by Tim O'Rourke
Wiping the tears from my face with the backs of my hands, I said, “It’s just that this place is so beautiful, why would anyone want to bring war here?”
“I guess not everyone sees it with your eyes, Kiera,” he said, gently wrapping his arm about my shoulder and pulling me close.
“They see it differently then?” I asked him.
“They just don’t see its beauty anymore,” he said softly.
“That’s so sad,” I whispered.
“Do the humans still see their world as beautiful?” he asked me. “Do they not take their world for granted? Aren’t they destroying it day by day, hour by hour? Maybe that is both the Vampyrus’ and the humans’ failure.”
“What is?” I asked, looking at him.
“That both species are flawed,” he said. “We both destroy ourselves.”
“I can’t accept that,” I told him. “There is good in people – both human and Vampyrus.”
“Is there any good in this Elias Munn?” he asked me. “Aren’t we on the brink of war because of that man?”
“If there is good in him, I will see it,” I said.
“And how will you see it?” Luke asked his eyes wide as if not quite believing what I was saying.
“Because he could’ve killed me already and he hasn’t,” I told him.
“So why hasn’t he?”
“Because he’s in love with me,” I said thoughtfully.
“In love with you?” Luke asked, sounding shocked. “How can he be in love with you? He doesn’t even know you.”
“I think he does,” I said, staring back at him.
“Who is he then?” Luke said, sounding almost angry. “Tell me who Elias Munn is and I’ll rip his heart out right now!”
“You can’t take his heart, Luke,” I said.
“Why not?” and I could sense the frustration in his voice.
“Because if he does love me, then there is good in him,” I said. “No one can truly love another if their heart is solely full of hate.”
“Don’t tell me you are seriously going to try and reason with this guy?” Luke snapped.
“What choice do I have?” I asked, looking into his eyes. “There is no way I will choose between the Vampyrus and the humans. If this Elias Munn has love in his heart, then he can be saved and there will be no need for war, no need for him to -”
“Kiera!” Luke barked. “You can’t be serious? Firstly, you have to love this guy too, that’s how love works – true love.”
“And what’s the second reason?” I pushed him.
Breaking my stare and looking away, Luke said softly, “The second reason is that I love you, Kiera.”
“Please, Luke…” I started.
Then turning to look at me again, Luke said, “Why can’t you say it, Kiera?”
“Say what?”
“That you love me,” he replied, his eyes losing their glow.
I looked away.
“Is there someone else?” he pushed.
I couldn’t answer him.
“My God, you’re saving yourself for this Elias Munn, aren’t you?” Luke gasped. “You think that you can stop all of this and lift the burden you carry by giving yourself to him. But you have to love him back, Kiera and if you do, you’ll give him the power to make the decision for you!” Then taking my hand, he looked into my eyes and said, “Kiera, let’s run from this place together. We’ll hide, have a life together. Let them have their war – it doesn’t have to affect us. We could be happy together. You might not love me right now, but I know you have feelings for me, I’ve felt them. How can you possibly know your true feelings? You’ve been through so much. But away from here, from all of this, your feelings might become clearer. Please, Kiera, let’s run away together and get as far from here as possible.”
Slipping my hands from his, I looked into his sad eyes and said quietly, “Luke, I don’t run away from anyone or anything, it’s not my style.”
Stepping away from me, Luke gave me a half smile, but I could see fear beneath it. “You’ve already fallen in love with Elias Munn, haven’t you?”
“Don’t be ridiculous,” I sighed. “I don’t even know him.” Then turning away, I saw Potter leaning against one of those upturned trees and he was staring at me.
I went towards him, but on seeing me approach, he flicked the cigarette away that had been dangling between his fingers and walked away.
“Potter!” I called after him, but he didn’t stop, he didn’t even look back.
I turned back towards Luke, but he had gone too.
Chapter Thirteen
“Kiera!” someone shouted, and I looked over my shoulder to see Kayla running towards me. She was with Isidor and she had a look of wonder and excitement splashed across her pretty face.
“Isn’t this place amazing?” she cried. “Have you ever seen anything like it?”
“No,” I said shaking my head and smiling at her.
“Isidor has been telling me all about where he grew up,” she almost seemed to squeal with pleasure. “You’re going to take us there, aren’t you Isidor?”
“Sure,” he said, then he looked at me. I could see in his eyes that he didn’t look as happy about being back in The Hollows as Kayla did at discovering them.
“What’s wrong?” I asked him.
“Nothing,” he replied with a shake of his head. “It’s just weird being back, that’s all.”
“Aww, take no notice of him, Kiera,” Kayla beamed. “he just doesn’t want to share this amazing place with anyone.”
“It’s not that,” Isidor told her.
“What is it then, grumpy?” Kayla teased.
Looking about him, Isidor said thoughtfully, “The place just feels different than how I remembered it. It feels tense, like there is something bad coming.”
I didn’t know if Isidor could sense something different as this was my first time in The Hollows, but I knew he was right about something bad coming. Before he’d had the chance to explain further, we were joined by Coanda.
“Ready?” he asked us, but was staring at me.
“Sure,” I said.
“For what?” Kayla asked me.
Glancing at Coanda and remembering what he had told me, I said, “We are going to make our way to the Dust Palace. I’m going to meet with these Elders and see if we can’t figure a way out of this mess.”
“The Elders will never see you,” Isidor warned. “The Dust Place is sacred ground. No one is welcome there unless they are invited.
“She’s been invited alright,” Coanda said dryly. “I wouldn’t be surprised if they didn’t roll out the red carpet for her.”
“What’s so special about you?” Kayla asked me.
“I’ll -” I started, but Coanda cut over me.
“Explain on the way,” Coanda finished. “We don’t have time to lose. My spies inform me that Elias Munn has already set off for the Dust Palace.”
“He definitely won’t be invited in,” Isidor said.
“If he goes with an army, he won’t need to be invited in,” Coanda said, “He’ll just break down the door. Now let’s get moving.”
We left the resistance camp behind and Coanda briefed them to wait for his signal. Heading out through the upturned trees, the soft, covered ground soon gave way to a harder, rocky road that spiraled away into the distance. The road cut across a vast and desolate-looking land. It was red and arid, totally unlike the camp we had left behind. It reminded me of pictures I had seen on the internet that had been beamed back to Earth by exploration vehicles sent to Mars.
It was just turning dusk, and I pictured the Light House turning away from us, but its light still burnt fiercely on the horizon ahead, spinning its golden rays between the tips of two ragged mountains.
“What are those mountains called?’ Kayla asked Isidor as we walked together.
“They’re called The Weeping Peaks,” he said.
“The Weeping Peaks,” Kayla mused. “They sound
nice.”
“Do they?” Isidor said, and I detected a note of dread in his voice. Then he sped up just slightly, just far enough not to have to engage in any further conversation with Kayla. Perhaps he wanted to be on his own.
The sight of the landscape was awe inspiring and even though I had seen and experienced so much over the last several months, the realisation that I was now racing across The Hollows filled my heart with inspiration. I tried to absorb every detail, every shard of light that glinted through those mountains and every rock that glowed like embers on the surface of this incredible world. I looked back at the way we had come, and in the distance I could see the tops of those upturned trees glistening. Some distance away, I could see Potter and Luke. I couldn’t tell if they were talking, but they walked apart.
“The Hollows is beautiful, don’t you think?” Kayla asked, her voice soft.
“Mmm?” I said thoughtfully as I stopped watching Luke and Potter and faced Kayla again.
“The Hollows are amazing, aren’t they?” Kayla said again.
“Incredible,” I replied, as I watched the jagged scenery slip into the shadows cast by the revolving Light House.
“So why are the Elders expecting you?”
Over the next couple of hours as we walked towards the Weeping Peaks, I told Kayla everything I had read in the letter Ravenwood had left for me. I explained to her all about the history of Elias Munn and how he despised the human race because he had been rejected by one of them. Kayla thought Munn’s story was tragic and sad. I told her about the importance of the half-breeds and one in particular, me. As I explained to her the decision I had been born to make, and how whichever one I chose to survive, we would take on that species form permanently, Kayla took my hand and I saw tears spill from her eyes and slide silently down her face.
“Why are you crying?” I asked her gently.
“I don’t want to change, Kiera,” she said. “I want to stay as I am.”
“But I didn’t think you liked being a half-breed – you know, with how you used to be bullied and everything,” I said.
“That was back then,” she sniffed. “That seems like it happened to a different person. I’ve just gotten used to the idea of who I really am – I don’t want to go through anymore changes.”
“So if you had to choose,” I asked her, “What would you do?”
Then slowing, she looked me straight in the eye and squeezed my hands with hers. “Kiera, I’d rather die than make that choice.” She walked away, and I watched the dying light shine off her flaming hair.
No pressure then, I thought to myself and walked on, lost to my thoughts.
We walked until it grew dark, my head down. Then without even noticing at first, we had drawn close to the foot of the Weeping Peaks.
“Why have we stopped?” I asked Coanda.
“This is as far as we go by road,” he said, as both Potter and Luke sauntered towards us. They reminded me of two naughty school boys who were sulking because they’d had their toys confiscated.
Coanda waited for them to catch up then said, “Let’s get going. We have a mountain to climb!”
Potter glanced at me then up at the mountain. He then made his way towards it. I looked up at the first Weeping Peak which stretched so far into the sky, that more than half of it seemed lost to darkness.
“Welcome to the Weeping Peaks,” Luke said, and brushed past me.
“We’ve really got to climb that?” Kayla asked breathlessly.
“Indeed we have, so the sooner we get going the better,” Coanda grinned.
“Can’t we just fly?” Kayla sighed.
“No. We can’t risk being tracked by echolocation,” he snapped, then started to climb.
Kayla and I went after him, followed by Isidor, who still seemed quiet. The gradient of the mountain wasn’t steep like I had expected it to be, but was more like climbing a hill. Coanda stormed ahead.
As we climbed, the last of the light faded as night drew in all around us. With it came a chilly wind that whipped up a blanket of rusty-coloured dust. We climbed for what seemed like hours, and my stomach began to rumble with hunger. And it was then that I realized that since being in The Hollows, I hadn’t craved human flesh. I wondered if that was the same for Kayla and Isidor.
After a few more hours of walking, Coanda stopped ahead of us. He had come to rest on a jagged piece of rock that jutted out from the side of the mountain. Rubbing his huge hands together, he looked at us as we gathered around him and said, “We’ll take some rest here for a few hours and start again at dawn.”
I watched Potter and Luke walk away from each other like two fighters preparing to duel at first light. Both slumped against some nearby rocks. Luke lay on his side, and using his hands as makeshift pillows, he closed his eyes. Potter took a cigarette from his pocket, lit it, and then looked at me as he blew smoke up into the night. Isidor and Kayla lay on the ground nearby and snuggled close to one another next to a fire that Coanda had started. Wanting to be alone, I walked some distance away. I lowered myself onto the ledge of a nearby rock. Stretching out on the ground, I winced at the pain in my calf muscles. The walk had been a long one and my eyelids felt heavy with tiredness.
Taking my iPod from my pocket, I thumbed through the tracks. Putting in the earphones, I rolled onto my side and fell asleep listening to Run by Leona Lewis.
Chapter Fourteen
“I’ve had my heart ripped out!” I wanted to scream at her. But just like my arms had refused to move, so did my mouth. I could feel the words working their way up the back of my throat, but they had become entangled around my tonsils and just couldn’t free themselves.
Then I felt a finger force its way into my mouth. It wiggled up and down then left and right. It prodded my tongue and it tasted of rubber.
“I can taste rubber!” I screamed inside. “Please don’t cut me open! I can taste rubber! You can’t open me up if I can taste rubber!”
The finger ran itself over my teeth and I realised it was covered with a surgical glove.
Of course she’d be wearing gloves! She’s doing a medical examination. They can be messy especially when it comes to cutting…
The pathologist continued her examination of me and said, “Teeth present. I will start with the upper left side. Eight present. Seven present. Six missing. Five missing. Four present…wait a minute…!”
I didn’t know if it was the sound of her soft voice counting backwards, but I could feel my head floating again, falling backwards…falling backwards into darkness. The nothingness took me again.
I woke. Not in the very sense of the word. I woke up inside. My mind was awake again, but I wasn’t sure if my body had woken. But this time my awakening was different. Everything was red. The world was covered in a red film. There were shadows and these were red too. The shadows took on forms and shapes. They were people. One lent over me. She was female. Her hair was pulled back into a ponytail and her face looked flushed scarlet. Her hands were covered in rubber gloves and they looked pink. At first I thought they were covered in blood…
My blood?
Then, I realised it was just the red film of blood covering my eyeball that was making them that colour. I managed to swivel my eye in its socket and the red got darker almost black. Then three thoughts hit me at once.
I can move my eye! And the red is blood. I can move my eye and it’s covered with blood! And it’s cold…why is it so cold?
Swivelling my one good eye, I tried to look down the length of my body. I couldn’t see my toes, but I could see my chest and that was enough.
I’m naked! They’ve removed my clothes! Why have they taken off my clothes?
The pathologist spoke again. “Moving down the body, all internal organs seem to be intact apart from the heart.” She prodded my abdomen with her pink glove and continued. “There are no signs of bruising, puncture wounds, or lacerations, apart from those above her left breast.”
Through the red haze, I watched her
turn to another shape in the corner. “Can you take a sample for blood group analysis?” she asked the shape.
The shape moved towards me, needle in hand.
“Please no needles. I hate needles!” I shouted inside.
I looked at the shape that came towards me. I couldn’t tell if I had been stuck with a needle, all I could feel was coldness. I looked at the male working on me and guessed he wasn’t the owner of the voice I had heard earlier. Hadn’t that voice said he was a police officer?
Police officers don’t take blood samples. I knew that because I used to be one. My thoughts were broken by the sight of something bright and gleaming passing in front of my field of vision. It looked sharp – pointed.
What was that?
Then the pathologist said, “I’m now going to start the internal examination. Is everyone in the room happy?”
“HAPPY?” I screamed inside. “YEAH I’M OVER THE FREAKING MOON! YOU’RE ABOUT TO OPEN ME UP AND…
“Wait a minute!” The police officer said. “I think I saw her eye move!”
“Impossible!” The pathologist said. “I’ve checked for all vital signs of life and…”
“I think you’d better check again, sweetheart,” the police officer’s voice came again, this time from the right-hand side of me.
“Yeah that’s right! LOOK! LOOK! My eye’s moving!” I yelled inside and moved my eye frantically from side to side and as I did the enormous shape of the police officer appeared like a giant red shadow beside me.
“Oh Sweet Jeezus!” The police officer hollered. “She’s alive I’m telling ya!”
“Yes! Yes!” I’m alive I wanted scream but…
Chapter Fifteen
…a hand fell over my mouth and I woke with a start. It was pitch-black and I was cold. With my heart thumping in my chest, I stared through the darkness and could see Potter leaning over me, his hand clasped over my mouth.
“Shhh!” he whispered in my ear. “I want to show you something.”
Gently, he removed his hand from over my mouth.
“What in the hell…” I started.
Then placing his forefinger against his lips, he stared hard at me and said, “Shhh!”
