by Holly Hook
“I will be. You might have to carry me.”
“Fair enough.” Tingles rushed through me at the thought. “But there might be problems if we get to the temple and we might have to fight.”
“It's better that we get there now before the entire Dark Council does.”
“Okay,” I said, spreading my arms for a Transposing hug. “Here we go.”
“Bear with me,” Xavier said, hugging me back. “Oh, and Alyssa?”
“Yeah?” I accidentally hit him with my cane.
“Can I, well, can I...never mind.”
The magenta light exploded around us, more intense than I ever remembered, and I had to squint against the new invasion. The light still tried to stab into my eyes as the flames of the War Magic licked around us, hot but not burning, and we fell together into a void.
We fell...and fell...for what felt like an eternity. Xavier trembled. His grip on me loosened and then tightened again. Then his fingers slipped and the fierce wind blasted between us, driving us apart.
“Alyssa!” Xavier shouted.
I opened my eyes. We were flying apart, splitting up. Xavier flailed, flying back into the purple rage and fire where he vanished.
I screamed his name over and over, but saw no sign of him and I continued to fall. I tumbled through the magic, helpless, waiting...I fell....and fell...for so long that I started to wonder how long death would take to claim one of us. Something was wrong.
And then I landed.
I crouched from the force as the world snapped back into place. I blinked and caught a glimpse of tan, stone town buildings and long, tired sunlight. Pain hit my eyes and a car rolled past, ignoring me. I backed into the shade of an awning.
“Huh?” I blurted.
I tapped my Hello Kitty cane on the sidewalk, turning in a circle. I was alone except for a couple strolling on the sidewalk in the distance. It was late afternoon and another old car rolled past. Xavier was nowhere. Food smells came out of a grocery market nearby and an old woman came out of the store, hunched and carrying a bag. Hills and waves of houses and stone buildings rose above me. This was another fairly large city, not as big as the capital but still pretty large. How long had Xavier and I been falling through the magic?
And where was I?
I stayed in the shade and watched another car go past, this one a cab with something written in Turkish on the side. There was a local driver inside and a couple of people dressed in polo shirts who looked like they were from Southeast Asia. If I didn't know better I would have guessed that they were tourists, but this was a city that didn't seem to have anything tourist-y in it.
And where was Xavier?
I sighed. I still had his jacket and hat with me so there was that. I could stay out here for a limited time but with the sun getting low, the hat might not protect my eyes and face much. The dull headache was still there, throbbing between my ears and it wouldn't go away until the sun went down. I would just have to deal with it.
“Xavier?” I called. I sniffed the air to smell if he had landed anywhere nearby, but there was no trace of him. I caught only another whiff of normal food and blood. The old woman walked towards another cab. There was no wood smoke. There weren't any War Mages in the immediate area.
What if he was still falling through the magic?
What if he had landed hundreds of miles away or at our destination and I'd fallen off the bus?
I couldn't stand here all day wondering about it. I lowered the hat on my head and walked, aware that I was drawing stares from another car.
Then I caught the word on the side of the cab the old woman was climbing into.
Şanlıurfa.
It rang a bell. Wasn't this the city that was supposed to be near the ruins?
I turned around, surveying all the tan brick buildings. I felt as if I had stepped into another time, an ancient time, only the cars took me out of the feeling. Clotheslines hung over some alleys, drying out garments that people had hung out. Spires rose above the other buildings in the distance and the sounds of heavier, more distant traffic met my ears. Another airplane sailed overhead, its engines making a high whine that was very clear to me.
“Crap,” I said. There was no way I was going to find Xavier here. At least I was close to our destination and Xavier wasn't dead. If he had died, I would go with him, no matter which way he went. But how did I know he wasn't close to dead or still falling through magic?
Then I remembered that Xavier had followed me to Dad's office that time I stupidly ran off and went looking for him. He had been able to sense me since we had just been Bound. He should be able to find me again or I should be able to find him. I wasn't sure how he'd done it since I hadn't asked at the time, but if it worked before, it had to work again.
I looked inside a building. It looked like an office of some sort, with ladies answering phones and clicking away at computers. This wasn't the place to focus, so I decided on an alley nearby with extra laundry hanging from the lines. It was nice and dark here, almost cool, so I'd be able to focus. I had to try something. Xavier might have landed by now, but he might be too weak to walk or do much of anything else. It was up to me to find him.
I leaned against the ancient tan brick and closed my eyes.
Xavier, I called.
There was nothing. I felt like I was thinking into a void. I wished I had asked how this whole thing worked. Now I was on my own, with no one to ask and no library to consult. The clock was ticking and if I took days to find Xavier, the Underground back home would be vaporized by Thoreau.
Xavier, I called again. I put all my focus into it, not sure if we could even talk to each other like this. I felt amazingly stupid trying to talk to him with my mind, but after he had showed me his memory of Leon's body vanishing, I was starting to believe that anything was possible.
Only the void answered and that empty moment stretched out, long and eternal. But then I felt a flicker of something and my mark—the crossed swords one, not the fiery one Alluna had given me—tingled just a tiny bit.
I almost got jarred out of my state of extreme concentration, but I thought I heard, very faint, Xavier's voice calling my name.
Alyssa. I'm weak.
My mark tingled and remained alive even after I opened my eyes and let them adjust to the light.
My stomach rumbled. I was getting a bit weak myself. I would need to find food very soon or I might be in Xavier's position. I'd feel better once night fell but even then, I would still have to deal with it. Before, I had only needed a blood bag once every couple of days, but now that I was fighting and getting hurt, my hunger was getting more frequent like Trish warned me it would.
I walked out of the alley, hoping for something else, but the crossed swords on my arm tingled as much as ever. I turned to the right and began to walk, but the tingling died.
I stopped.
Was this some kind of hot and cold game? Could my mark be the key to finding Xavier?
Just to check, I turned to the left, in the direction of the spires and the tingling returned. I pushed away my hunger as excitement and relief washed through me. To find Xavier, I would only need to play this game. My question of how Xavier had found me at Dad's office was now answered.
* * * * *
It took a long time for me to find Xavier, to say the least.
The sun got lower and lower in the sky and rush hour traffic filled the old city. I got closer to the twin spires, which turned out to rise from a large, ancient mosque, but Xavier wasn't there, either. My mark told me to keep going, past the historic building and all the way to the other side of the city. Sometimes, if I had an alley to hide me, I ran at my full speed, but every time I finished a sprint, I did so just a tiny bit hungrier and weaker. I had to conserve my energy here.
Or find someone to bite soon.
But I couldn't. The librarian had been one thing. He had tried to take us to the ATC in exchange for cash. The people in this city hadn't done a thing to us. I hadn't even
drawn that many stares here. It was a bit different than Cumberland or maybe I just looked like a guy with Xavier's clothes on and my hair tucked in. Besides, biting someone would get the authorities called on me for sure. It was like that everywhere. I wasn't sure if Turkey had something like the ATC or if they'd just deport me but I wasn't going to take the chances.
The mark on my arm was tingling stronger now as I reached the outskirts of the city. The buildings got smaller and farther apart. I was starting to get the idea that Xavier wasn't in the city at all.
After more turning and turning around again, I stopped at a fancy bus station. My mark was tingling very strong here, like this was important, but I still didn't smell Xavier. A new tour bus rolled into the lot with plenty of tourists from all over the world in tow. Their blood smelled very faintly of food and most of them didn't have a scent at all. They were hungry people who had been out at some attraction all day. Only a few smelled like sandwiches.
I stood on the sidewalk, on the other side of a new chain-link fence and watched the tourists disembark. I spotted people from all over the world. One was wearing a Maple Leafs jersey and another had a backpack with a Bahamian flag on the back. They had come from outside the city. It was almost as if—
I spotted text on the side of the bus before my brain could complete the thought.
Gobekli Tepe. A small cartoon picture of the ruins was at the end of the letters as if punctuating its point.
I almost did a happy dance. My mark had led me to a way to reach the ruins, which these people had just come back from. Cameras were everywhere. I hadn't thought about it being a place for tourists, just scientists digging up ancient history. This meant that Xavier must have made it there and I had fallen off the bus after all.
But it also meant he was close to where the Dark Council met and possibly in very bad danger.
I watched as the bus rolled away to park behind the building. I would have to take one there. I had money, but I wasn't sure if this company would take it. It was also getting very late in the day. They couldn't be running too many more tours.
The tired, hungry tourists all filed away from the bus and towards their cars and cabs, which were parked and waiting in another nearby lot. I watched the Bahamas backpack vanish around the corner of the main building while other tourists—fresh ones—filed out of the main building with tickets in their hands. I caught irritation and impatience in the air. Judging from the looks on one man's face, they had been waiting for a long time and there was now no bus in sight.
“We've been waiting an hour,” a man said to his wife. “If we hadn't bought these tickets, we'd be eating dinner already.” He spoke with a heavy Australian accent.
“Can we exchange them?” his wife asked. “I'm tired of listening to you complain.”
“The counter is closed,” the man said, answering my question about whether or not I could still buy tickets today.
Other people complained in different languages. Clearly something had gone wrong here and things were running behind schedule. I walked in through the gate, ignoring the guy in the parking booth who was reading a magazine. He couldn't charge me for walking in but he smelled like pasta. Even that scent got my stomach roaring again.
“Well, why don't we go?” the woman asked. “We're not going to be able to see the ruins until nightfall and then what kind of experience is that going to be? I wanted photos.”
I walked up to the line and cleared my throat. I had to be careful. I hadn't had the chance to file my teeth in forever and I had forgotten how awkward it was to speak and hide them at the same time. It was different with Xavier but these were Normals.
“Excuse me,” I said, hiding the Hello Kitty cane behind me. At least I hadn't lost the glamour. “I need to meet my boyfriend at the ruins, but I've dropped my ticket somewhere and I can't find it.” My mind scrambled. “How much are they? If you don't want yours, I'll buy it from you.”
The man gave me an impatient look. “At this rate, you're better off walking to the ruins.”
“We're tempted to let you have ours,” the woman said. “The organization here is terrible.”
“I can see that,” I said, digging into my pocket. My stomach rumbled again. I needed sustenance and soon. There was no way I could go into battle like this. Why couldn't I run into one jerk that I wouldn't have to feel too guilty about biting? I didn't want to risk giving my condition to anyone who was innocent, even if it was just a one in five hundred chance they'd have the bad gene.
A toilet flushed in the office. No one but me could hear it but time was running out. The sun was almost kissing the horizon by now and this had to be the final tour of the day.
“We should come back tomorrow,” the man said. “I'm really thinking about selling you my ticket. There is no money back from what I understand.”
“That's stupid,” I said. “I can buy your ticket. I have...let's see...” I dug through my pocket and found a few bills. I pulled out ten...twenty dollars. “Is this good?”
“You have a deal,” the man said, taking my bills and handing me his ticket. “Have a good night visiting the ruins. Hopefully, you can see something.”
He and the woman walked off towards the office, grumbling about the price of parking, and I stood there with the paper ticket in my hand, clearly printed off from a computer. These people had paid more than I'd paid for the ticket. I hoped exchange rates made it only look bad.
I got into the back of the line. My stomach growled worse than ever, so much that a couple of Nigerian tourists turned and looked at me for a second. My hunger was getting too intense and now I would be on a bus with a bunch of people, some of whom had eaten dinner already. Some exotic local dish filled the air, coming from an old retiree two spots ahead of me in line. I was going to die on the ride to the ruins. My legs were shaking. It was getting to be crunch time.
I waited for the bus to come out from the back of the building, but instead, a plain green bus pulled up on the street and then pulled into the parking lot. It must be some kind of backup bus since it looked older than the white one that had retreated to the back lot. Mechanical problems, maybe. All over the world, they slowed things down.
The door opened on the green bus and the driver inside smiled at everyone. He wore a button-up shirt that matched the olive color of the bus. People filed on, tired of waiting, and handed their tickets to the guy. I was the last. He gave me a friendly thanks in Turkish (I thought) and directed me to sit.
I sat as far as I could from everyone else, all the way in the back. My crossed swords mark still tingled, telling me that I was heading in the right direction. At least I didn't have to test directions every few seconds anymore, making sure I was going the right way. It was even more annoying than GPS but at least my mark didn't talk to me. I had to snicker at the thought.
I set the Hello Kitty cane against the seat to make sure no one sat next to me. This final tour wasn't big at all. Only about half of the bus was filled but the old exotic dish man sat across from me, permeating the air with that smell. I was going crazy. I might not be able to resist much longer. I could only pray that the bus ride wouldn't be very long, that I could find some other source of sustenance than an innocent tourist who looked too frail to handle a bite, whether or not he turned.
The bus got rolling, quickly backing out of the parking lot like the driver knew we had to hurry. We moved out of the city outskirts and through open country, through overused brownish farmland that had a few sheep and goats grazing in places. Some of the tourists took pictures and I couldn't smell any nerves on the bus. These people were relaxing and having fun now. I wished I could be among them, taking photos of the world.
It wasn't until fifteen minutes into the ride that I began to feel it: a horrible, distinct sense of dread.
It started in the pit of my stomach as if it were coming from a distant storm, but as the bus rolled across the rolling, hilly country, it got worse and worse, filling my whole body. It reminded me of the f
eeling I got around Shadow Wraiths and I searched the dimming countryside for any sign of them, but they were a no show...for now. Shadow Wraiths could pop out of walls and leak out of the surroundings, sneaking up on you and passing on their curse, but this sense of dread was somehow stronger. I was approaching something terrible and Xavier had been in this area for hours. I wished I could mentally reassure him that I was coming, but there was no way I'd focus in this.
My mark tingled more and more. Hot, hot, scorching. I had gone the right way. He was at the ruins, all right, lying in this dread-filled area but at least he was still alive. That could mean a lot of things, though. Thoreau liked to employ Shadow Wraiths. If one had touched him...no. Thoreau wanted me to bite Xavier so I could gain the full access to his powers. He wouldn't have Xavier turned into a Shadow Wraith. That wouldn't serve much purpose. Those monsters were reserved for me. The Wraiths were supposed to bring out something terrible by touching me. I didn't even want to think about what that could be.
The bus ride stretched out longer and longer. At last, I noticed something in the growing dark.
A large, round hill stood out from the rest of the mostly flat, rolling landscape. The dread rose to a scream inside of me. I seemed to be the only person affected by this. Others were snapping pictures like nothing was wrong, like they weren't headed to some center of darkness as the sun was going down.
I couldn't see any ruins from here. It was just a hill, but then I remembered that most of the ruins were buried under layers and layers of earth. The builders had filled them in more than once to keep them preserved, as if they wanted them to remain here for the use of the Dark Council. I wouldn't see any ruins until I was there.
We climbed the hill and the bus finally pulled into a concrete lot and stopped. There were a bunch of shops in progress here, buildings that were half built for tourists that smelled of fresh paint and new lumber. The tourists got off the bus and my mark tingled so much that I wanted to scratch it off. I searched the parking lot for Xavier but he wasn't anywhere. I knew he was here. The mark wouldn't be like this if he wasn't.
