Thirty-Nine- Marina

*warning* slightly gory here (not like chapter 26 though)

Chapter 39

Marina

Everyone is asleep except me.

“Marina?” Wren whispers next to me.

“Yeah?”

“I can't sleep.”

“Me either.”

“Wanna go for a walk?” He asks.

“Sure.” I reply, slipping out of one of the sleeping bags Bry brought. She only had four so Wren and I share. She shares with Airborne and Ray, the other guys just opted to sleep on the ground. Wren wriggles out and I wait for him. We walk along the stream in silence.

“This is weird.” I say.

“What is?”

“The whole supernatural, magic thing from ancient times. It's like, wouldn't I have had some warning? And for me to be water after all these years of never being in it! It's just... weird.”

“Did you ever think... maybe your parents moved to Maine because they knew? They knew that the rest of us were there?”

“Maybe.” A pause. “Why did you inhale so much smoke? Like, in the fire.” I ask. A pained look crosses his face in the dim light.

“I was trying to save someone.”

“Who?”

“I'm pretty sure she was a freshman, she told me her name was Lianne. She was huddled in the corner of the room and there were flames everywhere. I was trying to get to her, to help her, but she just told me to save myself.” His eyes are closed and flicking back and forth as if he's watching it happen. “I started coughing and choking and she just screamed at me to leave. Eventually I did. And she died! Her little brother was in preschool and he died too. If only I could have saved her, her family would at least have one child. And when I got outside the school I passed out. I had an oxygen mask and I was just waking up when I heard her whisper 'thank you' but she was a pile of ashes by then.” He opens his eyes and takes a shuddering breath. “I just wish I'd saved her.”

“Wren- I- I-” I'm at a loss for words, I didn't mean to cause him so much pain when I'd asked the question. Instead of using my amazing speaking skills (the non-existent kind), I kiss him. “It'll be okay.” I whisper.

“I hope so.” He whispers back and kisses me again. We sit down near the stream and I play with the water with my fingers. Nothing magic, just dipping my fingers in. I end up falling asleep there, my head on his shoulder

I wake up back in the sleeping bag and it reminds me of the many times he moved me to his bed. We are eating breakfast and a squirrel lurks nearby.

“Well, hello there Mr. Squirrel.” Wren says, obviously sleep deprived. The squirrel chatters back and Wren almost falls off the boulder.

“Did you hear that?! I'm pretty sure it just swore at me in a few different languages!” He says, wild eyed and frightened as the squirrel bounds away.

“So you can talk to animals, too.” Bry murmurs.

“Well they're mean.” Wren says. We sit in awkward silence for a few minutes.

“Hey, why don't we explore today?” Ray says. We all agree and then set off down the field to the end we can't see, following the stream. After walking a little ways, something catches my eye and I scream.

“There's a head! A severed head in the water!” I point while looking away, I hear gasps and screams.

“It was a woman. Let's keep going...” Nox says. Farther up the stream we find her body and a dead man as well.

An enormous amount of the smell of decaying flesh hits my nose. Ahead of us is a part of the field littered with bodies. I gag and tears stream down my face. The bodies are gruesome, not completely human, and not completely skeleton. Flies buzz everywhere and a fox drags away a leg.

“A Sine was here. They're close.” Nox whispers.

“Well hello there!” A female voice says. We all turn to where it's coming from. Briar-Rose strides toward us. “Dear sister! It's been so long!” the Briar-Rose look alike says, air kissing the frozen Bry's cheeks. “How do you like my handy work?” She gestures to the massacre. “A master piece, isn't it?” She sighs happily.

“A-Ariel?” Bry whispers. “You're... alive?”

“And soulless! Better than ever!” Ariel replies.

“You're a Sine? You killed all these people?” Bry says, backing away.

“Yeah, looks like you have an evil twin.” She winks. Then she notices Nox. “Noxiepoo! You're all grown up! Long time no see!”

“I thought you were Briar-Rose!” Nox backs away, horrified.

“Noxiepoo?” Ray whispers, laughing slightly.

“Well, I'm not, oh let me introduce myself to all your little friends!” She smiles at Bry. “Well, I'm Ariel, Briar-Rose's twin sister. Oh Airborne! How are you? You haven't grown much since we were eight...” She looks Air up and down, and Air crosses her arms and looks away, tears welling in her eyes.

“I thought you were dead. You'd think you'd be nicer to us.” She says. Ariel grins, “Sorry, nice isn't in my vocabulary any longer.” Then she directs her gaze once again to Bry. “Oh, I remember so fondly,” she starts, “how stood by and did nothing” her teeth are clenched now and her facial expression is a smiling kind of anger, like she enjoys the pain she's causing Bry to feel, “while Malum ripped me limb from limb and I bled out on the table. I so thoroughly enjoyed when he ate my soul and the worst imaginable pain ripped through me. It was so wonderful how you tried to help me when my arms were being eaten. And my blood” she pauses between each next word, moving her face, distorted with anger and malice, closer and closer to Bry, “spurted. From. My. Shoulder. Sockets. Oh how I loved the feeling of dying and then being REBORN IN FIRE!” She roars, now only centimeters away from Bry's face. Briar-Rose's face is streaked with tears and she sobs, her body shaking and her arms wrapping around herself, as if she's actually feeling pain. “Oh, but it was worth it, because now I'm better. At least my limbs regenerated.” She smiles wider as Bry cries out. “Another thing about being a Sine and a twin... I'm projecting all this pain onto her.” She says, her features twisted with a mixture of joy and anger. Bry crumples to the ground shaking and crying. Airborne cradles her in her arms.

“You know, I'm a little hungry...” She pulls a sword from its sheath and pretends to swing. “But I think it'll be more fun to watch you grow paranoid. Meanwhile, now that I've found you, I think I'll contact Malum. Something should come at you soon. Toodles!” She wiggles her fingers in a wave and runs off at supernatural speeds. We all huddle around Bry, hugging her and soon she blacks out from the pain.

Author's Note

reviews please, what do you think of Ariel :D
she scares the crap out of me and I wrote her.

Reviews

[Sylvana]

Ariel... if she was still human, I would call her a psychopath. xD What a demon, really. I think I'm going to fall in love with that character. But I can definitely see how she can scare you, haha.

[Abbie]

woah. Awesome chapter! Ariel is an awesome demonic Sine girl! and I'm not surprised that she scares the crap outta you! she kind scares me too! she is kinda cool though... keep up the good work! :)