Chapter Fourteen
Previously on Saving Part of the World -
Something rippled over her face and then she leaned back as a shadow pulled away from her body. Dropping to her knees, Amber gasped and trembled violently.
Shaking, Hilary crouched behind her, ready to pull her from the circle.
"Don't," Amber sighed, lifting her head, breathing heavily. She pushed her hair out of her face and glared.
Following her gaze, Hilary grabbed a stone to steady herself as her body swayed. There was a woman in the centre of the circle, touching the tree reverently as Hilary had. She was ethereally beautiful; pale, pale skin without even a hint of pink along her sharp cheeks and with lips touched with violet. Her hair was like black satin though as the light hit it, she could see it was more like oil, dark yet shimmering with greens and pinks. Her long, sheath dress was silk and gauze and feathers, low cut and tight over full curves that Hilary envied. Whoever this woman was, she was as different from Amber as night and day.
"Amber, is that?"
"That's the voice in my head. See, told you she was real."
Hilary was not touching that comment. "How —"
The woman turned and while the fabric of her dress swished, it made no sound. It was so eerie that the hairs on Hilary's arms rose in defence. "I prefer the name Morrigan." Her voice was dark and rich with an accent Hilary couldn't even place — it certainly sounded nothing like Amber's.
Amber snorted. "I'd prefer you not be in my head but hey we all have our curses to bear."
"Amber!" Hilary hissed, swatting the girl's shoulder as she hunched behind her, warily watching Morrigan. "Are you a bitbeast?" She didn't look like any bitbeast Hilary had ever seen. As otherworldly as she seemed, she looked very human.
"Oh my God, Hilary," Amber groaned, rubbed her forehead. "I told you she's not a bitbeast."
"You don't know unless you ask and I'm betting you've never asked her. I'm Hilary Tachibana, pleased to meet you."
"Don't bow to her, Hilary. She's not royalty."
"I'm being polite." Hilary scowled. It wasn't as if she'd ever had a conversation with a spirit before. She didn't know the etiquette needed to survive such a confrontation. She shifted her position, feeling her leg muscles screaming. She needed to stand up but she didn't particularly want to draw the attention of the woman in front of her. To think that Morrigan was the Voice in Amber's head and had physical form. It was more disturbing to realise the Voice had a body and a personality rather than simply a voice. It was an actual being confined within Amber's mind.
"What I am is unimportant." Morrigan slid her eyes dismissively over Hilary to frown at her ward. "Are you finished with this silly display?"
"No, maybe? I just wanted to show you to her," Amber said, rolling her neck. Something popped and Hilary flinched. She hated when people did that. Daichi's obsessive knuckle popping made her cringe.
Morrigan tilted her head, eyes cool and faintly amused though her purple lips twisted in disdain. "Well," she gestured to herself, "here I am. Proof that the child doesn't lie. Any other parlour tricks I should indulge in?"
Hilary watched as Amber flushed darkly, eyes dropping to the ground and feeling sorry for the girl, she stood up to face Morrigan. "No, but I would beg a question. Are my friends really a danger to this country?"
Arching a slender brow, Morrigan inclined her head in acknowledgement, her fingers caressing over the rough tree trunk; the attitude seemed to leak from her. "My apologies. I grow weary of this situation."
"Not really enjoying it much myself," Amber muttered, pushing herself to her feet.
"You have had a minuscule mortal life…" With a disgusted sound, Morrigan pressed her fingers into the tree, resting her brow against it.
Hunching up, Amber pulled her knees to her chest. "It's not my fault."
"No, it is not." Hilary suddenly found herself on the receiving end of Morrigan's fathomless gaze. "You wish to know if your friends pose a danger. The simple answer is yes. They do. Once upon a time a race of beings ruled this land and were worshipped as gods, but with the dawn of Christianity, the power they gained from believers died, and eventually they faded to another realm. In this realm, they slept and waited for a time when they could return. Your bitbeasts will provide that energy, magic, that can awaken them once more."
Despite hearing it from Amber, from Morrigan it held a new, uncomfortable weight. Hilary shifted, rubbing her arms. "So what will these things do?"
"I imagine they plan to return to power. They see the country as their own, they claimed and they ruled it, and then simple lack of faith dethroned them." Morrigan gestured to herself. "As you can see, even I benefit from their presence."
At Hilary's feet, Amber lifted her head to frown at the spirit. "Not really, I mean I drew you out before at stone circles. That's a fairy tree, it does the same thing, right, so it's not the bitbeasts doing that."
Morrigan moved — glided — to Amber, her black dress didn't even whisper over the long grass, and knelt before her with such grace that Hilary felt a lump rise in her throat. Stepping back quickly, she folded her arms tightly over her chest and blew a strand of hair, burnished copper by the sun, out of her face.
"If your mother was here now, she'd see me this time. You'd be able to show your entire family that I exist in more than just your imagination."
As Morrigan rose, Hilary darted a quick look at Amber and felt a tug of sympathy. She looked rocked by the news and Hilary could sympathise. It must have been upsetting and confusing trying to explain Morrigan to her family. Had she brought her mother to the stone circle hoping to show her? And then when Morrigan appeared, she would still remain invisible to a mere human's eye - much like the bitbeasts once seemed to Hilary. Yes, she could sympathise.
"Whatever," Amber grumbled, rising to her feet and dusting her hands off. "Fact is, that's Morrigan and she's pretty much the only proof I have to make you understand that I'm not making this up, and I don't want to befriend beybladers for the cool factor because honestly, I'm not seeing all this 'cool' stuff."
She even did air quotes. Hilary blinked, and then shook off her surprise and annoyance. She needed to keep an eye on Morrigan. The woman/thing/spirit was dangerous. "If you benefit, wouldn't you want the bitbeasts to remain and power you all up?"
Morrigan heaved a sigh as if it was the most frustrating of questions and clasped her hands before her. "I have no such desires. I have no place in this world and this island will be destroyed in their foolish attempt to save it. I see no point in the endeavours of the Fae. My destiny is clear. Finish this, and I will have done my duty to her clan."
"What duty?"
Amber blinked at her and scratched her neck with an awkward shrug. "You know, the curse. She's stuck with me until Ireland's safe. We figure this is the big bad that will finally separate us. So if we save Ireland, she gets to go back to the other realm and I get to go back to my family and friends.
"The thing is, it's really hard to convince people that they're going to be responsible for a world — country — being destroyed, and since I'm just a teenager, no one wants to listen. It's one thing to tell people that bitbeasts are dangerous, but it's harder still to tell them that it all comes down to faeries. Even saying the F word out loud is kind of hilarious. People automatically think of Tinkerbell." Like Ian did, but neither of them acknowledged that. "I just thought if I could show you that there are other kinds of beings out there, maybe we could figure out a way for both of us to get what we want. You get a tournament and I don't lose my family in less than two weeks."
Hilary understood. It was tough. Even with the woman standing in the circle before her examining the compellingly strange tree, Hilary found the whole thing hard to believe. The bitbeasts were going to somehow destroy Ireland. How? Where was the evidence? Why was the crucial part to this story stuck behind 'a veil' unseen and unheard of by anyone? It all sounded so farfetched, as if some little old lady had looked into her magic mirror and made a few random predictions. She needed more than this to explain to her friends.
She sighed and rested her elbow on a stone, propping her chin in her palm.
With a groan, Amber stepped past the stones. Morrigan inclined her head, then she was sucked back into Amber's body. The two bodies seemed to collide so quickly that Hilary felt there should have been an audible impact. Her stomach flipped and she shivered.
Amber sucked in a sharp breath — the only physical effect she showed — and shrugged her shoulders as if getting comfortable in her own skin again. It was so strange to watch, to know that there were two souls in that lithe body. It didn't look like it could hold all of Amber's personality, never mind Morrigan's as well.
Curious, and to appease her own worries, she latched her hand around Amber's wrist.
Startled, Amber turned to her and blinked her whiskey coloured eyes, making Hilary release a breath. "Sorry, I just don't know what I expected."
"Black eyes? Red eyes? For me to be possessed by her?" Amber smiled depreciatively. "Don't worry about it. Half the time I expect the same thing. If you ever catch me looking at my reflection, it's to remind myself I'm still me. Not because I'm incredibly vain."
Mustering up a smile, Hilary stepped back from the circle and blinked against the bright sun spilling down in spears of light through the thick green canopy. Sound seemed to switch on in stereo, bugs and bird song filling the clearing. Something chittered high up in a tree. Life. Life had returned. Whatever Morrigan was, whatever she could do, she was certainly not of their world and the beings around the woods had felt that.
Amber shuddered and made a face.
"You okay?"
"Yeah, I just want out of here. Morrigan loves this place, that tree in particular, but it's just a bit too closed in for my liking."
"What's it like having Morrigan in your head?"
They began to walk back into the forest.
"It's crowded. I don't see her in my head, but she's a voice there that's not mine. I'm used to her though, because she's always been there, like this dark presence in the back of my mind." Amber looked at her sharply and flushed. "She's only been vocal recently; I wasn't a baby with a grown up inside my head. She was pretty dormant during my younger years. Sometimes I think there's a partition in my mind and for the most part she stays behind it, but sometimes I feel urges that aren't my own." Amber blew out a breath, plucking a leaf from a branch. "The other day, I found the red head on Ian's team attractive. Now admittedly, he's a good looking guy, seriously pretty, but I'm not someone who looks at guys and thinks oh boy, I want to shift him."
"Wait? Shift? I don't know this word, do I?" She thought it meant to move something and brought to mind a chibified Amber moving a tiny Tala around like a chess piece. She shook off the image immediately. She was just about able to look at Tala; that kind of thinking would set her back.
"Shift, jump; uh, kiss, make out with. It's stupid Donegal talk. I don't quite get it myself. But you get my meaning. I just haven't gotten to that stage yet and that guy is just not my type. So I knew that was her making her thoughts heard. It's things like that that make me scared she'll take over. The only time I'm truly myself, is when I'm in a circle like that one because she's not in me anymore."
Hilary tried to imagine it, to not be yourself in your own body. It made her head hurt. "Are you ever tempted to camp in the circle?"
"Oh yeah, all the time, but the other thing is that I don't like her being outside my body because I don't really trust her."
Hilary paused, lifting her fingers to touch a tiny white blossom dangling from a nearby tree. "Why not?"
"Because she's not human."
"Oh." Hilary frowned. "That sounds –"
"Racist? Yeah. And I don't like that part of me either," Amber said with a wild gesture of her hand and almost face-planted when she tripped over a root. "Shoot. But yeah, I don't like it."
They became quiet and once again began to tentatively find their way back to the river.
Suddenly Amber jolted and swung around.
"Amber?"
Holding up her hand, Amber gestured for her to be silent and her eyes scanned the trees. Heart thumping, Hilary began to look as well, half expecting something to move in the shadows, except nothing moved. Then she heard a huge, yearning groan like something being pulled apart. The world jerked under their feet as something thumped through the ground, and they jolted, grabbing for each other.
"What the hell was that?" Amber demanded, scanning the slanted rows of narrow trees.
Hilary hissed and untangled her hand from Amber's bone crushing grip. "If you don't know I don't know."
A snap of twigs under heavy footfalls and both girls screamed as they whirled round to find Ian running towards them.
"What hell was that?"
Mariam fanned her face with the tips of her fingers and trailed her bare feet through the cool water gushing from the fountain. Drops spattered against her thighs, trickling down over her skin. A faint breeze seemed to whisper up from the water to break the heat. It was glorious, she mused, turning to face the sun.
A child waddled by in a diaper and a dog raced after two boys on skateboards. The little square in the city centre was thrumming with activity, with people strolling by eating ice cream in summer dresses, shorts and flip-flops, or lounging on the grass, soaking up the sunshine. Someone was playing music and she could almost see the notes dancing along the streams of hot air wafting from the flagstones.
It was utterly divine, and the absolute best part of travelling and even the line of grey clouds in the distance and the brewing storm, couldn't diminish her enjoyment. Besides, she'd be in her… warehouse by the time it hit. Maybe, just maybe Dunga had managed to procure a pot for them to catch some refreshing rainwater. Oh joy.
No. Just, no.
"Ozuma, what's happening with the accommodation?"
There is nothing wrong with where we're staying. It has four walls and a roof.
Yes, and that was all it had. She'd spent her first night in Ireland in a draft-ridden shed listening to Dunga's snores that rivalled Godzilla's screaming, and Joseph's mutterings. They had no fire for when the temperature dropped — Dunga had suggested they snuggle for warmth — and there had been nothing in the distance but dogs howling and breaking glass. It hadn't been peaceful, it hadn't been idyllic, and she was not doing it again. This was one of those times where she was going to forcibly remind her team that she was female and liked female things, like hot water!
"No, I want to stay somewhere else. I refuse to sleep like a homeless person." Even though technically she was. "How come other bladers can travel and stay in relative luxury and you can't even be bothered to find us a bed?" One with a thread count and feathers, instead of straw.
She just didn't feel safe in hovels anymore. It had been great when she was younger, camping out with the team and having no fear of the world or knowledge of how cruel people could be. She didn't like feeling vulnerable while she slept.
Don't be ridiculous, Mariam. We have never needed such luxuries before. This is not a vacation; we have a duty to perform.
"And I'm supposed to do this without access to a shower?" She was not bathing in this fountain. Being arrested would definitely interfere with her duty.
She leaned back and shielding her eyes, gazed up at the sunshine slipping behind the buildings as the day grew later.
These are minor issues, Mariam. I'll leave the seeking of accommodation to Joseph. How goes your mission?
She stifled a few mean thoughts and gave him his info with no detail, a petty revenge. "They're at the gym. They're fine." Or so she believed. As yummy as the Blitzkrieg Boys were, she had no plans to waste her day drooling over them when she had other things to do. She was going to explore a little this time, play at being a tourist, instead of just blindly obeying orders only to retreat back to the Sanctuary of their little village.
A ripple of power swept through the park, and Mariam grabbed the ledge she was sitting on, her knuckles turning white. Her lungs expanded with the wave and then released as she whooshed out a shocked breath. It was like being punched in the chest with an anvil.
"Ozuma?"
Around her the world continued on, people skateboarded, walked their dogs, ate food and talked; the shift in power wasn't even a blip on their radar.
I felt it.
"I'm going to find out what it was." She knew it came from somewhere closer to her part of the city than his. She kicked her feet out of the pool as she swung around, putting her back to the cool mist. Tempting as it was to warm her feet on the cement, she knew there was a chance of blistering, so instead, she stuck her wet feet into her ankle boots and stood up.
Mariam stay where you are. I'll send Joseph to your location.
"I'll be fine."
She didn't need to be babysat by her little — now taller — brother. It was frustrating to her that, now with his new improved height, he seemed to have inherited a deep-seated need to watch over her. Overprotective brotherly instincts, she realised with growing fury. It was bad enough that Ozuma felt he had to always be the leader and protect the weak female, but lately Joseph actively partook in the attitude, instead of merely following Ozuma's orders. At least when he'd followed orders the two of them could joke about it. Now Joseph had joined Team Ozuma, also known as Team Mariam-is-a-weak-female.
No, you'll wait for Joseph. I'm sending him to you now.
Yeah, well he could just catch up with her then.
"What are you doing here?" Hilary demanded.
"You followed us," Amber accused, pointing at him then, visibly miffed, she turned away. "Right. We need to go back to the tree. The voice is going apeshit in my head – and shut up for crying out loud! I know, we're going, just hold your freaking horses."
Ian opened his mouth but Hilary shot him a dark look. "Don't!"
Sending him her own venomous look, Amber led them up the slope. Something had happened and she was going to find out what. Maybe there had been a bomb in the city! It had come from that general direction and bombs happened all the time, not that she'd tell her companions that.
It's not a bomb, Morrigan muttered.
Then what? Did the stones fall over or something?
She dug her hands into her pockets and, kicking her feet out from the grass trying to ensnare her legs, she crested the hill and headed to the clearing. She supposed there was one good thing about Ian being here, she could show him Morrigan and not have to listen to any digs about the Voice in her head. She still stung from his attack that morning in her apartment.
She cast him a narrow glance out of the corner of her eye. She'd definitely have to remember to ask why he was with them; after all, she'd been all but lying to them because she was crazy, right? Ha. She'd show him crazy.
"What is it Amber?"
"I don't know," Amber replied, as they pushed branches out of their way and skipped over fallen logs. Ian almost fell over as his foot caught in a piece of uneven ground. Amber did not snicker but it was a near thing. He'd have deserved it.
As she stepped into the clearing, she stopped, trying to understand what she was seeing. It was a mess of fluttering leaves, dust and wild buzzing. And then she saw why and — oh god, oh god, oh god — the tree! Her knees dropped from under her and she threw out a hand to catch herself, feeling needles prick her palm when she hit the ground, her bones jarring. Morrigan keened loudly in her head, a broken wailing sound and it hurt so damn much. Fisting her hand in the dirt, she focused on not retching, sucking deep breaths even as the thick air made her stomach heave.
Rubbing her mouth, she closed her eyes and let the dizziness pass before she looked up at the tree, aware of Ian flanking her and Hilary hovering by her side, rubbing her back.
The tree was down, its stark branches reaching towards them like pointed weapons. It had fallen upon two stones and almost pushed them over in its descent. She rubbed her sore eyes and pinched her nose, while Morrigan inwardly seethed.
"How did this happen?" Amber's whisper sounded loud as it echoed through the silent clearing — no, not silent, the whispers were louder and the gasping moans seemed to echo all around them. She was half afraid of what she might see if she looked at anything but the tree.
"It's a dead tree; it fell over." Ian shrugged.
"No." Amber flinched as Morrigan began to rage like a throbbing ache at the back of her mind, battering fists against an invisible wall as if she could come out and exact vengeance, but the tree was down and Morrigan was trapped once more. "No, that's not — Hilary you saw it, right? It wasn't dead, it was coming back."
"Yes, maybe?" The doubt in Hilary's voice broke her spirit. After everything she'd shown her, she still couldn't simply believe? Rubbing her face, she pushed back onto her knees; feeling the cold, damp dirt press against her jeans.
"It's a tree, calm down."
"But how?" Amber whispered to herself, because it was plain she wasn't going to get any help from her companions, and Morrigan had gone full Bean Sidhe in the back of her head. "It's stood for centuries, and to fall over now? It makes no sense."
"It was old," Hilary murmured.
No, it wasn't something so simple as just a dead tree toppling. Something had knocked it down. Someone had destroyed the tree. That was the only explanation. Someone must have seen them there and destroyed it… somehow. She glared around the clearing, hoping for some kind of clue but there was nothing but silence.
She watched Ian stalked past her and studied it, then scowled as she realised he had his camera out. "Ian!"
She climbed to her feet and approached the tree. The voice became silent in her head as she stepped through the stones and… Nothing happened. There was no power. The circle was broken. Another mournful wail and the forest shivered with noise, rippling out from it like a Mexican wave.
"It's cut."
Amber sent Ian a dark look. "No, it couldn't have been. We'd have heard. Plus it would have taken time, I mean we only left a few minutes before this happened."
Hilary nodded. "Amber's right. We were just here." Her eyes narrowed on Ian. "You didn't do this, did you?"
"No! I watched you guys leave the hotel and followed you here, but then I lost you. I was just arriving as you were coming back from here."
"How did you find us? Amber said no one could find this place."
Ian jerked a shoulder. "Good instincts."
He was lying about how he found them but not about the tree. He came from the wrong direction in the first place and her gut told her it wasn't him. He couldn't have brought down the tree. Though, she didn't think anyone could have cut the tree in the time they'd been gone. Besides, it was warded; it should have been indestructible. It had survived centuries only to be destroyed by a human tool? No.
"There are lots of shavings here, very fine ones. It's been grinded."
"Like what, a chainsaw or buzzsaw?" Amber wondered, kneeling beside him and sifting through the fine dust.
"Or beyblade. I've seen people do that in training," Ian said.
She looked at him sharply — had she just seen a snake around his neck? — and shook her head. "No, a beyblade couldn't have done this. This tree is special. There's just no way."
"Something brought it down."
Amber rubbed her face with her hands, frustration tensing her body as she stood up. "How could this have happened? We were just down there. We'd have heard a chainsaw, we'd smell the petrol and the smoke."
"We'd have heard if it was chopped," Hilary added.
"All I felt was this jerk and then the shudder as it hit the ground."
Ian stood up and looked around, rubbing his shoulder. "What is this place? It gives me creeps."
Amber shrugged her shoulders and stroked her fingers over the rough surface of a narrow capstone. "I don't know. Like I said, the circles were just to let the voice out of me for a while. I guess they had a purpose, gateways… gateways…"
"Are you skipping like CD?" Ian asked, propping his chin in his fist as he watched her, one foot on the trunk.
"If you tear down a door, things can get out."
Hilary tilted her head, a furrow forming between her brows. "You mean the fairies?"
"Not this again," Ian groaned, rubbing his face. His crimson eyes met Hilary's, filled with accusation. "How did she get you?"
Hilary shushed him and stood in front of Amber. "Are you saying the fairies can get out?"
Amber shook her head, as her fingers stroked her temples in soothing circles as if she could console Morrigan. "I don't think so, I mean, I don't know. The thing beyond the veil is probably still asleep. It's not powerful enough to awaken yet. But other things, things that don't need that much strength… well yeah, I guess they could. I just don't know." She blew out a breath and her skin felt clammy and cold. Dropping down to her butt, Amber stared sightlessly. "We are so screwed."
TBC
Night (guest): No time skips - Tyson just has a very simple way of looking at friendships. He figured that since Amber went to the welcome ball with them, that she and Hilary are friends. He doesn't know all the details but he sensed something was off with them before Hilary went to Amber's apartment that morning.
A.N. If there are any mistakes let me know. I wanted to get this chapter done and posted because I spent all April trying to write more of this story and I'm now roughly thirty or so chapters ahead of what I've posted. Any questions feel free to PM me or leave a review and I'll respond if I can.
Reviews are so welcome. It takes days or weeks to write a chapter and a few seconds to review.