The RisingThe Rising Book One The Darkness Series

Chapter 11

It was a good thing Asher was on watch most of the night. He couldn’t sleep, not after that dream. That woman, the way she looked at him, but more, looked into him, was unsettling. He felt like she could see his soul.

After he got up, he was on watch, staring out the windows, looking at the dark for any intruders, he could still feel her eyes on him. Asher could still feel the heat from the flames. He even took a good look at his arm because it was burning so bad Asher thought he actually hurt it. Upon examination he found there’s a mark on his forearm. It looks like a handprint. A woman’s hand print. Right where the woman grabbed him.

Pulling out of the dream was tricky. Asher knew couldn’t have gotten himself out of that dream without the help of the kid. Willow, her name was Willow. If the creepy dude in the robe and her hadn’t shown up when they did, he wondered if the hell bitch would have killed him. It’s a question Asher doesn’t have the answer to, but he feels like he needs to get the answer to understand what they are dealing with.

Revealing Asher’s little reminder of his midnight trip had Cosmo cringing. It looks worse now than it did an hour ago. The red welts are swelling with pus and burn like he put his arm in the fire. Looking at the wound now Asher is starting to believe he was poisoned. It looks infected.

“That looks nasty, man. Are you sure it’s not infected? You should have Lexi take a look at it. She might be able to help heal it.” Cosmo suggested as Asher rummaged through the stockpile for something more appetizing to eat.

He’s starving and is quickly learning that magicks can not only drain energy but also activate hunger. And he’s ridiculously thirsty. As if he hasn’t drank any water in a month. Sucking down one bottle of water after another, Asher stops when Cosmo raises his eyebrows at him.

“We’ve got the first aid kit. I’ll have her wrap it up and I think there's some antibiotic stuff in there too.” Finding a big bag of Cheetos and a single Coke, Asher made due with that for breakfast and sat down at the small table. “It was just a wild dream. A really vivid dream. I just don’t understand it.”

“That was more than just a dream, Ash. That chick brought you there for a reason. And the robe dude, he must have been the guy she was looking for, this Dewin the ancient one. Are you sure she said that it was a fairy glade?” Cosmo asked, reaching into the bag before Asher could deflect him.

“Fairy glades can only be found by magical light energy.” Lexi rambled as she walked in and scrounge for food as well. “There’s always a keeper of the glade, to keep it safe from harm. An Ancient One, who knows all magicks and can guide and help those of the light in need.”

“Dewin must be your guy then. Ash got a little midnight romp in with a hell bitch in a fairy glade.” Cosmo informed Lexi, leaving out a good chunk of the information that could have easily freaked her out.

“He couldn’t have. Only light fairies can bring someone to glade. That’s why most humans have never seen one. Unless you’re a light fairy?” Lexi corrected him with a version neither of them are comfortable with.

“I don’t have wings. I have fire, watch.” Once again, Asher played with the flames in the fireplace, bringing the fire to embers then back to a roaring flame.

“Then if the woman lured you there, she’s either a light fairy or it wasn’t a real fairy glade.” Lexi surmised. Asher was fairly certain the woman was anything but good.

“Well, I can guarantee she was evil. Maybe that’s why the glade turned from all cool and green to a hell pit.” It’s then Asher remembers seeing both scenes at one point. That’s when the kid, Willow, showed up. Half was glade, and half was hell.

It was baffling and Lexi agreed, it had to be more than just a dream for Asher to bring something out of the dream with him like this burn.

“This looks bad. I think it’s infected.” Lexi examines his arms trying not to hurt him.

She isn’t wrong. The burn does look bad and feels worse.

She piled on the gooey antibiotic cream and bandaged it up before they sat down with a map and tried to figure out exactly where they were. They drove miles to get to the cabin, and knowing where they started and the time it took to get here, Asher assumes they have moved out of Arizona and into Colorado. Cosmo guessed they were somewhere near the Mesa Verde National Park just based on where they traveled from.

“We need to keep moving.” Lexi pushed her opinion.

The idea of moving on before they understand what they are dealing with is holding the others back from agreeing. Cosmo and Asher want to stay put a while longer and learn how to navigate the new magical situation.

They have just gotten to the cabin. Additionally, on the drive up the mountain they didn’t see much in the way of people. A few houses that looked to be occupied, a few groups looking for a place like they were, even a few stragglers that looked a little worse for wear. But there were no groups of crazy Reavers, like at the school. It seems the further away from any urban areas they got, the further from the Reavers they were too. Unfortunately that also meant they were farther away from supplies or help.

“We need to figure out how to use our powers to protect ourselves. We have to figure out how to survive out here. This isn’t the world we knew. There’s no convenience store on the corner for a fill up or a grocery store to run to for food. It’s not like we can go to an ATM for cash. If the places aren’t already looted, they’re being watched by Reavers. We run a risk every time we stop somewhere. Nothing is the same now.” Cosmo has a good point. It is hard to imagine how everything changed overnight.

They saw a lot on the way here. Things they never thought could happen. Cars were just abandoned on roads, places were burned out or destroyed. There was hardly anyone out on the road. Not like it used to be on the freeway.

How many people are really gone?

This cabin is remote enough that Asher thinks they are safe for the time being but he knows that won’t last for long. Eventually someone is going to stumble onto them and there’s no telling if they will be willing to join them or kill them. Add in that it’s getting colder and with no plumbing or power and only one fireplace, it’s going to get rough once winter hits.

Asher knew the basics about camping but not enough to live on. He was certain his new friends knew less than he did. Cosmo didn’t hit him as the wilderness type. He is more of a gym rat urbanite and Lexi’s version of the wilderness was the closest mall. They need to find someone with farming knowledge and real roughing it kind experience.

They need help.

“We need to figure out where we’re headed. Let’s get a plan before we run out of here without knowing where we’re going or how to get there. We’re gonna need gas before we go too far. We need some real provisions, fruit and vegetables, real meat.” Cosmo points at Asher, who nods in agreement. The first try they made at food supplies didn’t go so well.

“We need to be careful though. If we get too close into town, that’s where the trouble is, Ash.” Lexi reminded them of what they ran into on their way here.

The Reavers attack anyone, whether it is for fun or supplies. Some would just kill you as easily as blink at you. They kept their distance as best as they could and made it to this cabin in one piece.

Minus Asher’s little dream excursion, they’ve been lucky. The things they saw flying overhead and closer into the city, the big bat-like things that swooped down from the skies, as black as midnight with claws at the end of their wings, those things could find them. Those things could kill them.

They went to their corners for a while. Each of them needs to hone their new skills. Lexi sat at the table near Asher, her mind focusing on the map and tried to pinpoint a direction to head. She was the best bet to find a route out of there. She thought she might be able to see something through the map, or find others like them searching for help, or at least safety. She has a skill the boys don’t. Cosmo and Asher gave Lexi the space she needed.

Although prowling around the small cabin like a caged animal didn’t help, Cosmo was nervous and needed something productive to do. He took his energy outside. Believing it was better to let the panther out there than in the cabin, he stalked the perimeter and checked to see if there was anyone else around the area. It was a skill he needed to practice as well.

Asher felt useless playing with the fire. It’s not that he doesn’t need to work on control but the others were actively looking for the next step. He was just playing with the fire. It didn’t seem like enough.

“Ash…” Lexi whispered as she went rigid in her seat.

Turning to her, she was already beyond his reach. “Lexi? What is it?”

Staying where he was proved advantageous when Lexi’s vision took her over. Her tiger eyes went opaque. As she slid deep into the vision. Her breathing became erratic and she spoke as if lost in a tunnel.

“Darkness wakes in the night,

To hinder all that is light.

A dream was given as a test,

To see if you know the rest.

The Ancient One will come to you,

When flames are conjured and untrue.

Her wound she made was not for death,

But to track your every breath.

A potions needed to veil her eyes,

To hide and hinder what defies.

A talon, a feather, a drop of blood,

A lightning flash and a flower’s bud.

Drink the potion to hide from view,

Wait six hours to imbue.”

“Lexi!” Asher rushed to her side and caught her from falling out of the chair.

Lexi’s head fell forward, her skin slick with sweat as she let her head fall to the table. It was too long this time. The vision took too much out of her for her to bounce right back. Lexi was worn out. Scooping her up, Asher took Lexi back to the bedroom. They weren’t going anywhere now unless trouble descends on them. Lexi needs to sleep this vision off.

As he walked back to the fire, Cosmo rushed in. He looked as if he knew something had happened. Looking like he had just run a few miles, Cosmo was out of breath as he looked around the small room for his sister. There was worry etched on his face, his brows lowered, his green eyes seemed to glow with heat.

“Lexi?” He growled out her name.

“She’s fine. She had a vision. I just took her in to sleep it off.” Asher assured him. Being the protective big brother, Cosmo went in to check on Lexi himself. When he was satisfied he came back out to sit down at the table and see what she had been doing before it happened.

“Do you remember what she said?” Cosmo asked, looking at the map. He can’t make anymore out of it than Asher had.

Ash relayed the vision, word for word, and could, for part of it, put together that it was about the dream and the burn he received. The two agreed that the last part sounded like a spell of some sort to remove the mark that was put on him. Both men believed it could only be described as a tracker. A fricking magical tracker that burned Asher’s skin so he can’t remove it.

“She can track you? That’s messed up, man!” Cosmo acknowledged that the dream and the vision were connected. “How did she find you to even do that?”

“I don’t know.” That was the truth. There’s a lot of things that Asher wasn’t sure of now. “But she managed to mark me and now Lexi is talking about some kind spell or potion to block it. I say we find what she said I need to do. I don’t want that witch lady hunting me.”

A talon, a feather, a drop of blood,

A lightning flash and a flower’s bud. There was no mention of specifics. What kind of bird or flower? Who’s blood is needed?

There is so much that they don’t know.