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“But you can already find me with your telepathy,” she said.

“Yes, but not always as you know. You are still young Vie and you know there have been times where none of us could communicate with you using telepathy. This pretty little thing will allow us to find you at all times.” Gabriel explained further.

“
Ahhh
, I thought you could always find me by following my voice!” Violet remembered Gabe stating that as a fun fact to annoy her.

“This is serious violet!  This is not a game! There are lives at stake, our lives, and I am not taking any chances!” Gabriel shouted.

As I watched Gabriel try to control himself, all I could think of is why? Why do I need a necklace? I don’t see one on his neck, or Raphael’s, or any of the other Guardians for that matter. They are treating me like a new recruit instead of their equal. I am a warrior just like them and this is not fair. Maybe I can’t always communicate with telepathy like they do but I have other valuable attributes that they do not have. I have a photographic memory and even the council didn’t overlook the fact that it would be a valuable asset here. Having total recall of every word, every conversation spoken.  Being able to stop and rewind at random was extremely valuable in this world and they all knew it. I am no different than the rest of Guardians, and I am going to make them see that!

“Violet?”
Gabriel tried to get her attention.

“Are you listening to me?” he asked.

“Sure Gabe, I hear you, loud and clear!” she remarked snidely.

Gabriel knew that look and that tone of hers all too well. He was smart and he knew Violet better than anyone. Right now, he knew she was upset and that meant trouble. Gabriel decided that he needed to change course and appeal to her as a friend instead of ordering her around as her leader.

“Vie, please wear this necklace so I can know you are safe.” Gabriel simply stated his fear to his friend honestly and lovingly.

“Well,” Violet said, annoyed that Gabriel was using their friendship to get what he wanted. She figured she owed him. After all, she was here on this mission because of him.

“Fine!” she said and grabbed the necklace from his hand. “I’ll wear it, but only because you asked me nicely!”

“At all times?” he said with begging eyes.

“Don’t push it, Gabe!” she replied, one eyebrow lifted and glaring at him now.

Gabriel offered to help her put it on since she was clearly struggling with the delicate clasp. He took the necklace from her and reached his hands around the front of Violet’s body. He swept her hair to the side of her shoulder and fastened the clasp. They stood in front of the mirror, staring at each other for several seconds and then Gabriel said, “You really don’t see the resemblance?”

“To whom?” she said completely clueless.

“To her…to Vivian?” he pointed to the girl reflected in the mirror.

“Stop messing with me Gabe! I said I’d wear the necklace but I can always change my mind!” she threatened.

Gabriel knew to quit while he was ahead but couldn’t understand why she did not see how much she and her vessel, Vivian, looked alike. Everyone noticed it, everyone except Violet. Violet just stood in front of the mirror looking at the necklace, tracker, she was forced to wear. Truthfully, she thought it was the most magnificent thing she had ever seen. She loved it but she was not going to admit that to Gabriel and the others. Its beauty was not the problem; the problem was with the Guardians not believing in her and that made Violet very unhappy. Worse than that was that her friend didn’t have faith in her and that was even more troubling for Violet.

Violet decided to speak to Gabe and let him know why she was really opposed to wearing the necklace. But before she could utter a word, she heard a “Click”, the room went dark and he was gone. She turned back to the mirror to look at the pendant around her neck shining vibrantly in the moonlight now stretched across her floor. “You will always be with me Gabriel, even without your pendant,” she said silently to herself.

Violet returned to her bed pulling the covers over her body. She knew she needed to rest. She could feel the fatigue of the vessel but was afraid to close her eyes and lose herself in the darkness of sleep. “Just relax your body,” she thought to herself. She grabbed the
IPod
sitting on the night table to help her to do just that. She scrolled through the playlist, coming across a song that spoke to her. The screen read, “Bring Me to Life”.   Violet closed her eyes and hit play.

She was captivated by the words and found herself drifting slowly away into the darkness. Sleep was coming and she couldn’t fight it any longer.  Deeper and deeper she fell into the black gloom, carrying the lyrics of the song with her in her head.

“How can you see into my eyes; like open doors?”

“Leading you down into my core where I’ve become so numb”

“Without a soul, my spirit sleeping, somewhere cold.”

“Until you find it there and lead it back to home.”

The voice of Evanescence traveled with her into the blackness.

Violet was standing on the edge of a cliff as tall as the sky looking down into the deep blue water below her. “How did I get here?” she wondered, hearing the sound of the waves crashing against the base of the cliff with the lyrics of
Evanescence
still echoing in her head. “Gabriel,” she called out to her friend. “Are you here?” She waited for him to show himself. The darkness had followed her here to this place and began to slowly cover the bright sky like a shadowy blanket. Violet felt the push of the wind sending her closer to the edge of the cliff as she tried to keep her balance. Then the wind stopped. It stood calm and still for just a brief moment.  Violet could breathe.

Suddenly, a vibration began to erupt below her bare feet planted firmly on the ledge. Pebbles started to break off and drop to the roaring waters below. The pebbles turned to rocks and then a monstrous boulder tumbled like thunder, shattering into pieces as it hit the ground. Violet began to panic.  She tried to run but she couldn’t move. It was like her feet were cemented to the edge of the cliff. All at once, the cliff began to move downward, fast like the speed of a train plowing down the tracks. Violet was falling fast and the song still played in her head. She didn’t know what was happening. All she knew was she couldn’t make it stop. Just before she was going to hit the bottom, she saw a face, his face, Carter Stone. He reached out his hand and Violet tried to grab it, but she couldn’t reach him. He was right there, so close, she could almost touch the tips of his fingers, but her feet still glued in place wouldn’t allow her arm to stretch far enough to reach him.

“Vie,” he called to her. “Take my hand.”

She kept trying, stretching, reaching out and then…CRASH!

Violet hit the floor hard in her hospital room with her eyes wide open in shock. She stood up immediately and looked quickly around the room in her defense stance ready to combat the enemy. There was nothing there with her, only the darkness in the room and the song that continued to play. “Wake me up, I can’t wake up.” She pulled the earphones from her ears, shaken and confused. She turned on the light and checked her body for injuries.

“I must have been dreaming. But it was so real; he was so real,” she said out loud. Violet was clearly trying to figure out what it all meant. This sleep thing is definitely overrated and offers no kind of rest at all. “Did I teleport?” she wondered. Guardians have the ability to teleport themselves to different places here on earth, but Violet did not possess that ability thus far. Gabriel told her that it was because she was still young and had not fully matured, but assured her it would happen. “That must be it,” she thought. I must be able to teleport. I am almost fully matured so that would make sense. She decided to test her theory and tried to teleport herself into the hallway, but nothing happened. She tried again but still nothing. Violet was depressed she
couldn’t teleport because that meant it was a dream, a nightmare.  One she was not going to revisit again anytime soon. Sleep would just have to wait.

Still bothered by her dream, she walked over to the window and looked up to the moon that had cast a beautiful silhouette in the room. The sky was perfectly clear and Violet just breathed a sigh of relief as she gazed at the millions of stars twinkling in the night sky. “Perfection,” she thought, smiling at the glimmering clusters, “Pure and utter perfection.  Now that’s not so frightening!”

Chapter 6

At First Sight

It was the longest day ever. Summer was almost over and I had spent the better part of it in the hospital, at weekly visits with my therapist, and acclimating to my new home with Henry in Newcastle. School was starting tomorrow and I was feeling a little anxious, yet excited to finally be getting this mission underway. Things at home were going fine, with the exception of the hundreds of people stopping by to see how the reverends daughter was coming along.  Almost everyone in the town knew Vivian and all that she and Henry had been through in the past year.  The townspeople were all warm and friendly. They had a huge banner hanging in the front yard saying “Welcome Home Vivian” the day I came home from the hospital. I really did not enjoy the attention or playing the injured girl role, it made me feel weak.  There was no getting around it though, not here, not in this small town.

Newcastle is called the “Western Gateway to the Black Hills.” It is a small community laying on the edge of the two geographical worlds- the prairie grasses of the high plains and the mountains and valleys of the Black Hills. The scenery is really quite spectacular. The short grass prairie of the high plains stretches all the way out to the Big Horn Mountains that landscape the town like a picture in a book. The view of the snow-capped peaks against the sky line is simply breathtaking.

This small town, with a population of 3300, boasts many amenities of a larger town. It has two grocery stores, two banks, a
Pamida
(which is like a
Walmart
), eleven restaurants, nine hotels, six bars, a hospital, and of course a newspaper. Main Street is Newcastle’s “down town” area that has other unique shops like book stores, antiques, gift shops, etc.  But if you blink while driving down Main Street, you will miss them. It is a nice, quiet, small town and that was driving Violet crazy.

Violet hadn’t really been anywhere in town since she came home from the hospital other than the grocery store with Henry, her therapist’s office, and church of course. Today was Sunday, and Violet loved hearing Henry deliver his sermons to the people of Newcastle. Henry found his calling for sure. He didn’t just
speak,
he inspired the people in his congregation.  But what she loved most about church was singing in the choir. Violet inquired about joining and Henry was a bit surprised by her newly found interest in the choir. His daughter painted beautiful pictures. She was a truly gifted artist but Henry knew she could not carry a tune to save her life. Henry figured the choir would be fine since all of the other members could mask her voice deficiency and quite frankly, he was just happy she was participating in anything extracurricular since leaving the hospital. Today was the first time she would be singing in front of anyone, including her father.

The sermon concluded and Henry announced that the choir would be presenting a special treat for them today. Henry himself did not know what he was about to hear; only that it was a thank you to him for servicing the congregation. The choir entered wearing lily white robes with gold
lapels. Henry just looked at his daughter in the center row and gave her a wink of approval. The piano and harp began to play a lovely whimsical melody and then the choir began to softly hum along. Then Henry watched as his daughter stepped down from her place in line and stood in front of the others as if she were going to sing a solo. Henry was surprised by this since his daughter was not the greatest singer, nor did she feel comfortable being center stage. She put her hand to the microphone and smiled at Henry and then she sang her first note of a song called “The Prayer” by Charlotte Church.

“I pray you’ll be our eyes, and watch us where we go.”

“And help us to be wise; in times when we don’t know.”

“Let this be our prayer; as we go our way.”

“Lead us to a place; guide us with your grace”

“To a place where we’ll be safe…………………………….”

Henry, along with the rest of the congregation, sat transcended by her voice. It was the most beautiful sound any of them had ever heard.  Her uniquely clear, pure tone inflects to adapt to her wholly angelic timbre. Her voice was perfectly polished with skill, force, and of course grace as she majestically soared through the vocals, allowing her depth and power to build and develop. It was mind-bendingly beautiful and clearly the only two things Henry noticed missing from Vivian were her wings and a halo. Henry knew this was the voice of an angel.  He just couldn’t fathom where that voice came from. Outside, Carter Stone was passing by. He heard Violet singing and was captivated by every note. Carter wanted to enter the church but couldn’t. He had not been inside a church since he was a little boy. No one knew why but Carter had a terrible phobia of churches called
Ecclesiophobia
and could not bring himself to even open the doors. He felt a pull that was strong
er than anything he had ever felt before. The voice beckoned to him, almost calling his name and inviting him to enter the beautiful stained glass doors of the church. Violet’s brilliant tone produced a complete harmonic spectrum of vibrantly beautiful and desirable sounds.  Carter felt chills running down his entire body and he wanted very much to know who or what was
attached to the amazing voice.