Graced

by Sophia Sharp

  Alexander walked over to Logan to inspect the inscriptions. After a few moments of looking at it closely in silence, he nodded his head. “They are one and the same, yes.”

  “What does it mean?” Laura asked.

  “I don’t know,” Alexander replied. “But our friends in the dream realm might.”

  By ‘friends,’ of course, Alexander meant the six angels they had met in the chamber. Their realm was the dream world, and the reflection of the chamber – nobody knew which side of it was the original – was the furthest they dared go in the human world. The reasoning for it was vague, but as best as Laura could understand it, it had to do with risking losing some part of their being if they stayed in the human world. That was why they were not with them on the expedition here, or back to the mill. But they would help them in the dream world, which, in fact, was where they would all take the battle to the elders. It was the angels’ domain, and they knew the intricacies of it better than even the most proficient Vassiz dream walker. But Laura and her companions had to find the elders in the real world, first, before even thinking of battling them in the dream realm.

  “You can inquire of it tonight,” Laura called across the clearing. Since taking vampire blood, neither Laura nor Logan were able to fall asleep, and, as such, were incapable to accessing the dream realm. So they had relied on Alexander and Madison to act as convoys between them and the angels, coordinating and planning with them that way. Which was why both Alexander and Madison had to come to the towers – and to the sanctuary – in the human world before they could speak to the angels about it. While the angels could have travelled here easily in the dream, Alexander and Madison would have been unable to because they had not yet been to the location in real life. Now, however, that problem was solved.

  “Yes,” Alexander nodded. “I’ll be sure to do so.”

  “So how far away is the entrance to the sanctuary?” Madison called out in the sing-song voice of hers. She had been busy examining the ground around the clearing, for any markings they may have missed.

  “Not far from here,” Logan said. “Although…” he scrubbed a hand through his hair, and blew out deep breath. “Although from where we stand, every direction looks the same. And I’m not sure which way we need to go.”

  “If we find the other tower,” Laura suggested, “we’ll be able to figure out the coordinates. And make our way to the sanctuary.”

  “Good point,” Alexander said, popping up next to her. “And which way exactly is this other tower of yours?”

  Laura strained her memory, trying to remember where she had gone the last time she was here. But Logan was right – from where they stood, in the middle of the circular clearing, every direction looked more or less identical.

  “Let’s spread out,” Laura finally said. “That way we can cover more ground.”

  Logan looked at her seriously. “Are you sure? We don’t know if there are any more of those… guards… left out here, and there is safety in numbers for us. I wouldn’t want you to stumble across a large Vassiz pack without me by your side.” He coughed, and added quickly, “I mean, I wouldn’t want any of us to meet a pack alone.”

  That had been the risk in backtracking here. That some packs had been left behind, positioned to keep guard over the entrance to the sanctuary. Stumbling into them would be problematic to say the least. And who knew how large one of the packs could potentially be? Laura considered herself lucky that there were only two vampires set to keep watch over the mill.

  “I’ll be fine,” she told him. “And anyway, I’ve got Gray with me in case anything happens. And last time something did happen, he turned out to be quite the capable combatant, remember?” Alexander and Madison exchanged looks. For whatever reason, Gray’s participation in the fight back at the mill hadn’t been brought up in conversation with them yet.

  Laura looked over at the bear, who was lounging under the shade of a large evergreen. “Besides,” she added, “if I remember correctly, the other tower wasn’t too far off. If we split up, it should only take a couple of minutes before one of us finds it. I hardly consider that enough time to get into any trouble.”

  Logan nodded reluctantly, and Laura knew she wouldn’t hear the end of it from him later tonight, in private. But every second they stood still was a second wasted, and she was sure the elders – no matter whether they still thought Laura and Logan were on the run or not – would not be sitting idly by.

  “Alexander and Madison,” she began, “one of you go north, and the other east. I’ll go south, and Logan, you can go west.” She looked to make sure everyone understood. She got nods from all around. “We can meet back here in ten minutes should neither of us find it, but I doubt that’ll be the case.” Again, more nodding. Laura had to admit that it was still slightly unsettling giving out orders to beings who had lived more than thirty times longer than she had. But they had taken her on as their leader willingly, and seemed to have no trouble listening when she spoke. Still, she could never have expected to find herself in a situation even remotely close to this only two, three months ago. It was amazing how fast things had changed in her life. “And if you do find it, just yell for the rest of us. I’m sure we’ll have no trouble hearing you. Got it? Let’s go.”

  With that, Laura turned around in the direction she best gauged to be south. She heard Madison and Alexander jostling playfully with one another over who would go north and who would go east, with Madison eventually winning out and settling on her preferred direction north. Laura heard her say that all good things came from the north, although she wasn’t quite sure what it meant.

  Laura whistled through her teeth for Gray, who got up and lumbered towards her. That had been a new trick she had taught him only a few days ago. She thought it more practical than calling out his name every time she needed him to come over.

  “We’re going to look for another one of these towers,” she told him when he was close. Reaching out, she placed a hand on his head, and felt the connection snap into place easily. Lately, it had become much easier to form the connection and hold it than she remembered from before. Maybe it had something to do with Gray growing up, or maybe with her own development of the vampire ability. Whatever it was, she did not mind.

  With the connection between their two minds fully formed, Laura pictured the tower behind her. Gray responded by sending her an image of the same tower, from his vantage point. Laura sent back affirmation, and then quickly changed the color of the tower to a deep black, just as she remembered the other one being. Then she sent a type of wandering feeling, tinged with uncertainty, about the coordinates of that second one. After a moment, she felt affirmation shoot back again. And Gray set forth into the trees in front of her, running fast yet barely making a sound.

  Laura went after him, but she did not run. The tower, as she remembered, was not very far away, and she didn’t want to miss its shimmering gleam in the sun. Precisely because this time, it would mean it much harder to see.

  She picked her way through familiar forest. It was just as overgrown as she remembered it, and just as wild. At the same time, it felt strange coming back here, being so completely different herself. Going back to the mill was the closest she’d been to her home town, but she still couldn’t actually let herself visit. Not yet. Not until the elders are dealt with.

  She passed around a large tree trunk, and ducked under some low-hanging branches. All the while, her eyes swept out in front of her, and to the sides, constantly searching for that second tower. She kept going, straining to see against the sun, trying to notice any unnatural divisions in the otherwise uniform formation of the woods.

  After a few minutes, she heard something rustling through the woods, coming directly at her. She started to move to the side, to hide against one of the massive tree trunks that surrounded her, when she recognized the sound of footsteps as belonging to Gray. Had he found the tower already?

  She popped back into his path, and saw his sleek silver shape
approaching her. He was running. When he saw her, he slowed down, and swung his head to the side as if to say, “Come with me.” Laura understood, and started after him.

  She followed as he led her on a path that curved slightly left, then straight, then left again. After a while, she saw the division in the trees marking the clearing surrounding the other tower up ahead. She smiled to herself. Gray had found it, whereas if she kept going in her original direction south, she would have walked right by it.

  She saw the clearing, but something… felt wrong. A sense of urgency gripped her as she increased her pace. The clearing was right there, up ahead, but – she realized with a start – she could not see the black tower. The forest before the opening was still thick, so maybe there were branches or leaves obstructed her view… but for some reason, that uneasy feeling still gripped her in the pit of her stomach.

  She burst into the clearing, and gasped. It was just as she remembered – the perfect circular edge around the space, the completely clean grass fending off the wild reaches of the forest – with just one major difference. The tower that had once stood in the middle of the earth had been reduced to a pile of rubble on the ground.

  Chapter Seven

  ~The Broken Tower~

  She ran up to it, a thousand thoughts flying through her mind. Who would do such a thing? Why? The whole thing was smashed to pieces, completely broken. She didn’t even think, the first time she saw the tower, that it could be broken! It had stood there for hundreds upon hundreds of years – maybe even thousands – completely untouched by the passage of time. And now, all that was left of it was a pile of black dust.

  Suddenly she became very alert of her surroundings. Whoever had done it – some of the Vassiz, most likely – could still be around. She strained her ears, trying to hear any unnatural noise from her surroundings. But all she could hear was the faint rustle of the wind through the tall trees, and the occasional far-off bird call. Everything else was serene. She looked at the ground around her, but couldn’t decipher any footsteps. She looked behind her, the way she had come, and saw that she had made noticeable impressions in the grass. She sighed with relief. That meant that whoever had done this was likely long gone.

  Still, just to be safe, she crept back to the edge of the forest. She whistled quietly through her teeth, and Gray came over. Forming the connection with him for a brief moment, she told him to keep watch over the clearing while she went to find the others. She felt affirmation come back again, showing that he understood, and settled down in his spot.

  Laura set back towards the other tower, making as little noise as possible, and at the same time watching her path so she could back-trace her way to it. She knew that if she shouted for the others, they would come, but she did not want to risk alerting anybody not in her party who could still be around.

  She ran back to the first tower, letting her instincts guide her. She had no trouble avoiding the shrubs and trees that stood in her way, and moved as expertly and as silently as her vampire form let her.

  When she came out of the woods and into the clearing around the white tower, she found that Alexander and Logan were already there. They hailed her as she came over.

  “No luck?” Alexander asked.

  Laura shook her head. “Worse. I found it, but… it has been destroyed.”

  “What?” Logan exclaimed. “I knew I shouldn’t have let you go on your own! Was there anybody else there? Did you see anyone?”

  Laura shook her head again. “Don’t worry, I was careful the whole time. And no, there was nobody else around. And as best as I could tell, whoever did it is long gone.” She glanced at Alexander. “Where’s Madison?”

  “We were waiting for her, and you,” Alexander replied somewhat passively. He looked to be thinking. “What I want to know, however, is how somebody could have destroyed such a thing. I take it, from your descriptions, that it was a similar structure to this one?” Laura nodded. “That’s interesting. Because I think that this tower is not made of simple stone. It has lasted generations, and withstood the elements without showing any sign of decay or embrittlement. I believe it was made from a source called allurvai.”

  “Allurvai?” Laura asked. “What is that?”

  “It is a type of mineral, wrought centuries ago by the very first of the Vassiz. I have read of it, once. Knowledge of its formation has long since disappeared, and I did not think that any of it remains in this world. It is extremely precious. It is harder than diamond and stronger than steel. Once it is forged, there is no known way to break its shape. It is, for lack of a better word, indestructible.”

  “But, the other tower…” Laura began.

  “I know. Which is what makes it all so intriguing. To destroy something like that… it means that whoever did it knew of the source. They knew the tower was made from allurvai, and had some type of… counter… to it. Otherwise… well, there is no other way I could think of that they could have broken it.” He paused for a moment, pursing his lips. “To prove my point: look.” Quickly, he went to the side of the clearing, and picked up a rather large rock from the ground. Coming back, he positioned it in his hand, and held it tightly. Then, all of a sudden, he slammed the rock as hard as he could against the edge of the white tower.

  The force of impact was so great that Alexander’s hand ripped back. It was like he had hit a heavy hammer against a metal anvil. A hollow ringing noise sounded for a few seconds, and then subsided. Alexander looked to Laura and Logan, then slowly upturned his hand to drop the rock he just held. When it fell, Laura saw that it had broken in two – a clean cleave in its form. And the spot he hit the tower with immeasurable force? There was not even a single scruff mark there.

  “You see?” he asked, looking at the broken rock. “No ordinary tools could have assisted them in breaking the tower.”

  “But then how would they have done it?” Laura thought out loud.

  “My only guess,” Alexander offered, “is that the elders know of this place, and equipped whoever came with the essential tools needed to destroy the structure. But… I do not know what those tools might be.”

  Just then, Laura heard someone approach from behind her, and whipped around. Logan and Alexander had also picked up on the noise, and were looking back as well. It was Madison, walking back towards them with a grim expression on her face.

  “I found it,” she announced. “But what I saw was not what I was expecting.”

  “It’s broken,” Laura said.

  Madison looked shocked. “How did you know?”

  “Gray helped me find it,” Laura explained. “I would have wandered right past it if it wasn’t for him, but he picked up on it. I just came back from there.”

  “We must have just missed each other,” Madison mused. “I take it the men haven’t seen it yet?” Laura shook her head. “Well, let’s go over there then. It’ll be worthwhile to see what we can find.”

  They started back, with Madison leading the way. As they walked, Laura’s mind worked with possibilities. If what Alexander said was true, and the tower was truly made of allurvai, then how could it have possibly been broken? He said it was indestructible, no less. And Laura believed it – she had seen its shining sides looking completely untouched by the passage of time despite standing in a place where rain and wind and other elements surely must have worked against it. And she had seen him smash that rock against it, hard enough to break the stone in two. And if the ones who broken it were some of the Vassiz chasing after them – and who else could it have been, anyway? – they would have had to have something much stronger than the rocks lying around.

  She shivered. What it all meant, she was sure, was that the elders knew significantly more than any in her group did. To have broken the tower, it meant that the Vassiz responsible had been equipped with something that could go against allurvai – something that was stronger than a material called indestructible. She did not want to spend too much time thinking on what that could be.

 
They emerged at the clearing, with the rubble of the tower lying right in the middle. Gray was in the same spot Laura had left him, keeping watch over the entire space. Alexander took a few quick strides, and was kneeling by the dark pieces of rubble and dust before anyone else.

  As Laura and the rest of them surrounded him, Madison spoke. “When do you think it happened?”

  “Not recently.” Logan was the one to answer. He pointed to the outside of the clearing, where Laura was surprised to see that edges of vines and other small shrubs had started to creep in. “I think the tower is what kept the forest’s growth at bay – kept the wilderness away from the clearing. But with it destroyed…” he shrugged. “Well, you can see what is happening.”

  “Do you think it was done by the Vassiz who followed us into the mines?” Laura asked.

  “Maybe,” Logan replied, “or maybe by some who came only a bit later. What I am worried about, in either case, is whether our path back to the sanctuary may have become slightly more muddled.”

  “Do you mean…?” Alexander began, and Logan nodded.

  “I do. The elders are surely now well-aware of the sanctuary, and they likely have it guarded. In fact, I’m nearly certain they do, especially if they saw the need to protect the mill.”

  “But then how would we get in?” Laura asked.

  “I don’t know if getting in is a viable option, anymore,” Logan answered. “Although there is one saving grace.”

  “And what’s that?”

  “Remember how unsettled Algar and his brother were becoming about staying watch at the mill? The Vassiz, none of them tend to enjoy staying in one place for an extended period of time. Especially when we do not see the need for it. So while all that came here on order of the elders are likely still here, they are growing restless. And as such, sloppy. If they are guarding the entrance to the caves, we may still be able to slip by them undetected.”

  “It does complicate things,” Madison offered, “but I do not think we have any choice but to press on. Laura?”