Traveler - The Price (Book 3)

They say that the most beautiful smiles hide the deepest secrets, that the kindest eyes have cried the most, that the most loving hearts have felt the most pain. When someone cries, it’s not because one single thing, but inside those tears are hidden the anger and the emotions that were not lived at their time, which were kept inside way too long that it was necessary.

What do you do when you end up at a crossroads? It’s simple: you pick a road. But what do you do when you have no idea what way to pick? That was what we were feeling, standing in front of a crossroads.

“Well? Ivy?” asks Andy.

“I don’t know for sure which road to pick” says Ivy.

“You told us you memorized the map!” shouts Andy.

“Well, I’m not a robot!” she shouts too.

“I think it’s time to take a break” says Deby.

Andy stopped the engine sighing. I figured I heard him grumbling something, but I decided not to ask him what. We had filled up a few hours ago. I got down to take some air. Ivy followed me, and she took out from her pocket a pack of cigarettes. She lighted one, and she offered me one too.

“Really?” I asked her trying not to laugh.

“We all die from something” she says.

I lifted my shoulders, and I lighted the cigarette. I haven’t touched them for a while. We all have our vices. Maybe under normal circumstances, I would have given them up. But it was the end of the world!

We heard a great noise, and then we saw a flock of birds flying over some ruins. It was weird because it had passed a long time since we had seen birds. We heard wings, and we saw five griffins flying straight to us.

“Seriously? It was my first cigarette after all this time!” I said indignantly.

I took out my gun, and I started shooting them. Ivy did the same thing, and the others, seeing that we had no intention to get in the car, they were forced to get down and to follow our lead. While we were busy with the creatures, I saw a girl running to us. I couldn’t pay attention to her because I was kind of busy. She took out a gun and started shooting them among us. In that madness, I realized that she was the girl who had ran away from us, a couple of days ago. One of the griffins had taken Andy from the ground, but Deby hit it in the end.

I turned around, and I saw a few griffins in human shape lying on the ground. That girl had killed them. She approached me.

“Are you following us?” asks Deby.

“I think we should be thanking her. She shot the griffins behind us.”

“Well said” speaks the girl.

“We are not safe here. We have to go” says Aaron.

“Are you coming with us?” I ask the mysterious girl.

“I could use a ride!” she says getting in the car.

We got inside too, and we waited for Ivy to tell us which way to go.

“Ah, right I think” she grumbles.

“You think?” asks Andy.

“Yeah.”

Everyone was staring at the girl who had put down four griffins all by herself to save us.

“Ok, this situation is getting way too ridiculous” she says. “You’re staring at me as if I am some weirdo of nature.”

“You can’t blame us” says Ivy. “You just showed up from nowhere, you saved us, and, no offense, you’re a girl for about sixteen years old?”

“I’m seventeen” she corrects her. “My name is Beatrice.”

We presented ourselves, then it was a moment of silence, while we waited for her to tell us more about her.

“I hope you don’t keep that gun in your hand as a precaution” she says to me.

“You shot me last time, but it’s not that” I laugh. “Habit.”

“I’ve seen you’re good with the guns” says Deby. “Don’t you want to come with us further? I don’t think it’s that easy to be alone all the time.”

“Look what. I don’t mean to offend anyone” she says looking at me. “I’ve heard stories… I know that everyone dies around you, so I prefer to stay aside.”

“Where did you hear this?” I ask.

“When you found me in that gas station, I was listening to the nymph’s conversation. Then they saw and attacked me. That was how I found out you are a Traveler, and Aura wanted to know what was that exactly. They were talking about the fact that you have died, then you came back to life, that a lot of people die around you, but you always get away.”

“Damn, she knows!” says Aaron.

“We don’t know for sure what else she knows! We still have an advantage!” I say.

Beatrice told us she was in the area and she heard that great noise, then the gunshots. She stayed hidden for a while, but when she realized we were trapped, she wanted to help us, a thing we thanked her for. She didn’t give us any details about her life, or about what she was doing alone in that place, but she seemed a good girl. A little wild, but she had a young heart, even if she tried to keep the appearances.

“I think you can stop here” she says to Andy.

He stopped the car, and she got down. I told Andy to wait for me, and I got down too. The silence was covered by Deby’s scream.

“Get back inside, now!” she screamed.

I looked in the front of the car, and I realized there were about twenty nymphs. We had never seen so many nymphs, so we got back inside and slammed the door.

“Damn it!” I heard Andy. “They surrounded us!”

“I’m trying to do something to confuse them!” says Deby.

After a few words, a thick fog has covered the surroundings. We couldn’t see a thing, so Andy pushed the acceleration. The car stopped as if it hit a wall, and we realized the nymphs were very strong together. I felt again that rage coming out. In an impulse, I took from my waist the only weapon that could kill me, and I handed it to Ivy.

“Take care of it!” I said and opened the back door.

I jumped out, and I slammed it back, among their screams. The nymphs had blocked the front doors, so they had no way out. They couldn’t drive back either because there was a chance of hitting me and the fog was too thick to see anything. I was blocking the back door. I heard Aaron screaming at Andy to open the windows, but they weren’t working. Then I heard him shouting at Deby to make the fog go away.

Drawn by that rage, I used my gun on the nymphs, until I had no bullets left. What was weird was the fact that I was aiming them through the fog and they were falling. It was like I was feeling their presence there. I took out my knife, but when the fog had disappeared, I heard some gunshots. The anger was gone, and when I turned back to the car, I saw all the nymphs lying on the ground. Then I realized that I had killed almost all the nymphs by myself, besides the three that Andy and Aaron had killed.

“Oh my God!” shouts Deby.

Ivy had a terrified face, and the boys were staring at me without believing that I had made that mess.

“I just can’t believe this!” says Andy.

“How did you do this?” asks Beatrice.

“I would tell you if I had a clue…” I said shocked. “I just let myself into that anger, and I couldn’t control myself.”

“You saved us” says Aaron.

“Have you lost your mind? How can you be so peaceful? What the hell is wrong with you guys? Especially with you, Aaron! You find an explanation for everything that Jo does, but no one realizes that we have a problem here? How could she kill all these nymphs by herself?” she shouts angrily.

“Not all of them” adds Aaron.

I tried not to laugh. Ivy sent me a revolted look.

“Do you find this funny?! Jo, just like you had that moment of anger and killed the Ouroboros, now the nymphs, next time what if we are next?”

The smile disappeared from my face.

“That is why I gave you the weapon” I said. “If I go crazy, you know what to do. You’re the only one I trust will do this, if it comes to that.”

“Wait for a second” says Aaron. “We’re not talking about this!”

“Let’s hope we don’t get to that point” I say.

Beatrice looked at me and came at me.

“I hope I will be just like you one day! I thought you’re a strange person when I first met you, but I was so wrong. You’re the bravest person I have ever met.”

“Idiot’s the right word” grumbles Ivy.

“Without a brain” adds Deby in a whisper.

I pretended not to hear them.

“Beatrice, just be careful what you wish for. Believe me. You don’t want to be like me. You don’t know the whole story, and if you put yourself in my place, you wouldn’t want to be like me.”

“I know how to recognize a good and brave person when I see one, she replies. I hope you can finish your job. I didn’t understand all of what you have told me, but a thing I know. I want you to win this fight. I want to go back home.”

“Thank you” I said and stepped to leave.

She grabbed my hand, and she squeezed it. It was strange to see child squeezing my hand so hard. That squeezing became even weirder when she pulled me closer to her, in some half of a hug. All this weirdness happened with a purpose because she whispered to me: “Make things the way they used to be!” After that, she released me, she waved at the others, and she left.

I watched her walking away until she disappeared behind some ruins. Beatrice had had an impact on me. It was as I saw myself back in Vals before I knew the Smith brothers, before the madness and the supernatural were a part of my life. I was cold on the outside, I tried to hide my feelings, I couldn’t get attached to someone, but on the inside, I was screaming for affection, for my family. A part of her was like the new me; only she was a warrior in the true meaning of the word. I would have loved to tell her that I wanted to be like her again, innocent, but at the same time mature, stable and cautiousness at the same time, but only when she had disappeared from my eyesight I was thinking about all those things. I was sure she was going to handle by herself, maybe even better if she had stayed with us. She made me open my eyes and feel guilty because she had said the reason she didn’t want to remain. She had awakened in me a mix of feelings, which made me question my whole existence.