by Mikayla Lane
Tom didn’t bother to disguise the look of disgust on his face as he looked at Koda, shook his head, and then walked back to the cabin where he let Gibly back inside before shutting the door.
Elmer stood staring down at Koda, his anger radiating from him.
“Before I met that girl, I would have pounded you down until it took you weeks to recover enough to pop back. But you’re not worth the cost to the person I am. The person I used to be that Emily made me remember. If you can’t see that they are worth saving, then you aren’t good enough to be around them. Unless you change your mind, don’t go near her again. She doesn’t need your pansy ass, worthless self, dragging her down,” Elmer said before he sent a healthy amount of spectral spit raining down on Koda.
Koda angrily swiped at the ectoplasm of spit, and when he looked up, Elmer was gone and he was alone in the small clearing. Feeling like he’d been completely exhausted of energy, Koda lay back on the snow covered ground and looked up at the sky.
He couldn’t help but wish he was in his ship, there amongst the stars and that this was all a bad dream. But Koda knew wishing was pointless, and he couldn’t fix it. This wasn’t a faulty electrical panel or an engine not functioning properly.
Joey and Emily were dying. His shredded body was depleting them of every bit of their energy, and he couldn’t do anything to break the connection. He felt just as helpless, just as useless, as he had when he was a child.
Koda heard a scratching sound coming from his left, but he assumed it was Gibly and ignored it. Until he was jerked upright by a blast of energy so strong he felt like he was being pulled apart.
He stood and looked around to see what could have done it and he didn’t see anything. He could hear Elmer and Tom speaking quietly in the cabin and could see Gibly through the window, so he knew it hadn’t been them. He listened around him to see if he could hear an animal roaming around, but again—he didn’t hear anything.
Suddenly he was hit behind the knees so hard he fell face first to the ground, and as he scrambled to his knees he looked at the snow covered ground beneath him. He sat back in shock, staring at the one word scratched into the snow.
“Mother?” he whispered as he looked around him, hoping for even a small glimpse of the woman he’d adored and missed so much.
He was smacked in the back so hard his face planted into the snow, and as he pulled himself back up again he heard the scratching behind him and he turned, crawling to the other word now clearly scratched into the snow. He read the word and sat back heavily, the tears flowing down his face until he couldn’t see what was written.
“After all this time, this is all you have to say to me?” Koda growled as he moved to his knees before standing. “What are you going to do? Keep beating on me until I comply? So what? You moved on and became like Dad? Finally decided he was right and I needed my ass kicked? Give it your best shot, Mom! I don’t give a fuck anymore!”
Just as Koda raised his arms and roared out his pain, rage, and feelings of betrayal, he was encompassed in a blinding light and vanished.
Inside the cabin, Emily awakened to Koda’s roar of pain, and she started to get up and go to him when Granala laid a gentle hand on her shoulder and pushed her back down into the comfort and warmth of the blankets.
“Rest, child. You’ve done more than your fair share in this. It’s time that my son learned to release the past and fight for the future,” Granala whispered softly, sending a small pulse of energy to force the weakened Emily back to sleep.
Granala stood and looked down at the broken body of her beloved son, and she allowed the tears to flow down her spectral cheeks.
“Until now, you were given the choice to fight. You chose to bemoan the past instead of embracing the future. You feigned a helplessness that didn’t exist because you refused to see your own strength. Now you will understand what it is truly like to be helpless, my son,” Granala whispered to Koda’s body, the only one in the room aware that he was listening. Very intently.
“I do this not to hurt you, my adored child, but to show you the true strength within yourself before it’s too late and you lose your last chance for happiness. I love you, Koda, so very much. I beg of you . . . learn from this. For their sake, if not your own,” she added before the pain became too much, and she disappeared.
Koda listened closely, not quite understanding what his mother meant or why he felt so heavy, so bone-deep exhausted. He knew he was in the cabin because he could hear the fire crackling and Emily’s breathing close by.
He assumed that the blinding light was the reason he still couldn’t see until he felt a movement beside him and heard Gibly’s voice.
“I would not have wished for you to be trapped in your body, but am glad someone did something to wake you up,” the cat whispered before Koda heard him move away from him.
Koda panicked, trying to fight the intense lethargy that felt like a boulder on his spirit. The harder he fought to break free of the heaviness and darkness that surrounded his spirit, the deeper he became enmeshed in it until he felt as if the strands had wrapped around him so tightly he’d never break free.
Before he finally succumbed to the exhaustion, he screamed and screamed in his mind before the darkness completely took him. His last thought was a prayer that he would be able to see Emily and Joey one more time.
Chapter Fourteen
Emily awakened slowly, not that she wanted to wake at all, but she knew she had to take care of Joey and Koda now more than ever. It had been a week since she’d awakened to Koda being gone, and like every morning since she found out what happened to him, she looked over at Elmer and Tom.
With a single shake of their heads they let her know that he still wasn’t back with them. She struggled to push herself to her feet and was surprised to see that her hands and arms looked even thinner than they had the day before. It gave her the renewed energy she needed to stumble to her feet to check on Joey.
Emily picked up her still sleeping sister and cuddled her close, hoping Joey would wake up. When she didn’t, Emily shook her gently and loudly kissed her cheek.
“Come on, my little Roo. Wake up,” she said as she shuffled into the main room and sat heavily in the chair.
She sat for a few minutes trying to gently jostle Joey awake when her arms suddenly felt too weak to hold her.
“Grab her!” Emily screamed just as Elmer and Tom caught Joey before she could hit the floor.
Emily sunk to her knees beside her sister and cried until her weak body caused her to collapse on the floor beside Joey. She turned her head to her sister, her sadness overwhelming her.
“Let’s get you off the floor,” Elmer said.
He picked Emily up and carried her back to the makeshift pallet beside Koda. Tom laid Joey down on the pallet in between her and Koda while Elmer covered them both with the blankets.
“Rest a few minutes. Tom and I are going to let Gibly out to hunt, and we’ll be right back to help you guys eat something,” Elmer said, his concerned gaze leaving hers as he looked up at Tom and nodded his head.
Emily heard the three of them leave but didn’t have the energy to say anything. She mustered enough energy to turn to Joey, her tears falling silently as she pulled the blankets up to keep Joey’s still body warm. She placed a hand on Joey’s small chest, and her own heart stuttered when she felt the shallow, shuddering breaths Joey’s body tried to draw in.
She clutched the blankets covering them, trying to see the precious baby through the tears swimming in her eyes.
“You fought so hard, little one. But a good warrior,” she paused as her voice cracked, “knows when it’s time to retreat. You have to let go, little Roo. You tried so very hard, and I love you so much, but you have to let him go now. Please Roo, break the connection between us . . .”
“Emily,” Granala whispered. “I’m so sorry. She no longer has the energy to break it. But she wouldn’t even if she could.”
“Why?” Emily asked, trying
to rub her sister’s belly to wake her.
Granala sat on the floor by Emily and Joey’s heads and she laid a ghostly hand on the baby.
“Because she is so very special and so very rare. And she sees what others cannot. In much the same way as you and your brother, but with her own special twist. Do not fear, Emily. Soon you will find more than the peace you seek. Sacrifices so selfless do not go unnoticed or unrewarded, and already the condition of your sister is sending ripples through the places where her spirit has touched so many,” Granala said with a gentle smile at the baby.
“What does that mean? Is someone coming to help?” Emily whispered, hoping like hell someone finally did come. They’d already waited so long.
“Emily, it means that those who can help are noticing that her light is dimming, and they are helping. Do not fight the energy strands when they begin to wrap around you,” Granala whispered just as Emily began to feel them slip around her arms and chest.
“What’s happening?” Emily whispered, terrified for her sister.
“Don’t fight,” Granala whispered, placing a gentle hand on Emily’s chest. “They are putting all of you in a state of energy stasis in order to keep you alive. Help is coming. But if this isn’t done, none of you will make it. Relax.”
Emily’s weak body only put up a brief fight before she relaxed and allowed the warm strands zig zagging across her body to send her into a comatose state.
Elmer, Tom, and Gibly came back inside the cabin and Gibly ran to Emily and Joey. His nose twitched as he leaned down to sniff the two before he looked around the room with narrowed eyes and turned to door.
“Now, I must go. Our time is too short. I will not be back for days at least. You must keep giving them water, but no food will be necessary,” Gibly said before he charged out of the still open door and into the forest beyond.
“What the fuck does that mean?” Elmer screamed outside, looking for where the cat may have gone.
“I think it means they’re screwed unless someone gets here soon,” Tom said sadly as he kneeled down and brushed Emily’s hair from her face.
Elmer knelt down near Koda, his anger radiating from him.
“I hope you’re real damn happy with your decision to give up, boy. Personally, I think it’s a shame you can’t see what you’ve done to them. But I promise you this, until this is over and they finally find peace, I will tell you every moment of every excruciating detail of how brutal this has been for them. How much weight they’ve lost, how hard it is for them to draw breath,” Elmer said as hatefully as he could before Tom pulled him away.
“Stop. It will do no good to be angry. If he hasn’t realized his mistake by now, then he deserves whatever hell awaits him. Let’s try and get some water in Joey,” Tom said, forcing himself to concentrate on what needed to be done rather than the broken girls they’d come to care for so much.
Koda could hear every word, and he roared in his head and against the dark bonds that held his spirit so tightly within his body. The last week had been a never ending nightmare not being able to see Emily and Joey or talk to them. Hearing about what was going on only made it harder on him because he could only imagine how they looked and how badly they were doing.
Gibly’s departure only reinforced in his mind that the end was near for his beautiful mate and the child of his heart, and he fought even harder against the darkness that seemed to be consuming him.
He screamed over and over again, struggling against the dark bonds until he couldn’t scream or fight anymore. Until he was left alone in the darkness of his body and mind. It was then, when there was nothing left to try, that he prayed.
Gods of my people, I beg of you to hear the plea of one not worthy to even speak of you. I beg you to save the innocent child and the sister whose hearts and souls are far too good to suffer the fate I have more than earned. Please, please save them.
Koda broke down and cried. He cried for his little Roo and the friend she would never know in Tristan. And for his Emily, who even in her last moments, found no peace, only an excruciating wasting away as she watched her beloved sister slowly die.
“Silence, warrior!”
Koda was stunned silent by the booming male voice in his mind and the sarcastic way it said warrior.
“Do not fight the energy. Or do. I care not. You are being included solely to save the little warrior and the sister she loves. Your life means naught to me.”
Koda could tell by the way the voice said it that the entity was hoping he’d fight it, so when he felt the dark strands binding him loosen and be slowly replaced by a rainbow of colors, he didn’t fight. This time when the darkness took him again, he went willingly.
*****
Gibly had been running for an entire day and night, stopping only to drink water and rest for a short time before running again. He was exhausted, but he also knew what was at stake. He had never expected it to take Grai this long to find them, or he’d have left right after he’d found Koda.
He was trying to take a shortcut to get to Grai quicker and cut across the backyard of a human home when he heard the shot ring out and his leg collapsed beneath him. His body tumbled through the snow and slow slid to a stop. It only took a moment for him to realize what happened and to quickly formulate a plan—this time to save his own life so he could save the others.
*****
The silence in the cabin was deafening. The light and joy had left for Elmer and Tom the moment the two females they adored slipped into a coma. They sat around, watching the blankets over Emily and Joey rise and fall with each labored breath.
The spirits thought they were imagining things when they felt a pressure change in the energy around them, but they heard the dry leaves kick up outside along with snow. They popped outside just in time to see the huge spacecraft de-cloak above them.
“Holy shit! He was telling the truth,” Elmer whispered in awe as he watched several people appear to fall to the earth.
“They’re here! They’re going to live!” Tom screamed enthusiastically as he grabbed Elmer’s collar and jumped up and down.
When they saw the group run into the cabin, they popped back inside to fret over their females and make sure they were going to be cared for properly.
It didn’t take long for them to realize that the space people were going to take Emily and Joey away with them. They immediately decided to follow, no matter what it took.
Elmer hastily tried to find a way to get into the ship, but he wasn’t having any luck trying to pop himself into the spaceship hovering above the cabin.
“What are we going to do?” Tom asked, hoping Elmer had an idea to keep them together.
Suddenly, a bright light appeared before the two spirits, and they shielded their spectral eyes instinctively, even though it was unnecessary.
“Whoa . . .” Elmer whispered as he lowered his hand and stared at the woman standing in front of them.
“I must make this quick,” the dark haired woman said with a beautiful smile. “You both have done so much, sacrificed your own peace to help them. I’ll not allow that to be left unrewarded.”
With a wave of her hand, the two spirits disappeared from the clearing in front of the cabin. When Elmer finally opened his eyes he gasped in shock.
“Tom . . . Tom, open your eyes,” Elmer whispered.
Tom slowly opened his eyes, as if afraid to see where they may have ended up. It was then that he realized the chaos going on around them, and he looked around for Emily and Joey, trying to pay attention to everything happening.
“Brace yourselves!” someone called out.
Elmer and Tom looked at one another wondering if they needed to try and do the same when they felt their energy yanked forward then backward at an alarming rate before they stopped. Tom had a slight green color to his spectral flesh.
“We’re not done!”
They heard before it happened again, and they clutched each other to ride it out.
“Three minutes
to beta! Someone get them notified that we’re coming in hot!”
“Covered!”
Both men looked slightly embarrassed for a moment before they let go of one another and looked around the ship at all the odd people. They tried to ignore all the other conversations going on around them, their only purpose to make sure Emily and Joey would be all right.
It didn’t take long before they heard that the ship had docked—-where they didn’t know, but they really didn’t care as they followed the beds with Emily and Joey’s bodies out of the ship.
“Did you hear that?” Elmer asked Tom.
“What?”
“The guy called Luca said that Joey’s body isn’t responding,” Elmer replied, his fear so thick he could taste it in his mouth.
*****
Tricia and Tristan had barely stepped through the portal to Base Beta when a golden light blinded Tricia, and she stopped to shield her eyes. She smiled at the tall, golden warrior who now stood where her young son had been only seconds earlier.
“We must hurry. Trust me, Mother?” Tristan asked with a smile as he held out a hand to her.
“Always, my son,” Tricia responded, placing her hand in his own.
Seconds later she was cradled gently in his arms as he extended his wings and flew her into the medlab. Tristan easily navigated through the wide, tall corridors until he reached the one he was looking for. He set his mother upright and ran over to the bed that looked like it had no one in it.
“Tristan . . . Thank the gods you’re here, brother,” Luca breathed out as he moved over to let Tristan next to the bed.
“Step back,” Tristan ordered in a deep, commanding voice.
“Tristan . . .” Luca began, needing to reprogram the baby’s mediband.
“Now,” Tristan said simply before waving his hand and sliding everyone across the floor and away from the bed.
With the area around the bed clear, he placed his hand on the faintly moving chest and closed his eyes. Moments later the bed was lit up by a golden bolt that shot from Tristan to the unmoving baby on the bed.
