Chapter Fourteen

Chapter Fourteen

 

 

                Halie froze.  She squinted through the darkness, and saw that a light was coming from down the hall.  The voices were getting louder and the light brighter.

 

                “I don’t think we should be doing this.”  whispered Aidan nervously.

 

                “Oh, shut up, Aidan.  You’re such a baby.  A gutless flip-flopper.  You want this all to go away, don’t you?”  The voice was clearly Kaela’s.  “The only way to clean up this mess is for Arias to remember.  And the only way that’s going to happen is by means of Marayna.”

 

                “By means of?  Interesting wording…”

 

                Kaela snorted impatiently.  “Whatever.  You know what I meant.”

 

                Halie remained still in the center of the cell.  Kaela appeared first, with a large key in her hand.  Aidan stood beside her, his brows furrowed.

 

                “Marayna?”  called Kaela.  Aidan shushed her.

 

                “Kaela…will you be quiet?  If Clemenstra--or Brennan--finds out what we’re up to, we’ll be doing Arias more harm.”  he said. 

 

                “I’m here.”  said Halie, coming towards the bars.

 

                “Holy crap!  How did you--the shackles--the chains--what?”  exclaimed Aidan, his voice straining to be quiet.  Halie glared at him.

 

                “I’m a lightning bearer.  Do you really think that is enough to stop me?”  she paused and took a deep breath.  “You two are letting me out?  Why?”

 

                “You’re the only one who can make him--Arias--remember.  I know it.  There must be some little thing…some minute detail that will spark one of his lost memories.  I’m sure you have it.”  said Kaela, crossing her arms.  Aidan didn’t look entirely sure.

 

                “We’re trusting you.”  he said, his eyes cold behind the thick-rimmed glasses.  “You can explain everything when we’re in safer territory.  For now, I forgive you.”  He nodded, and the shadow of his Adam’s apple moved up and down in the candlelight.  Kaela shot him a hard look that clearly said Don’t you dare cry.

 

                “Thank you.”  said Halie, reaching between the bars to touch his chin.  “I am sincerely sorry.”  Kaela looked uncomfortable as she said/did this, and pretended to mess with the bump in her hair.

                Aidan nodded again and opened the now unlocked door.  Halie embraced him warmly.

 

                “Boys these days grow like trees.  You’re practically a redwood compared to me.”  she observed, apparently trying to lighten the mood.  She was a fair five or so inches shorter than him.  “Well it’s good to have someone who shares my lack of height.”  She gestured at Kaela, who made a dismissive face.

                “Anyway, we’ll show you to Arias’ room.  Come, we must not be seen or heard.”  said Kaela, forcefully taking Aidan’s arm.  They led Halie down the hall, deeper and deeper into darkness.

 

~*~

 

It didn’t take long for Risten to find Derek in an alleyway.  He wasn’t too hard to find, she could practically sense him now.  His icy aura was easy to pick out amongst hundreds of other city dwellers.  He was huddled in a corner, a wall on one side of him and a black iron fence on the other.   His face was buried in his arms.

 

                Risten approached, and nearly startled him when she reached out to touch his shoulder.  He looked up at her with sad, though tearless eyes.

 

                He looked away quickly.  “Please, Risten--“

 

                “Do you really want to be alone?”  she said, glaring at him.  She saw him swallow.  He shook his head.

 

                No.  Please stay.

 

                That’s what I thought.  Risten took his arms and carefully climbed into his lap.  She inhaled a quick, deep breath.  So let me take a wild guess.  Your scar is preventing you from being holy, because the Fledgling poison is inherently evil.  She sounded more like she was telling him than guessing.

 

                Derek nodded.  It seems that way.  His voice broke.  This is awful.  I’m a monster.  Risten didn’t know why exactly she did it, but something struck a nerve and before she knew it her hand smacked Derek’s cheek.  It made an audible sound that frightened a cat that was walking nearby.

 

                “Ah!”  cried Derek, his hand immediately going to his reddening cheek.  Risten stared at him indignantly.

 

                “Now you listen here, I don’t ever want to hear you say anything like that ever again!”  she said.  There was passion in her voice that seemed to impress him.  “You are not a monster, you understand?”  She squeezed his hand.

 

                Derek swallowed and nodded.  You’re right.  I’m sorry.  It’s selfish to think that way.

 

                Risten’s body relaxed against his.  Yes, and foolish too.  You’re far from a monster.  She stroked his cheek.  If anyone’s a monster, it’s me.  I’m sorry…I didn’t mean to hit you so hard.

 

                I deserved it.  Then silence for a few moments.

 

                Almost involuntarily, Risten held her harm out, letting her flames engulf her hand.  As they burned in the crisp air, she felt something inside her burn so fiercely that it threatened to escape her skin.  It wasn’t anything she hadn’t felt before. Everything that was happening…it all had to lead to Clemenstra.  Sebastian’s death, Derek’s pain, Risten’s nightmares, Halie’s disappearance…the mystery of Arias.  The witch was the source of all sadness in this world that must have once been beautiful and peaceful, surrounded by the life and vitality of the trees.

 

                She had to stop her.  Somehow, Clemenstra had to die.  But could anything seem more impossible?

 

                Derek reached out his own hand, and grasped Risten’s through the flames.  His hand felt cool and his grip was firm.  Risten watched in wonder as her fire turned blue and red, hot and cold all at once.

 

                Nothing is impossible.  said Derek, matter-of-factly.  When you are strong enough to believe.  Risten looked up at him, and saw their coalescing magic reflected in his bright blue eyes.  He was right, of course.  Nothing else mattered.  Not courage, not wisdom, not even power.  If one has faith, anything can be.  And if anyone should believe that to be true, it should have been Risten.  She didn’t let Derek’s hand go as she leaned against him once more.

 

                They sat in silence for a long while, until the sun began to set on another long day.  Risten was woken from her daydreams by a shiver.

 

                You okay?  Asked Derek.

 

                It’s getting late.  Let’s go back to the castle.

 

 

They made their way back to Risten’s bedroom.  She frowned when she saw the empty sheets of paper on her desk.

 

                “Oh, I still have to write Sebastian’s song…”  she said, crossing her arms.  Derek took off his jacket and shoes and padded across the rug to the ebony piano in the corner of the room.  “You know how to play?”

 

                He nodded.  “Yeah.  Maybe I can help with your song.”  He sat down on the bench and ran his fingers across the keys.  He began a flawless performance of Watermark.

 

                “That’s beautiful, Derek.”  said Risten, coming up behind him and putting her hands on his shoulders.  “You’re giving me goose bumps.  Here--“  She sat down at her desk and took the quill pen in her hand.  She began scrawling down lyrics as Derek’s fingers flew nimbly across the keyboard.  Suddenly she had all the inspiration she needed.

 

                They spent the rest of the evening working on their musical composition.  And finally Risten deemed it worthy to grace the stone that marked where Sebastian’s body was laid to rest.

 

~*~

 

Kaela and Aidan stopped abruptly, causing Halie to bump into their backs.  She was still hugging herself, feeling cold and small in all the darkness.  She had the sudden desire to see the sun once last time.  Stupid.  She said to herself, shaking the thought off.

 

                “This is Arias’ room.”  said Aidan.  He couldn’t help but grin at Halie.  “Work your magic, Marayna.”

 

                Halie closed her eyes.  “Please, Aidan…could you do me a favor?”  She didn’t wait for him to answer, “Could you please call me Halie?  This, who--what--I am now…is not Marayna.”

 

                “Sure, uh, whatever.”  he said, not looking at her.  He was watching Kaela unlock the door.

 

                “Did you lock the door behind us, Aidan?”  asked Kaela.

 

                Aidan shook his head.  “No.”

 

                “Strange…”  she stared at the doorknob, frowning, and then returned her attention to Halie.  “Okay.  I guess Aidan and I will wait out here…just in case…”  She and Aidan stood aside as Halie grasped the knob firmly.  The metal door opened with one odd clunk.  Halie slipped in without another word or glance to Kaela or Aidan and closed it behind her.

 

                The room was, as she expected, pitch black darkness.  Because this whole place was underground, there were no windows anywhere.  She could sense Arias’ sleeping form on a bed some few yards away.  She took a step forward, and estimated the size of the room by the reverberation of her footstep against the walls.  She groped to her left, and found a piece of furniture…a dresser.  A flashlight would be really helpful right now.  She thought.  Her heart stopped when she heard Arias shift his position.  The sound of the sheets scratching together was peculiarly loud.  Then silence again.

 

                Halie felt about the top of the dresser, and grasped the handle of something…a candle.  It only took one spark of lightning from her forefinger to light it and the small room became illuminated by a faint yellow glow.

 

                Arias was lying there on the bed, back down, his legs straddled between layers of dark blue sheets.  He looked as if he had been restless.  His usually well-constructed hair was a mess.  The sheets had slipped to his waist, exposing his fair skin and bare torso with the swimmer’s build Halie so fondly remembered.  Her fingers twitched, almost involuntarily.  She left the candle on top of the dresser, and noticed his silver engagement ring that was lying there.  She smiled slightly when she saw it.  So he had kept it.  Maybe helping him remember wouldn’t be as hard as she thought.

 

                She crept closer to the bed, soundlessly.  In his sleep, Arias looked solemn, but still as emotionless as when he was awake.  Halie saw the faint pink scars the covered his body, reminders of his painful past.  What should’ve been reminders of her and what she did to him.  Halie blinked away the tears that rushed into her eyes at the sight of them.

 

                Arias sighed in his sleep and turned onto his side, presenting his back.  Halie had to clench her hands into tight fists to stop herself from reaching out to touch him.  She could barely discern the tiny red mark behind his neck where Brennan had bit him.  She frowned at it severely, as if glaring at it would make it and everything that came with it disappear.

 

                Even though just seeing him like this was pure indulgence after three lonely years, Halie’s skin tingled with the desire to touch him again.  To kiss him and lie beside him, to inhale his scent and feel his breath against her skin.  She had kept all of these memories close to her heart.  Arias didn’t even have them.  He didn’t even know who she was.

 

                She swallowed hard, and her eyes wandered to the scar above his hipbone where she herself had stabbed him.  She wanted to bend down and kiss it, ever so gently.

 

                She glanced back at his face, and her heart skipped a beat at the sight of his fierce yellow eyes blaring through the partial darkness.  Transfixed on hers.

 

                “You again…”  he said plainly, his eyes narrowing.  Halie winced at how cold his voice sounded.  She recoiled as he turned onto his back and pulled the covers up to his chest.  “Have you come to apologize for stabbing me?”

 

                Halie smiled weakly.  Oddly enough, it was a very Arias-like thing to say.  “So much more than that, amata mei.”  Arias’ cheeks went faintly pink.  He opened his lips to speak, but Halie waved him to silence.

 

                “Please, Arias…”  she pleaded, her voice breaking.  “Please, remember me.”

 

                He just stared at her, his eyebrows lowered.  She looked so distressed, that he forced himself to try.  But again, nothing came. 

 

                “I’m sorry…”  he said.

 

                “Arias, it’s me!  Marayna!  Your lover; why can’t you remember me?”  she sobbed.  She turned around and buried her face in her hands.

 

                Arias allowed his eyes to follow the curve of her neck, over her shoulders and down her spine.  Her waist was so narrow that he wondered if he could encircle it with his hands.  He had never observed anybody that way.  These thoughts startled him, and once again he felt completely confused about everything.  And frustrated.  Something was wrong about this.  And he knew it.

 

                He sat up, grimacing, and reached out for Halie; the tips of his fingers grazing her shoulder.

 

                She spun around immediately.  “Arias?”  she asked, hopefully.

 

                He shook his head, and for a moment he simply examined her.  Her dull blue eyes; her cute nose; pink lips, and head of bouncy, brownish-blond curls with dark roots.  She was�"is beautiful.  But before now, that love just didn’t seem to exist.  He looked past her, and saw his ring on top of the dresser beside the candle.

 

                “That ring…”  he began, but couldn’t find the words to finish.

 

                “It was your engagement ring.  Look--“  she reached into her shirt and pulled out an identical, smaller ring that hung from a chain.  “I have the same one.”  Arias stroked it with his finger, as if he had never seen something so precious before.  Halie studied his expression, but still saw nothing.

 

                His voice was so gentle and compassionate that it startled her.  “Maybe someday…I’ll remember. But…”  he said.  He didn’t even know what he was saying, so he pulled her to him.  A strange, unfamiliar sort of feeling churned in his stomach and grappled at his heart.  It frightened and excited him all at once.  This intense desire.  He relished in the thought that maybe he did have emotions after all.  Her body against his seemed to fill him with longing and purpose, both of which he never had before.

 

                She panted his name over and over as he touched her.  He did so with such gentleness and caution; as if he was discovering something so beautiful and new at the same time.  His expression, however, remained passive, if not somewhat thoughtful now.

 

                “I’m sorry about your hip…”  whispered Halie.  Arias nodded and bent down, pressing his lips to her neck.  She shivered.

 

                “How does this make you feel?”  he asked, complete uncertainty in his voice.  His breath was hot and uneven on her neck.

 

                “Happy.”  she said.

 

                It was almost like it was before.

 

                Almost.

 

~*~

 

                After dinner that evening, Risten found Felicity sitting alone in the library.  The castle library was long with three stories worth of bookshelves, two large windows, a desk, a coffee table, and two crimson-colored armchairs.  The room was lit only by the flames in the fireplace.  The young widow didn’t look up as Risten entered.

 

                What should Risten say to her, if anything at all?  She sat in the other chair.  Felicity didn’t acknowledge her; her eyes were transfixed on the flames.  Risten put her hand on Felicity’s knee, and finally she looked up.

 

                “Evening, Lady Risten.”  she said, her voice as blank as Risten remembered Arias’ to be.

 

                “Evening.”

 

                Then silence.  Risten hated it.

 

                “I’m sure there is nothing I can say that can make you feel any better…”  she said, staring at the frayed edge of her jean skirt, and the valleys of her ribbed tights.

 

                “Maybe not.”  said Felicity quietly.  “But it doesn’t hurt to try.”

 

                What an odd thing to say.  Risten thought for a minute before she decided on what she should say.

 

                “I finished Sebastian’s song.”

 

                Felicity blinked and looked up at her, the gleam returning to her eyes and the color to her cheeks.  “Oh, you did?  May I read it?”

 

                Risten reached for her bag and pulled out the sheet of parchment, scrawled with music staffs and lyrics in her curvy handwriting.  She handed it to Felicity, who was actually smiling and looked genuinely excited.

 

                “I’m not sure if this is what Sebastian wanted, but…”  Risten paused for a moment, “…I knew that the only way to come up with something honest would be to write something straight from my heart…”

 

                “Mmm.”  said Felicity, only half-hearing what Risten had just said.  This is what she read:

 

 

To Sebastian

 

 

Memories that never even existed

Linger on in the pages of my mind

After so long I spent searching for you

My journey is finally done.

 

One transient moment, I’ll hold forever dear

Because that’s all I really have of you

My brother, my love, my inspiration

I’ll miss you, but I will go on.

 

With your smile as my sunshine

Your tears as my rain

Your beautiful eyes my future

Your silenced heart my song.

 

For today, I have no sorrow

Because your desire was my joy

And I shall be so long as I can remember

The way you whispered my name.

 

 

                Risten’s watched Felicity’s gray eyes scan the poem from the first word to the last.  She was silent, and Risten saw her swallow hard.

 

                A tear; a single tear, rolled down her cheek.  “It’s beautiful.”  she said. “Beautiful.”  Risten took her into her arms and patted her back as she sobbed into her sweater.

 

                But Risten didn’t cry.  She didn’t have any tears left. 

 

Besides, maybe it was time for her to be strong.

Author's Note

In my opinion, this Chapter is where the book actually gets pretty good. 15 and 16 are even better. So bear with me! I know the writing is terrible but the storyline is great, I promise. :-)

Reviews

[ravenjess]

I really like Halie and Arias. their relationship is really different from Risten and Derek's and makes the story interesting. Awesome chapter......keep em coming ;)