Part 18
Galadriel opened her eyes and groaned. The last thing
she remembered was...not a hell of a lot. She hurt all
over, felt weak and drained. Her vision was swimming
with darkness and coloured lights. Where was she?
She sat up, wincing as a wave of nausea seared up from
her stomach. She shuddered, wondering if she was going
to be sick, but wasn't. All around her were tall
things, yellow and pointy, leaves brushing her face,
something trapping her ankles. Corn...she was in a corn
field. ~What the...where are the Children?~ she thought
absently.
But she felt sure she wasn't starring in some crappy,
made-for-cable-laughably-bad horror movie. She pulled
herself to her feet, trying to get her bearings. The
stars were still swirling above, her vision not quite
settled.
The image of stars brought something back to her
mind...a person. Medium girl with brown hair and green
eyes. Something about a prophecy...and prophecies were
generally never very good news.
She managed to make her way to the main road,
wondering how far out of town she was. She looked down
at herself to see she was a mess. Her clothes were
dirty, ripped. Her black hair was a tangled, bushy
mess. She could see a signpost with the words OAK
HILL, pop 254359 hand painted in black letters. The
sign was at an odd angle, she noted absently. She
reached into her pockets, and pulled out a small Nokia
phone with a red case.
She switched it on and searched through the address
book. Looking at the names.
Garret...Lareina...Demios...Dawn...Headquarters...Home...Mom...Mom
work...Mom cell...Tristan...Heidi...Kirima...
None of them seemed familiar to her. She frowned as
she tried the first one, Garret. The only thing she
remembered was her own name, which was a namesake for
someone else, though she wasn't sure where it was
from. It didn't really seem all that important.
Galadriel waited for the number to dial.
"Galadriel?" a male voice answered. "What happened,
where are you?"
"Standing outside the sign that has the town name on,"
she answered. "Can you come pick me up?"
"Sure...I'll be there in about ten minutes. Is Star with
you?"
"Um...no...I'm alone, my memory is a little fuzzy. I think
I've might have been in a fight or something. I'm all
bloody and dirty."
"Stay where you are," whoever this Garret person was.
"I'll be there ASAP." He hung up, Galadriel had no
choice but to wait.
* * *
Garret sighed as he put the phone down. "As if things
aren't bad enough. It seems like Galadriel and Star
have run into problems. Star's gone and Galadriel's
memory is fuzzy."
Lareina's eyes rolled. "There's a spell I can do to
deal with that, it's not that big a deal. You go get
her."
Garret looked over at Dido, who was sat on the couch,
still in her pink bathrobe, cuddling him tightly. She
was still shaken after her ordeal and he couldn't
really blame her. She had told them everything she
knew, they were going to get Star, and try to get
Elisabetta and Orion to join them. And the idea of
Elisabetta and Pythia joining forces was not fun.
He sighed, wishing he had never been born a Redfern
and introduced right off to family power. He'd enjoyed
it while he could, but when he'd killed his own
soulmate...
He hadn't realised what was going on until she was
dead in his arms. A friend of Elisabetta's, a simple
witch, an easy meal was all he'd been thinking. When
he'd taken the blood it had been unusually sweet...the
telepathic connection amazing. He should have
known...the girl...he didn't even remember her name...had
tried to tell him...he'd ignored her, thought it was a
trick to get him to let her go.
It was only afterwards when he felt like he'd been
severed from something, that she had been telling the
truth. He had murdered his own soulmate. And he had
never been the same. He'd faked his own death to the
Night World, abandoned Elisabetta and Pythia and hit
in the protection of Circle Daybreak. Granted, he
wasn't one of their favourite people and it had taken
almost twenty years to convince them he was on their
side.
He had come into the modern world quite well, and his
heart had been stolen by Dido. Originally, she had
kicked his ass, thinking he was a Night World vampire.
She surprised him in lots of little ways, like that.
Pythia had tried to use her against him...and she was
going to pay for that. His eyes had narrowed,
darkening with hatred. He wished he hadn't made her,
or Elisabetta for that matter. But wishing wouldn't
change anything. Action and two long wooden stakes
would.
But right now he had to go find Galadriel before
any...he almost laughed to himself as he walked out the
door. He'd almost said went wrong. What a cliché. The
way this whole nutty Wild Power thing was going...of
*course* something else was going to happen. Star
appeared to be gone.
There was something else that needed working out.
Maybe they should form some sort of Daybreaker's Work
Union for overtime, he thought as he got in his car
and went to get Galadriel.
* * *
Galadriel opened her eyes and groaned. The last thing
she remembered was...not a hell of a lot. She hurt all
over, felt weak and drained. Her vision was swimming
with darkness and coloured lights. Where was she?
She sat up, wincing as a wave of nausea seared up from
her stomach. She shuddered, wondering if she was going
to be sick, but wasn't. All around her were tall
things, yellow and pointy, leaves brushing her face,
something trapping her ankles. Corn...she was in a corn
field. ~What the...where are the Children?~ she thought
absently.
But she felt sure she wasn't starring in some crappy,
made-for-cable-laughably-bad horror movie. She pulled
herself to her feet, trying to get her bearings. The
stars were still swirling above, her vision not quite
settled.
The image of stars brought something back to her
mind...a person. Medium girl with brown hair and green
eyes. Something about a prophecy...and prophecies were
generally never very good news.
She managed to make her way to the main road,
wondering how far out of town she was. She looked down
at herself to see she was a mess. Her clothes were
dirty, ripped. Her black hair was a tangled, bushy
mess. She could see a signpost with the words OAK
HILL, pop 254359 hand painted in black letters. The
sign was at an odd angle, she noted absently. She
reached into her pockets, and pulled out a small Nokia
phone with a red case.
She switched it on and searched through the address
book. Looking at the names.
Garret...Lareina...Demios...Dawn...Headquarters...Home...Mom...Mom
work...Mom cell...Tristan...Heidi...Kirima...
None of them seemed familiar to her. She frowned as
she tried the first one, Garret. The only thing she
remembered was her own name, which was a namesake for
someone else, though she wasn't sure where it was
from. It didn't really seem all that important.
Galadriel waited for the number to dial.
"Galadriel?" a male voice answered. "What happened,
where are you?"
"Standing outside the sign that has the town name on,"
she answered. "Can you come pick me up?"
"Sure...I'll be there in about ten minutes. Is Star with
you?"
"Um...no...I'm alone, my memory is a little fuzzy. I think
I've might have been in a fight or something. I'm all
bloody and dirty."
"Stay where you are," whoever this Garret person was.
"I'll be there ASAP." He hung up, Galadriel had no
choice but to wait.
* * *
Garret sighed as he put the phone down. "As if things
aren't bad enough. It seems like Galadriel and Star
have run into problems. Star's gone and Galadriel's
memory is fuzzy."
Lareina's eyes rolled. "There's a spell I can do to
deal with that, it's not that big a deal. You go get
her."
Garret looked over at Dido, who was sat on the couch,
still in her pink bathrobe, cuddling him tightly. She
was still shaken after her ordeal and he couldn't
really blame her. She had told them everything she
knew, they were going to get Star, and try to get
Elisabetta and Orion to join them. And the idea of
Elisabetta and Pythia joining forces was not fun.
He sighed, wishing he had never been born a Redfern
and introduced right off to family power. He'd enjoyed
it while he could, but when he'd killed his own
soulmate...
He hadn't realised what was going on until she was
dead in his arms. A friend of Elisabetta's, a simple
witch, an easy meal was all he'd been thinking. When
he'd taken the blood it had been unusually sweet...the
telepathic connection amazing. He should have
known...the girl...he didn't even remember her name...had
tried to tell him...he'd ignored her, thought it was a
trick to get him to let her go.
It was only afterwards when he felt like he'd been
severed from something, that she had been telling the
truth. He had murdered his own soulmate. And he had
never been the same. He'd faked his own death to the
Night World, abandoned Elisabetta and Pythia and hit
in the protection of Circle Daybreak. Granted, he
wasn't one of their favourite people and it had taken
almost twenty years to convince them he was on their
side.
He had come into the modern world quite well, and his
heart had been stolen by Dido. Originally, she had
kicked his ass, thinking he was a Night World vampire.
She surprised him in lots of little ways, like that.
Pythia had tried to use her against him...and she was
going to pay for that. His eyes had narrowed,
darkening with hatred. He wished he hadn't made her,
or Elisabetta for that matter. But wishing wouldn't
change anything. Action and two long wooden stakes
would.
But right now he had to go find Galadriel before
any...he almost laughed to himself as he walked out the
door. He'd almost said went wrong. What a cliché. The
way this whole nutty Wild Power thing was going...of
*course* something else was going to happen. Star
appeared to be gone.
There was something else that needed working out.
Maybe they should form some sort of Daybreaker's Work
Union for overtime, he thought as he got in his car
and went to get Galadriel.
* * *
