exclaimed, flying over to me and pointing the tip of her wing to the east. “Look!”
I turned back around, facing the ever-strengthening wind. The fire was slowly spreading towards us, but clouds were coming swifter still, carried by the wind. They were dark and heavy — full of rain. The mighty rushing of air slowed to a gentle breeze as the clouds gathered over the distant valley, and rain began to pour. Smoke billowed into the air, followed by steam, and the flames flickered in the night. The sky emptied the last of its moisture as the fire died out, and soon everything was as calm and clear as it had been before. The breeze was even coming from the west now.
Was that a huge coincidence, or did the wind really respond to me?
Either way, we were safe now. I just hoped Kevin was, too.
◆◆◆
The moon waned to nothing, then waxed to full, and I still hadn’t seen Kevin. My heart fell each and every day without him, and I worried he’d died in the fire and I’d never see him again. If that wasn’t bad enough, I saw the bloody claw everywhere now. Along the bank of the river, in the middle of the clearing at center camp, around every twist and turn in the forest. Amery kept her distance from me, but I caught her out of the corner of my eye, watching me with worry. I didn’t know why she was staying away, but I was glad she wasn’t constantly nagging me about the visions.
I knew the wolf was dangerous, but the bloody claw wasn’t giving me any new information anymore. It was just always there, always haunting me, keeping me awake at night and on my toes during the day. I hadn’t tried to summon a vision in a long time, but maybe it was time to try again. As much as I was afraid of the darkness trying to strangle me, I needed to know what the wolf was up to. I needed to know how much time we had before he would strike.
Taking a deep breath, I cleared my mind and narrowed my focus on the wolf. Only when my mind was filled with nothing but the idea of the dark wolf did I call upon the vision, in the hope that the focus would bypass the apparition of the claw.
It worked. Soon, I saw Nivek, but at first I didn’t recognize him. The wolf was as black as shadow, much darker than before. The murky, evil darkness surrounded him and permeated his entire body, as if it was a part of him. His figure was crisp and clear, so I knew he was nearby.
When he spoke, I realized Nivek also had an accent I wouldn’t have recognized outside of a vision. “Ya,” he was saying. “I understahnd.”
“Good,” a deep voice resounded, echoing through the vision. I spun my head as if to locate the speaker, but saw nothing. “It must be tonight,” the voice continued, “for he has seen what we can do. The untimely rain ruined our initial plan. We must act before he grows any stronger, Finsternis.”
Finsternis? I wondered. Why would this speaker use a different name for Nivek?
“I vill do as you ‘ave asked,” the wolf declared, his lips curling up in a sneer and revealing serrated teeth stained with blood.
XXIX
Just as I cleared the vision from my mind, I saw Amery flying swiftly towards me. Her eyes were wide with fear, and she was shaking uncontrollably. She spoke so quickly and made so many wild motions, I had to ask her to slow down so I could understand her. I couldn’t read her movements if they were so erratic. She paused and gathered her wits together. Even when she spoke slightly slower, I was still only able to catch bits and pieces of what she was trying to say.
“Sheer, the wolves… camp is surrounded… howling… everyone afraid. What do we do?”
She stopped to catch her breath, and the terrifying reality suddenly crashed on me. They’d come. I racked my mind, trying to come up with a plan on the spot. Spike, Nyoka, and I had come up with some plans, but none of us had anticipated them coming from out of nowhere like this. We were completely unprepared.