by Sophia Sharp
Gray tilted his head to one side and studied her. Nora shook her head. No, of course not. That’s ridiculous. But still…
“Come here,” she told him. He walked closer. “Do you want to show me something?”
Gray craned his neck as he got close. Nora reached out again, tentatively this time – and again, the emotions came. She gasped as she realized they were more than that. They were connected to images, fuzzy and skewed and difficult to make out, but they were there.
She saw herself from behind, running through the forest. The perspective was low, close to the ground. And the images were centered right on her. It was like nothing else really existed.
Peace. Serenity.
The emotions were tied to the images. She was seeing herself, through…Gray’s thoughts. No. His memories.
She watched as the distance between her and Gray slowly increased. She saw her shape getting smaller and smaller up ahead, until it was lost completely in the trees.
Determination.
She watched through Gray’s perspective as he tried to pick up speed, tried to run faster to catch up.
Determination.
He was running faster, moving as quickly as his legs would take him, but it was not enough. Still, he was not giving up.
Determination, louder than anything, stood out above all.
Suddenly, there was pain at the side of his head. Something hit him. His vision blurred, and large red dots flickered over the images. She felt Gray stop, turn around.
Danger.
He was wary, looking each way to see what had happened. She felt him growl, felt his hackles rise in anticipation.
Something much stronger hit him from the side, and he blacked out. Nora cried out. As he lost consciousness, it felt like barbs the size of fists had been planted in her skin and were being ripped out all at once. The connection wavered and was lost.
She stumbled back again, pulling her hand away from Gray. The blackout, the darkness…it was too much. The connection that should have been gently eased out of had been mercilessly terminated.
She looked at Gray. He stood there for a moment, regarding her calmly, then walked closer to her. When he was nearby, he put his head down for her to place her hand on it.
“There’s more?” she asked. Gray didn’t move. Nora reached forward again, a little more sure of herself this time…
She was being carried over somebody’s back.
Danger.
They moved smoothly, like silk flowing majestically though the wind. She tried looking around. She knew there were four…beings there, but getting a grasp on them with her eyesight, actually seeing them, was…slippery. Like trying to handle an eel in water.
Her sense of direction was strong. Intuitively, she knew which way she was being carried, where they were going. It was the same direction she had been running before, when she had been following…herself. But they were going much faster than she could have on the ground. They were going to catch up, and…
Another blow came to the head, and again she blacked out.
Nora fought the sensation that sought to overcome her. Fought against that feeling of having her skin burst open. Fought to keep the connection with Gray.
Nora fought…and won.
She felt herself coming to. She was sprawled out on the ground. Her mind wavered for a second, coming to grips with where she was and what was going on. Then it all snapped together.
Danger.
She got up and ran, to where she could hide.
Danger.
She found a spot behind a bush and jumped in. Then, cautiously, she peeked out and looked around, trying to get a better feel for her surroundings. There were no signs of anyone.
Her eyes came to rest on a small clearing. Right in the middle of it, there was something…something she couldn’t see. But it felt familiar in some way. Try as she did, her eyes just couldn’t focus on it.
She moved forward cautiously. All her senses were alert, aware of what might happen should she be caught off guard again. And that…thing…in the middle of the clearing didn’t move. She took another step forward with her front foot. Her eyes glazed over it, but it was still in some way familiar to her. Although…something was off. She sniffed the air, trying to get a better sense of what that was. It was as if a part of the shape in the clearing had been taken away. Like something was missing.
Suddenly, she heard somebody else approach. They were moving fast, zipping through the trees.
Danger?
Quickly, she ran behind the trunk of a large tree.
Caution.
As the movement came closer and soon stopped, she heard noises. She couldn’t make them out, couldn’t understand them, but they were familiar. She looked out from the side of the tree…and saw herself, kneeling beside…that mysterious shape.
Hope.
She stepped out from the tree, started to move toward herself, but something held her back. The person she saw was paying much more attention to the thing in the middle of the field. She stopped, standing still. The person wasn’t paying her any attention.
Confusion.
She took a step forward, pawed at the ground. Still nothing.
Disappointment.
The person glanced up, saw her.
Joy!
She started to run forward, but the person just turned their attention back to what they were looking at before. To that slippery shape in the middle of the field. She stopped again.
Betrayal?
She stood still for a second, waiting…and nothing happened. Slowly, she turned back.
Abandonment.
She hung her head and walked back behind the tree. She lay down, her mind empty except for…disappointment.
She heard movement. Cautiously, tempering her excitement, she peeked out from behind the tree. She saw familiar footsteps. Nora was walking toward her! Happiness and relief washed over her. She raced forward, and Nora’s hands reached out to pet her back, and…
The emotions stopped, and the memories ceased. Nora came back to her own mind. She looked at Gray in shock. Was he doing this, or was she the one doing it…?
Then everything clicked together. Her transformation. The ability that she would be gifted with that hadn’t shown itself yet. Feeding, earlier today, for the first time. Gray’s instant affinity toward her. What Alexander said about the Vassiz and animals, and the way Gray saw them represented in his own mind.
This was her ability. Or at least, the start of its emergence.
She reached out again to touch his head. She felt the connection between them being made, felt the link between her and him waver and then snap into being. This time, though, she wanted to see if there was more that she could do.
Thoughts and images didn’t come, because she didn’t call them. Instead, she spoke in her mind. Can you understand me?
An image came to her mind, tinged with unspoken emotion. It was an answer. And there was only one meaning she could give it.
Yes.
Chapter Fourteen
~Into Town~
Nora stepped cautiously out from the edge of the trees. It was dark, when her vision was most sharp, but she still wanted to be absolutely certain there was nobody there before making her move.
They had stayed hidden at the outer edge of the woods when they had come up to Nakusp a few hours ago. Alexander had insisted they avoid notice as much as possible. Nora agreed. An injured man, a teenage girl, and a bear cub would cause quite a commotion almost anywhere.
Nakusp was a small town, and an old wooden sign by the main entrance road tallied its population at 1,800. From what Nora saw, it might well have been half that many. Old, dilapidated buildings stood near the town’s center. To Nora’s sharp eyes, many of them looked to be abandoned. At night, lights shone from less than a quarter of all the windows, only increasing the feeling of a ghost-town.
A large river flowed along the western bank of the town, and its rushing waters could be heard now over
the relative silence of the night.
It didn’t take long for Nora to identify an old, abandoned farm that stood by itself a few hundred meters away from the core of Nakusp. Its windows were broken in, and its doors had long fallen inward, and by the look of the overgrown grass and vegetation out front, nobody had tended to it in years.
Which meant it was the perfect place for them.
The trouble, unfortunately, had to do with Alexander. While they journeyed, Nora noticed he started leaning more and more heavily against her side. And while he denied that he was feeling worse, he appeared much weaker than before. She couldn’t say the color had been taken out of his cheeks – because his skin had been so milky pale in the first place – but when she looked at him, she noticed an effect much like that.
It was like his liveliness was slowly being drained out of him. And by the time night fell, his face had grown tired and gaunt, and his skin was hot to the touch.
At least he could still stand.
Behind her, Alexander mumbled something indistinctive. He spoke loudly, but his words now slurred so badly Nora couldn’t make them out.
“What?” Nora looked back with concern. His eyes were closed, and he was sweating. The wound in his shoulder had stained through his shirt, and Nora wondered whether putting his shirt back on had been the right move. She was afraid the fabric would somehow get infused with the wound and prevent its healing.
What little healing was going on, anyway.
He didn’t respond. He clutched the top of his bad arm with one hand, and clenched his jaw against the pain. Nora went to him quickly and put a hand on his forearm.
“It’s alright,” she told him. “We’re here. I found a place we can stay. We’ll spend the night, and tomorrow I’ll find the healing woman. She’ll get you the herbs you need, I know it.”
Alexander mumbled something in response, but it was even harder to make out than before. And his forearm was blistering hot. He needed water, needed to be relieved of the fever. Vassiz were not supposed to be so hot.
Alexander tried speaking again, but all his words mashed together in an incoherent string. Nora frowned worriedly. His speech had been slurring all day, but this was the first time she wasn’t able to understand it when he made an effort to talk. Maybe they had less time than she thought. She prayed that was not the case.
“Gray,” she whispered, looking to the bear. His eyes shone in the night, and he looked at her intently. “Gray, come here.”
He walked closer to her, and she reached out to place a hand on his back. Instantly, she felt the connection between them being formed, felt their minds becoming linked as one. As soon as it snapped into place, she formed an image of the barn in her mind as best she could, and she let him see that image.
In response, she felt understanding. But there was also uncertainty.
Nora thought for a moment, then realized he needed the direction. She laid out its coordinates in relation to them as best she could, and the feeling of understanding radiated back strongly. Then questioning, as if he was asking, “What do you want me to do with it?”
Nora formed an image of what the inside of the barn might look like, but made it…unsteady. As if to ask if that was what it was really like. After a moment, she felt affirmation shoot back from the link as Gray understood what she asked him to do. He turned and raced away.
“Be careful,” Nora whispered.
She turned back to Alexander. He looked as bad as ever. But, at least, he was still standing. She hoped he could hold on until morning, when she would find the herbs that might yet save his life.
A few minutes later, Nora saw Gray running back. When he came up to her, she placed a hand on his head, opening the link again. Instantly, she got an image of the inside of the barn. It was fuzzy, as if Gray didn’t quite know what details to focus on, but there wasn’t anybody there. Old haystacks stood by the walls, and dirt covered the floor. There wasn’t much light, but Gray’s night vision wasn’t bad, and he had made out enough for her to know it was safe.
“Good job,” she told him, out loud. “Now, I need you to stay here. Stay and watch.” In her mind, she formed an image of the spot they were in right now, just at the edge of the trees. Along with it, she sent a feeling of alertness, as well as a vantage point of the barn. Again, she felt affirmation come back, but it was tinged with the hint of…disappointment?
“Come on, now,” Nora said, scrubbing his head playfully, “you’re doing us a big service keeping watch.” She felt understanding come back, along with a sense of duty.
She let go, and Gray settled by the trunk of a nearby tree. He stared directly at the barn, his ears erect. He was definitely alert.
Nora moved closer to Alexander and hefted his good arm over her shoulder. He leaned on her heavily. “Gray checked out the barn,” she told him, “and he told me it was empty.” She didn’t know if Alexander could even hear her, now, but she felt that maybe, just by speaking to him, she could give him a little bit more strength. She had to keep him focused and conscious. “We’ll spend the night there.”
She stepped forward, leading Alexander. He opened his eyes groggily, and they wandered around before closing again. “We’ve been traveling hard,” she told him. “A good night’s rest will help you recover your strength.”
She hoped it was true.
They crossed the distance to the barn slowly, with Alexander dragging his feet. When they came to the front door, Nora pushed against it with her shoulder. It didn’t budge. She stepped back a little and pushed it again, this time with more force. Too much, it turned out, as the entire rotting doorway broke and collapsed down.
Nora cringed as the wooden panels fell on her back. They were light, and she barely felt them, but losing the door meant it was now easier for a passerby to notice them inside the barn.
The inner room was just as Gray had shown her. Haystacks lay haphazardly near the side walls, and the ground was filthy with dirt. For a second, Nora had an image of the old mill flash in her mind, where Hunter had taken her once, but she forced it down ruthlessly. She had to focus on Alexander’s health, now.
She noticed a spot by the far wall that looked the least grimy. She led Alexander there and let him down gently. He slumped against the back wall, and his head fell forward weakly. Nora knelt beside him.
“We made it,” she told him. “We’re in Nakusp. You got me here, just as you promised. We’ll be able to look through the archive, soon.”
Alexander smiled weakly in return. His eyes fluttered open for a second. “…Madison…” he said, “…where is Madison?”
Nora winced at the name, but quickly covered it up with a smile. “She’s coming,” she told him. “She was delayed, but she will come.”
“Good.” He smiled. “I can wait.” His eyes drifted closed, and his head fell back. Nora waited a few moments as his breathing stabilized. His breaths became the deep breaths of sleep.
Nora stood up and looked at him. He had been such a specimen to behold when they first met, the absolute paragon of the male form, but was now so weakened. It was painful to see him like this. The fever must be taking him much worse than she thought if he was asking for Madison.
Nora needed to find the antidote. She needed to, as much as she’d ever needed anything in her life. Alexander had taken care of her when she needed it, in the face of desertion and uncertainty, and now he was the one who was so vulnerable and needed help. She was determined to give it to him.
“I won’t let you die on me,” she promised him softly.
Chapter Fifteen
~Preparations~
Nora stood up at the first rays of sunshine. She hadn’t slept all night – after her feeding, she hadn’t felt the need to. It was early, but the sun meant people in town would soon be getting up. She looked across to Alexander, who was still asleep. Lying there, eyes closed and body still, he looked almost…healthy.
But that was before you noticed the sweat-drenched shirt clinging to his
body and the faint-but-rancid smell of the open wound.
She had to find the healing woman.
She started to move across the room and caught the tip of her reflection in the shattered shards of an old mirror lying by the far wall.
She gasped. She nearly didn’t recognize herself. Her hair was completely frazzled, and the dress she had on was worn and grimy. But that’s not what stood out to her. She ran up to the broken mirror, and picked up one of the shards. She brought it close to her eyes to examine her face.
She looked…different. The same, but different. All her features, from the tilt of her jawline to the peak of her cheekbones, from the sharpness of her eyes to the shape of her lips, looked like they had been…modified, slightly. Augmented, maybe, to become more pronounced. Taken individually and in isolation, the difference in each would likely have been hard to spot, but when all the changes were there together…well, she looked more beautiful than she ever remembered. There was a newfound delicacy to her face, and behind it there was an elegance, too.
And then there was her skin. Just like Hunter’s had been when she first met him, and Alexander’s, and Rafael’s, and the skin of all the Vassiz she’d met, it was completely smooth. As she wiped away the dirt that had built up on her cheeks from the journey, she saw that there was not a single imperfection to her face. Anywhere.
She had never looked like that before.
Slowly, her eyes wandered down, scanning her entire body. She looked…more vibrant than before. More alive. She wondered if it was the transformation that did it, which meant the change might be permanent, or if it had been taking Vassiz blood, which meant the change might dissipate over time.
But that was neither here nor there. She took another look at the mirrored shard and realized how conspicuous she looked. If she had any hope of blending in with others in such a small town, her worn black dress definitely wouldn’t do.
Seeing that dress draped over her body, though, she was reminded of Hunter, and the feelings she felt for him—no. She would not fall into the trap of reviving painful memories. She had to focus, now, for Alexander’s sake.
