Rogue Wave (The Water Keepers, Book 2) (44 page)

Rayne closed his eyes with a deep breath. “Thank you, I’ll owe you for the rest of my life.”

Rayne hurried as he followed his old friend to the computer at the front of the facility.

“Have you ever worked up here before?” Honeycutt asked.

“Yes, a couple of times. But it was over ten years ago.”

“That’s okay,” Honeycutt said. “They keep all the old clearance records on file. It’ll be a piece of cake. All I have to do is hack in and change the dates in the system to reactivate your clearance.”

“How long will it take you?” Rayne asked, concerned.

Honeycutt grinned. “Please…ninety seconds tops.”

Rayne smiled. “You were always good with computers.”

The lock buzzed open on the door leading to the hallway, and Honeycutt pushed Rayne towards it. “Just go. I’ll take care of it. By the time you reach the fingerprint scanner, everything will be taken care of.”

“Thanks,” Rayne said again as he hurried away. Then he glanced back. “Oh, by the way, there’s a guy tied up in the bushes down by the gate you might want to check on.”

Without another moment of hesitation, Rayne ran down the hall, feeling overcome and exhausted, like he’d just been through the middle of a war, and he had one final battle before it all came to an end.

His heartbeat plunged out of his chest as he struggled to push his hand into the scanner to read his fingerprints, praying that an alarm wouldn’t blare in his ears when he walked through that final door.

But there was no alarm as he stepped forward, the air so quiet that his own shallow breaths echoed in his ears. He was there. Now all that stood between Sadie and the Healing Water was a short, outdoor path covered in sparkling granules of sand.

Rayne’s legs wouldn’t stop, couldn’t stop. He ran through the colorful flowers and up the hill with every last shred of strength he had left, until finally, the towering wall of Banyan trees came into view. They were like nature’s guardians, calling him onward to finish the fight—the fight for Sadie.

He tore through the opening in the wall of trees and felt the mist from the pool floating up around him, the peaceful calm that couldn’t be felt anywhere else in this world or any other world he’d seen.

And then he fell to his knees.

With the last ounce of strength within him, Rayne laid Sadie’s body down one last time, placing her head gently in his lap at the shallow edge of the pool until the Healing Water immersed all around her.

There was nothing left Rayne could do but wait and believe. He stroked the delicate strands of Sadie’s hair down the side of her cheek, closing his eyes to dream of the life they could build together if only she would wake.

As he studied the graceful lines in her face, the words to an old familiar song played through his mind, the lullaby his mother used to sing to him as a child. Maybe it was the effect of the Healing Water filling his soul with peace, or just his own crushing desire to push away the pain, but he let the melody whisper across his lips, soothing his mind into oblivion, ready to bring his love, his sweet Sadie, home to sleep.

34. THE LIGHT

I tried to hold onto something in my mind to keep reality from slipping away. My mother’s face was too painful, her future and her safety uncertain to me. No, it had to be Rayne; he was more clear, more certain. His image hovered in and out of reach, floated through my consciousness, drifted away and then back again.

I wasn’t sure about anything, and yet I was sure he was near me.

He stayed with me, fought for me, called me to him with his heart, but it took too long. The time ceased to give comfort, and release wouldn’t come. I felt myself fading. I wasn’t sure I could hold on. I didn’t even feel sure I was meant to continue or even wanted to anymore. It was all too hard, and I was so tired…so very tired. Relief seemed just a thought away. If only I could rest, the hurt and the pain could be lifted, like a sweet melody to my soul, everything swaying together in harmony.

I could see it before me, the light in the distance, the harmony that would bring the peace I was longing for.

My heart ached to be there. I reached toward it, let the brightness pull me in like blankets of sunshine on a chilled winter’s day, but something stopped me before I could arrive. From somewhere in the distance, a voice whispered to my mind.
Sadie…do not give up. They need you. They need you to go back.

At first I didn’t want to listen to the voice. I could feel the peaceful light so close within my reach, and I wasn’t ready to let it go. Going back would be too hard, too full of challenges and heartache. I wanted to rest, to let the brightness lift my burdens away. But the voice came to me again, filling me with strength, resonating through the depths of my soul in a way that couldn’t be denied.

Sadie…there’s no need to fear. Help will always come when you need it, as long as you believe. Challenges will come, but you are strong. You have a promise that will never fail…as long as you hold onto hope, you will never be alone.

Now it is time. You must go back. Your future is more than your own. It is the future of this world. You must go back and prepare the way. You have a purpose; a purpose and a destiny.

I felt the truth spread from my chest to my limbs, sending comfort and courage through every fiber of my being. I knew it wouldn’t be easy, nothing truly worthwhile ever was, but I had to go back. As soon as I made the choice, and the resolve was determined inside me, the light in the distance disappeared.

My eyes fluttered open, but I couldn’t remember where I’d been. I blinked slowly, trying to make sense of the unfamiliar scene around me. What happened? Where was I? A strange, iridescent substance swirled around me where I lay on my back, caressing my body all around like a tingly embrace.

As soon as I lifted my head to move, I realized I wasn’t alone.

Rayne’s elated voice cried out, “Sadie!” as he pulled me into his arms, moistening my cheek with his tears, holding me like he would never let go. “I knew I couldn’t lose you,” he laughed with tearful joy. “I knew you’d come back to me.”

“What happened?” I asked.

“It doesn’t matter anymore. All that matters is that you’re okay. You’re okay.”

I tried to look over his shoulder at my surroundings, still disoriented. The sky was growing dim, but I could swear it almost looked…purple. And I could see plants and flowers around me, but they seemed different than I was used to, like they were on the verge of glowing in the dark.

“Where are we?” I asked. “This doesn’t feel real.”

Rayne looked at me with anticipation, an air of excitement in his eyes. “It’s real, Sadie. I never thought you would get to see this, that I would ever get to share this part of me with you, but we’re here. Sadie, this is the source of the Healing Water…the Sacred Pool of Banya.”

I felt the breath catch in my throat. If this was the source of the Healing Water…then that meant…I was
in
Banya, near Rayne’s home, near my father’s home. This place was…Ambrosia. Suddenly, words wouldn’t come as an overwhelming sense of awe took over. I moved slowly to my feet, my eyes exploring every inch of the world around me.

There were no words to describe it. It was like I had lived my entire life in black and white, and I was experiencing color for the very first time. The flowers were more perfect and vivid than anything I had ever seen; fuchsia and violet, aqua and lime green. The light danced off a waterfall which billowed down from the hilltop in a rainbow of iridescent streams, down into a pool more peaceful and serene than a songbird drifting across the sunset.

And the lights… everything was emanating with strange, breathtaking light, natural light that glowed through everything around me like the glistening warmth of Rayne’s eyes. Even the towering trees surrounding the pool, with a maze of tangled trunks interlocking together, had a shimmery glow.

The light was in everything, every leaf, every petal, every blade of grass. It could only be described as glorious. So glorious, I could hardly take it in.

As I twirled around one more time, trying to grasp this new, unimaginable reality, I felt something catch below my foot. I bent down, reaching my hand below the surface of the pool and found an object with a smooth, hard surface, much different from that of the pool, which felt more like a bowl full of clouds kissing my skin.

I grasped the solid object between my fingers and lifted it to my eyes, making them instantly go wide. It was a Water Briolette, a beautiful crystal just like the one Rayne had given to me to wear on a chain around my neck. It had a lovely tear shape just like the other, but this one was different. This one was so large that the surface covered more than half my hand. I didn’t even have to squint through the facets to see the Healing Water trapped inside the center of the crystal.

As I gaped at the magnificent stone in my hand, I couldn’t help but notice the Watermark on my wrist, how incredibly luminous it was, the ice blue surface glowing more clear and bright than ever before.

I could feel the strength building inside me. My body was strong and alive with energy, like I could run for days and never grow tired, take on the greatest challenges and never give up. It was a feeling I hoped would stay with me forever.

I wrapped my hand around the stone in my palm and pulled it close to my chest, gazing out at the violet sky in awe. Rayne slid his arms around me from behind, letting me lean against his warmth for support, reminding me that his love would never leave my side.

I couldn’t contain the single tear that streamed down my cheek as something changed within my soul. I wasn’t sure what it was, but I felt a new surge of clarity. Without a question in my heart, I knew my life had a purpose, a purpose worth fighting for. And I knew beyond anything I had ever known before, that I possessed the courage within me to move forward without running away.