Vankara (Book 1) (2 page)

“But they’ll know…”
I began to argue.

“No, they won’t. 
Not unless you tell them.  Please, just go to sleep.  I’m sure your tired
enough from your transformation to do that.  Everything will be clearer in the
morning.  I promise you.”

Gabriel cradled Sarah
to his chest, like you would a sleeping child.  As he walked out of the room, I
heard him say, “April fell asleep.  I need to get her home.  I hope you don’t
mind me borrowing this blanket.”

“Oh poor little
thing,” Mrs. Harker said.  “I’m sure tending to sick people all day takes it
out of her.  I don’t know why her parents force her to do such hard work.”

“I’ll be back
first thing in the morning,” Gabriel promised them, quickly making his
departure out of the house.

The scuffling of
feet on hardwood warned me the Harkers were making their way towards Sarah’s
bedroom.  I didn’t understand why the Harkers would think I was their
daughter.  Physically, Sarah and I were complete opposites.  While she had
straight brown hair, my head was adorned with perfectly shaped blonde ringlets. 
That difference in itself was sure to give me away, but I did what Gabriel instructed
and pretended to be asleep.

“She looks so
peaceful,” I heard Mr. Harker say.

“That’s odd,” Mrs.
Harker came to stand closer to the bed and laid a hand across my brow.  “Her
fever’s gone and I don’t hear the rattling in her chest anymore.  Do you think
that means something?” 

“I don’t know,”
Mr. Harker replied.  “But don’t get your hopes up, love.  I haven’t heard of
anyone surviving this sickness.”

Mrs. Harker sighed. 
“Don’t take away my dream, Liam.  It’s the only thing that has been keeping me
going lately.”

“I’m sorry, love.”

I could hear Mr.
Harker move closer to his wife.  There was a slight rustle of clothing.  I
assumed he had probably taken her into his arms for comfort.

“Well, you spend
some time with her,” Mrs. Harker said, pulling away from her husband.  “I still
have clothes to iron for my deliveries in the morning.”

“All right, love. 
I think I’ll try to finish the book I’ve been reading to her.”

“I’m sure she
likes hearing your voice, even when she’s asleep.”

Mrs. Harker kissed
her husband and walked out of the room.

I heard Mr. Harker
drag the wooden chair I had sat in earlier closer to the bed.  He picked up a
book sitting on the nightstand and found his place within its pages.

I laid there with
my eyes closed.  The soft timbre and cadence of Mr. Harker’s voice lulled my
tired mind and body.  I was completely asleep within a few short minutes.

“Sarah.”

I heard the name
but didn’t recognize it as my own.  When I opened my eyes, I saw Gabriel
sitting beside me on the bed.

“How are you
feeling this morning, Sarah?”  He asked me, emphasizing the name as if to
remind me of the ruse we were playing.

“Sarah?” I asked,
trying to drag my mind out of an exhausted dream filled slumber.

“Is the sickness
affecting her mind now?”  I heard Mrs. Harker ask anxiously from somewhere in
the room.

“I’m sure she’s
still just trying to wake up,” Gabriel answered soothingly.  “Why don’t you
bring her some milk, Mrs. Harker?  The medicine I brought for her today
dissolves better in it.”

“We don’t have any
in the house,” Mrs. Harker answered worriedly.  “I’ll go over to the Bishops’
and see if they have any to spare.”

“Take your time,”
Gabriel encouraged.

After we heard the
distinct click of the front door closing, Gabriel helped me sit up in the bed. 
I was wiping the crust of sleep from the corners of my eyes as he started to explain
how my life was forever changed.

“You are now Sarah
Harker,” he told me. 

“But Sarah
Harker’s dead,” I reminded him.

I may have only
been seven years old but even I knew dead was dead, or so I naively thought at
the time.

Gabriel reached
inside his coat pocket and pulled out a small round mirror.  He hesitated for a
moment, almost as if he were reluctant to show me the truth of what I was.  When
he finally did hold the mirror in front of my face, I thought I had gone mad. 
Staring back at me was the face of Sarah Harker.  Her broad forehead, high
cheekbones, slim nose and chocolate brown eyes were now mine.  She wasn’t
beautiful in the classical sense of the word but she did have a certain impish
quality about her .

“I don’t
understand.”

I raised a
hesitant hand to my new face to make sure it was real and not an illusion
before running my fingers through the long brown hair to confirm the strands
were not that of a wig.

“You’re a shifter,
April, just like me.”

I looked at
Gabriel with what had to be a completely blank expression.

“What’s a shifter?”

“You have the
ability to change your appearance into that of other people, but only if they
die while you’re touching them.  That’s why I had you hold onto Sarah’s hand
last night.  I knew she was about to die.”

“But why?  Why
would you want me to become her?”

“Isn’t that what
you wanted?”  He asked.

It was the first
time I ever saw Gabriel look uncertain, almost frightened.

“I thought you
would rather live here as Sarah than return to the mercy of that woman who
tries to pass herself off as your mother.”

It was only then I
understood the full impact of my new situation.  I would never have to go back
to the savage hands of Mrs. Pew.  The Harkers were my parents now.  I could
stay here with Sarah’s parents and finally be granted my hearts desire, a
loving family of my own.

“But how did it
happen, Gabriel?  How was I able to change myself to look like her?”

Gabriel shrugged
helplessly.  “I’m not sure how or why we have the ability to do it.  It’s just
something we’re born with.  I don’t know if the transformation is triggered by
their life force leaving their body when they die or something else.  All I
know is that you will be happier here than any place else I could have found
for you.”

“How did you know
I was a shifter?  Have you always known?”

Gabriel nodded
with an almost guilty expression on his face.  “I was told where to find you
and asked to watch over you.”

“By who?”

“He doesn’t want
to be known to you just yet,” Gabriel said, cupping the side of my new face
with one of his hands.  “I’m so sorry, April.  I wish I could have gotten you
out of the Pew’s home sooner, but the opportunity never presented itself.  When
Sarah became ill and I saw what good people the Harkers were, I knew this was
where you were meant to be.”

“Won’t they know
I’m not Sarah?  Isn’t it wrong not to tell them their daughter is dead?”

“I don’t see any
harm in letting them believe you are their daughter.  The truth would only
cause them pain and confusion.  You should never tell them what took place last
night.”

“What if they
expect me to remember things only Sarah knows?  What should I do?”

“Let me take care
of that.  I’ll just tell them you may have some memory loss due to the fever. 
They won’t think to question my explanation.  Plus, you
will
start to
remember things only Sarah knew.  I’m not sure how but the people we become
pass along some of their memories to us.”

“What about the
Pews?  Won’t they be looking for me?”

“They already are.”
 Gabriel’s hands fidgeted slightly.  “I told them I brought you home late last
night and took you straight to bed.  The maid found your bed slept in but the
window was open.  Right now, they think someone broke into your room while you
were sleeping and kidnapped you.”

“What’s going to
happen?”

“Eventually
they’ll have to give up looking for you.  It may take some time, but it’s not
something you need to worry about.”  Gabriel took hold of my hand, a silent
plea in his eyes.  “I did the right thing, didn’t I?  You will be happier here,
won’t you?”

I wrapped my arms
tightly around Gabriel’s neck.  “This is exactly where I want to be.”

“Good,” he sighed,
his body sagged in relief as he returned my hug. 

I leaned back from
him.  “What did you do with Sarah?”

“I buried her. 
She’s at peace now.  And I think she would be happy to know you have taken her
place.  She was so worried about leaving her parents alone.  Now you can love
them in her steed.”

We heard the front
door open and immediately drew away from one another.

“I’m back!”  Mrs.
Harker called out.  “Sorry it took so long.  I had to go all the way to the
store to get some milk.”

I heard her pour the
milk into a cup and watched her bring it in to me.  I studied her face for some
sign she knew I wasn’t her real daughter but never saw a doubt of recognition.

“Thank you, Mama,”
I said taking the cup from her hands and drinking the cold soothing liquid.

“I think we may
have a miracle on our hands,” Gabriel announced as he stood from his seat. 
“Sarah seems to be completely well.”

Mrs. Harker lifted
a shaking hand to her mouth as tears of uncertain joy welled in her eyes.

“Are you sure?”
She whispered, as if she were afraid Death might take notice of us again if she
spoke too loudly.

“It’s the only
case I’ve heard of,” he told her.  “And I would be careful who you tell the
truth about this to.  Since Sarah is the only one I know of who has ever beaten
the plague, she may garner unwanted attention.  If I were you, I would tell
everyone she simply had a bad cold and we all assumed it was the plague.  You
could say it was just an unlucky coincidence she caught it at the same time as
the others.”

“All right, if you
think that’s best,” Mrs. Harker stared at me like she was afraid I might
disappear if she let her eyes wander away.

“But the fever
seems to have caused a lapse in her memory,” Gabriel cautioned Mrs. Harker. 
“Don’t be alarmed if she can’t remember certain things.”

Mrs. Harker shook
her head.  “We have the chance to make new memories.  That’s worth more to me
than her not being able to remember a few details from the past.”

“Well,” Gabriel
reached for his top hat and medicine bag on the nightstand, “since you have no
further need of my services, I should go attend to my other patients.  I’ll
leave the two of you alone.”

I watched Gabriel
walk to the door of the room and turn around as Mrs. Harker came to me and pulled
me into her arms, crying happy tears formed from relief.

My best friend gave
me a sad little smile and winked before turning around and walking out of my
life, leaving me in the loving arms of a woman I could proudly call my mother.

Chapter 2

For the next eleven
years, I lived as Sarah Harker.  Not a day passed by that I didn’t thank the
real Sarah for giving me the opportunity to live out her life.  I tried my best
to be a perfect child for Imogen and Liam Harker, never wanting them to
discover the imposter hidden within their midst. 

For years I
wondered if I would ever see Gabriel again.  I suppose I should have known a
relationship like ours wasn’t by happenstance and was destined to bind us to
one another forever.  I just never imagined how my connection with Gabriel
would change not only my future but also the future of Vankara.

After leaving me
within the warm, loving protection of the Harkers, I heard through the
grapevine Gabriel took a position as an advisor to King Leopold, fleeing the
Pew household at the height of its uproar over my disappearance.  Surprisingly,
the Pews put out a sizable reward for my safe return but, of course, no one was
ever able to claim it.  April Pew didn’t exist anymore, if she had ever truly
existed.

In the winter of
my thirteenth year, a second plague emerged.  Being just a child during the
first plague, I hadn’t realized the devastating effect the deaths of so many
had caused on the economics of the world I lived in.  Not only had Vankara lost
almost a quarter of its population, but the four other island nations (Kamora, Chromis, Tuvalu, and Valetta) had also lost as many citizens or more.

As the second
plague began to infect people, my parents kept a careful eye on me, fearful
they would have to endure watching their daughter become ill and knock on the
door of death once more, perhaps not finding the same miracle twice in a
lifetime.  Fortunately, my family was spared from the sickness.  Unfortunately,
a lot of people in Iron City were not so lucky.  Almost half the population was
brought down by the plague, twice as many as during the first wave of the
illness.  Even the King of Vankara was not spared this time.  He died within a
week of its reappearance and at the age of nineteen Emma Vankar, King Leopold’s
one and only child, was crowned Queen.

As soon as the day
of the Queen’s coronation was announced, my father insisted we all go as a
family and show our allegiance to our new sovereign.   

“She’s so young,”
my father said to us.  “I doubt any of those old wig headed fools in parliament
will give her the slightest bit of respect.  But maybe if they know the people
are behind her, they’ll think twice about trying to ignore what she has to say
on our behalf.”

Liam Harker was a
great patriot.  He was quite consistent in his inclusion of the royal family in
his daily prayers.  When I asked him why he would pray for people he had never
personally met, he said, “The royal family are the descendents of a long line
of great Vankaran leaders, cherub.  They’ve always tried their best to make
sure we all live safe from the fae and have what we need to make a good life
for ourselves.  If the royal family prospers, we all prosper.”

The story of how
Vankara was created always fueled my imagination with wonder.  Mostly because I
couldn’t imagine the courage it took for the founders of our country to leave
their homelands and start completely over in a strange new world.