Author's Note
So here it is, after months (haha, regular schedule what's that?)
Some big announcements to make here. First and foremost, this story was originally planned to be a long series, but with my passion for HTTYD kinda dead at this point (not for this story, don't worry), and with the time it's taken to write just this, I've decided to keep it as one book, and the 'going into the multiverse' will be the ending, maybe some short stories or something after. I would like to mention that this hasn't had a major effect on the plot of this book, just some minor things I need to wrap up earlier.
This chapter marks the end of the first of three acts, which means that the story when its finished will be around 180,000 words in 30 chapters, at a rough estimate. The other big announcement is that I plan to have this story finished by the end of 2022. It's not a promise, but I'll do my best. Huge thanks to my beta-readers SteenGooier, netWARIOR, and Kwizjunior for their help on this one, they left literally 130+ comments hahaha.
Enjoy this rollercoaster of a chapter!
- O -
- O – O – O – O -
- O -
Chapter 10 – Change
After Aiden's dad told us about the newspaper, we were all left worried and confused. I decided to distract myself by going for a swim, so I sneaked out and, after making sure nobody was around, dove straight off the cliffs and into the water beyond. I propelled myself deeper and deeper with my wings, enjoying the sensation of water rushing across my whole body.
After a while spent chasing shoals of fish, I realized I had lost track of time and rose back to the surface, flying back into the sunlight and feeling the flood of warmth against my scales. I started heading back to the campsite, but as I got closer to the coast again, I got the strangest sensation that I was reliving a memory.
Dozens of people were on the beach and cliffs again, writing!
I kept high, high up and watched them as they moved around, but this time seemed different. They weren't spread over the beach but close to the rocks instead. It looked like they were using small stones to scratch the surface, but I couldn't tell what they were writing yet.
I wasn't sure where Aiden, James, Marcie and David were, but I couldn't see them around, so they might not know what was going on.
Just like before, they all seemed to break out of their trance, look around, and begin their return to the village. Some of them stayed though, talking and taking pictures. With the crowd mostly gone, I could see what they had done to all the rocks and cliffs on the beach.
Two.
Were they counting down?
Dozens more questions entered my mind with that realization, and I knew I needed to tell Aiden and his family about it. Panic beat in my chest as I wanted to dive down to the caravan right then and there, but people were still trickling past. I had to wait an agonizing few minutes, hovering until there was nobody close enough to see me before allowing myself to fall. I snapped out my wings at the last second, landing and snagging the zip of the awning 'door' with my claw. I almost leaped inside, turning to pull it shut quickly behind me.
As I'd hoped, they were all there, and they must have seen the panic in my expression, because Aiden immediately stood up.
"What's wrong?"
"The people were out there again, um—" I spluttered in English, unable to find all the words, and I ended up switching back to my natural language. "They were writing the number two all over the cliffs and rocks, I-I think they're counting down to something!"
Aiden paled and glanced around the awning, as though something might tear right through it. Then he steadied his breathing, and shook his head.
"N-No, I don't think we need to worry about it. It's probably some weird…thing going on with the village. Like an advertising campaign," he nodded to himself.
"What? But the people are all confused, this isn't normal—"
"It's nothing we need to worry about," he interrupted, almost sounding angry. Then he turned and stomped inside the caravan.
A whine built in my throat, and I laid down glumly. Aiden's father gave me an apologetic look, as if he were used to this.
Across the rest of the day, I felt myself actually beginning to feel…frustrated. I tried to shake off the alien sensation, but the more time passed, the more it festered. We discussed the strange numbers and people a few times, but nobody had any answers. When we had exhausted our speculation, Aiden's family wanted to take him out to some places around Durness, and of course I tried to follow along stealthily. I hid on roofs and behind walls, but it didn't help that I had to be left out, because Aiden didn't want me seen by anyone.
I overheard multiple people and children that sounded like they were in distress, and I thought I could help them, but every time Aiden would stop me. He said these were only small everyday things, that they weren't worth risking myself over, but a baby was crying! I needed to help it!
Aiden only told me that it was rude to listen in on others' conversations, and then left me alone again.
- O -
- O – O – O – O -
- O -
Sleeping under Ashburn's wing that night didn't feel nearly as warm as usual.
We barely talked, which was fine by me—I appreciated peace and quiet. It was almost unheard of for him though.
When we got to the caravan that day, surprise surprise, a load of people had trampled the number one into the grass and mud all over the campsite. I wasn't in the mood to discuss it—it didn't mean anything, especially not to us. It was just some stupid local event.
Mum and Dad decided we should go out for a long walk to a beach that was further along the coast, so that Ashburn could spend time…not hiding. I kept a distance ahead of them, trying not to hear their conversation. I failed.
"…asked a few of the people who live here what it was like, but they actually don't have any memory of it," Dad was saying.
"I really have no idea what it could be…and it's worrying me." Ashburn padded alongside them. "Did any of you see…maybe a completely black person?"
"Race has nothing to do with it!" Mum said indignantly.
"Um…I didn't say anything about…racing?" he paused mid-stride.
"You can't assume that it was a black person involved—!"
"I don't think that's what he meant, Marcie," I heard Dad say carefully.
"I meant…Aiden and I saw a really strange, completely dark person…it didn't look like light was even hitting them—"
"It doesn't matter!" I spun on my heel. "None of it matters, and none of it fucking concerns us!"
"Aiden—!" Mum started furiously, but she was stopped short.
"OF COURSE IT MATTERS!" Ashburn screeched. Everyone flinched and I fell backward as he seemed truly angry for the first time. He stormed towards me as I lay on the ground, his wings-half opened, and I was urgently aware of the sheer size of him.
"Ever since I came here, to help you—," he snarled, poking a razor-sharp claw close to my chest. "—you kept me away from everyone that you don't like, from people that I could help, and it's not FAIR!"
Beneath my heart-shuddering shock and terrified nerves, I couldn't help but hear undertones of a child's tantrum in those words.
"Something is happening, even if you can't admit it, and people are going to get hurt! It's my job to help them, and I'm going to, whether you want me to or not!"
My throat had clammed up and my vision swam as I stared. He looked like he wanted to say more, but suddenly leapt from the ground and flew away from us, leaving me lost and scared. I felt as though a boulder had dropped onto my chest.
After a few seconds I started to push myself up, arms shivering. Dad helped me to my feet. I could hear James crying.
I think he asked me something, I wasn't sure. I couldn't tell past the shell-shock. My legs shifted numbly beneath me, as I started to head back. Mum tried to pull me back, grabbing my shoulder, but I shook her off.
I just wanted to lie down.
- O -
- O – O – O – O -
- O -
I screeched, trying to release some of my pent-up rage, thrashing my wings against the air as though I was fighting it.
My whole body felt tense and wound up. I clenched my legs against my sides, claws curled as tightly as they would go, tail whipping up and down forcefully.
Hot tears were stolen by the wind as they streaked along my face; why couldn't I shed this awful feeling?!
I had felt a little frustration before, in the Above, but with a physical way to express it I could barely control myself anymore. My own body felt unrestrainable, and every time I moved it fed angry thoughts back into my head, looping over and over, making my insides twist themselves into knots, my mind flashing horrible things I could do in front of me until I couldn't stand the pressure any longer—!
I threw my head back to scream, feeling something powerful building in my gut, and inhaled as deeply as I could, my chest swelling. I barely registered a strange twitch in the back of my throat, only clenched my eyes shut as I let out a rising, shrieking roar, and felt a blistering rush of hot air escape my maw.
I only had a few seconds to regain my senses, feeling a little relieved at the release, before a massive explosion knocked me out of the sky.
The shockwave threw me backwards, tumbling in mid-air, completely disoriented. I tried to flap my wings but only succeeded in making things worse in my panic. After several moments of screeching and spinning, I had the sense to tuck my wings in, allowing myself to dive and even out, before flinging them open again and hovering in place.
I gaped up at the huge fireball above me, fading into smoke. Had I caused that?! The weight of my own limbs seemed to suddenly increase as I focused on them, dragging me towards the earth. My breaths were short, as though rage had been the only thing filling my lungs.
My eyes fell to the land below me, roving aimlessly, suddenly feeling a bit lost, until I remembered what I'd done.
Oh Chaos, Aiden!
With newfound energy I glanced around for the trail we had been walking on, and followed it until I saw him, slouched and doggedly pacing back towards the campsite. I immediately went into a shallow dive, flapping my wings to gain speed. My heart ached with sorrow and regret as tears stung my eyes.
I saw he had stopped, staring at where I had shot all my fire into the sky, but as I neared him he turned away again.
"I'm sorry!" I burst out as I landed roughly, wincing as I showered him with dirt. "I-I don't understand it, I couldn't control myself, m-my emotions just took over…"
"Go away."
He didn't even look at me.
"But I didn't mean any of it, I just…"
A little voice nagged in the back of my head, that I had meant it, I did believe what I said, but I didn't want to shout, or be so furious. My heart drooped, my throat closed up, and I couldn't speak anymore.
"…I'm…going to sleep in the caravan tonight," Aiden seemed to struggle to get the words out, but then he took off running, and I sat down, watching him go.
In just a few minutes, my world had come crashing down around me.
I suppressed a wail into a sob, and told myself that my emotions wouldn't get the better of me again. I sniffed determinedly, standing back up.
I still had to apologize to Aiden's family.
- O -
- O – O – O – O -
- O -
I listened to the wind battering the caravan, staring at the blank wall as I lay on one of the bunks. The weather had been getting steadily worse for the last two hours, bringing torrential rain and stinging cold.
I wondered if Ashburn—
No! He could deal with it on his own. I wasn't thinking about him.
The lump in my throat became painful, as though it was trying to burst out of me. I pushed the cry of anguish back down, hiding my face in my arms and feeling my sleeves dampen.
I heard someone pull back the curtain that separated the sleeping area from the rest of the caravan.
"Aiden?"
It was Dad.
"There's some food, if you want…"
"Not hungry."
My voice was warped and I hated it. I just wanted everything to go away, to go back to the way it was. Everything right now was hopeless.
I pulled the blankets over me, hiding myself from this awful world, a keening noise squeezing through my throat.
I lost track of time after that, wallowing in my own thoughts and only making myself feel worse and worse. At some point I must have cried myself to sleep, because I woke with a jolt to complete darkness.
The shock was disorienting, and I forgot where I was for a moment, before I sat up and immediately smacked my head against the bunk above me.
I fell back onto my pillows with a wince, hand on my forehead. Why had I woken up? It felt like I'd been electrocuted. I lay still as the rain pelted all around me, the caravan rocking slightly in the strong gales.
I flinched as a flash cut through the pitch blackness, and immediately reached for the curtains despite knowing the lightning would have long since faded in the brief moment it took me to look outside. Several seconds passed, and just as I was about to give up and close them again, a peal of thunder rolled across the area, and the jolt came again.
Go!
Before I even registered what I was doing, I had flung the blankets back and swung my legs onto the floor. Then my senses returned to me, and I stared around, extremely confused. What just happened?
I twitched a little, as though raring to move, but I didn't understand why. I stood up and stretched, trying to lessen the tension in my muscles. It worked, for a brief moment, and another flash lit up the whole room.
Nothing.
And then…the roar of thunder swelled to a crescendo, and I felt the adrenaline rush through me again, pushing me to my feet, wrenching on my shoes and chucking me towards the door. I fought it, stopping with one hand on the handle, the other clenching the frame.
This was starting to seem familiar…
"Mmh…why're you up?" I heard Mum mutter sleepily. Their bed was at the front of the caravan, and was turned into a table and chairs in the day; the mattress designed to be used as padding for the seats.
"I…I'm not sure," I admitted, staring at my whitened knuckles. I'd felt something akin to this a few weeks ago, and it was similarly dark then.
"Are you feeling better?" she asked, waking up a little.
I stared around the caravan, as though the answer would reveal itself to me. "I guess…"
I definitely wasn't feeling as miserable; sleep had cleared my head, but I didn't know what to think about what had happened with Ashburn…
Ashburn!
This time the drumming thunder crashed almost in unison with the lightning, and my body was once again jumpstarted into action.
I flung the door open and leaped into the awning. I had eyes only for the zipped entrance, and was outside in the bellowing cold in seconds, running I-didn't-know-where. It might have been my imagination, but on the next bang of thunder, I could have sworn I heard a screech.
There was no stopping me now. Despite the rain flying into my eyes, pitch darkness, and wind stealing the air from my lungs, I kept sprinting, my whole body pumping. I seemed to know where to go on instinct, though I stumbled over and over, I kept pushing towards my tent.
I could definitely make out his cries now, calling my name. I needed to be with him.
I practically vaulted the stile on the fence that marked the campsite's border, the gusts of gales shoving me around. Once every few seconds, lightning would throw the world into sharp relief for a moment, and it was in one of those moments that I finally saw the small canvas mound that was my tent.
I heard it now, clear as day.
"AIIDENN!"
His wail drove me even further. I felt as though I was flying across the grass, my feet barely touching the ground. The wind was at my back now, throwing me towards the one person I knew I couldn't live without.
I fell at the zip and feverishly pulled it open with fingers frozen stiff, crawled inside, and shut myself away from the blistering downpour. I was met with a quivering black mass that filled most of the space, his snout pushed into one corner trying to get away from the noise.
As I took this in, and the exhaustion from my sprint caught up to me, everything we had said the previous day was wiped away. I crawled forward a bit, reaching out to soothe him, when the next bang of thunder sounded in sync with the lightning—the storm was right on top of us.
Instantly Ashburn had whirled around, yanking me forward and shoving his snout into my stomach, desperately clinging to my body in any way he could. The breath was knocked out of me so hard I shook. Then I realized it wasn't me—Ashburn was trembling like a leaf.
"Calm down, it's just a storm…" I tried to soothe him, voice half strangled through his steel grip. "Can you…just…can't breathe…"
He lessened his hold a little, and I gasped as my chest was allowed to move, though his grasp remained very tight.
I freed one of my arms, scratching his neck the way he liked, hoping to get him to relax even a tiny amount.
"Look, it's noise, it can't hurt you…"
His whole body convulsed in a flinch as lightning flashed again, and half a second later the intense rumble followed, causing him to try and draw more of himself against me.
"I d-d-don't want t-to die…" he sobbed.
"Oh Ashburn…" my heart pulsed with sympathy at his words. All I could do was stay here with him and provide what comfort I could until the storm passed.
I wanted to wish it away; for the storm to clear and the world to fall into silence. He didn't deserve to be put through this. I wrapped my arms over his earfins, trying to at least muffle his hearing somewhat.
We stayed like this for at least another hour as the weather slowly blew itself out, thunder and lightning becoming quieter and sparser while the low-pressure front moved away.
- O -
- O – O – O – O -
- O -
As sensation reached my body again, I felt safe. I didn't want to move from my curled-up position, holding Aiden to my chest, warm and secure. His heartbeat was so much quieter than my own, and it struck me in that moment, despite everything that happened last night, how fragile he really was.
I never wanted to let him go.
I nuzzled into his hair, pulling my wings a little tighter around us as he started to shift awake. For a few peaceful minutes we snoozed, before Aiden suddenly jerked and tried to sit up a little. I released my hold, seeing his panicked expression.
"It's going to happen today."
"Wh-what?"
"The countdown thing, whatever it is—"
"I'm sorry I shouted," I blurted out, feeling a pressure release inside me as I said it. "I should have just talked to you, but I just couldn't control my emotions, it just took over and I hated it!"
"I'm sorry too. I didn't take you seriously, and…I didn't want anything to go wrong. After Sophie, and then the Silhouette, I just…I wanted to hide from it all," his voice shook a little at her name, and I coiled my tail reassuringly around his shoulders.
"When…when I dropped you…did you feel like I did last night? I was so terrified, I couldn't even…" I cringed at the memory of the torrential noise.
"Yeah. It felt exactly like that."
"I'm so sorry." Tears prickled my eyes.
"Y-yeah, me too, a lot. I shouldn't have left you alone out here," he gave me a brief hug, before pulling back again, worry returning to his expression. "We've both been out of sorts the last couple of days, and the whole time that weird event has been going on. It's zero-day, and we need to see what happens, and make sure nobody gets hurt, whatever it is."
"Okay," I nodded as Aiden got up, throwing on his jacket and rucksack. Within a minute we were both outside and flying towards the campsite. The sun was just rising, it was still dark, but I knew something was wrong before we even got close. I could see some kind of markings all over the caravan and awning.
As I landed, Aiden immediately jumped off and ran inside. I stood up on my hind legs and looked around; there were no people, and none of the other caravans had been touched. But the number zero had been scratched and ripped into the paint and plastic of ours.
I darted through the zip opening, relief washing over me to see Aiden waking up his family, who didn't even know anything had happened.
"We need to leave. Now," he gestured at all the holes in the awning, the numbers that had been scored into the surface of the caravan.
"But we've still paid for several more days here!" Marcie argued. David and James looked terrified.
"No, he's right dear, I think we should go. Maybe you could go and ask them for a partial refund?"
"No!" Aiden shouted, and everyone looked at him. "Nobody go anywhere. Whatever this is…it's targeting us. Let's stay together, pack up and leave."
"What about the tent?" I asked.
"Uh…we'll fly over, take out the pegs and just take the whole thing back here. It won't take more than a minute."
"I don't get it, why do we have to go?" James spoke up.
"Because we have no idea what this is, what it's doing, or why it's focusing on us," Aiden answered. He gave me a sideways glance, and I knew we were both thinking the same thing; 'this is my fault'.
The entire time we were away from the caravan, we kept looking back, expecting to see…something happening, but nothing came. We were back with the tent in my paws in no time, and I was able to help David take down the awning as he told me what to do. Marcie and James packed away everything into the caravan securely, Aiden folded up the tent and strapped it onto the outside of his rucksack, and in half an hour's time we were ready to leave.
"Are you coming in the car?" James asked his brother.
"I…" Aiden and I locked eyes. "…No, but we'll fly as close as we can, there'll be almost no traffic at this time of day." When James turned away again, Aiden came over to me.
"Shouldn't you—" I began, but he cut me off.
"I'm not leaving you again," he pressed his forehead against mine, and I crooned. I knew I should try and make him stay with his family, but secretly I couldn't be happier.
- O – O – O – O -
- O -
- O – O – O – O -
For the first hour of the journey, it was tense and quiet. We had no idea what to expect, if anything at all, so we just stayed close and watched. Each tight corner in the winding roads made me hold my breath until the car had passed. Once, a deer leapt out onto the road and caused a near miss. I could feel Aiden fiercely gripping onto me for the ten minutes that followed.
The sun slowly rose, the clouds cleared, and the roads got busier. I was left with fewer places to hide, and had to fly higher and higher to keep out of sight. Aiden had just told me we were about half an hour from Inverness when we heard the screech of tires.
Instantly I dived for the road, but I would never have been fast enough to stop what happened.
A truck had veered across the road, hitting them head on. Another had been behind them, and made no movement to avoid the crash as it ploughed into the caravan. In a matter of seconds, the car had been crumpled beyond belief, pinned between the two lorries going at full speed.
I was numb. Aiden was screaming.
My heart tore as I landed, looking at the tangled mass of metal. I couldn't even see any of them.
Aiden tried to heave at the wreckage, as though he could prise it apart and pull them out, alive and well. His fingernails scrabbled uselessly against what had been windows, fracture lines spread so densely across them that they looked white. The body of metal had ripples across it as though it were water, frozen as it was disturbed, forever to imprison its charges.
Oh Chaos, was that their blood coming out of…
I screwed my eyes shut, unable to look at it, unable to think that they were…
As much as I tried to block out the world, I could hear the screeching of other cars coming to a stop, my own cries, Aiden's wailing and sobbing as he fell to his knees at the crash. I could barely move with shock, and I had only known them for a few days, grown to love their little quirks. But they were Aiden's family, he had grown up with them his whole life, a timespan I couldn't even begin to imagine.
I could almost collapse with how badly I was shaking, with fury, with grief. How could anyone do this?!
And I knew someone was behind it. Someone was so horrible, so vile, that they enjoyed seeing us suffer.
I slowly raised my head, squinting through my tears, and what I saw next turned my blood cold.
The shadow of a human figure was standing over Aiden's hunched form, who was screaming now not with misery, but torment.
"YOU!" I screeched, throwing myself at it, my vision suddenly clear as day and burning red. I bore down on it with all my force, all my strength, but at the last moment it simply disappeared, and my claws only scraped the tarmac. I rapidly scanned the area, standing protectively over Aiden, but it was gone.
I roared into the sky, releasing all my loathing into the void. I felt the shakiness returning to me as I panted for breath, still whipping my head back and forth, watching. There were more people now. Other cars had stopped at the crash, staring at me, taking pictures. How could they be taking pictures right now?!
I remembered Aiden's warnings about being seen, about how people would treat me. Realization slowly dawned; I needed to get out of here.
I scooped Aiden up in my paws, but he began kicking and twisting, shouting at me, desperate that his parents and brother were alive. But I knew they couldn't be.
I tightened my hold and took off as he still struggled, wailing their names. I didn't care which way I went, as long as it was away from everyone else.
We needed to hide.