Page 118 of The Lands Defying
A small wisp comes forward and floats down, the first that came to me. It hovers over my power as a tendril reaches for it. It moves curiously up to the wisp, and the wisp stays there, letting it explore.
My power gently wraps around it, and the wisp jiggles, its glow seen from within the black and I suck in a breath at the familiar feel of its power. My eyes lock on the wisp, then to the others and I shoot my power out toward them. Wanting more of that feeling, needing more.
I wrap them up one by one, not covering them completely but holding them, and they let me. They can feel my need when these little balls of power feel like Rhea. So exactly like her, but on a smaller scale.
I close my eyes, feeling everything from its warmth to its wildness.
“Where are you, Rhea,” I say aloud, my voice hoarse. If this is her power, then she’s alive. This is a confirmation I desperately needed, and something loosens within me at the knowledge.
I feel warmth on my face and peel my eyes open. A wisp covered in my power hovers, and I hold out my hand letting it rest in my palm.
“How do you have Rhea’s power in you?” I ask it, knowing it will have no answer. “Are you made from her?”
I tilt my head in thought. They were always around her in the quiet moments, and they seem to stay here in her cave. How did she do this?
I call my power to my palm, unwrapping it from around the other wisps and close my eyes again, imagining a ball of darkness, imaging the wisps and I feel a stronger heat in my hand.
Opening my eyes, a ball takes shape in my palm and slowly wiggles, like it’s shaking itself out before it floats on its own. I watch in fascination as the other wisps come closer to it, curious of their new friend as my black wisp floats higher, wobbling from side-to-side just as a new fawn would be standing for the first time.
The wisps that first came to me go toward it, bumping it gently before circling it in what seems like excitement. It curves around it before stopping and bouncing up and down, the black wisp copies, then hovers closer to the others as they surround it, all of them touching it briefly as if in greeting. Welcoming it.
I call on more of my power and make more, enough that in front of me, all I can see is a glow of blue-green and black, all dancing around each other.
Powers of the opposites hovering in perfect harmony.
I lift my hand, releasing the last wisp that now has a life of its own and watch them play, imagining the way Rhea’s eyes would light up if she was here to see this now. The colors would reflect in them, and her smile would mesmerize me. Then the happiness that would radiate off of her would make my chest loosen, make it feel like it can take a full breath for the first time.
She would smile again, and then laugh as she would run into the wisps and play with them, giggling when they tickled her and I would watch on.
Protecting her as always.
I frown, rubbing my chest as pain shoots through it before my hand goes to my neck, to the marking that has been slowly filling since the day I met Rhea.
Running my thumb over it, the need for it to be filled consumes me. A want so deep and instinctual that I nearly growl in sorrow that it is not completed. It feels wrong for it not to be whole.
Soon, I tell myself. As soon as she’s back in my arms, we will complete it under the moonlight.
A yip comes from behind the wisps and my head snaps up, seeing a young, dark gray wolf approach. Its eyes meet mine, hesitant, scared even, and then it bounds over at full speed, crashing into me.
I can’t help the small, sad smile that appears on my face. “Rhea would be happy to see you, Leif.” He yips, tongue coming for my face, and I playfully grab his nose, shaking him. “Where is your Mother? Brothers and sister?” He nuzzles into me, fur in my mouth as a whine comes from him in response. My brows furrow. “Let’s go and see if we can find them, hmm?”
Thirty Three
Rhea
“She will survive it…. Yes, I’m sure, I gave her enough to get to… you chose well…It’s not… Of course…soon.”
I hear the deep voice as my eyes slip open. My eyes are blurry once again, just shadowy masses as I turn my head to look for who spoke. I’m sluggish, stiff, like I haven’t moved in a while. I take a deep breath, the slight rasp of it echoing and the pain in my chest making me pause for a moment, as everything comes crashing back into me.
I gasp, or at least I think I do, and my hands scramble for my chest before I pause.
I shake my head, trying to get my vision to clear but it’s no use. It’s like I’m looking through water that’s murky, and dark. I tentatively bring my hands the rest of the way to my chest, slowly, carefully, as I place them on my skin. My bare skin.
Where are my clothes?
My fingers move gently, and I feel burned flesh, to mottled skin, feeling a slight ache. I will my body to move as I gingerly sit up, groaning as my muscles protest. How long was I out for?
Blinking until my vision clears, I look around the dark space. Where is the wolf?
