Bared

XII

“Ben’s okay, now. He won’t try to kill me,” I said, trying to placate Quincey’s worries. His eyes flashed gold, and I flinched at the sudden light. But it was because of what I saw in the eyes that shone the light. Anger. Quincey Michael was angry. With Ben. For trying to kill me.

“He had no right to try to even touch you. No matter what his father says,” Quincey hissed. I put my hands on Quincey’s chest, and felt his heartbeat: it was racing, the anger in him raising his heart rate to deadly speeds. I caught the flicker of a shadow in my peripheral vision, and the flash of blue eyes. I said loudly,”Whoever you are, shadow, you can’t hurt my friends. I won’t allow it.” I forced my way into Quincey’s mind, and found it perfectly blank.

No thoughts dragged at me like waves, like in Ben’s mind. No emotions radiated from his conscience. On an impulse, I imagined his racing heartbeat beneath my fingers, and imagined it slowing. Not knowing what I was doing, I imagined the liquid fire of anger running through his veins to slow, to cool. I forced comforting and calm thoughts into Quincey’s mind. Then, abruptly, I was yanked from his mind.

Anger surged through me as I came back into the real world. My mental walls went up, and I struck out with both physical and mental blows. A scream of pain brought me back to myself. All of the anger drained out of me. I dropped to the floor, kneeling next to Jon, who had unknowingly pulled me out of my task. His nose was bleeding, probably broken. I looked up as the shadow flickered again, but this time it solidified. Somewhat.

The half-solid shadow in front of me hissed,”You failed to solve the riddle, Alexis. Your friends have suffered from your incompletion. The next riddle will come when the ruins shine at first light.” The shadow disappeared, and I could do nothing about it. I looked back down at Jon, and quickly ripped a piece of my old shirt off. I held it to Jon’s nose, and he seemed to get the idea.

“Ben,” I screamed up the passageway. Ben materialized behind me, as if he was waiting there all along. I shook the thought from my mind, and gestured to Ben to grab Quincey, who had fallen on the floor after I was jolted out of his mind. Ben nodded, and grabbed Quince by the shoulders, dragging him back up the tunnel. I tugged Jon to his feet, and put his arm around my shoulder; we staggered up the tunnel, gasping for breath.

In the main cavern, once we all had caught our breath, I told Ben what had happened. I even mentioned the notion I had when he had appeared beside me; Ben didn’t seem surprised about by my notion. Quincey, finally, got up from the floor, and staggered into a seat. I barely touched his mind, and breathed a sigh of relief when I felt thoughts circling through his head.

I collapsed into my chair, and leaned my head back over the back. Ben’s face appeared above me, and I resisted the urge to whip my head up, just to smash him in the jaw. I was still angry at him for not telling about his mission. Ben leaned closer to me, until I could feel his breath on my ear.

“This shadow knows where we hide, Alexis. It isn’t safe here anymore. We need to move.” I murmured back to him,”Where? Where else in these woods is a place exactly like this? And, the shadow can follow us wherever we go. And we’d never know. What good is it to move if that can happen?”

Ben huffed, then whispered,”You’re right. But the shadow is only powerful at night and dusk. We have to find a new place during the day.” I laughed softly,”Good luck with that. We all work on Saturday, and Jon and Quinces’ parents always go to church on Sundays. And our next break isn’t for four more weeks. When, may I ask, do you want us to search for a new place?”

Ben thought for a moment, then sighed. “You’re right again. Why are you always right?” I giggled, and the orange scent of happiness and the ocean smell of love tickled my nose. I inhaled the scents (and managed not to sneeze, amazingly) and let them fill me. Ben looked down at me, a little smile on his face.

If it wasn’t for Jon, I don’t know if we would have kissed or not. Jon, at that moment, rose from his chair, and left. The rustling sound of him climbing down the tree ruined the moment, at least. Some part of me, the girly part, still wanted to kiss Ben, but my logical part whispered that that was a dangerous game of trust I would be playing if I had.

Without looking at Ben, I got up, and walked to the entrance. I heard Ben move, but didn’t turn. Some urge was growing inside of me at that point, an urge that I couldn’t-wouldn’t-let consume me. An urge more deadly than a bullet, but softer than a feather. A wild urge that I knew, if I let it consume me, would be the end.

I sat by the lake, on the dock that hung over the water. My legs were pulled up to my chest, with my head resting on my knees. I didn’t know what pulled me to the lake, but something like an anchor tied to rope held me there, motionless. I stared at the pale water, the water that had wiped my memories not once but twice. The water called to me, with a lament of wind, freedom, and hope for a brighter future.

A deadly lament.

A rustle in the woods turned my face from the calm waters. A shadow walked towards me. A human shadow. But instead of blue eyes, I caught the glint of green. This wasn’t a shadow wolf, but a normal person clothed in black.

The person knelt next to me, and stared into the water below the dock. I studied what little I could see of their face. Pale skin, green eyes, and a long strand of black hair across their forehead. The person looked at me straight in the eye, and I almost fell off the dock. Bright, brilliant emerald irises stared at me with a wisdom I couldn’t fathom; the person had my eyes.

In a low, female voice, the person whispered,”This is my true form, Alexis. I’ve been hiding from you for years. Almost all your life, in fact. I’ve kept my eye on you, made sure that you didn’t turn vicious at any moment. Do you know who I am, Lex?” The person’s voice was familiar, as were their eyes.

I felt a surge of anger. I snapped,”Tell me who you are, shadow. What have you done?” The person merely laughed,”I’m no shadow wolf, Alexis. I’m a fox wolf. A wolf that can change their features. I’ve seen you, here, at this very lake, numerous times. In your dreams and in reality, whether you know it or not.”

“What’s that got to do with anything?” I almost screamed. This woman was annoying me. The woman pulled off her hood, and let her hair fall free. In the moonlight, the red hair looked like copper. The woman grabbed my hands, and pulled me towards her. I was staring into eyes as green as the forest behind it. I saw something in those irises, something like pain mixed with love.

The woman whispered,”Alexis. You know who I am. I’m the one who always held you after Kit was being mean and punished you. I laughed when you turned your hair blue and silver. I was the one that gave you up. The one who never had enough courage to tell you who I was. Who I am. Alexis, I’m your mother.”

I know some people, when they hear that their long-lost parent has returned and has claimed them and all that other BS cry or punch them or hug them until they can’t breath. I didn’t do any of that. All I did was stared at her. At the woman who had raised me. But her face, her eyes, her voice, weren’t the same as I had always heard them, seen them. Instead, I saw a young woman with pale blue eyes, blond hair tied in a braid, and a slight Southern accent. Not this woman.

Whitney smiled. She didn’t know the impact this revelation had on me. I stared at her green eyes, eyes that were supposed to be blue. At her black and red hair, which was supposed to be blond. At her face, which was supposed to be small, with high cheekbones and a pretty smile. Not this face. Not my face.

Without a word, I leapt to my feet, and ran down the dock. Into the woods. Then, I realized something. I couldn’t feel the sharp pain of branches and twigs scraping my arms and face. No tiny pricks of blood ran down my arms. I wasn’t really at the lake. I was dreaming.