WARNING!! -- this is old, and while recently updated with minor edits and the last of the chapters i never put up back in the day, it shall never be updated...enjoy it anyways!
...since a lot of you seem to keep doing so o-o ...
- Created By itsumademo
Chapter Eleven
The Catalyst
Chapter Eleven
My butt hurt, my torso screamed, and my arm wanted to simply fall off.
“Immortal…can’t we please, please, take a break now?” My voice came out quiet and whiney, “It’s been almost five hours, I need to rest and eat something.” I rubbed my face onto Caleb’s coat, which sat in a messy bundle on my lap.
He stopped and sighed heavily.
“Alright.”
Orion slowed his pace and suddenly bucked me off; as I became airborne I gripped Caleb’s jacket tightly to my chest as if it could somehow save me from the inevitably painful landing. A large twisting flutter grew in my gut and spread to all edges of my limbs, even blurring my vision as it flooded my head.
The Immortal’s black hair blew around beside me, and his strong hands and arms gripped me unexpectedly, I hadn’t even begun to fall back to the earth. In the instant he caught me I glued my hands to his cloak and shirt.
“Don’t you dare drop me.” I barely exhaled, while I tried to gather oxygen back into my lungs…Orion, you ASS!
He slowly sat me down against a large tree.
“Are you alright?”
“Yeah, yeah I’m f—” My lip dropped from my words as my eyes entangled themselves with the Immortal’s.
There wasn’t ever a time I had found such softness in pure black eyes…I was simply thrown from reality. In the slightest of seconds my fingers edged towards his handsome face, but Orion’s blustered snicker jerked us back.
I scowled at him while his grinning eyes looked back. The Immortal stood up and unpacked a small bag, which most likely had the last of the berries. He looked into it and narrowed his eyes; he abruptly rammed a fist into Orion’s thigh forcing the large horse back and onto the ground. He angrily ground his teeth and writhed around until he stood up tall, attempting to tower over the Immortal, although he only reached about a foot higher.
Seeing them so firmly grounded and erect made me realize that I was much smaller.
“This makes me feel insignificant.”
Both guys moved an eye over to me, one black and one blue.
I inhaled to speak but instead dropped my head onto my knees, for some reason my head was still swimming.
“Jade, you and Orion go out and find something to eat.”
“What about you?”
“I’m just going to get some rest.”
He turned from Orion and dropped down beside me, although with perfect execution. I had to rock myself just in order to balance with the tree so that I could stand.
I looked back at him before I walked off, but the Immortal’s eyes were already shut tight and his head turned down. I lightly bit my lip in thought, but then spun around to follow Orion through the sporadic trees.
Orion was unsettlingly quiet as we walked in near silence. Luckily the farther we went the greener the forest became, creating a somewhat more comfortable atmosphere to walk in.
“Orion, do you even know where any food is?”
His piercing blue eye looked back at me briefly then rolled away, followed by a quick snort and a headshake, his weirdly long auburn hair flapped in my face.
“I’ll take that as a no then.” I sighed.
I was despondently kicking at a few patches of grass when my hood was nipped off my head.
“What?” I glanced up, expecting to find smirking horse eyes, but instead I caught him staring straight up into an adjacent tree’s canopy.
I quirked my brow at his odd behavior, “what is it?”
He blustered anxiously and stomped his hooves against the ground.
I shifted my view up towards the treetop and came across what Orion was so desperately wanting. Hanging from strong, healthy limbs were large and beautifully red apples. They seemed to be calling us to them. We probably looked like drooling pets in wait of a treat.
His snicker pulled me from my fantasies of a full stomach and I looked over to his begging round eyes. His soft nose nudged against my own and a gentler, almost purr-like whine came from between his lips.
I ran my hand along his forehead. “Alright, alright,” I smiled lightly, “let’s grab some fruit then.”
He purposefully licked my entire face, just to annoy me I was sure. Thankfully he was so oddly hygienic for a horse I didn’t have to worry about smelling like rotten hay, or something equally disgusting.
My cape fell completely onto my back as I lifted my arms to take hold of the tree while I found a solid foothold. With a swift inhale I pulled myself up and grabbed onto the larger section of the split trunk and yet again heaved my way up until I was more horizontal then vertical and could take a breather.
From about ten or so feet below, Orion whinnied with restless excitement…which wasn’t really edging me on in any way towards the near twenty, or maybe it was more like thirty, feet to go. My breath was a bit shaky from the strenuous climb, however just the thought of sinking my teeth into a juicy sweet apple was too tempting to give up. I hoisted my dress up further and stretched my leg as high as I could lift it and then lengthened myself out again. I managed to get a strong rhythm in place; the closer the canopy edge approached, the faster I moved.
When I reached the top, slightly less sturdy branches, I began my task of fruit removal. As I looked down to Orion I saw he had collected a large bunch of ripped up dirt, grass, and piles of dead leaves. He was a clever horse…sometimes.
I twisted the apples delicately until they unhitched from the tree limbs and dropped them down, each landing onto the makeshift bedding. I had gotten about fifteen or so apples off the tree when my arms began getting thoroughly exhausted from not only constantly removing the apples, but also holding me to the branch like glue. Every shifted movement I made scraped my hands and arms against the rough bark. Despite my growing desire for something other than berries, I felt the painful sting of my bandaged arm begin to grow as I held tighter to the tree.
“I think that’s all I’m going to grab for now.” I exhaled.
From my perch I could already see Orion nipping at the food I had risked life and limb for.
“You’d better not eat any before I get down there!” My shout wasn’t as forceful as I would have hoped but I could hear his responding snort, alleviating one of my several stress-ridden thoughts. “I can’t have you eating everything before I even touch ground.” I muttered softly to myself.
It hadn’t really occurred to me when I first began my climb that coming down was going to be an entirely different experience. A thoroughly impossible one so it seemed; most especially while wearing a dress and cloak.
“How the hell am I going to get back down from an almost forty foot tree?”
Gradually, I edged down the bark about a foot or so, but as I pulled back I felt my foot slip against a lose piece of bark. Before I even began drifting off the branch’s edging I could feel the flutters of falling dance through my gut, similar to when Orion bucked me off him, but on a whole new level. My nails clawed at the limb out of instinct, raking along for a few seconds until I lost touch of the scratchy tree altogether.
I gasped suddenly.
It was almost surreal seeing the tree fly further and further away, knowing that the earth was coming up just as fast to greet me. Painfully.
My body curled as close together as I could and, tightly, I shut my eyes in preparation for impact.
“OHF!” I jolted sharply from the force, not from hitting bottom but being hit head on.
I peeked from beneath my closed eyelids as I felt the wind come to a stop and the world was in one place again. I uncurled quickly out of shock and my head instantly collided with a firm chin.
“Ow…” Gripping my aching skull I started to register that a pair of sturdy arms was holding me. Familiar arms, in fact.
I turned my face up to see my rescuer and found violet eyes against gentle, though playful, features.
“Caleb!?”
“You really are annoyingly accident prone, aren’t you?” he laughed at me.
My eyes narrowed and I pouted my lips in frustration while still rubbing my scalp.
“What are you doing here? Have you been following me still?” I struggled to be released from his hold but he didn’t seem too keen on abiding. “You have a hard head, you know that?”
He walked at a slow pace towards Orion who, from the looks of it, hadn’t taken one eye off the nest of apples. I frowned at his obliviousness. “Ass.”
Caleb raised a brow at my mumbled curse then giggled softly. “I suppose I deserve that.”
“Hmm? Oh, no no! I didn’t mean you, I meant Orion…not you, no, sorry.” I shook my hands furiously, my eyes a little wide with embarrassment. Though, in retrospect, he may have kind of deserved it actually.
He glanced over at the large white horse and then back down at me.
“What on earth were you even doing?”
“Well I was hungry and so the Immortal— Hey, hold on, I’m going to be asking the questions here and besides you never answered my first ones!”
He sighed but nodded.
“So, what are you doing here?” I crossed my arms, however with some difficulty while still in the cradle of Caleb’s limbs.
“I had to come back and get my coat of course.” He grinned.
We stopped beside Orion and Caleb let me down easily, and then placed his hands on his hips, still wearing his classic smirk.
“Really?” I cocked my head a bit with my brow furrowed in disbelief at his excuse. “You just happened to be here so that you could get your coat back?”
Orion had started spitting and nipping angrily at Caleb, who seemed unfazed by the horse’s attempts to scare him away. He began pounding at the dirt and preparing a stance to charge.
I smacked my hand onto his nose, while my other hand slowly rubbed my temples in soothing circles. “I’m hungry, tired, injured, confused, lived through death and then near death,” my tone increasing in volume as I listed, “and almost every other emotion possible right now. I can’t be referee to a duel among a boundary-less moron and an oblivious ass.”
A deep breath filled my lungs and slowly calmed me down. I looked up and went over to the saddle where I grabbed Caleb’s coat.
“Here, if you intend to keep it then don’t give it to someone.” I was a little sad to lose the piece of clothing; it had kept a faint scent of Caleb on it, which eased me somewhat. Though I couldn’t really put my finger on why.
He took it from my hand and swiftly slipped into the fabric with more poise than I could ever hope to have. He pulled up the collar and inhaled deeply. “Ahh, it smells like you.”
I ruffled my features in confusion. “I smell?” My voice mumbled half-heartedly. I threw my hands over my mouth in reaction to my thought blurt.
Caleb’s strong, memorable laughter rang through my ears. He’d definitely heard me.
“You’re so funny sometimes,” he tapped my nose with his index finger and grinned.
I had crossed my eyes to follow his poking finger then shook my head.
“Yes yes, I’m a riot.” I began pushing Caleb off into the woods. “Now go back home, or wherever the hell it is you come from all the time.”
He chuckled mildly but moved out of the clearing. “See you later, beautiful!”
I scoffed at his sarcastic farewell, but as I turned back a small smile danced on my features.
Orion looked at me with an odd, pathetic giving expression but quickly changed in order to begin begging for apples. I ruffled his mane and reached down to grab one. His eyes grew wide and he let out a small, eager whiney.
I glanced at his blue gaze then took a large bite out of the fruit in front of him, savoring every bit of the juicy flavor while he watched.
He snorted with irritation, nipping at my shoulder.
“Fine, here.” I held it out in my hand and Orion practically inhaled it from my palm.
“Yuck…” Wet, dripping saliva stuck to my limb, courtesy of Orion. I swiftly rubbed it against the blankets beneath the saddle. “You’re so sanitation conscious for a horse…couldn’t you be a bit more well-mannered?” Mumbled annoyance slipped from my mouth.
He simply ignored that anything was heard and continued nudging at my back for more.
“No, nope. No more for you.” I pushed his nose back from me and went to begin collecting the apples.
There were unfortunately so few places to put them. I managed to get a nice majority into varying saddlebags and a few into my hood as it hung against my back. The remaining ones I held in my arms.
“Come on, let’s get back to the Immortal, we’re probably going to be heading into town today.” I smiled happily at the idea, “I actually sort of miss normal humans.”
Orion snorted at my comment.
The trees behind us rustled lightly. I turned my head quickly at the sound, my brow furrowing in confusion, “Caleb?” No answer came and I shrugged, taking a bite of an apple as I went back to walking, my opposite hand defying my own words and handing another apple to my four-legged companion. “Must just be me.”
Chapter Eight
The Catalyst
Chapter Eight
“OH! Come on and move your lazy ass already!!”
I pulled with all my strength on the reins but Orion stood as though I were barely a bother to him. For the past two days Orion had appeared to be more than a pain, he was an arrogant, rude, callous ass of a horse that seemed to be doing nothing more than making my life worse. And he was bringing out the most awful tendencies in me.
“Ugh!” I threw down the reins and crossed my arms tightly across my chest. Jade colored eyes glaring coldly at scoffing blue ones. “What is your problem? Why can’t you simply come along?”
He snorted and stamped a hoof against the dirt and moss covered ground.
“Oh sorry! Please, go! Do whatever the hell it is you do while I just complacently wait here!” I tossed my arms in the air to further prove my point, albeit somewhat sarcastically.
He puffed again, with a pleased grin-like expression on his face. His hooves beat in a light trot as he headed into the woods.
“You know, I don’t actually plan to wait patiently!” I screamed into the unlucky trees and bushes that he had just walked into.
A nickering laugh echoed back at me.
I scoffed and sat down on a broken, old stump. A sudden thump hit the back of my head and a pebble fell beside my foot.
“Very mature, you damn horse!”
I kicked into the dirt and waited with ever growing irritation. I looked up into the trees and saw the familiar silhouette of the Immortal walking into the small clearing I had settled into.
“Where have you been?”
A thin black brow rose at my question.
“You and Orion not getting along again?” He casually said as he slipped down to the earth with a lithely cross of his legs.
“My, how could you tell?” I mumbled under my breath, though I wasn’t entirely sure he couldn’t hear me when I did that. His abilities were still a mystery to me.
I sighed heavily. “I’m sorry; he has me a bit on edge.”
“I’ve noticed.”
I rolled my eyes. “Well, whatever, were you able to find anything to eat?”
“There are a few deer grazing near this area.”
“And? You couldn’t bring one here?”
I straightened my posture as I waited for an answer.
“Deer are very rare in this world, I was not about to diminish their population simply to comply with your stomach.”
“Rare? That’s odd…in my world there are so many deer that once a year they are allowed to be hunted in order to keep the populace in check. Well, back home at least.” I leaned onto my hands, my elbows pushing into my thighs.
“Back home?”
“We moved to Ireland three years ago…but we had been living in Maine before that.”
“Ireland?”
“Yes, Ireland is a lovely place and I did like it there, but I missed home. Grandmother had suddenly insisted that we move and since my mother had agreed to take her in after my uncle suddenly went missing…she had to comply. Not that she wanted to pack up and move to a different country, but something in grandmother’s insistence was enough to convince her, I guess.”
“You’ve mentioned your grandmother before…Guinevere. How is she?”
I sat up again at his question. I had been declining to bring up grandmother’s death with him, for some reason I felt I shouldn’t tell him quite yet. However, even though I had resigned to lie, I still hesitated to answer.
“Jade? Are you alright?”
“Yes. Oh, uh, grandmother is fine. Doing well back home. She went on a trip not that long before I left, exploring somewhere in Asia…she didn’t specify where though.” I waved my hand around in an attempt to further prove the truth of my statement.
“Hmm.” He nodded with a knowing look. “She enjoyed exploring here as well.”
“Yes, she always has.”
A comforting feeling came over me whenever I thought back on memories with her.
A sudden hot rush of air hit the back of my head, knocking me from my happy thoughts and bringing me back to reality. Where a pain in the ass horse thought I followed it’s every whim.
“It seems Orion is back. And by the way he’s gritting his teeth in my ear, I would bet that he’s hungry too.” I pressed my lips together to control my annoyance.
“Then why don’t the two of you go out and get something to eat?”
“Us?!” Orion snorted in protest beside me.
“Yes, you two. Just look for some fruit for now, that should sustain you until I can find some meat tomorrow.”
I growled at the thought of food hunting with the damn picky horse.
“Fine. Come on, Orion.” I took hold of his bridle and pulled him forward until I had time to pick up the reins, which dragged along the ground.
After a relatively quiet walk Orion began making his bored clicking sound as I wrung the leather straps in my hands.
“Stop that.”
He scoffed with a small neigh.
“Why can’t you cooperate? At least help me search!”
He made a short snorting sound and then suddenly pulled at my cloak.
“What?”
He bobbed his head in the direction he had tugged where a huge tree stood several yards away with large fruit looking objects growing from its branches.
“Good job.”
I made an attempt to rub his nose, though he pulled away and moved his head to look down at me with a large blue eye as I tried.
I sighed. “Arrogant.”
I began walking to the tree, dropping Orion’s reins in the process.
“And where do you think you’re going?” Autumn called to me from back where I once stood.
“Autumn? Why are you here?”
“Watching out for you, of course. That silly Immortal never really pays enough attention.”
“What do you mean?” I stepped away from the tree and towards her; Orion chose to wait a few feet from her position.
“That tree’s fruit is poisonous…pretty but deadly.”
“Well, it wasn’t my find exactly.” I looked over at Orion and he spun around to have his butt staring back at me.
I narrowed my eyes. “Thank you, Autumn.” Then moved to look at her again. “I’m glad you came to help. Would you point us to some non lethal fruit?”
“Sure I will.” She smiled pleasantly, turned her feet in the opposite direction, and began walking off.
I followed, grabbing Orion’s bridle as I checked to make sure that he came along.
“Here, these berries are small but the flavor is good and they fill you up rather quickly.” I saw her reach out to a strange hairy looking bush of green and brownish red, bringing back with her some bright pink and yellow colored berries.
“I think the pink ones are sweeter, the yellow have more flavor though.” She picked several and set them in my hands.
“Um, can you flip open the satchel on Orion’s side?”
Autumn tossed back the leather cover so that I could drop all the fruit in safely.
I sighed happily. “Thanks for your help.”
“My pleasure.” She bowed, her brown hair tumbling over her shoulders.
I took hold of the reins again and turned to find Autumn gone.
A sharp tug on my cloak redirected my attention to Orion, who nudged as best as he could against the bag filled with berries.
“Alright…” I removed a few and held them out to him, he gently took the fruit one by one from my hand, eating away from me before bringing his head back to retrieve more.
Despite his definite faults, he was really very clean for a horse. Although the longer I spent my time with him the more I was beginning to wonder what sort of horse he was.
When we arrived back at the clearing, the Immortal was still sitting exactly where he was, though his black eyes were closed.
I walked past him quietly so that I didn’t wake him up, but as Orion headed by he snorted at the back of my head. My eyes opened wide and I spun around quickly to clamp my arms around his muzzle. He shook his head around to be released, but I held fast.
“I’m not asleep; you don’t need to restrain him.”
I sighed in relief and let Orion go. He scoffed angrily at me and bit at my arm.
“Stop that Orion!” I swatted at him. “Immortal, did you happen to find any water near here? I’d love a bath after all this walking.”
“There’s one in that direction,” his arm stretched in the opposite bearing of where Orion and I had just come from, “not far, but enough so that you’ll feel comfortable.”
I smiled cheerfully. “Finally! Thank you Immortal!” I started heading for the water, eager to clean myself of all the dirt and grime of the last two days.
“You smiled.”
I stopped my feet and looked back to the Immortal. “What?”
“You smiled. You haven’t smiled since we left. It’s nice.”
My face warmed a little as we looked at each other. I wasn’t sure how long we had been there, neither of us moving. Orion suddenly pushed against my shoulder. I blinked several times and narrowed my eyes.
“Ugh, Orion stop that!” I pushed against his head and began walking back towards the water. His nickering laugh followed me as I went.
“Stupid horse.”
The more I walked on the better I was able to maneuver through the trees, and they seemed to be getting thinner once I spotted the clear water.
The small shore was nothing more than warm sand but the deeper edges were lined with large rocks and boulders and perhaps 20 or 30 feet across the surface a tall, beautiful waterfall dropped into the small lake.
The air surrounding the place was clean and fresh, not lined with dust and heavy with the scent of nature. I glanced around me just to be sure there was no one in the area and then I started loosening the ties and cords of my clothing, laying it all upon one of the larger rocks near the water’s closest edge.
I shivered briefly as the wind ran its breath across my naked body, where small bumps came up onto my skin. I rubbed my arms quickly to warm up. Slowly I stepped up onto the stones and took a long deep breath before jumping into the spotless pool beneath.
The water pushed against me as I broke past the surface and started to swim gracefully in the silent peace that surrounded me.
For a long while I let the waves guide me along in the deep, getting bluer the further down I went. Inside I was quite glad I had been forced to swim so often in the ocean with my mother, even though she knew I hated it greatly. Swimming and I never really mixed well.
I returned to the surface and took another breath after my extensive time beneath. I leaned my head back and brought my feet up with balance and floated on the exterior of the water.
“I wonder what town will be like. This place seems far more primitive than home…it may be like going back in time.” A giggle escaped me.
I moved my arms around my body, propelling closer towards the waterfall. As I went it was gradually becoming more difficult to move, the water felt as though it were hardening and stopping me in place. I lifted my head but my legs and torso stayed, like I was lying on a bed. I struggled against whatever held me until, slowly, two blue tinted arms appeared by my waist on either side and wrapped themselves tightly.
“How dare you...” A wisp like female voice whispered in my ear.
“Who’s there? Who are you?” I tried to turn my head but as I did so the arms suddenly vanished, leaving water pooled on my stomach. My body was free and I dropped into the water, looking around for the woman.
“Tsk tsk.” The voice clicked its tongue. “You…you things…”
“Hey! I’m not a thing! Who the hell are you?”
Cerulean colored hair bobbed to the surface in front of me and soon the lightly blue tinted skin of a forehead appeared and sure enough a lovely face followed. Yellow, spotted eyes glared at me.
“Why are YOU here!? How the hell ARE you here!?” Her voice was uncomfortably soothing as she yelled with fire in her tone.
“I’m just bathing. It’s been a long journey and there are more days ahead, I am simply trying to relax.”
“Bathing? Relaxing?” She growled.
“Yes. But I do apologize; I didn’t realize someone lived here. If I had I wouldn’t have come.” I spoke slowly, holding back the anger this bizarre woman instilled in me.
“HA!” She scoffed. “Liar.”
“I’m not lying! I’ve never been here before; I was merely taking a bath!”
The water began to heat up as her feral eyes glared down on me and her body started rising up from the waters. She stood upon the surface, her skin entirely highlighted blue and naked with long bluish green hair draping down to her feet. In some places there were fin-looking appendages protruding from her limbs, yellow and black colored lines and spots painted parts of her skin.
I couldn’t find anything to say to her and soon the water was set in motion, spinning and bubbling, the heat getting like boiling water.
“You females….things…creatures unworthy of them. You die and you die, you damn extinct woman…when you’re gone you should stay DEAD!” Her voice reached a scream and abruptly my legs were seized and yanked down.
I had no time to breathe and the longer I tried not to let go the more I felt the tightening of my chest wrench at my body. I struggled as hard as I could against the arms holding me but the pressure of the depth beat against me even harder.
My eyes blurred, I could feel unconsciousness weighing down. The last bits of air from my lungs escaped and I felt boiling waters rush in, burning my nose and lungs. In the seconds before I drifted away I thought I sensed hands wrap onto my torso and in my final living thought I imagined it to be the Immortal saving me from death.
Chapter Six
The Catalyst
Chapter Six
“What are you doing, Jade?”
“Just…wandering. Why do you ask, Grandmother?”
“Don’t you know where you are, dear?”
“Uh, not really, I guess.” I stopped my feet. I had never really thought about it, but in fact I had no idea where I was or how I got there. “I’m just…here.” I exhaled. “Grandmother, where am I?”
I waited to hear the soft sound of my grandmother’s voice, however the silence continued. I glanced around only to notice that there was nothing and no one anywhere near me. The ground beneath my feet was rough and barren, going off into the distance endlessly. As I watched the clear sky move slowly up above I felt a tremor run up through my body and abruptly my legs gave out, dropping me to the earth I stood upon.
My hands pushed in opposition to the ground with my nails digging into the hard soil. I harshly bit my lip; breathing had suddenly become so difficult.
A cold wind rushed against my side, forcing me to the ground completely. I looked in the direction the gust had come from and saw a huge, black, mist-like mass gradually soaking up all the light that was filtering down to the wasteland I seemed trapped in. The being before me groaned with deafening strength, compelling me to shield my ears.
Finally able, I stood up awkwardly, facing the center of the darkness. It was almost mesmerizing, staring as I was, and the longer I watched, I began to notice a small figure appearing in the depth. I stepped forward without thinking, merely so that I could see more clearly. Just as I started to reach my hand toward the small creature forming in the black, two bright lavender eyes opened, knocking me backwards with invisible force.
Quickly, I jumped up and looked around, but instead saw the light of early morning shining on the floor of my grandmother’s bedroom. My chest rose and fell with rapid breaths; apparently it was only a dream.
“I’ve never dreamt something that felt so real before.” I sighed, exhaling a long withheld breath of anxiety. “…So real.”
I held my head in my hands as my body calmed down from the insanity of what I felt just happened. It was very strange, my thoughts wandered against my will back to the dream, a small black mass with lavender eyes…
I looked up again, staring briefly at the desk against the wall where my two fruits sat quietly, frozen like crystal. I had managed to perform the frozen spell once more on the peach from The Immortal’s garden.
“The Immortal!” I threw the covers off my legs and jumped to the floor to quickly put my clothes on.
I hadn’t seen the Immortal for almost three days now. “It’s a good thing I had found a bathroom on our way back to the room last time or I probably would have gotten lost and died in this damn tower looking for one.” I slipped into the bare minimum of my clothes, as I wanted to go and try and find him as soon as possible. I put on the under part of my dress and laced up the back.
As I opened the door and began heading into the hall, I attempted to comb through my hair with my fingers. “I wish I had a hair brush…I probably look horrible. But seeing as there is no time for me to head into the bathroom and take a quick shower...err, more like a bath really, I’ll simply have to bear with it.” I sighed.
I managed to find a staircase, however due to the darkness and the fact I had spent nearly all my time in my grandmother’s sun lit room, I was still not accustomed to walking around in the black of the tower.
Once I reached the floor again I turned both ways, I couldn’t remember which direction we had originally come from, or if there was even a way, or if it was a huge room or a small passage, or if I stepped forward I’d fall into a hole. It was simply too hard to see; to some degree I could make things out but otherwise I was barely able to notice my own hand in front of my face. “Crap.” My voice sounded quiet and minute.
I chewed on my lip as I thought, eventually I decided on right and once I found the wall I moved across it slowly as far as I could. There were a few instances where I came across a door…but not knowing what I would find kept me from looking, even though each time my side smacked into a doorknob my curiosity grew. I didn’t want to come across something I would wish I hadn’t, or perhaps irritate the Immortal, I didn’t think I wanted to piss off the man kind enough to let me, a stranger, stay here. “I suppose I’m not exactly a stranger. I mean he knew my grandmother, and from her stories I almost feel like I know him myself. Well, maybe a little anyways.”
I giggled slightly, which echoed in the hall.
Once I calmed down I heard a small wind blowing from somewhere near me, or at least it sounded as though it was near me. It was difficult sometimes to tell where a noise was coming from in these passages. I continued moving forward until I came across dim light drifting from a somewhat ajar door at the end of another corridor to my left. I could see an opened balcony similar to the one in my grandmother’s bedroom although it appeared to be larger. Perhaps it was one of the other real windows I had noticed outside the tower.
I walked toward it, heading through easily without holding against the wall to know where I was going. I placed my hands on the door’s side and edged it open so that I didn’t make a sound.
The room was enormous; books on large wooden shelves lined three of the five walls in the place. There were also two large old desks placed side-by-side, each having antique objects such as lamps and stationary sets. Lining yet another wall was a huge bed with four posts reaching up to the high lifting ceiling, on either side sat a nightstand lined with books and papers as well as a few old fashioned pens and identical twin lamps, both of which appeared to be oil fueled. Up along the last wall hung several types of weapons, most were sword-like in appearance, there were also a few bunches of daggers, some axes of different types, many spears and staff shaped poles, and at the top of this impressive collection were a couple odd looking guns, none of which were overly familiar to me. On the floor just beneath the arsenal rack was a bench with a few disheveled towels and blood looking stains spread upon it.
I reached my hand out and ran it along one of the larger claymore-like swords that had a strange greenish stone engraved into the blade. “You’re very beautiful.” Grandmother had once taken some sword handling lessons and because of that she had a few antique ones she kept in her home. She always told me that a sword is precious to its handler, just like a child to a parent; you always refer to them by gender and name. In fact, I would even on occasion talk to them when my cousin, Daela or grandmother, or my uncle weren’t around.
“I may not know your name, but you seem female to me.”
I stroked the stone gently when a sudden chill slipped in through the window. I turned around; I was tempted to close the balcony doors, however I didn’t want anyone to know I had been here.
Glancing about the room again, my curious urge couldn’t be stopped. I walked as lightly as I could as I moved over to look at the many things spread out on the nightstands. The papers were old looking, not unlike the ones in grandmother’s grimoire, with lovely articulate letters spread on it. I sifted through a few of the books but paused when I came across one that reminded me of a notebook or journal.
I felt a bit bad for snooping, everything about this room felt untouched and aged, however something continued to push me forward and so I opened the cover finding not only words but also sketching. Some was really incredible, practically photo-like sketching.
They looked like plans or something, although nearly every page was in different languages; there were a few that appeared familiar and some I didn’t think were even from my world, and probably weren’t. To be honest, I was a bit disheartened that I couldn’t read it. While still flipping through the pages I saw a drawing of a young woman, and she continued to appear numerous times, the majority of the notebook was filled with her. I stopped my scanning when a full-page portrait came up, and as I traced the lines with my eyes I found her familiar. I remembered back in my grandmother’s home, all the photographs she had and realized that this…was her. There was something different about her here though, her eyes seemed unsure but happy. Far happier than much of the time I was with her back at home. Her hair was cut a bit differently also.
“Grandmother was so lovely.” A sudden tear fell onto the page. “Oh damn!” I dabbed at the mark and blew on it as carefully as I could, and thankfully the mark lifted, for the most part. I quickly shut the journal and set it back under the books and loose papers. Hopefully it would dry completely and no one would be the wiser if they came to open it.
I moved away from the stand and noticed that there were a few empty and filled sheaths hanging on the banister opposite me. Unfortunately my notice of those belted holders drew my eyes to a green chaise which had the Immortal’s shirt draped upon it. The very one I had seen him wearing the last day I was with him.
“Oh hell…this is his bedroom.”
Now I felt even more like a trespasser than before.
Well, I suppose that it’s not the end of the world; I had been trying to find him. “If I wait here, he’d have to show up eventually. Although, if I wait here, there is no way he wouldn’t know that I probably rummaged about his room.” Then, as per usual, my thoughts wandered off a bit, “I wonder when he actually sleeps anyway?”
There had to be some way I could contact him, especially in a place this large. I walked over to the still opened door and slipped out, making sure to close it just enough to match were it had been before I came. I edged back through the hall until I made it to the crossroads were I turned from earlier. I headed left in order to go along my original path. I hoped.
After a heart-racing trip down a few stairs I managed to take hold of the banister, catching myself before I fell the entire way. Once I made it past the rather long set of stairs I ended up in the room I had first fallen into, meeting the shocked Immortal and a strange pink eyed woman. The ceiling was still broken with my blood spattered on the remnants of it, which sat despondently in piles on the flooring. I lifted a few pieces and looked nostalgically at the splintered edges where my blood soaked into the fibers. I winced at the vague memory, dropping the wood back to its place.
“Exploring?”
I leapt back, running into the broken wall beside the mess on the ground. An average sized woman, running closer to petite, stepped out from behind the floating wall in the center of the room. As she faced me her eyes opened fully, revealing two vividly pink marbles grinning at me on a breathtakingly beautiful face.
“You’re that woman the Immortal had imprisoned.”
“Oh no, we were merely playing a little game.”
“Game? Torture is hardly a game.” I stood firmly in place, mostly because I knew nothing about this woman to be uncomfortable in her presence.
“Hmm, perhaps it isn’t.” Her exposed shoulders shrugged, however, her gaze flickered to me with a dark mischievous glimmer. “To some.”
That was a bit unnerving; my own gaze began to watch her closely as a strange uncertainty started to slip through my veins. Suddenly her body seemed to vibrate and one blink later she stood directly in front of me, her eyes looking at my own with an expression that was rather unnerving.
“You know, I think you really are Guinn’s granddaughter. Your faces are a similar, and yet, not.” She giggled lightly, running a finger along my jawline.
I turned away from her touch, trying to maintain the blankest expression I could manage.
She scoffed with an amused look and, swift as lightning, I was tossed onto the floor where two loud brakes were made near my ears. I looked up and the woman was hovering over me, her hands dug into the wood beside my head. As I watched above me, her golden hair slid off her shoulders and fell onto my arms; the tresses were smooth but oddly slick and cold, chilling my skin.
“I think you’re much prettier though. Like a lovely porcelain doll.” I felt her fingers playing with my hair and running along my neck and collarbone. “Must be sure not to break you.”
I tried not to focus on her as she lowered her head to mine, the skin of her cheek touching my own. She was soft but cool, rather than warm like a person would normally be. I heard as she inhaled.
“You smell warm and sweet, just like strawberries wrapped in rich chocolate cake.” She licked her fingers, her face appearing to be in delicious thought, “I love strawberries”. I tried to slip from beneath her, but while her eyes were still shut she quickly placed a finger on my forehead, holding me completely still. “Precious dolls shouldn’t try to escape.”
“I am not a doll!”
Her face looked saddened by my words, but only for a moment. She quickly grinned again, “hmm, fiery are you? You should be careful though, you might burn up.” She laughed.
Abruptly, her amusement stopped.
In that moment, I become aware of a blood red satin ribbon with the bow on the side tied around her neck and attached to the center knot was a lone silver chain link. The fetter was strangely compelling, if I weren’t held down I would have been drawn to try and touch it.
“Oh damn, I wanted to play more.” She stood up lithely, pulling me with her and distracting my thoughts from the reflecting object around her neck. Her pink eyes caught mine once more, her hand moving to gently stroke my hair. “Until next time, precious doll.”
Right as I went to slap away her hand she was already at the far wall, grinning with a light giggle. In a flick of the eye, she appeared to vibrate again and then she was gone.
I felt as though her eyes were burnt into my brain. They were strange, almost like they were seeing through me and into my soul, and yet, strangely glassy and slick, like her hair. Although, what hung in my memory the most was the silver link that was joined with the ribbon neatly tied around her slender neck. Considering how strongly it called to me, I wondered if it were enchanted or something…though I suppose I could have also just discovered the unknown urges of onset kleptomania. “As if that’s even a thing.” I mumbled.
“Jade, why are you here?”
The Immortal stood in the doorway of the room, his eyebrows down in confusion.
“Uh, it-it was an accident. I just kind of wandered in here…I was looking for you, actually.”
“Me?”
“Well, yes. I mean, I haven’t seen you for three days. Haven’t you wondered where I’ve been? If I needed something? I mean, I haven’t gotten to eat either! Have you even eaten? Do you even eat at all?” My thoughts were sort of on the spam setting, hands held on my hips, the pent up irritation from that bizarre and unsettling experience with that woman seemed to be flowing free as I babbled. Plus, I really don’t know why I hadn’t realized it earlier, but I was very hungry. “Where have you been anyway?” I seemed to finish my rant and quirked a brow at him, with still kind of clouded but strong interest.
He shrugged nonchalantly. “I’ve been busy.”
“Don’t you think the person who is also now apparently living here would like to be aware of that? And you still have no food I bet.”
“Not as of yet, no.”
I groaned. “Immortal, there needs to be food here. I don’t know what or when you ever eat, if at all, but it obviously isn’t here seeing as everything is decades, if not centuries old.”
“I generally eat when I’m out. There is little need to have food here.”
“Well now there is. I’m here and I need to eat.”
He sighed and left the room.
Hastily I ran after him. “You said there was a town nearby…”
He blinked several times, seemingly in thought. “I never said anything like that.”
Crap, that was Caleb. “Uh, I suppose I thought it was you. Must have been something I considered asking about while speaking to you at one point.”
He said nothing and I exhaled thankfully. “So?”
“So what?”
I scoffed, “So is there a town or not?”
“Yes there is. Two, in fact.”
“Good, then would you please come with me to get some food? I would really love to have a decent meal. Plus…” I rubbed my arm, already feeling the weirdness of the moment that hadn’t, if ever, happened yet. “It would be kind of awkward to just stroll into a big place I have never been to as a complete stranger, who knows nothing all about them or this world, by myself.”
He was silent for a few minutes.
Does he really need to think about taking someone who hasn’t eaten for days to get food? I nearly mumbled that passing thought right as he began to reply to my question.
“I suppose. I do need to get a few things.”
“I thought you said you were just out? What were you doing then?” I quickened my pace to stand beside him and glanced up at his face.
He smirked ever so slightly, knowing I was probing him for slipped out secrets. “I wasn’t out doing errands.”
“Ah, well what were you doing?” I smiled sarcastically at him.
“Nothing of consequence.”
“Hmm,” I huffed. “That’s just a fancy way of not telling me.”
“Perhaps.”
“Fine then. Buuut, you’ll be taking me to town, yes?”
We were paused in the intersection where the Immortal’s bedroom was hidden down the right corridor.
“I’ll go and finish getting dressed. You meet me there once you have whatever it is you may need.” I babbled off the arrangement like I were reading a list of what to do.
In his usual tone, “Of course, milady.”
“Oh, don’t be facetious.”
He quietly exhaled a tiny laugh at me. I smiled to myself; luckily he didn’t seem upset with me anymore. I had almost forgotten in all that had gone on the past three days how angry he was that evening when he found me with the grimoire.
While I moved along the passages to get to my room, I felt my heart beat faster. I didn’t realize how excited I would be to go into the town of another world, especially one as interesting as this. I wondered though if I was more excited as to what people would think of me, an unknown person appearing with the legendary Immortal at my side.
For a quick moment I felt my face burn.
Chapter Five
The Catalyst
Chapter Five
CRACK! POOF! BOOM!
I waved my hands fiercely, trying to move and disperse the smoke now swirling in angry clouds all around me. As the opaque fog began to clear I noticed the charred, broken bits of my ingredients spread in every direction.
“Crap…wrong again…”
I wiped all the debris from my clothes and started sweeping the excess pieces scattered on the floor into an increasingly large pile to my left. My hand reached back and grabbed yet another of the several random objects I had managed to find in the room. I set what appeared to be a half burnt shoe on the floor in front of me and then placed a few dead leaves I had found curled up in a corner on the balcony around it. I then gently placed a small heart shaped locket I had happened across in the drawer of my grandmother’s desk amongst the other pieces.
Quickly I went to make sure the doors of the balcony were still held open and with a brief glance to the sky, I ran back and kneeled before my pile of what appeared to be a conglomeration of useless junk.
“Ok…”I exhaled with determination.
I attempted reading another incantation I had found in the grimoire in hopes of finding the correct archaic translation for my grandmother’s English written spell. The locket flamed as it had done every time before, the leaves seeming to melt into the deformed footwear. However instead of freezing, as I had guessed the poem was for, the half flame-eaten shoe expanded. I leaned back from the chaos when it suddenly sucked itself into a thin mass and then fizzled up with the leaves as the locket flames enveloped it.
I thrust my fist against the floorboards. “Damn it!” Sighing, I sat down and then fell backward to the floor, covering my face with a tired arm.
“What are you doing?”
My eyes popped open and I turned back on my head to see who was behind me, as though I were standing and looking to the sky. Upside down, while leaning casually against my open balcony doors, stood my midnight intruder, Caleb. Though I was on the floor I could still make out his face, wearing the same smirk I remembered seeing the night before. “What are you doing?” I replied, somewhat sarcastically.
He chuckled lightly and sashayed over to where I was still lying in irritation with myself and leaned over me. “I asked first.”
“Just… shut up.” I rolled my eyes and sat up with my back to Caleb. I heard him step forward and mess with the pile of burnt ashes I had been making. “Stop that…”
“Stop what? I haven’t done anything.” Caleb appeared beside me and gracefully lowered himself to the floor. “But you have obviously got some issues.”
“No I don’t! I just…I just can’t figure out what these spells mean…” I looked to the open book but made my way back to staring sadly at my brand new pile of black residue. “I wish grandmother had made some sort of key to her spell book.” I leaned on my hand, several seconds ticking by in silence.
“They’re not that difficult.”
I had almost forgotten about Caleb, he seemed one to constantly make sure every person around was aware of him, and not hearing his voice made it seem as though I were alone again.
“It is difficult, Caleb. I can’t read this language. Plus I was never very good with finding meaning in poems anyway.”
“You don’t need to find meaning exactly…the words are simply over complicated. Guinn preferred being rather traditional in her homemade works.”
I looked at Caleb while he spoke; I never knew grandmother cared so much for customs…? “Can you understand them?”
“Of course.” He grinned proudly.
I reached for the grimoire and placed it in front of us, keeping the page with the English wording opened. I pointed a finger against the rough, ancient paper directly beneath the words of the small spell I had found and been attempting to decipher.
Frozen.
Drops of red wishes,
Bits of existence yet none that flow,
No breath to have,
Glow of life,
Dance of strength pulsed with text.
Simple answers,
Glean complex regrets.
“I don’t recognize this one; it must have been one of her last.”
I followed his quick moving eyes as he read through the words over and over. “So, do you know what it means?”
“Yes, it’s fairly simple. Permanent though.” He looked about the room several times and then abruptly jumped to his feet.
I watched him as he grabbed the apple I had placed on the desk. He seemed to look it over with great intensity. His violet eyes turned to me as he walked lithely back to where I was sitting.
“Use this.” The apple Caleb held suddenly dropped from above me; looking up I saw his face, a little more serious than I was used to. “Live matter is best for beginners.”
“This isn’t alive…” I turned the apple over in my palm.
“It may no longer be…but technically plants are living matter.”
Caleb’s even toned words were strange to my ears; he was acting very different. It was nice to know he had more than just perverted sly as a setting in his brain.
While he returned to his position next to me, I set the apple on the floor. “Ok, so…now what?”
“I suppose it will be easiest to go line by line.”
“Alright then. Frozen…I assumed that was a title or the purpose of the spell.”
“Pretty much, yes.”
“Ok then, drops of red wishes. What is that?”
Caleb took firm hold of my right hand, “Hey…” he slid his finger across my palm and a bleeding cut suddenly appeared out of my skin. “Why did you do that!?”
He shrugged nonchalantly at my question “It’s not my spell.” He moved my hand over the apple and squeezed with great strength, my bones felt like they would break from the force. Despite the pain, I continued to watch curiously as blood seeped from my hand and fell onto the apple, coating it in dark red splotches. “One down.” His grip was released and reasserted itself on a few strands of my hair, which he pulled out with no care for me.
“OW! Stop abusing my body!”
He chuckled with a grin as he dropped the few long hairs onto the blood-covered apple. “Bits of existence, yet none that flow.” He spoke.
I rubbed my head gently as he yet again stood up. “Where are you going? I thought you were helping me?” I turned and followed him with my eyes.
“I am helping you.” He quietly shut the double doors of the balcony. “No breath to have. It means the air around the spell must be stagnant, no wind at all.”
“Does that mean we can’t breathe either?”
“Yes, but only when we begin the incantation.”
I had all this time been watching Caleb move all over the room doing this and that and it was slowly dawning on me that perhaps Caleb wasn’t as bad as I had first thought. After all, if grandmother was close with him he must have something redeeming about him; idiots always put her off.
“Now for the Glow of Life.” Caleb opened his hand up at the ceiling and closed his eyes. I watched with interest, first at his hand then his face. He opened his mouth and began quickly forming words; however I didn’t hear anything, which deepened my attention in what he was doing.
Suddenly an intensely bright orb of light ripped itself into existence a few inches from the bedroom ceiling. I had to shield my eyes from the blaze; the small sphere looked exactly like a miniature sun.
“Hmm, not my best.” Caleb lowered his hand and turned back to me.
I quirked my brow at him “Do you make a habit of creating small suns or something? Because…that’s just weird.”
He laughed loudly at me.
I narrowed my eyes and then stuck out my tongue, which seemed to be my favorite expression of annoyance lately. “Well whatever. Now what do we do?”
“Not me, you.”
“But I can’t read this?”
“Don’t worry, I’ll teach you how to pronounce everything.”
I sighed lightly and bit my lip. “Ok, but what does this line even mean? ‘Dance of Strength Pulsed with Text.’”
“It appears that Guinn tried to add hand motions to the incantation. HA, I swear she only did that to piss off whoever read this.” He chuckled a little.
“What? Why?”
“Sometimes she added things like that simply to irritate some of the other lower class witches in town. They always snuck peaks in her grimoire when she brought it into town and wasn’t looking.”
“There is a town here!?”
“Well, duh. Did you just think this world was an out of place, fucking castle in the middle of an abandoned forest?”
“Sort of…grandmother never really told me many things about other places. She rarely mentioned other people besides The Immortal.”
Caleb’s face ruffled in anger for a brief moment before he took my hand and quickly sliced it once again as he ran his finger’s edge against my palm. The same palm he had cut earlier, though strangely the prior cut was gone.
“AH, What the HELL!?” I tried to pull my hand from him but he held it exact and in place.
“I’m doing what I’m supposed to do. She doesn’t actually want you to do motions to the text, she wants two more drops of blood added, one before and one after you read the spell.”
My face softened in mild shock and confusion. “How do you know that?”
“Guinn and I were very close; I know a lot of things about her.”
His face seemed blank as he moved my hand over the apple and squeezed it, however this time his grip felt weaker than his earlier bone crushing one. I winced slightly from the pain and chewed on the inside of my lip while watching drops of blood fall back to coat the already clotting blood from before.
“Caleb…are…are you alright?” He gave my hand back and I rubbed it gently, until I noticed the still bleeding abrasion begin to suture itself up.
“Yes, I’m fine. Here read these words, I wrote each to suit the way they would be pronounced.” He sat a piece of paper in front of me with characters written on them almost as though they had been typed.
“How did you..?” I pointed to the parchment in front of me.
“Magic, Jade.”
“Duh, sorry.” I shook my head briefly and then nodded. “So I simply read this over the apple, and what, it will freeze?”
“Should, just make sure you don’t mess up. One screwed up word alters the entire thing.”
“Thanks for the confidence.” I scoffed.
“Sure, anything to help.” He smirked sarcastically.
“Ugh, well hush up. Oh, and don’t breath, remember, I’m about to start.”
I took a deep breath and started to read the few lines of the ritual.
“Glayceealis,
Occoombow of rootilus vota,
Secooi of veeta eteeamnoonc noolloos oot permoveeo,
Hawd spearitus habayo,
Tripoodeeo of veares comotus per lacoona.
Simplex refero,
Mico ooniversa desiderium.”
Before I let myself take a breath, I moved my hand over the apple and allowed the last remaining drop of blood from my nearly healed wound to slip onto the fruit. Suddenly the clotted blood surrounding the red skinned apple began to fizz slightly, followed by small quick exploding bubbles which turned over on themselves, freezing instantly once popped. The splatters combined to make a solid layer of ice, however after a few moments in the makeshift sun the ice slid off the once blood covered skin, revealing a perfectly crystallized apple.
“Oh my gosh.” I lifted the fruit carefully and watched it gleam in the mini sun’s rays. “This is amazing…I can’t believe I did this!”
“Technically, we did this, since you couldn’t figure out the text.” Caleb poked a finger against my forehead.
I groaned at him as I stood to go place the apple beside the peach I also had sitting on the old desk.
“Well, as I read from the paper I realized that I actually did know what that is. The writing is Latin. I wasn’t able to notice it because I never actually took the class at school, my friend did, and she always joked around by reciting it exactly as it was spelled. Because, of course, as no one really knows how it is pronounced, they can’t know whether the idea they have for its pronunciation is correct or not.” I laughed mildly as I came back to stand beside Caleb.
“Yeah, that’s not funny.”
“Well, we thought it was.”
“Ok..well, now I’m going to go and not be here with your ‘Latin’.” He stood up and started backing towards the door, giving me sarcastic air quotes as he said Latin.
I frowned at his annoying behavior. “Sometimes I wonder whatever possessed me not to knock you out when you first snuck into my room.”
“Because I’m sexy.”
“Get out!”
He laughed at my command and continued to do so as he leapt from the balcony and away from the tower.
All I could do was sigh as I rolled my eyes.
Chapter Four
The Catalyst
Chapter Four
I slowly pulled the threads stitched into an old white blanket spread over my grandmother’s bed. The nervous tears I made in the now slightly damaged bedding helped ease the anxious flutters from my last encounter with The Immortal. Even now, a good two hours later, I could still clearly see his hard black eyes glaring at me with anger and disgust.
“I don’t understand what I did wrong…”my sudden voice in the wide room sounded foreign and abrupt to my ears, especially with the long hours of relative silence. As I shifted position to better satisfy my comfort, clumped strands of my long black hair fell past my shoulder and pooled around my hands where I continuously fiddled with the loosened fibers. “I wonder why he got so upset.” I turned my head in thought while tumultuously picking at the cloth.
“Because he’s got a pole up his ass.” A sudden sarcastic male voice broke into my personal conversation with myself.
I looked up quickly with surprise, recoiling on the bed until I was sitting up straight, facing the intruder. He was leaning casually against the edge of the open balcony doors, a smirk gracing his features.
“Who the hell are you?” I furrowed my brow and watched him closely, in wait for his answer.
He shrugged slightly and pulled off the wall to head toward the bed with hands held up as he sighed. “Questions, questions. What’s wrong with being a mystery?” He peeked at me from beneath closed eyes and grinned while dropping his arms, crossing them against his chest.
“I suppose I prefer knowing who the perpetrator is beforehand.” I mirrored his movements, in some way demonstrating that I was playing along.
“Perpetrator? What makes you think I’ve come to do something that my incriminate me?”
“You snuck in, how would I know what you’re thinking?” I raised my brow with a mischievous smile tugging at my lips.
“Valid points.” He nodded to me, similar to a gesture of gentlemanly defeat.
I released my arms and, against my natural instincts, crawled toward the man, though I kept enough distance in order to move back if necessary. I looked up at his lowered face and noticed his still smirking lips below nearly closed eyes. “So, who are you then?” I cocked my head while still gradually edging closer to the man in anticipation.
Nothing happened for several minutes. I opened my mouth to speak again and in an abrupt flash the man grabbed my hand, pulled me off the bed and let me land directly on his lips. My eyes were open wide; his strong hold around my waist edged me closer, while his other hand cradled my face along the jawline. I must have been about a foot or so off the ground.
My brain was not really working correctly and so I felt my body take matters into its own…well, hands. His eyes opened and looked at mine, I couldn’t make out a single expression in those exquisitely bold violet colors. Suddenly I saw my fist come hurling towards the man’s cheek; when the skin, muscle, and bone collided with his face my lips and body were freed as the victim of my blow nearly lost balance from the surprise and dropped me to the floor.
“What in the hell do you think you were doing!?” I glared angrily at his hidden face.
However, instead of whatever it was I had been expecting him to do, I heard a quiet, clear laugh erupt from his slightly hunched posture. “You are fiery, aren’t you?” He turned up to face me, still smirking, without any mark or drop of blood on his face.
I grimaced in confusion, noticing a sharp, growing throb of pain in my knuckles. “I really should have kept on with those kickboxing classes.” I whispered to myself, while examining my quickly bruising hand for any breaks.
“Kick boxing?”
I looked up, quickly noticing the perverted stranger staring at me with puzzlement in his features. I realized I had yet again spoken my thoughts. “Oh, um, it’s a sport…a type of fighting practice, I guess.” I shrugged as nonchalantly as I could manage.
“Fighting? You?”
True, I wasn’t really much of an actual fighter. I had started many things, only to move on quickly afterward. Uncertain of where this situation was heading I opted to stretch the truth, just a bit. “Yes, actually. I enjoy many sports; kickboxing, rock climbing, horseback riding, swimming; lots of things.” My voice ticked off several of the activities I had participated in, although my thoughts were already beginning to wander a bit off track. Mumbling, “Grandmother took me everywhere with her, anything interesting and unique.” I smiled longingly at the thoughts.
“Ah yes. And how is dear Guinn?”
I focused my drifting attention back on the man, leading me to notice how close he was to me. I took a step back, hitting the bed with my leg before I stopped. “What makes you think Guinn is my grandmother?”
“I can see it in your face. You look similar and yet not at all…there is just something new and different about you, it’s there, in your eyes.” He reached his hand out to me but I pulled away, nearly falling backward onto the bed. “Hmm…regardless, I welcome you my flaming beauty, I am Caleb.” He moved back a step and bowed low before me.
“Uh…thanks, um, I’m Jade.”
“May I ask you something, Jade?”
I leaned back more with my balance being secured by my hold on the bedpost beside me. “Sure, what is it?”
I watched cautiously as Caleb’s hand slid along the wooden post, his eyes watching mine. He suddenly grasped my steadying hand tightly against the timber, “How much do you really know about this place?”
“Uh…o-only what my grandmother’s told me…what’re you doing?” I mumbled anxiously, finding it hard to predict Caleb’s movements.
I managed to release my hand, but was instantly shoved back and pinned down on the bed with Caleb securely holding my wrists. We looked at each other for a few seconds; he was very handsome, with soft masculine features and coiffed yet messy black hair framed his face. He moved closer to me and opened his mouth to speak.
“There were some things Guinn never knew…” he came even closer, his cheek down beside my own. I could feel his hot breath on my neck, and, despite the peculiarity of the situation, I found myself to be blushing fiercely. My quickening pulse I sensed in places I had never noticed before as his whisper continued “…there were secrets we Immortals never revealed.” The soft brush of his lips sent my body into hot shivers.
“Wait…” I exhaled quietly “…we? We Immortals? You’re Immortal?”
Caleb pulled away from my neck to look into my face. The exciting moments now left and part of me was excessively pissed at myself for halting its progress. I continued gazing into his seemingly endless violet eyes while I waited for his answer. Instead, he leaned down and lightly pressed his lips to mine, flaring my hormones again. As he slowly backed off the bed I found myself following, not wanting to break our gentle bond.
Caleb moved back from me and grinned “If you ever need me, call my name and I’ll come.” He bowed once more with a glint in his bright eyes.
“T-thank you…” I whispered, though I quickly regained my senses “…but you’re still a creepy pervert.”
He laughed and then stepped toward the open balcony doors.
“Wait!” I inadvertently spoke to him just as he was about to leap from the railing. “I uhh…can I, um, if I call for you…will you allow me to ask questions?”
“It all depends on the question.” He grinned a convoluted farewell and leapt from his perch.
I gasped quickly from his sudden departure and ran over to the rails to look for him. I thought I may have seen him slip beneath a tree but it was so dark I couldn’t really tell whether it was or wasn’t even anything at all.
“Caleb?” I heard the strange echo of my voice flow out over the trees.
“Yes.” He asked calmly from behind me.
“Oh my gosh,” I turned around to find him smirking as he did before with his hands on his hips.
“I’m gone for hardly ten seconds and already you miss me?”
“No,” I turned my head in denial, “I don’t even know you…” With the slightest bit of embarrassment in my tone, “I was just testing.”
“Didn’t think I meant what I said, huh?” He quirked his brow at me and crossed his arms.
“Listen, I’m sorry for being skeptical, but I’m just not used to you guys yet…this is all very weird for me.”
“You guys?” Caleb scoffed, “don’t compare me to that man.”
“The Immortal?” my brow furrowed. “Why not? He isn’t that bad really, a little mysterious perhaps, but not bad.”
“That all depends on one’s definition of bad. Even still, whether he be bad or not, he most certainly isn’t someone I would leave a young woman with.”
“Oh no … no, he’s not like that… I mean you are, but he isn’t. Definitely not. No.” I shook my head several times.
“No, he’ll bore you to death!” his hands gestured into the air. “He hasn’t been company to even the dust in this crappy tower for the last few centuries!” Caleb shouted with irritation, rolling his eyes and continuing to fling his hands about.
“He’s not that boring, I think he simply needs to work on not being…I don’t know..passively annoying.”
Caleb stopped his over the top antics, “Passively annoying?”
“Yes, he is always teasing me slyly, hiding behind his stoic face, like I don’t notice it when he does. And one time I swear he laughed at me.” I rolled my eyes.
Caleb didn’t respond, he looked as though he were staring into space.
“Caleb?” my hand reached out, but I stopped it quickly.
“That bastard!”
“What?!”
“That ass, how dare he! Not after everything, no way in hell!” Caleb ran past me and leapt off the balcony.
I spun around in confusion, trying to follow where exactly the conversation had gone and why Caleb was suddenly pissed at The Immortal. Or, well, more pissed. Leaning over the railing I was barely able to make out the figure of him protesting loudly and walking in a circle.
“CALEB?” I shouted out to him, but from the way the shape continued to pace I assumed he hadn’t heard my call. For a brief moment I saw the glow of his violet eyes before he ran into the darkness of the dense Talen forest.
I watched for a little while longer but I never saw anything more, so I went back into the room and closed the two doors behind me. Once I had both shut, I noticed for the first time that the wooden carvings sporadically placed on the glass didn’t match against each other’s opposite reflection. Instead they made some odd design….somewhat like the symbols in grandmother’s book. I walked over to the still opened text and started flipping through the pages in a quite possibly ill attempt at finding the meaning.
I leafed through every page and image, taking a cursory glance at each, but I couldn’t find anything that matched the sign formed by the double doors. With an almost unhappy realization, I knew that there was practically no way I would ever be able to figure out a single word in this book, at least not without the help of a certain person who seems to be invariably unpleased with the mere sight of the old grimoire. I dropped my head down onto the desk with a sigh; I had fallen faster than I realized and though I stayed down I could feel the bruise forming on my forehead.
“Ugh…I don’t want to ask him for help…I’m surprised he hasn’t already thrown me out!” I wrapped my arms around my head in irritation. “Damn it, damn it, damn it…there is no way I can learn any of this. I don’t know why grandmother ever thought I would be good at this. How can I hope to be a witch if I can’t even read the language! Plus even if I could read it, I wouldn’t be able to understand it.” I bit my lip harshly, but resigned myself to my fate.
With mental and physical exhaustion, I closed the book and went slowly over to the disheveled bed where I laid down with yet another weary sigh.
“Today has been the longest day of my entire life…I’m just so tired…” I rolled over onto my side, staring at the blank old wall ahead of me. I kept my eyes open for a long while, thinking over the bizarre bits of information I had gotten from Caleb. Everything about him and his words seemed to upset all grandmother had told me; I was more lost in this world than before.
I slid my eyelids shut and began drifting into the weightless feelings of sleep. Confused combinations of violet and black eyes swirled around in seas of silky onyx hair, drowning me with knotted lies. In my floating unconsciousness I pondered what to believe, my grandmother who raised me more than my own mother or a strange sensual pervert who suddenly appeared with strings of unanswered questions.
“…Caleb…”
End
