by Sophia Sharp
“I see you too, Alexander,” Nora whispered. Tears started to build up behind her eyes, and she blinked quickly to hold them back. Her heart felt heavy. “Don’t fade away.”
“You are…so beautiful. Your transformation…it has made you so much stronger. Keep that strength, Nora. Your youth, granted to you forever.” He coughed again and looked away. “Madison was right,” he said softly, “we shouldn’t have split up. But I insisted on it, dammit! We had to protect you.”
“What?” Nora couldn’t understand what he was saying. Was he delusional again?
“Hunter. He…cares for you. Do not doubt that.”
Nora smiled sadly and took Alexander’s hand again. “No,” she told him gently. “He left me in the woods. All I have is you.”
Alexander’s eyes flickered for a moment, and then his head fell back. He stared up at the ceiling lifelessly.
“No!” Nora cried. “No, you can’t leave yet!” He didn’t respond. He was still breathing, but his jaw was clenched again, and strain was clear on his face. He was in pain.
“I’m right here,” Nora said, stroking his hand gently. “Right beside you. I’m here for you now when you need me most. As you were for me.” A tear formed in the corner of her eye, and she let it fall. It slid down her cheek, hanging for a moment on her chin, and then fell through the air to splash onto Alexander’s hand. He didn’t react.
She looked at him, lying there in front of her. He had been so magnificent once, not very long ago, and was now so vulnerable, so defenseless. So weak. And it was all her fault. If it hadn’t been for her, the arrow would not have come. If it hadn’t been for her, he wouldn’t have taken it in his shoulder, and he wouldn’t have been poisoned beyond healing. If it hadn’t been for her, he would still be with the woman he loved, the woman he called for so many times in these dark hours. He would still be with Madison.
She shuddered and let more tears come. She was overburdened with emotion. Hunter had abandoned her. She had left her family behind. And now Alexander, who she promised to take care of, was hanging by a thread to his hold on life, and death beckoned him from below.
In the darkest hour, where uncertainty ran rampant, she let—for the first time in a long time—her emotions completely take hold. She needed to feel something. She itched for warmth. For the same touch, the same electricity she had once had with Hunter.
Suddenly Alexander’s hand bolted out to grab her wrist. He pulled her close to him, until his face was only inches away.
“Don’t…let…me go,” he whispered to her. It was so quiet, she thought she might have imagined the words. Nora looked at his face. Her gaze wandered from one of his eyes to the other, then down to his lips, and back again. He looked so fragile, but so…beautiful.
The candles flickering idly nearby added depth and shadow to his face, to his gaunt cheeks, to his elegant jaw.
Slowly, unsurely, Nora closed her eyes. She yearned for warmth, and for that jolt of electricity. In a single uncertain moment, amid the darkness outside, she moved closer until she could feel his breath on her lips. Hesitantly, she parted her mouth just enough to lean over and let her lips brush against his.
And she felt…nothing. No electricity, no warmth, no extra feeling like with Hunter.
Alexander gasped, and Nora broke out of her spell. She jerked away, gripped by fear and uncertainty over what she just did. Alexander fell back down, eyes still closed.
A single tear trailed down Nora’s cheek as she moved to place a kiss on his forehead. “Get well,” she whispered to him unsteadily.
Chapter Twenty-Two
~A Restless Night~
That night was restless and long. Nora desperately wished for a reprieve from everything. Even sleep, with the nightmares that constantly haunted her dreams, would be a welcome respite from the world.
She paced the area within the barn, every anxiety-ridden moment worse than the last as she prayed for Alexander’s condition to improve.
When a thin rain started outside, Nora went to bring Gray inside, which gave her mind a welcome break from worrying about Alexander. But it was unfortunately short-lived. Gray fell asleep immediately under a blanket Nora provided for him, and she was back to being on her own, worried sick about Alexander’s wellbeing.
Soon after, the rain picked up, and so did the heavy winds, shaking the barn’s foundation with every gust. Thousands of raindrops pounded the tin roof like exploding bombshells, amplifying the destitute atmosphere.
Nora couldn’t do anything but wait. She paced the barn, running over to Alexander every time she thought she heard him stir.
It was a dark time. Nora’s mind swarmed with possibilities of what might happen next, and each one got progressively worse. And more depressing.
Nora didn’t have the capacity for optimism anymore.
So she paced the barn, going from wall to wall pointlessly. There was nothing else to do. The only option was to wait. But time seemed to grind to a standstill, every minute agonizingly more slow than the last.
A bright light flashed from outside, momentarily blinding Nora. The heavy crash of thunder followed. She blinked, regaining her night vision, and shivered. It was not auspicious weather at all.
She found herself staring through the broken window. Out there, the downpour continued. But she also felt something beckon her from outside. Maybe it was her imagination, or maybe it was something else, but the need to get away from the barn slowly formed in her mind and became clear. Taking one more look at Alexander – and seeing him exactly the same as he was before – she ran quietly out into the rain.
She headed for the forest, away from town. She ran through the trees, angling away from the river. In the forest, the upper canopy shielded her from the worst of the downpour, but she barely noticed. She just ran. There was no thinking as she raced by the trees, around boulders, and up and down the uneven ground. She let her mind zone out, and she just ran.
She was going fast. Her instincts were good – she didn’t fall or slip once in the wet mud and slick earth. She ran, not knowing where, but at the same time feeling liberated by her speed.
She knew she was getting farther and farther away from everything. All alone, out in the middle of uninhabitable western rainforest, she felt free. Let the Vassiz come. In her current state, she would welcome the challenge. Let them find out what she could do when there was nothing at stake. When there was nothing left for her.
She ran for hours, letting instinct guide her. She ran past howling rivers and trailed up sloping hills. She ran and ran, until all thought was extinguished, and all that was left within her was a pure, animal instinct that guided her way.
She ran until she saw the first rays of the morning sun. When those peeked out from the clouds, she stopped, becoming conscious of herself again. She didn’t know where she was, but that was only within her mind. Instinctually, she could point directly to the barn, no matter the hundreds of miles it was away from her. She started back, liberated by her speed.
Chapter Twenty-Three
~Explanations~
Nora burst through the barn entrance, knocking over the piece of plywood Selaine had set up. Her eyes swept to where Alexander was. The bed was empty. Caught off-guard, she looked around. Gray was missing too. The entire barn, in fact, was empty.
“There you are,” a voice said behind her, causing Nora to jump. She looked back and saw Alexander walking up to her, looking none the worse for wear. Gray was beside him. “I was wondering what was taking you.”
“Alexander!” she exclaimed, laughing. She ran up to him and jumped up to hug him tightly. She held on for a second, then dropped down, looking him up and down. “You look…you look great!”
He laughed in reply. “Were you expecting anything less?”
“No—I mean, yes…I mean…err…it’s good to see you up!”
“Up?” Alexander looked confused. “You thought I would be asleep all night? Now, I’ll tell you what, I was surprised when I saw tha
t you weren’t here this morning. But I noticed your bear here, so I knew you weren’t far off. But…you know, I woke up to the strangest sensation. I knew where I was – I recognized the barn – but I hadn’t the slightest clue how I got here.” He chuckled unsteadily. “I guess I was that tired when we got here last night, huh?”
“Last night?” Nora shook her head. “No, Alexander. We’ve been here for two days already.”
“Two days?”
“That’s right. You don’t remember?”
He shook his head blankly.
“The arrow, the fever, the fight?” Nora tried.
“What arrow?” Alexander asked. “What fever? And what fight? Is that why you weren’t here this morning? Did we argue over something last night?”
“No,” Nora stepped back. “You truly don’t remember?” Nora took a deep breath and started talking – fast. “You’ve had a horrible fever for the past two days. And this woman, Selaine, the healing woman from the village, she made a potion for you, and it’ll keep off the effects of the poison, but she didn’t know how long it would work for, or even if it would work, which is why I was so happy to see you, after giving it to you last night, and wondering if you’d live or not, and—”
“Hold on,” Alexander said, raising his hand. “You’re going way too fast. A fever? How would I possibly get a fever? And you were worried whether I would live or not?”
“That’s right,” Nora said quickly. “You took an arrow to your shoulder. There was poison coated on its tip.”
“My shoulder?” He frowned. “What do you mean?” He pulled down the neck of his shirt to reveal his right shoulder.
“The other one,” Nora said.
Still frowning, Alexander pulled on his shirt to look at his other shoulder. Nora gasped. There was a minor scar in the spot where the arrow had struck him, but that was it. There was no discoloration, nothing else at all. “Wow,” she breathed, brushing her fingers over the scar. “It’s healed.”
“But that scar wasn’t there before,” Alexander said seriously. “Tell me what happened.”
Nora started explaining everything, starting all the way back at the fight. Alexander remembered bits and pieces of the last few days, but none of it was coherent. He remembered coming into town, finding the barn, and remembered the layout inside the barn. But it was all blurred together, and he was convinced all those memories had been formed on the same day. Nora explained otherwise. She told him about finding Selaine, and how she did it based on his instructions. She told him about the old mine she’d gone down, and how the vital ingredient for the poison’s antidote only grew there. He didn’t recall any of it. There were…holes in his memory.
“And that’s why,” Nora said, finishing the explanation, “we have to find the mushroom. It will rid your body of the poison. What I gave you last night was just a…mask, Selaine called it, and it hides your symptoms. But it won’t hold. They’ll return, unless you get the antidote. So the danger is not over yet.”
“You gave it to me last night? Hmm…” he paused, thinking. “You know, I think I do remember a little bit of that.”
Suddenly, fear rose up in Nora’s chest. She wondered if he meant the kiss? She looked at her feet, careful not to blush.
“Ah…no, it’s gone now.” Alexander laughed nervously and swept a hand through his hair. “So, it looks like we have to go find this ‘Selaine’ of yours.”
Nora exhaled with relief. If he didn’t mention the kiss, she wouldn’t either. It had been nothing more than a mistake in a moment of weakness and vulnerability.
“I can show you where she is,” she said. “She has a small shop hidden away in the middle of town.”
“We should do that right away, especially if my condition is as serious as you said.”
Nora nodded and knelt down to look at Gray. “Gray, stay here. We’ll be back soon.” He crooked his head at her, but sat down. “You can go run around in the woods, if you want. Who knows, maybe you’ll find some food in there.” He got back up and twisted around to run to the edge of the woods.
“He listens extraordinarily well,” Alexander mused. “It’s like he can understand everything you’re saying.”
“Oh!” Nora realized she hadn’t told Alexander about her emerging talent. But…doing so would mean admitting that she took Vassiz blood earlier. And she wasn’t ready to have that conversation yet. “He’s been with me for a while, I guess.”
“That’s right,” Alexander said. He seemed to be considering something, but then shook his head slightly. “You know, going into town means being exposed to all the people there. But I realize that if you’ve seen Selaine, it means you’ve already been there.” He barked a laugh. “You have extraordinary self-control to have restrained yourself so.”
“Oh. Right. Thanks.” She smiled shyly. It wasn’t lying if she just avoided mentioning her feeding, right? “Come on, I’ll show you where to go.”
“Sure,” Alexander said, as Nora led the way.
“Here it is,” Nora announced as they turned the corner to the alley that led to Selaine’s shop. “Straight up ahead.”
“Up there?” Alexander asked. “I thought you said she was also a shopkeeper?”
“She is,” Nora started, but then her eyes fell on the building she’d motioned to without looking moments earlier. The storefront she remembered was gone, and the windows were boarded up by large pieces of plywood. “What the…?”
She ran up to the front of the building where she first met Selaine. The front entrance was closed, and there wasn’t any sign that a shop had ever been there. “She must have…not opened up today,” Nora said quickly. “That’s fine, there’s another way in. Around back.” She started around the building, but Alexander stopped her with a hand on her shoulder.
“Wait. Something…doesn’t feel right.” He looked around cautiously. “Take a breath in.”
Nora stopped and inhaled the air. It smelled…empty. Not empty like a clear space would be, but empty as in completely vacuous, as if…as if the spot they stood in didn’t even exist.
“I’m sure it’s nothing,” Nora said. Had it been this way before? She had been too preoccupied to really notice, earlier. “It’s the same building I’ve been to before. We’ll go around back.”
“Let me go first, then,” Alexander said. “Be on your guard.”
Cautiously, Alexander made his way around the building. There was nobody else around, but his discomfort made Nora feel uneasy as she trailed behind him. The rear door was closed, and when Alexander tried the knob, it was locked.
“Maybe she’s away,” Nora said slowly. But Selaine knew Nora would be coming here today, which is why it didn’t make any sense. Where could she have gone?
Abruptly, the loud noise of snapping wood broke Nora out of her thoughts. She looked to Alexander, who was holding the doorknob in one hand, with splinters of wood coming off it. He had ripped the lock right off the door!
“Why’d you do that?” Nora demanded.
Alexander looked at her for a moment. “You said this is the place, right? I’m worried something may have happened to your friend.”
“And so we break into her home?” Nora asked indignantly. Never mind the small voice in the back of her head that said she had broken into a shop only a day ago. That was different!
“She won’t be alarmed if she sees it’s you.” Alexander pushed the door slowly open. He poked his head in, first, and then went inside. Nora followed.
There was no light inside, but Nora’s eyes were sharp. It took a moment for them to adjust to the dark, nonetheless. And when they did, Nora’s jaw dropped.
“I… don’t understand,” Nora said, as she surveyed the first floor. All the things that had been there the day before – all the shelving and tables, all the various trinkets and ornaments and garments for sale – all were gone. There was not a single thing left. The entire room lay barren, abandoned. It was as empty as the barn. More empty, in fact. “This place was
packed only yesterday!”
“But not anymore,” Alexander said. “It seems Selaine chose an odd time to clear her inventory.”
“Upstairs,” Nora said, regaining some composure. “She lives upstairs. That’s where she’d be, if she’s still here.”
“Let’s go up, then.”
The stairs creaked as Alexander ascended them slowly, and Nora trailed after him. As she followed Alexander, a sinking feeling started to develop in her stomach that the upstairs level would look the same as the first floor.
Alexander topped the stairs and came to the door at the end of the hall. It was closed. “Through here?” he asked. Nora nodded. Alexander reached out, took the door handle, and twisted it open. Then he very carefully pushed the door forward.
Nora inhaled sharply as the door swung open. The upstairs level had also been wiped clean. Some of the desks and shelves Nora remembered were still there, but they were completely empty. Even the thick layer of dust that had coated some of the unused portions of the top surface was gone. And the light bulb – the single, hanging light bulb that swung from the middle of the ceiling – was gone.
Alexander looked back to Nora. “You said she lived here?”
“That’s right,” Nora said. She walked into the room, to the far window where the blinds had been drawn. She didn’t open them – there was no need. “I…I don’t understand. I was here only last night.” She walked over to the desk that Selaine had sat behind when she gave Nora the flask with the brown liquid. “Right here,” Nora emphasized, “was where she sat when I spoke to her.”
“An old woman couldn’t have done all this on her own,” Alexander said. “The question is, where did she go? And why?”
“I don’t know.” The realization of what this meant was starting to sink in. With Selaine gone, it meant that even if they did get the mushroom, they couldn’t make the antidote that Alexander required. And without it, there was no way Nora knew of that Alexander could return to full health. The sinking feeling in her stomach grew much stronger.
