Chapter 8
I walked through the door of light with my eyes squinted. The realms' beauty hadn't changed since the last time I'd come. The colors were bright, sharp and vivid; like Dung's paintings. I felt as though I was going through somewhat of a culture shock, the air didn't carry a stench, but a texture and a taste. I was intoxicated by the clear air of the realms.
I stood still, slowly taking everything in. I felt a wave of sadness come over me at the thought of my mother. I used to come here remembering her. I came here in search of my mother, with whom I was furious with, but loved still. And now I was here in search for another person I loved, and lost. But this time, I would bring my beloved back. I would.
I wanted to be like Norman and Ruby. They were together, and happy. I wondered how a woman as sensible as Ruby would not be infuriated by Norman, but surely everyone else would wonder how I fell for Kartik, who was of a social standing far lower than mine.
I looked down at myself and saw that I was now wearing a purple saari with golden embroidery. I touched the soft cotton, and ran my finger across the intricate gold edges. I had on golden and purple bangles, and my hands were covered in henna. As I admired my hands, a tear fell into it. There were two strange things: one, I didn't even notice that I was crying, and two, my tear stayed a droplet; it didn't splash into my hand. It stayed in perfect shape, round on the bottom and pointed on the top. I stared, not knowing what to do with my tear. I looked at it more closely, and saw my mother.
"Mother!" I shouted, not even realizing how ridiculous I must look, no matter what realm I happened to be in. She could not hear me. She was holding me in her arms shortly after my birth. Her hair was longer than I remembered, and she looked livelier, too. Then, all the colors in the droplet collided into each other, making swirls and then reassembling themselves into a new image. The next was an image of me, my face angry and frustrated, and my mother giving me her necklace of the crescent eye. Again, the colors collided into each other making swirls, and became a new image. This one was also of myself; my facial expression softening and my eyes brightening at the sight of Kartik. And the colors performed their dance again, making their final image. It was of me standing before the border of the winterlands… and I couldn't look anymore, I clapped my hands together, when I pulled my hands apart, there was nothing there, just moisture.
How could I possibly save him? I lied down in the lush grass, closing my eyes and tasting the air of the realms. It was sweet and cool, the grass beneath me was prickly, but in a soothing way. I opened my eyes and stared at the perfect sky, forcing my mind to go blank and listened to the steady pulse of the realms. I saw a butterfly hover before my nose and I rose up to catch it, like a possessed child I ran after the butterfly, I reached out to catch it and suddenly I couldn't breathe. There was a hand clamped over my mouth and nose, and a powerful arm wrapped around my waist. I tried to scream but my voice was completely muffled, I kicked my legs, trying to feel the ground, but I was being lifted up by this creature, the sensation of kicking empty air filled my heart with fear. I could not turn my head to see who had grabbed me because I was being held so tightly, I tried to bite the hand that was clamped over my mouth, but my mouth filled with fur. I continued kicking my feet until everything went black.
I awoke on a dirt floor next to a fire, I tried to sit up, but every part of my body ached and felt sore. Still, with much effort, I managed to sit up, surprised to see that I was not tied up. I looked around me and saw that I must be in a teepee; everything around me seemed to have a tincture of red because of the fire that had been lit. Through a slit in the walls that seemed to be made out of animal skin I saw that wherever I was, it was completely dark. I started to sweat, because I had no idea where I was and I was also sitting next to a fire.
"You are awake," said a deep and raspy voice.
I whimpered a bit at the sound of the intimidating voice, but gathered the courage to turn my head and see where the voice had come from. At the far end of the teepee, opposite of where I sat, I saw a large man who looked completely human, but his eyes made it clear that he was not. He had eyes like a cat's that were a deep yellow with vertical slits. His hair was a yellow orange, and he wore tan colored trousers that stopped at his knees. He sat cross-legged and I saw that there was a woman sleeping with her head resting in his lap, she wore a dress made of animal skin that seemed to barely cover her legs.
"Why?" I said, and this man had to know what I meant by that.
"Why did you come here?" he said, as if ignoring my question completely.
"To kill you." I answered curtly.
Thankfully the man caught onto my joke. He grinned, showing teeth that were to my surprise, completely normal.
"How could you possibly ask me why I've come here, when you were the one that brought me here?" I asked, not knowing what answer to expect.
"I mean to the realms, how did you come to the realms?"
"I have that power, I can't believe you haven't heard of me before."
"What name do you go by?" He said, his catlike eyes staring past me, making me feel minute and irrelevant.
"Gemma Doyle," I said, even though my name was well known the way the man looked at me…or didn't look at me, made me feel that I wasn't that important.
"You are important," said the man, finally looking at me, "somewhere else," he finally added.
"I don't want to burden you or be an inconvenience, but why have you brought me here?"
"You are our sacrifice."
I almost laughed, me, a sacrifice; me, the person who had the power to enter the realms as well as the living world.
The man looked serious, so I asked, "Why me?"
"We need the blood of a living virgin, one who is not prisoner to the superficial beauty of these realms."
"And how do you know I am not a 'prisoner'?" I asked calmly, I knew this had to be a mistake.
"My tribe has the ability to see the purity of a person's heart or soul. It is us who decides how fortunate a person's afterlife will or will not be."
"Why do you need a sacrifice?"
"We must prove our sincerity to the realms, there is no other people that could possibly do what we can."
I laughed, I might have been scared, but I was not about to allow this man to see that. We both had our pride.
"When is this sacrifice?" I asked.
He smiled, "You're awake now…so perhaps," he grinned "now."
