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I opened my eyes.
It was dark and I was lost. I didn’t know what time it once. I sat up and wondered if I had had way too much to drink and that was what was giving me these crazy dreams. Magic, werewolves, witches? Obviously a fever dream from some weird, deep recess of my brain. I must have passed out in an unfamiliar place and all I had to do was gather myself and walk home.
Then I pushed myself up and a blanket made from leaves and fern fell off of me and I was staring into violet eyes that were watching me closely.
"So it wasn't a dream," I concluded.
"We've done what we could for you. You aren't in danger anymore."
The voice was definitely feminine but other than the vague outline of her face and her white blonde hair and the way her eyes seemed to glow in the dark, I couldn't discern any details.
"You are your own light. All you have to do is let it in. That's why you're suffering, you're fighting your own magic," she said.
"Who are you?" I asked.
She laughed. "Humans cannot say my name. But, there isn't much left of you that is human, is there?"
I shook my head. "I'm human. Of course, I'm human. What else could I be?"
She tilted her head and it seemed like the branches above us obeyed her every move,. Moonlight fell through the trees above us and I saw that she was not wearing a single piece of clothing.
I quickly turned my head away, to give her some privacy.
"Humans are always so funny about clothes. What they should wear, what they shouldn’t wear, when they should wear it. You have clothes specifically for sleeping," she said.
Her laughter was like bells in a thunderstorm. She was slight and barely came up to my shoulder when she helped me stand. When I looked around, I realized I was much farther in the forest than I had ever been before. Her grip was surprisingly firm and the easy strength that she used to pull me to my feet shouldn’t have surprised me. Zombie cannibals shouldn’t have surprised me at this point.
She studied me hard and something changed in her expression. Her mouth softened and she glanced away, over my shoulder.
"If you go north," she said and pointed to her right. "You will find a road. The road will take you to the airport. There, you will find a ticket in your name. Take that ticket and go. Wherever you end up, you will have a good life. A happy one. You'll have friends and family and eventually, someone to call your own. There will be children, too. Children that are all yours, that will call you father."
I swallowed hard when she mentioned kids. I hadn’t spoken about that to anyone, wanting to be a parent so badly that I ached at the thought. I looked the way she pointed and saw the path clearly. It glowed and it looked like an easy path.
"But, if you go south, you will find yourself back in the town. Your friend, your other half, waits. He is watching your friends die. His brother is dying too, in your hospital. If you go that way, you'll keep your magic. You’ll grow stronger. But there is more blood and death and darkness that way then I can tell you about. Lou, you are your own light. But you have to make your choice now."
I looked towards the north. "If I go that way, do I keep my magic?"
She shook her head no. That thought scared me, losing my magic after having it for such a short period of time. It had become such a huge part of me, I felt like I would be chopping off one of my legs.
"If I go that way, will there be any happiness for me?" I whispered and looked south.
"Even in darkness, even in sadness, you will find happiness. You will find someone for you, someone beyond words, someone that was foretold for you. They were written in blood and stone and you will be their shield. And they will be your sword. That is not all. You will have your friend, for the rest of your life, however long or short that may be. But if you leave now, for that life of ease and happiness, he will die tonight, along with the others."
I looked north and even as I did the lights there seem to be dimming before they went out completely.
I turned back to the woman. She gave me a small smile.
"It is as it ever was, as it ever will be. You've made your choice. But one more warning before you go."
I looked at her.
"Your life, however long or short it may be, is fated with theirs. It is tangled in theirs. The longer you resist it, the longer that you fight it, the worse it will be."
Then she was gone and the path south lit up.
Later on, I would dissect her words.
But for now, I ran.
*
IT WAS LIKE I STEPPED into a play and didn't know the plot, the characters, or anything else. Bianca, at least I had to assume it was her, was holding Savannah up with a gun to her chin. Celia and Eli were tied to stakes with burning kindling wood beneath them. Dante was frozen, eyes darting between Bianca and a group of people that emerged from the east side of the town center.
Two of them were carrying Artie and I was dismayed to see a gag in his mouth and what looked like metal gloves over his hands. His wrists were chained together and his ankles were shackled.
I understood Dante's dilemma. If he moved, they would kill all of them. Celia and Eli looked like they were already ready to die. Celia was slumped over, with only her restraints holding her to the stake. Eli was twisting and fighting against the fire and his own restraints. Savannah looked like she was dying in her sister's arms.
Savannah was the only one that gave me pause. It looked like she had taken on a dozen people and lost. But that didn't make any sense. And it made even less sense that her own sister was using her as a human shield.
I figured that I would learn the whole story later.
As soon as I saved everybody else.
With magic that was too powerful for me to control.
Without a plan.
And without any help.
This was fine. This was totally fine.
Bianca adjusted her hold on the gun as Artie was brought towards her. He struggled and Eli pulled against his restraints and screamed for his little brother.
Bianca turned to Dante. "So if you're a Power, then this is your Virtue."
Dante shook his head. "That's not him. The Virtue is someone else. Please, he's just a kid, leave him alone."
Bianca looked at Artie and then back at Dante. "You're lying."
Dante shook his head. "No. Powers and Virtues, they come together, they’re a package deal. Buy one, get one."
He was panicking, babbling.
"And he is yours. He arrived at the same time as you did," Bianca said.
"I was supposed to take him away from her. We were supposed to run, find Lou later."
Smart, for them to run. Would have been better for them to leave and us to come back later.
Then I saw Celia and Eli again. Artie would never leave him either one of them. Artie must have gotten away from Dante, come back, and it was possible that Dante got here before him. I had seen him run.
"Lou?" Bianca asked.
“He is the Virtue. He's the one you want. Let me take you to him," Dante begged.
Dante had no clue where I was but he was trying to buy them time.
"You will take me to him, as soon as these are dead," Bianca said. She took aim at Artie’s chest, and I knew that's where is magic lived. At the last second, I held my hand out, a shield in front of Artie and prayed that it would be enough.
It didn't matter. Savannah, still in her sister's grip, shoved her sister's hand upwards, ruining her aim.
Bianca had clearly had enough of her sister. She threw Savannah to the ground, took aim once more and shot her.
It was like everything slowed.
My magic seemed to whisper something to me, but I couldn't quite understand it. It was too far away. There's too much noise, too many distractions. There was so much blood, it was overwhelming. Savannah was gasping, pulling her hands up far too late to shield herself.
I thought briefly of running away, going back to the woman in the forest, begging her to give me another chance, to let me choose once more. There was blood dripping from Dante's hands, the smoke from Celia and Eli's fires were overwhelming me, Savannah was dying, Artie was struggling and the magic was going to drown me once again.
Don't fight it. That's why it hurts you, don't fight it.
It has no direction where you cannot guide it.
Savannah was innocent.
That last piece seemed to make everything click into place. The magic was no longer going to guide me, drown me. I was going to guide it and it would find its natural direction. It would restore what had been lost, what should have never been lost.
The fire beneath Celia and Eli went out like it had never been. I felt the flames in my palm like I had gathered them myself.
I stepped into the light of the town square and everyone turned towards me.
"You must be Bianca. Let me introduce myself. My name is Lou. I’m the Virtue that you're looking for."
I spread my hand where I held the flame and let it grow bigger, wilder. Then I made like I was going to throw it at Bianca and she flinched back, but it was gone.
When she realized nothing happened, Bianca did what any person in her shoes would have.
She took aim at my face and pulled the trigger.
As she did, she screamed to the others, "Shoot him!"
It was loud, I had never realized that the sound of gunfire was so loud.
Then, one by one they stopped. In front of me, was a barrage of bullets, floating in the air. I stepped through them, pushed them aside like a beaded curtain. I stopped only three or four feet separating me and Dante.
Behind me, the bullets clattered to the ground.
I turned my eyes to the guards standing around Artie. Just like I had thought, there were ten of them. They didn't know exactly what I had planned and I was just as surprised as they were as they began to reload.
I understood as they turned to one another and raised their own guns at their colleagues. It made perfect sense, that they would do this to each other.
I remembered one of the first things that Artie taught me. I held them all in place and even though I could feel the weight of their resistance and their internal fight against my magic, it was nothing at all. I stepped forward and pulled the leather gag off of Artie.
"Where the keys?" I asked one of the guards and put one hand out.
One of the guards handed over the keys with jerky movements. He was fighting me too.
I unlocked the gloves around Artie's hands and he punched me in the chest. I winced but nodded.
"I deserved that."
Artie shoved me aside and threw himself at Savannah. He knelt over her and put a hand to her forehead. He shook his head and pulled her into his arms and began to whisper something in her ear. She raised a hand to his cheek and closed her. She smiled as she listened to what he told her. Sobs racked his body as he whispered and I watched his small frame curl around her.
I went back to Dante's side and looked up at him. I wondered if he had gone through his shift yet, and realized it didn't matter. I looked around the bodies at the men around us and saw that some were shot and some looked like they had been torn open.
I made a face.
"I don't know how to shift yet," Dante whispered.
"You did well with what you had, I'll give you that," I said.
Then we turned back to the others.
"You have three choices. You can shoot now and pray that whoever has their gun aimed at you doesn't shoot first. You can wait here until I'm satisfied with whoever remains, and face my friend here," I said and looked over at Dante and patted him on his chest. When I pulled my hand back it was sticky with blood. I made another face and wiped it on my jeans.
Then I turned back to them. "Or, you can run. You can hope that they don't find you in our forest or you can hope that the forest doesn't get you before we do. Your choice."
With that, I let them go. I kept the shields up around Celia, Eli, and Artie and Savannah, just in case they tried anything.
They did.
Their shots were wild but the bullets bounced off of the shields uselessly before they turned and ran. A few made it to their vehicles.
It was chaos for a few moments and then I watched as the Bianca jumped into a truck with the man she called Randall that had confronted Dante and me at the diner and they left, leaving some of their own people behind.
Those that remained headed for the forest.
Dante headed straight for Eli and Celia and helped Eli down before helping Celia down.
She was unconscious, sweating, and feverish. I looked at Eli and he shook his head. "We don't get sick. Not like this. I don't know what this is."
Next to us, Artie was holding Savannah in his arms. I could feel his magic against mine like our hands were brushing accidentally as we walked.
What I looked over at her, she was patting his cheek. Her eyes were still closed but she was smiling. Dante held her other hand.
Artie looked over at me. His glasses were gone and his face was dirty with tear tracks cutting through the grime. "This isn’t how it should be. You can feel that, right?"
He was right. I could feel it. I could feel how this part was not how it should have happened. This felt like when Eli was dying the forest. There was so much wrapped up in Savannah, I couldn't sort it out, I couldn't see through it. It was like layers and layers of silk were blinding me, teasing me with the possibility of who she was and who she could've been.
"I can't help. She saved me and I can't help her. I can't pull her back," Artie said and his breath hitched in his chest as he clenched his teeth and worked a spell over her body. But she seemed too far gone and whatever magic he was using wasn’t enough to pull her back.
"What do you need?" I asked.
I looked between Savannah and Celia, both of them laying out on the ground. Celia would survive. This would be something that we would tell stories about later. I could see it.
But Savannah was swiftly disappearing, a trail of something that was her in my mind slowly disintegrating as she tried to pull in one breath after another.
"Power. I don't have the power to pull her back."
I immediately offered him my hand. "Take mine. I'm all juiced up and ready to go."
Artie looked at me and considered only a second. Then he took my hand and pulled Savannah close. It looked like he was rocking her to sleep.
Artie closed his eyes in concentration and I could feel him taking some of my power. It was like having a tooth pulled. It didn't want to go, but Artie was pulling anyway. He pulled, pulled and finally it went. I watched, with some sick fascination, as the wounds on her body began to stitch closed. I watched as the color returned to her chest and her lips were no longer blue-gray.
Then she opened her eyes.
She looked up to the stars and informed them, "My sister shot me."
Dante and Artie pulled her into a sitting position and they both hugged her fiercely.
“You saved me," Artie said.
Savannah was still very clearly dazed but patted them both on the back as they clung to her. "She shot me."
I scooted over to Celia, and I could feel the heat rolling off of her body. Eli looked up at me and his eyes were begging me.
I reached out and cupped his cheek in my hand. I thought of only the day before when I kissed him. I didn't this time but I stroked my thumb over his cheekbone. "Don't worry. You found me. I'll bring her back to you."
I gathered Celia in my arms and held her against myself. She struggled for a moment but then went still. I closed my eyes and thought of how strong she was. How kind she was. How necessary she was.
We wouldn't survive without her. There would be no point to my magic without her.
There would be no point to fight without her.
She was stronger than all of us combined. She could push this sickness away easily. She wasn't sick, she couldn’t get sick. That's not who she was. Her body would fight this off like she fought everything else off.
I could feel her cooling off in my arms, to a temperature that was more her own.
Whatever they had put into her, it was gone now. It was no match for her own strength. She would come back to us, the same as she was, maybe even stronger than before.
A moment later I pulled away and Celia was staring up at me.
"Where the hell have you been?" She asked me.