by D. C. Akers
The room fell silent until Vallen finally said, “There will be a chance for questions, but now is not the best time.”
Scowling, Travis returned his gaze to the floor where Sarah and Alisa lay. Sam felt his frustration too; his questions seemed to be mounting by the moment and no one was answering them. He looked down at his mother and sister.
“No,” Sam said a little louder that he intended. “I think now is the perfect time.” Travis looked up. “I think someone needs to tell us who you people are and why you are here!”
Sam’s face had gone red, as anger swelled inside of him, twisting into a giant acrimonious knot that lodged in the center of his chest. If he didn’t say something now he thought he might explode.
“Now is not the—”
“No, now is the time! I don’t even know this girl’s name,” Sam said, glaring at Vallen. Then his eyes moved to the green-eyed girl.
“No,” the girl interjected. “Samuel is right; he needs to know.” She took a deep breath, tucked her hair behind her ear, and looked up at Sam. Her ear was thin, long, and unusually pointed.
“My name is Lyra and we are not from this world,” she said bluntly.
Sam mouth fell open and Travis’s eyes grew twice their regular size.
“I’m—”
“Vulcan!” Travis blurted out and slapped his hand over his mouth. He looked just as shocked as Sam felt.
Lyra frowned, confused. Sam’s eyes cut to Travis.
“What?” Travis groaned “She said ‘not from this world.’”
Lyra slowly tuned to Sam and continued. “I am Elvin, and we,” she swept her hand toward Demetrius, Holly, and Vallen, “are from a world called Haven.”
Sam stared at Lyra for a moment, not saying a word. He couldn’t believe it—first magic and now this. What was next, dragons? Sam felt his whole body go numb. He had seen his mother do magic and that would mean his mother was from another world too. Sam felt his head begin to throb. He placed his hand on his forehead and ran it down the length of his face. Secrets, he thought, so many secrets.
Sam didn’t say anything for a moment. He wasn’t sure how to respond. He wasn’t sure about anything anymore. His life had been turned upside-down in a matter of days, each day more awful than the last.
Finally, in an effort to change the subject, Sam asked, “How will you know?”
“Know?” Lyra asked, bewildered.
“How will you know if she’s alive?” he asked, staring at his mother with a blank gaze. His voice was monotone and distant.
Before she was able to answer, Jacob turned and looked up, “Lyra!”
Sam turned to Jacob. Specks of golden dust sparkled in a ghostly golden glow around Sarah’s body like a fine mist.
“That’s how,” Lyra said. “That is her soul, you see. It’s faint, but she is alive.” Jacob reached down and lifted Sarah’s bloodstained t-shirt off her stomach. The thin gash across her midsection had vanished, leaving only a dark scar in its place.
There were tears in Travis’s eyes, but he was smiling and Sam couldn’t help but smile too. His sister was alive! She had made it, which meant there was still hope for his mother too. He saw Demetrius step forward out of the corner of his eye. Sam looked up at him, but his smile quickly faded. Demetrius wasn’t looking at Sarah; he was gazing down at Alisa.
Sam turned to see Lyra lower his mother’s head back to the ground. Her despondent gaze made Sam’s heart seize up, and the sick, empty feeling crept its way back into his chest.
“What,” Sam asked, “What is it? What’s—” But his voice caught in his throat when he looked down at his mother’s body again. Her skin seemed paler than before, and there was no golden glow or sparkling anything around her body. Petrified, Sam looked to Lyra, but her once luminous green eyes were vacant and sad now.
“I’m sorry, Samuel, I am so … sorry.” He could hear the finality in her voice.
Sam shook his head. “No, no, please, you’ve got to do something, please!”
He moved closer to his mother and took her hand. “Mom!” he yelled. “Mom, please, you can’t leave us, you have to wake up.” Tears began to steam down his face again. “Mom … Mom!”
Sam looked up at Demetrius with a wild panic in his eyes. “Do something! You have to help us!” he yelled.
Holly gasped and covered her mouth, her eyes welling with tears. Travis held Sarah’s hand and stared at Sam’s mother. His eyes were swollen and red.
Sam slowly placed his head on his mother’s chest and through broken sobs and trembling shoulders continued to mutter, “Please, please …”
Chapter 15
It was some time before Sam left his mother’s side. Holly finally persuaded him to move to the couch, giving Lyra and Jacob space to attend to the bodies, which they covered with large blankets. Sam watched from the corner of his eye; the sight of his mother and Xavier just lying there made him feel empty and absolutely miserable inside. Travis looked just as bad as Sam felt and he would not budge from Sarah’s side. His swollen nose and two black eyes from the fight with the Viper made him look like a sullen-faced raccoon. Despondent and exhausted, Travis stared blankly into Sarah’s pale face, oblivious to his surroundings.
The living room was still fairly dark, except for the light from the two staffs, which illuminated various parts of the room. Demetrius, who felt the need to secure the perimeter as soon as possible, had instructed Vallen to return to the cave and report back to the Majesty. Vallen was to request reinforcements, Healers, and someone from Magical Sterilization to come back to the house.
The power was still out and it was beginning to get warm inside. Stale air hung like a thick blanket over the room and the ice sculptures Demetrius had created earlier out of the spewing water from the pipes were beginning to melt. Sam’s and Travis’s faces were glistening with sweat.
Holly sat with Sam in silence on the couch, the pair of them lost in their thoughts. Sam crossed his arms as his mind flickered through flashbacks of the awful battle that had claimed his mother’s life. It was still hard for him to wrap his mind around the fact that she was really gone. He kept replaying the moments before it happened, before the Viper took her life. How could this be? But more importantly, why them? What had they done to deserve this? There were eight people, four of whom could use magic, fighting against two Vipers and they still could not stop the beasts from killing. What good is magic if it can’t save the ones you love, Sam brooded.
He stared at the remains of the Vipers in disgust. No one had touched the beasts since their demise. Sam had overheard Demetrius talking about waiting for someone or something to show up and dispose of the bodies. It made him sick to look at these creatures in his house. He was glad they were dead; he was glad he got to see them die, but there was a part of him that wished he had been the one to kill them.
Sam could finally feel something now—he could feel hatred writhing inside him, swelling to a point where it was almost impossible for him to sit still. It wasn’t enough to see the vile creatures slain to pieces, he wanted more. He could feel his face flush with anger. His body felt like it was on fire, like it could burst into flames at any moment. He looked around the room but everyone was occupied.
Demetrius was alone in the kitchen standing guard. Lyra and Jacob were huddled together by the front window. Travis was still by Sarah’s side and Holly sat next to Sam in a daze. Then there was the Viper that Demetrius had stabbed, its destroyed head lying just inches from its body, which glistened with frost. A single crimson eye lay on the ground next to the Viper’s head, still frozen, staring back at Sam. He tried to look away but he could feel its cold, penetrating gaze taunting him. I’m still alive, it seemed to say.
As Sam looked past the Viper, he noticed its sword off to the side. The eerie, black blade was absent of all color and light. Sam stared at the outline of the weapon, but there was no visible matter that could be seen—it looked as if part of the floor was missing, replaced by a thin black void.
Sam felt the power emanating from the slender, single-edged blade, as if it were calling to him. His mouth felt dry and he winced as he swallowed; his throat was still sore from the Viper’s black magic.
He gritted his teeth just thinking about what it had done to his family. It had killed his mother, critically injured his sister, and now it was mocking him, staring at him as if he was next. Sam could feel sweat begin to pool on his forehead and the back of his neck. His hand twitched in small spasms as the urge to act intensified. He wanted the sword—he wanted to feel its power in his hand. He could feel it beckoning him, longing to be a part of him.
Before Sam knew what he was doing, he had leaped from the couch and darted across the room before anyone could stop him. He reached the Viper’s body in seconds and the sword flew into his open hand. Holly sprang to her feet but froze in her tracks, stunned at the crazed look in Sam’s eye. Demetrius lunged forward, a look of horror etched across his face.
“Sam, NO!” he yelled.
But it was too late. Sam wasn’t listening; he was lost, consumed by his own rage, his desire for vengeance too great. He slashed wildly at the Viper’s broken body with the ominous black sword. His eyes blazed with fury and malice. He could feel the rush of adrenaline, like molten fire burning its way through his body. The sensation was exhilarating—he had succumbed to his hatred and it felt good.
“You killed my family!” he shouted. “You. Killed. My. Family!” Each devastating blow to the Viper was more powerful than the one before. Travis stared in shock before turning to shield Sarah and himself from the flying bits of frozen corpse that flew their way.
“You. Killed. Her! You. Killed. My. Mother!”
Holly stepped forward but Demetrius waved her off. ”No, Holly, don’t!” he said, too captivated by what he was witnessing to even look her in the face.
Holly forced herself to stop just a few feet away from Sam. Her delicate features were twisted with fear and frustration.
Lyra had moved cautiously toward Demetrius, her eyes trained on Sam.
“Demetrius, the sword,” she whispered. On the surface Lyra’s voice seemed calm, but Demetrius noted the edge of unease in her tone. “It should have … killed him.”
Demetrius said nothing. He stood mesmerized, but Lyra was right. To grasp a Viper’s sword was fatal. Blistering burns would appear on one’s hand, as if it had been plunged into blazing fire, followed by infection and a swift death. But Sam seemed to be unaffected.
Sam continued to swing the sword like he was possessed, not stopping until every piece of the Viper’s body had been eradicated. Completely exhausted and out of breath, he fell to his knees with the sword still clutched in his hand. He took in heaving gulps of air as he stared down at the Viper’s sword. The blood had drained from his face, leaving him looking washed-out and fatigued. His eyes were stuck in a vacuous stare that was fixed on his quivering hands.
“It took my family,” he said between ragged breaths.
He looked up at Holly. “It took my family!” he shouted, tears welling in his bloodshot eyes.
“Sam, please,” Holly said, reaching out to him in a desperate plea to console him.
“No, I don’t understand!” he shouted, shaking his head angrily and dropping the sword. “What did we do? We did nothing wrong!” His desperate plea for understanding was more than Holly could take. Her unrelenting anguish had reached the surface and she found herself clutching her chest.
“Sam, please!” she implored, “Let me help you. I can—”
“You can what?” Sam yelled, rounding on her. “Are you going to tell me more lies? Because that’s what she did!” He pointed to his mother lying on the ground, covered by a blanket.
“Sam, please,” Holly begged, her voice breaking as reached out for him again.
“My whole life has been a lie, hasn’t it?” he cried, glaring at Holly. Holly was silent, scared of saying the wrong thing. “Hasn’t it?” he asked, turning his frantic frustration on Demetrius. Demetrius remained calm, his face suffused with sympathy, but still he said nothing. Sam stared scathingly into the Keeper’s eyes. “Answer me!” he demanded. “Answer! Me!”
“It was for your own protection,” Demetrius said finally, taking a step closer to Sam. “She wanted a better life for you, a normal life for you and your sister.”
“Protection?” Sam shouted back with a look of disgust. “Protection!” He laughed belligerently and wiped the tears from his eyes. “Did you hear that, Travis—protection!”
Travis looked sad and abashed. “Sam, don’t …” he pleaded softly.
But Sam looked back at Demetrius. “Well, she failed and I lost everything! But you didn’t lose a thing did you? Did you?” he asked, pointing his finger before turning to Holly, “None of you did!” He waved his hand hysterically. “Your lies destroyed my family and they are never coming back. Never!”
Rocking back on his knees, Sam lowered his face into his hands. Holly quickly rushed to his side and brought Sam into a tight embrace. Sam burst into uncontrollable sobs as his body shuddered with the outpour of emotion.
“I never got to say I’m sorry …” he said between sods. “I never got to say it.”
Holly leaned her head against his, “Oh, Sam,” she whispered, fighting back her own tears.
“It hurts,” he muttered softly, finally embracing Holly. “It hurts so bad.”
As Sam’s vulnerability swept through the room, Lyra slowly turned away toward the window, her eyes glistening. Jacob followed her, looking more uncomfortable than ever, and Demetrius stepped back into the kitchen, his poignant gaze remaining fixed on Sam and Holly.
Travis was speechless. He and Sam had been on the same page for such a long time, both having parents that died. Over the years they had endured the emptiness together. They had felt the loss, but they were each too young to remember the heartache and sorrow that accompanied the death of a loved one. Over time, that loss had forged a bond and they had grown to count on one another. But now things had changed; Sam had lost someone whom he had known his whole life. Someone he loved and it pained Travis to think that Sarah might be next. That she might suffer the same fate as her mother. He stared down at Sarah and resigned himself to silence. He knew what Sam needed most was time—a few hours alone to sort things out, and that’s what he was going to give him.
Chapter 16
In the hours that followed, the unnatural quiet began to take its toll. What little hope they clung to regarding Sarah ebbed away in the bitter silence. Her pale-skinned, comatose state was a constant reminder of the devastation they had suffered at the hands of the Vipers. Within a single evening Sam’s life had been ripped apart—his mother killed, and his sister critically injured. Now he sat in a room filled with dead bodies and strangers whom his mother had called friends.
Time felt like it was moving backward. Sam was tired of just sitting there; he felt like he should be doing something to help his sister. The living room had become deathly quiet, too quiet, even for Sam. But that all changed in an instant.
From the back of the room three bright flashes appeared, followed by four more in a haze of blue mist. Sam almost jumped out of his seat as Vallen emerged with a rucksack, removing the hood of his traveling cloak and holding his staff out in front of him.
Sam could not help but notice the cavalier smirk across his face. For the first time, Sam was able to see the man behind the cloak. He had long, brown hair and gray eyes that cautiously surveyed the room. Vallen seemed different, Sam thought. He wasn’t like the rest of his mother’s so-called friends. He was confident but there was a silent arrogance about him too. Where Holly and Demetrius seemed caring and sympathetic, Vallen looked distant and calculating. There was also a noticeable difference in the staff that he carried. Vallen’s staff was not straight like the others. Instead, it had three sharp curves in its shaft. Where the others had sphere-shaped gemstones as pommels, his was a diamond held in place by two talons. Sam watched as Vallen moved across t
he room with a quick, determined stride. He was definitely the most aggressive of the three and Sam felt it was best to keep his distance when possible.
There were six tall strangers who accompanied Vallen, all cloaked and holding staffs. But these men did not look like Demetrius, Vallen, or Holly either. Their cloaks were cobalt blue and they were dressed in elegant silver armor with a crest of a star in the center of their chest. Their helmets, which concealed their faces, had large wings on either side. Each soldier held a long, silver staff with a sapphire and silver pommel the same shape as the unique crest on the chest plate.
Vallen continued to walk purposely toward Demetrius as the men behind him spread out throughout the bottom floor of the house. Sam quietly observed the scene before him. He felt drained and his muscles were weak from swinging the Viper’s sword. If it weren’t for the fact that his sister was lying unconscious on the floor and his home was being invaded by armored soldiers from another world, he felt like he could sleep for days.
Travis frowned and narrowed his eyes as he moved closer to Sarah. He didn’t seem at all comfortable with the new batch of strangers. His brutish glare went unnoticed by Vallen and the two approaching soldiers, who split off to cover both exits. Sam and Travis both eyed the three soldiers in the back of the room as they quickly evaporated again, reappearing upstairs with a flash, one in each room. The last soldier stood silently in the center of the living room. Sam couldn’t help but stare at him as he gazed around the room with a confident stare. He looked like a superhero or a gladiator, but without the sword.
Travis sat with his feet crossed on the floor holding Sarah’s hand, locked in a catatonic stare. His mouth had fallen open and his head began to sway as he scrutinized the soldier. Sam, who had seen enough magic to last him a lifetime, was not so taken aback by the armed guard standing in his living room, but was more concerned with what they were doing there. Looking for answers, he inched his way closer to the only stranger he felt comfortable with—Holly.