Chapter 26: Just a Glimpse

“Watch out for that.. Oooh.” I could hear the girl cringe as I gained yet another bruise on my legs.

“Lets stop for now.” I say and suck in air through my teeth as I sit down.

“But isn't it dangerous to stop here?” The girl asks nervously. I shake my head; for a while now, our surroundings had been void of any spooks, amber coloured or otherwise.

“Alright.” She says anxiously, but she sits down in front of me.

“Now, since we have some time, won't you tell me your name?” I ask. I had been so worried up to this point, I had barely said a word to the young girl who tried to drown me in her sorrow.

“M-my name is Seren.” She said in a whisper. I nod, taking a moment to memorize her ice blue voice.

“I see, well my name is...”
“Seth right?” She cuts in. “You are a dragon.” I nod slowly.

“How did you know that anyway?”

“Uh... Well, I can um.. read peoples memories.” She said with some uncertainty. Clearly it was not a subject she liked to talk about, and I could understand why. Having something so precious to you as your memories, and having them freely viewed by someone, could be very uncomfortable.

“So, do you always... erm, read people? Like can you control who you read?” I ask.

“Oh, yes, kind of.” She replied easily, as if she had been asked the same question so often.

“But not when...” I start.

“Yeah.” She says, and I nod. There is a moment of silence between us. Long enough to let her blue voice fade out. I feel the wind blow across the darkness, brushing my cheek with its cold fingers.

“So, what happened to your family?” I ask, fishing for something else to talk about.

“Same as yours I suppose. The ghosts got 'em.” She says quietly.

“You must miss them a lot.” I say, grasping at the back of my neck.

“Yes.” She says and quiets for a moment more before grabbing my hands.

“Would you like to see them?” She asks. I reply by giving her a questioning look.

The room is full of noises. Several men and women, in lab coats run back and forth between insane looking computers. I can hear a specific voice talking over the din of machinery.

“Dad, dad! Are you almost done?” a younger Seren asks a man above us.

“Almost my dear. I just have to make a few more adjustments to this and then we will go get Mommy okay?” The man says.

“AWW, but that's what you said half an hour ago.” Seren whines. As they talk, I climb a set of stairs to get a better look at the man.

His hair was greying, but he still looked around my own fathers age before the ghosts got everyone.

“Now boys, come take a look.” He said motioning to two kids just off to the side. As they walk closer my breath catches. Standing before me now are 14 year old Joshua and a younger Jay.

“Now if you would tell me what you see, Mr. Roberts.” Seren's father said motioning Joshua forward to his work bench. On it lay a dead mouse, yet something was off. Though it was not breathing, it could still be seen twitching slightly. I could see young Seren poking her face over the table edge and scrunching her nose at what must be a disgusting smell.

“It's just a dead mouse Dad!” She pipes up; and yet, it wasn't.

“It's Aura is trapped inside, even though it's dead.” Joshua says, his voice betraying his disapproval. He hated what people did to animals, all the testing and s**t that they used to do to them. He once told me that that was the only good thing the government had ever banned.

“Excellent, excellent. We finally have a way to see human souls; and you my boy are it! You and Mr. Drake here will help us find eternal life in our time!” The man said loudly, but stopped his rant when his eyes fell upon Jay, who was looking straight at me.

“What do you see?” Seren's father asked him.

“A boy.” Jay says. “He's watching us.”

“Seth?” I hear Joshua ask, and I look at him. Taller than him for the first time in my life, yet I still felt so small compared to his questioning gaze.

“Time to go.” My Seren says and the image disappears.

I bolt upright and bang my head against Seren's.

“Ouch!” We both say at once, causing the birds in the trees to scatter, the sound of leaves rustling around them.

“What was that?!” I ask too loudly, and again quieter. “What did I just see?” I ask the girl.

“It was a memory.” She says between breaths. “You have a hard skull, did you know that?”

I nod as I feel the spot on my own forehead.

“If it was a memory, how could Joshua and Jay see me?” I ask. There is a pause. “Are you shrugging? Cause you know I'm blind right?”

“Right, I forgot.” She says, her icy blue returning.

“Can you bring me to your father's lab?” I ask. “I think it might hold the key to those ghosts.”

“I'm not sure, I barely remember the way.” She replies.

“It's the best lead we have.” I say.

“Alright.”

My mind is racing as I follow Seren's voice. After all, Joshua said he could see the creature's aura. Something like the Ethereal beings we had been seeing since the meteor. In fact, he had been the only member of the dragons to leave the den during the time after the crash. Maybe he and Jay had known something about them, and maybe the girls father had something that could deal with them. Though that brought up another issue. If Joshua could see them, then why had he brushed me off when I saw Solemn at my house? Could it be that it was not like the other ghosts? There was too much to think about, I'd just have to wait until we got to the lab.

Reviews

[Peach]

Amazing! It's really good. I like the character of Seren. Based on the way you were describing her, she struck me as cute and innocent. Keep it up.

[Lucy Morningstar &heart..]

I like this chapter; its a good addition to the story. There are a couple little grammatical things here and there but I think you are doing a good job of keeping to the main point of the story instead of veering off. Good job! x

[astronaut]

love it
very nice so far
xx