Emiran picked up the card thoughtfully after Tariah finally left. She still didn’t take much stock in conspiracy theories. But Traevin had grey eyes. That couldn’t be a coincidence. Since Tariah was almost 15 years her senior, she supposed she could be telling the truth. A family of powerful witches wasn’t out of the realm of possibility for her though, given her own abilities. She decided she had to follow the card though if she were going to find Traevin, and find the answers she wanted.
She went to her room and collected the ring from the jewelry box. She kept it carefully wrapped and slipped it in her pocket. Something told her she was going to need it if she wanted to find the Esmiri clan. After a twenty minute drive Emiran found herself in front of the building she was looking for. She sat in her car for a few minutes before she finally managed to gather up the nerve to go inside.
She found it unlikely that after all this time she would find Lenora here, but she seemed like the person to ask for first given Tariah’s story. If grey eyes were truly a marker of the Esmiri clan, then she should know where to find Traevin. As she approached the door, a child stopped her and said “Are you here for lodging? My mom can help you with that.” She smiled at the girl and said, “No. Thank you though. But perhaps your mom could help me with something else.”
The little girl led her inside and up a flight of stairs to the third floor. This building had to have at least 15 floors, and she wondered why there wasn’t a front desk on the first floor if this building were all lodging for the transient families in the sector. At the end of the hallway, the girl led her into a room and called out to her mom. Emiran thanked her kindly and smiling handed her a dollar. The little girls eyes lit up and she said “Wow a dollar! Thank you. This is a lot of money to me!”
Emiran nodded at her and said, “Thank you for your assistance. Now could I talk to your mom alone please?” She nodded enthusiastically “Sure, anything for this big a tip! My name is Meru. You know where to find me if you need anything else!” A tall woman with bright green eyes came into the room, and Emiran was startled by how different she looked from most people she’d encountered. She could count on one hand the number of people she’d seen with green eyes in her lifetime.
It was her hair that struck her most though. It was long enough to almost touch the floor, even in the braid she had it in. And it was platinum blonde, so bright that the lights of the room made it almost glow. The woman studied her intently, and after too long had passed without Emiran saying anything she said brusquely “Is there something I can help you with?” Emiran snapped herself out of her daze.
“I was wondering if you might be able to help me find someone. Her name is Lenora.” She said. As soon as the name was out of her mouth the woman’s face darkened, and she stepped closer to her. Uncomfortably close for her taste. “What do you want with her? Assuming I’m willing to help you find her.” She said, and then grabbed Emiran’s hand before she could step back. Her grip was so tight that Emiran couldn’t pull her hand away.
Her eyes stayed locked on Emiran’s, and after so long that she was sure her hand would break, the woman finally let her go. Before Emiran could say anything, she put a finger on her lips. “I know what you want”, she said. “And how do you know that? Emiran asked. The woman looked at her sideways for a minute then said “Because I’m a telepath. It’s a family gift.” Emiran shook her head, not entirely certain where to go next.
The woman continued “You are the child of light. I have been waiting for you for a long time, 20 years thereabouts. I have a gift for you. It’s the first step in your journey, or should have been at least.” Emiran was filled with questions now. “What is a child of a light? Why should you have been the first step in my journey? What gift do you have for me?” The woman held up a hand to stop her.
“Slow down just a minute” she said, “One question at a time. Give me time to answer one before you throw ten more at me.” She grabbed Emiran’s hand, this time clasping with both hands firmly. A warm feeling passed over her and she closed her eyes quickly. “My name is Cherity. I’m the current leader of the Family of Raven. Our family gift is telepathy. It’s the gift I have for you.” The woman was smiling now.
“Your family gift is psychic visions and dreams. But you’ll need a gift from every ancient bloodline before you reach the end of your journey.” Now she grabbed Emiran’s head and continued “This will hurt for a minute, but I need to give you the mark of our clan. So that you’re able to channel our powers” A sharp pain pierced the back of her neck. Emiran winced and held her breath. When the woman released her grip, Emiran’s head was swimming. She was getting hit with an overload of information now.
“What’s happening to me?” she cried, grabbing her head herself now. Cherity grabbed her shoulders and shook her “Calm down. It’s your brain learning to filter out the unimportant voices. It will stop in a minute” When the cacophony of noise stopped finally, Emiran sat quickly before she said “You know, if you wanted to kill me, I can think of far quicker and easier ways.” Cherity laughed and waving her hand said “Dear child, what a silly notion, I don’t want you dead. I promise that isn’t what I was trying to do to you. You’re safe with me.”
Then she grabbed Emiran’s bandaged arm and furrowed her brows “Besides which, you’ve already been touched by death.” She said “I don’t think I’m the one you should be worrying about.” Emiran held up a hand and said “Ok, what is a child of light? And what do you mean I’ve been touched by death?” Cherity pulled the gauze off her arm and pointed at the wound. “That’s being touched by death. Those black streaks will never go away. You may as well think of it as the marker of the Esmiri clan” she walked across the room and grabbed a jar of something from the desk that sat in the corner.
She returned to Emiran’s side, her fingers already deep in the jar and continued “Here this will help you heal the necrotizing infection. But there’s nothing I can do beyond that.” She spread the thick cream over Emiran’s arm and handed her the jar. “I can’t keep this” Emiran said “I have nothing to give you in return.” The woman shook her head saying “I don’t need an exchange. Consider it a personal gift from me. Besides I expect you’ll need it more than once before you reach where you’re going.”
Emiran paused and considered the information she had, finally shaking her head. “So the old rumors are true then? People with grey eyes can kill you simply by looking at you?” Cherity snorted and her eyes rolled hard. “No. That’s absurd, of course not. That’s just what COLO led humanity to believe, trying to kill off all our families. They can kill you with a touch though. I expect the reason you’ve got only a touch of death is because that’s the way Traevin wanted it.”
She disappeared into the room she’d come from, and Emiran waited impatiently for what seemed several minutes before she finally came back. “So you know who Traevin is. Well then good, perhaps you can save me the run around and just show me where I can find him. Leave Lenora out of it entirely” Cherity looked at her with a dubious expression. “I won’t do that. No witch goes into another family’s territory. If separate families need to meet with each other, there are neutral locations for that.”
“Wait” she said “If no witch goes into another’s territory then how am I supposed to get through? And since you seem to know more about me than I do, who is my family?” Cherity put a finger on her lips. “I can’t tell you everything you want to know. I’m sure if you do your research you can discover your family name on your own.” She said, “As far as your other question, you’ll be able to get through because you are the child of light. That’s why you’ll need a marker from every powerful family. It will open the doors for you.”
Emiran rolled her eyes when she looked down, not really wanting to offend Cherity, but irritated at the cryptic clues. “Well if you won’t take me into someone else’s territory then how am I supposed to find Lenora or Traevin? And if Lenora shouldn’t have been here then why was she?” she said. With that Cherity pulled another card from her pocket. This one was purple. But it had the same black cat design on the front of it. “Take this. It will show you where to go next. As for your question of Lenora, you can ask her yourself when you find her.”
She handed Emiran new gauze for her arm saying “I would wrap that back up before you leave. I really can’t help you further. You have to find your answers for yourself.” She showed her into a small bathroom and waited for her to do as she asked. Emiran slid the new card in her pocket, and quickly wrapped the vicious gash back up. It still looked pretty bad, but it felt a lot better already. She looked at the jar the woman had given her, curious about what it contained. She would have to find out on her own though. Cherity didn’t seem to be willing to answer any more questions.
When she came out of the bathroom she tried again to give the jar back, but Cherity shook her head stiffly. “I won’t take that. I want you to have it. Perhaps it will save you again. You’re too important to all of us to risk you dying before you finish your journey.” She walked Emiran over to the door but before she opened it, she turned around and pulled her incredibly long hair to the side. “This is the mark of our family. Yours will be in the same place. So if someone asks you about it you know.”
This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.
On the back of her neck was a dark orange circle, surrounded by a dark orange semi-circle pointing upwards. The ends of the semi-circle looked like flames jumping up towards her head. In fact the whole thing kind of reminded her of a fireball. Emiran instinctively grabbed the back of her neck. How was she supposed to cover this up? She suspected if this woman was telling her the truth about COLO, which was becoming increasingly more likely, that her employers might be more than a little curious about it.
She decided to just cover it up at home with more gauze. If she ever got home that was. She thanked Cherity again and left without asking anymore questions. Since the hallway was empty, Emiran decided to look at the new card here. The less curious eyeballs looking at her the better. Pulling it out of her pocket, she found the back had another small paragraph followed by another address. This address was much further away in Sector 8. It would take her days to get that far away from the city center. The paragraph read “In the darkest night, shines the light. A darkness within will show the way.”
She stopped short. The end of the paragraph caught her off guard. Those were the few words she’d managed to catch from the alternate version of herself. Right before Traevin had shown up. She suspected now that this particular vision was being induced by Traevin. Quickly returning the card to her pocket, along with the jar of salve, Emiran sped down the three flights of stairs as quickly as possible. As she ran out the door she ran headlong into the little girl who’d shown her in.
“Oh! Excuse me Meru. I’m sorry; I wasn’t watching where I was going.” Emiran said, helping her up. Meru was still smiling at her though and said “It’s ok, you’re part of the family now, consider it forgotten.” Emiran tried to give her another 50 cents for the trouble but the little girl refused. Emiran walked slowly across the street to get out of sight of the people that were milling about. It sounded like every one of them was screaming at her, but screaming things that they probably didn’t want people to know. She really couldn’t pinpoint any one voice.
It was making her head want to explode. What the hell kind of gift was this? Hearing everybody’s secrets and constant inane chatter seemed like more of a curse to her. She ducked into one of the alleyways behind the buildings on the opposite side of the street. Leaning against the wall, Emiran grabbed her pounding head and leaned over, breathing deeply through her gritted teeth. She covered her ears in a vain attempt to cover the lessening, but still loud, chatter of the people around her. How could you ever live in a crowded city with this?
She considered returning home, but something in her brain said it would be even louder there. It would seem that returning home wasn’t an option, at least until she figured out how to block out the noise. She had no choice but to follow the next card and get out away from the crowded city center. Back in her car and driving away from people, the noise definitely calmed down. It was easier to pick out individual voices that came along as she drove. Emiran gave a sigh of relief, happy to be able to hear her own thoughts now.
She wondered if the mark Cherity had given her were acting as kind of a transmitter, and a way to pick up the thoughts of others. After all it was at the base of her skull, and was the mark given to a family of telepaths. Something told her just covering it with gauze wasn’t going to quiet it down. By time she got out into the outskirts of the city center, in sector 14, the sun was going down. The intruding of the thoughts around her lessened enough for Emiran to be able to ignore most of them. Even the ones she successfully managed to ignore kind of pinged in her brain. Almost like someone was flicking her brainstem with each thought they were putting out. But that was easier to tolerate than the screaming.
The country was laid out in a pattern. There were 4 major cities laid out across the country that all converged in the middle to form the crowded city center where COLO sat. COLO was so massive that it took two sectors of the city center. Sector 17 and 18 sat across the middle of the country, and consisted of nothing but COLO’s administrative offices. Each city was broken up into its own 16 sectors, divided into quadrants. The farther away from the city center you got the more the quadrants of each city seemed to resemble towns by themselves more than sections of one whole city. The farther you went from the middle of the country, the poorer each sector and its inhabitants became. Whoever designed the structure of the country must have really liked the number 4.
The more she thought about it the more she realized, in all her life she didn’t think she’d gone farther than sector 14 of her city before. This would be entirely new territory for her. That was as far as her job took her, and growing up she’d lived in sector 15. As she continued through sector 14 a wave of hunger hit her, and Emiran realized that she hadn’t eaten anything since brunch that morning with Tariah. She was starting to get nauseous and lightheaded, but she really didn’t want to stop. If she had to stop to eat that would mean interacting with people again, and she wasn’t exactly eager to listen to a whole new wave of pandemonium.
Finally, as she approached the very outskirts of sector 14, she didn’t have a choice anymore. Twice now she had almost passed out behind the wheel and had to stop the car so fast, she was sure she’d given herself whiplash. Emiran picked her phone up from the seat next to her and searched quickly for a tavern or motel of some kind. She felt pretty run down still and decided to stop for the night. Even though she really wanted to press on, she knew that even if she drove all night she wouldn’t make it to sector 8 anytime soon. It would probably take her until tomorrow night to even get to the outskirts of sector 13.
She found a small motel/diner combo a few streets away that sounded like a good place to call it a night. The motel was called The Whistling Wind, and the attached diner was named Pan’s Flutterby. It was a whimsical sounding name. As she pulled into the parking lot, a panic took hold of her momentarily, when the noise of a dozen or so people attacked her brain. She wondered how on earth she was meant to rest if she couldn’t figure out how to quiet the world down.
Taking a few deep, measured breaths, helped to ease the panic, and Emiran stepped slowly out of the car. She looked around in what she hoped was a nonchalant way. Thankfully there didn’t seem to be an excessive amount of people here. When she went inside the diner, the two people working behind the counter greeted her enthusiastically. She smiled at them and sat down, pretending she couldn’t hear the awkward thoughts of the young man.
He brought her a menu and a glass of water quickly, eager to finally have a customer. “Good evening Miss! What a lovely evening isn’t it? What can I get for you today?” he said, the grin on his face widening even more. He set the menu down and pulled a tiny notebook out of his apron. Emiran studied the menu trying hard to ignore the thoughts the young man was sending her way. He was thinking about his girlfriend, the young woman behind the counter with him, and his thoughts were less than savory. He was eager to get her settled in so that he and his girlfriend could duck into one of the rooms next door for a quickie.
After a few minutes of awkward silence, at least as far as she was concerned, Emiran placed her order and the young man sauntered off. Once he’d wandered off into the kitchen to make her food, Emiran sucked in through her teeth and scoffed to herself. She was slowly starting to realize that it was easier to block out the voices when there where mass amounts of them. They essentially became white noise. When there were only a few people around, the thoughts came through clear as a bell.
She wondered how long it would take her to figure out how to block out the single voices. She needed to figure out if there was a distance away that thoughts wouldn’t get through. Then she decided to test out her ability to purposely hear someone’s thoughts rather than trying to block them out. Emiran went to the bathroom so she could have some privacy first. Then she sat down on the counter and grabbed her head so she could rub her aching temples. She inhaled slowly and tried to reach out to the young woman’s mind.
As she focused on the thought of the young woman, a clear picture began to form in her mind. She could not only hear what the young woman was thinking about, but she could see what she was seeing. Emiran felt like she was looking through her eyes. She could see the kitchen and the young man standing at the grill, cooking her food and talking to the young woman. She could hear him talking. She closed her eyes and tried to focus on the young woman’s thoughts.
It was hard to separate what the woman was thinking and what she was actually saying to the young man as they conversed with each other. It was very disorienting being able to see through her eyes. She almost felt like she was becoming the young woman. Emiran quickly cut it off and went back to focusing on blocking out their thoughts. She decided it was probably a better idea to figure out exactly how to block voices out before she tried purposely getting in someone’s head again.
She splashed some cold water on her face and rubbed her eyes vigorously, trying to ease the mounting tension behind them. When she returned to the table, the young woman brought her food out to her and said “Can I get you anything else tonight?” Emiran told her she was fine for now, and she nodded and quickly disappeared to the back. Biting into her sandwich, she almost choked on her food when she heard the girl thinking very clearly ‘please take me now. She’s busy for now; we’ve got enough time to have plenty of fun’.
Out of respect for the young couple’s adventures, Emiran ate her food slowly so that she didn’t rush them. She must have taken slow, small bites for a good twenty minutes, before they finally reappeared with huge grins on their sweaty faces. She’d done her best to not eavesdrop on their fun. It was slowly getting easier to block out the thoughts if she focused hard on something else. And this was an absolutely perfect time to learn how.
She paid her bill and said, “I’d like a room for the night please. I’ve got a long drive ahead of me tomorrow and I’d like some peace and quiet tonight. Do you have any rooms available?” The young woman shook her head and said, “Sorry, I can’t help you. This is my station. If you want to check into a room you’ll have to go next door and talk to my aunt. She’s the one who owns this place. I’m just working here for the summer. I don’t know much about motel policy.”
Emiran thanked her and left without commenting on the woman’s queer facial expression when she caught sight of the back of her neck. She could hear what she was thinking clearly though. It made her suspicious of Emiran. She could help Emiran get a room, but she didn’t want to because of the mark on the back of her neck. Then Emiran remembered what Cherity had said about no witch going into another’s territory. Perhaps that’s why it made her suspicious. She decided she would find a pharmacy so she could cover the mark up before she set about getting a room.
Pharmacies seemed to be in short supply the further away she got from the city center. It made her question what these people did for medical care. After driving around for another 20 minutes she finally managed to locate an apothecary. They boasted a sign in their front window that led her to believe they’d have what she was looking for. Just to keep out of trouble, she grabbed her hoodie and put it on so she could keep the mark covered until she got her supplies. The man behind the apothecaries counter seemed undisturbed by her appearance. She suspected he got a lot of customers that wanted to hide things.
She quickly grabbed what she needed and paid for it before the man could question her. When she was safely back in her car, she heaved a sigh of relief and taped the gauze pads to the back of her neck. It was enough to make her consider growing her hair out longer. Now that she had it covered, it was time to find a new place of lodging for the night. Something told her that she was just asking for trouble if she went back to the motel she’d been at. The young woman had already seen the mark.
After another half hour of searching she finally managed to locate an out of the way, seedy looking motel. She was too tired to keep looking though. Once she was checked in she went straight to bed and tried to sleep. It took her awhile to finally be able to shut out the voices of the people in the surrounding rooms, but eventually she was able to drop off into a precarious slumber, where she found herself back in the same dream.