I kept trying to remember the route of the fluorescent lights that I had seen in my dream, but I could not recall much. I hoped I was in luck and that the lights I had seen at the bottom of the trees were still there. However, I was curious where they were going. I was at home when I decided that I was going to go into the forest; I hoped I would remember more while I was there. I did not know what to expect but Beatrice was smart; perhaps, with a bit of luck, I was going to find some sign...something left behind by her that would take me to the place where she was now. I went towards the professors' dormitory and then up the hill following a narrow track. The forest was on the other side of the hill. I felt a chill down my spine. Perhaps I should have brought company.
I flinched when I heard someone calling me.
'What are you doing here?' Debbie, the librarian asked me.
She did not look well at all. Normally, she was the one who always had a smile on her face but now she was frowned. She had big black circles around her eyes; she did not seem to have had much sleep lately. The question was: what was she doing here? I thought she was a library mouse who never leaves her books.
'Aaa...I came out for a walk.'
'So far?'
Damn it; I had been caught in the act.
'Look, Debbie, can you please mind your way and pretend you haven't seen me?'
'No', she snapped at me and grabbed me by the wrist.
I pulled myself from her grip and moved backwards.
'What has gotten into you?'
'I am sick of you and of the fact that everybody does favors to you. Why are you so important to them? I would like to know why Eric cherishes you so much; I have my suspicions, but I would like for you to confirm them for me.'
I did not understand this change in her behavior, or what she was talking about; but this was the last thing I needed.
'Mind your own business and let me be' I told her. I tried to leave, but a strong wind blow came out of nowhere and threw me to the ground.
I looked at her. I was shocked and could not understand what was happening.
'I thought I would get rid of you. I did not think you would come back after I attacked you nd threw you in the forest.'
What? How? Why? I was struggling to get up, but the more I tried the harder the wind blew and pressed on my chest; that made it difficult for me to breathe.
Debbie answered the questions I had not even asked.
'Surprising, isn't it? Yes, I have the affinity for air; I can make you suffer by playing with the wind as I feel like.'
'Why?' I asked in coarse voice. I tried to say something else but the pressure was too strong and I felt I was suffocating.
'The more you agitate, the worse it will be. It's simple. Eric. Ever since you appeared he has changed. Nothing is the same anymore. He is completely absent. But we love each other; I know he loves me just as I love him. As soon as I get rid of you, he will become once more the loving and affectionate Eric that I know.'
What??? I could not believe it. This must be a nightmare that I will soon wake up from. She is crazy. She is lying. It cannot be.
'I can see the surprise on your face. But you do not believe me, do you?' The wind blow disappeared. She came next to me and gave me a phone. 'Feel free to check out the photos and the messages.'
I stood up, took the phone from her and gave it back.
'I do not want to see anything; I do not care.'
She came next to me and turned on the phone; she went straight to the photo gallery.
'Oh, but you will look, or else I will use the wind on you. I don't think you want to suffocate, do you? Listen, I tried to hurt you once, I do not want to do it the second time. I just want you to see how much Eric and I love each other and then I want you to leave the campus, and from Eric's life.'
'Let's go back six years ago.'
I looked at the phone. I was shocked.
'Yes, we have known each other for a long time.'
Who still keeps photos in their phone six years later?
She obviously had a separate album with pictures of herself and her great love. She scrolled through the hundreds of photos to the most recent ones. There were so many with them hugging, kissing or gazing into each other's eyes like...any girl wants to be looked at...just like two people who are in love...At the seaside, in the mountains, hiking, in an amusement park; and the photos kept rolling before my eyes until I threw the phone; I could not take it any longer.
'What do you think you are doing?' She snapped at me. 'Let's get to the more recent ones. From a week ago.'
She put the phone in front of me. It was a selfie with her cuddling on Eric's chest in the bed.
Seeing Eric with someone else had a great impact on me; greater than I had expected. Knowing him with a crazy woman hurt me even more. What kind of person could live with someone like her? He had told me that he cares about me and I, like a silly person, believed him. It had always been only about my powers.
'Don't be upset', she mocked me.
'I have seen enough, Debbie. Please, just leave me alone.'
'But I still haven't showed you the messages. Look, this one is from last evening: "We cannot see each other at my place for some time. Mystic's sister and her colleague are moving in. She wants to keep her close. We will speak more when we meet." 'And this one is from this morning: "I will come to your place tonight. I expect a nice welcome." 'Or...'
'Enough', I interrupted her; I took the phone from her hand and threw it away and then I started to run. I could hear her laughing behind me.
I do not know for how long I ran but I stopped only when I could no longer feel my legs. I found myself thrown in this thick and foggy forest.
"I expect a nice welcome."
Everything was a lie! I am only an instrument!
'Damn it', I yelled and pushed some leaves aside 'Don't cry, don't cry, don't you dare cry.'
My back hurt because of the effort and I felt a bit dizzy. I wonder how much time I have left until the morh's poison gets to me? I leaned on a tree, put my face in my palms and let myself drop to the ground.
'And now; what do I do?' I shouted hoping that the forest would give me an answer. However, the echo was the only thing I heard.
I have to call Baldric and leave this place.
Someone put his hand on my shoulder.
'Oh, no, not you again...' I got up angry and ran into...Eric... except for Debbie, he was the other person that I did not want to see.
'Who were you expecting to find? What are you doing here?' he said angrily.
Then he looked at me and saw that I had been crying; he changed the tone of his voice and pretended to be worried.
'Are you alright? What happened? I am sorry I yelled, but the thought that something might happen to you...You should not be here.'
'Eric, move out of my way!' I snapped at him. 'And stop pretending for one second that you care about me. I think it is time we were honest to each other.'
'What are you talking about? Look, I am in a hurry. I have to be somewhere this evening and I do not have time for your moods.' He grabbed me by the arm. 'I will take you safely back to the campus.'
'Do not touch me!' I almost screamed at him. Don't worry about me; I am sure that your girlfriend doesn't want you to be late, so you had better left.'
'What are you talking about?'
'Just stay away from me' I said to him and then I ran away.
It was getting dark and the forest looked even stranger. I stopped. The only noise I could hear was my footsteps. It was awfully quiet.
A crow – a very big one – flew less than a meter away from me; the next thing I heard was my scream that resounded throughout the entire forest.
I started to laugh when I realized that I had been scared by a mere crow.
Something strange happened after that. The forest was no longer quiet. Footsteps could be heard all over the place as well as different sounds – it was either the noise made by a crow or a barely hearable scream, or sharp voices or deep footsteps.
Why did I have to use my vocal cords to the maximum? I sat with my back against a tree-truck; I put my hands over my chest and waited for the quiet of the forest to come back.
It did not happen, however.
Eric jumped out of a bush and before I could react in any way, he put his hand over my mouth and stopped me from screaming.
I had a feeling of exaltation. Oh God, I cannot believe that I am so happy to have Eric around me. In fact, I was angry that my body had had this reaction from seeing him. Although I did not want to admit it, I felt a lot better now that he had showed up.
'Let's go', he said to me firmly. Until one of those appear...'
He took my hand and pulled me with him.
'I can walk by myself', I protested.
about the later. I knew what to do had I met a morh. I knew the run-and- don't-look-back type of action. Instead, I knew nothing about this awfully smelling strange being. Should I start running?
'You don't know what it is, do you?' Eric asked me; he looked more serious than he had ever before.
Oh, no. This is bad.
I looked up and frowned at him.
'Do you think I would be shaking so much if I knew what this is? What is that noise? It sounds like someone rattling his throat. There is more than one, isn't it?'
'How strange. You suddenly need me. Why don't you go back and check yourself?' He put his hands on my shoulders but before he could make one more move, I said no vehemently.
'Alright...they are very dangerous, very and...'
'Then why don't you make them leave already?' I yelled at him.
Oh, no. I could feel the breath of that creature even closer to me.
'Alright. I am sorry. Are you happy now?'
'Shouldn't we test your talents on something actual?'
I instantaneously said no.
'This is the best practice.' I continued to shake my head repeatedly.
'Alright, Tyr. You came just in time. Well, Katelyn Lambert, I think you've learned your lesson. You won't be coming alone to the forest any time soon.'
'What do you mean?' Only after that I realized how stupid I had been. I moved away from him. 'Do you mean to say that this ...thing is harmless?'
'In fact, my name is Tyr. I am named after one of the bravest gods in the Scandinavian mythology.'
'Am I still in a state of shock? Is it talking? Wait, stay away from me.'
This big creature I was so afraid of was in fact one of the supernatural guards of the campus. How should I have known that there are also good supernatural beings? I did not have wizard parents to teach me about these things.
It seems that Tyr came from a family of trolls. And I thought they existed only in stories and movies. It immediately felt my presence in the forest – although I don't know how it can have such a fine sense of smell with that foul odor surrounding it. It had come to escort me out of the forest. There was also a sort of a dog with it. I am saying 'a sort of' because it looked slightly different; or a bit more. Although it had the body of a dog, it had as many legs as a spider. It was simply repugnant to look at and scary. Who knew that there were giant spiders who could mate with dogs?? Yuck...gruesome.
In any case, I hate spiders.
After we said goodbye to Tyr and his buddy who never left the forest, I promised myself that I will never come back to this place.
Now that it was just me and Eric, I caught my breath. Although I was extremely angry with him, I thought it was better to just keep my mouth shut. I went ahead of him and as I passed by, I gave him the nastiest look I had. I slowly picked up the pace until I could no longer hear him behind me.
Then, I heard another strange noise. Ok, if Eric was trying to scare me again, he wasn't going to succeed. But it turned out to be Debbie. Crazy Debbie, again.
'Not you again. What do you want now?'
'I don't think we finished our discussion.'
I ignored her; I was distracted by a spot of color that was behind her.
I heard Eric shouting for me and when he showed up next to us, Debbie's face and attitude changed completely.
'What are you doing here?' he asked her. 'And you, Kate, why did you run off again?'
'I was looking for Kate. I am worried about her.'
'Give me a break', I picked on her. 'I am out of here. One more minute in the same place with you two and I'll throw up.'
'Kate, what was that?' Eric picked on me. 'We start all over with this immature behavior of yours?'
'I won't even bother answering that', I said as I tried to keep as calm as possible.
Then I saw the spot coming closer to us. The closer it got, the more it started to look like an animal. Hey...it was a deer. Its purple eyes were shining; so was its turquoise fur that had a few black spots on it. So different and yet so beautiful.
Its eyes were so gentle that I could not resist the temptation of getting closer to it.
'Kate, stop', Eric shouted at me. 'It's dangerous.'
I started to laugh.
'It's a deer. Well, it is different but it looks innocent. Look at it! How could it harm anyone?'
Debbie came next to me. We were both in front of the deer.
'Kate, do not move; its looks are deceiving. Eric, I am too close to it' she said quietly. 'Make a spell; faster.'
'There really is no need to exaggerate', I told them.
Debbie took me by the arm. 'Let's go, slowly, before we scare it off and it attacks us.'
'Get your damn hands off me', I yelled and pushed her; that is when the deer, or this animal that looked like a deer, showed its true face. Its fur turned black and its eyes became red as blood. In a split second it threw Debbie to the ground and pressed its fangs – since when do deer have fangs – into her arm.
Eric sent a green light towards the creature; it ran. He then yelled at me.
'What did you do?' he kept yelling. He seemed maddened. I don't think I had ever seen him so angry. 'Don't just stand there!' He threw his phone to me. 'Call Mystic and tell her to prep the emergency room. And tell her to get in touch with Tyr. Tell her that Debbie was attacked by a lubrinson. She will know what to do.'
That is when my mind put two and two together. If I had paid more attention to classes, I would have been able to tell from the beginning that this was a lubrinson.
To Eric's surprise, I did not budge.
'Call Mystic' he yelled at me even louder.
Nothing. That was surprising. A part of me was happy that Debbie had just been attacked, and this scared me. But this crazy woman had it coming; she deserved the worse.
'Debbie, open your eyes, please. I know it hurts and that you are dizzy but try to keep your eyes open.'
Right then, no one else seemed to matter to Eric. The way he looked at her...it hurt me to see him like that.
'You have to fight, do you understand?'
Seeing the look on Eric's face had a great impact on me. He was so sad and yet so angry. His eyes were shining. Tears; Eric was crying? He...he really loved her.
That is when it all became clear to me.
'It's burning' she whispered and her face grimaced from the pain. 'Make it stop.'
'Hang on a bit longer', he said and then took her into his arms.
He passed in front of me and looked angrily at me.
'You still haven't called her?' He snapped. 'Do it! Faster!'
'No', I told him; I was angry.
'What? What do you mean?', he yelled at me.
He looked shocked. I don't think I had ever seen him so angry. He looked as if he wanted to hit me.
'Eric, I will do nothing to help your crazy girlfriend.'
'Call her now', he said again, pretending that he had not heard anything from what I said.
'No!'
I felt the earth quaking and I fell on my back. A light passed by me leaving a choking smoke behind it.
'Call her or you will have to deal with me.'
I was shocked and unable to say anything more; my hands were shaking. I took the phone. Eric had just tried to hurt me. I...was nothing to him.
'I am not doing this because you scare me', I said to him. 'I am doing it because I am disappointed. I will call her, you have my word.'
Eric went away running with Debbie in his arms; he did not say anything else. I called Mystic and told her what had happened. She did not even ask me if I was alright. That was when I realized how truly alone I was.
I was trying not to think too much about what had happened. I left towards the campus. I had to call Baldric.
Damn it; all my stuff was now at Eric's place, including my phone where I had Baldric's number.
I knocked on the door hoping someone will open for me; Luckily, Maggie let me in. She looked worried.
'Are you alright? You don't look very well.'
'To be honest, I don't know what I feel anymore.'
'Kate, I am worried about you. Is something wrong?'
'Yes, but I don't want to talk about this now. I have to make a phone call first'
I went upstairs. Maggie showed me my room. It was a lot more spacious than what I had imagined but this did not matter now.
This was the tenth time I had called Baldric and no answer. It is hot. When did it become so hot? I went into the kitchen to get a glass of cold water. I finally decided I was going to leave him a message on his voicemail.
"Baldric, this is how it goes. I do not have much time left. I am feeling worse by the day. You had better gotten that cure as soon as possible!"
Only afterwards did I realize that there is not phone reception in Kaeillindor. That meant that for the time being I had no chance of reaching Baldric or Christine. I took a cold shower and then hit the bed. I did not know what I was going to do next. For now, I wanted not to think about anything else and just sleep.