“You call yourself cursed. Why?”
“I thought you wanted to show me something.” Kai didn’t want to talk about it. If he did, the man would see exactly what kind of person he was, and then he’d leave too. Being around him was sun to Kai’s frozenness. When the rejection came, it would sting.
“All in good time. Speak to me.”
“This Affinity thing that they test people for? I supposedly have it.” There. It was out. Let’s see how long you stick around now.
“And you think that’s a bad thing.” It was a statement, not a question.
“And you think it isn’t?”
“Affinity in itself is neutral. It is a heightened ability to see what is invisible—things that carry weight for eternity. It can be influenced though, through experience, belief.”
“That doesn’t make sense.”
The man shrugged, “Think about it.” He waved his hands through the swirling mist that blocked their view and it vanished, imploding into nothingness as if it had never been there. “I give you reality.”
They hung in the sky above the building Kai called home. From this angle, Kai could see the three-flight metal stairway, winding back and forth up the side, his morning sun windows dull in the afternoon light. A homeless man lay curled up under the stairs, piled thick with many layers of clothes in spite of the heat.
Kai smiled at the sight of him. “That’s Tyson. He borrows my stairs sometimes. You see how fat he looks? It’s actually just layers and layers of clothing. He wears all the clothes he’s collected, all the time. He’s scared to take any of them off in case they’re stolen.”
They zoomed closer without moving a millimetre.
“Tell me what you see now.”
Kai studied the old man, looking deeper than his leather-tanned skin, past all the layers of his live-in wardrobe, through to the core—his heart beating an unnatural rhythm. Zooming closer, he could see hairline cracks criss-crossing the entire surface, with one deep gash that went all the way through. Tyson’s heart was shattered in a million tiny pieces. This was no physical defect. “What broke it?”
“A misunderstanding drove his wife away many years ago. He’s never recovered.”
“I don’t know how to help him. Most times I do. How do you fix a broken heart?”
“Look closer.”
Kai leaned as far forward as he dared. The gash was not just a gash, but a constriction. Something was wrapped around so tight it was squeezing the life out of him. “What is that thing? We have to cut it off. How?”
“That, my young friend, is regret. Tell him I say it wasn’t his fault. She was leaving no matter what he did or didn’t do.” Tau frowned and glanced back to the other side of the window. “It’s time. Bree needs you.” He dropped off the window ledge, back on the side of swirling brightness. The mist was drifting back in.
“Wait!” Kai’s head swam at the drop below his feet. He scrambled off the ledge. “About Tyson—how would that help him? And Bree. And Runt. How am I supposed to help either of them? I can’t even get home!”
“You’re never alone, Kai. You’ve been searching for me, but the truth is, I’ve been with you every step of the way, on this side and the other.”
Tau stood, and in a flash the man’s skin blistered with LightSucker bites, ripped open by DarKound claws and teeth.
Kai’s stomach flipped and dizziness overtook him. Sitting quickly, he covered his mouth, horrified. “They left me alone to take You, didn’t they?”
Sheer joy rippled through the man, leaving his skin whole and intact once more. “You’re worth it to me. Bree needs Me, and so, she needs you. Come on.”
Kai’s mind scrambled like eggs in a pan. “I can’t even make shoes appear. How can I help her?”
“But it’s not about you, is it? Think of it this way: when a painter changes the colour he is painting with, does he expect the brush to fill itself?”
“No obviously not, he dips it in—”
Instantly he was back in the dark, cave walls pressing in on him. Yet this was not the bubble he’d been trapped in. This felt like a tunnel. Kai spun, disoriented.
The man and his light were all gone as if he’d never been.
12
Bree’s scream filled his ears, picking up where it had left off. It was a falling cry. Not good.
He had to get to her. Feeling his way forward in the dark, Kai inched along. It was slow going, the floor of the shaft jagged and sharp. His toe connected with a rock and he yelped, doubling over as pain spiked through his foot. Each step sent waves though him, as though he were walking on knives.
Paint and shoes. The man spoke in riddles. Kai’s mind churned, logical thoughts turning this way and that. A painting needs colour. Bree needed him to move fast. To colour the painting, a paintbrush needs paint. To get to Bree, he needed shoes. A paintbrush doesn’t get paint from itself, but from the jars of paint—the source.
It snapped into place so loud, he could have sworn he heard the click.
“I get it now. You made everything. You are the source. You can make shoes for my feet.” The whisper left his lips, coming from a complete and utter conviction that it was possible. His body lifted as tread formed beneath his soles, canvas wove around each foot. “Bree! I’m coming!” One hand on each wall, Kai ran in the dark.
The walls vanished from beneath his fingertips and he stepped out into nothingness. Arms pin-wheeling, he threw his weight backwards and fell on his rear. What now? On hands and knees, he crept forward and felt for the edge. Once he found it, he turned left and followed it along, wincing as his knees found each sharp ridge in the rock. It was no use. From the updraft and the sharp edge that ran alongside him, it seemed he was perched on a ledge beside a chasm in the floor of the cave. He felt a small pebble roll under his fingers. He held it up and let it drop. No sound. It must have been falling. And falling. Finally, a plink sound. It must have landed. This made no sense. If only he could see.
“C’mon Zee, I need you.” His words echoed, yet a sliver of a thought shot through him. Zee lit up every place she went because she was filled with LifeLight. He held up his hand. Forcing shoes had never worked, he didn’t even try. He took a deep breath. As he exhaled, he yielded to the new Life inside him, surrendered to the Source of Life. The glow started in his fingertips and traced living patterns beneath his flesh. Within seconds, his hand was glowing enough to see the roof of the cave angling upward, the ledge stretching off into darkness beyond where his light reached. The brightness grew. Before him, the ground dropped away, sheer and deep.
Across the chasm as wide as a football field, Bree lay in a crumpled heap, her leg bent at an impossible angle beneath her. Blood seeped from her head.
~*~
Evazee turned her pillow over, punching it in an attempt to make it more comfy. She rolled onto her other side and wiggled her head side-to-side to deepen the hollow. It didn’t help. She gave up and settled her head on the rock, half hoping and half dreading that sleep would claim her. With all the strange dreams she’d been having, she wasn’t sure she wanted to sleep.
She’d always been a vivid dreamer, but these were different. Each dream picked up where the previous one left off, and all of them centred around the boy. He wasn’t really a boy—probably a year or so older than her—but he seemed so clueless. She turned on her other side and tucked the duvet in close around her legs and body.
Today had strung out every emotion in her and she was worn out. She’d hung around at the hospital for hours, waiting for any change in the boy’s condition. At least she knew his name now: Kai.
TrisTessa had glued herself to his bedside and shown no intention of leaving. When the sunlight began to fade, Eva had quietly slipped out and come home, made toast with melted cheese, and climbed into bed. She could sleep for days.
The darkness around her was complete. The slide in consciousness, the hazy wavering was like chocolate melting to velvety liquid. The hardness from her pillow grew
sharp, cutting edges. The gloom around her lifted, and above her, the bedroom ceiling angled upwards and became rock. It was happening again.
The light came from somewhere below her feet. She reached beneath her, fingers scraping over rough edges and down the end of the ledge. Zee pulled herself up onto one elbow to see more clearly. She lay back down, swallowing hard, wishing she hadn’t looked. The drop was sheer and absolute.
She sat up and saw Kai further along the same ledge. LifeLight was sparking from his fingertips, running down his arms, flooding his being. The darkness was all gone. He was transforming before her eyes.
“Kai!”
Light blazed from him, flooding the chamber with dazzling brilliance that sparkled off of the crystals in the rock. Breathtaking. He grinned at her, and for a moment, she couldn’t breathe.
“Kai, you’ve got to come.” She stood and gingerly inched towards him, fiercely ignoring the sharp precipice on her right. “There is someone at home. You have to come.”
“I need your help. How can I get across? Zee?”
“You don’t need to. I think I know how to get you back.” She reached out and grabbed his arm.
“I need to get across.”
“No, come with me.” She grabbed his cheeks in her hands, “Look at you! You are full of Light! You’ve done it, Kai. You can come home now!”
He took her hands off his face and said nothing. She followed his gaze, and far across the chasm she saw something that didn’t look like rock. No, it was someone.
“It’s impossible. You can’t do it.”
“I’m not leaving her here.” He knuckled his eyes and stared across, then pointed. “Look!” He pulled her close, his face shoved up against hers. Heat from his radiance burned through her. “Can you see there’s a dark patch just above where she fell? I think it’s a similar slide chute that got me stuck on this side. She must have taken a different passage to me. Come with me, help me find it.”
He pushed her back against the rock and held on as he squeezed past, back to the drop. There was strength in his arms that she’d never noticed before. He grabbed her hand and pulled her along.
“There’s got to be another way up and over. Maybe we can back-track.”
“Kai! Stop! This is not real, it’s just a dream. You have to come back with me, you can’t get sucked in by...all this.” You can’t fall in love with an imaginary girl.
“Why are you being so stubborn? I’m not leaving until I’ve fixed this.” Without another word, he disappeared into the crevice, taking his light with him.
Zee’s own LifeLight flickered, pushing back the edges of blackness, but she was dim compared to him. Within minutes she heard the scuffle of his feet coming back.
“It’s blocked off. I don’t understand.”
Zee felt the sliding shift, heard the bells in her head. Her alarm was calling her back to consciousness. How long could Kai stay before it became impossible for him to come back?
He stood with his back to her, staring across, mind churning over how to get to Bree.
She did the only thing she could think of, the only thing that made sense. The sliding was stronger now. She moved in quick and wrapped her arms around him. Her mind floated as if someone had pumped it full of helium.
She woke with her arms wrapped tight. Around her pillow, not Kai. He was nowhere to be seen.
~*~
Kai paced the ledge gingerly. When all else fails, ask the one who sent you. “Hey, Tau? You there? What do I do?” Echoes of his voice threaded through silence. Stupid of him to think it would work.
Come to Me.
“Tau? Is that you?” Kai could have sworn Tau was speaking to him from the other side. Must be bouncing echoes. “These echoes are bouncing like crazy.” Kai laughed, “It sounded as if you wanted me to walk across to Bree.” He chuckled again, but it sounded hollow, even to his own ears.
You heard right. Trust Me. Come.
The drop was dizzying. “How?”
What is on your feet Kai? Where did they come from?
Kai raised onto his toes and balanced on the edge. The shoes on his feet were a perfect fit. They could have been designed for him. “There’s nothing to cross on. What are you saying?” Nothing inside him had any inclination to step off onto thin air. Even in his blackest moments, he’d never considered suicide. He stuck out a foot experimentally, waved it around in the air. Just as he thought. No secret invisible ledge. “Nice try. I’m not falling for it.” He chuckled at his own pun. “Do you see what I did there? Falling...falling…” His palms bobbed like weighing scales.
No chuckle from the disembodied voice of Tau.
“How do you do that anyway? Throw your voice like that? What is that all about?” He was procrastinating and he knew it.
Tau’s silent, whispered, “trust me” was clearer than any shout could have been.
Bree stirred, her foot kicking loose stones into the abyss between them. She rolled, delirious, closer to the edge.
“Bree, no! Wake up!” Another of those and she’d be over the edge.
She whimpered, restless. One arm dangled.
Kai’s stomach churned. He had to get to her.
Still nothing more from Tau.
What does one do when the One who makes shoes from nothing calls one to walk on thin air? He breathed deep. Once. Twice. He closed his eyes and stepped out onto nothingness.
He expected a sharp drop. Falling. Pain. Beneath his foot, a patch of rock had appeared, floating on nothing, yet holding him up as surely as if it were solid ground. The second step was harder than the first. A single miracle was one thing, but to expect miracle after miracle, like a footpath of goodness strong enough to support him? That was entirely different.
By the fifth step, he managed to persuade his eyes to open. Where his foot touched was solid. Everything else, including the path behind him, was open—a sheer drop.
His stomach twisted as he looked down. A tremble ran through his legs. One foothold fell away and he swung wildly, trying to stay upright.
A low moan came from Bree.
He had to get to her. He fixed his eyes on her and began walking. Deliberate steps, no hesitation. The stone blocks beneath his feet grew firm with the rise in his determination.
Kai sped up to a jog, running full speed by the time he got to the other side. One step from the ledge, Bree jerked and tipped sideways, her body following her arm. Kai threw himself forward, hauling her back onto the ledge with the weight of his body. He slammed down hard, smacking the air from his lungs, but hanging onto Bree.
By the time he’d recovered enough to breathe, Bree’s eyes were open, clouded by pain. A deep gash stretched from her temple into her hairline and blood matted her hair. By the angle of her leg, he knew she wouldn’t be leaving this mountain on her own legs. He sat down at her head, stroking her hair.
“Stay with me. Come on, Bree.”
She swallowed, jaw tightening in effort. “Elden.” A mere whisper, “Save Elden.” Her eyes closed.
Hot anger burned through Kai. He pulled the disc out his pocket, no longer white, but milky grey. He was losing both of them and there was nothing he could do.
“Tau, why did You bring me here?”
Don’t wallow. Think.
“What? You are nuts.”
You’re probably right. Stretch out her leg. Make sure it’s straight.
“How would that help? It’s gonna hurt her.”
This will take so much longer if you keep arguing. Do you want to keep arguing, Kai? Or should we get you two out of here?
Kai shut his eyes and framed a picture of the man he’d met—the One who had taken away his darkness and replaced it with life. His face was so close, Kai nearly lifted a hand to touch it. The gaze caught him once again, blazing with a love that stretched beyond the confines of time, not limited in any way, but deep and free. The kind of love that could do the impossible.
He stood, stepped awkwardly over Bree, and fitted his foot
between her arm and her body. Standing on her, or falling off the ledge. Either of those options would be bad.
“This may hurt a little.”
Gentle and slow would prolong the pain. He got a good grip on her ankle, twisted up next to her in a way a leg just shouldn’t, and pulled it straight.
Bree screamed.
Kai nearly blacked out. He fought back stars as a knight would dragons.
Good. Now think. Remember.
“For once, I wish you’d just tell me what to do.”
I did. If a voice could smile, this one would be all teeth.
Kai scratched his head. It was getting hotter in the cave. The first healing he’d seen in this odd place was Zee with Runt. That was in the stream. The second was his own—also through Zee, but out of the healing waters. That was the thing with Zee, always showing up when he didn’t need her, and disappearing when he did.
He could swear he heard Tau cough.
“What?” Kai felt his hands tingle. He held them up, sparkling and sparking dancing light.
Remember the shoes, Kai.
“I didn’t make the shoes happen.”
Exactly.
He just had to let this Lifelight sparking through him out. There was nothing to lose. He sat at Bree’s feet. By the time he reached for her ankle, fire chased through each finger and set his palms alight.
What could Tau do?
He must surrender to the flow through him. Bree’s skin felt icy, but puddles of warmth rose instantly beneath each fingertip, spreading like fierce veins circling her ankle and working upward past her knee, towards the break. The light split on either side of the damaged bone. The two shafts of light blazed briefly, then met in an intricate weaving, a dance of knitted brightness that shot upwards through the rest of her.
It was complete.
He fell back, breathing hard through lungs that didn’t exist.
13
“Bree, stop! Why are you running?”
She halted so suddenly in the narrow passage that Kai ran straight into her. He grabbed her hand before she fell, but she pulled away and shoved him. He smacked into the wall and winced as pain shot through his skull.
Affinity Page 10