by S. M. McCoy
“Victor!” I called out, hoping he would hear me and save me from these doctors wanting to take me back to my room. I may have met him once, but now he was in my way of leaving.
He stood there unfazed by my call out to someone for help. Then he began laughing at me.
“I’ll take her to her room,” he assured the nurse. The tension in my arm was released and the nurse seemed reluctant but did as he was told. Looking up into those hard features, I glanced around for another way out of this situation.
“Shakespeare.”
“You remembered.” He smiled at me. I could feel the warmth in his expression even though the touch of his hand was chilled like icicles.
“What are you doing here?” I asked, still confused. “I didn’t know you were a doctor.”
“I can’t hold any other face but my own for now. It is a relief to feel myself again, but it is also a danger to you.” He guided me back into an empty patient room. The things he was saying were confusing. All I remembered was meeting him once at the park, and my heart was light and airy when I saw his face again.
“You aren’t making any sense,” I said in a panic, as his steps quickened. He wasn’t taking me back to the room.
“Crystal, I am Victor.” The man before me seemed like a lost friend and a stranger to me all at once. My emotions were in turmoil, wrapped around each other like a knot, unable to untangle and relieve me of my confusion. I didn’t know what to feel anymore.
Was I happy to see my Shakespeare again? Was I upset to see Victor when he was really all of my fears and dreams combined? Who was he to me now? I knew, since that night in the forest, that Victor was the Shifter…but Shakespeare was a moment in time where I was free from everything. He was just the ears to listen, nothing more. And that perfect place in time would always be there, but somehow his image is tainted for me.
“I…” I stumbled for the right words to say. Looking down at my clothes, I wanted to shriek. I was still wearing a hospital gown.
“There isn’t much time. I can’t defend you with most of my energy gone, I am just me now. But you are the reason I remembered who I was again, and for that I owe you my protection in the only way I have left.” He looked concerned and stressed.
What did he mean by only way he had left? Was I never going to see him again? Did I want to see him again? What was he protecting me from? Did he still remember us?
“How did you escape?” I wondered out loud. Aislin said she helped him.
“You didn’t think Cerise would want to keep me with her, did you?” For a short while he seemed normal, like we were a couple of teenagers running away from mundane things such as homework and parents. For a moment I thought nothing had changed. He was still Victor.
“Not unless you were good at playing pet.” I laughed.
“Lucky for her, and for me, as old as she is…” We shared a moment thinking about how she would react to us calling her old. There would probably be steam and smoke coming out her nostrils, and those eyes would glare at us haughtily. She would then wave her hand and ignore us as the peasants we were and continue feeling godlike. Call us pet again and order us around to do her biding.
“I wonder how she got that way.” I sighed, a smirk still curving my lips.
“Her abilities couldn’t remove all my memories of you, Sweets.”
“All?”
He nodded. He only remembered enough to be here, right now. That’s what Aislin meant by just in time.
“But you’re—”
“She had to finish out her orders. Struggling was giving her wrinkles. She didn’t know what all to look for. My memories of you, like I am now, are still intact.” He laced his fingers within mine. I stared at those twines, not willing to risk another look into those deep handsome blue-violet eyes. His grip was comforting, and it surprised me. Here as he was holding my hand I realized the only thing he remembered was trying to protect me from a rival serpent.
All those times we walked the park, all those times we laughed while eating stolen gelato. I knew he asked his dad’s permission before sneaking into the shop, but it was fun pretending we were being rebels.
My face grew stiff thinking about it all. Where was my choice in all of this chaos? I squeezed his hand in mine. Hard. Just to see if I could. He didn’t flinch, why would he? My grip was nothing to him.
“With this gift I may never see you again, but your safety is all I care about. Every time you see him, he drains a little more of your life. Crystal…he doesn’t know he is doing it, and he can’t stop himself. It’s in his nature, as the Drawn.” He reached into his pocket and pulled out a wooden ring.
“What is going on?” I was shaking and every fiber of my being was screaming to make the whole world stop. A sharp pang coursed through my body, signaling that my body was forcing blood through my limbs, doing its job…forcing life back into my heart.
“Until you’re fully changed, being around him means your end. After that it will be your choice to finish the bond or not, but it should be your choice…not his.
“And in order to give you that choice, you need this. It is the Blood Moon Ring. The moment you wear it, you’ll be safe, and that’s all I’ve ever wanted.” He brought my other hand in his and squeezed both together tightly.
I could feel the ring’s smooth, cold wood within my palm. The crystal within it seemed to vibrate against my fingers, urging me to put it on. It was calling to me. My fingers twitched and in my head the words repeated: I’ll never let go. If that wasn’t creepy enough. I really didn’t want to let go, including Shakespeare’s hands along with it.
I knew then that Victor had found my mom’s ring, and this was the moment the Dragon spoke about, the moment my mom spoke about.
“What happens when I put it on?” I asked tentatively, not wanting to reveal how much it urged me to do just that.
“For Shifters like me, it gives us great power. Increased strength, influence, and ability. Whatever we could do before we do it better and some even acquire a new strength while wearing it, everyone could be different. For the Drawn, its effects are probably similar.”
“What about me?” I interrupted. I was different. I wasn’t them and I wasn’t me either.
“For a human, it should do absolutely nothing. It’s a wooden ring; they can’t even see the crystal stone within it.”
“I feel the stone.” I knew.
“You aren’t human,” he confirmed. But I wasn’t one of them either.
“What will it do to me?” I asked again.
“For you, according to legends, all the people of your affinity disappear. There are some of us who believe that the ring takes them where they want to go. Others say it sends them to a safe realm where they will not be burdened by the constant attention from monsters like me. Then others yet believe it’s a portal to the Council. Many want it just for the power it gives them, enhancing their own strengths, even people like you.
“There is only one warning that follows the Blood Moon Ring.”
“What is it?” I urged quietly, part of me not wanting to know for fear that it would change my mind about putting it on.
“Don’t release the queen.”
The Dragon spoke of the history of the queen. I wouldn’t know how to release her even if I wanted to. The scary part is what if, with my luck, I release her without even trying. I shook my head to rid the thought.
“It’s up to you, Sweets. Use it or don’t. This ring should always be in the hands of the Abernithy family.”
“Abernithy.”
“Only the descendants have the power you have.”
I closed my eyes tight. I didn’t have any power. The ring in my palm vibrated again and the word yet crossed my mind.
“How did you get this?”
“Cerise. Don’t ask me how, I’m not proud of it. And I’d rather give this to you, even if it means never seeing you again, so that I don’t truly lose you.” He seemed so attached to me after only a short time. And st
rangely I felt the same way.
“I’ll come back,” I said, not knowing if I was actually telling the truth or not. But I wanted to, because a part of me needed to know what would happen if I got to know him more. He had already showed me so many sides of himself, and this side was his best.
The one where his eyes delved deep into my soul and let me know that things were going to be all right. The one where he never forced me to do anything, but offered me the doorway to walk through. He was my guide to now, to this choice. He was the honorable follower the Dragon spoke about. And I was his monster.
“I’ll wait for you.” He smiled one of his most charming smiles before saying, “I only have forever.”
I smiled back. The Shifters didn’t have a set time limit like the Drawn did. Their genes could last forever. He really could wait forever. “We’ll make new memories, Shakespeare…better ones.” He took me into his arms and pressed my head into his chest, holding me close. Those sweet lips lightly caressed my forehead. He was saying goodbye.
“Not much time, Sweets; he’s coming.”
And with that I slipped the Blood Moon Ring on my finger, like my mother probably did. Did she disappear this way? With the ring?
Nothing.
I didn’t disappear.
It tingled on my skin, warm like a sunbathed stone.
“Grace!”
I heard what Damien called my soul name and what I called his long-lost love. I wasn’t the Grace he wanted me to be. Damien came bursting through the door. He paused seeing the close proximity of Shakespeare, and the whole air in the room changed. I knew he wasn’t strong enough to take on Damien right now. I didn’t know what I was doing or why. All I knew was that I couldn’t let Damien’s over-protective nature destroy the second chance Shakespeare had. I couldn’t let Damien hurt him.
Aislin was running down the hall; I could hear her footsteps tapping faster and faster.
Backing up a step, I could feel my entire leg shake. It was engulfed in the moonlight from the window. Of course…it made sense to me now. Why didn’t it before? It’s called a Blood Moon Ring for a reason. Maybe the descendants only disappeared when being shined on by the moon’s light?
I grabbed Shakespeare by his collar and whispered, “I’m sorry” before flinging myself, on a whim, into the moon’s beam.
It was a sensation unlike anything I’d ever experienced before. It was warmth, it was cold, it was every crazy tingly sensation I’d ever felt combined. My heart stopped in that moment. The room froze. Damien, mid-air, in what looked like a paused rush toward me and Shakespeare. His face looked pained, like he was losing something precious and was reaching out for it. For me. As much as I wanted to know my feelings for him were real…I didn’t. I couldn’t know for certain what I was feeling was from me or from the magic of the Drawn. Would I still feel that longing even if I was somewhere far away from its influences? I was hopefully about to find out. I needed to find out.
Aislin was in the doorframe; slowly her lips moved in silence telling me again, “I’ll find you.”
Shakespeare’s face looked confused, but happy. He hadn’t expected to be dragged into this mess with me. Doubt he knew I’d try and save him from an unnecessary dog fight over nothing. They both had the same goals, though with different motivators for the most part. They’d rip each other apart and not think twice about it, which was the scary part about both of them. However, they’d both die trying to save me and do what they thought was the right thing. Even if the right thing was different for both of them. Which was the sweet, non-monstery part about them.
The background of the patient room from the hospital was fading like a hazy curtain of fog. The last thing I saw from it was Damien’s hand reaching out and his eyes painfully realizing he could do nothing to help me. I had disappeared from the room like a mist in the moonlight, like it did for me.
Except…I had a passenger with me.
I didn’t know I could do it, but I took him with me.
Shakespeare was frozen in time with me.
Next thing I knew three doors appeared in the darkness. First far away, then like the vanishing point line in art class it got closer and closer until it was right in front of me. Three doors. Three options.
The doors were large, like what you would find at a castle in Germany. They were ornate, from a time long gone and they were very dusty. No one had been here in a very long time. There was a layer of caked-on dust so thick the doors looked gray, like a second coat of paint.
There were no knobs on these doors, just ornate brass rings to pull them open.
“Shakespeare?” I looked over to see him lying on the black ground below us, if you could call it a ground. It was there, but a shadow. If I didn’t feel the sturdiness below me I would say we were floating above a deep dark hole.
I stomped my foot a bit…just to be sure. I gasped a little as my foot hit solid again. My heart skipped a beat because I half thought I’d fall through something like a trap door.
Shakespeare looked like he was sleeping. I realized then that this place was only meant for me. Even if someone traveled with me they wouldn’t harm me here. I was safe like he said I would be, even from him.
CHAPTER TWENTY
Haven
Choices were never my strong suit. At least making the right ones anyway. I had three doors in a dark, dusty shadow realm to choose from. I suppose I didn’t have to choose any of them, but then I’d be stuck in a weird astral dimension by myself with no one to talk to except a comatose Shifter lying at my feet. He wasn’t bad to look at, but I think I’d get lonely over time pretending we had conversations. So, I had to make a choice, not knowing anything about what was behind them.
I decided to feel them. What harm could that do? I needed to see if intuition could help me out.
I went to the left one first. My palm sunk into the dust as deep as my fingers. The door was cold and drafty. There seemed to be a knocking pulsing through my hand. It startled me and I pulled away quickly. My hand was covered in grime. Scrunching my nose up I was about to rub it off on my pants, but before I could, it was gone. Like it never happened. Yet my handprint on the door remained.
Feeling more confident now that I knew the gross dust blanket wouldn’t stay on my hand for long I went to the next door. Instead of sinking my hand into the dust, I wiped it down a bit, leaving a streak of a semi-cleaner looking spot. It revealed the wood beneath it and my ring seemed to cling to it for a moment, magnetized.
The door glowed a low red-hue like the dusk of the sun easing into the night’s light. I smiled and thanked the ring silently. It was telling me where to go. I didn’t even touch the last door, but I figured that didn’t matter just yet. I knew where I wanted to go, and as scary as it was I was going to push open the glowing castle door into the unknown. Because I was meant to, because I was told to, because (most importantly) I wanted to.
It was silent in the space, but the more I pushed on the door the louder the rumbling of people’s mumbled conversations became. Like a crowded public coffee shop midday with too many noises and voices to distinguish anything specific. All I knew was that there were people on the other side of this door. It swung open and I scrunched down to lace my arms underneath Shakespeare’s arms, holding on firmly, to drag him with me. Not knowing where we were going, but wherever it was he was coming with me.
“Let’s go!” I huffed at how heavy he seemed as I pulled him and about the small bit of excitement growing within my gut telling me now I was the one in control of my future. Telling myself I wasn’t going to die today.
***
“Abernithy said you were coming. However, she didn’t mention you bringing a…friend.” The man standing in front of me was short, stout, and looking me up and down like I was a lamb chop. He snapped his fingers and looked me over again, only this time he seemed tall and skinny. I was getting disoriented.
“Pay attention, princess.” He snapped his fingers again and he was a normal five-foot-s
even guy, average build, wearing what looked like graduation robes. Unless there was some sort of dress code where ever we were, he might be a professor of some hoity-toity place.
“Can you speak? Or should I call the nurse?” He pressed the back of his cold hand to my head. “Oh no, you’re fine.”
“I can’t feel my heart anymore,” I objected.
“Ah, so it does speak.” He smiled then continued, “You don’t need it. It’s not working anyway.” He shrugged and turned his back on me to sift through some paperwork on his desk.
“It’s not working?” I nearly fainted right there thinking I was going to take my last breath sooner than later.
“Your heart isn’t pumping right now. When’s the last time you remember it beating?” he said while still not lifting his head to look at me. That black spiky hair staring at me. How old was he anyway? He looked twenty.
It was a strange question to ask, especially since he shouldn’t know what I was going through. Or should he? He knew my mother. He was expecting me. I came to find her so she could tell me what I was and how to help me. I came for answers.
“Umm, that long. No worries, we’ll do a scan later to make sure everything is copacetic. As for your ‘friend,’ he wasn’t meant to go through the realms like that, only the descendants of Diviners pass safely through. We’ll have to revive him later.”
“The descendants?” I was still shocked that he was talking so candidly with me, that he knew so much, that he was standing right there when moments ago I was at home with Aislin.
“Yes, some part of you is Diviner to use the portal, though how much is up for debate. Though the last person to use it to transport here was the Oracle herself, Lady Abernithy. She prophesied that one day another would come the same way, lead us to her successor, and bring about the next evolution of our kind. But enough about your destiny to find the next Oracle, though even that I doubt with the state you’re in.”