They came fast, like black missiles set out to destroy her.
“HOLD ON!”
Josephine darted to the left, and Wren held on with every ounce of strength she had in her. The darkness shot past them, missing them by inches.
“I’m going to set you down on that cliff. There’s a man there who will help you. Stay with him until I return, and don’t be afraid!”
Josephine banked again and flew in the direction of a steep rocky formation. Wren looked back and saw the black mass change direction and resume its pursuit of her and Josephine. She still couldn’t believe what was happening. She wanted to find her dad but didn’t think he was in this place. She had no idea how to get back to him. For now, survival was the most pressing issue on the agenda.
Josephine corrected her flying course one last time and headed for a wide ledge that protruded from the cliff face. She took Wren there and set her down safely, all the while keeping an eye out for their enemy.
“I will come back for you. When you’re ready, start climbing. Soon you will find my friend. Be brave!”
And just as quickly as they had landed, Josephine took off into the wide blue sky.
Wren looked up and saw the task ahead of her. The cliff face reminded her of the rock-climbing wall at camp last year. Hating heights with a passion, she’d refused to participate even though her friends begged her to do it. She still said no to the rock wall after several kids called her a chicken.
Now here she was, thousands of years away from camp and her friends, and anyone else for that matter. What was the point of all this? How did she get here?
The answers would have to wait because of the dark form that began to take shape in front of her. The shadows moved and swam around to make the outline of an adult. It had to be one of the smoke creatures that Wren saw coming up from the valley.
She turned and started to scale the side of the cliff.
“I’m not here to hurt you.” The words came from the shadow below her. She ignored the thing and kept climbing up the wall.
“Your little picture book will sell a few copies to your friends and family, but that’s it.”
How did this thing know about the book? Wren found another ledge and pulled herself up on it. She sat with her back against the rock.
“Face it, you’ve got nothing. Nothing.”
She started to argue with the creature but decided saying nothing was the best defense. It couldn’t be human. The thing somehow knew about her.
“You don’t have to say anything. That’s okay. I know you. Your mother passed away from cancer, and your father is checked out. Your house burned down and took your little picture book with it. I’d say all of that combined means you truly have nothing.”
How does this thing know about that stuff?
Wren kept her eyes on the creature and her mouth closed.
“I came here to offer you something better than all of the pain and loss you’ve been given.”
The sound of the thing’s voice was calm and inviting. Part of Wren wanted to speak now. She was interested in the offer of anything that didn’t involve cancer, dying, or loss.
“Leave her alone, Ra’zeil!”
This new voice came from above her. She looked up and saw an older man who had long brown hair that reached his shoulders and a beard that looked like it had been growing unchecked for years.
“Mark Grant. You do have a way of annoying me. Please don’t interrupt. I’m almost finished.” The one named Ra’zeil inched closer to Wren, while the man named Mark began repelling down the cliff to join them.
She was trapped between the dark shadow man and the new man named Mark. Wren wondered if he was the friend Josephine mentioned earlier.
Ra’zeil kept climbing. “Wren, how would you like to help me?”
Mark Grant jumped down and joined her. “Don’t listen to him. He’s a liar. They all are.”
Now the dark one was a foot away from her. His body swirled like a hurricane trapped beneath an invisible layer of skin. Dark smoke churning in the places where a person’s body would be. “Wren, you deserve to be done with all the yucky stuff. Let me show you a different way.”
The last word wasn’t fully out of the shadow man’s mouth when the one named Mark ran at him. “Leave the girl alone!” He put his head down and rammed into the shadow’s middle. The force carried both men to the edge of the cliff.
“Wren, go! Start climbing.”
She was mesmerized by what she was witnessing. It looked like the two men were about to go over the side.
“Climb!” Mark yelled back to her while he wrestled the shadow man.
Wren hesitated.
“Now, before it’s too late!” Mark continued his fight against the darkness.
She shook her head and went for it. She used her right hand to grab hold of a rock and pulled up. She took her left hand and used it to grab a new rock higher than the first. A gust of wind threatened her grip, but Wren held on. The only mistake she made was when she looked down to see the struggle between Mark and Ra’zeil. It broke her rhythm and she lost her momentum.
She was stuck halfway between where she had started and the ledge that Mark had come down from. Wren couldn’t hold on. Her strength was slipping away, just like her hands from the rocks.
The sounds of the struggle continued below her.
Her left hand slipped off first.
Her body dropped and slammed against the rocky cliff. Hanging by her right hand was harder than anything she had ever done in her life.
And then she couldn’t hang on any longer. The last ounce of fight she had left in her disappeared. Her right hand opened, and Wren’s body gave in to the gravity that had been trying to yank her off the cliff.
She fell and shut her eyes…
…waiting for the ground to take her away.