Chapter Twelve - Impressions
Tatiana didn’t find Kye on the beach nor was she able to reach him on his cell phone. Grasiella had been quiet and Tatiana knew she was keeping something to herself. That was normal. Before they came to the island, they each had their own group of friends and did their own things. After a few days together, Tatiana realized how much she had missed her sister.
The sun began to set as she made her way up the path to G’s house. The big brown house stuck out in the green and blue foliage. She made a detour into G’s garden. It felt welcoming to sit in the garden and she thought about bringing her guitar and playing some cords. The chorus could use some work.
Hearing the calls of the birds, she sat in the center of the garden. G walked out with a tray carrying ice tea. “Would you like some fresh ice tea?”
“Sure.”
G handed a tall glass to Tatiana, watching as she took a sip. “You like it? I used pineapple.”
Nodding her head, Tatiana took another sip. She then asked, “Is Grasiella home?”
“No, not yet, but I made you both dinner. I have a meeting tonight with the ladies. It’s poker night at Clara Jane’s. I will be out late. Wish me luck. I hope to win big.” Taking the empty glass back from Tatiana, she moved to go back inside.
“G,” Tatiana stopped her. “That story you told us about our ancestor, was it true?”
With a smile on her face she replied, “I hope so. It’s always nice to think so.” Once inside and deep in thought, G loaded the dishwasher with the glass. Tugging at the chain she wore around her neck, she stared at the end of the chain, which held a white crystal. A blue light moved inside.
“You stay quiet now,” G said firmly. “I don’t want to hear from you.” Tucking the chain in her blouse, she turned the dishwasher on. Tonight she would play a game or two of poker and then, tomorrow, would be soon enough to take care of Sita Knook.
Grasiella had found the cove earlier in the day. Resting on a ledge that was about two feet above water, she laid with her back on soft grass and her feet kicking back and forth in the cool water. Looking up at the sky and watching as it turned into dusk, Grasiella closed her eyes to enjoy, relaxing a moment longer before having to head back to G’s.
She heard a movement in the grass. It sounded like something big. Opening her eyes, she listened again to hear a whining voice. She instantly recognized the voice as that of the faerie that broke into G’s house the other night.
“Why haven’t you returned Sita Knook to us yet?”
Grasiella sat up, pulling her feet out of the water as she did so. “I don’t know who she is, and I can promise you she is not at our house.”
Hands on her hips, the faerie stood there wearing a lilac spring dress. “I told you she was.”
“What’s your name?” Grasiella asked at the same time the faerie made her statement.
After a moment’s pause, the faerie said, “Mayrra.” Mayrra became very angry. “Did you even look or ask that old lady you live with to give up Sita Knook? Do you realize what is at stake?”
Rising to her feet, Grasiella answered her in a calm voice, “I don’t care. We don’t have her, and if you believed we did, you would have gone straight to G and demanded that she ‘give up’ Sita Knook.”
Looking horrified Mayrra replied, “I can’t do that. You do realize who it is you’re living with don’t you?”
“Watch what you say about her.”
Mayrra seemed to stretch in height before Grasiella’s eyes. She grew six feet tall, her face menacing, “Do you realize who I am?”
Grasiella was not afraid. What could Mayrra do to her? She suspected Mayrra had reached her maximum height and she wasn’t going to stay a moment longer and listen to the faerie throw a tantrum. Rolling her eyes, Grasiella moved to leave. She was blocked as Mayrra turned into a hideous creature.
Her body became grotesque. Her skin became black. Her arms and legs became long limbs, almost branch-like. Her eyes sunk into their sockets. Large teeth emerged from its small mouth. She grew bat like wings and took a swing at Grasiella with one of her thin arms.
As she moved to deflect the attack, another creature who looked identical to Mayrra emerged and then another. There were three all together now.
She was multiplying; Grasiella soon lost count of the numbers of creatures. One hit her across her face, cutting into her skin with its claws. Grasiella felt a burn race across her skin; then another across her upper arm.
Before she realized it, she was flat on the ground with one of the creatures above her snarling. Grasiella tried to push it off her but it was too heavy. Her breath was being pushed out of her lungs. It was getting harder for her to breathe.
She felt it bite her flesh and heard the horrible sounds it made. Another of the creatures took a bite out of her right leg, then another. She couldn’t call out. She couldn’t protect herself. Summoning her strength, she used her power to push the creature off her.
It was pushed just hard enough for Grasiella to wedge free from the other creatures that were biting her. The moment they stopped, she swung her leg in a wide circle above her, rolling to her side. This was not what she had hoped to do. She had intended to jump up to her feet but her body was too weak to accommodate her.
Her breathing came out in great gulps. She felt claws dig into her back. Grasiella let out a scream in pain. She jerked her elbow back, hitting the creature in the face.
Grasiella was again pinned down onto the grass by one of the other creatures. This would be how she would die. She felt for sure she would not live through this.
Grasiella was a fighter. With her right palm, she pushed out at the creatures’ chest. With magic coursing through her finger tips, she sent it off flying from her. Rising to her elbow, she used her magic again, although this time it didn’t work against the creature. She couldn’t understand why.
It was in those moments, that she felt currents of energy enter her from different points of her body. She didn’t understand what it was.
She was suddenly standing on her feet with the creatures around her. She crossed her arms out in front of her. Her hands became clenched fist. Thrusting outward, she hit two of the creatures on either side of her. She moved to a side stance. Her knees bent low to the ground. She punched out at another creature, feeling the magic course through her body, out of her shoulder, down her arm, shooting out of her fist.
Raising her left leg, bending her knee to chest height, she pivoted and kicked out to the left. The power traveled down from her hip, shooting out at her foot and sending the creature back.
Another creature came at her. Ducking its two blows, she attacked its midsection. This time she fell with the creature landing on top of it. As they landed, the other creatures dissipated.
It wasn’t her own voice that came out of her mouth. It was deeper but not masculine; “You came after mine.”
The creature didn’t speak. The voice continued in a rage, “You would forsake one of mine for Sita Knook!”
“I didn’t realize! Sita promised—“
“Her promises mean nothing to me.” Grasiella’s hand moved to the creatures face, her fingers finding the deep eye sockets. The voice that emerged from Grasiella’s throat changed softly. The words came out of their own accord. “You will die now.” Grasiella tried to stop herself. She knew what was about to happen next. “You will die, for Sita Knook.” Grasiella’s fingertips began to pulse. She couldn’t make them stop. The creature yelled in pain until there was no sound. The creature’s bat like wings were clenched in Grasiella’s hands, gone, was the creature, as was any trance of it.
It was no longer beneath her. She lay in her own blood on the soft grass. The night was quiet. The air burned the wounds on her skin.
Crying, she rolled onto her back. That creature, Mayrra, would have killed her. Touching her wounds, she felt pain shoot through her entire body.
G was kneeling down beside her, pat
ting her head saying soothing words. As G leaned over Grasiella, the chain slipped out from behind her blouse. Closing her eyes in pain, Grasiella cried out.
Grasiella next awoke in her bed back at G’s house. Her sister Tatiana was beside her. She could hear her sister talking to someone. Then she blacked out, not waking again until the next night. She was alone in the room.
What happened? she asked herself. What was that energy and that voice? It was furious with Mayrra. How could it know her? How could Mayrra know the voice? How did G end up there and why did she wait until the end to show herself? Was she watching the whole time while Grasiella was getting her head handed to her? Mayrra said that Grasiella didn’t know who she lived with. Was it G that came and caused that energy to come into her? She had plenty of questions but still no answers.
Where was G and where was Tatiana? She tried to call out, but her throat was sore.