Reapers -- The First Familiar (Reapers Chronicles Book II)

24 - Alessandra

 

The glaring light slowly subsided, leaving patches of white in my eyes. I blinked rapidly, focusing on the hazy figures before me. It seemed I was inside an old house, sitting inside what looked like a living room with walls entirely made of stone. Even the furniture and ornaments were made of either stone or clay.

The tarps covering the window flapped as the gentle wind blew into the room. The air smelled of the ocean. Some aromatic concoction brewed in a cauldron, sending white smoke swirling up the low, domed ceiling.

In front of me, sitting on the stone floor were two blond little girls. Small knives were in their hands. They were carving some kind of symbols on small pieces of dried clay while humming a tune together. One of the twins was smaller and skinnier, while the healthier-looking one had differently-colored eyes—one brown, the other, hazel.

 “Alessandra! Adrianna!” a woman’s voice called from outside the house.

The door opened and the woman in a blue flowing robe came in, momentarily tearing her gaze from the children to put down the jar she was balancing over her head. Like the children, she had long straw-colored hair, olive skin and big, clear brown eyes. I was so sure she was speaking in a foreign tongue, but I was able to understand her.

“You are playing with my runes again, are you not?” The woman raised an eyebrow at the sight of the symbols the girls carved into the stones. Hurriedly, she knelt with them, frantically picking up the stones.

The girls could only cringe while holding each other. Worry spread across the woman’s face.

“We are sorry, Mother.” It was the one with differently-colored eyes—Alessandra—who answered. “I… was the one who thought of creating healing runes seeing as Adrianna is incapable of leaving the house.”

Slap!

Alessandra fell to the floor, a hand on the cheek where her mother’s palm had just landed. She did not get up, keeping her silence as her sickly twin embraced her with a sob.

The woman stared at her own hands, her eyes wide with disbelief at what she had just done. It wasn’t long before she too was on her knees, hugging her daughters with tears streaming from her eyes.

“Forgive me…” She kissed Alessandra’s forehead, her hand stroking the girl’s golden hair. “The fault is all mine. Mother was just afraid that if the people find out about who we are and what we are capable of, they will try to hurt us again. Just like what had happened before. We have lost your father. I could not allow the same thing to happen to you.”

The paler of the twins lifted her face from her mother’s shoulder and asked, “Does this mean we have to move again to another village, Mother?”

A fond smile forced its way on the woman’s face. “No, Adrianna. This is our home now.” Wiping the tears on her daughters’ faces, she pulled away from them. “However, you must swear never to play with my things again.”

Adrianna nodded, her brows knitting. “Including the Scry and the charms and the healing herbs?”

“Yes,” the woman replied. “You do not wish for the villagers to chase us out of this place again, do you?”

Both the girls mumbled “No, Mother,” in unison.

It was Alessandra who appeared halfhearted about their mother’s request. Her thoughts filled my head like they were mine. In her mind, she kept questioning herself. Why would the villagers try to hurt them? They weren’t bad people. They were just… different.

In a heartbeat, the whole place whirred and warped. I was inside Alessandra’s house again. But this time, it was dark.

Alessandra sat on the floor, her heavily-detailed skirt spread about her. Mechanically, she carved runes on the floor with a knife. Through the veil of long flaxen hair covering her face, I could tell she had aged into a young woman. Yet, she had retained her scrawny form under that white flowing dress. Ugly marks ran around her neck and just below her jaw line. Some were merely scars and bruises. Most were raw ligature marks.