I reached over and grabbed one of the straps on the backpack, pulling it towards me across the floor as Dusty and Angel trotted past the open door. I could tell from here, they had just been playing in the water at the creek. I smiled. Maybe I would go for a walk in a bit too.
Grabbing the silver end of the necklace I wiggled it from out of the pocket. Looking at it again, the stone seemed more brilliant than before. The deep fiery red looked like a coal pulled from the middle of a fire. I dangled it from my fingers watching it dance round and round before lowering it into my palm and snapping a quick picture with my phone.
For me, that’s what the crow said. He had to have meant the necklace.
So it was a gift. It certainly was beautiful, unlike anything I had ever been given or seen before, except maybe on TV. I shrugged, then pulled the cool metal over my head and slipped it around my neck.
It felt heavy, heavier than its small size suggested it should be. Instead of a humming in my ears, I could feel a light thrumming deep inside my chest underneath where the stone rested.
“Hailey?” a voice called from the front door.
“Hmm?” I mumbled, lost in this strange new feeling.
Angel turned and looked behind her. “Hey, Dusty, Dusty I found her, this is it!” The bouncing dog called out.
I smiled, happy for the company again. “Y’all come in,” I peeled off one layer of the bedding and laid it down on the floor for them to sit.
“This place is awesome!” Angel exclaimed, still bouncing around, kicking up small puffs of dust with her paws. “We went to the edge of the clearing and found a river. It was way cool, I pushed Dusty in.” She beamed proudly.
“Eaforasa is cool too, we have a big lake, and hills to run up and down. There’s a big field with flowers taller than my head! That’s my favorite, it’s like going into a secret world where flowers are giants.” She rattled on as I looked at Dusty who was still shaking from the ordeal, but trying to be a good sport none the less.
“Yeah, you got me good,” he said , forcing humor. “I just need a need to dry off for a minute.”
I laughed and watched them banter back and forth, observing their essence as they chatted, flowing in vapors between the two of them. Angel’s essence was a yellow almost burnt orange color, coming in quick waves like clouds racing through a stormy sky.
Dusty’s essence puffed from him intermittently, instead of the constant flow like Angel. It was almost white and pearly, wafting up into the ceiling, like small clouds indoors.
“Ok, but next time, you lead. We could go to the falls! Not all the way in, but we could find out where they are for when we come back. But we could see it, yeah?” I had no idea what Angel was rambling on about now, but I didn’t care. This was the only entertainment I’d had since I got here. I leaned back and casually snapped a few more pictures as I watched them.
“Grab it.” I jerked my head around to look behind, trying to find where the voice had come from. It almost sounded familiar. How could that be, I wondered.
“Whoa, did it get you?” Angel asked, noticing my quick movement.
“Hu?” I asked her lazily as I swung my gaze back to them. I was starting to feel a little weird, lightheaded, almost in a sort of daze.
“Whatever it was that scared you. There are bugs here too, not like on Elora, man that would be crazy. Could you imagine a whole island filled with bugs? Makes me shiver just thinking about it. I mean, I know there are bugs here too, I’ve seen them, they can fly to any island they want, must be nice. We have to wait until the water goes down and the bridge dries out. I’ve always wanted to go to Entepedis, which would be soo cool! I’ve always wanted to see a dinosaur. There’s no bridge to Ealdume of course, but nobody would want to go there anyway, even if they could.”
I was completely blanking on everything she was saying, her words seemed to grow quiet, less distinct as they ran together. I watched as she fired off word after word, the orange essence thickening with each one, until I could imagine touching it. It almost looked solid.
Before I knew what I was doing I reached out, grabbing a piece of it.
“Hey, don’t,” she stiffened suddenly, her back feet shuffling, her one front paw hopping to keep balance.
Absentmindedly, I started twisting my hand through it. I could feel it. Like honey dripping through my fingers, becoming more solid as I concentrated. The feeling was interesting, unlike anything I’d felt before.
“Stop, I, I, I don’t like that,” she stammered, pleading, but I couldn’t hear her. The light flutter in my chest was deepening, almost thrumming, making it hard to hear anything in the room besides it.
The bubbly dog was shaking in front of me now, but my fingers refused to let go. I could feel them growing warmer, the warmth spreading up my arm as the thick essence seemed to soak into my skin.
Angel jumped and yipped, trying to break away from me, but only digging ruts in the dirt with her back feet instead. Somehow I held her in place by the essence, like a tether. Me at one end and Angel at the other.
Dusty’s sharp front teeth cutting into my ankle pulled me from my trance at once. I looked down at the trail of blood running down my foot, but continued to stare into space.
“Look at it.” I stared as the small stream dried dark black along the top of my sandal. “Your hand. Look at it.”
Looking down I unclenched my fingers one by one. Opening them I saw something like a silvery rope burn where the essence had spooled in my hand then faded, leaving the silver mark which had a faint glow to it.
“Give it back!” I heard vaguely through the din of the smoke that trailed through my mind.
With a violent shake of my head the fog cleared as if waking from a mid-stream dream. At once my surroundings came into focus. I saw Angel huddled in fear. She was along the far side wall of the bungalow. Dusty was sitting next to her, leaning his neck against hers.
“What . . . What happened?” I asked, trying to remember the past few minutes which were mysteriously blank. I was confused and scared. Something had happened. I just couldn’t remember what. Why couldn’t I remember?
The small dog, who had only minutes before been full of life was now quiet, sad, scared. Shame found a place inside me. I wanted to run away from the bungalow into the woods and down to the beach. I wanted to hide in the forest, I wanted to hide from whatever I had done. I backed slowly toward the entrance and into the daylight.
Panting, I drew in breath after shaky breath as I looked again at my hands, still feeling a warmth, seeing the faint glow. My mind raced to make sense of it all. I rubbed my palms against the from of my pants over and over, but the silver stain refused to go away.
I slid down the side of my home, struggling to keep my composure and listening to the voices around me. Dusty and Angel’s quiet voices from inside the bungalow drew my attention. By cupping my hands over my ears I could just make out a whispered conversation between the of them. I gritted my teeth, ashamed to hear what they might be saying.
“Are you ok?” Dusty asked with concern.
Several seconds passed, during which Angel must have nodded or given some non-verbal answer to the question.
“I don’t think she meant it,” Dusty said. “Did you see the look on her face? She was just as surprised as we were. I don’t think she knew what she was doing.”
I did do something awful to Angel. Guilt resonated inside me. I scooted closer to hear a little better, being careful not to make any noise. Angel’s voice slipped from the silence, almost a rustle of words, so hushed I nearly mistook them for the sound of leaves in the distance.
“We should tell Corrigan. One more moment and I would have blinked out. I felt it leaving; it was the worst thing I’ve ever felt, even worse than the leg.” She weakly mumbled.
“But you didn’t, you’re still here,” Dusty reassured her. “Let’s just steer clear of her. We’ve never stayed in Evisara before, and I don’t want to start off making accusations.”
> Thank God they weren’t going to say anything. But maybe I should. I didn’t know exactly what had just happened, but I knew I didn’t like it, and didn’t want to do anything like it again.
I listened and heard a stirring on the dirt floor, perhaps paws scratching in an effort to stand. I couldn’t sit here any longer. I walked inside to apologize for whatever I had done.
Contempt and anger mixed with fear on their faces, Dusty standing and Angel who was only barely able to keep from falling over on her one front paw.
I bent down on the ground, softening my face as much as I could. Both dogs jumped and shivered, their terror evident. “I’m sorry, so very sorry for whatever I did . . . .” I trailed off not knowing how to finish.
I let the silence hang in place of my words. I couldn’t think of anything else to say.
I looked from face to face hoping for some sign of forgiveness but saw none. I waited as Angel slowly crept forward with Dusty’s help. They slowly made their way to the door and away from me, cautiously glancing back until they were gone.
I frowned as I noticed a warmth in my chest under the stone, it was almost unsettling. Suddenly I felt the need to take it off. I didn’t want to wear it anymore. I quickly pulled it over my head and scooped some dirt from the back of the bungalow, placing the necklace in the hole. As I was covering it, the humming started again.
I had to get away from it. Taking off in a jog, I concentrated on putting some distance between the bungalow and myself, the city and myself.
What was happening to me?
I replayed the whole scene in my head. Dusty and Angel were there, and Angel was talking, but after that I couldn’t remember what happened. I remember coming out of a foggy haze, the feeling of guilt as I saw their fear and realized they were afraid of me. I just could not remember why.
I wandered aimlessly for a bit, trying to focus on the small things, looking for anything to fill my mind instead of trying to force the memories to come back, which was frustrating me.
I turned as I heard the bubbling water in the distance and walked slowly in the general direction of the sound, continuing to amble slowly in thought when a memory did spring back to me. A voice. Suddenly I remembered the voice, although what it said I had forgotten completely. I couldn’t fully bring the voice back into my internal ear, but I remembered it with absolute certainty. Didn’t I? Why would I make it up if I hadn’t actually heard it?
I looked back up to the sky as a few sparse clouds added a light white haze to the canvas of blue overhead, reminding me of the white puffs of essence I had seen from Dusty just before I lost time.
“It’s ok that you like it.”
I stopped dead in my tracks. The same feeling I had earlier slithered down my spine to my toes.
“Hello?” I called, whipping my head to look for the voice I instantly recognized. I waited, counting my breaths and listening intently to hear it again.
“You have a gift Hailey, a gift I gave you to use.” The voice echoed against the walls of my mind, the feeling of not being alone intensified.
The velvety words coiled around my thoughts, soothing them, making it hard to think. I allowed myself to fall into the void.
“What gift?” I asked aloud, a bit dazed and tired now. It was like that feeling before you fall into a deep sleep, comforting if you just give in, but part of me knew I should resist.
“I’ll see you again soon Hailey. Oh, and keep my gift safe. No one must know that you have it understand?”
“Yes, I will keep it safe.”
The haze began to lift with the final word from my mysterious voice, and I shook my head to clear the last pieces of it. As I started off again towards the brook, my mind began to feel like my own again and all memory of what the voice had said vanished.
As I neared the sounds of the stream, voices mingled with it. Along its banks the coolness of the water seemed to lift into the air, creating a kind of oasis in the heat of the day. And I was not the only one to have discovered this, seeing many others gathered in the small section of sandy beach along its banks.
I debated whether or not to join them, but decided that the best way to be accepted here was to simply be unafraid of failing to fit in. The two does kneeling took notice of me first, and half stood in anticipation of fleeing. Not wanting to cause them any further distress I dropped to my knees and pulled my feet under me to sit.
The murmurs of the others around me were too quiet to make out much of what they were saying, but I did hear snippets of gossip from around the camp. It seems that Coralie had returned from a battle along the south end of the island earlier in the week with several of her command that decided to drink from the tree instead of continue to fight.
“We’re losing so many now,” the larger doe sighed and hung her head to show her concern. “The ones that aren’t turned to sand refuse to fight anymore and drink. Awful thing, this war. I wish we could go back to the way things were before.”
The smaller doe at her side nodded her agreement at her friend’s comment, at which the larger doe took up her speech again.
“We should have killed him when we had the chance! Don’t look at me like that Mary, as harsh at it is, we all know it’s true. I’m wondering the same thing about that one over there.” The large doe imperceptibly glanced in my direction, unaware I could hear everything she was saying.
Her companion however, to my surprise disagreed with her quandary and spoke up on my behalf. “Therese I’m shocked at you, wanting to see that girl pay for the crimes that Drugan himself alone is guilty of. And, do you not think that if she were here to do us any harm we would have known about it by now? Ethera couldn’t take making the same mistake twice, and from what I’ve heard, as soon as she gets the chance she’s out of here and back to her own world.”
Therese thought for a moment, seemingly considering her companions reasoning. I stared at them for a while longer, my attention fading away and back.
“No, I suppose you’re right. But I’m staying as far away from that one as I can until the council decides. And even then, I just don’t trust her.” I guessed that my meeting tonight had already been spread through the grapevine. That was quick, I thought. Then again what else was there to do here but spread gossip?
I heard them wander off as I closed my eyes and dozed until the sun was getting low, but the knot of anxiety in my stomach just wouldn’t leave me alone. I sighed and stood, just as Lars skittered into the clearing
“Hailey, Ethera asked me to come find you, it’s almost time.” He said.
“Where have you been?” I hadn’t seen Lars since last night. “And where’s Feilvus?” I asked.
“Oh we’ve been around, just busy. C’mon, we’ve got a little bit of a hike ahead of us. We can talk on the way.”
“How far? I’m kind of tired of walking to tell you the truth, not to mention hungry.”
“About three hours walk. Oh, and I know you’ve been kind of starved since you got here, so some of the animals went out and brought you back a few things.” He beamed, obviously quite proud of himself.
Ethera must have told Lars I could understand him now. I’d already spent so much time with him in silence, and it was nice for us to be able to chat finally.
“Really?” I asked excitedly. My stomach had been eating itself instead of food for quite a while. Renewed by the thought of food I reached down and scooped up the lizard, placing him high up on my shoulder.
“Where are they?” I asked, looking around the clearing.
“By Ethera’s house, just next to the tree.” Lars said, prompting me to turn in that direction.
Sure enough I could see a small gathering just next to the tree and several piles of what I guessed to be food, on the ground. My stomach growled, not from nerves this time, but from hunger. I walked faster, hopeful to find a piece of meat I could roast, or a big potato to throw in the fire. I made a mental note to look around the wood line for some good tinder when I got back.
To my disappointment, none of the items gathered were recognizable. The first item I saw looked like a bunch of lemons with spikes, another reminded me of an oversized bunch of cherries that were orange instead of red. I continued looking but didn’t see any meat.
I picked up something green and leafy, with little red things hanging from it, which reminded me of the ornamental pepper plant my grandmother used to have on the windowsill.
“Thank you,” I said, with as much enthusiasm as I could muster. The whole scene reminded me of Christmas morning, when you received an ugly sweater, but had to do your best to pretend you loved it.
I took a bite of one of the pepper things and immediately regretted it. It certainly didn’t taste like a pepper. I reached for the cherries next, forcing myself to swallow the dreadful pepper things, hoping it would just look like I was so hungry I couldn’t wait for my next bite of food.
This one tasted much better, almost like an orange mixed with a raspberry.
I looked up at the faces, staring at me with anticipation and smiled as I took bite after bite of the cherries, until I no longer felt the ache of hunger that had pestered me all day.
“These are delicious,” I said as I chewed.
Many of the animals around the tree were unfamiliar to me, except for Lars and to my surprise Tindo, the bear, who was actually in the process of sneaking away from the crowd, just as I had noticed him. There were a few dogs from the volunteers of Eaforasa, but to my relief I didn’t see Dusty or Angel among them.
I continued eating, but slower now, as a stroke of curiosity hit me. “What do you all eat”? I asked to the group and no one in particular.
“We don’t eat, not ‘till we go back. And boy am I ready, have you ever tasted a carrot? They’re delicious!” A baby rabbit offered from the middle of the group. I couldn’t help but laugh at her unabashed honesty.
“Bexly!” chastised a larger rabbit with a female voice that sat tall behind her.
Ethera and the Island of Evisara: Book One of The Enrovia Series Page 12