Isabelle - The Secrets of Avelina Chronicles 6

Chapter 17: Finding Isabelle

Eaven was quick to fall asleep after retiring to his room. His talk with Damian, his hunt, the traveling and showing off his gifts to Sarus had all conspired against him in a swirl of exhaustion. The moment his head hit the pillow, he fell into disturbing dreams of Isabelle, flying and Bryony. In each were various scenarios where Isabelle would die and his world would drift into darkness.

Sometimes it was Bryony who killed her, on the alter as in his vision. Sometimes with a dagger and even by turning her into a vampire and making her suffer the orb. It all felt like a personal punishment, living the dreams as if they were real events. Each time, whether Isabelle died by Bryony's hand, William's or even Damian's, the dreams took him to such a place that each time she died felt like a lifetime of pain and sorrow that he couldn't escape. He woke three times during the night, only to return each time to a restless sleep of nightmares and a sense of reality.

Some time close to midnight the dreams made way for happiness. Eaven relaxed and saw a little girl playing in the cottage garden where he had once seen Isabelle. A woman watched her from the doorway and laughed as she danced through the flowers. He dreamed of that same girl lying in bed, hiding her face with the covers as the same older woman told her terrifying tales of monsters, vampires and lycanthropes that frightened little Isabelle. Eaven wanted to stop her, to shout at her for tormenting a young child with such gruesome stories, but no-one could hear him or see him. Each dream swirled out of view after a few minutes, to be replaced by another and another. Each one a glimpse of Isabelle's life as if he were there with her, watching over her.

Finally, he saw Isabelle as a lonely young woman, all alone in the cottage, never leaving the safety of her garden, though Eaven couldn't understand why. She lay in the garden, watching birds flying above. He was a hawk, flying over her house. Isabelle sitting up in surprise as one bird turned into a man and fell crashing out of the sky into the nearby field. He watched as Isabelle went to her garden gate and saw him land in the field just beyond her home. He could feel the overwhelming panic rushing through her at the thought of leaving her garden.

For the first time, Eaven understood her fear as if it were his own. She feared change, exposure to the outside world, people, even the monsters from the stories she had been told as a little girl. She believed each and every one of them existed. She felt no fear on seeing an ordinary bird changing into a man because of those stories. She feared leaving her garden much more than any monster. It felt to Eaven as if she was safe within her garden gate, as if no-one could truly see her, though she could see them.

Eaven watched as Isabelle made the brave decision to leave her garden and run to his side. He saw her kneeling by his body and gazing into his face, caring for him tenderly. She struggled to get his dead weight back to the safety of her cottage as the tears flooded from her eyes. She couldn't leave him, but she didn't want to be outside her garden either. It was a struggle of wills with each step she took. He felt her panic as if it were his own as his limp body lay on her kitchen floor. Isabelle slammed the door behind her and locked it, placing a chair beneath the handle so no-one could get in.

She dragged his body upstairs to the bedroom and into her bed. He could feel the calmness sweeping over her as she stared into his face again, gently brushing his hair back from his eyes and touching his lips in wonder. He knew that she felt safe with him. He saw everything as he had never seen it when he was awake. He saw her beauty and her tender heart. Most of all he saw the love she had for him.

He saw every moment of their time together from the moment he woke, to the reappearance of her fear as he left her garden. Isabelle panicked as she ran out of her garden gate after him, desperate for him to stay with her, but terrified of being caught by some unnamed monster. She was sad as he left for the last time. She cried over her flowers as she knelt in the garden trying to pretend her heart wasn't breaking.