Rue paused halfway. Her eyes cleared like the morning that came after darkness. A sudden weakness took to her and she collapsed on the boy.
"What happened?" she raised her head, staring at him in confusion.
"You saved our lives," he smiled, combing his fingers through strands of her half-silver hair. "Your Familiar is strong. You are not alone in this world, Rue Baker, you are not."
He put her arm around his neck and lifted her from the floor. They made their way to the window. She rested her back on the wall while he opened the glass doors of the window.
"Who are you?" Rue asked feebly.
He glanced at her, "my name is Jack. This might come a bit odd, but I've been watching you for quite a while now."
"Are you like me, Jack?"
"No, Rue, you are much much better than I am. Those who know about us in the world call us Bright Ones. I have never seen any of our kind with a Familiar as strong as yours."
A rush of wind flowed into the room as Jack parted the window doors. Its fresh smell was strong, like the scent of first rain in summer. He led her outside the hospital, and they disappeared into the woods. The grasses were wet. All through summer in Serpent's Creek, it rained relentlessly. To some it was a blessing, but others like teenagers sneaking out to a party or making out in the garden, it was a constant source of annoyance.
Summer lasted far longer than winter in the little town. The rains nourished dozens of creeks snaking around forest. Some places could not be travelled to without a motorboat. But during the snow-less winter, the creeks shrank, and greens turned brown.
Rue felt the finger marks on her neck. The Priest had come so close to killing her. Twice, she had escaped death within twilight and dawn. No one was that lucky. The reason she was still breathing was walking beside her, but he was practically tall, dark, and possibly a stalker.
Jack stopped and glanced at her, like he had done a dozen times since they entered the woods. The way his eyes followed her movements, like she was an egg that could drop any moment.
"Don't worry about the marks," he smiled, "Vesper will have that fixed like it was never there."
Vesper? She thought. "Where are you taking me to?"
"Somewhere safe," he replied.
It didn't take long before they came into open space. There was a magnificent building several feet tall before her. Rue's gaze trailed the ancient walls of an abandoned Cathedral. Its pillars were carved of gothic architecture. Statues of gargoyles lined below the roof. The front door was broken and the stained glasses on the windows were just magnificent remnants of a broken beauty.
"What is this place?" she glanced at Jack.
"Home," his face lit up with a smile.
Jack opened his fingers and grabbed her hand. They were warm, not like those of the priest when he had her by the throat. They climbed the short stairs to the vestibule and made their way through the large Cathedral's door.
The hall was showered by beautiful hues of light, streaming through the broken stained glasses. Pews were scattered all over, some standing while others had fallen.
Jack stopped. Her ears picked footfalls sounding on the floor above the dais.
"Wait here, I'm coming."
He ran up a stair and disappeared into the building.
Welcome, Rue Barker, a voice sounded in her head. Rue turned around and circled her gaze. There was no one there except her.
"Jack," Rue called, "is that you?"
Jack is that you? The voice came again.
"Who is there?" she yelled.
Who is there? The words resounded loudly in her head.
She shuddered. It was as if someone was speaking in her head and it wasn't that familiar voice of her good and bad conscience. Rue circled in confusion
"Show yourself you son of bitch," she snarled.
Show yourself you son of bitch, the voice mimicked.
She turned behind her again and saw a young boy. He couldn't be more than twelve years old. The boy's eyes lingered creepily on her.
Hello, Rue Barker. I'm Vesper. She heard his voice in her head again. The boy's lips did not move.
Jack came down to the handrail of the upper floor, accompanied by two boys and a girl with bottles of beer in their hands. One of the boys jumped over the handrail and as his feet neared the floor, he slowed down considerably, as if the force of gravity had no power over him.
The boy's feet touched the marbled floor. He walked gallantly, his messy blonde hair, golden in a stream of sun ray.
"Hi, I'm Stephen," he winked his left eye. "That's Rook and Isobel," he pointed to the boy and girl standing beside Jack, "And I see you've met little Vesper. He is the last and youngest to join the coven."
"I heard his voice in my head," Rue's gaze lingered on the young boy.
"I see he likes you already," Jack came down the stairs, holding his bottle of beer. "Vesper can't talk. He lost the use of his tongue from birth so his Familiar projects his thoughts to the mind of others."
"Familiar? Like my Dark Passenger."
"Rook," Stephen laughed briefly as he called to the other boy, "she named her Familiar too. I just call mine Shadow boy."
"You shouldn't have brought her here, Jack," Isobel protested.
She seemed provoked, her face pale and sullen. Isobel seemed different from most girls. The way she carried herself, it seemed like she was trying too hard to mimic the opposite sex. Her hair was braided, and ears pierced with so many earrings, but her clothing of jacket and black latex trousers stood out the most.
"She is one of us. We need her if we are going to survive the coming days."
Isobel approached Rue, her eyes bearing her hostility in keen. She began to walk in circles around her. "So, you are the missing ingredient to our broth. It's a shame. I don't see what makes you so special."
"Jealous?" Rue scoffed, "I wonder what your Familiar would look like."
"Show me yours and I will show you mine," Isobel charged at her.
The door of the Cathedral flung open. The figure of a young man lingered on the doorway, the bright light of summer's sun shadowing him in its golden rays.
"That's enough, Isobel!" his voice thundered.
His footfalls thudded heavily on the marbled floor as he stepped in. Away from the light, he appeared vividly. He was muscular, almost like a lightweight wrestler, and wore a grey trench coat. A long scar ran across his right eye and the lack of an iris was proof that the eye had gone bad.
"Markus," Stephen whispered in Rue's ear, "the leader of our coven."
"What kept you so long?" Markus continued towards the stairs, almost as if to ignore Rue's presence.
Jack sat on a pew. "I tracked Ajax's dark Familiar to a hospital where it had killed so many. He must be stopped," Jack gulped his beer, "and there is something else, Markus."
Markus paused. "What?"
"We were attacked by a Priest who claims to be a servant of the Watch. He didn't know about me, but for some reason he was there for Rue. He tried to kill her, but her Familiar got to him first."
Jack stood up from the pew. "Her Familiar is strong, Markus, really strong. I have never felt anything like it. The priest swore that someone else was coming down here from the Watch. The way his eyes brightened even as he died, he seemed so confident that we would all be dead soon."
He dropped his beer on the pew and pulled his jacket, revealing the wound on his hand where the priest had cut him with a silver blade. It looked like an infected opening on his flesh, with small bubbles foaming around it. Vesper walked to him with a small kit.
"We are at war with a rival coven and our hunters are returning to put us in cold graves. We are not safe here anymore."
Markus turned around and walked down the stairs. "I know you have been through a lot, Rue. Your Familiar is strong. I can feel it from here, but you have no control. For any of the Bright Ones, we are all bonded to our Familiars and only as strong as they are. If they die, we die. I can teach you how to summon and channel it to your purpose, but only if you will swear to become part of our Coven after your initiation by the Elders."
Rue circled her gaze around everyone in the room. She would have thought them a bunch of deluded minds if she had not battled for her life in the few days that passed.
"I really appreciate the offer... really," she said, "but I'm leaving for the city tomorrow. Going to stay with my mum for a while," Rue lied.
Markus approached her. "Take all the time you need Rue Baker, but know this, things have been set in motion neither you nor I have any control over. We will be waiting when you are ready."
You will be waiting a long time, she thought.