Chapter 15
When I wake up, I feel totally refreshed.
No nightmares, no dark cloud invading my thoughts.
Absolute bliss! I lay in bed for a while listening to the morning bird song.
I sense a few nocturnal prowlers tucking themselves away from the sun as the daytime animals stretch and head down to the lake.
It’s safer first thing in the morning as the layer of fog hanging over the ground like a blanket gives them enough cover from hungry eyes.
I hadn’t closed my curtains last night as I had a perfect view of the stars circling the mountain tops from my bed.
Now in the morning as I sit myself up, I see the pink sky giving way to pale blue.
I check my phone out of habit and notice its only just past 7am.
I never usually wake this early unless I set an alarm!
I know it’s from my connection to the forest though.
I feel it growing ever stronger and as the forest wakes so do I.
We’re synchronised with each other. Getting out of bed I wash and get dressed in jeans and a t-shirt.
I throw my hair up in a pony tail and head downstairs in search of breakfast.
I hear both my parents in the kitchen and smell toast. I walk through and my dad is pouring some coffee. He turns and gives me a huge hug.
“Morning! I made you toast with honey and a coffee with two sugars.” He gestures to a seat at the breakfast bar and as I sit he brings breakfast for all three of us beaming with pride at serving my coffee just how I like it.
“This is perfect thanks dad.” I smile as tears of happiness fill my eyes. This is a moment I never thought I would have. Breakfast with both my parents.
His eyes water as well as he picks up his cheese on toast. We eat for a while in silence. Soaking in this experience. My mum is the first to speak.
“We thought we would spend the day together. We can go for a long walk around the forest.” She takes mine and my dad’s hands and gives them a squeeze.
“Yeah, that’ll be great.” I reply as I finish my coffee.
“Alright then!” My dad booms as he stands and clears the table. I’ll pack some supplies and we’ll head off.” He grins.
He’s so excited and eager.
Ten minutes later we leave the house and head off towards the open clearing.
My mum and I walk effortlessly over the snow, but my dad has no choice but to plough through it.
I gently send a flow of power to the snow at his feet to make it easier for him.
His smile grows wider as he's lifted up.
The snow is sparkling in the morning light with not a single breeze.
The morning is quiet and still. Wolves howl to each other amidst the rolling hills and an eagle swoops overhead.
“There’s nothing quite like it.” My dad says his voice full of awe.
“It’s incredible.” I reply.
“This is what your life should have always been like.” He says gruffly.
I go to him and hug him tightly. “And it will be now.”
He kisses the top of my head.
We walk and talk for hours. We laugh and my mum and dad walk hand in hand.
We catch up and get to know each other and talk about the plans for our home.
They tell me stories of the pack before and our plans for the future.
Dad talks a lot about Lukas and how much like his father he is.
I tell him all about Cassey and college. Then it dawns on me…
“Mum how will I finish college? I’ll go home for my final exams right?”
Her brow furrows as she gives a slight shake of her head.
“What do you need to finish college for?” My dad asks in surprise. “You’re here and you don’t need a degree to keep the earth in balance. Everything you will ever need is here.”
“But all my friends and my life back at home-“
“This is your home!” He booms. “There’s nowhere else you need to be.”
I stand there in shock for a moment at my dad’s outburst. I know it comes from a place of loss and hurt. Of watching his only daughter grow up without him whilst he just sees snippets through his bond with my mum. But I realise, he doesn’t intend for me to leave here. At least not any time soon.
“He doesn’t mean it like that sweetie. It’s just… This is what your life was always meant to be. Here. Helping and guiding nature and doing Gaia’s will. We’re safe here.”
“So, what we stay here forever? In a bubble away from the rest of the world? Waiting for Hades to decide what to do?”
“What else can we do? He won’t attack here again. Not with you here and Yellowstone strengthening your power.” She says softly.
“But what use is my power when I can’t do anything with it? There is already balance here. The forest and this mountain and everything living on it are in sync and thriving. There’re places that aren’t like the rainforests and the coral reefs that need help.”
“Your place is here. With me and your father and the pack. We are the guardians of this part of the world.”
My dad comes and takes my hand. “We can live here in peace and happiness and safety. That’s all any parents want for their child. We are free here and we are blessed by Gaia to have such a beautiful place to call home.” He states softly.
I can see in his eyes the desperation to keep me safe.
To stay together and have the life that he believed was nothing but a wild and impossible dream.
This is all I need and the life we will have here will be simple and wonderful.
My old life in Birchwood died when I became a Nymph.
This is where I was always supposed to be.
“Yellowstone is your destiny, Krista. Your fate.” My dad states warmly.
I smile back at him and hug them both tightly but I notice how my mums hand tightens and her brow furrows ever so slightly. We both know that my fate is not quite as simple as that.
We start a hike up the mountain and stop part way to have some lunch.
The sun is brighter and I can see the snow slowly starting to give way to the warmth.
I watch as the snow-covered branches in the trees over my head start to drip in the sun beams. I concentrate on a single droplet and as it falls, I stop it and it hangs in the air slowly swirling.
As another falls I catch it and so on until I have several all spinning around each other in a perfect sphere and never touching.
I have them move faster and faster until they’re a blur and as the speed builds, I feel the intensity build as well.
My body is tense as I spin them faster and tighter together.
Then just before the intensity gets erratic, I move it into the open air in front of the sun and have the droplets all explode together creating the most incredible rainbow.
I take a deep breath to calm myself. I didn’t realise how tightly wound I was until this moment but I feel better for it now and besides, Pretty Rainbow!
I snap a picture of it on my phone to send to Cassey later.
My dad comes over and sits next to me. “You’re really getting the hang of it.” He says proudly as he gazes at the rainbow that has already started to fade.
“Thanks.” I smile back.
“Shall we start to slowly meander back? We should be home for dinner.”
I nod and we head off.
We walk for a short while when I see black wings in the corner of my eye flash through a break in the trees.
I blink and they’re gone but I could have sworn for a moment it was Alistair’s Strix.
It couldn’t have been surely? Then I see a raven sour down into the trees and start pecking at a branch.
I knew It couldn’t have been a Strix. Just another reminder of Alistair and our bond lurking at the edge of my consciousness.
The image of his mangled chest as he laid in his car moments before we left him flashes in my mind and before I can stop it, I feel my chest tighten.
I close my eyes and take a deep breath. Trying and failing to close my mind to him.
To retreat out of our bond and slam the door but the pain of my chest ripping apart breaks my concentration.
I fall to my knees and curl over as white-hot burning and tearing forces the breath from me.
I feel nothing but excruciating pain that makes me want to die than suffer this endless, debilitating torture.
“Please! Stop!” I cry but the words don’t come from my mouth. I force them down the bond in a desperate, disoriented attempt at stopping this.
It’s then that I feel that familiar dark shadow and I see his eyes full of pain and sorrow. They widen as if seeing me there.
“Please…” I sob down the bond.
Instantly a barricade comes down and his eyes disappear along with the pain.
I slowly come back to reality and feel arms carrying me as we run through the trees. I blink a few times disorientated to see it’s my dad carrying me and the ranch is coming into view. My mum is running next to him and she glances at me coming to.
“Carter stop. She’s OK.” She yells.
He looks down at me as he slows to a stop by Penny and Jason's cabin. Jason and Lukas run over to us.
My dad brushes the side of my face. “What happened?! How do you feel?” His voice cracks with worry.
“I’m fine dad.” I say reassuringly as I stand on two feet. Luckily my legs don’t shake.
“What happened?” He repeats.
Jason the pack doctor starts checking my eyes and blood pressure.
“I don’t know. Maybe indigestion from eating lunch then hiking? I should have let my food go down a bit more.” I force a laugh that I hope is convincing.
“You were in agony.” He says. “You were inconsolable.”
“And she’s always had a terrible pain threshold.” My mum pipes up with a tut.
It’s a total lie but I’d believe it if I didn’t know better.
“I have some tablets that’ll help.” Jason offers.
“Thanks but I actually have some in my room.” I say sweetly. “It’s not my first time!”
“If you're sure?” Jason smiles and heads into his cabin.
Mum, Dad, Lukas and I head to the house. I grab a glass of water and take a seat at the breakfast bar. Lukas hasn’t said a thing. He just subtly watches me, his eyes filled with concern. Then again he was there when it happened last night. Albite not to this extent, but still.
I’m not over it myself I’ll be honest. Alistair is enduring that pain right now and has been since I tortured and mutilated him.
Even through that blinding pain he saw me and was able to push me out of it and close off the bond.
To stop me from drowning in it. He should have forced me to endure what I reaped upon him.
I’m a monster for the atrocities I enacted on him.
I shake the thought from my mind lest I risk reopening the bond. I glance at my mum and I can see she wants to reassure me but with the hyper sensitive ears everywhere we can’t risk it.
*
Several weeks pass and we are all hard at work, gardening and tidying. We’ve started on turning the third floor of the house into a cosy library come home cinema. It’s becoming my new favourite place with a mini fridge, bean bags and mood lighting.