Forging Family

by Bob Dattolo

  Since I was far ahead of where I was the day before, I raced back towards the school and looked around the main entrances, not finding Melissa anywhere. She could have headed home already, but the girls made it sound like she stayed really late. Or, pretty darn late.

  On my way out of the library, I ended up hearing a faint sound that drove me outside. Once I cleared the door, I heard it. Faint moans and cries of pain.

  I was running before I knew it, Melissa’s voice pushing me harder and faster. When I saw her, I was beside myself at the amount of blood on her. Around her. Her eyes were pretty much swelled shut, and I swear at least three teeth are missing. She’s also surrounded by fist size rocks and two bricks. All of them have blood and hair on them.

  My rage bubbled up, shoving everything aside in its haste to get out into the real world. My not-so-happy me came forward, searching out whoever hurt this poor girl.

  Nothing. There’s no one here.

  She moaned a little louder as I touched her. “What the fuck happened?”

  She didn’t jerk away from me, which I kind of expected. She also didn’t answer.

  “Melissa? It’s Ceri. What happened?”

  She finally reacted, pulling away a little. “Please…just go away. Please.” Her voice sounded horrible. Her lips are torn and bruised, dried blood sealing shut one side of her mouth.

  I didn’t realize I was crying until my tears splashed across my hands, “What the fuck happened? Who attacked you?”

  “No one…please just leave me alone…” The sheer volume of loneliness in her words had me dumping it all, every bit of magic I have, letting it roam free around me. This is bullshit. Total bullshit.

  What the hell did she ever do to deserve this? What, exactly? Always be nice? Friendly? Pretty? Smart? There’s nothing that I’ve seen that makes this something that’s a reasonable response to her.

  I dove inside and was lost on what to do. Totally lost. I can’t pray to Mom. I don’t need help in battle. I can’t pray to myself. Is there a goddess of magic? I don’t think that was one of the ones Mom mentioned. Then again, I doubt she knows all of them. What’re the chances?

  In desperation, I closed my eyes and touched Melissa lightly, Please, if there’s a god or goddess of magic, please help me. Melissa may not be a friend of mine, but I’d like her to be. She’s hurt, possibly because I confronted someone that was treating her like crap. Please help me, grant me enough power to heal her. I’m hurt…I’m hurt inside and I can’t touch all of my magic. Please help me.

  She was panting, practically hyperventilating, when I was done, and I swear I felt a connection with someone that I can’t quite explain…and my magic blossomed around me. I could feel that it’s a temporary thing. Not a healing of what’s wrong with me. Just a boost…

  A boost that I used to drive a healing spell into her, pushing with everything that I have in the hopes that it would heal her completely.

  It sank into her and I felt the variety of her injuries. She’s…so broken. Her skull is fractured in four different spots. Her face has 11 shattered bones. Both of her eyes are damaged enough that a normal human might have gone blind. She’s missing seven teeth, not the three that I thought.

  That’s just her head.

  She’s worse down below. Starting with four chipped vertebrae in her neck alone…

  The magic coursed through her, seeking out every injury as I continued praying to the god or goddess of magic, hoping that this would work. I don’t know if the god or goddess exists, but I’m willing to pray to them if this works. I just don’t see a downside to it.

  She healed in a rush of magic and knitting flesh, gasping as each injury flared bright before healing entirely.

  Leaving me with a healed girl coated liberally with drying blood.

  She stared at me in shock as I leaned forward, trying not to fall on her. The boost in my magic faded and I sent out a thank you to the god or goddess…and seriously tried not to scream or throw up from the pain of my abused magic wanting me to suffer for having the balls to use it for something so advanced.

  When I was sure I wasn’t going to scream or blow chunks all over her, I swallowed hard, “Are you okay?”

  She touched her face, “What did you do to me?”

  “I healed you.”

  She pushed away from me a little, “No one can do that. No one can heal like that.”

  “Not no one. It’s just really hard. My mom could have done it.”

  She wanted to question me, it’s pretty obvious she did, but she stopped. When she spoke again, she settled on, “Why did you help me?”

  Pushing back so that I wasn’t leaning over her any longer, I took a deep breath, trying to push the pain away a little more, “I helped you because you needed it. Now…who did this to you?”

  She stared at the brick that I nudged. “I don’t know.”

  “What do you mean you don’t know?”

  “Just that, I don’t know!” She looked so upset… “I heard someone call me, so I came out here. I didn’t see anyone before I was down. I could hear laughing, but then that was it. Just…pain. Being hit.”

  My growl echoed back from the brick walls, “Was it Syl?”

  She shrugged, but not like she was trying to hide something, “I don’t know? It didn’t sound like his voice, but I just don’t know. I was being hit again and again from different angles, so I think it was more than one person. I just don’t know for sure.”

  Studying her didn’t tell me that she’s lying. It actually tells me that she’s telling the truth. As far as she knows, it wasn’t him. It’s just amazingly coincidental that it happened the same day I had a bit of an argument and called him out?

  The uncertainty stopped me from going after him, but it also means that I have to really watch him now. More so than before. If he managed to set this in motion, I want him gone. Preferably dead.

  Instead of freaking out, I took her hand and pulled her up. “Come on, let’s get you home.”

  She tried to push away, “No, I can’t. I don’t leave school this early…”

  “Fine. Then I’ll stay with you. I’m driving you home.”

  “No, you can’t…”

  “You don’t need to drive with me. I’ll follow you. I’m not allowing you to do it alone. Not after that. What would have happened if no one found you? Do you heal quickly enough that you could have recovered from that tonight?”

  She looked back down at the dried puddle of blood from where she had been laying. It’s a big puddle. “I don’t…no. I don’t heal quickly enough. I might have…”

  “You might have died. That’s what you were going to say.”

  She nodded, not saying anything, still staring at the puddle.

  “Please let me help you.” I let some of my emotion show, then left it hanging for long minutes as she stared.

  Finally, she answered, “Okay.”

  We avoided everyone on our way to my truck, and I ended up having to pick her up from where she hid behind some bushes. People would have seen her had she not done that. It’s not the end of the world, but it’s something we have to be concerned about. Neither of us want police involved in things. They may have magic users on the force here, but what are the chances they’ll be able to help?

  Possibly pretty good…but she doesn’t want any part of it. Here’s hoping it’ll rain tonight like they’re calling for. We could use the water to get rid of the blood she left behind.

  As I expected, she was pretty quiet during the drive. I tried to pull her out numerous times, but she wouldn’t do it. Or, she wouldn’t do more than give me short answers. One or two words at the most. She pretty much refused to answer anything that required more than that.

  She held the door handle as we approached the same spot where she got out the day before. “Are you sure I can’t drive you to your house.”

  Her lips pressed together, “No. I’m fine. Thank you. For everything. I don’t know what I would have done if you di
dn’t find me.”

  “You’re welcome. Please be safe.”

  “I’ll try.” She slid out, grabbed her bag, and headed onto the same trail as the day before. Watching her disappear into the shadows of the trees really hurt me on some level. It just hit me as wrong.

  I stayed there for long minutes, wondering what I should be doing.

  A text from Marisela letting me know that her mother asked her to be there tonight came in…then another from Tara, letting me know that her parents planned something for them and she can’t make it.

  Shoot.

  My eyes riveted back onto the trail, and I parked under some trees a bit out of the view of passing cars. No cars in sight, I ran onto the trail and into the darkness.

  My ability to see in the dark is pretty sweet, not that it’s really needed much in the woods here. We’re not in the rain forest under three different canopies of leaves. It’s a normal forest, so darker than not being in the forest, just not crazy dark. Its thick enough that we’d be looking at darkness quickly once the sun thinks about setting, but this time of year it’s plenty bright right now.

  It’s also empty.

  There’s no sign of Melissa. Not that I expected her to be right here. I just sort of expected some sort of sign for me to follow.

  Too bad I’m not a tracking dog or something like that.

  Then again, I can smell her pretty easily. She’s coated in dried blood, and that rather stands out to me.

  So maybe I can be my own bloodhound?

  The scent of blood tied in with the worn trail should make it at least a little more likely that I’ll find her.

  The trail meandered through a pretty forest, it’s just a shame that I’m not here to see it. At all. I’m here for one purpose, and taking pictures of moss on huge trees isn’t one of them. Even if I really, really want to do it.

  The trail split numerous times, but the heady scent of blood kept me moving on what I pictured as the main trail. Not that it’s a heavily used one. Honestly, at a guess, it’s only used by Melissa. I don’t smell anyone else out here other than animals. No shifters, even. Just her. A young girl.

  After nearly ten minutes of moving pretty quickly, I rounded a corner where the trail moved by a huge boulder that looks to have fallen from a smallish face of rock…and I saw it.

  What I think is her home. It’s…not what I expected.

  Honestly, I expected a house. I expected…dammit, I expected a house.

  Instead, what I’m seeing is a dark slash of shadow behind another face of rock that is propped out from the rest of the small cliff face.

  The path and her scent head right for it.

  There’s a thick log under a huge overhang, with a well-worn ring of stones for a fire. There are stacked logs against the cliff face, with a battered looking axe near it. Her scent is everywhere here. Everywhere. Even among the bones tossed to the side of the fire.

  Where she throws the bones when she’s done eating.

  My heart sank as I moved up to the cave opening. It’s maybe four feet high, forcing me to crouch as I look in, and there are two pairs of shoes near the opening. No, three. A pair of flip-flops, a pair of what look like work boots that have been worn nearly to death, and the same sneakers she had on earlier. My eyes stopped there for the longest time before I stepped in, trying to listen for her.

  Nothing so far, although I swear I hear water farther in.

  The floor of the cave is dirt at the very beginning, but it turns to stone maybe five feet after that. Clean stone, too. There’s no dirt anywhere that I can see. That throws me until I see a broom with barely any bristles left leaning against the wall of the cave to the side.

  She sweeps the stone floor of the cave. Of her home.

  Nodding, I continued in, moving from the narrow opening to a larger section of the cave. Larger being relative. It’s possibly nine feet long, but it’s twice as wide and maybe a foot taller. I still have to crouch, but it looks like a decent area to hang out in. She has an old looking table with a chair that I swear is fifteenth-hand. Screw second-hand. It’s nowhere near that. There is a cup on the table along with a cracked plate that has remnants of some sort of animal on it. I can’t tell what it is, but I think squirrel.

  The water sound is louder, as is the sound of splashing, telling me that she has to be back there somewhere. Deeper into the cave.

  The next area is lower and darker, forcing me to practically duckwalk for almost 20 feet. That opens to another room to the side, which looks like her bedroom. There are two pallets, as in wooden pallets, to the side with a bunch of what I think are baby mattresses on them, and then a nest of blankets on top. There are four plastic bins that have clothes and things in them. The bag that she carried with her to and from school is there. This time it’s open, showing me a collection of clothes. And soap. Shampoo. A towel.

  She’s been taking showers at school?

  Then what’s with the water?

  I moved through another opening, this one allowed me to stand fully once I was in it, and it wound through some twists and turns until I reached another chamber. This one had a lit candle in it…showing me Melissa bathing in a dark pool of water. It’s running, so anything she’s leaving behind is going downstream.

  My classmate lives in a cave.

  My classmate lives in a cave by herself.

  There aren’t any items from other people here. There’s no smell of other people here. I’m not sure I smell anyone ever being here before. At least not in recent history. I doubt she found this thing on her own and was the first ever to go into it. It’s possible, yet doesn’t seem likely.

  She didn’t see me as she rinsed herself, then dunked under the water to come up and lay back, floating in the weak, weak light from the tiny candle.

  I moved forward during the splashing and touched the water.

  Oh my freaking God!

  “Jesus Christ, this is cold water. No wonder you’re showering in school.”

  She screamed and shoved herself away from me, going under twice before coming up, coughing violently.

  I backed away, holding up my hands, “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to scare you!”

  Her coughing came to a stop and she looked at me in horror before covering her chest. “What are you doing here?! Get out! I’m naked here!”

  Needless to say, I didn’t leave. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean…I’m not leaving. And I don’t give a damn about you being naked.”

  She splashed water at me, missing by a country mile, “I’m naked. Get out!”

  “I’m not leaving. You’re a fey, do you really care about me seeing you naked? My mom said it’s pretty instinctual in them to be naked. A lot, actually.”

  She sank lower in the water, “I’m not normal! Please…just leave me alone.”

  “Don’t…just don’t. I’m not leaving, Melissa. I can’t leave you here! Please come out. We need to talk.”

  “We don’t need to talk. You need to leave.”

  “I’m not leaving.”

  “Well I’m not coming out!”

  “Fine. Then I’ll go in with you.”

  Her mouth fell open as I slipped off my shoes. “What…what are you doing?”

  “Joining you.”

  “You can’t…you…” her eyes got wider and wider as I stripped entirely and waded into the water, screeching with the first five feet before diving under, coming up sputtering.

  “Mary, mother of God! How can you…this is so cooold!” My nipples could etch battle steel. Seriously, this is crazy.

  She couldn’t take her eyes off my chest as I moved towards her. “This is why you shower at school, right? I can’t see pushing myself to do this every day before school.”

  She finally let her arms drop as she used the water to hide herself away. “I…yeah. That’s why.”

  I didn’t bother dunking myself again to hide. Mainly because it’s so freaking cold that it’s like torture. Then only a little bit because I don’t care
nearly as much as I did at one point. “I can see that. This is…wow.”

  When she didn’t say anything, I bit the bullet and lowered myself, letting myself float a little. There’s a decent current going on, just not enough to suck you along. That’s probably pretty good. I’m sure you’d die in a heartbeat if you got pulled into the downstream portion of things. I doubt there’s a ton of air down there to breathe. As I floated, I let the silence grow for a few minutes.

  “How long have you lived here?” I didn’t look at her as I asked. I just let the darkness create an intimacy I don’t think she’ll be able to fight.

  She couldn’t fight it, and her quiet voice finally answered, “Since my mom died.”

  “When did that happen?”

  “Middle of eight grade.”

  My gut clenched. She’s been living… “You’ve been living here since then? On your own?”

  “Yeah.”

  “But…why? Where’s your dad? The rest of your family?”

  “My dad…my dad’s been dead for a few thousand years.”

  “Umm…what?”

  “My mom…they were together long ago, but then he died. He apparently created something that would get her pregnant, but she never knew it. She got married and moved on about 500 years ago. Then…she found the thing my dad made and ended up pregnant. She had me. They weren’t a hundred percent sure that I wasn’t my dad’s until just before New Year’s during eighth grade. When it became obvious that I wasn’t my dad’s, that I was someone else’s, he went into a rage. It took about an hour, but they figured out how I came about…and then he killed her. My dad…or my step-dad I guess, killed my mom. His wife. Tore her to pieces with spells and these hook blade things that he used to use. He kicked me out. I’ve been living here ever since. I found it by accident.”

  “I don’t…I’m…how are you doing it? How are you making it?”

  “Just lucky, I guess. I learned how to set animal traps. I’ve gotten books from the library to identify edible plants. It’s…it sucks…but…”