The Fallen Ch. 04

"Help...me," she pleads weakly, her voice a wet gurgle with all the blood trickling from her mouth.

The way she fell I don't have enough room to pull out the blade...it's way too big. I'm afraid if I move her it'll do more damage, possibly kill her outright, and I can't heal her with that giant chunk of metal stuck in her.

"The other word the other word," I panic, looking for where I dropped the note.

I find the tiny slip of paper and lift it up. The second word is "відступ"

Say vidstup.

"Vidstup," I repeat Cassie's prompt aloud.

The blade disappears quite suddenly, followed by a split-second of stabbing pain in my palm that disappears as fast as it comes. I drop to my knees, my hands touching Candice's wound at both the entry and exit point. I force my swirling power inside the young woman's form, directing it to bring her body and soul back into alignment.

Her wound heals almost immediately, my quintessence also replacing the blood she lost. I pant heavily with the effort, while at the same time Candice's breathing evens out. Repairing the depth and damage of the nasty wound took a toll on my reserves.

"Are you alright?" I ask.

There's no pain in her eyes anymore, and Candice is looking up at me with that intense curiosity of hers again.

"Umm," Candice hums uncomfortably, her eyes looking to my hand. "Thanks. I'm okay."

"Oh thank god," I murmur.

"Erykah?"

"Yeah, Candice?"

"You can take your hand off my boob now."

"Oh, sorry," I mumble, jerking my hands away from her body.

"I'm gonna fucking kill that bitch sister of mine!" Candice practically screams.

Whoa. I sense a little hostility there...wait...oh shit...Candice is Emma's sister?

I offer a hand to the blood-stained woman, which she takes, and I help her to her feet. She looks at the blood on the floor and the blood soaking her clothing. I can still see a thin sliver of pale bosom-flesh through the slice in her suit.

"She ruined my favorite outfit," Candice grumbles, holding her arms out and surveying the damaged fabric with a huff. "This will be a hassle to fix."

She could have died, and she's worried about her suit? That's why she's angry?

"You and Emma are sisters?" I ask.

Candice gives me a wry grin, saying, "Yeah, unfortunately. I got all the brains and she got all the weird."

Well...not all of it.

"No arguments here," I say instead of speaking my mind. "So Candice? Do you know me from anywhere, or just from Emma telling you my name?"

"Just your name, and a basic description. Short, skinny, long black hair. Describes half the wannabes that come in here, but you're no wannabe. Are you?"

I shrug, responding, "I guess not. I don't know."

"No need to be modest. You're an Eternal, right?"

I consider denying it, but why?

"Yeah," I nod.

"I knew it!" Candice smiles. "I've never met one of you before. Can I ask you some questions?"

"Uh, actually I was on my way to pick up someone, and I sort of have a cab waiting."

"Oh," Candice frowns then sighs, as if she fully expected some sort of excuse from me. "That's okay. I should probably clean up this mess. Can't have poor Kimmy coming in here after I leave and popping an aneurysm. It looks like someone got murdered back here."

Her frown.

Something about that frown is so familiar. Then it hits me like a ton of bricks.

I go to school with this girl! She's in my PE class! Candice is the one who always sits somewhere reading a book with that frown on her face while the rest of the class plays sports. She never talks to anyone. Just reads. Normally her hair is down, and she doesn't wear glasses. She looks so different right now.

"Aren't you in my PE class?" I ask.

"Oh yeah, I remember you now," Candice utters with realization. "You're that klutzy girl that got hit in the face with a volleyball and had to go to the infirmary because of a bloody nose."

Well shit. She saw that.

"Not one of my finer moments," I admit. "How come you always get a pass during PE?"

"I guess it wouldn't hurt to tell you," she considers out loud. "I have a fake doctor's notice stating I have asthma."

"But...why?"

"So I can study, duh. Why would I want to run around and chase balls when I can learn magic instead?"

"Because it's fun?" I shrug. "It's a good way to blow off steam during the day."

"Meh. I'll pass."

My eyes narrow as something occurs to me.

I ask, "Then why didn't you ask for a study hall period? Why sit around a bunch of noisy kids while trying to study instead of going to the library?"

"I just didn't! That okay with you?" she growls.

"Only curious," I say, holding up my hands to forestall any more grumbling. "Not a big deal."

I think I have Candice figured out. She acts snarky because she figures if she pushes people away they can't reject her, or hurt her, or whatever it is she fears. She doesn't believe anyone will like the real her, but she still craves friendship and wants to be around people.

I guess even mages are people too, with their own quirks and faults. Candice seems like she could use a friend. I decide I'm going to be her friend, but I don't have much time at the moment. Chris is probably getting irritated at the wait.

I ask, "Hey, you want to have lunch with me and some of my friends tomorrow at school?"

"Why?" she asks with that frown of hers again.

"Well, I figure buying you lunch is the least I can do after accidentally stabbing you. Did you have other plans?"

"No."

"Then lunch it is. I'll see you in the Student Union cafeteria tomorrow," I declare with a finality Candice doesn't dispute.

* * * * * *

After my exceedingly strange encounter at The Third Eye I'm no closer to finding out Emma and Graves' underlying motivations. Plus, now I have more questions. Why did Emma want me to have that obviously magical sword?

I have to admit it's pretty bad ass, though. I got my first tattoo and my first claymore all in the same day. I'm staring at the inked image on my palm as the cab pulls up to Harmony's skyscraper. My brother is waiting on the sidewalk.

Chris hops in the cab and I greet him with, "Sup bruh?"

"Nada sis," he grins with that cheesy-ass grin I know all too well.

I laugh a little at the fact that my brother's cheesy-ass grin looks an awful lot like my cheesy-ass grin. I can also tell he got laid last night, and it must have been damn good.

The cabbie interrupts by asking, "Want I should take you both to Bay Ridge now?"

"Yeah," I nod.

"Yeah, back to school I guess," Chris agrees.

"Have a good night?" I ask, waggling my eyebrows at him.

"Yup," my brother replies. "You?"

"Oh yeah."

We fall silent, both of us knowing there's a lot we can't discuss in front of this cabbie. Luckily I have other ways of communicating. I fire up the old brain-waves and send my thoughts to Chris.

"Did you get your dick sucked?"

I can't help but giggle at my own scandalous question and Chris' shocked reaction. It's kind of pushing the boundaries of good taste seeing as how the question was posed to my twin brother, but...you know. I'm a scandalous kind of girl.

"Jesus, Erykah! I'm gonna need so much therapy now."

I laugh again, and the cabbie looks at me kind of funny in the mirror. I pretend to be watching something on my smartphone to divert any suspicions I might be loony.

I broadcast, "Okay. I'll steer clear of the tough questions then."

My brother face-palms and tells me, "Thanks."

I just can't help myself.

"So...did you get your dick sucked?"

"Oh, come on!"

I laugh uproariously at my brother's discomfort and decide I've pushed the joke far enough.

"Alright, I promise I'll stop asking for the gory details. Sorry."

"Thank you," Chris projects back with an eye roll.

"I connected with my first Faithful last night," I reveal in a more serious vein.

"That's pretty cool. You're lucky. It took a while for me to find my first."

I give a happy sigh as I tell my brother, "Yeah...we connected several times last night. Then once more this morning."

My brother's voice is dripping with sarcasm when he asks, "Oh yeah? Did you get your dick sucked?"

"No, but he did," I giggle.

Christopher gives me a reproachful expression and shakes his head.

"What? You brought it up this time!"

* * * * * *

We arrive at the sizable parking lot of the Academy. I direct the taxi driver to drop us off near where I see my father standing. Danni is there also, as well as Chiaki. I notice Chris is suddenly wearing an irrepressible grin. I take care of getting the cabbie payed and tipped, the man thanking me before he drives away. Danni is wearing dark sunglasses, a slight frown on her lips. I slip over to her, giving her a hug and a quick kiss.

"Everything okay?" I ask.

"Hungover," she grunts.

"Oh...I'm sorry, hun. That sucks."

Danni shrugs, saying, "It'll pass. What I get for going overboard."

I guess she ended up drinking a lot more than me. She did stay at the bar longer, after all. I kiss her forehead then gently stroke her hair, Danni leaning into my palm with a slight smile.

I tell her, "You should be napping."

"And miss your surprise?" she grins.

"Speaking of which," I begin, turning to my father. "What's this about, and why are all of you out here?"

Dad explains, "I thought the others would like to see your face when I gave you this. Here, catch."

He tosses a bulky black and silver key toward me. I manage to snatch it from mid-air, opening my hand to stare at it. My eyes widen when I see the Toyota symbol emblazoned on it's plastic base.

No way...

I look up, realizing one of the vehicles parked next to father's caddy is a big, gorgeous Toyota 4Runner. It's a dark grey color, and though it looks like a slightly older model it's very pristine.

"Oh...my...god!" I mutter, my jaw dropping open.

"Happy 18th birthday," my father tells me with a gigantic smile on his face. "I know it's a little late, but it took a while to find something I thought suited you. You like?"

"It's perfect!" I blurt out happily, my smile so big it threatens to split my face in half.

Wow. My very own vehicle! I don't think this day could get any better!

* * * * * *

ELSEWHERE...

In a place beyond Erykah's sight or experience...

The night is dark. It's the kind of deep and silent black from which nightmares emerge. The landscape is littered with row upon row of headstones, all of them etched with the names of those passed. The cemetery is quiet save for the chirping of crickets and the hooting of a single owl.

The most important gravestone isn't out of the ordinary. It doesn't stand out in any special way, except for the yellowed grass around it. The caretaker had been baffled at the patchy, dying vegetation. He even wondered if someone had vandalized the area with grass-killing chemicals of some sort.

Another oddity was the frequent dead squirrel or bird he'd find within this zone of yellow. It wasn't strange to periodically find small, dead animals here or there within the grounds, but he had cleaned up at least a dozen in this one area in the past two weeks. Perhaps it was time to call in an expert employed by the city to find out if the dirt had been poisoned somehow.

Such a test would prove inconclusive, though.

There is a flapping of wings as the solitary owl alights upon the headstone. It croaks it's last breath and plummets to the ground, unceremoniously dying. The grass, insects within the surrounding earth, squirrels, birds, and even a stray cat had sacrificed their meager life energies to empower the forces at work here.

The owl provides the last little scrap needed for the magic to come to fruition.

There is a low, almost imperceptible rumbling. The dirt begins to churn as something emerges from a place it has no right to. A hand pokes upward into the night, then another as a woman claws her way from her grave. Dirt-streaked and wearing her funeral attire, she climbs free from her earthy prison.

She coughs then inhales deeply, looking to her own gravestone with a morbid curiosity.

It reads: "Guinivere Tempest Gray / 1972 -- 2016 / Dearest mother, your spirit will not be forgotten. I will see you again."

Ginny huffs in amusement at the unknowingly prophetic words her daughter had chosen for her grave. She reaches up to her chest, her fingers lightly grasping the ornate brooch dangling from the end of the necklace around her neck.

She rises into the air, flying on wings of the mystical energies at her command.

"Mother's coming, my darlings," Ginny utters quietly as she vanishes up and into the darkened skies.