Book of Curses (The Renning Chronicles) (26 page)

The tears just ran down my cheeks, splattering onto my bed sheets. I was like a small child, and I didn't want him to see me like this. I didn't want pity, and I didn't want him to worry. I felt my embarrassment and looked down, letting out a low and rough but mainly audible. “Get out,
please...”
To Tom, who stood up quickly, stayed there for a moment I'm sure trying to thinking of what he should do or say, and
without
a word he left.

I used my hand to wipe my face as the tears kept falling, ignoring the pang from my arms as I moved them. What Tom said, it'd woken emotions they were delayed, but nonetheless emotions. I felt sadness for everyone who got hurt, kidnapped, or worse killed. Fear for Nixon's mother, she didn't deserve what she'd gotten, and I didn't want him to lose her because we didn't move fast enough to get there.

Then there was the anger I felt, it was bubbling up to the top of everything. The anger for not being able to see something like Amamai taking over Morana. Not even being able to tell the difference between the two of them.  I had yet to hear if Morana was ok, and not being able to warn and protect everyone like I was supposed to. This wasn't what I
wanted;
this wasn't what was supposed to happen. Lives were lost, because I didn't notice the obvious. 

Balling up my fists in the blankets, I just stared ahead thinking to myself. They were thoughts that I didn't remember once they were gone again, mindless little things. I wasn't sure how long I sat there like that, but I knew I was there for a long time and had managed to stop crying finally. Though, I still couldn't move,
at least
not until the door opened and I heard a voice I didn't expect to hear.

“Nixon wanted me to check in on you, see if you were really awake.” Talon said in a low voice, moving over to me slowly. I could hear the steady click of his boots against the floor as he made his way over. 

I lifted my head slowly, almost robotically, and looked over at Talon. I didn't know what I expected to see after what Tom said, but it sure wasn't what I saw when I looked at him. 

Talon's neck had a bandage wrapped around it, and his left leg as well. Though he was walking on it with hardly any limp, it was still there. His face was scattered with nearly healed bruises and cuts, he didn't look like someone who'd nearly had their throat ripped out in front of everyone.

He looked like someone who took a bad beating, got up and kept going. That was the part about vampires I was starting to hate, they healed too fast, and I was still the same as the day I got there.

“It isn’t polite to stare.” He said to me, in a bemused voice.

Looking away, I still didn't care to speak. My eyes went right back to my sheets, my hands were still balled up into fists. I didn't even notice that he was standing next to me at
first;
he was scanning me curiously until I looked back over, and nearly screamed.

“Are you alright?”  He asked me,
and then
took a moment
to
think about what he'd just asked me. “Well, alright mentally.”

“No.” It was all I could get out, and it was the only thing I could think to say anyway.

He took the seat next to me, getting comfortable before letting out a bit of a sigh. “What’s wrong?”

“I should’ve seen it, warned everyone,
and saved
people from getting hurt.” I snapped. The anger I had felt was leaking out now, and being directed at him as if it was his fault.  “I should’ve been able to tell everyone, let everyone know. Prevented Nixon’s mother from nearly
dying
prevented his sister’s from being put in
harm’s
way. None of us would be like this right
now;
if I would’ve listened to my gut that insisted something was off about Mora.”

“You can’t blame yourself, you’re human.”

“I’m human, but I’m also the chosen, Tom and me, we’re supposed to be able to protect you all! Kill these damned gods and save everyone! How can we do that if we’re blind to something so obvious?” I nearly screamed at him, ignoring the pain and taste of blood from my raw throat. My fists grew into tighter fists, and my nails started to bite through the blanket into my palms.

“By learning, by adjusting and by having your guardians help point out things like that.”

I lifted my head once more, looking straight at Talon. The anger I felt wasn't easing, but nor was it growing. For some reason I wanted to listen to him. I wanted to hear what he had to say, or what he thought about all of this.

“You’re chosen, yes. That’s because you have the power to take on these stupid immortals who think they can screw with us all, and you have the power to destroy them. Along with the power to take on the blood from the other immortal races.” He paused, shifting his body and leaning back into his seat like this wasn't anything and he did this all the time. He looked too relaxed, and I wanted to hit him, or scream at him, of course I refrained from both.

“You and your foolish brother are chosen because you have potential that our humans are blind to having, that they lack in every way. They are too afraid of the races, too afraid of the gods to take them on. But, neither of you are, and whether you realized it or not you did, in fact, save us that night. You called Amamai to yourself, you did not stop and think about what would happen, you just drew her away and fought. You might not have thought it was fighting, but even standing up to her to draw her away is enough to save lives. If you didn’t do that, I’m damn well sure that neither your brother, Layre, me, Nickel, or Nixon’s family would be alive at all.”

I stared at him for a long moment, it was the only thing I could do. He stood up, stretched and put his hand on my head for a moment, pulling his lips into an attempt at a grin. It was creepy to say the least. “I’ll tell Nixon you’re
alright;
he’ll probably stop by later when his mother has to feed.”

I continued to stay silent, watching him as he moved closer to the door. I blinked my eyes a few times, and breathed in as he started to open the door. That's when I decided to speak. “Is that always going to be enough?”

He stopped moving, turned his head and looked over his shoulder at me. The normal bemused look he chose to wear was back, dancing along his facial features. “I don’t know, but I think it might be, we’ll see.” He left after saying that.

Chapter 13

_______________________

I'm not sure how long I stayed there, thinking about what he said, what'd just happened. I kept replaying it over and over in my
head;
I couldn't stop myself no matter how hard I tried.

All I know is that after a while, after I finally gave up pondering his words, I fell asleep. It was peaceful for a while. But, the peace didn't last long enough for
me;
I was pulled out of my dreamless sleep and into somewhere else.

Padding around barefoot in the grassy area, I started to spin in circles freely, and let the warm sun bathe me. The crisp air swirled around me, and I could smell the earthy scent that followed all around me. Flowers, crisply cut grass and other scents flowed over me.

I could hear the running of water from a small creek, creatures were roaming around, and I felt like I was in heaven. In my mind I figured it was just me missing the sunlight all over again, and open
areas
like this one back home.

Of course I was mistaken, like I always was. I felt the surge of a great energy forming
nearby
. I wanted to scream, I knew this dream was officially ruined.

"Hello?" I called
out;
my voice was echoing weirdly all around. It almost sounded like I was in some alternate dimension. I could practically see the words falling from my lips and floating all around through the air. Yep, I'd completely lost my sanity.

"Who's there?"

"It's me child, do not be alarmed." A voice echoed back to me, a second later a centaur of light appear before me. The same one from last time, Aerbael.  "You made it out alive, which is good."

"Good? I nearly let people die!" I yelled pointing my figure at him, only to have an amused grunt slip through the air in reply. "You, you're a god! Aerbael, god of Law and Justice, so tell me why you aren't bringing either here!"

"Because child, I am following Law. The Law of the God's, because of that I may only speak of so much, but there are things I can do they will never know, like this…" He extended one of his
arms;
light began to encase me immediately. Soon I was surrounded by it and felt the warmth that it brought, and then it was gone once more and I felt cold.  "You and your brother both will be healed enough to journey on once you wake, though I
cannot
guarantee you will be fully healed."

"I - Thank you for that."

"Do not thank me just yet, you must leave as soon as you can and meet a woman by the name of Lorella. She is a Psychic, and was gifted with insight even we god's do not know." He took a moment to pause, moving closer to me. His voice dropped several octaves and I knew somehow he was staring straight into my eyes.  "Seek her, ask her what she knows. Once you hear it, go
back;
gather your guardians and leave. You will need to hurry."

"Hurry? What for?"
"She has Maldre coming for you
now;
you must leave as fast as you can and not return. Get to the boundaries of this region, once there go east until you are out completely and you see endless skies. As soon as you see them ride north into the Air Region, only stay long enough to win over your guardians. There will be more there than just Air, Light as well as Water."

"Once done there ride into the Fire Region, and be careful. I will come back to help you as much as I can, but for now I must go. Be safe child, you're everyone's last hope."

"Wai- Dammit!" I shouted as loudly as I could, before I could say wait fully, he'd already dispersed into tiny beads of light that soon faded away completely, as did the dream too. It didn't take long before I was awake in the room once more.

I sat up as fast as I could, feeling sweat clinging to my back and hair, making it heavy on my head. I also realized almost immediately when I shot up in the bed, that I didn't feel pa
i
n. There was none anywhere in my body now, well not severe pain
anyway;
there were some stiff muscles that I could still feel in my body.

Hopping up from my bed I searched the room until I found clean clothes, and pulled them on as fast as I could. It was dark in the room, but I knew it was a straight shot to the door and then I would be out, the hard part was maneuvering the halls.

I figured it wouldn't be that bad, I could find a way out. Feel along the walls I found light from a candle at one point, and let that help guide me out of this place, and then I could find the woman I was looking for. That was until I realized I wasn't alone in the room. That just ruined my whole plan.