Chapter Ten
Sage
Watching the fenrir stalk toward me feels different this time. Hack is finally here, his brothers are here, and I’m positive the three women with them are valkyrie, meaning I don’t feel as royally screwed as before. But I can’t help the pang of guilt swirling in my stomach for Saffron.
The hope that she survived that thing back in the cave is strong, but she was already so battered and broken it’s difficult to imagine how.
My heart aches for another lost friend, but it only makes me more determined to save them.
The hints of conversation from the harpies about a vampyre being moved and kept somewhere else give me hope.
Arrows fly from Hack’s bow, sometimes four at a time, but they don’t seem to be penetrating the fenrir at all. The fear in his eyes as he turns to check that I’m still being held back by the valkyrie, Lathuneh, tells me that he’s ready to die for me today and I just can’t…I won’t.
How he has managed to live through my death, over and over again, across the span of two-thousand years, is something I will never understand.
If I had any way of helping, I would, but the knowledge Hekate embedded within me is useless in my still non-magical body. Staying here with Lathuneh, watching, is not my first choice, but I’m not about to be that girl who runs into the danger to try and help, only to cause more chaos on the way.
My skin begins to feel itchy, like bugs are crawling over my beaten body.
I scratch at my arms, bend to scratch at my legs, twist to scratch at my back, but nothing is helping.
Ugh, there’s nothing on me except crusted blood and dirt, which is peeling off in waves as I scratch more and more. It’s neverending!
“What are you doing?” Lathuneh creases her brow, curling her top lip in disgust as she stares at me.
“Fucking water skiing. What does it look like?” I know I should be nicer because she’s keeping me safe, but the aura she emits is all off. There’s something about her that I just don’t like and I don’t know why.
The itching intensifies, building to a painful pinch, and I let out a scream as electricity lights me on fire, burning me from the inside out, and everything turns white.
It feels like pain is all I will ever know as it courses through my body, claiming my organs, my bones, my muscles, everything is vibrating with a sharp energy. Then, as quickly as it began, it stops like it never happened, and I can finally breathe again.
However, it did happen, because I’m on the ground with my eyes closed and I must have been out for quite a long time because it sounds like the fighting has stopped, too.
The pain has completely disappeared. Like, all of the pain. My battered and beaten body, weak from malnutrition, suddenly feels strong again. The twangs of hunger, the dryness in my throat from thirst, it’s all gone.
Opening my eyes, I expect to find Hack and the others because I’m not on a soft bed.
This is most definitely dirt beneath me so I can’t have moved far.
Instead, I find a sparse landscape with everything in shades of gray, void of all color.
There are two paths ahead of me, both with arches of gray trees over them, and that’s it. Nothing else.
My heart begins to beat rapidly and tears prickle at my eyes, hopelessness settling in at my situation. Why can’t I have my happily ever after? It keeps being stolen from right under my nose and I’m pissed.
Standing, I realize I’m naked, the ripped and torn rags of my dress gone, along with the dirt and blood embedded into my skin from weeks of living among my own waste. It isn’t cold though. I’m surprisingly comfortable with no breeze to cause a chill.
The birthmark on my hip catches my attention when it begins to grow darker, from a faint light-brown to a deep blue-black. It doesn’t hurt, or have any feeling at all, but when it starts to protrude from my skin, my eyes widen.
What the fuckedy fuck?
A soft tug pinches at my thigh when it detaches itself and I fall backward, scratching my ass on the dirt path as I watch my birthmark shift and turn into a…my raven?
Moonlight shines from above, making the raven’s black eyes glisten where it hovers in front of me. It tilts its head to the side, like it’s inspecting me, sizing me up for I don’t know what, and I mirror the action because I have no fucking idea what the hell is happening.
I’m confused, I’m scared, I’m pissed, I’m devastated…
a whole plethora of emotions are whirling inside of me and I don’t know which one takes precedence.
The raven twists and flies toward the fork in the pathway, landing at the point directly between the two before a dark mist swirls around it, growing in size and rising to the sky.
I scramble backward, unsure whether this is something I should be afraid of or not. When the mist starts to clear, the raven is gone, and in its place is a woman with deathly pale skin and long, straight, black hair. She looks almost as afraid as I do with her wide eyes and open mouth.
She’s the only other thing here that isn’t in a shade of gray. Although, with how pale she is, she isn’t far off. She’s also naked, like me, but it’s not the strangest thing about all of this and I’m comfortable with nudity.
We’re both silent for a few minutes until she finally notices me, still sprawled out on the ground from where I fell. Her brows furrow and she blinks repeatedly, as if she’s trying to make sure what she’s seeing is real, so I do what anyone in my situation would do. I wave awkwardly.
“Hi.” Goddess, I hope she’s friendly.
Her lips move, but she doesn’t make a sound and she tries again…nothing happens. Grabbing at her throat, she keeps trying to talk, getting more frustrated the longer her voice refuses to come out.
The helpless way in which she’s acting doesn’t scream danger to me, and neither does her general aura. In fact, she seems really familiar, as if I know her and she knows me.
I stand, scratching my palm on a stone in the process. It stings for a second but then a tickle makes me take a look. A small cut lies in the center and I’m either dreaming or dead again because I’m watching my skin knit itself back together, healing itself instantly.
The fuck?
It’s the least of my issues right now, so I shake my head and walk toward the girl, who is still trying desperately to talk. Standing in front of her now, I hold out my palm, hoping she understands what a handshake is.
“I’m Sage. Do you understand English?” I may as well get that out there, because I’m fighting a losing battle if she doesn’t.
She gives up trying to talk and sighs, her shoulders dropping in defeat as she nods and takes my hand. Internally, I’m relieved. Externally too, I suppose, because I grin, happy that we may be able to communicate somehow. Even if she can’t speak.
“Do you know where the raven went?” I have a suspicion that she was the raven, but this whole supernatural kyn thing is still very new to me as a whole and I don’t want to assume or offend her in any way.
Pointing to herself, she nods again, mouthing the word “me”. It’s then that I notice how dark her eyes are. They’re almost black with a very subtle tinge of midnight blue when the moonlight hits them.
“Are you…” I pause, trying to find the right words, settling on, “Are you my raven?”
Her smile grows with this nod and her eyes soften.
I don’t know whether to laugh, cry, or hug her, because just wow.
I have known her for as long as I can remember, and not just in this life.
I can recall her gentle caws from several of my previous ones, and the way she has always watched over me, alerting me to dangers.
She has certainly saved my life more than once.
After flapping my mouth open and closed like a fish, I allow tears to spring to my eyes. I say allow…they’re coming of their own free will and I’m doing nothing to stop them. This woman has seen me in many states of mind, a few tears are nothing.
“Thank you,” is all I can think of to say to her, and she tilts her head as if to say “you’re welcome”.
But wait…
“How are you here now, like this? And where are we…? Fuck, you can’t talk. Okay. Do you know where we are?” The questions are beginning to mount up again, but I need to keep them simple.
She huffs a small laugh, the breathiness of it the only sound she seems to be able to make. Nodding, she closes her eyes for a second before opening them again and fixing them on mine.
There’s a tickle in my brain and I squint in confusion, that is, until I hear her and squeal in shock.
“I am to be your familiar, if you so choose. My name is Reina. This is the time to make your choice regarding what kind of witch you will be.” Her lips aren’t moving, but she’s definitely talking…in my mind.
Unholy shitballs.
I can recall Hack saying something about familiars and them not being a good thing to have because it means the witch is bad or some shit. I don’t really remember. A lot has happened since then. I will allow myself the forgetfulness, all things considered.
“What are my options?” I speak aloud, because I have no idea how this whole talking in the mind thing works.
“You have two choices and they are simple. One born of light, and one of the dark. They both have advantages and disadvantages, but ultimately, the darkness holds more power because you are fed by your familiar.” The way she speaks into my mind is kind of eerie and monotone, as though she’s reading from a script.
“I thought familiars were animals?” Probably not the most prominent question, but a vital one all the same. I can’t imagine walking around with a beautiful naked lady beside me all the time, unless she can freely turn into the raven. I don’t know how this works.