**Hi, I bet no one remembers me. My pen name used to be Danae Amadeus, but I got bored with that, and decided to just go back to using my usual pen name Eboni. It has been a very long time since I've updated this story. My excuses are legitimate (well to me anyways lol). I blame my lack of updates on extreme slothfulness, and forgetfulness (I forgot my password to my ff.net account, and forgot the password to the e-mail address I was having the forgotten password mailed to if I ever forgot it. I know, I know, not too bright am I, lol. But anyway, I was having agreat day today and thought I'd try my luck at discovering my password and I did. I hope you enjoy this chapter of A Touch Of Silver, it's short, but it's also the second to last chapter. Please review, sorry for the wait...oh and check out my new story :) Take care!**
Disclaimer: I don't know them, they don't know me.
Chapter 17
"It's getting dark," Kento said staring out of the jeep window, "I don't like it...It's too dark."
Ryo was frowning, "As childish as it sounds, he's right. It's not time for it to be this dark...unless a storm is blowing in. It feels so wrong."
"It's the Darklings," Mia said with a nod.
"Do you think they've found Sylvia?" Kento wondered.
"Who cares about that? Do you think they've found Sage?" Ryo was tapping his fingers nervously against the glass pane, "Mia, can you drive faster? We have to see if they are there, so if they aren't we can go looking for them immediately.."
"I am really, really scared," Kento said from the backseat, "At least with Talpa we knew what we were fighting, and we...we were equipt to fight him. With these things...Shit, we can't even see them! And we left Rowen's gadget at home!" He looked up at the frighteningly pitch black sky, "I am really, really scared."
"What are you Shivoni, and what is he?" Rowen asked very bluntly, he had no time to try being polite, "Why did you leave him? How did you know where to find us?"
Shivoni glanced at Rowen sharply and answered with a question of her own, "Where are you taking him?"
"We're taking him to his mother's hospital..."
"No, he cannot go there..."
"Why not?"
"Other place! Where else can we go?!" Shivoni waved her hand impatiently, her tone so authoritative that Cye shook his head and answered, "We can meet our friends..."
"In a private indoor area?"
"Yes."
"Good, I will tell you all you need to know then. Now, we concentrate on moving quickly. THEY will find us easily in this location."
Rowen and Cye passed inquiring glances at one another. Why were they doing what this woman said? She was a complete stranger to them. For all they knew, she could be yet another Witch leading them into a trap. But their hearts told them that she wasn't, their hearts told them to trust her... So they continued on their route to the old apartment building.
This was no ordinary woman. The two boys moved incredibly fast in their armors, the pace they set was impossible for a normal human to keep up. Shivoni walked along side of them, never falling out of stride with them, and not even breaking a sweat. She wasn't even breathing hard!
It was a 15 minutes trip to the small complex. By the time they reached it, the sky was dark as onyx. Rowen gave an involuntary shudder, "It's not supposed to be this dark..."
"No, it isn't," Shivoni said in her low voice.
"They're coming," Sage whispered softly. Rowen frowned at his words, about to ask if Sage had meant the Darklings when Shivoni nodded solemnly, "They are close."
"Will they hurt me?"
"I am here to protect you..."
"Can you?"
Shivoni was quiet, "It is rather dark in this complex. Are you certain your friends are inside?"
Rowen and Cye blinked at Shivoni's subterfuge to Sage's question, "I sense them inside,
Cye said quickly after sharing a look with Rowen. As they neared the stairwell that would lead them to Mia's apartment, they heard a familiar voice shouting for them, "Rowen! Cye! You found him! Is he ok, why ya carrying him? Who's that lady?" Kento came bounding down the stairs. He readily embraced Cye and Rowen, and took Sage from them, frowning when the blond didn't stir to greet him. "How long's he been out? And who's the dame?"
"Kento, this is Shivoni, Shivoni, this is Kento... and he's pretty much been out of it ever since we found him... probably about an hour, huh? He snapped out of it for a few minutes back there, but he's pretty sick. We were gonna take him to a hospital, but we ran into her, and she said it was a bad idea."
Kento's frown deepened as they traveled up the stairs, "Shivoni...the witch that marked him? Really?"
Shivoni said nothing, but Cye nodded. When they approached the door, it was open, and Ryo and Mia stood ready to accept them. Kento pushed past them so he could lie Sage down on the couch. Mia followed after him anxiously, Ryo was about to follow when he laid eyes on Shivoni, "Who's this?"
"Ryo, Shivoni, Shivoni, Ryo," Rowen introduced the two briefly before pushing his way inside so he could shut the door an lock it behind him. "You guys run into any trouble out there?"
"No, did you?"
"Not really," Cye said.
"So you're Shivoni?" Ryo asked as the walked to join Kento and Mia around the couch. Mia was kneeling beside Sage with her hand to his brow, "Kento...go wet a towel please... Cye, go find him a blanket." Cye and Kento nodded jogging off in different directions to complete their designated tasks.
"Yes, I am Shivoni."
"I assume you show up now, because you can do something to help us?" Ryo raised as eyebrow, he was at his wit's end. He was a leader without a plan, or confidence that his tea would pull through and win this fight. Shivoni leveled Ryo with her silvery gaze, "No."
Ryo's face fell, "But... I can do something to help Sage."
"And what is that?" Rowen asked, "Can you cure him? You know what's wrong with him?"
Shivoni looked serene, she lightly put her hand over Mia's moving her hands from Sage's damp brow. She replaced Mia's cool palm with her own rougher palm, she closed her eyes and began to hum softly. The hum had no tune, it was rather flat and unpleasant. When she opened her eyes they looked cloudy and far-seeing, "He's been touched by one of Them.... a Witch." She removed her hand, and for first time looked worried.
"Yeah we know, the Witch's name is Sylvia. She wanted him for something, but from the way she was acting, and what she was saying, she did whatever she was trying to do wrong," Mia said, looking up to the older woman, startled by her strange appearance, and odd eyes...they reminded her of Sage's.
"That idiot. I sensed she was young.... the young ones know nothing of us. If she had, she never would have gone after him."
"What is US?" Rowen questioned, "What are you, and what is he?"
"I notice you have the same eyes...."
Shivoni took a light breathe and gazed at each of the young people before her, "We are simply known as the Silver Ones...our race's existence stems from the beginning of time.. There have always been Silver Ones. We are the psychics, the witches, the scientists, and scholars....we are the Children of Light."
"There are many of you?" Ryo asked, he glanced down at Sage who trembled, as he slept fitfully. Kento returned with the damp towel, handing it to Mia, and taking a seat on the floor beside her. He didn't utter a word, he sensed that an important conversation was going on that didn't need to be interrupted. He'd have Ryo or someone tell him what he'd missed out on later.
"Yes....but not here."
"Not here? What do you mean by that? There aren't many in Japan? Is that why you went to America?"
Shivoni actually cracked a small smile then, as she shook her head, "No child, that is not why I went to America. I went to America because I had to tend to another Lost Child in need of me. I sealed Sage off to protect him while I was away....I was going to take him with me when I returned."
"Another Lost Child? And take him where?"
"Children of Light are not of this plane, child. There was an accident long ago, and some of our race was lost to us..they were scattered throughout the 7 planes. Some lost their memories and started families and blending with other races.... The mixed blood thins the Silver... but in some children, true children, the power remained strong."
"Sage?"
"Is one of those children...a Lost Child. Their power is great enough to cry out to us in our Halls, and we come to return them to their rightful home where they can live in peace, shielded from the tortures of the wandering thoughts and turmoil of emotion from the untrained, unknowing minds of the other planes."
"You...you were going to take Sage away? Are you going to take him away now?" Kento looked ready to fight.
Shivoni was quiet, "He is linked to a Witch. He cannot be removed as long as he is linked to this realm by magic."
"But Sylvia said something was wrong with the link...even you said she didn't know better... And, Sage saw her for the monster she was. She's lost her power over him."
"Sage is not linked to the young one..."
"What?"
"The young one, this Sylvia, she is not alone. She had an elder..."
"Her mother."
"And this elder is very ill.... she came to Japan in search of a being with the means to heal her elder."
"Sylvia's mother is sick.... oh man.... so Sylvia linked Sage to her, and..."
"Yes."
"But...why didn't they just ask? Sage has healing powers, he would have just healed her."
"A Witch does not get ill in a way that can be healed with what Sage has.... she needed life energy... this spell of transference kills the being that the energy is being drawn from. Sage is not the being Sylvia though he was, she knows nothing of us, and when one attempts a spell unprepared using strong magic they go awry. In this case, Sylvia's mother's illness has been transferred to Sage, so that they feel the same pain, but her mother is still dying, but now her immanent death will be reciprocal to Sage's."
"Sage's? Are you saying he's dying?"
"If the elder Witch dies, then Sage will die as well."
"Oh God, what do we do? How do we stop this?"
"We must undo what has been done."
"And how do we do that?"
"The casting Witch must break the link."
"Sylvia hates us."
"She must break the link, or no one can help him... she does not have to be present, she simply has to agree to release her magic."
"Perfect..." Kento sighed, "So we gotta deal with Queen Bitch again, and somehow convince her to help us...."
"We must FIND Queen Bitch again, as well," Cye said, sounding as hopeless as Kento had. He had returned a minute after Kento and had wrapped Sage up in a blanket. Rowen made a face at Cye, "We'll have no problem finding her. I know where she is.... I just don't know what we could say without her blowing us up."
"She will not attack you again...another outburst while the Darklings are too near will attract them right to her."
"That's nice to know... but still..."
"We could offer to protect her...maybe we could tell her that you and Sage could help her. I mean, Sage did a good job of getting rid of the Darklings and their familiar the last time we dealt with them. If he could do it, without knowing what he was doing...I'm sure you could."
"Silver Ones have no quarrel with the Darklings, they respect our territory, as we respect theirs."
"But they're killing people, and trying to take over everything..."
"The Darklings are limited to their own plane. They cannot survive here for long, as the Witches have discovered the hard way. The young ones are more resilient, but soon Sylvia will start to feel the same effects as her elder. You do not have to worry about the Darklings."
"The Darklings seemed pretty interested in Sage... they sent a familiar to get him. He almost was taken from us..."
"They attempted to seize a Lost Child?"
Rowen nodded, "Yeah.. Twice."
Shivoni blinked, her mouth a straight line, "I will have to speak with Council."
"Is there a problem?"
"The Darklings are not to touch our Children... if they were to take one... they would have something to use against us. We care about nothing, but the well being of our people."
"He'd be a hostage? What about the other Lost Children? Couldn't the Darklings take them too?"
"The Children that shine have been returned. Darklings can only sense the ones they can see...Sage's seal unraveled when the Witch placed her spell on him, so the Darklings saw... and after gazing at my seal, knew I was not in close proximity, and that there was a Witch linked to him."
"So Sage is a sitting duck?"
"Not anymore. He is under my protection now from the Darklings....but not the Witch. You must go to her and convince her to break the link, without that, Sage is lost to us."
"Dammit! How come nothing we have to do can ever be easy?" Kento whined.
Sylvia sat beside her mother in a cold plastic chair she had dragged beside the bed stroking her long silken hair, "I've failed you Mommy, and now They are coming. They are too close for me to even try to leave this world now. I was foolish and should have left a long time ago. I should have known I'd never be able to make a spell like this work. All I've done is doomed you, and... him." She shuddered to think of him, her Sage.
Or rather the person she used to think of as her Sage, the new entity she had dealt with in Sage's shell was like nothing she had ever seen before. His power hurt her... nothing hurt her, but the Darklings' energy. But Sage was not a Darkling, he craved light too much, and seemed to be the living embodiment of it.
She hadn't known him at all after all, just as he hadn't known her. She figured it was only fair, for after all she had marked him for death, so in return he had also marked her for it. She sat and trembled as she awaited her fate. They would be there soon, she gazed out the window at the darkening sky, and began to loosely braid her mothers hair.
Waiting was hell.
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