I lay panting on the grassy ground, arms stretched as I watched the first of the sun's rays pass through the flurry of leaves that canopied the forest floor. The sky slowly lightened to a faded hue of silver. Taking a deep breath, I closed my eyes and listened.
There wasn't anything to hear but the flapping of small wings as birds flew from tree to tree. The silent whoosh of leaves as a gentle breeze swept the woods. No blood-curdling shrieks. Wraiths hardly ever tried these areas. The Sinclairs didn't appreciate visitors much. Just to be sure, an impenetrable barrier took care of those stupid enough to get too close.
In silence, I imagined the house where it used to be. Amyr and Rosario bickering in the porch. Byron Flynn running around the sinkhole in the front yard. Archie standing at the door. Mei right behind her master Vladimir, both smiling at me. Vincent, sitting on the steps.
Something in my chest wrenched to the point of aching. How far was I?
More than ever, I became impatient. Twenty yards seemed like a thousand miles. The walls were too tough, too many for me to bring down. I was drowning again, and this time, in my own thoughts.
"I knew you'd be here," a familiar voice said.
I opened my eyes, shielding it from the harsh light. Lindsay stood beside me, stooping over so that her curly blond hair fell over her shoulders. With a sigh, she adjusted the thick glasses on the bridge of her nose before offering me a hand. She was already in her school clothes-a gray turtleneck and a pleated flowery skirt that stretched until her ankles, paired with white slip-on sneakers. For someone who's five-nine, she didn't look a lot taller than me because she always hunched.
"I'm always here every night," I shrugged, shaking the dirt off my jeans as I got to my feet. "Look. I'm fine. Don't worry."
All along, she had openly expressed disapproval on my nightly visits to Centralia. Since I told her everything, she had been more nervous- well, more than the usual. She thought it was too dangerous for me, what with all the increase in reported crime rates in Ashland. I wouldn't worry about any human attacking me. It was the things that go bump in the night that she should be afraid of.
"I have to tell you something urgent." She could only shake her head in frustration, pausing to throw a dubious look at me. "By the way... I'm just thinking, Aramis. Maybe... maybe you should just do what Vincent wanted. For your own safety."
For a moment, I stopped my mouth from saying anything. I didn't want to argue with her. She was the only person besides me who knew Vincent Sinclair ever existed. And most of all, I trusted her with everything I knew. With my life. Somehow, hearing her telling me to stop made me want to break down.
"You know I can't do that," I replied in a weak voice, feigning a shaky laugh. "Besides, if someone tried something bad on me, I could always cut their heads off."
Lindsay's eyes widened, her lips quivering. Her already pale face became ashen. It looked like she didn't find my joke that funny. I forgot that I was with Lindsay and not with the cabal anymore. With those guys, it was normal to hear death threats and morbid jokes all the time.
"Y-you mean... w-with your... scythe?" she stammered, taking half a step back.
"Lindsay," I took her by the shoulders. "I'm kidding."
Her brows furrowed a bit then she blinked vacantly at me. All of a sudden she started laughing nervously. It sounded more like she was hyperventilating, really. For a minute I was scared she would pass out.
"You... got me there," she panted, stooping a bit more to catch her breath. "B-but seriously, can you really do that? I mean... kill people?" She whispered the last two words as if speaking them aloud would get her a ticket to detention.
"Not sure." I ran toward an old elm and jumped before kicking off its trunk to reach my jacket which was hanging on a branch fifteen feet off the ground. "I've only used my scythe on wraiths and other familiars," I added as I was walking back to her.
Hesitantly, she looked up to me, her glassy blue eyes intent. "C-can I see it?"
"What?" I was incredulous. I thought she was scared of that kind of stuff.
"Can I see it?" she repeated, now more steadily.
"Sure..."
I started concentrating, touching the number thirteen mark on the side of my neck when I realized that it wasn't even there. When I came back from the Halo, it was already gone. It occurred to me that I hadn't summoned my scythe and my Cataclyst for a long time now but that didn't faze me. Focusing harder, I struggled to reach for the Bind itself deep within me, harnessing its force and willing it to flow to my right arm.
"Weird," I muttered, frustrated. Now, the Bind seemed to be much less intense than I remembered. A lot... smaller. Weaker.
It took a while for me to manipulate the Bind. I felt like it was fighting back. In frustration, I clenched my teeth, trying to control the resilient force without much success. A bead of cold sweat trickled down the side of my face and I was already struggling for breath. After a couple of minutes, a cold mist finally emanated from my arm, biting into my flesh. The chill crept to the tips of my fingers, to the black, glass-like rod slowly materializing in my hand. The process was painstakingly sluggish but I was relieved to see the full five feet of the staff complete.
"Uhm..." Lindsay cleared her throat, giving me a sort of rueful smile. "Is... that it?"
"Not you too!" I grumbled in annoyance. At least she didn't call it a stick. Ugh. "Okay, I admit it doesn't look much now, but it's the only thing that would work with me. Maybe I'm not cut out to wield an impressive looking sword and that's why I was given a staff." I sounded a quite too defensive than intended but what the heck? I easily get touchy when my scythe was concerned.
"I don't mean it that way," she explained, looking perplexed. "It's just..."
With a quiet sniff, I sullenly turned away from her and started spinning my staff with two hands, doing basic moves I learned before. It took a little while to warm up to the technique all over again. I felt my forehead crease as I weighed it in my hands. Was it just me or was it a lot heavier than I recalled?
Lowering my stance, I spun the staff over my head then behind my back. When I tried the one-hand technique, it slipped out of my grip and tumbled to the ground. Disappointedly, I picked it up with both hands since it seemed almost impossible to lift it up with just one.
"What's wrong?" Lindsay asked patiently, keeping a good distance from me.
Distractedly, I shook my head, examining the scythe, resting it on my shoulder so it wouldn't topple down easily. "Nothing. I just have to check... something."
Again, I lifted the scythe vertically then, thrust its butt on the ground. As expected, a huge dead flat blade swung out from the rod. Before I knew it, the scythe's weight was already dragging me to the ground. My head bumped on the base of the blade, the impact sending me tumbling across the dirt several feet away.
"Ow," I winced, feeling for the big bump on the middle of my forehead. There were literally stars circling around me. The skin around my bruise began to squirm and move, attempting to heal itself.
Lindsay came running to me, helping me up to my feet. "Oh, my God! That's... disturbing. I mean... it doesn't look good. What happened?"
"No idea..."
I stared at my scythe. The crescent moon blade was impaled halfway into the ground. Fuming, I walked right up to it and tried to yank it off the dirt. I might as well be lifting a pregnant elephant. It didn't even budge. It felt like a thousand pounds heavier. With all my strength, I tried lifting the blade. Pushing it from the sides. Kicking it. Nothing worked. It wouldn't eve move a tiny bit.
Come on, Aramis. Put your back into it! I barked at myself.
Several tries later, I collapsed on the ground, breathless. I had the strong urge to scream like crazy or pull my hair until I turned bald. How could I possibly barge in Pilgrim Reaper's realm and rescue Vincent if I couldn't even hold my scythe up? My luck couldn't possibly be this bad.
Miserably, I let the scythe falter. It automatically disappeared, icy fog dissipating around me. I couldn't help but sulk. And here I thought I was making a milestone.
"How did you get here, by the way?" I asked Lindsay, vacantly staring off into space.
"Carter drove me," she answered, almost guiltily. "He's parked in the roadside waiting for us. D-don't worry, I told him this is for our Advanced Bio project."
I slapped a palm on my forehead. "Lindsay. We submitted our Bio project last week."
Her eyes widened and she looked as if she was about to cry. "Ugh... H-how can I be so stupid?"
No wonder Carter suspected us. We both suck at lying. Unenthusiastically, I took her hand and gave it a squeeze. I dragged her into this mess after all. It wouldn't be right to blame things on her.
"Don't worry," I reassured her, shrugging my jacket on. "I'll figure something out. Go back to Carter. I'll see you both at school, okay?"
Without a second look at Lindsay, I marched heavily toward the shortcut heading to my Dad's house. My watch read 6:45 a.m. and I didn't want Dad finding out that I wasn't in bed. That would mean total catastrophe. Although Lindsay seemed reluctant to let me leave, I began draughting away. Her voice echoed distortedly throughout the woods as she called me back but I didn't stop.
I needed to be alone. To think. And Lindsay reminding me that all my efforts were almost as good as futile would not help one bit. An escape from this reality was what I really needed.
Mindlessly, I headed deeper into the woods where light scarcely passed through the thick flurry of foliage. Flitting through the shadows, I felt the wind on my face. Only then did I realize how soothing draughting was-moving faster than the human eyes could see. Every buoyant step made me feel as though I was almost flying. How come I had never learned it way earlier before?
It got me wondering, how it would've felt draughting side by side with the whole cabal. With Vincent. I was used to being left behind, stumbling my way through, always watching them from the back. Now I could finally keep up with them. Perhaps he would be proud of me even just a little.
I barely managed to make it to civilization when my head started to pound violently. I stopped in my tracks, doubling over. It was suddenly hard to breathe as if my chest was being hammered. The jolt intensified, bringing me down to my knees. The pain was in a whole new level, like a brittle nail being drilled into my skull. A scream forced its way out of my throat, my vision obscured by crimson haze.
My left arm began moving by itself, heedless of my protests. Twitching, my wrist flicked mechanically, the way I did when I was summoning my Cataclyst. Unlike summoning my scythe, the transformation happened virtually in an instant, faster than I had expected. The bones rapidly shifted and poked out of my skin, weaving themselves together until they covered my entire left hand.
I just had a big discovery. The faster the transformation, the more painful it becomes. My arm was burning up with a kind of pain that made me doubt if it was still attached to my shoulder. It was unbearable, even worse than being Bound several times altogether.
Gasping for air, I dropped sideways to the ground, my limbs going into spasm. Just when I thought the horror would cease with my Cataclyst fully-formed, the gnarled shell that covered my hand writhed with a brittle snapping noise.
Crack! Crack! Crack!
Slick black liquid seeped out from in between the intertwined bones, creeping to my palms, then to my fingers, lengthening my already razor-sharp talons. Once completed, the hideous Cataclyst moved upward, taking me with it. I held onto a nearby tree for support. My whole body trembled I could barely stand. I couldn't seem to make the Cataclyst falter at will either. Inwardly, I cursed at myself for not being strong enough.
Just then, I heard a shrill cackle, the strange voice sending shivers running down my spine. I feverishly struggled to look around me but no one was there. It was just me and the trees.
Could it be possible that the Reapers had found me?
No. I was wearing the Helcium. At first, I doubted if the pendant could really prevent Pilgrim Reaper's minions from finding me. I even considered talking Dad into moving somewhere far away. But then, I thought if the Helcium's enchantment hadn't worked, hiding would be no use. Death would find me anytime he wished to.
Vincent was so convinced that I would stay safe as long as I wore it, though. No son of Death could see me, sense me or get near me. To them, I didn't even exist. That was the idea. So far, it hadn't let me down, yet.
"W-who are you? Show yourself!" I demanded in a feeble hoarse voice. Just the mere effort of speaking left me panting as if no matter how hard I tried to breathe, there wasn't enough air.
No one answered. All I got was another unsettling laughter. I kept looking for the owner of that voice, my eyes frantically searching but still, I found nothing. It was mocking me, thrilled at how easily I could be terrified.
No. My mind screamed, yet I couldn't move my mouth to speak it out loud.
Unexpectedly, I felt the corner of my lips pull up lopsidedly against my will. The throbbing in my head worsened, I thought I was going to black out. I couldn't tell how I managed to remain on my feet with my thoughts so clouded. I blinked and so suddenly, everything was red and black. My head tilted forcibly to my left to examine my new beastly Cataclyst.
Instead of dread, an unfamiliar feeling welled in me. I couldn't name it, but it was something close to delight, turning into seething hunger that could only belong to a monster.
"What a waste."
It was my own voice from my own lips that answered me. Only, I wasn't the one who was speaking. It was only then that I realized that I was looking at the wrong place. There was no one here with me. The enemy was inside me all along-some entity in the depths of my soul that wanted to break free. For some time, it had been dormant, thrust to a secluded corner where it couldn't resurface and interfere with me.
I was way in over my head to think that I had already defeated it before, when I might just have given it a place to recover. Get stronger. Wait for that exact moment when my defenses waned.
Amyr had warned me before about this. Souls get bad with time. They spoil. They rot. And when they do, they lose all trace of humanity and become corrupted, with only the constant thirst for life-force. Since I was supposed to be dead a long time ago, all my fears were starting to become a reality.
I heard myself laughing hysterically. "How pathetic," the entity inside me said through my lips. "I could've done better with this body."
My chest welled with the seething hate. The feeling wasn't mine. It was all hers. She was taking control and I was the one who was pushed into a corner, unable to retaliate. Desperately, I tried to destroy the walls that imprisoned me-the same ones I used to lock her up.
Who are you? Why are you doing this?
Though reasoning with a wraith might've sounded insane, I just had to try. It was all I could do.
My lips twitched farther into a meaningful sneer-her sneer-and I suddenly realized who it was. Death was hunting me because of her soul. But what would he do now that the soul he so much wanted had already turned bad?
Alessandra. I called her name with a hint of disdain.
Nodding, she willed my body to move and it horrified me how easily she could do it. Carelessly, she tensed and excitedly took off. Her draughting was excellent, lithe and confident. And it got me thinking that maybe the improvement in my draughting was all her and not me.
She ran, seemingly lost, eyes shifting frantically as though looking for something. A feeling of despair emanated from her. The emotions were so deep and ancient, they were about impossible to comprehend.
What are you looking for?
Silence prevailed in her thoughts for a while. My question had confused her, made her emotions erratic. It was as if time had muddled her judgment. Out of the blue, she began crying and screaming. It was similar to the cry wraiths did to call for reinforcements. However, not even a single rotten soul came to her. Something was preventing her from doing so. It seemed to me as if wanted to call out a name but it seemed like that name was long forgotten, buried somewhere remote.
Out of the blue, the pendant resting on my chest grew colder as it glowed faintly. Alessandra paused, noticing that it was causing the interference. She wouldn't be able to interact with her kind as long as I was wearing the Helcium. I had no idea how I knew that but as she was removing the necklace, I mustered all my willpower to defy her. My hand shook, unable to decide if it should rip the Helcium off my neck or not. I felt so small against her intense strength but I wasn't just going to watch her take over my body. Sensing her confusion, I seized the chance just as her mental guards briefly wavered.
Get. Lost! I screamed at her, my consciousness slowly taking back the control over my body. Alessandra was so intent on getting rid of the Helcium, it was as if she had left herself defenceless.
In a heartbeat, I was me again. Nonetheless, she didn't stop fighting back, her anger blaring. I pictured Alessandra, small and powerless before I shoved her into a part of my mind, burying her deeper and deeper until I couldn't hear her wails anymore. The red haze that obscured my vision slowly retreated as with the pounding in my head. Dead beat and breathless, I sprawled onto the ground. Cold sweat trickled down my neck. My head felt like it was floating. All I wanted to do was close my eyes and fall deeply asleep.
I barely had time to catch my breath before I spotted the Helcium lying on the ground. Shakily, I crawled toward it and hurriedly put it back on. Thankfully, no wraiths came rushing to me. They usually don't come out in the day but I had encountered some instances where they didn't look at their watches before attacking humans. Especially, when that human was me.
Wasting no time, I grabbed onto a thick bush and pulled myself up. I gave my head a jerk and started thinking of perfectly understandable alibis I could give Dad as I staggered my way back home.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
*happy dances into view* Hi! Glad your still there! Reapers just reached 46% in the voting polls today so I'm totally psyched! I'd like to thank everyone who voted. Group hug!!! Thus, the update! Yay! And for all those who haven't still voted, please do! :)
skipping in cloud eleven,
~shim