บท 6: Chapter 5: "I don't know what to do,"
Zayne yelled as they were propelled away from each other, his heart thundering in his chest. Seawater washes over him the cold jolting. The ship was going to sink at this point, he couldn't stand, the water was rising, he reached out to grab Rebekah but she slid to the other side of the boat hitting the steering column. Damn it. Damn it! What could he do? Cradling his hurt arm, he felt a strong buzz in his ears, he had to do something. He couldn't think. His chest was on fire, His head aching, breath wouldn't fill his lungs. Water invading his nose, filling his lungs every time the boat slammed them into the walls. Standing he struggled to reach her, blood pooling from her temple. "Fuck, fuck, fuck" he whispered looking over to see a wave taller than any of the others in front of them. Eyes going wide he took a deep breath, his mother's words slamming into him.
"It's a wall. You just have to break it down, by taking out what makes it a wall." She had said watching him carefully they had sat in the field, he stared down a wall of trees. "Knock them down." She had said, her blond curls up in a high bun, a cigarette between her fingers as she watched him with a musing gaze. "Take a deep breath."
Now he stands in a straight position, the boat seems to still long enough, or maybe the time has just slowed down. As he faced the wall of water, he could see it, the blaze of life around him. It was just energy. It wasn't a giant wave that could kill them, but a crackle of energy in the air. Inhaling deeply, so deep his lungs felt on fire, and the room seemed to expand. The surge of the storm breathed into him, his chest swelled with the force of it, hot and alive. And he knocked it down. With his hands pushing out his stance going to the same one he had used to knock those trees down that day. The wave broke apart, millions of rain droplets exploding from it. Deeply Zayne inhaled again, drawing in, the charge of outside, again and again until he could hold no more. Instinct told him to push down instead of out. Repeating the process until the storm calmed. Dropping down, panting, head throbbing with a pain he didn't know was possible. Rebekah's bloody face coming towards him, "Zayne," she whispered gently before his sight blurred, her words drifting away.
His sleep was disturbed, with his mother's voice, long-forgotten before, but now echoing around him.
"Now remember,"
"Very good,"
"I love you my little sunburst"
Her laughter, sweet and raspy, the smell of cigarette smoke. The smell of pine needles and apples.
The sound swirled around him in an array of colors and sparks. Every time he tried to reach for one it spun away, her laugh echoing brightly around him.
"Will he be alright?" a voice far away says, he feels jostled, jarred, raw inside and out. Slipping further down until he goes back to the field behind the woods by their old house.
"It was amazing," his Mom says, but it's not her voice, it's someone else's he can't place. "He fought both guards" sniffs his mother, in a man's voice. Zayne shook his head looking around the field, down at his Mom who smoked looking up at him with a smile on her face.
"You made it. I told her it would be better to just rip the band-aid off. She wanted to see if she could coax it out without breaking the seal." She tapped her nose knowingly, "But that's not how the seal worked." Zayne dropped down next to her. Reeling how she appeared older, but couldn't quite grasp how she looked before. Her hair silver now, but he believes before it had been bright blond. Her face and hands wrinkled when he felt like they had been smooth as river stones before.
"Mom?" he croaked, touching her face, she nodded, putting the cherry out, and pocketing her cigarette butt.
"The one and only. Look I don't have long before they wake you." She puts a kiss on his forehead just like she did when he was small. Didn't she? He closed his eyes unsure.
"This is going to be hard on you. When you wake up, you are going to experience a series of emotions you won't know how to deal with. Listen," Zayne started to interrupt but she held up a finger to her face sternly.
"I need you to understand a few things first." She snapped pointing her eyes, "I saw how to fix something, and did it. I pursued your father, made you. Do you understand? I planned all of this." He nodded slowly not understanding.
"It is not your fault I died. It is not your fault you did not see me. I did that to protect you. I put that rune on your arm, and you would not have been able to come to see me even if you had tried. You were programmed not to." She grabbed his arms squeezing them, her grip firm, "Do you understand?" he nods and she smiles.
"Good. Listen to your grandma, and be good." She kissed his forehead again, forcing his eyes open.
Electricity buzzing over his flesh, his heart thundering. Scrambling away from the faces that surround him, the soft sand under him giving way.
A woman around Rebekah's age with knee-length thick dreadlocks almost the color of the sun on a winter day slides something on his finger. He sees a silver band, intricate markings marring the surface. He looks up at her in shock, before scrambling to look for Rebekah. She stands with two others smiling softly at him, her face covered in dried blood.
"You did it." She said simply gesturing to the battered boat, more pieces floating around it than attached to the boat. Reeves lay on the sand close by, Zayne searched for the rise and fall of his chest, but instead found a strange buzz coming from him.
Blinking several times, he saw what looked like a murky orange smoke around the old man, it was faint, but there. It tasted sour and had the feeling of hot coffee on an empty stomach. "He's alive?" Zayne croaked his voice hoarse from swallowing half of the ocean. The woman in front of him glanced at Reeves her face impassive, "Barely."
"Can we save him?" Zayne went to crawl towards Reeves but the woman nudged him back with her boot. "You'll just make it worse, you're like a vacuum right now. He will be alright."
Zayne looked at the others, a giant man and petite woman standing in identical stances. They all had different smoke that wafted around them, the petite woman with dark brown skin, wide honey-colored eyes and thick wiry hair had a vibrant shine, it tasted of crisp water, and tart apples.
Then the man's features were identical, aside from his neatly kept facial hair, but he tasted like mellow tea and mint leaves.
Rebekah's was a vibrant yellow and tasted like how a campfire smelled, the way fresh cinnamon rolls smelled, everything warm. She was the sun.
The woman who must be Vor had nothing coming from her but an interesting expression. She analyzed him carefully, hands up as if he would suddenly decide to attack. Zayne closed his eyes swaying, taking in the trees, the sea, the animals in the woods. It all had a different buzz than he could feel inside him, taste, smell, it was overwhelming. He couldn't speak, couldn't move, his brain scrambling to make sense of it all.
Panic, what he believed was panic making him feel cold.
"We need to get you to mom, Bekah. He needs to get up to the main house. He won't even notice a change." Vor explains after a long silence. She looked familiar, with her tall stature, standing at least six foot, and tall willowy limbs, her eyes the color of jade, she had pale flawless skin, and pink lips with a dramatic cupid's bow, holding an expression that looked almost mischievous.
"This is going to feel weird." Vor smacked the top of Zayne's head, her palm flat over his skull. What felt like a cold egg oozed down through his hair, covering his face.
Zayne pulled away from her, Rebekah grabbed his hands so he couldn't rub his face smiling at him, "It's not real," she reassured him.
Her skin was so warm, he couldn't make sense of the emotion that rose through him. She was his. He didn't know how he knew it, but he just knew that she had been put on this earth for him.
"You take care of him?" Vor said to the other two, she nodded towards Reeves pushing her heavy locks over her shoulder nodding to the twins. Zayne stood on shaky legs watching the twins give him a weary look, giving him a wide birth. They shouldered the old man's weight careful not to jostle him too much.
"They are going to take him to Bruce, we wired the rest of your bank account to him. Bruce will get him home safely." Rebekah smiled up at him, helping him balance.
He never thought he would crave the hollow feeling in his chest, now it felt like the space was too small for everything he felt. Making him nauseous, as if he had just eaten a large rich meal after starving for years.
They walked through the woods in silence, the cold biting into Zayne's skin in a weird way. He felt like there was a draft in his blankets, no matter how much he folded them over he could still feel a cold breeze. Too exposed, the world spun, "I'm going to be sick," he rasped, clutching the rough bark of pine it jolting him in place. Eyes rolling back, he vomited violently.
"Mom said the ring would help, guess not a lot." Vor sighed leaning on her hip, her tone annoyed at being held up. Rebekah pulled his hands away from the tree balancing him as he caught his breath. Her eyes seemed even more vibrant here in the greenery of the woods, he held a hand to his mouth.
Hoping to not blow his breath into her face as he panted, "I know this is hard, but we've got to keep moving ok?" her voice was encouraging, but he saw the fear in her eyes. Nodding he allowed her to help him straighten, legs shaking.
She held him tight until they reached an obvious fork in the path, "Vor is going to take you the rest of the way. Just follow her lead ok? I have to go to Addeline. We have to keep you at the house, remember?" Rebekah said slowly.
He swayed on his feet, never feeling so sick in his life.
He could only nod, licking his lips and swallowing, watching her walk away. Vor sighed lacing her fingers in his making him jar away from her, his eyebrows drawing together.
"Stop it." She snapped repeating the action, it wasn't the calming sensation of Rebekah, but instead, an icy clamp that helped him feel normal. Numb like before, with a sigh of relief he squeezed her hand, she glanced at him, her eyebrows drawn together.
"I don't know what you know and what you don't know. What that means is you need to be ok with it a whole lot quicker. We are hiding you in plain sight, Eerikki will not notice a difference with you there. I put protection on you, it will make you a familiar face no matter who sees you." Vor spoke quickly, her round cheeks heating red as she continued, "You will see Eerikki do things that will upset you. Don't do anything. If you do, I could die, and Mom could die. Rebekah's family could die. And if it's bad enough even Rebekah would be killed. Do you understand?" Zayne can only nod, her steely cool energy like a balm to the raw jagged openness that was his chest.
"Follow the other slave's lead, keep your head down. I will come to find you tonight." Zayne glanced over at the mention of slaves, hadn't Rebekah said something about servants earlier?
"Don't ask questions. Everything will reveal itself to you eventually. Have you had any visions?" she asked eagerly, stopping them, Zayne shook his head then hesitated.
He didn't know Vor, and just because she was Rebekah's best friend, didn't mean shit to him. His philosophy on life hasn't changed since she has wiggled through the cracks. More like bust through headfirst through the cracks, but that was beside the point. None of these people could be trusted. Vor was an Auromni like his Mom had been, so she could have any ability. And didn't she work with Eerikki?
Vor raised her eyebrows at Zayne, and he wondered if she could read his mind, "You're a friendly fellow you know? I expected Rebekah's soulet to be more of a sweetheart rather than such a grumpy ass." Vor scoffed, gesturing for him to get behind her.
"Keep your eyes down. Don't look anyone in the face." She released his hand, they walked in silence until they came upon a large house.
It was immaculate, modernized, windows looked out everywhere. Resting on a cliff, the ocean crashing below. Vor stomped up the steps, her hiking boots not fitting in with the gray marble tile in the foyer.
"Hello Princess," a voice cooed making Vor snort, "Fuck off August," Zayne stared at the floor as told. His muscles tense different smells and taste something he realized was different energies coming from the house.
The man harassing Vor had a mixture of pungent ash mixed with maple sap. "Why is he dressed that way?" he laughed lifting Zayne's chin, he kept his eyes down, but for the first time, he felt the sharp anger lick through his chest.
His body reacting as it always used to, clenched jaw, fists balling.
"Face is all busted up too. Are you being freaky with help?" August guffaws, but a hint of jealousy hit Zayne.
"Yes, because that's the type of trouble I need in my life. I took him with me to the mainland so I didn't have to lift the supplies Mom needed." August accepted this without an afterthought, "And his face?" he pulls one of Zayne's curls as if he were an item he was appraising, rather than a person.
His jaw ached from his molars squeezing together. The closeness of August's skin lifting Zanyne's hairs all over his body. August swayed slightly as if suddenly dizzy. Vor shoved his hand away, "Go get changed and get back to work." She snaps at Zayne. At first, he is confused, where was he supposed to go?
An uneasy feeling churning in his stomach, he recognized the reaction, but not the emotion of anxiety itself. But as quickly as it came, it vanished. Vor pushed into the small of his back, the icy feeling spreading across him. Suddenly knowing where to go, brushing past them both.
He heard Vor say, "He's so slow," she sighs dismissively, "Mhm" August teases their words turning to whispers as he put more space between them. He kept going past the vast marble-covered kitchen, the deep mahogany table knocking into his thigh as he stepped too close. Following the stairs down into the basement, an unidentifiable acrid smell gagging his already turning stomach.
Zayne held a hand up to cover from the stench, he expected filth, but every last square inch was spotless, every bed made with military-style crispness, the trunks at the end of the beds all the same space from the cot frame. Each bed the perfect distance from the other. Zayne went to the bed that he knew was his, assuming Vor had somehow planted this in his mind, it was the only logical explanation.
The fact that that was a logical explanation made Zayne want to rethink how he had even gotten to this place. Instead, he opened the trunk pulling out thick khaki-colored work pants, a crisp white undershirt, a long-sleeved button-down that matched the pants, and a thick coat. Pulling out the beanie from the bottom of the trunk and the gloves, he stuffed them into the coat pocket.
Turning as someone came down the stairs, not surprised to see Vor leaning against the banister, "You don't need the coat, you're not going back outside" she raised her eyebrows. He noticed she was wearing a short-sleeved shirt and just shrugged not feeling like explaining himself. "Come on I finally got rid of August," she jerked her chin stomping back up the steps. Vor was not a graceful person, she had such long willowy limbs he had assumed she would move with equal grace as Rebekah, if not more. Instead, she stomped on the hardwood, banged past the dining room.
Using her body to open the heavy double door it slapped the stone walls on either side. The room was stifling hot, the pungent smell from the dorm room returned. Three women, a young boy and an older man who didn't look up at them worked in silence.
Vor cleared her throat calling out to him, "Baldor," the older man, probably in his late forties, who moved with ease around the large space, clearly in charge. He glanced up from a canning pot, crossing his arms to look Vor directly in the face.
Zayne wondered if only he was allowed to do that, due to his seniority here, "Put him to work. There will be a big dinner tonight." Vor backed away without another word, Baldor gave Zayne a once over, wearing the exact uniform, though he had a dishtowel thrown over his shoulder. The man was just a nose shorter than Zayne, clean-shaven from his head to neck only heavy eyebrows over dark blue eyes, his mouth held a no-nonsense frown along with the lines that come with it.
"Know how to can?" he said his voice raspy a deep, like cobwebs were being dusted out because he rarely had to speak. Zayne almost shook his head, but then he remembered he and his Mother used to do it almost every weekend. Surprised that the memory surfaced. Swallowing Zayne nodded, going to the stove. Baldor nodded handing Zayne the dishtowel, brushing his shoulder, sending a jolt of emotion through him.
Zayne followed him with his eyes rubbing his chest unable to identify the heavy emotion he had gotten from the man. Zayne realized it was the smell was sorrow and despair that filled his nose. The weighing feeling of loss smacked him in the chest as each person worked around him. Working on ladling what he assumed was tomato sauce into hot jars he let his mind wander about the new sensations he felt.
The remaining energy left on objects felt like a film of static, like on an old television. He thought it would be more like the movies, he would feel literal lightning bolts, but instead, it came to him in a rush that tinged all his senses. What he assumed was aura oozed from some people like oil, dripping. Some wafted around like a flame, or it tinged their skin. Those were the only three he had noticed. Rebekah's was a flame, Baldor's and everyone else in this room? An ooze. August's energy changed the tinge of his skin, to a mild green color. You could see his natural sun-bathed complexion underneath, almost like a filter.
"What's your name?" the young boy whispered using his bare fingers to screw on steaming tops to the jars Zayne had just filled. Zayne blinked for a moment, realizing that Vor had not bothered to make him rememberable to these people. They all kept their heads down and worked.
"Preston," Baldor rasped, making the boy's ears turn a bright red, his shaggy blond hair making his pale skin look even brighter. His wide brown eyes glanced at me before going around to the other pot on another stove. Zayne noticed the room had a set of four countertops. All with something different going on, the women prepared loaves of bread, Baldor prepped onions and had slabs of meat marinating. "Get on the potatoes, Preston." He murmured as the boy glanced at Zayne one final time before walking to the other side of the room.
They worked in complete silence, Zayne became absorbed in the tasks of canning the tomato sauce, cleaning, and prepping. The sunlight in the windows turning a thick gray. The house outside the door coming alive. The sound of children, the sound of men and women talking, yelling, and laughing.
These sounds, Zayne noticed, seemed to bring a sour smell of stress into the room. The workers seemed to hunch their shoulders, working faster, until there was a full array of food lining the counters.
Stuffed sausage mushrooms, caramelized bacon brussels sprouts, thick creamy mashed potatoes with gravy, biscuits, rolls, steaks, roasted chickens, and roasted vegetables of every kind. Zayne wanted to ask if this was an every night thing, his back sore from standing at the low counter all day but knew no one would answer him. They all stood stock still, hands folded at groin level, heads bowed. Zayne copied the stance, his stomach feeling like something was trying to swim out of it, his skin prickled with the unease of the room.
A bell rang, and they all sprang into action, grabbing trays and filing neatly out the doors, Zayne followed last, blinking at the way the dining room felt. It held so much charge, it made his eyes water and stomach churn. He smelled the warmth of her, felt her radiate near him, and looked up, Rebekah watched him with careful eyes. He licked his lips surprised to see her, and more surprised that her usual bright clothes of t-shirts and jean shorts were replaced with a long black dress. It hugged every curve, a rosy black lace covered her arms, shoulders, and collar bone, her breasts, and stomach were covered by the velvety material of the dress, but the skin of her sides and hips was visible through the lacy material. Her dark brown hair loose and pin-straight, just like when he first met her, though he knew she preferred it up and out of her face.
A sharp jab to his ankle made him look back to the floor, Baldor stepping around him, the sharp smell of irritation coming from him.
Zayne followed the lead of the others, watching their feet as he brushed around the table.
The room was loud, the ring on Zayne's finger growing hotter as the night progressed. He fidgeted with it while they stood to the side in the same pose as before, stepping forward when someone raised a glass or made a comment about wanting more. Soon everyone grew quiet when a man entered, Zayne went to look up at him but Baldor again kicked at his ankle. Forcing his gaze down as the chairs scraped the wood floors, everyone standing to greet the man.
"Thank you all for coming, please sit and enjoy your dinner." the man says cooley. Baldor nudges Zayne in the ribs and he follows the man into the back grabbing three silver trays from the warm oven, he carries two and Zayne opens the door. Baldor leads the way to the head of the table where the man, kisses Rebekah's lips before sitting. Her face is stoic, her gaze fixated on the table. Zayne swallows bile and nearly runs into Baldo who stops waiting, the man clears his throat "And just where have you been?"
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