Sleep

Chapter Thirteen

“Are you okay?” He continued.

“Clarence.” Eli whispered. “You’ll have to give her time to mourn. Nobody knows for sure how this works.”

“I’m not as sad anymore.” I promised Clarence. “I’m mostly just tired, overwhelmed, and confused.”

“I’ll let you sleep then.” Clarence promised but I sat up and reached for him. “Alex…” He whispered confused.

“You used to call me Ally.” I whispered and he smiled before nodding.

“You are starting to remember.” He explained and I nodded. “Good.” He sighed. “I have to go now. I’ll be back before morning.” He promised and I knew my worry showed because he added, “I’ll just be downstairs in the kitchen. We have to figure out what would be the safest way to continue this.”

“Continue what?” I yawned.

“Sleep.” He shook his head, “I’ll explain more to you when you wake up.” I nodded and rolled over closing my eyes. I listened to him walk downstairs and then felt my tears fall.

“You are still hurting.” Bell whispered.

“I’m not as upset as I thought I’d be.” I whispered, “Or scared. Or even mad. I feel like I’ve betrayed Andy by not being more…”

“Distraught?” She suggested and I nodded.

“I feel guilty about everything I’ve caused Clarence to feel the past hundred centuries…” I admitted.

“You two loved each other more than I have ever seen anybody love in my life.” Mom promised walking into the room. “This ceremony… well I think this is going to count as your fifth.”

“Fifth?”

“You had four before you died. Even though it’s obvious none of the ceremony stuck after the reincarnation… this is working too quickly for it to be the first ceremony. You shouldn’t be having your memories come back yet.”

“Is something wrong with me?” I whispered terrified.

“What’s wrong?” Clarence asked worriedly appearing in the room.

“Is something wrong with me?” I repeated only looking at Mom.

“No.” She promised me, “I’m just trying to tell you that your pain over Andrew won’t last even as long as Clarence expects it to.” She whispered but stood up, “Come on Bell.” She told her, “I think Clarence should stay here for the rest of the night. We have a very scared and confused bride here.” Clarence crawled into the bed with me but when I looked down at me I was in my pajamas.

“More tricks?” I whispered.

“I didn’t think you’d feel comfortable changing in front of me yet.” He admitted and I nodded.

“Thank you for staying.” I whispered, “I feel… calmer… with you here.” I admitted.

“It’s the bond.” He promised, “The oath is completed so you are also healing… you came very close to breaking it… your DNA is changing to match mine.”

“Match yours… like identical twins?”

“No just certain chromosomes change for us and another is added.”

“Added?”

“A witch has forty chromosomes… forty-one after a ceremony.”

“The reason I’ve never had children?”

“Yes a wolf is more like a human and has twenty-five.”

“Not exactly human though.”

“No.” He shook his head.

“What planet is everybody talking about?”

“The planet that Witches are from.” He sighed.

“Called?”

“The rest of space is simple. We simply call planets by the name of the creatures that derive from there. Your boyfriend was from the Dog Planet or as his people would call it Wolf. Witches and Wolves have never gotten along very well.”

“Who is destroying our planet?” I whispered not sure why I believed him.

“Warlocks placed a curse on it. They killed you knowing that if I couldn’t get you back… I would die and they could have our planet.”

“Warlocks?”

“Evil creatures. They use their ability to manipulate energy… that’s how we do magic… for evil. We were once one planet with just witches but then… during my grandfather’s reign… my father’s brother figured out that if you use the energy that fear comes from… the energy from the fear inside of you…”

“So I could…?” I trailed off at his face.

“Fear is a very consuming emotion. We use the energy from nature.” He warned, “Using energy inside of you even if it’s good energy like happiness… it is a dangerous thing… you will lose yourself in the process.”

“Okay no using my own energy.” I nodded, “Sorry I didn’t know.”

He nodded before continuing, “Anyway my uncle was found by my father and grandfather had to put him in prison for his own safety. Grandfather put my father as his guard… he thought it’d be the best way to get my uncle better… who better to protect him but his twin?” I flinched suddenly imagining if it was Bell or me that had messed up, “My uncle used his new powers to escape and the planet had chunks fall off of it… one became the Warlock Planet… one became Earth… The humans are the newest generation of the witches that lost their powers because of my uncle. My uncle had supporters and they joined him and now they want both planets.”

“Clarence?” I whispered.

“Yes?”

“Are you going to be okay?” I asked, “I know where this is headed and you are going to have to fight your uncle… aren’t you?”

“Unless he will surrender.” He nodded. “The meetings have been to try and find a solution without having to kill family.”

“This is probably a dumb idea…” I started, “But… well I was watching some British show at the café one day… this planet had another planet of their species that had messed up and they needed to protect people from it… they… well they created a force field to make it where nothing can go in and nothing can get out.”

“We aren’t powerful enough for that.” Clarence sighed.

“Maybe we should ask for help.” I whispered.

“What do you mean?”

“Well… I don’t think any other planet would want a bunch of Warlocks to take over three planets. I mean once they get three what would stop them from getting four… five… until they get them all.”

“What are you suggesting?”

“Ask for help.” I whispered looking away.

“Witches don’t ask for favors.” He turned tense, “We don’t owe people.”

“They would be protecting themselves in the process.” I shook my head.

“We’ll talk about this later.” Clarence sighed forcing himself to relax. “Just lay here and rest for now. For all we know they will give-up now that they know I’m not defeated.”

“Clarence…” I whispered, “We both know that the Warlock Planet can’t keep going like this.”

“Goodnight Ally.” He warned and I sighed.

“Goodnight Clay.” I whispered and his arms tightened. I rolled over and put my head in his chest listening as our hearts beat in time with each other.