Her foot was pushing the gas as hard as she could, no longer caring about the illegal speeds, as she left the tiny motel. She was already a fugitive after all. Determined to reach the next address that was a part of black cat’s crossing and find whatever answers it held, fueled by caffeine and more emotions than she could currently process. Emiran was glad she didn’t have to start back from Cherity’s place. That would save her some time at least. She was eager to get to the next location to discover what was so important about it. She wanted to get answers as quickly as possible.
She had half a mind to ask Traevin to show her what he’d shown her mother and potentially Elanore before they had died. Even after all these years she still wasn’t entirely sure what had actually killed her mother. She at least knew how Elanore had died, even if she didn’t know who killed her. Not that it really made her feel any better. Especially knowing what she now knew. She was curious herself as to why she had go through this journey without them. What was so important about being alone? Then a thought hit her that hadn’t before.
Traevin had said that she would have to learn to control these powers she was collecting before they could take her journey together. So if at some point he was supposed to join her, more so than he already had, then she wasn’t truly taking the journey alone. So why was he the exception? Emiran was making pretty good time putting her speed to the test, so when the sun started to lower in the sky bringing on the peace of twilight she decided to stop for a break. As eager as she was for answers, being trapped in the car while trying to sort her feelings was again making her feel somewhat claustrophobic.
She found a section of road that seemed fairly isolated and pulled off to the side. Just as she walked off into the woods that ran along both sides of the road, an idea struck her on how to get Traevin to come to her. After walking for awhile, by her estimate about twenty minutes, she found a small clearing among the trees and sat down square in the middle of it. Having taken a decent amount of time to calm herself, she decided it was time to test her theory.
She carefully unwrapped the ring which she’d kept in her pocket consistently since that night in her apartment, and placed it on her left hand. Grabbing the dagger from her lap with the same hand, she closed her eyes and attempted to reach out telepathically to Traevin. A curious cold seeped into her bones even though it was plenty warm enough outside to not even need a jacket. She kept her eyes closed and gripped the dagger tighter, intent on reaching his mind.
Time seemed to slow to an almost unnoticeable pace and the cold kept growing until it enveloped her like a cloak. Finally, she had no idea how much later; she heard a whispering in her ear. It was unmistakably Traevin’s voice. “You’re improving fast my dear, but are you sure you want to call me this way?” Emiran’s eyes snapped open. She was still sitting on the forest floor, or at least what appeared to be it, but darkness surrounded her like a bubble. She could see nothing beyond the darkness. Traevin sat in front of her seemingly content to say nothing until Emiran replied.
She was eerily calm this time even though he was near. “Where are we?” she asked “why can’t I see anything beyond the darkness?” he smiled at her and said “We’re in my mind. I told you I have learned to keep people out. I chose to let you in. You will see nothing beyond what I want you to see. You’re not that powerful, not yet at least.” Emiran pondered for a minute before she replied “I want some answers. Not the cryptic version you’ve been giving me, I want a straight answer. You’ve been watching my family for a long time. Why?”
Traevin stood up now and reached a hand down to Emiran to help her up. “The answer to that is both simple and complex.” He said as Emiran reached for his hand “I can give you the relatively simple answer, but the complex answer will require more time before you’re ready.” She clasped his hand tightly and refused to let go even when she had risen to her feet. Fueled by a confidence she never knew she had, she looked him dead in the eyes to see if the cold empty dread returned. His smile remained but he said nothing. She didn’t feel dread this time though. Instead she felt a curious sense of compassion though she really couldn’t explain why. “Alright then give me the simple answer. Tell me what it is you want. I have many questions for you.” She replied finally.
She waited to see what he would do expecting she already knew the answer. But she wanted to hear it from him. Instead of a reply though, he pulled his hand out of hers even though she was holding it tightly. In one swift movement he raised both hands and grabbed her face. Before she had time to react he leaned his head in and planted his lips firmly on hers. A sudden warmth flooded through her and the cloak of cold disappeared. He pulled his lips away and placed his forehead on hers for a minute in silence before he finally responded. “It’s because I love you, my sweet Emiran. I know you don’t remember it. You will in time. I’ve lost you more times than I care to remember, but I will never let you go. One day, I will make you whole again.”
Emiran didn’t know what to say, and something about his touch was comforting so she was hesitant to pull away. Standing there in silence for what might have been an eternity for all she could tell, a peace she hadn’t felt for a very long time settled over her. Finally she found her voice and said “What do you mean you’ll make me whole again? Who are you? Why don’t I remember you past a young age?” He placed a finger on her lips to quiet her. Pulling away from her reluctantly he said, “Please my love, I cannot answer those questions yet. I must put you back together one piece at a time. I’ve learned my lesson on that. When I am done, I know you’ll remember. You were once a patient person. Please learn that patience again, if not for me, then for your sanity. You’ll need it.”
Before she could reply the darkness enveloped her again, making Traevin disappear. Unable to see anything even an inch in front of her face Emiran closed her eyes tightly. When she opened them again she was back on the forest floor, lying down though even though she hadn’t been that way to start with. A quiet whisper penetrated her brain and she could almost swear she could feel Traevin’s lips brush against her ear. “Practice when you can. You have the answers you need there. I’ll find you at your next stop on the list.” Emiran sat up and realized the cold was gone even though she still had a tight grip on the dagger and the ring was still in its place.
She sat there for a few minutes unwilling for some reason to let the blade in her hand go. She stared at it intently, turning it over and over in her hand. The more she stared at it the less she wanted to let go of it. A creeping sensation began in the base of her spine and she could swear the blade was starting to emit a humming noise. She dropped it quickly, as if it were hot, though when she touched it with her right hand it was as cool as ice. Shaking her head she pushed herself up and picked it up with the rag the ring had been wrapped in, not fully convinced that it wasn’t actually hot.
Her sudden desire not to let it go disturbed her a bit so she wrapped it in the rag and slid it into her back pocket as best she could. She walked slowly back through the trees, much slower than when she’d come in. She wasn’t really paying attention to where she was walking, preoccupied with her thoughts. Before she realized it, she was much deeper into the woods than when she’d started. At some point she must have taken a wrong turn. She cursed under her breath and looked around to try and get her bearings. But standing in the middle of the woods there was nothing but trees in every direction she looked, except for one.
In the one direction, which if she had to guess, was deeper into the wood, she could just spot the roof of some kind of building. She debated for a minute and tapped her lips. Since she had no idea where she was, deeper into the wood or not, she decided she’d try the building. Hopefully someone was there that could point her in the right direction. As she got closer to the building, which as she approached seemed very run down and tattered, she could see it was a type of cabin, or perhaps at one point a one room schoolhouse. An intuition in her gut told her she wouldn’t find anyone here. But somehow the building seemed kind of familiar, and she wanted to know why.
She approached the building slowly, cautious and alert. Once she’d reached the side of it she inched her way to one of the windows so she could peer inside. The window she was closest to was filthy from years of neglect, and ivy vines covered half of it. She leaned her head over and tried to see inside. The window was too dirty to see much, but from what she could tell, the inside was just as neglected and abandoned as the outside. Taking a deep breath she leaned against the house and closed her eyes. Even focusing intently she could sense no minds inside. Shrugging she went to the door and tried to open it.
The knob turned but the door didn’t open. She guessed that age and time had swollen the wood and made it stick. Using all her strength, she yanked on the door in one smooth, fluid motion. She had overestimated the amount of force she would need and the door came flying open nearly knocking her down in the process. As she regained her balance she felt a sudden need to get inside quickly. A sixth sense that told her she was in danger. She didn’t really understand why, as far as she could tell she was alone in these woods. She’d learned to listen to that danger sense though over the years and rushed inside, pulling the door closed behind her.
With the door closed it was actually fairly dark in the building. Years of dirt on the windows and the tall trees around it blocked out most of the light. She slipped her phone out of her pocket and turned on the flashlight to try and get her bearings. Shining the light around the room she stood in, she noticed that there was only an old chair in the farthest corner from her. The only other furniture in the entire room was a very small round table that sat in front of the chair. The feeling of familiarity was growing and she really didn’t understand why.
She turned the light off, in case there really was something outside watching the house. After a minute or two of listening and hearing nothing that made her suspicious, she inched her way over to the chair slowly. She sat in the chair, after testing it with her hands to make sure it could support her weight. Once she’d placed her hands on the table, a quick and unsubtle change came over the room. Suddenly it was bright as day, and more furniture was in the room too. Her first instinct was that she was getting some kind of psychic vision from touching the table. She took her hands off the table but the room didn’t return to normal.
As the room continued to change, a few people were added to the mix. They were talking amongst themselves in quiet whispers, periodically looking Emiran’s direction. She knew these people. She was sure of it, even though another part of her said she’d never seen them before in her life. Emiran tried to hear what they were saying, straining her ears. She was a little bit afraid to try and get up from the chair. There was a woman and three men standing there in the center of the room. It was mostly one of the men that kept looking her direction.
No matter how hard she strained her ears though, she couldn’t hear what they were saying. A part of her felt like she was home, even though that made no sense at all. Finally she worked up the nerve to rise from the chair. As she did the group of people collectively turned to her and looked at her solemnly with their mouths closed. She walked toward them slowly, surveying their clothes and the things around them as she approached. Their clothes alone, along with hers, told her that she was no longer in the same time she had started in. They looked as if they belonged in the early twentieth century.
Without thinking about what she was doing, she walked up to the man that had been staring at her and placed an arm around his neck. The other 3 people averted their gazes trying to appear as if they were casually examining the floor. Even though her body seemingly had a mind of its own, she still felt like herself, and her brain kept telling her she was in danger. The young man she was holding onto wasn’t averting his gaze though; he was staring directly at her. A name came to mind as she examined his face. Before she could stop herself her mouth opened and she could hear herself speaking to the young man.
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“My love, my dear Akina, why have you brought these people into my home? I thought we’d discussed this already. Unless I’ve given you strict instructions otherwise, no one but you may know where my home lies.” With this she grabbed the thin scarf from her neck and wrapped it around his. Now the young man looked at the floor. She could feel shame coming from him, as clearly as if she were the one ashamed of something. She walked behind the young man, still holding on to the ends of the thin scarf. Her lips pressed against his ear and a seething whisper erupted from her.
“You’ve betrayed me Akina. I can feel your guilt and shame hitting me in waves. After all I’ve done for you too, tell me why.” She grabbed the ends of the scarf and pulled them tight, but not so tight he couldn’t speak. Her eyes drifted to the other 3 people while she waited for an answer. They remained staring at the floor but their fear was palatable. She could taste it like a tart unripe cherry dripping its bitter juice down her throat. Akina still didn’t answer her though and in a swift move she pulled a jeweled dagger from the folds of the dress she wore.
She released the ends of the scarf and went after the three people before they realized what she’d done. As her blade came down hard on the man nearest her, the other two scattered and ran from the house. Akina stood where he was though. He made no move to either run or help the man she’d brought to the ground. He wasn’t dead yet but she was sure he wasn’t going anywhere. She left him where he lay and returned to stand in front of Akina. She grabbed his neck and slowly wiped the blood from her dagger on his shirt until it was clean enough to return to its place. “His death is on your hands my love, and your soul will never be washed clean of that.”
Akina finally raised his eyes to hers and gave her a look of despair. She felt herself smiling at this as he whispered in her ear “Yes, his death is on my hands. I will claim responsibility for that my beautiful beloved Meredith. But it is not his death I will be judged for when my time comes, it is yours.” With his own knife now firmly lodged in her side, she stumbled backwards. With a scream of pain and anguish mixed together she tried to pull it out. “But you love me. Why would you do this to me?” she ripped it from her side and fell to her knees dropping it next to her.
Akina still looked terribly sad and she could feel the sadness coming from him. He walked up to her and bent to pick up his knife, placing a soft kiss on her cheek as he did. “Because you needed to be stopped, I love you and I always will, but you’ve hurt too many people and I can’t stand by and let it continue.” He wiped the tear off her cheek and then turned away walking slowly to the door. On the threshold of it he turned and looked at her one last time. “You may have stopped me for now dear Akina. But I will be back, you can be sure of that.” She said, “And when I am, it is I who will pass ultimate judgment on you. Better watch your back and keep your eyes open.” She laughed hysterically as she held her side vainly and he closed the door behind him without another word. She could feel the life slowly draining from her but she seemed unable to move to stop it. As she lay carefully on the floor, waiting for the inevitable end, the room around her began to change again.
Emiran shot up from the chair in the now dark and empty room, where she had remained. Clearly it had been nothing more than a vision, or perhaps a memory. But her heart was racing and she grabbed her side to make sure there was no injury there. Relieved that she seemed to be ok, she ran out the door without bothering to be quiet or sneaky. Out in the fresh air Emiran stopped to catch her breath and slow her racing heart. The vision explained why she had felt she was in danger, and it explained why this place felt familiar to her. But she had no memories of the life she apparently led here. “What are the odds that I would stop here of all places?” She thought.
She really felt as if she were being led by a force she neither understood, nor really wanted to understand. She really thought she had just chosen this spot on a whim to stop and breathe and then to attempt to contact Traevin. But the memory of her death here was unmistakable and she wondered who Meredith was. Based off the vision she’d had she was under the impression that she had been a bad person as Meredith. Now she wanted to do some research to find out what she could about this previous life. But that would have to wait for now. The most important thing was to get back to her car and get back on the road.
She headed away from the cabin in a straight line, making sure she was paying attention this time so she didn’t end up even more lost. It took well over an hour to find her way out of the woods, but finally she saw the road and heaved a sigh of relief. She took her phone out of her pocket and made a note to herself about the rough location of the cabin so if she needed to she could find it again. After hiking for so long, when she slid into the driver’s seat she didn’t immediately start the car, but instead leaned the seat back and closed her eyes. She had a crushing headache and she felt as if all the weight of the world were sitting on her chest. She nearly fell asleep before she forced herself up and started the car.
She knew if she needed to rest she should find a place to crash. Even out here on the outskirts of sector 14, it probably wasn’t safe for her to just sleep in her car on the side of the road. She wouldn’t put it past COLO to send people out there for her. So with heavy eyes, she kept on driving until she came upon a small grouping of buildings that might have passed as a village. She didn’t see anyone out on the streets, but she knew there were people here. Their thoughts were hitting her in waves and it was doing nothing to help her headache. She questioned whether or not she should even stop here. But she really didn’t have the strength to keep going yet, not without some rest first.
Unwilling to just knock on someone’s door, she did her best to hide her car between some buildings and lay back again in the driver’s seat. As far as she could tell, these particular buildings were empty and they didn’t look as if anyone cared about using them. She figured it was a decent place to not draw attention to herself while she slept. She closed her eyes as the sun came up over the horizon and fell asleep quickly. Her dreams were just repeats of the vision she’d had, but it gave her a chance to examine the room and the people more closely. What she wouldn’t have given for a mirror to see what she looked like, because even in the dreams she was still seeing through Meredith’s eyes.
She must have gone through the vision four times when a knock on her window startled her awake. The knock coincided right with Akina stabbing her for the fourth time and it made her jump and wake instantly. There was a young girl standing outside the car looking at her curiously, her head tilted to the side. She couldn’t have been more than 15 years old. Emiran rolled her window down halfway and said “Yes? Who are you?” The girl lifted her head up straight and her long brown hair fell down her shoulders. “My name is Hera. Who are you? Why are you sleeping here? I’ve never seen you here before.” Emiran thought for a moment before she replied.
“I’m just a traveler passing through. I needed some rest and couldn’t wait until I found lodging so I just pulled in here to stay out of the way. I’m sorry if I’m not supposed to be here.” Emiran poked into her mind as she replied. The young girl didn’t seem to be aware of it. The only suspicion she got from her was because she’d never seen someone that didn’t live in her village. Travelers clearly weren’t common here. She was thinking about asking her about coming to her house because she felt bad for her.
Emiran had to bite her tongue to not answer the question she hadn’t asked yet. She didn’t need her any more suspicious. She pulled out of the young girl’s mind and waited for her to speak. Hera shrugged casually and said “It’s not that you aren’t supposed to be here. I’ve just never encountered a traveler, let alone one seemingly trying to hide. This part of the village is hardly used anymore.” “Then what are you doing here?” Emiran asked. Hera looked at the ground and replied “I come here sometimes to be alone. I have a big family and a lot of responsibilities. Sometimes I just need a break. There are things that my family doesn’t really understand.”
This made Emiran curious so she said “it’s ok to want to be alone. I get it. I like my alone time too. What is it your family doesn’t understand? I’ll listen if you like. I’m very good at keeping secrets. Plus bonus, since I'm just passing through no one will hear anything from me.” She brought her hand to her mouth and pretend zipped it closed. She smiled at Hera and she laughed. “Well it’s kind of hard to explain. That’s part of the reason my family doesn’t understand. I appear to be the only one in my family with this ability and it makes me feel alone. If anyone else in my family does have this ability too they haven’t told me.”
Now it was Emiran’s turn to tilt her head. “What do you mean by ability? What is it you can do? I promise I won’t judge you. You can tell me.” Hera scraped her foot on the ground and kept her eyes down. She seemed very hesitant to say more. Emiran waited quietly, unwilling to just pry into her mind to get the answer. At last Hera looked up and said “You’re feeling scared and confused. You’re also feeling pity for me. Guilt and shame and fear are covering you like a blanket. I can feel it all. Anyone I’m around, I can feel what they do, every emotion a distinct feeling. In a big family that’s pretty hard to deal with." She looked down again and continued “I haven’t told most of my family, because I’ve heard stories passed down through the generations plenty of times about my great great great great grandmother. She had the ability to feel what others did.”
“She was a very powerful woman but she did terrible things. I don’t want to end up like her. I don’t want to be an evil person. I just want to help others feel better. But I fear my family will disown me if they discover I can do what she did. Ever since she was killed, any woman in the family who could do what she did has been immediately disowned and banished from the village.” When Emiran thought about it, it made sense that her descendants would live in this village since it was pretty close to where the cabin was. It was no mistake this would be the girl to find her. She must have been a truly evil person as Meredith to make generations of a family ostracize anyone like her.
Emiran opened her door now and Hera stepped back. She took her hands in hers and lifted her chin so she could look in her eyes. Smiling she said “It’s ok Hera. I understand. You’re not an evil person. You might be the one to break the curse on your family, the one to show the entire village that Empaths aren’t inherently evil.” She tucked her long brown hair behind her ear and placed her hand on her cheek now. “I’m sorry you’re going through this. I know what it’s like to have a gift you don’t want. But you can’t change who you are, and you can use your gift to help others. Or…you can give it to me. I will free you from it, if you want.”
Hera looked at her with confusion now and said “I do want to help others, and I will. But I don’t want this gift. I’m not the one to show my people. I don’t want to lose my family; I’d have nowhere to go. Can you really free me from this curse?” Emiran looked down now and replied “It’s a gift that belongs to me anyway. I will free you from the burden of it. I don’t think it’s a mistake that you found me. I can’t really explain it, I don’t truly understand it all myself. But I do know that I’m supposed to take this gift from you. Who was the last one in your family to show this ability?”
Hera squeezed her hands and said “As far as I know the last one who could do this was my great Aunt Daelynn. She was banished from the village when she was just 20 years old. No one knows what happened to her once she left. Since that was 50 years ago it was assumed no one else in the family had acquired it. Until me that is. I’ve only told my oldest sister about it.”
“She’s very good at keeping secrets. And she’d never risk me being banished from the village. Come to think of it, you look a lot like my Great aunt. I’ve only ever seen one picture of her. People don’t talk about her much. I would be eternally grateful if you could free me. I’ll do anything you want.” She was clearly desperate to be rid of it, and Emiran couldn’t really hold that against her. If she truly had lived a life as Meredith then this gift was hers anyway and the girl shouldn’t have to suffer because of what she’d done. “You don’t need to do anything for me Hera. Giving me your empathic powers is all I need.”
She let go of her hands now and stood up straight. “I don’t know how to do it yet, I need to contact someone and figure out what I need to do. Where can I find you when I return? I’d say give me about 2 days so I have time to get a hold of them.” Hera squealed excitedly and said “I’ll be right here, two days from now. Oh thank you so much. I wish I could do something to repay you!” Emiran had a strange feeling in her gut that she couldn’t explain, but it didn’t feel good. “Don’t thank me just yet.” She replied, “I’ll see you in two days.”
With that Hera took off running in the opposite direction and Emiran got back in her car. She went straight for the spot she’d stopped last night. She had a good hunch that Traevin would be able to tell her how to extract this gift from the girl. And since she’d made contact with him there last night it seemed a good place to try again. It didn’t take more than an hour to find the spot she’d stopped in, and she jumped from the car as soon as it was off. She still had the ring on her finger and she wondered if that was the reason she had this strange heavy feeling inside. She headed for the woods as quickly as her feet would carry her pulling the dagger from her pocket as she ran.
When she found the clearing she’d sat in before, she again went to the middle of it and stood in place. She called for Traevin both audibly and with her mind, to try and convey the urgency of her need. Time passed but Traevin didn’t show. Emiran finally sat down again as twilight fell, tired from standing for hours yelling Traevin’s name. Her throat ached and she was in desperate need of something to eat. She stopped yelling and just continued calling for him mentally. Eventually she lay down in the middle of the clearing, too tired to move anywhere else. It was warm enough that she wasn’t cold and the sleep quickly overcame her. Again she dreamed of the vision of her death as Meredith, but this time Traevin stood in the far corner, the others seemed unaware of him.
The vision continued to play out the same, but she could hear Traevin in her mind as it went on. “I know what you want, but I know of only one way to extract a power from someone else. And I know it’s not something you’re willing to do. How badly do you want your gift back? The only way you can retrieve it is to kill the girl and absorb her life force. The way Akina killed you. It’s because of him that the cycle of the empathic gift was broken.” As the vision ended in its typical way Emiran sat straight up keenly aware that Traevin was near, and not just in her mind. She couldn’t believe what she’d just heard. How could he expect her to kill a 15 year old girl?
She would be better off banished, at least then she would be alive. “I don’t accept that!” she yelled into the trees, knowing he could hear her. “There has to be another way, and I will find it.” Traevin walked out of the trees behind her and said “Look if you must, but I’m telling you the truth. The only way to retrieve the power is to kill her. You’re in too deep now to quit. You must make your choice. Is her life more important than yours?”
She had an overwhelming urge to use the dagger in her hand on him, but she knew it would do no good. “Is that how you acquired all these different abilities? How many people have you killed?” she yelled at him. His voice remained soft as he said “I can’t give you a number, more than you’d be able to comprehend right now. It’s my job, just as it is yours. Better get comfortable with it now, because you’re just now walking into the depths of the job. Before this is over, you’ll have your own body count.”