Violet

by Livian Grey

began, some thought the babies had died in their sleep. But our dogs saw the lights and alerted us to them.

  ‘Pastor Joseph became obsessed with these lights. He said he could communicate with them, and he knew what they wanted. He told everyone they were there to punish us for our sins. He built our church around this belief, telling the people who congregated if they were to give of their own once a year, the lights will leave them be.’

  ‘And it worked once so everyone believed it?’ Nate asked.

  ‘Yes, of course. We had no reason not to after that. My family had a terrible winter, and a blight meant we could not eat the food we’d grown, so I had to steal. I was the eldest, and the quickest on my feet, so my father had said, but I was caught in the act. My mother could do nothing to help me, she had to abide by the wishes of the church.’

  Nate stayed quiet, listening intently and feeling sorry for her as she spoke.

  ‘I did not know what would become of me when I was sacrificed. A few men from the church took me away, Joseph saying the prayer to the Enorahts after they bound me to the tree. I was waiting for hours, I thought I was going to be eaten by wolves, or at least starve to death. Then they came at me from nowhere… these strange dark lights… I had no time to even look at them. They inched over me, scratching me and absorbing me until I was nothing. I screamed and screamed…’ Her voice grew softer. ‘The pain felt endless… My transformation into a kelesnae was slow and confusing. I didn’t even know what I looked like, I just floated as if I was air. Since then, I’ve wandered the earth, coming to rest in the woods nearby and leaving the world as it was until I found you.’

  Nate took the glass from her after she finished drinking. ‘Why didn’t you find someone sooner?’

  ‘I had no one left to trust and I was told never to return to my village. My family died, I didn’t know if they had descendants who would help me. One other person saw me, but you’re the first person I saw whom I knew I could trust.’

  Jacqueline arrived home then and Nate’s momentary panic troubled Violet. ‘What’s wrong, Nathaniel?’

  His mom came in with a bag of groceries in her arms. ‘Who’s this?’ she asked Nate, nodding at Violet. ‘And why is she wearing your old gym shorts?’

  ‘Forgive me, miss,’ Violet said to her. ‘I have no wish to intrude upon you or your home.’

  Nate stiffened as Jacqueline smiled, appearing charmed by Violet’s old world congeniality.

  ‘That’s alright, sweetie,’ she said. ‘It’s a big enough house. What’s your name?’

  ‘Violet. I’m a friend of Nathaniel’s.’

  ‘Obviously a very good friend if he’s letting you get away with calling him that.’ Jacqueline wasn’t even bothered by Violet. She simply went about putting the groceries away. ‘How long are you staying? I can make up the bed in the spare room.’

  Nate cut in. ‘Mom, are you feeling okay?’

  She put a bunch of broccoli in the crisper. ‘Peachy. Why do you ask?’

  ‘No reason.’

  Nate glanced at Violet. She didn’t appear to be doing anything weird to have that kind of influence on his mother. Everything about her being there was suspect, yet Jacqueline was acting eerily delighted by it.

  ‘Have you both had breakfast?’ she went on.

  Nate carefully took Violet’s hand to guide her away. ‘We’re fine. We’ll be upstairs for a while… studying.’

  ‘Okay. Let me know if you need anything.’ Jacqueline kissed Nate’s cheek then turned to Violet, beaming at her. ‘She’s such a pretty thing. Wherever did you find her?’

  ‘School,’ Nate said quickly.

  Jacqueline didn’t intrude after that and Nate still found this disturbing. Violet finished her story for him.

  ‘In all the world, I never sensed anyone who would save me. When I saw you walking alone, something of you said you’d not betray me. You’d been hurt, but you wouldn’t hurt me. I am sorry my keeping you in the woods put you in danger.’

  ‘I felt completely safe.’

  Nate was adjusting to the idea of Violet now, a slow process that was taking a lot of will on his part. Regardless, he wasn’t in any huge rush to turn invisible again.

  Violet spoke softly and Nate found her human voice pretty and fragile. ‘While I was with you, I was scared to try and bond with you. I wasn’t completely sure what to do. I disappeared when I heard a noise in the woods but I had to follow to see where you went.’

  ‘I was hypothermic and I’d lost my voice. They couldn’t leave me there, Violet.’

  ‘I understand. I’m sorry. In order to speak, I had to steal your voice as well. I’d lost mine over time.’

  ‘What do you need?’ Nate asked. ‘What’s supposed to happen now? Are those Enorahts ever coming back?’

  ‘Nathaniel…’

  ‘Seriously, call me Nate.’

  ‘You speak as if you want me to leave, Nate.’

  ‘Of course not. That’s not what I’m saying. You’re safe here, Violet. I promise. I’m only asking, what happens for you now you’re human again? You’ve seen everything change around you, but you haven’t adapted to anything.’

  ‘This world is frightening to me. But I’ve longed to be in my own flesh and for someone else’s touch. I felt fear and love without a human form, but I’ve not lived long enough as a human to know anything else.’

  ‘How old were you when they sacrificed you?’

  ‘I had reached sixteen years of age. I’m not sure what will happen to my body now, if it will continue to grow or if I’ll remain this way forever. Or it may age quickly beyond my control.’ Violet shivered and rubbed her arms.

  Nate went to his closet and found an old hoodie for her to wear. She pulled it on over the shirt. She’d been sitting on his bed by his pillow, and he’d kept a respectful distance, her eyes rarely meeting with his as she spoke.

  ‘I was supposed to marry a boy named Samuel. I’ve no idea what became of him. He was forbidden to help me, threatened with hanging if he did. We only shared one kiss, perhaps a few weeks before I was sacrificed. Until then, I’d only known my mother to hold me, and even then it was seldom.’

  Violet’s words were having a brutal effect on Nate. Pity for her was there, sitting in a huge amount of conflict with his obvious attraction to her. Seeing her as a kelesnae had brought that on before she’d even been reborn as a human. That he was responsible for her physical state now was adding to his dilemma. He’d breathed her into life and into his reality.

  ‘I do care about you, Violet. It would be stupid if I didn’t. And you don’t have anything to be scared of here. The least I can do is help you adjust to the world as it is now.’

  ‘Thank you, Nate.’

  Nate’s laptop was sitting on his desk. He hadn’t touched it a lot in the past few days, he’d been too tired to get out of bed much. He brought it over to her, setting it down between them and switching it on. Violet ran her fingertips over the keys, staring at the startup screen.

  ‘You have such odd machines. No one in my time would’ve imagined anything like this.’

  ‘Well, there were a few people not a hundred years ago who could see these things being made before anyone else did.’

  Nate pulled up his web browser, helping Violet to find information and showing her how to type. She was a quick learner for someone who’d not been born in his time. But he remembered girls back then were rarely educated; he’d bothered to pay attention during a class reading of The Crucible in grade ten.

  This led to another thought he’d not considered. ‘Can you read?’ he asked her.

  ‘My mother taught me though my father said it was a waste of time to do so. And I can write, but my penmanship is poor. I’ve drifted in and out of modern society, I’ve never once been able to make sense of why things occurred the way they did. Why cities were ruined and their citizens were killed.’

  ‘The people on either side of a war will always tell you they’re in the right. The ones in the
middle who get caught in the crossfire, they’re just what they call collateral damage. My history teacher last year was really into current politics.’

  Mentioning this reminded Nate he was going back to school on Monday. Violet had nowhere else to go, she had to stay with him.

  Just then, Jacqueline knocked on his door, letting herself in cautiously. ‘Everything alright in here?’

  ‘Yeah, we’re fine,’ Nate answered.

  Jacqueline approached Violet with a strange adoration in her eyes. ‘Do you need anything, sweetpea?’

  Nate had no real qualms with Jacqueline beside the typical; she was nosey at times and as much of a nag as any mother would be, but her doting on Violet now had him frightened.

  ‘Mom, can I talk to you for a minute?’ Nate led Jacqueline out into the hallway, closing the door slightly on Violet. ‘What is with you?’

  ‘Nothing, I’m just very fond of your new friend. Or girlfriend. Whoever she is.’

  ‘She’s my friend. What she isn’t is your daughter.’

  ‘I know, but I never had one…’ Jacqueline glanced at the crack in the door with a dreamy expression. ‘You know I always wanted a girl.’

  Nate drew in his breath, trying to be patient. ‘You could have just adopted one. You still can.’

  ‘Oh, I have you to worry about, that’s enough.’ She pinched his cheek and he flinched like he always did. ‘Why are you being like this, Nate?’

  ‘Just don’t smother her, okay?’ He had to scramble for a reason to keep Violet with him. ‘Some stuff happened to her, stuff at home… She said