Haeven (44 page)

My body recoiled and my mind slipped further
away from me. I spun around and around. There was Evan, and Penny
and Merry all watching me in confusion. I saw the faint outline for
the hidden door that led down to Herrik's private elevator and
instantly knew that that was where I needed to be. I started to
walk away from them.

"What is she doing?" Evan yelled. He tried to
come after me but only took a single step before his legs gave out
and he fell to the ground.

Merry bent over and tried to help him back to
his feet but she, too, found herself stumbling to the ground and
unable to move. The door sprung open and as it did Penny collapsed
as well. The three of them lay there staring up into the night sky
while I continued to walk towards the hidden chamber. Then a figure
appeared slowly stepping up from the hidden doorway onto the grassy
plain.

"Herrik!" my heart soared.

It took me a moment to realize that he wasn't
alone. Freya moved from behind him, "Well," she breathed, "Daemon's
little rebellion has failed and his attempt to save you and those,"
she pointed, "pitiful souls as well. It's over Emily. Come. Come to
me and I'll let them live. Give me your life and I'll give you all
of theirs!"

My eyes darted back and forth between Freya
and Herrik. I glanced over my shoulder to where my brother, Penny
and Merry were laying. My mind was immediately made up. I turned
back, took a deep breath and resumed walking towards Freya and
Herrik.

When I was just a step or two away from them,
however, Artur's rich voice called out to me, "Emily! No!"

His voice seemed to be everywhere at once,
echoing across the field. Freya fretfully searched for him but
before she could locate him Artur was on her. Her efforts to defend
herself released the hold she had on Evan and the others. Merry and
Penny bound to their feet and were about to join the fray and help
Artur but Herrik seized me.

"Interfere and she dies!"

He was touching me, holding me... "Oh," I
sighed and opened my mind to him. I tried to show him how much I
loved him, how much we had been through, that I hadn't forgotten
and that I was a part of him, would always be a part of him.

He shuddered, momentarily releasing me.
"Lies! You don't love me! You never loved me! You left me! You
hated me! You think I'm a monster!"

The images flooded my mind.

Then you know how much I hate you!

Those were the very words I had used when he
told me I wouldn't be able to leave Haeven.

"No," I cried. "I didn't mean it. It wasn't
true. I...I didn't know...you..."

Don't...want...to be...like you...

Again my own words and they were echoing in
my head and I couldn't escape them. His mind kept insisting that I
was lying...that I never felt for him all that he felt for me. My
voice, my words...they were torturing him and tormenting me. I felt
all over again the horrific desperation I had felt when I first
came to Haeven and realized that I couldn't live in such a strange,
unnatural world.

"Couldn't live...shouldn't live," I thought
and my mind ignored every other thing that was going on around
me.

Artur...Freya...Merry...Penny...Evan...even
Herrik. None of it mattered any more. He didn't love me, didn't
believe that I loved him.

I turned and ran towards the boulder I had
sat on all those years ago but this time no one could prevent me
from doing what Herrik had prevented me from doing then.

It seemed like hundreds of voices cried out
to me at once then were suddenly silenced. Afterwards there was no
noise except the sound of the wind rushing past my ears as I fell
faster and faster, plummeting towards the ravine at the bottom of
the canyon. I felt no fear, just relief, relief that it would all
be over soon and I would never have to feel anything again.

I closed my eyes when I could finally make
out the ground which appeared to be looming up beneath me. A moment
later I felt the crushing impact of my body hitting the earth. The
pain didn't go away though, at least not the emotional pain. I
couldn't 
feel 
anything, there was nothing, no
sensation anywhere in my body other than the heartbreak that had
brought me to where I was laying.

There was a loud thump then the sound of the
rough foliage being crushed underfoot. I couldn't believe that I
heard it, that I was actually still alive. It seemed
impossible.

"Herrik?" I thought I called his name but it
was nothing more than a gurgle.

He was peering into my eyes, shocked into
understanding by my desperation. I thought I heard a second thud
right behind him and where he was kneeling down beside me.
 Suddenly someone grabbed Herrik's shoulder and yanked him
away.

Moments later others came, I heard them
falling and landing one after another. They stood protectively all
around me. I had no idea who was who, though. It was too dark to
see and my vision seemed to come and go in blurry pulses.

"Take her! Keep her alive! Don't...don't do
anything more!" Herrik insisted but he sounded so unsure.

I tried to raise my arm to beckon someone,
anyone to come and help me but I couldn't move and despite Herrik's
command nobody dared to touch me. It was unexpected but I instantly
realized that I didn't want to die even though I had obviously
insured that I would.

"No," Artur pushed through the small circle.
"You won't die, dear Emily. Not today."

He brushed the hair from my face and rolled
his sleeve.

"This ends now!" I heard Herrik's voice boom
across the ravine and as he said it Daemon and Avery suddenly
appeared at his side.

Artur glanced their way briefly then
whispered, "Enough," and he pulled his arm away. "Penny, you lead,
Merry follow us!"

All of a sudden it was excruciating! Artur
urged me to sitting and despite what he had given me there was no
life in my body or limbs, only pain.

"Ssh," Artur soothed. "I know it hurts, Emily
but you must hold on. Hold on for Herrik!" He laid his fingertips
on my temple and the world abruptly vanished.

We stopped more than once and each time Artur
gently roused me then urged me to take several more drops. Nothing
seemed to change for me though. My aches would dwindle but only for
a moment then return with a vengeance. If I tried to move my arms
or my legs or even to open my lips to speak it would send a
stabbing jolt of agony rippling through every fiber of my body.
Either Artur was being too cautious and not giving me enough or my
life was just too far gone.

Eventually we reached the gates that lead to
the garage. There were no guards but Artur sent Merry and Penny
ahead to make sure that the way was clear. Artur knelt down in the
shadows and softly stroked my cheek until my eyes fluttered
open.

"Try again," he coaxed me.

During the brief release it brought me I
begged him to tell me if what I feared was true.

"Am I going to die?"

I saw his eyes glistening in the dark, "Don't
give up," he kissed my forehead.

"Will you tell him...tell him..." I
coughed.

"Ssh, ssh! He knows."

"Go back. Save Herrik. Save Haeven," I
pleaded with my eyes.

"No. Not until you are safe."

Just as he said this a car smashed through
the gate at full speed. Merry jumped out of the passenger's seat
and flung the back door open, "Get in!" she commanded.

"Please," I asked again.

Artur gave me a faint nod then eased me into
the backseat. He told Merry to get in and showed her where to place
her hands to urge me from consciousness.

"You're not coming?" her voice quivered.

He shook his head.

"Where should we go?" Penny asked.

Artur clenched his jaw, "It doesn't matter,"
he choked the words out. "Make it look like an accident."

"What?!" she screamed. "No!" Penny whirled
and faced us.

I could see the understanding as it formed in
her eyes. Suddenly she knew just as surely as Artur and I that it
was too late.

"Then you need to..."

Artur shook his head, "I promised Herrik. He
would never forgive me."

"He will never forgive you if you don't!"

"You don't understand! I can't! There's
something...something's wrong...It's not helping her...I'm not
healing her...It's not healing her. Our blood...it won't...work."
He sat there silent for several seconds. He had an odd
expression.

There were anxious voices coming from behind
the broken gate.

"Merry!"

"Wyatt!" she called back.

Davit was with him and together they had
someone propped up between them, his arms over their shoulders.
They hurried their steps as they shuffled their way toward the car
and as soon as he knew for sure Artur let me know that it was
Evan.

"Put him in the front seat and strap him
in."

Wyatt held Evan up while Davit got the door.
Afterwards Davit squatted down and gathered Evan's legs by the
ankles and with Wyatt's help they tucked him into the car.

Artur squeezed my hand and kissed my forehead
again, "I'll do whatever I can to help him."

"Thank you. Thank you...for everything.
You...you've," there were so many things I wanted to tell him; how
much I loved him, that he was like a father to me, that of all the
people I had ever known I respected and admired him the most.

"I know," he started to cry. He gave me
several more drops, "Goodbye," he whispered.

"Goodbye Artur."

I saw him moving away and a moment later he
bent over Evan in the passenger's seat. We all seemed to know what
he was doing. Penny glanced back and smiled sadly, Merry stroked my
hair pausing only to say a brief farewell to Wyatt. The doors were
all closed and the car began slowly rolling down the hill. My eyes
fluttered and it seemed like all the world was washed away into a
sea of darkness where it was lost and forgotten.

I caught brief glimpses, flickers of images
from time to time but I never fully knew what happened to me or to
Evan or any of the people who helped save us.

"So many lights...why are they all flashing?"
I remember thinking at some point. And perhaps days later, "I know
this place. I've been here before."

Other times it was the rhythmic noises, slow,
soft steady beeps or some strange whooshing sound like air being
sucked in and pushed back out. Once I thought I felt Evan's hand in
mine as he sobbed into my fingertips. At one point I even imagined
that I heard my father's voice telling my mother that she needed to
accept what had happened and that it was time.

"It's been months, honey, she's not going to
come back. You need to make your peace. We need to let her go."

"Yes," I thought, "please let me go."

The rest of the time it was just the
darkness, the void, the emptiness. It seemed like an eternity
before I ever recognized anything again. There was a knock and a
woman's voice.

"I'm sorry but there is someone here asking
to see your daughter. Should I show him in?"

"Who?" my mother's voice was full of concern,
"My daughter doesn't know anyone. She...she was missing for seven
years. Did he give his name?"

"No, ma'am. But..." and she glanced over her
shoulder, "he...he seems like a very nice gentleman and..." the
woman's voice sounded thoroughly confused, "I think you should see
for yourself."

I heard their soft footfalls as they walked
away. Minutes later my mom returned and she had what I guessed was
the gentleman with her. There was a strange tapping as they drew
near and I couldn't make any sense of what it was at first.

"How do you know Emily?" she asked.

"She was a student of mine."

"Oh, so you knew her before she..." my mother
cleared her throat. "It is so nice of you to remember her," she
sighed. "I didn't realize there were any bli..." my mom checked
what she was about to say, "teachers with disabilities in her
school. I don't recall Emily, or anyone ever mentioning it."

"It is degenerative and has only recently
gotten to this point," the man said uncomfortably.

"I'm so sorry. Can I get you anything; I
would like some coffee myself," my mother nervously changed the
subject.

"That would be lovely. Thank you."

As soon as she was gone the man took my hand,
"Emily," he called, "Emily?" but his voice it wasn't out loud, it
wasn't around me, it was inside, inside my head.

"Artur!"

"Thank God!" he cried. "I'll come back. I
will find a way to...We all thought you were gone. That it was too
late!"

"Herrik?"

"Yes! Yes! Yes! He needs you, Emily. Oh,
Emily! Rest. I'll come back."

I felt his mind drifting away from mine. It
saddened me and more than anything I wanted him to stay but the
brief exchange lifted a small fraction of the veil that shrouded me
from the world beyond my shell of a body.

My father came into the room before my mother
returned and found Artur there standing over me.

“Who are you?” he asked full of surprise.

Before he could answer my mother returned and
attempted an introduction, "Oh, this is Mr...Mr..."

"Artur."

"Mr. Artur. He was a teacher of Emily's
before..."

Artur held his hand out smiling, "Your
daughter was a favorite student of mine and when I learned what
happened..." he turned towards me. "Is there any hope?"

My dad shook his head no.

"Such a tragedy. I am so sorry. I was just
telling your wife that if there is anything I can do...

"There’s nothing that can be done!" I heard a
hint of anger in my father's voice.

"My apologies," Artur’s voice softened, "and
my regrets." There was a long moment of silence and neither of my
parents made any reply. "Well, thank you for letting me see
her."