35
Farlen
X ander picks me up and begins to run with me. I can feel his hands as he holds my naked legs. He is holding me tight, but it isn’t painful. I can feel his entire body pressed up against mine and it makes me feel like it did when Connor and Rhi kissed my neck. I lean my head closer to him and take a breath in through my nose. I can smell him, but I don’t know what it is. It’s nice though.
“Did you just sniff me, snowflake?”
“I wanted to know what you smell like. But I don’t know what it is.”
“Well, anytime you want to sniff me, go for it. When you finally figure it out, let me know.”
“Okayyyyy, but I don’t know a lot of things, so it may take me a while to figure it out. You smell good, though.” I put my head on his chest as he runs. One day I am going to run with them too. His chest starts to rumble and my stomach rumbles too. He stops running and lets go of my legs and uses one hand to lower me down his body. It makes my brain go fuzzy, and it’s hard to think right for a second.
I hear a sniffing noise and I look around. Instructor Payne is standing there, looking like he is crying. He turns around and makes a few strange noises.
“Alright everyone, we are going to continue working on partial shifting. Spread out and give everyone room. Remember what we talked about last time? Don’t let your beast overpower you. Far-Far-Farlen I think you have a good idea on meditation, what I want you to do is meditate, but I don’t want you to go far this time, stay close to all of us, but I want you to try to get to know your beast, what do they feel like, do you feel like they will listen to you if you ask them to do something, do they feel like they a part of you, or like they are separate? Connor, you might as well sit with her. Xander and Vashu need to spread out so they can try their partial shifts. Fucking Gods, I said partial shift Francis.” He walks over to a strange-looking creature. Its skin is dark, and it has eyes on the top of its head and a big mouth with lots of teeth in it. There are strange parts of its skin that poke up and he has four legs.
I try to move away from Xander and he gives me a hug and then steps away and finds a spot to do what Instructor Payne said. Vashu walks over to me and picks me up. He gives me a big hug and I can put my arms around his neck when he does it. He sets me down on the ground and walks the other direction from Xander. Connor comes over and looks around.
“Well, here seems like it’s good enough. No one is close to us.” He sits down on the ground.
I go to sit down and remember I’m not supposed to bend over, so it takes me a few minutes to figure out how to sit down without bending over. Once I sit down, I feel within myself for my rumbly spot. It feels warm, and the surrounding area feels warm too. I keep moving further away from it, and it gets a little colder away from it. But it doesn’t feel like it's anything different from me. I don’t know what to say to a beast.
Hi beast, I am Farlen. I’m supposed to get to know you. What do you look like? Would you listen to me if I told you to do something?
The rumbling starts in my stomach, and a voice I’ve heard in my head before pops in. We are you. We are one and the same. If we need to do something, we will. When the runes are broken, and we are free, you will know what we look like. Until then, we will do what we have always done, and protect you and your magic.
Oh, my magic? I am supposed to try to find it for Rhi. He wants me to touch it to see what it feels like, too. Would you let me touch it or tell me what it feels like?
It feels like the beginning and the end, life and death, salvation and damnation. It is hot and cold. But never both. It has been hurt by the one we killed. We cannot heal it until we are free, and we cannot be free while we are still stuck on the ground.
I feel soft, warm hands on me. I blink and come out of myself. Connor has his hand on my knee.
“Class is over, sweet girl. You’ve been talking with your beast for a long time. Instructor Payne came over and checked on you a few times. He said that you were talking to each other and not much we could do about it for now. But I needed to be careful in case you shifted fully. So instead of listening to him, I sat right here and waited for you to come back to me.”
My eyes feel like they have something in them. I rub them a few times and they start to leak, but not cry leak, and they are itchy. I blink a few times and it feels better. The sun is high up in the sky, and my muscles feel tight.
“Have a good chat with your beast?” Connor asks.
“I don’t know. It was really confusing. My beast said a lot of things to me, oh! It said it is protecting my magic, and that my magic is hurt.”
“Hurt how?”
“It didn’t say how it was hurt, just that it was hurt. It is hard to remember everything it said.”
Connor looks around, stands up, and walks over to Instructor Payne. They are pretty far away and I can hear a bit of what they are saying, but I don’t pay attention to it. I try to remember what my beast said to me. As soon as I think I remember something, I forget it. Connor and Instructor Payne are walking towards me now. They stop in front of me, and Instructor Payne crouches down.
“Connor said you’re having a hard time remembering what your beast said? Is it just what the beast said, or are you having problems remembering other things? We need to make sure it isn’t something to do with your healing earlier.”
I think about it for a minute. I can remember almost everything Connor has been teaching me, I remember everything that HE did to me, and I remember almost everything that has happened to me since those men found me.
“Just what my beast said. I think I remember everything else.”
“Alright, well, that doesn’t sound too bad. Some beasts can be pretty protective of themselves and those they share a soul with. Maybe they think you don’t need to remember what you talked about. Every beast is a little different, just like every being on the planet is a little different. Do you remember what you were supposed to do while you were talking with your beast?”
“Oh yeah. My beast feels like it’s part of me. It’s very warm. It starts to get cool when I move away from it in my body, but it doesn’t get cold fast, like it is a slow change.”
“Sounds pretty normal to me. This is the last shifter class of the week. Why don’t you practice talking to your beast until we meet again next week? Make sure one of your matches is around while you practice, though. If it decides it wants to come out and play with someone, it would be a good idea to have someone you trust there so they can call for help.” He looks over to Connor, “If she does shift while at home, have Zachariah call me immediately, she may be more dominant than me, but I may get her beast to stop and think, Xander and Vashu probably could as well, but they may just end up making it worse. Hard to say, seeing as we still don’t have any idea what Farlens beast is.” He looks back over at me. “I will see you tomorrow for combat class, Farlen. You’ll have to participate in this class. We need to start training you on how to defend yourself. Connor, send me a message when you get home. I have an idea.”
He does the eyebrow thing at him. Whyyyy can he do it! He told me they’d show me how to do it, but they haven’t yet. I guess it was before class and I’ve been talking with my beast for a while, but still! How do they do it!?
Connor bends down and picks me up. I wrap my arms around his neck and rest my head on his shoulders. I breathe in through my nose. Connor smells nice, too. I stick my nose on his neck and just breathe in through it. I feel Connor's hands on my legs. He starts walking. Hopefully, he’s taking us back to the house. I’m hungry.
“Where’s Xander and Vashu?” I say into his neck. Connor's body does a bit of a shake.
“They went to go see about a new dining table. That’s what you call the big table. Why don’t we go wait outside Zachariah’s classroom for his class to end and you can see him for a few minutes?”
“Okay, but then food? I’m starting to get hungry.”
“I will have Xander and Vashu bring back some food with them. If everything goes well, they should be back with a new dining table before us.”
Connor carries me all the way to Rhi’s class door. He does the same thing Xander did and lowers me down his body. Just like with Xander, it makes my brain go all fuzzy, and it’s hard to think right. He pulls his phone out and hands me mine with a paper.
I hear Rhi talking to people on the other side of the door. It sounds like what he told us yesterday. I look down at the paper Connor handed me. It says Faith and has a bunch of numbers written down on it.
“I don’t understand what this is. I understand the name Faith, like the girl that was only a little bigger than me with the blue hair, but I don’t know what the rest of this means.”
“That’s her phone number. She wanted you to text her. I guess she was really worried about what happened to you after that first class. She got transferred into the night classes. Here, let me see it, and I can add her number to your contacts. She won’t have a picture to go with it, though. And let’s turn down the volume of your text to speech. The lowest volume should be fine for you, and not many people should be able to hear it.”
He hands me my phone back, and it is on a blank message screen. The name at the top said Faith. I hold the phone up to my mouth.
“Hi Faith, I was told you were worried about me?”
There is a message back from her fast. “Who is this?” My phone says .
I hold the phone up to my mouth and say my name, then send the message. There are little bubbles at the bottom of the screen. And it stays that way for a long time.
Connor looks up from his phone. “She might be trying to think of what to say to you sweet girl, give it a bit of time, if you haven’t heard anything back from her after we eat, maybe send a message and see if we have the wrong number?” I hand my phone back to him. I don’t have anywhere to put it. He sticks it in his pocket. The door to Rhi’s classroom opens and people come walking out. Some of them I remember seeing from the first day in the big room, after everyone else left. Some of them stare at me as they walk past, but others just talk to the person they left with. After no people walk past for a bit, Connor starts pushing me to the door.
I walk into the room. Rhi is sitting at his desk, looking at papers in front of him. “Whatever it is, you’ll need to come back later. I have a class that is going to start up again in about ten minutes.”
“Oh, okay!”
His head looks up at me fast and I blink and he is right in front of me.
“Sorry gorgeous, I thought you were another student coming in. I will always make time for you.” He puts his hand on my cheek and I push my head more into his hand.
“What are you doing here? Aren’t you supposed to be in shifter class?”
“All done. Connor brought me here. We are waiting for Vashu and Xander to get a new big table, and they are going to bring back food, so we came to see you. Oh! During shifter class, I was supposed to talk to my beast. I talked to it, but I can’t remember what it said. It’s like every time I try to remember, it just gets fuzzy. I do remember that it said my magic is hurt and it can’t heal it.” He walks me over to his chair and pulls me into his lap when he sits down. I feel his hot breath on the back of my neck.
“Hmm, does it say how it is hurt, and why it can’t heal it?” He presses his lips to my neck each time he says one word. And now I can’t remember what we were talking about.
“What were we talking about I don’t remember?”
“Why can’t you remember gorgeous? Are you thinking about other things?” Again he presses his lips to my neck each time he says each word, and there’s something hard poking me in his lap.
I don’t know what we are talking about, but I don’t want him to stop what he is doing with his lips. It feels so nice, even though all of my muscles low in my stomach keep getting more tingly. There is a knock on the door of his classroom. He grumbles and stands me up.
“We’ll talk about it more tonight when I get home. Now, gorgeous, you should probably head back to the house. If Connor brought you here, that would be him knocking to let me know that students are starting to line up outside.” He stands up and gives me a big hug. Now something on him is poking my stomach. There’s another knock, and he chuckles. He presses his lips to my forehead and lets me go.
I smile at him and head to the door. I open the door and all I see is Connor's back. There’s a lot of talking and feet moving in the hallway. Connor looks back at me and grabs my hand and pulls me away from the door as a bunch of people walk through it. He gives my hand a squeeze and hands me my phone.
“It started vibrating a lot while you were talking with Zachariah. Did you have a nice visit with him?”
“Yes, I tried to tell him about what my beast said about my magic, but he started putting his lips on my neck and I couldn’t remember what we were talking about.” The dark part of Connors’ eyes gets bigger. He takes a deep breath.
“Why don’t you check your messages, sweet girl?” We walk outside and I look at my phone. I open it up and there’s a message from Faith. I press on the message and my phone starts talking to me.
“Oh my Gods, I thought that jerk of an instructor was lying to me when he said he’d give you my number. Looks like he really did it. Why didn’t you text me back sooner? I have been so worried about you! It’s not every day that you meet someone smaller than you, well I guess if you are anyone but us and the younglings at the school. What happened? I hear you’re a shifter! That’s cool. What can you shift into? Are you a cute little rabbit, oh you’d be so cute as a rabbit. You’d be all white and be so soft and oh so fluffy!”
“They moved me into the night classes because it will be easier for me to do the things I need to and not to expend so much energy. Have you been touching other people's freckles or are you keeping your hands to yourself now? That reminds me, the Instructor said that he is one of your matches, and that you found another two of them. Girl, how many matches do you have? I have four myself and haven’t found a single one yet, but I’m in no hurry to, you know. They tend to lose their shit about the smallest things. But man, would it be nice to have someone carry my stuff! My legs and arms are small. How much weight do they think I can carry around with me? Not everyone at this school is a fucking giant!”
“Why aren’t you replying? Is everything okay? Do I need to come find you? Damnit I don’t know which match house you are staying in! I’m going to ask my brother and see if he knows anything. He’s been here a while and has had your instructor match for like three or four semesters now. I can’t remember. They still can’t place his magic. I keep telling him it is because he’s a giant freak, but he doesn’t listen to me. If you don’t reply back soon, I’m sending Kram to go bug your instructor about what house is yours and then I’m going to show up and try to beat down your door!”
I look up at Connor. He laughs at me. Connor holds his hand out and I give him my phone. He presses a few buttons on it and holds it up to his ears. I hear Faith scream at him.
“Farlen, stop scaring me like this! My heart isn’t as big as some people at this damn school. I can’t take all of this! Where are you? Are you okay?”
“Farlen is fine. She’s a little overwhelmed by your text messages. No need to bother Instructor Fry. We are in match house 46, stop by anytime. ”
“Oh uh, sorry about that. You sound like Connor. Uh, I need to go so I can call my brother off!”
I don’t hear her anymore and Connor gives me back my phone.
“Seems like you’ve made a friend, sweet girl. I hope you are okay with me inviting her to the house. It seems like it would be the easiest way for you two to talk, and then she could stop freaking out because she thinks something else happened to you.”
“It’s okay, though I am afraid. What if I say something bad and she leaves? She talks so much, and it still feels strange for me to talk. At least it isn’t as hard for me to talk anymore.”
“I have a feeling that Faith is going to do most of the talking, you just say what you feel comfortable saying to her, if she asks you a question and you don’t feel comfortable telling her that, just say it, I’m sure she’ll understand.”
“What if she doesn’t understand?”
“Then just don’t answer her questions, maybe ask her what her favorite flavor of ice cream is, or what her favorite song is, maybe have her show you it.”
“Okay.”
Connor opens up the outside door to the house and walks in. He turns around and smiles at me. I walk in and look to where he looked when he first walked in. Standing there are Xander and Vashu. There is a new big table, and it looks just like the one from my dream. Xander and Vashu are both holding a lot of plants. The plants Xander is holding are all white, and they look like they have pokey things on the green part of them. The plants Vashu is holding are a lot of different colors, and none of them look like the other ones. I don’t see any pokey parts on those. They are both holding the plants out in front of them.
“We wanted to get you something you haven’t had before, snowflake. So the big guy and I decided to get you some flowers. They smell really nice.” His eyebrows do a strange wiggle. How did he do that? At least he didn’t do the eyebrow raise thing. I walk over to the flowers they are holding out and smell them. The white ones smell nice and I smile at Xander. I move over to the ones Vashu is holding. Each one of them smells different from the rest, but when I stand back a little from them and smell them all, it smells even better than the ones Xander has.
“I’m going to go see if we have a vase or two to put them in,” Connor says, and walks into the kitchen.
I smile at Xander and Vashu.
“Do you like them?” Vashu rumbles.
“They are very nice.”
“Which one smells better? It’s mine isn’t it, told you dragon she’s like mine more.” Xander says.
“Vashu’s flowers smell better,” I say.
Xander looks sad when I say it, and Vashu looks happy.
“Your flowers smell good too, Xander!” I blurt. He still looks sad.
“It’s okay snowflake. The next present we get you, I know you’ll like mine more! We picked up some food. We weren’t sure what you’d want. The dragon said you liked the burrito he got you, so we decided to buy a bunch of food like it for you to try!”
“Oi! Connor! Where do you want me to leave your card? Dude, how much money do you have? You bought this fucking table and all that food! I’d have to save up for a fucking year just to get that table!” Xander walks into the kitchen as he says it and is yelling at Connor.
Vashu is still standing there, holding out his flowers. I walk towards him and grab the flowers. He lets me take them and picks me up and gives me a hug. I can’t even get my arms around him most of the way. They stop at his armpits. I wiggle my hands to try to get them behind him more and he starts to laugh and then stops and stands very still.
“No tickling. That isn’t fair.”
“I don’t know what tickling is.”
He sets me down on the table and moves close to me.
“Oh, you don’t? We’ll see about that.” He starts to move his fingers along my skin, moving them around like he is wiggling them. It feels strange, but it doesn’t make me laugh like he does. He breathes hard through his nose and then does the finger wiggle on my stomach and my sides. His eyes do the strange blink thing, but it still doesn’t make me laugh. He looks down at my legs and grabs one and brings it up, so it’s sticking straight in the air. He takes off my shoe and sock from that foot and does the finger wiggle to my foot. Still nothing. He almost looks like his eyes are closed, but there’s still a little of them open as he looks at me. I feel his hand move up my leg, and he stops behind my knee. He does the weird finger wiggle there, and it makes me laugh.
“Gotcha.” He says. He does it again and again and I can’t stop laughing. I try to get away from him, but he still has a hold of my leg and won’t stop the finger wiggling.
“No, no stop! Please stop!” I laugh the entire time he’s doing it, and it’s starting to make my stomach hurt.
The door to the kitchen opens really fast and slams into the wall. It doesn’t close like it usually does. Both Connor and Xander are standing there, staring at us. Xander comes over and grabs Vashu by the neck. My neck prickles. I remember HIM grabbing me like that.
“No Xander please don’t! Please don’t hurt me. I won’t talk again. I am sorry. Please don’t use the knife again.” I curl up in a ball on the table. I don’t want to be cut again. I don’t want to feel the knife in my skin, or feel the knife in my bones as he spends a lot of time doing things to my bones. My body starts to shake. I close my eyes and try to find my happy spot. I don’t want to be hurt again. Where is Connor at? Where are Rhi, Vashu and Xander? Where are the other eyes that don’t have faces yet? Why aren’t they here to help me?
I hear another door open fast, and two sets of feet come to me fast. He never had people here with me before. I am afraid, is this the person he said was going to take care of me so he’d never have to see me again? I want the guys. I don’t want to go with them. I want to be back in the house.
“WHAT THE FUCK HAVE YOU GUYS DONE TO HER? WHY IS SHE SHAKING AND CRYING LIKE THAT?” The voice sounds familiar. It isn’t a male voice. When he talked about getting rid of me, it was never about a female taking me, it was about another male. I feel arms pick me up and we bounce like we are moving. I don’t want to go. I want the guys. Why aren’t they here? I can’t make a noise. If I do, he’ll hurt me more. I can’t move. If I move, he’ll get the fire.
I try to find my happy spot but I can’t find it. I can’t get to it. Why can’t I get to it? I don’t want to see what he is going to do to me.
Another door opens and closes. The arms that were holding me aren’t anymore. I try to understand where I am with my eyes still closed. I still don’t move and don’t make any noise. I don’t want to be hurt. It feels like I am on a bed. He never had a bed for me before. I always slept on the floor, or when he didn’t let my arms down from the chains, I’d sleep on my feet. There’s whispering. It sounds like a male and female; it isn’t HIM. I open one of my eyes quickly to see where I am. Then I open both of my eyes.
I don’t understand. I could have sworn I was back there. I could have sworn I felt his hands on my throat and was squeezing them. There is a male with his back to me and he is talking to a female. They are moving their hands around a lot as they talk. I can’t get my ears to work right. All I can hear is my heart. It’s going so fast. The female steps around the male and its Faith. She sees me and runs over to me. Her blue eyes look over my face, and she grabs my head and moves it around from side to side. Her eyes look kind of like the blue eyes from my dreams, but there isn’t any gold in them. Her lips are moving, but I can’t hear her. All I can hear is my heart still. She looks at me with tears in her eyes. She puts her hands on my head and then moves my head so she can see my ears.
I still don’t understand what is happening. Where are the guys at? Where is HE? Faith turns around to the male that is behind her. I am too afraid to look at him. I see the door open and close as he leaves. She is still trying to talk to me, but I can’t hear her. I take a few deep breaths to try to get my heart to calm down. HE isn’t here. It’s just Faith. Maybe she will know where the guys are? I take another deep breath and she is nodding her head at me. On the next deep breath, I can finally hear her.
“Good, good, just keep taking deep breaths. Calm down, Farlen. We can’t have your heart stopping on you again. Kram went to go get the Instructor so maybe he can figure out what the hell happened. Keep breathing, you’re doing so good.”
“Where are the guys?”
“Oh well hello to you too, missy! And no, not uh, they aren’t coming in here until I figure out what in the hell happened. We knocked on the door, but then we heard you scream and Kram broke the door so we could get in here. You were laying on the table, the big one had your leg in the air and you were shaking and crying on the table. The other one had the big one by the throat. Connor was just frozen in the door he was standing in, looking like he was going to be sick and wanting to kill someone at the same time. So no, they aren’t coming in here until I can make sure you are alright. The Instructor can come in, because he wasn’t a part of this fuck fest. And wow, I think that is the most you have ever said to me in one sentence. You’ve been practicing your talking?”
She talks so much and so fast it’s hard to remember everything she says.
“I’ve been practicing a bit, Healer Daniel did something to my head and when he was done, it wasn’t so hard for me to talk, and it didn’t sound so funny anymore, it was also easier for my mouth to get the words right.”
“Well, that’s good at least, now tell me what the hell happened, and which one of your matches I need to have Kram hang by their balls from the tallest tree he can drag one of them up, though I don’t know how he’s going to manage with the big one, eh he’s resourceful he’ll figure something out.”
“I’m still not sure what exactly happened. We walked into the house and Xander and Vashu had gotten a new big table for us. The big one was all broken when I got up this morning. They had flowers for me and wanted me to smell them because I can smell them now. I smelled both flowers and Vashus smelled better, and it made Xander sad. He went into the kitchen with Connor. I gave Vashu a hug, but he’s so big I couldn’t get my arms past his armpits. I tried to wiggle my hands so I could reach more of him, but he started laughing, then stopped and told me no tickling? I don’t know what that is. Then he started wiggling his fingers all over me, but it didn’t make me laugh like it did him. When he started to wiggle his fingers behind my knee, it made me laugh and he kept doing it. I was laughing so much my stomach started to hurt and I asked him to stop. Then Connor and Xander opened the kitchen door really fast, and it didn’t shut. Xander came over and grabbed Vashu, and it felt like I was back with HIM. I thought that HE was here and was going to hurt me again. I felt the hand on my throat and the squeezing. I don’t remember what else happened, just being afraid I was back there again.”
“I only really understood a bit of that Farlen, when you are talking about him and he, are you talking about one of your matches?”
“No, no, they don’t hurt me. They make me feel safe, and make my heart feel full.”
“Well, they still aren’t coming in here until the Instructor can come and check on you. So tell me what happened after your heart stopped? When did it start again? What happened that made you cough up blood like that? I was so damn worried about you! Like seriously, I met you one time, and I was so afraid! You can’t do that shit to me. I’m too young to die of a heart attack! I have more clothes to wear and piercings to get that I haven’t grown the lady balls to get yet!”
“I’m not sure what happened. I remember feeling like I couldn’t breathe, and then it felt like something was squishing me. Then I woke up here.” I hear the outside door open.
“I WILL FIND OUT WHAT HAPPENED FROM ALL OF YOU IN A GODS DAMN SECOND LET ME GO CHECK ON HER FIRST!” Rhi yells. Faith hears the yelling and stands up in front of me. She puts her hands on the hips. The door opens and Faith puts her hands down and steps away from me. Rhi is here. Rhi looks at her and looks towards the door.
“Nuh-uh, no way, not gonna happen. I am staying right fucking here. I am not going to leave her alone until I find out exactly what the hell is going on. And where the hell is my brother? KRAM GET YOUR BIG ASS IN HERE!” The door opens, someone walks in and closes it. “If he looks like he’s gonna hurt her, I don’t care if he is your favorite fucking instructor. You tackle his ass to the ground and get him away from her.”
Rhi just shakes his head and keeps looking at me.
“Gorgeous, what is going on? Kramylor came and got me and said I was needed here. It was an emergency. He didn’t tell me much, just that something happened with you and the others and that he carried you to your bed, and you were shaking and crying, then you stopped and all but stopped breathing, too.”
“How about I tell you what we saw when Kram broke your fucking door down? We heard Farlen shout from inside the house and I told him to break the door, and being the big freak he is, he did. We came in and the big fucker had her on the table with one of her legs in the air. The one with the brown hair had the big fucker by the throat, and Connor was standing in the doorway looking like he was going to puke and murder someone at the same time. She was shaking and crying, and Kram picked her up. Connor tried to take her from him, but I wouldn’t fucking let him touch her. Kram looked around to see if we could figure out where her room was, and Connor walked over and opened the door and we brought her in here. Kram put her on the bed and I sent him to go get you. Farlen told me she tickled someone named Vashu and I’m going to assume that is the big fucker seeing as she said he kept trying to tickle her and couldn’t by the way you’re a lucky bitch, but he found a spot behind her knee that was ticklish and he was tickling her she asked him to stop because it was making her stomach hurt from laughing, then the other two bust through the kitchen door and Xander? I’m guessing just because of what Farlen said, grabbed the big fucker by the throat. Farlen said she felt like she was back with him, which I still don’t understand but she said none of you fuckers hurt her so be happy, because if she said it was one of you, all of your balls would be swinging from a fucking tree. Right Kram?” She turns around and nods her head to someone.
Rhi rubs his face with his hand. “Thank you, Faith, for telling me what you saw. Now if you’d please, I would like to hear it from Farlen.”
“She said it right. Though I didn’t see Connor's face. It felt like I was back with HIM. I could feel fingers around my throat again. I was so scared. I couldn’t find any of you, and the eyes weren’t there. I couldn’t get to my happy spot, so I wouldn’t feel the pain. I didn’t want to feel the knives or fire, or the knife in my bones again. So, I stopped moving and didn’t want to make any noise because then it was always worse. I got put down on the bed and when no one hurt me, I tried to figure out where I was. I opened one of my eyes and saw the back of a man talking to someone. HE never brought anyone else down there, so I looked around more because he couldn’t see me and then realized I was here. I couldn’t hear Faith for a bit because all I could hear was my heart. Then Faith said a lot of things really fast that I only understood and remembered a little of. Now you’re here.”
He puts his forehead on mine and takes a deep breath.
“Alright, I’m going to go ask them what happened. Stay here until I come to get you, okay? I honestly think that this is a big misunderstanding from what I can tell. Did Vashu hurt you?”
“No, but he wouldn’t stop tickling me and it was making my stomach hurt from laughing.”
“Well, that isn’t really hurting you. He was playing with you.” He touches my nose with his finger.
“Okay, well, you’ve got a bodyguard, and Kramylor here, so I’ll be back in a few minutes.”
Faith nods her head to him as he leaves.
“Soooooooo, you’ve got a lot of things to tell me it sounds like. I’m guessing the HIM you were talking about is the bastard who did that to your skin? And sorry, like I told you before, my momma always said my big mouth was going to get me in trouble. It just has a mind of its own sometimes.”
“I don’t feel comfortable talking about what happened to me. I don’t like to talk about it. Rhi knows. He can tell you. ”
“Alright, well, tell me which one is Rhi, so I can have him tell me.”
“He was just here.”
“Wait, Instructor Fry is Rhi? Okay, so tell me how that name happened.” She laughs.
“I couldn’t say his name right before Healer Daniel fixed my head. It was hard to say. So he said to call him Rhi. It’s what his family called him.”
She nods her head. “Can you say his name now?”
“I haven’t tried.”
“Wait, better yet, Kram, get over here! Let’s see if she can say your name! Farlen, this big oaf is my big brother Kramylor. He’s had Instructor Fry since he got here. They still can’t figure out his magic. Though between you and me, Kram knows what it is, just doesn’t want to change teachers. He thinks Fry is funny as shit.” The man in the room walks over so I can see him. He is tall, not as tall as Vashu, but maybe as tall as Rhi. He stops moving and I look over at Faith before I look at his face.
“Kramylor?” I ask Faith. She nods her head and looks over her shoulder at the man. I look back over at him just as he falls to his knees. He has blue hair and blue eyes like Faith, but his blue eyes I would know anywhere. I have seen them all my life. They have always brought me such peace, just like all the other eyes I’ve dreamed about. The little gold flakes in them seem to stand out against his skin.
Faith looks between me and him. She keeps doing it. Her mouth opens, and she makes a strange noise. I look over at her to see if she is okay. She is smiling and is moving her arms up and down and bouncing on my bed. My door opens and Rhi is standing there. His chest is moving fast, and he is looking around at everyone. He watches Faith for a minute, looks at me and looks up and down my body, then looks over at Kramylor. His eyebrow raises, and he looks back at me! My head falls backwards! This is so not fair! I want to do it too!
Faith stops jumping around and grabs my hands. “That’s why I felt so protective of you! You’re meant to be my sister! Oh, my Gods! We are going to have so much fun together, and there is so much I get to teach you!” She starts jumping up and down again, but she’s holding my hands. I look over to Rhi and he is smiling at me. Faith looks behind her.
“Oh, by the way, she said she doesn’t feel comfortable telling me what happened to her, but she said you know and you’d tell me!”
Rhi does the eyebrow thing to her. She stops jumping and puts her hands on her side and does the eyebrow thing back to him! THAT IS NOT FAIR! HOW COME SHE CAN DO IT! I must have made a noise because Faith looks over to me and she does the eyebrow thing to me! Rhi starts laughing. I look over at Kramylor. He is still sitting on his knees on the floor.
“So, from what everyone has told me, it seems like it is just a misunderstanding. When Connor and Xander heard Farlen ask Vashu to stop, they thought the worst, and came out to see her laid out on the table and one leg in the air, with Vashu between her legs and bent over her. Xander tried to get him off her and then she had a panic attack, from what Healer Daniel has said. Well, come on out, everyone. I guess we have a lot to talk about. Go ahead, you two. I just want to talk to Farlen for a second.” Faith grabs Kramylor by the hand and drags him from my room. He is still staring at me.
“Are you sure you want her to know all this gorgeous? And looks like we are going to have another match at the table soon. Before we tell them anything, though, we need to make sure that Kramylor is a match. He’ll have to have his blood tested against yours and show us the results. Then they can both come back over and I will tell them everything if you’re sure that’s what you want?”
“Yes. Please tell her I can’t. I can still feel the hands on my throat.”
He grabs me and gives me a big hug.
“No one can hurt you now, Farlen. We are all here. They will have to get through all of us first, and have you seen how big Vashu is? It would take a mountain to get past him. Remember what I said if you have bad dreams? Come get me and I will hold you while you sleep and keep you safe.” I hug him back. “Now, why don’t you come out and see what Vashu and Xander picked up for dinner?” I smile at him, and he grabs my hand and pulls me from my room.