by Bethany Knox
“This changes everything,” Dad said. “Let’s get out now, through the tunnel. Let’s go!”
There were shouts all over the house as everyone assembled in the hallway.
“Come on, move, move fast!” Ulysses urged us all on.
We ran down the stairs into the tunnel. We literally charged along the dark passageway towards the Pet Supplies store, then we reached the stairs and bound up into the darkened store. Dad was opening the front door to the street when we heard a dull roar and a sheet of orange flame leapt up into the sky.
“They did it,” Megan said. “Those bastards did it. Guy, the house, I’m so sorry.”
Dad shrugged. “Yeah, but at least we got out before it got hit.”
“We owe that Medusan woman a lot, did you say her name was Najat?” she asked me.
“That’s right, yes. She helped Ethan and me when we were trapped on Andros.”
“She must hate them a lot to sell them out,” Dad said. “I wonder what they did to her.”
“Do they have to do anything?” Megan said to him. “Imagine living the way their women have to live, being just a possession, effectively worthless. I’d certainly sell them out if I were in her shoes.”
I thought of Mom. She hadn’t sold them out, far from it, she’d connived to get me into their hands. But now, had she changed? I wondered about that. She’d sounded different on the phone. I wished that I could talk to her some more. Maybe later.
“What do we do now?” I asked them. We were still standing just inside the store with the door wide open, the sound of fire and burglar alarms splitting the night, aided by sirens converging on the crash site.
Before anyone could answer a truck drew up outside.
“This is our transport. We need to get in the back as quickly as we can without being seen. I’m afraid this is just the first leg of our journey, we need to retreat and regroup,” Ulysses said. “They may think they’ve got us on the run, well, maybe it’s true right now, I guess they have got us on the run. But we have a lot of resources too, they haven’t even started to experience the kinds of things we can hit them back with. Come on, get into the truck.”
We climbed into the dark back of the vehicle and the roller door slammed shut. The truck pulled away and I found something to hold on to. There were no seats and I felt as if I was being thrown around inside the drum of a washing machine, albeit without the water. I remembered what Ulysses had said.
“What kinds of things can we hit them with, Ulysses?”
“We can hunt them, pick them off one by one. We have poisons we can use to finish them off. Like us, they can be killed with a stake through the heart, there are so many ways we have to kill them. We are much, much stronger, we have our night vision to track them, we can visit them in their dreams so that they’ll wake up terrified. We can even harness the forces of nature, send powerful storms to drive their cars off the road. Oh, they’ll regret the day they escalated things this far.”
“I’m sure they have ways to destroy us too,” I reminded him. I realized suddenly that I’d used the word ‘us’. I was one of the Amstrydae now. “You know what you are describing?”
“War,” he said.
“Exactly, a war of attrition,” I said. “Sure, we will get some of their people and they’ll get some of ours. It is no way to live, we have to find another way to resolve this. War is not the answer.” I knew that and I was sixteen years old, well, nearly. How come adults didn’t realize? They’d say ‘go to war’ like it was picking up a box of groceries.
He didn’t reply, maybe he was totally shocked that I was coming across so strongly about avoiding a war. We drove on in silence for a while. Another thought occurred to me.
“Where exactly are we headed?”
“Canada,” Dad replied promptly. “We’ve got a big place prepared in the middle of the forests.”
It occurred to me that the Medusans had almost won. We had become fugitives, about to make ourselves prisoners of our own fears, our terror would become the walls that kept us enclosed.
“How does that sound, honey?”
“It’s only a starting point, Dad, that’s all. We will need to make plans and strike out from there, get this thing settled, once and for all. I have made my decision, whatever it takes, I won’t spend my whole life in hiding. Whatever it takes!”
“But you just said war was not the answer.”
“No, that’s right, it isn’t. There has to be another way and we need to keep hunting for it until we find it.”
Chapter 10
I looked across the lake at the timber cabin that we had moved into. It was more than a cabin, more like a luxury, millionaire’s vacation residence, complete with heating, air conditioning and a host of luxuries. In front of the house, next to the lake was a jetty, at the end of which a seaplane was tied up. At the side of the house, I could just make out someone chopping wood, small tree trunks for the open log fire we favored when it was really cold, which was most of the time in these northern parts. The guy was stripped to the waist and I knew it was Ethan. I couldn’t read minds, of course, none of us Amstrydae could do that. But the powers I was developing gave me some kind of a mystical connection to my new family, I just knew certain things without knowing why I knew. My horse was a beautiful, strong mare called Storm. She was docile in my hands but underneath she had a fiery heart that could turn into a raging storm if a rider handled her in the wrong way. I tugged at her reins and began a long, slow canter around the lake and back to the house. An SUV had just drawn up, the one that Dad and Megan used when they went into town.
We had been here for nearly two months and so far I hadn’t been allowed to leave the environs of the ranch, but they constantly kept in contact with our people around the world and I hoped they’d brought some news. We had the internet of course, via a satellite link, but we didn’t use it to contact our people directly, just in case our computers were ever hacked. Unless it was important, we relied on messages relayed to us through a contact in the nearby town. I got back and unsaddled and watered my horse. I left her in the corral and went into the house.
“Is there any news?” I asked eagerly.
“Well, there is and there isn’t,” Dad said. “Firstly, nothing from the Medusans, we are trying to make contact to start negotiating with them again, but so far there is nothing definite.”
“And?”
“You’ve got to get back to school, it’s not good for you, being here on your own.”
“I’m not on my own, I’ve got all of you here with me.”
“No, you need kids of your own age.”
“I’ve got Ethan, he’s my own age, I don’t want any other kids.”
“Maybe you don’t, but I’ve already decided, it’s something you have to do. So I’ve enrolled you in the local school.”
“You what?”
It was the last thing I needed, going to some local hick school with, with who?
“What are the kids like?”
“They’re good, all of the local Native Canadian Indian kids go there, they’re really interesting if you take the trouble to get to know them.”
“I’m almost sixteen, I haven’t got time to get to know them.”
“Exactly,” he fired back. “Time is running out. It’s now or never, anyway, you’re going so you’d better get used to it.”
The following Monday, Dad and Megan drove me fifteen miles along forest tracks to the local school. When we got there, it was a modern brick built building with an open sports field at the front and side of it. When he’d said lots of Indian kids go there, he had been telling the literal truth. They did, but neither did it seem any other kids go there except for the Native Canadians. And now me. They said goodbye and I went through the gate, along the track and into the building. There was a reception desk, I asked the woman sat behind it where I would find the Principal. I gave her my name, she checked me on the computer, and then directed me to the end of the corridor. She said the Principal’s doo
r was marked.
“What’s his name?” I asked her.
“The Principal? It’s not a him, it’s a her, Mrs. Thundercloud.”
“She’s an Indian, or do I call her a Native Canadian?”
“Of course she is, most of the kids here are Indian, why would the Principal be any different? I am half Indian myself. By the way,” she smiled, “you don’t need to call us Native Canadians, we are all fine with Indian.”
Careful what you say, Claire, I didn’t want to get off on the wrong foot. That was the story of my life, maybe I could get it right this time, if they’d only let me. “That’s great, I was only checking. Thanks.”
I nodded and walked along the corridor and knocked the door. “Come,” a voice called from inside.
I walked in to see the Principal sitting behind her desk. She was a lean, wrinkled, gray haired woman with dark, piercing eyes. She looked directly at me and I saw a shadow pass across her face. That was strange.
“You’re the new girl, Claire Winter?” I nodded. “Sit down, Claire.”
She closed her eyes and I sat in front of her desk and waited. And waited. It was eerie.
Her eyes opened suddenly, making me jump. “I sense you are hiding from someone. Someone dangerous, someone that terrifies you.”
“What do you mean?”
But she didn’t answer, just shook her head. “Have you been here before?”
I said that I hadn’t. “Young lady, the history of our tribe goes back thousands of years, did you know that?”
“No, Ma’am.”
“I believe your people have a similar history. Perhaps it is something in the past I can sense in you. But no, it is not all in the past. Look, Claire, we will do our best to keep you safe here. Do they know where you are hiding?”
That was too much, where was she getting this mystical stuff from? “Look, I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
She smiled sadly. “That’s ok, Claire, I understand. Tell me when you are ready. Enough of that, I have assigned you to a mentor, a girl your age who will show you where everything is. If you have any questions, you know where to find me. I hope your time with us here is happy.”
“Thank you, Mrs. Thundercloud.”
She showed me my locker, took me to a classroom and introduced me to the teacher, Mr. Willoughby. He seemed a decent enough guy and I was sat next to my mentor, Fay Thundercloud. She was a pretty girl, obviously pure Indian with dark hair, dark, creamy skin and dark, flashing eyes. We shook hands and waited until after the class to get more acquainted. Throughout the morning, she showed me where to go and we sat together in the cafeteria for lunch.
“You’ve got the same name as the Principal,” I commented.
She smiled. “Yeah, she’s my grandmother.”
“Is that a problem for you?”
“Nah, not at all, Granny’s really great, she just treats me like the other kids and lets me get on with it.”
This school was different to what I’d been used to. When I went home at the end of the day I had a lot to think about, these people were somehow different. Like me, I guess. It was nothing I could put my finger on, more of a mind thing. Megan asked me why I was so quiet during the evening and I just told her I felt tired. But it wasn’t that, something was different here, those people in the school. I thought it was a good thing but, as I had been pursued halfway around the world by weirdoes I wasn’t prepared to accept anything on face value just yet. The Principal, how the hell could she know anything? Some instinct told me that I could trust her, but it was almost as if she was trying to look inside my head. No way, lady, no way. Not yet, not until I knew I could trust you.
The following day I guess I was waiting for the sneers or the foot that stuck out to trip me up, but it didn’t happen. I had a pleasant surprise when I spoke to Fay.
“ Look, Claire, it’s my birthday today, I’m sixteen, I’ve got a little party this evening, why not come and get to know some of the other kids?”
I was unusually touched by her obvious kindness and friendly approach. “Thanks, I’d love to.”
After school I went home and got changed ready for Fay’s party. My short black skirt, my new ‘Cobra Starship’ t-shirt and a pair of high lace-up Doctor Martins over black tights. I checked myself out in the mirror and put on a necklace, the only one I had with me, and a bundle of wire bangles. I thought I looked ok, my hair was good and a bit of work with my makeup bag and I was ready. Thankfully, the weather was mild and dry, pretty rare in these parts and I was able to wear my jeans jacket, no need for an Eskimo Nell padded anorak. I went downstairs.
“Where’s Ethan?” I realized I hadn’t seen him since I’d got home.
“He had to go back home and check out some things at the house, he hasn’t been there since all this trouble started, you know,” Dad said.
A feeling of suddenly being alone swept through me. “Is he coming back?”
I tried to make the question nonchalant, but I guess they all knew.
“Sure, honey, he’ll be coming back, but he has to make sure his folks are ok. His Great Aunt is there too, I’m sure you remember her, he wants to see them all.”
He hadn’t said anything to me, I hoped that he would be back soon. Maybe that was selfish, his family did need to see him and he had to know they were ok. But I couldn’t help the way I felt.
Dad gave me a lift to Fay’s house. For once, I was away from our ranch with no bodyguards but he said no one knew I was there so I would be safe. We did the usual things that kids do, the party was in the barn, and there was loud music, plenty of lively chatter and some laughter and I danced with some of the other kids. As darkness fell, Fay’s parents came into the barn and someone turned off the music, we stood around in a semi-circle and watched. The Principal, Mrs. Thundercloud, was with them, hovering near the back of the barn. There were two other adults, both looked to be full-blood Indians. Fay’s dad started to give a speech congratulating her on her sixteenth birthday, then said some stuff about the traditions of the tribe, this was to be an important day and some stuff about their culture that I totally failed to understand. Then I looked around and a dawning realization hit me. I was the only person in the barn who was not a full-blooded Indian.
I heard her dad say, “And so we will perform the blood ceremony of our tribe to welcome Fay as a full adult member of our community.”
I watched fascinated as he took a tiny pin, like an acupuncture pin and pricked his finger, pricked Fay’s finger and held the two tiny drops of blood together. It was kind of similar to our own people’s ceremony, the one where they had inducted me into the Amstrydae. Then he went to each of the watchers in turn and did the same, the tiny finger prick and holding together of the two drops of blood that oozed out. He came to me and looked into my eyes.
“It is up to you, Claire, you don’t have to if you don’t want to. You are not one of us, and yet, there is something, something none of us can work out, a connection.”
As he was speaking I felt it too, it was like an invisible magnetic force pulling me towards these folk. With most people, I felt quite the opposite, repelled, pushed away. But now I felt that I had been pulled towards this country, to this remote location, to this very room. What the hell was happening to me? He was still speaking.
“Claire, you can join with us in the ritual if you wish.”
Suddenly, I wanted to be with them, to be a part of them, to feel some closeness, some warmth, maybe even some protection. I didn’t want to fight this, didn’t need to fight it, I wanted to go with it. He knew too, I didn’t know if some of these people could read minds but he had sensed in me a need, a need to belong, a need for the protection of a group of good, decent and honorable people. I put my hand forward and nodded.
“Yes.”
He pricked my finger and held it to his own finger, I felt something surge through me as our blood mingled. There was something more, too, I couldn’t help my hunger, I sucked greedily at the blood as he
released my hand. He stared at me with an amused look and offered his own bleeding finger. Before I knew what I was doing I had taken hold of it and was greedily sucking the blood. I let his hand go and he kept staring at me, then turned and went on with the ceremony. But the other adults had noticed, I saw them talking quietly between themselves. Later, I felt a tap on my shoulder. I turned to see the Principal, Mrs. Thundercloud.
“How bad is this need to drink blood, Claire?”
I shook my head. “I don’t need to drink blood, that’s crazy.”
She ignored my denial. “We had someone here before, they were staying at your ranch too. They were seen drinking the blood of animals they had killed, there was trouble.”
“What kind of trouble?”
“People were frightened about having a vampire in their midst, there was talk of hunting them down and killing them.”
“Mrs. Thundercloud, I’m not a vampire, that’s nonsense.”
“What do you call yourself then? Claire, we have powers too, though we are not anything like as strong as the vampires. What is the name of your group?”
I shook my head again. “Really, I’m not like that, look, this is silly.”
Then I realized that I had no need to deceive these good people, they wanted nothing from me, perhaps for the first time in my life. They had even accepted me into their trust, into the warmth of their shared togetherness.
“Ma’am, I am sorry. You are right, but I can’t say anything without their permission, forgive me, I don’t want to abuse your hospitality or the trust of my people.”
“Very well, Claire Winter, but remember, you are now a part of us, and we are a part of you. We are now your people too.”
Fay’s father, whose name was Rafe Thundercloud, brought round a goblet containing some sort of a cocktail, part of the ceremony was that we all had to drink. I swallowed the concoction, it tasted spicy, rich, and very herblike. It was not unpleasant. but just odd. It was then that my hallucinations started. I felt dizzy, a blackness descended on the barn and suddenly I wasn’t there, I was out in the forest.