The Watchers

by Lynnie Purcell

  Assuming she wasn’t taken against her will, it was more likely she would have headed for a place where she could make shelter and hide, or she would have headed for a body of water. Ideally, she would have headed for a place with both. I nodded to the forest littered with wet, dead leaves, thorn bushes, and broken limbs, and started walking on a course that was more to the west. Every so often as I walked, I picked up a stone and wedged it in the branches of a tree as a marker of the way I had passed. I was determined to get answers, not die of hyperthermia. As my feet created a monotonous, dull slide on the slick leaves, I let my mind drift back to Jennifer and Mark, not wanting to think about Daniel any more.

  I knew Mark was waiting for the right moment to ask me out. He was also waiting to get some kind of verification that I preferred him over the rest of the male population. I didn’t want him to ask me; the idea gave me the creeps. If he did ask me, I would inevitably turn him down, and that would, in turn, create a whole pile of trouble. It would definitely get back to Jennifer, who would inevitably try to think up ways to get back at me, using Michelle as a minion to her evil deeds. I knew who she would target in order to make me jealous: Daniel. I had to cut off Mark’s asking me out before he got the chance. It was the only way to keep peace…and keep me from going to war with Jennifer. I had a plan, but I wasn’t sure I could do it alone. I needed to get Mark more interested in Jennifer, who was crazy about him in her typical, “we belong together, because we’re both popular,” way. Mark would be thrilled to find someone was so into him. Why he didn’t see her attraction to him I couldn’t fathom. I centered my thoughts on different ways to redirect Mark for a while, feeling entirely tactical, letting those musings distract me from what I really wanted to think about.

  I had walked for an hour when I found my first clue. I almost missed it. I was passing a band of dark azalea bushes, which overhung a tiny mountain stream when I noticed a torn piece of fabric hanging off one of the nearby brambles. If it hadn’t been for the shaft of sunlight shining on the one bare part of the creek, catching my eye, I wouldn’t have seen it all. I stepped closer, curious about the random piece of clothing so far out in the forest, and saw that it was smeared with mud and what looked like blood. The fabric was green and similar to what I thought a Forest Ranger would wear.

  I took a deep breath, hoping the blood was from a scratch or another non-life-threatening injury, and closed my eyes. If she were close, and conscious, I would be able to hear her thoughts. If she were dead, I was already too late.

  I concentrated, and for the first time since inheriting my gift of reading minds, I tested the limits of what I could do. I reached out with my mind, like a silent hand exploring the foliage, and started searching the forest around me. As I did, I felt the life around me. The squirrels as they searched endlessly for food, desperate this time of year, the few birds that had decided being cold was worth not having to fly to Florida, even the insects, they all touched my mind briefly. But I didn’t feel any Forest Ranger named Susan. I pushed the field of thought out further wondering if this were normal. It didn’t feel normal. I laughed, almost disrupting the energy I had pushed outward in my search for her. As if anything about my life, about being born to a fallen angel, could be normal…

  I was about to give up, and move on to another part of the forest, when I felt a pinprick of energy. Or was it light? My eyebrows furrowed as I concentrated. Whatever it was, it was definitely more than just a squirrel or rabbit. I followed the feeling, stumbling over the uneven ground. The feeling got stronger. Whatever I was being drawn toward was large and well hidden in a small cave further up on the mountain. I could almost picture the spot in my mind. I opened my eyes, the feeling of the presence very close, and scrambled up the side of a mountain to find what my mind had seen.

  I searched through all the rocky overhangs I came across, the energy pulsing like a beacon. It was like a drum inside me. Dah dum dah dum dah dum. I felt it inside my head and my chest, urging me to go faster. I increased my speed and scrambled across another rock outcropping, my own heart in my throat. The sound increased tenfold. DAH DUM DAH DUM. I stopped. My breath caught in my throat. There she was! I had actually found her! Her arm was at an odd angle and she appeared unconscious, but she was undeniably there. At least, I hoped she was unconscious. A trickle of blood trailed down her face in a trickle of doubt.

  I ran to her, not knowing how to help, wishing I had taken that first aid class last spring like Ellen had wanted me to. I checked her pulse; she was definitely alive – but just barely. I took off my jacket and wrapped it around her. For once, I was glad I was freakishly tall and that my jacket was big enough to cover her from her neck to mid-thigh. I stood up and looked around.

  Now what? As usual, I hadn’t remembered my phone – not that I thought I would actually find her. I had known the odds when I started out; had known I was looking for something that was impossible to find. Yet, impossible was lying there at my feet.

  I looked down the embankment and gulped when I saw how much of the hill I had scaled. She obviously needed a hospital…fast. How was I going to get her down or even carry her back to the car? Did I dare risk leaving her and coming back with more people? No. I didn’t want to leave her. I would never forgive myself if she died while I was off getting help. What I needed was something to drag her on. I looked around the barren, wintered mountain for help, but there was nothing. I would have to carry her. There were no other options. I knelt down on my knees to pick her up.

  “Sorry, sorry, sorry,” I said as I threw her over my shoulder, trying to avoid her broken arm.

  She groaned slightly in response. Even unconscious, she could feel the pain. I grunted as I settled her dead weight on my shoulder. My knees buckled slightly when I rose, but I kept my feet. I started down the hill, placing my feet carefully, immediately feeling sweat pour down my forehead. I slipped and slid down the mountain on leaves wet with last night’s rain, glad that the slipping didn’t result in falling. I had to stop at the bottom, leaning against a tree for support against the weight of Susan’s body.

  Once I had caught my breath, and managed to cool down a little, I started down the trail, dreading the hike I had ahead of me. As I walked around the base of the mountain, the sweat started double time, and the veins in my neck popped out in strained protest. I had to stop every couple of minutes to rest and catch my breath. I switched shoulders whenever I stopped, hoping to relieve some of the pressure, but it didn’t help. It only made both my shoulders hurt.

  I realized, as I hauled Susan onto my shoulder for the fifth time, that saving people was a lot less glamorous than the movies made it out to be. It was sweat and bone aching tiredness and fear that I might fail. I didn’t want to fail this woman. Would I fail? It was all I could think about.

  I gritted my teeth, forcing myself to think of good things, things I would do when I got back home. A bath, a good book, listening to Ella Fitzgerald, maybe looking up Daniel’s number and demanding to know where he was, sleeping a million years, not moving unless I had to…

  Twenty minutes passed of the grueling hike before I stopped for a reason other than rest. It was a sound that halted my feet. More precisely, it was a growl. It was as if someone had figured out how to put all the evil of the universe into one hair raising growl. I looked at Susan. She hadn’t made any noise since I’d picked her up. I bit my lip, hesitating. Where had that noise come from? I started walking again, my heart pounding hard. The forest was silent. There were no birds chirping, no movement among the leaves. Only a terrifying stillness.

  I scoured the surrounding landscape, cursing the trees and undergrowth which obscured my view. The growl sounded again, closer this time. I stopped and listened to the sound, trying to understand. It was as if the creature, or thing, was snuffling through the undergrowth. I looked to my right where I thought the noise was coming from and saw an inky darkness swell slowly out of the trees. It undulated across the leaves like a very big snake blackening whatever
it touched. The darkness slowly moved across the bed of leaves in my direction. The sound I heard, the snuffling, sounded like a dog searching for a bone it had lost. This thing was searching for something. I looked at Susan. Was it her? Was it coming to finish her off? Was it the thing everyone had been tracking?

  Resolved, I tightened my grip on her knees. The vision of Daniel protecting a thousand people flooded through me, adding steel to my backbone. What would he say if I failed? Would he think less of me? It wasn’t just what he would think that had me determined. Susan deserved to live. Life was meant for people like her. Not creatures like this thing. Not like me. This thing, the darkness, whatever it was, wouldn’t stop me from saving her. As I tightened my grip, my resolve to protect Susan warmed my stomach and my necklace grew hot against my skin. Trying not to react to the burning against my chest, or my fear of dropping Susan, I looked down. My necklace was glowing with a light so brilliant it was blinding. The warmth I felt carried over to the warmth of the glow.

  The darkness stopped. The growling started up again like a furnace blasting into life. Whatever was inside the darkness had sensed or seen the light of the necklace and didn’t like it. Instinctively, I turned sideways, so the necklace was facing the darkness then started sidestepping my way along the path. The thing started alternating between whining and a growl at my retreat. I walked faster. I didn’t know how long the necklace would burn; I just knew I didn’t want to be around to find out what happened when it stopped. I hurried away, my heart in my throat, questions and fear dancing through my head.

  Chapter 11

  The problem with running away from a scary blob of utter darkness when you’re carrying a hundred and fifteen pound woman is that you have to stop. Often. And if you don’t stop often, because adrenaline and fear are making you panic, you start to operate on desperation alone. I was at my breaking point.

  I stumbled on the slick leaves, almost dropping Susan twice as I ran down the hill. I knew I was on the right track from the rocks I had tucked into the trees, but that hardly mattered. I just wanted to get away. My panic had put me in fight or flight mode, and I was definitely fleeing.

  As soon as the creature was out of sight, the necklace stopped glowing, but I didn’t stop to worry about it. I had bigger issues. Was it following me? I couldn’t hear anything, but that meant nothing. My feet were creating so much noise that a whole herd of horses could have been behind me, and I wouldn’t have noticed. If it was following me, could I fight it off? My body screamed ‘no!’

  I did know one thing. Whatever was happening was the explanation for what had happened to Ryan Holt and all those animals. It was an explanation for Susan’s condition. Only, it explained nothing. How did a scary blob of darkness kill people?

  I wasn’t far down the path when I heard a different sound. It wasn’t growling, but it still scared the crap out of me. It was the sound of metal tearing into metal, and it was coming from the direction I had just fled. Rip! Screech! Tear! Rip!

  A terrible yell reached to the sky, a keening sound of sorrow. I stopped, exhausted and terrified, the yell tearing into my soul. I leaned against a tree, gasping for breath, fighting against the fear. Tears welled up in my eyes. When I had planned this rash act to find purpose, I hadn’t thought I would find so much of it all at once. How could I compete with things that didn’t make any sense? Should I turn back and make sure no one else was in trouble? The tearing metallic sound abruptly cut off then I heard a yell of rage. It roared across the mountain, echoing back to me in triplicate. I shouldered the woman and scrambled towards the car, more afraid of that human sound than the inhuman growl. As I stumbled over unseen roots and rain slicked leaves, a wickedly cold wind sprung up, bringing with it the smell of smoke and a very disgusting stench; like something evil and dead was being burnt. I choked on the smell.

  A snapping noise and the sound of feet on the leaves behind me made me freeze again. The blackness had caught up with me. I couldn’t run anymore. I was too tired. This time the necklace wasn’t glowing, protecting us from the darkness. I would have to fight. I set the woman down behind a tree and covered her with leaves. If I didn’t find help soon, she would die, but if I didn’t fight off whatever was after us, she would die regardless. Maybe, if whatever it was killed me first, it would lose interest in Susan and the hunters could find her. I found a branch and hoisted it, ready to die fighting. The sound of running got closer, and I prepared to defend the two of us. Fear made me braver than I felt.

  “Get back!” I yelled.

  The feet slowed, but didn’t stop.

  “I mean it! Stay back!”

  Daniel and Jackson appeared around a bend in the trail. Their shirts were covered in silver liquid and their faces were grim. I saw violence etched into their faces. When he saw me, Daniel’s face changed from violent to surprise. Then he switched to angry. “I told you to stay out of the forest,” he said.

  I felt a wave of relief and all my adrenaline drained away. The slick stick dropped from my trembling hands. Darkness tried to take me under so I could rest, but I resisted. Daniel started to rush forward to help me, but I flinched at the movement. What was he doing here? He stopped two feet away and lowered his hands.

  “You should have known better,” I told him. “Hospital.” I pointed at Susan.

  Daniel’s eyes flickered to her then back to me, like he hadn’t noticed her lying there. Jackson went to her without a word, his feet silent on the forest floor.

  “You carried her down the mountain?” Daniel asked incredulously.

  “Yes. You didn’t have anything to do with this right?”

  “Of course not!” he said, his voice indignant. His green eyes told me he was telling the truth.

  “Good.” A swirl of dots appeared in front of my eyes. “Daniel….”

  “Yeah?” Daniel was watching Jackson check on Susan. I saw the inky dark flashing against the green.

  “I think I’m going to pass out now.”

  I fell forward and felt him catch me before I lost consciousness.

  *

  “She should be awake by now. Why isn’t she awake?” I heard Daniel say in an agitated voice.

  “She spent all of her energy carrying that woman, son. She’s exhausted, and rightly so,” a warm, rich voice answered soothingly. I felt calm just listening to it.

  “I know that, Han. I just need to know she’s okay, that the Nightstalker didn’t touch her. If it hurt her…I’ll…I’ll…” I imagined him clenching his hands in rage as he paced.

  “She’s fine, Daniel,” I heard another voice say. This voice was light and perfect, tinted with a British accent. “She’s just resting.”

  “Maybe we should take her to the hospital. They have equipment there that we don’t have…”

  I groaned and pushed away the peaceful sleep. “God! You’re such a pain in the ass, Daniel! I’ll wake up when I feel like it.”

  I opened my eyes as I said it, the irritation making me instantly alert. Above me was a very high, elegant, ceiling decorated like pictures I’d seen of the Vatican in Rome. It was unfamiliar and familiar at the same time. I instantly felt attached to whoever’s hand it was that had created the painting. Dark woods and expensive fixtures accentuated the elegance of the ceiling.

  I heard melodic laughter and a sigh of relief at my words.

  “You’re okay!” Daniel said in my ear.

  I turned my head and saw him crouched down, his face close to mine. “Am I?”

  I looked down. I was lying on a large comfortable sofa with an afghan thrown over my legs. The only thing that was off about my appearance was my lack of jacket. As soon as I thought of the jacket, I remembered Susan. “What happened to the Ranger? Susan. Is she okay? Did I save her?”

  “Yes, you saved her, although we’re going to have a talk about that.” His face turned dangerous. I scowled back at him, not sorry in the slightest. He relented after a moment, seeing that I wanted an explanation. “After you passed out, Jack
son and I managed to get you both back to the road. We found some hunters there who agreed to take the woman in their truck. I figured it was faster than your mom’s station wagon. They wanted to take you as well, but I didn’t know if that would be such a good idea.”

  “Why?”

  He gave me a funny look. “Have you ever been to the hospital? Even for a checkup?”

  I frowned, thinking about it. “No.”

  “Ellen was probably told your blood was different,” the woman with the song-like voice said. “Which in your case…might be true.”

  I looked over for the owner of the voice and saw two others just behind Daniel looking at me with smiles.

  “Sorry,” Daniel apologized. “This is Beatrice and Han, my parents.”

  “Hi,” Unable to stop myself, feeling slightly giddy, I added, “Han as in Han Solo? Do you have a Millennium Falcon?”

  Another round of laughter.

  “And you made fun of me for liking science fiction!” Daniel said indignantly.

  “Well, it was funny,” I told him, sitting up so that I wasn’t the invalid patient anymore.

  I blinked to clear the dizziness then looked around. Everything about the room was open and bright. The sofa I was on sat perpendicular to a fireplace large enough for me to stand in. Large windows and a sweeping view of the forest drew my eye beyond the other sofa. I looked back, wondering if that view would be mirrored on the opposite side of the house. It was even more spectacular. The windows framed a view of a large clearing backed by mountains. A small lake lay in the distance. Trees and hedges were everywhere in a pattern of organized growth.

  To my left were a small kitchen and a short hallway with several doors. Beyond the hallway and kitchen was a large foyer. The foyer framed a massive front door and contained a set of stone stairs that curved around to the second floor. I looked up again and noticed that the second and third floors were exposed to the living room.