by Kim Cormack
Grey smiled as Kayn’s redo ended. He looked at the others and whispered one word, “Wow.”
Jenna spoke aloud, “I think we may have underestimated Kayn Brighton. She was Corrected by Abaddon and in her redo, she fought back knowing she couldn’t win. Go into your training knowing the two girls are close to being emotionally prepared but Zach needs a few lessons in anger awareness.”
“Maybe the redo was enough,” Grey piped in. He climbed into one of the remaining tombs with Lexy. They would help them lick their wounds first before putting them through the ringer one last time.
Jenna peered into the tomb at the two and stated, “Work them hard you two. This is the last chance to help them conquer those fears.”
The tomb ground closed above them. Lexy and Grey stared at each other and smiled. Sometimes it didn’t seem like that long ago that they had gone into the Testing together with Arrianna. They had been only three against six in each of the other clans too when they’d earned their tombs.
Lexy took Grey’s hand as she whispered, “This group is going to survive the Testing, just like we did.”
“I’d be willing to bet on it...Now.” Grey replied as the tomb started to pulse with blinding light and they were shot up into eternity.
Orin and Jenna were left alone with each other for the first time. He grabbed her arm as she attempted to leave and said, “I thought maybe you could stay here with me for a while. I can’t leave. I have to run the tombs. We need to talk.”
Jenna met his eyes as she answered, “We’ll have time to talk after the Summit. We were a long time ago Orin. There’s not much left to say... Is there?”
He kept holding her arm gently as he prodded, “You know there is.”
“There used to be,” she said, “I’m not the same person, I’ve changed.”
Orin held her arm for a moment longer before releasing his grasp. She started to walk away and he called after her, “This is me you’re talking to! You know that doesn’t matter…We belong together!”
Jenna stopped walking, she turned, stared into his eyes so there would be no misunderstanding and stated, “That’s just it… We don’t.”
Clarity
Kayn awoke to the soothing sound of a trickling brook, the steady humming of bumble bees and the tune of a bird’s enchanting serenade. The world around her was still slightly blurred as her mind struggled to find peace after reliving parts of her past best left buried. The redo of their Sweet Sleep was complete. Melody lay next to her, appearing to be sound asleep in the vibrant green bed of lush grass. Mel opened her eyes and smiled back at her. They lay in the still of the moment ...Just breathing as visions of tortured souls with vacant eyes hovering in a sea of loss kept trying to sneak past the barrier of the warm sunshine. Kayn tried to focus on the humming sound of the bees and the scent of life in the air. They were both completely emotionally depleted as they stared at the vibrant shades of blue in the sky swirling above them. It really did look like someone had just tossed cans of paint into the sky staining the heavens.
“Well, that really sucked.” Melody whispered.
Kayn quietly replied, “That was messed-up.”
After a brief moment of silence, Melody made an attempt to find her way back to the here and now. Mel said, “The sky in this place always reminds me of a little kid’s painting.”
She was just thinking that exact thing. “Me too,” Kayn casually responded and then she started to giggle. Melody also started to snicker and the stress of what they’d both endured sent them into a fit of hysterical laughter.
Zach materialized out of nowhere, standing above them in the lush almost teal hued grass. Curious, he questioned “Is something funny?”
The girls replied, “The sky” in unison and they pissed themselves laughing again.
Kayn watched him as Zach stood with his mouth agape staring at the colors above them as he exclaimed, “Well, I hope your insanity is only temporary.”
Kayn’s mind whispered, Kevin used to do that.
He added, “On the bright side, this last week of training will be fun. Hell, getting chased by Jason through the woods with an axe would be shit loads of fun after what I just went through.”
Zach was preaching to the choir. Kayn grabbed a handful of grass and tossed it at him while lying on her back, it landed on her face. She laughed as she blew it off her nose with a puff of air.
Zach grinned and teased, “See, had it not been for this thing called gravity, you really might have gotten me good with that dangerous handful of grass there.”
“Lay down with us and quit being such a pain in the ass,” Melody sparred back.
He grinned and obediently sprawled out in the grass next to them. Zach smiled as he spoke his observation aloud, “It is kind of nice, isn’t it?”
There was a long moment of silence as each new Ankh’s mind travelled back through the events of their own Correction and redo. A light breeze whispered across the top of the grass making the blades dance just a little. The chirping of what Kayn determined to be a cricket added to the magical ambiance of the moment. She closed her eyes to listen for the humming of bees again and heard the off key deep croak of a toad instead. She took a breath and exhaled. Breathe in and breathe out until you calm yourself down.
“I think I did everything wrong today,” Zach whispered to the girls.
Kayn understood the feeling. Part of her felt like she’d done the right thing but another part knew the point of the redo was not for her to get a chance to see the face of the man that murdered her family.
“I didn’t change anything. Well, almost anything,” Melody added while wistfully staring at the colors of the sky.
“I didn’t save anybody. I knew they were already gone. I fought this time a bit and I saw his face,” Kayn reminisced. She wanted to add, ‘it was a Demon that did my family’s Correction.’ She decided to keep that to herself for now because she wasn’t sure what it meant. They’d all done something different. Had any of them done the right thing?
In response to Kayn’s inner dialogue, Melody said, “Maybe it’s only about closure? Maybe there is no right or wrong?” Mel grinned as she yanked a giant handful of grass from the ground and threw it at Kayn.
Kayn took the handful of grass in her face as a silent cue that Melody didn’t want to speak about the redo anymore. She knew Melody was right. Zach’s face had lit up the second Melody launched that handful of green into the air. Kayn sat up and playfully teased, “So, that’s how you want it then?” She giggled while grabbing a handful of grass and launching it back at Melody.
When Grey and Lexy finally graced them with their presence they were perplexed to find the three Ankh fresh from their emotional re-enactments of their Sweet Sleep rolling around trying to face wash each other with grass. Their faces were green smudged and extremely comical looking.
“Seriously kids? This is not very mature of you,” Grey teased. That sentiment coming from him added to the hilarity. They all jumped on him and tackled him to the ground. Lexy just stood there shaking her head.
They carried on wrestling in the grass for another ten minutes before Lexy cleared her throat and said, “I was certain we’d find three sobbing teens distraught over the redo of their Sweet Sleep, but instead we came upon the three of you wrestling in the grass like a pack of sugar loaded children.” Grey tossed a handful of it directly at Lexy’s face. She waved her hand, blocking it without touching a blade and it travelled away in the wind. Lexy glared at Grey and sighed, “Make that four kids.” She stared at her Handler until he stood up and gave her an enormous childlike grin. Lexy ordered in her most domineering tone, “Okay! Enough shenanigans! Get up and brush that grass off, we have a lot left to cover and only a limited amount of time.”
Zach, always ready with smart assed commentary teased, “Do I get a spanking if I misbehave?”
“Get up!” Lexy ordered while making a valiant attempt to avoid succumbing to the laughter, bubbling up behind her tightly
pursed lips.
They all scrambled to their feet. The mismatched group of grass covered, messy haired playmates attempted to keep a straight face. They’d been through the ringer and were in obvious need of a mental break. They hadn’t had the opportunity to process the redo of their Sweet Sleep yet, their minds in their present numb and exhausted state would be capable of little until they had a small mental vacation. Kayn felt like she had the attention span of a squirrel. She noticed a mosquito on Zach, raised her hand and slapped him square on the forehead.
He stumbled over with his hand on his head and hissed, “What in the hell?”
Whoops, she’d done that without even thinking. “Mosquito.” She explained.
Zach shook his head. He stood quietly for a second before hauling off and smoking her rear end. Kayn cried out at the stinging sensation as she cupped her nearly bare butt cheek with her hand and glared at him.
He grinned widely and teased, “Mosquito.”
Grey glanced at Lexy and said, “You know it’s going to be pointless to try to get them to do anything before they’ve had the chance to recharge those unhinged brains.”
Lexy sighed and suggested, “Why don’t you three take the rest of the day to think, dream, have a good scream. Do whatever you need to do to get your sanity back.”
Without another word, Grey and Lexy began to wander away from the trio of mentally unhinged newbies. Out of nowhere, Grey smacked her on the behind. She scowled at him as he teased, “Mosquito?”
They walked about ten more paces before Lexy snatched Grey’s legs out from underneath of him, wielding his entire body in the air as effortlessly as a blanket, whirled him in a circled and smoked his whole body against the ground. Grey laid there gasping with the wind knocked out of him. Lexy leaned over her Handler and whispered, “Mosquito.” She casually rose to her feet and strolled away.
Once he’d managed to catch his breath, Grey scrambled to his feet and raced to catch up with her.
They were all dead silent, each of them a tiny bit afraid that if one Lexy induced giggle slipped out they’d be forced to play the ‘come at me’ game with her again.
Lexy was still laughing as they disappeared together into the vast space of the in-between.
Kayn declared, “We really need to learn how to do that disappearing thing.”
“She’s so awesome.” Zach whispered.
Kayn grinned and said, “Where do you think they went?”
“My guess is far away from us crazy people,” Mel chuckled while trying to keep the conversation lighthearted.
“I think we have good cause to be a bit emotionally unstable,” Zach pointed out as he stared at the white fluffy clouds that had appeared in the sky. His honest insertion was followed by a long, drawn out moment of silence. Their need for laughter subsided; the gravity of the upcoming events was beginning to set in. The three of them sprawled in the grass with their minds still reeling from the redo of their darkest moments. They all understood on some level now that their darkest moments were nothing but teasers for what was to come.
Melody broke the extended moment of silence with a question, “What do you think the Testing is going to be?”
While keeping his eyes trained on the fluffy white clouds above, Zach replied, “I always pictured some kind of old school gladiator fight in a coliseum with a two headed monster or some kind of mythical Medusa-like creature.”
Everyone she’d loved had been collateral damage to her destiny. If she didn’t survive the Testing, her family’s Correction would be for nothing…It would mean nothing. She’d allowed herself to be claimed by Ankh and survived until the age of eighteen. She’d falsely assumed that permanently becoming Ankh was the end of her mortal worries but now understood that she hadn’t guaranteed her survival. There was one more T to cross. One more hoop to jump through in the immortal game. Kayn glanced at Zach and responded to his jest, “We could kick Medusa’s ass.”
“I bet Lexy could kick Medusa’s ass, all by herself,” Melody countered.
Zach chuckled and added, “Lexy could kick Medusa’s ass while hogtied.”
Grey had referred to surviving the Testing on various occasions. Why hadn’t the enormity of it registered? Kayn whispered, “I think our Testing is going to be soon. I don’t know what it is or where it is but I do know that I don’t have the mental capacity to deal with anything else today.” Kayn scrambled to her feet and stated, “We need to take this relax and recoup offer seriously. Lexy is liable to be the one kicking our asses later.” She looked either way across the wide span of never ending grass. There was nothing substantial in either direction, no mountains, no buildings, not even the smallest hill. She looked at her arm and a mosquito was feasting on her. Where did the mosquitoes come from? Which one of them had thought of mosquitoes and caused them to become a part of the in-between? Maybe it was her? She’d started the mosquito joke.
Zack got up and helped Melody to her feet. As they began to walk together through the massive field of green, Zach questioned, “How do you two lovely ladies want to spend the afternoon?”
“From what I understand this place is whatever we want it to be...Right?” Mel said.
Zach baited, “I have an idea. We can play a giant game of hide and seek. We can call it Where’s Kayn? It’s just like Where’s Waldo but with a stubborn uncoordinated hot chick?”
Kayn socked him in the shoulder and said, “Mosquito.”
Zach tackled her to the grass, laughing while saying, “Mosquito.”
They wrestled around for a minute tickling each other until Melody harnessed her inner Lexy and cleared her throat. They scrambled to their feet and attempted to pay attention as Melody suggested, “I know a beautiful place for us to decompress. I might even be able to find the way back.”
With their curiosity peaked, they each took one of Melody’s hands. They were going to one of Melody’s places and neither of them wanted to get lost. The scenery around them flashed with bright light and they were standing by the shore of an incredibly strange swimming hole. It looked like a tidal pool with brightly colored star fish and glistening white sand but it was completely out of place in this location. Lakes did not have sea creatures and tidal pools were not surrounded by the lush greenery of the countryside.
“I can’t believe that worked,” Melody exclaimed.
“Okay, this is place is very cool,” Kayn whispered, in awe of the colored lights that swirled like fish under the surface of the water. She’d seen those lights before.
Zach waded into the pool as he declared, “Amazing, is the word I’d use.”
Melody knelt at the water’s edge and ran her hand across the surface as she explained, “When I left Trinity and Markus made me Ankh again, this is where I met Grey.”
Zach splashed her and teased, “I’ve heard this story before.”
Melody winked and said, “I bet you did.”
Kayn sat down on the grassy shore, picking up a small teal green stone and began to roll it between the tips of her fingers. It was perfectly round. There were rose colored ones and white stones with speckles. They were all smooth to the touch with no sharp edges. Everything around this pool was aesthetically pleasing. She ran her hand across the grass and she could feel each strand separately caressing her palm. What is this place? Kayn winked at Melody and teased, “Grey’s gorgeous. You were alone with an insanely cute guy in a dream...Why not?” Kayn got up with a handful of stones, wound up and skipped the teal stone across the surface of the water. It skimmed the surface a couple of times on its path and bounced over Zach without hitting him. Kayn beamed as she announced, “I’m usually horrible at this! I’ve never been able to do that before!”
Zach piped in from his spot in the pool, “You ladies aren’t planning to sit up there and throw rocks at me, are you?”
Melody picked up a rose-colored stone, she grinned as she tossed it and it touched down four times across the pool’s surface. Mel said, “I did this all the time. Back when sk
imming rocks across the surface of the water was a formidable life skill.”
The fragrance of apples wafted through the air. Kayn looked behind her and noticed there was an apple tree that hadn’t been there only a moment before. Since when did apple trees smell? She scrambled to her feet and wandered over to stand in front of it. The tree was ideally shaped and the branches were chock full of flawless red delicious apples. Red delicious apples were usually bruised. These were never perfect specimens. Kayn reached up and grabbed one. She had eaten one of these at the copy of Granny Winnie’s house in the in-between shortly after she had passed on. It was delicious. It had been an incredible apple; the best one she’d ever tasted. She’d thought about it with every bite she had taken of an apple since that day. Kayn held it in the palm of her hand and smelled it. She motioned to Zach that she was going to throw him one. He was relaxing, floating in the center of the pool. He reached up and caught it in midair. Zach looked at it for a second before taking a giant bite. Kayn threw one at Melody and then plucked one off the beautifully sculpted tree for herself. They began to eat the apples and instantly upon swallowing the first bite Kayn began to feel relaxed. She sat with Melody on the shore for a while eating the delectable fruit and skimming stones. Melody stood up to grab more apples and shrieked, wrecking the exquisite calm. Kayn whirled around to see what had startled her friend. A giant snake twisted around the trunk of the apple tree. Kayn got up and made her way to Melody’s side. She wasn’t afraid… She was entranced. It was more than that. She was mesmerized by the reptile’s docile, nonchalant manner. It circled the trunk of the tree until the length of the enormous snake had encircled it completely. It looked at her. Kayn was certain the creature had looked directly into her eyes. It knew she wasn’t afraid. Kayn’s reflections travelled to tales from her childhood. Was this the Garden of Eden? Had she just given both of her friends an apple? She shook her head and decided that was a ridiculous notion. This was the in-between. This meant something to one of them. It was not literal, it was figurative. The Garden of Eden was a lesson about temptation. Kayn grinned suspecting she had deduced the purpose of the pool. It was to expose temptation. The snake disappeared when she glanced back at the tree. Kayn asked, “Where did the snake go?”