"Argh!" I wake on a groan that sounds similar to a pirate.
What the fuck happened to me? Did I take too much Insania and go fucking nuts or something? Damn, I wonder if Rory had to knock me out like we did with Roxy. How the fuck do humans wake from sleep because this shit hurts like hell.
I open my eyes and the light of the sun burns my eyes like nothing else. The searing pain causes another pirate groan to escape. I roll over and try to get my bearings but the grass meets my fingers.
The fuck?
I crack my eyes open and see the carving Drug did and immediately the memories slam into me like a baseball bat to the head.
The sculpture was falling and I caught it- a knee jerk reaction- and suddenly, I was standing in a whirlwind of every possible future. It was like I could see how the world could become all depending on choices and paths people chose in that moment. I could see the supernatural flourishing but also falling. I saw the human world end with choices the people made but I also saw sweet salvation if they made the correct ones!
So many outcomes with so many paths.
"Drug!" I scream looking around for him, "Drug, please!"
I know he's gone, I know it because my soul feels the separation but also because his face was prominent throughout the bombardment I suffered... How long ago?
I grab my phone and suck in a deep breath, it's noon, it's been hours since I touched the sculpture.
What happened after that? Fucking hell. I need my sisters.
Rory, I need help. Drug is missing and he's been gone for hours.
Nothing. Not a flicker of anything from her.
Roxy?
"Fuck!" my scream is loud and scares the birds in the trees but I don't care. Everything in me is rebelling against the distance Drug's absence creates. Not hearing my sisters or feeling them in my mind is torture as well. I swipe open the phone and curse myself for the carelessness of my actions when I grabbed the sculpture.
When the screen opens, I see it was on the camera which is fucking odd as hell. I'm about to close it but decide to click into the photos and see there's a ten minute video on there.
"Drug! You have to run! Take Ronny and run now! Grandmother is coming!"
A little girl's voice can be clearly heard even though the camera is obviously on the ground recording the sky.
I hear Drug as he huffs and kicks the camera like he was about to lift me off the ground but then the little girl screams bloody murder before smoke wafts above the camera lens.
There's a loud thud and I hold my breath watching and hoping for Drug's voice but my hopes are crushed as footsteps through the grass stop near the phone, "Stupid boy..."
Merelda's horrendous voice is cut off when there's a scuffle and a child's grunt of pain alongside the witch's screech of anger, "You rabid little girl! I never should have let you out of your cage!"
"Don't hurt her!" The little girl screams as the wind begins to kick up before suddenly stopping after a loud slap, like a backhand to the face.
She fucking slapped that kid! I will cut off her fucking hands and slap her with them! I'll do much more than that but slapping a child... I’ll keep Merelda alive for decades while torturing her.
"I won't kill her, dear Elsie. I need her sisters to be alongside her. For now the little birdy lives. Now open the portal so we can get your mutt of a brother back to the caves."
Quickly, I close the phone and stuff everything back in the bag including the sculpture. I need to find my sisters and find Drug... and his very alive baby sister.
“Corvos copulare.”Join the Crows.
Nothing happens but before I throw a tantrum I remember the necklace.
Closing my eyes and picturing Rory in my mind, I rub the stone as I speak the chant, "If you get lost, rub the moon. Close your eyes and I'll find you."
Immediately, I'm siphoned to a river's edge.
Rory is laying down with her eyes clouded over as Draven screams her name over her face.