Page 36 of Curse of Immortality
It was the fault of humans that Maeve was left with no parents, aunt, or sister and no hope for a future either. As an Earthen she was unwanted and unloved. James had made that very clear. Maeve’s hands were shaking against the tree as she rose from the ground wanting desperately to leave everything behind and escape the horrible nightmare that she was caught in.
Walking back toward the edge of the tall cliff felt like she had reached the edge of the world. She stood close enough to the edge that if the wind had blown in the opposite direction, she would have been pushed off. Her feet were shaking as she stood for a moment dwelling in her pain. The strong breeze from the ocean hit her high cheekbones and her nostrils expanded as she inhaled the salty air. Bowing her head, she looked down to where the waves crashed against the rocks. Calculating the height, she guessed it to be more than enough to kill a person. It should have frightened her, but in her state of grief, shame, and misery, death beckoned her with promises of peace and a welcome escape from all her pain. And yet, her feet were heavier than her broken heart and wouldn’t take the step forward. A tear ran down Maeve’s face as she remembered the girl she had been not so long ago. How she had loved to daydream and imagine her bright future. Never had she imagined that her life would end like this.
“Forgive me, Rose. For everything that happened and everything I’ve done,” Maeve whispered in a broken voice.
Taking a last look at the beautiful horizon, she closed her eyes, fisted her hands, and took a deep breath. Maeve stood silent for a long moment in the salty air and thought of her aunt’s face smiling down at her, just as she had done when she was a child. Rose had never been a conventional beauty like Maeve was, but Maeve had always found her to be the most beautiful woman, because of her kind eyes and charming smile. With that smile in her mind, Maeve took a step forward into thin air. The world felt quiet when her feet left the ground but as soon as she fell, the vicious noise of the wind attacked her ears and made her long orange hair and the fabric of her dress whip around her. She fell quickly, and a part of her felt sure it was all her pain that weighed her down like a heavy rock.
The thought of her loving, smiling aunt was ripped from her the moment her body broke through the surface of the water. All the air was pushed from her lungs as they collapsed from the speed upon impact. The skeletal damage to her body and internal bleeding from her broken ribs and bones should have killed her. She felt physical pain so excruciating that it numbed her emotional pain and left her unconscious. Maeve sank deep into the dark waters surrounded by rocks. Her eyes, which had once been so full of life, were now closed and her face, which James had once called the prettiest in the world, was marred with suffering. As she drifted further and further down into the dark blue sea she began to wake and became painfully aware that she was still alive. Unable to move a muscle, she lay in the cold water and remembered Zosia’s words about the crystal giving her immortality.
As the salty water washed through her lungs, the powers of the crystal ran through her veins and repaired her broken body. When she regained control of her movements, it happened gradually. Her eyes painfully opened to see the quiet and dark ocean around her. But as her body healed itself, her lungs struggled for air and repeatedly made her feel like she was drowning, only for them to heal themselves and beg for air again. When her broken bones were healed and strength returned to her muscles, her hungry lungs begged for air and pushed her to swim toward the light that felt as if it was hundreds of yards away.
When her head burst above the surface, she coughed up water before her lungs gasped for air. Greedily, she inhaled the fresh salty air as she spoiled those organs with deep breaths, but the burden of her wet dress weighed her down making Maeve swallow some of the salty water.
Only now did Maeve realize that in the time she had been down in the dark ocean, her body had drifted out to sea. Looking toward shore, she saw the tall cliff that she had fallen from. Some may have seen such a survival as a miracle, but to Maeve, it was a tragedy. Was she truly imprisoned in a world she wanted no part of, for the rest of eternity?
Chapter 14
Leaving Behind Broken Dreams
Althea kept thinking about the version of Maeve that had set fire to a whole village, and she struggled to understand how the sweet Maeve she had known could have been so cruel and bloodthirsty.
They’d grown up the closest of friends and Althea felt she’d known her sister’s heart inside and out. That’s what made it difficult to encompass the fact that her sister had slaughtered a whole town of people.
Every time Althea closed her eyes, Maeve’s twisted face and dark eyes were there to haunt her with the memory of being pushed backward and flying through the air again.
Althea knew that her miraculous survival had something to do with the crystal. It had to be connected because as soon as they let it dissolve on their tongues, they had felt stronger, and once they reached the town their powers had been like nothing they had experienced before. Althea sighed and thought for the hundredth time how everything would have been different if they had made it in time to save Rose.
The thought that Maeve had tried to kill her when she objected to her setting the town on fire still was hard for Althea to come to terms with. But the fact remained that if her body hadn’t magically healed itself then her own sister would have been the cause of her death and that knowledge terrified her.
She empathized with Maeve’s pain because she too had lost an aunt, but although Althea was a kind and empathetic Earthen who loved her sister, she wasn’t sure she could ever forgive her for killing innocent people. For the same reason, Althea didn't go looking for Maeve.
The complete loneliness Althea experienced when she walked naked from the town made her wish over and over that she had Rose to comfort her. She went to the lake and watched the black ashes that had stuck to her body float on the surface around her. Washing her body, she discovered that the stubble of her hair was already back and by the time she returned to the cottage her eyebrows were back to normal.
Stepping inside the cottage that Althea had called home for almost nineteen years, she suddenly found the vibrant colors dull and gray. She found a clean dress and put it on while listening to the birds that lived in the trees outside. Today their chirping had a sadness to it like the melody of a melancholy song.
Unsure of what to do, Althea stayed in the cottage for weeks. Without her aunt and sister, the place no longer felt like home. All the memories that lived there couldn’t fill the absence of laughter, hugs, and shared meals. It was a strange time in Althea’s life where days and nights blurred together in moments of deep despair mixed with trivial chores that were required to keep herself and Tobias alive.
Sometimes, she would find herself lost in thoughts while digging up carrots or weeding the garden. Looking around, she still expected to see Maeve or Rose, but then she remembered everything, and a new wave of despair washed over her.
Rose would never return, and Maeve had lost her mind. The more Althea thought about what questions she would ask her sister if she returned, the more she realized she didn’t care about the answers. No apology or remorseful look could change that Maeve had murdered hundreds of people in a fit of uncontrolled rage. And if not for the crystal, Althea would have met the same fate as them. Over the weeks of solitude, Althea’s initial empathy for her sister’s mental breakdown transformed into her blaming Maeve for their aunt’s death. If Maeve hadn’t lied and acted the way she did, Rose wouldn’t have gone into town that day, and she wouldn’t have died.
Unlike Maeve, Althea had been happy with their simple lifestyle. But due to Maeve’s selfishness, she had lost everything. Eventually, Althea reached anger in her grief and concluded that she didn’t want her sister to return home. It was clear to her now that all her pain pointed back to the person she’d once loved more than anything.
By the sixth week, it became too difficult for Althea to stay in the cottage. It was simply too painful to sleep alone in her and Maeve’s bed, smelling the scent of her aunt around the house, and living one more meaningless day after the next, always hoping Rose would walk through the door and hug her and always being disappointed when she didn’t.
She fantasized about finding other Earthens with whom she could start a new life, but she had no idea where to search.
It was with a hammering heart and shaking hands that Althea finally packed her few possessions and led Tobias away from her childhood home.
They walked in a random direction and after half a day, they reached a large village. Just standing close enough to see people walking by and riding horses reminded her painfully of Lerwick, the town where her life had changed so drastically six weeks ago. She was sure that once they spotted her standing next to Tobias with a pale face, they would bring out their torches and burn her like they did Rose. Suddenly moving a foot seemed as hard as moving a mountain.
She thought back to the time she and Maeve had convinced Rose to bring them with her to town. The twins had been fourteen years old, and more than excited and curious to see humans up close. Now seeing humans created a pressure in her chest that made it hard to breathe.
Despite Althea’s desperation to flee, she stood paralyzed with wet eyes. Tobias sensed her beating heart and nuzzled his head against her chest trying to calm her panic attack. It helped her and after a few deep breaths of air, she stroked his head and whispered, “Come on.” Together they hurried back toward the forest while Althea had tears running down her cheeks.
Tobias watched with his kind and gentle eyes as Althea walked over to a tree and placed her hands on it. Leaning her head back she looked up at the leaves that were starting to change color and fall to the ground now that it was October.
“Zosia, I beg for your help,” Althea whispered to the old tree. “I need to know if there are other Earthens like me left. And if there are, please will you help me find them? I won’t go close to humans… I can’t… but I need some guidance to find where the healers are.”
