Escaped the Night (35 page)

Jayce had woken up from his sleep when I yell
ed out
.
He
connected to me and
saw
what was happening when I
said those w
ords. He squeezed his eyes shut placing
himself into a tra
nce-
like state. A moment later
,
he
gently entered my dream.

I saw Jayce out of the corner of my eye.
He started to dim as e
verything around me
went
dark.
A
new kind of
peacefulness
took over. Was this what death felt
like
?
It wasn’t so bad. The darkness liked me. It wanted me. Daray had
almost
drained
my blood
. It was just about over.

Jayce walked over to
us
and grabbed
my
hand.
His touch
warmed my col
d burning skin. I felt so weak and couldn’t manage to pull myself away.
Luckily
, he
was strong enough t
o break the hold Daray had
.
I fell into Jayce’s arms and h
e carried
me awa
y.
Daray
shouted and hissed as Jayce led me
down the beach away from him. He never
followed
,
which surprised me, nor did he put
up the fight
I’d expected.

Jayce spoke calmly
as he continued luring me away
. “You’re okay
,
Shanntal. Everything’
s going to be all rig
ht. You are going to wake up
.”
With a gentle nudge,
I opened my eyes.

I
gas
ped out, choking for breath, feeling
like I’d
just awoken from the dead. My s
kin felt
cold and my neck hurt
badly. I
t
was
as though everything I’
d dreamt
had
really happened. I
jumped
out of bed and
ran into the
washroom
in Jayce’s bed
room. I flicked on the light
,
only to
freak
out when I saw my reflection in the mirror
. There was no way. No
way! My neck had two red marks,
like I’d really been bitten
.

I
raced back into the bedroom.
“Wh
at’s this?” I lifted my hair to show him my neck. “How’
s this even possible? How did you know and how did you save me?”

“
I
connected. Daray is
getting more powerful and h
e wants you
.
I don’t think he’s going to stop until he succeeds
. Don’t worry, t
his is his method
now because h
e knows he can’t get closer
due to
all
your protection.”
He grabbed onto my arm
and pulled me back into bed. “It’s only dreams, he can’t really h
arm you. This is the worst he can
do
,
and
trust me
,
I
’ll always come for you. I will
save you.”

“Promise?”

“
I
p
romise.” H
e kissed
my neck.
His warmth
soothed the
cool sting of the
bite mark.

Jayce fell back asleep
,
but I couldn’t. I really missed
Garrison
. I thought he would come walking thro
ugh the door to let me know
he was okay
. Let me know
it was all
a
horrible
hoax.
I lay there in bed
,
with Ja
yce’s arms
wrapped
around me
. I waited and waited
,
but
Garrison
never came. He was
gone and once again I
felt my heart break into pieces.

The night dragged on and I tossed and turned
for
the rest of it. I found myself envious of Jayce as he slept peacefully beside me. I
f
elt
afraid
to sleep. What if Daray was in my dreams again? What if Jayce didn’t get to me
i
n time?
Why did I
have to
lose everyone that matter
ed
to me?
I shuddered.
How many more lives was
mine going to cost? That was it.
I c
ouldn’t stay in bed any longer
. I
got
up
,
looked
back
at Jayce as he lay motionless
,
and
I let out
a
sigh before heading
downstairs.

Kaleb and Kael were
sitting on the couch,
keeping watch by the big window. Kaleb
was on edge and I startled him
by coming
int
o the room. “Shanntal, w
ow, didn’t expect to see you up so early.
”

“Couldn’t
sleep.”
I looked out the window
, just in time to see
the sun
break
over the horizon. The sky was
so beautiful,
full of pinks, pur
ples
and oranges. One world
entering as anothe
r was leaving and I was
caught in the middle of the two. Light made me feel happy
,
but cau
sed me pain. The dark comforted,
but scared me at the same time.

Kael let out a stretch followed by a
loud yawn. “Well Kaleb, seems how you
’ve
got
company, I’m
gonna head off. Catch some zzz
s while I can
.
”

“Sure man,
”
Kaleb said, watching Kael get to his feet. “Catch you
later.”

I gave Kael a little wave. I
was glad he was heading to bed. I
wasn’t in the best
of mood
s
and didn’t feel like
talking to
him
. I curled up on the couch next to Kaleb and rested my head against his arm.
“
I really miss him
,
Kaleb.
Do you think
he
went to the stars?”

“He’s in a better place. There’
s no doubt in my mind
.” He stared out the
window
.

We sat there for about an hour
, just the two of us
.
We watched
the shadows retreat as the light crawled over every
thing.

Kaleb broke
our silence. “Did he come to you last night?”

I was confused by his question. “Did who come to me?”

“
Garrison
,” h
e
said.
“I heard when
immortals don’t go to the stars they
come back for a last visit. A final say
,
so to speak. He never came to me so I was wondering if
perhaps
you
saw him
.”

“Oh.
” Now my dream made a bit more sense. “Yes, he did visit me last
night. I dreamt of him.”

“What
did he show you?” His eyes
were
so intense,
as if
they were
searching
through my soul to find the answers he longed for.

“He showed me the fight with
Lakylee
. She was so strong; t
hey’
d under-estimated h
er strength. Kael fought with her and
she threw him back as if tossing around a football.
Garrison
was
busy
helping Meriel get
back
o
n
her feet. They were making their
getaway
when
Lakylee
came
from behind
and
savag
ely clawed
Garrison
’s throat. She was consumed with rage and he d
idn’t even know she was coming.”

Kaleb didn’t break his stare. “And?”

“And,
then
suddenly
we were
talking
on the beach.
He looked good and
seemed happy. He
thanked me
for making his life so fulfilling. He told me
he’d
be forever in my debt.
Kaleb, I don’t unde
rstand. What did he mean
?”

“
It’s simple, actually. Y
ou don’t understand how special you
truly are. You’
ll see in time, but h
e
’s right, you know, h
e is in your debt. We all are.” He turned
his head
away
and looked
back out the window.

I never bothered to argue.
Garrison
’s words
ran ov
er and over in my head. I
felt like everyone was speaking riddles to me.
Even
Kal
eb was now. I sat pondering
the meaning of their words
, trying to interpret what they meant
.

Makan came out of the room where Meriel was. From the look of him, it was easy to
tell he’d been with her all night. He looked very tired.

“How’s Meriel?” I asked as he passed by
.

“She’s improvi
ng.
It’s been a
rough night, but
I think she’s through the worst of it now. She’s up if you want to go in and see her.” He motioned his head towards the room.

“Sure.
” I got up and headed to the doorway
. I spun around to see if Kaleb wanted to come and should’ve known better because
he was on my tail, shadowing my every move.
The bond between Kaleb and I
had grown
even stronger with the loss of
Garrison
.

We walked into the room.
Merie
l lay
in the same place she’
d been the last time we saw her. Her wounds were heal
ing at a rapid rate
, they all looked better.
This made me
both happy and mad. I was happy she was going to be okay, but mad
that
the same fate hadn’t come to
Garrison
.

Meriel looked over in our direction and smiled.
From her
weak
smile, we knew
she was still in a lot of pain.
I held onto Kaleb’s hand for support
as we moved
in
closer. It was difficult seeing her in this state.
“How are you feeling?” I asked
,
even though the answer
was
obvious.

“I’m getting better. It’s coming along.” She eyed
us both before contin
u
ing
. “I wanted to tell you both
how
truly sorry
I am
for what happened to
Garrison
. I
feel responsible and I’m honestly
sorry.” Tears
swelled in her eyes
.

Kaleb let go of my hand and placed it on M
eriel’s
. “
Garrison
was doing what he knew to do. He was protecting you. He did what he needed to
do in order to keep you safe.
The
world can survive without him, it can’t without you.”

In
that moment,
I understood the true meaning of his words as he said them.
Garrison
truly was a hero. He’d saved more than Meriel; he’d
saved us all.
Everyone
needed water
in order
to survive. Without
her, I couldn’t imagine what would’
ve happened to any of us.
My emotions and mood
changed in that instant. All
of
my grief and sorrow was replaced by pure pride. I was
so proud of
Garrison
and what he did. He saved us all. We were forever
in his debt.

Kaleb and I sat visiting
for a while.
We watched as
she
improved with each
passing hour.
She smiled as
I turned to see
Ja
yce standing
in the doorway
smiling back
at me
. The mere sight of him took my breath away.
When h
e smiled
,
my
heart beat faster and
my
knees
weak
en
ed
. It was a g
ood thing I was sitting down, or
I
would’ve fallen over
.

He walked towards Meriel, stood beside her bed and looked down as he examined her.
“Meriel. Looking better
,
I see. That was a close one, don’t you think?” He rubbed h
er arm softly as he spoke
.

“Yes, I’m beginning to feel
much
better. I’m very sorry
,
Jayce. I didn’t mean for
any of this to happen.” She looked
at him with pleading eyes.

“Rest Meriel. Just rest.” He tur
ned his attention to Kaleb and me
. “Ready for breakfast?”

Kaleb
immediately jumped to his feet
. “I’m starved,” h
e s
aid
,
patting his stomach
.

I fol
lowed the boys
into t
he kitchen
,
which
was
r
ather crowded by
e
very
one
sitting around
.
Looking at
their
faces
, I felt
grateful
having
such wonderful people in my life. I didn
’t say much during breakfast, instead I
sat
back enjoying
how they moved and
interacted with each other. It
was similar to a large family; no one was in the way because
everyone simply maneuvered around one another
with grace.

Jayce waited until
I
finished eating
. T
hen
,
he led me outside so we
could have a moment
alone.
I found the
fluffy
clouds
inviting
and I co
uldn’t fight my urge to lie
i
n the grass and look at them. We took shelter under a
large birch tree in the ya
rd on
a patch of grass c
overed
with
shadow
s cast
by
the
leaves
above
.
I knew I c
ould lie there
a
while
wit
hout getting sunburned
.
Jayce sat down beside me. A light breeze blew
, sending
the
fragrance
of nature all a
round us
.
M
y hand
prickled
as I brushed it
over the spikes
of
grass blades.
I looked
at Jayce
,
who
was staring
at me
. I sat up
right
, noticing
that
something didn’t
seem right
in his eyes. “Is everything okay?”