Beauty in the Bones: Season 1

Episode 18: Exploring the Edge

Another restless dawn commenced. I dreamed again of the seashore, the blood. Footprints ambled away from mine--large canine paws etched into the damp sand, disappearing over the nearest dune. I looked about, finding myself alone. Wind sliced across my bare skin, but there was no chill.

A muffled growl caught my attention. Duke held his tail low, one foreleg raised in point. I'd trained him to do it in life, though no one believed I could. We were a formidable team, my dog and I. Very seldom did prey escape us. He barked, then dashed down the other side, out of sight.

I trudged up the rise as fast as I could, and paused at the top to survey. Land and sky met in a perfect line, as far as I could see. A silvered ribbon of water cut through the thirsty plain, Duke's trail leading toward it.

It should have been a long walk, given the distance I'd observed. But this was the Otherworld. One thing I'd learned during lessons with Mother was to never trust a vision as it first appeared. I took a few steps, and traversed impossible lengths to my destination.

A river spilled white and noisy to the ocean below. Duke appeared at my side. He whined, and bent his nose to the ground.

"Do you smell something, boy?"

Movement blurred ahead, between a patch of trees. Duke pursued at full speed. I sprinted after, and was soon encompassed by dense foliage. Peering through leaves and branches, I entered a clearing along the bank.

My dog snarled in defensive stance, hackles raised. A twig snapped, and a figure crept past. I glimpsed fur, heard the clink of bones and talons across stone.

I grasped neither a gun, nor a knife, but a fistful of strange objects. Opening my fingers, I discovered a cluster of tiny bones. Some were smooth, yellow with age. Others were fresh, of the newly dead, bits of pink flesh still clinging.

Whispers swelled, a shrill hiss. I dropped the bones, and they tumbled into a circle around me. My palms throbbed with a heartbeat all their own. What first appeared to be a pair of small cuts pulsed and fluttered, and blood streamed in crimson rivulets down my arms. Two dark eyes opened in the middle of each hand, and focused upon me.

Revulsion and terror woke me with a gasp. A nightmare. The continuation of these dreams baffled me. Each time, it seemed I hunted for something, or something hunted me.

I clutched my head with a groan, and glanced at my wristcom. My alarm would ring in ten minutes, so I decided to get up. Snippets of the dream returned, haunting me with their riddles. I'd ask Mother about them when I could.

Mother. Damn, I'd forgotten to call her back. If she was unhappy with me, this would only worsen it. I didn't have time now, and reminded myself to contact her during lunch hour.

Gerald and I went to the gym together, as we did every morning. After the routine warm-ups, we assembled by the lake for rowing practice. Today, we faced timed trials in pairs. Gerald and Vance teamed up first.

I studied Vance with new curiosity, after learning of Tamsin's plight the night before. He was a handsome fellow, with a strapping build and well-tanned limbs. His tarnished gold waves tumbled about a straight, masculine profile. Warmth and vigor emanated from all but his wintry eyes, which condemned me with solid cause. How would they burn--in rage or hatred--if he learned I'd stolen his intended with a single kiss?

I couldn't resist a wry grin.

"What's sent you over the moon this morning, Blane?" he asked, handing me an oar. It was a mild taunt, since I was a colonial from Luna.

"A stroke of good fortune." I boarded the shell with Chester, my partner for this round.

Vance lowered his brows. "Whatever. I hope you have such luck in your test, with only two weeks to the qualifiers."