Left Behind

Chapter Three

Disclaimer: The Dark is Rising Sequence and all its characters belong to Susan Cooper, and I would never take credit for her wonderful work. This plot does belong to me, though.

A/N: Hey, thanks for the reviews everyone! And about the second chapter, sorry about that…Anika and Anna are one and the same, it's just that Anika's name used to be Anna, and I wrote the bit about the Rider before I even began this fanfic. So, when I transferred that part from my notebook to the computer, I forgot to change her name. *grins sheepishly*

Anyways, if Anika starts to become a Mary-Sue, or Will gets too out-of-character or anything like that, please tell me, because I DO NOT want to end up doing that! But if it's not too much trouble maybe you could point out the parts that they get that way too.

Zara: Thanks for telling me about that whole deux-en-machina thing, I'll try to remember that. But, well, Mr. Dawkins is there already, so I guess I might as well just  leave him alone. Thanks so much for all the suggestions!

Silent H: I think Will would probably grow old then stay old, because otherwise his family might notice, but then we can never be sure…

Anyway, enough with the babbling, on with the story! = )

Will lay on his bed, deep in thought.

So…was that what he was supposed to watch out for all along? Anika?

He knew now that last night Merriman had gone to great lengths to reach him, from wherever he was, and that it was the last bit of communication that he could manage.

In fact, he hoped he wouldn't have to hear from Merriman again, not that he didn't miss him, it was just that it would mean there was something else that was not right with the world, and Will had enough on his hands already.

And aside from that, there was the whole issue of how Anika would feel after being told all this. It would not be pretty.

Will gave a sort of agitated sigh. He felt an increasing sense of urgency, a feeling that told him he had to get to Anika as soon as possible. It had been five days since her birthday, five days since the Old One and the one of the Dark had been awakened in her. Who knew what was going on inside of her? Was she even aware of it?

It was like knowing there was a mine in a field but not having the time to remove it. Until you could get to it, you had to worry about whether someone might step on it or not.

He heard James yawn, and quickly closed his eyes.

Soon he felt a hand shaking him.

"Hey, are you waking up or not? It's Christmas morning!"

It was two days after Christmas Day. Will could hardly stand the tension singing in his head.

In any case he could see no reason for any further delay.

"I'm going for a walk, Mom," he said right after breakfast.

"All right," his mother said, but by that time Will was sprinting out the door.

Anika wasn't there when he went to her house, and he jogged around the village, looking for her.

Finally he leaned against a tree, panting, when he saw her leaning against another tree, with her legs drawn up against her chest. She was staring in to space, and there was an expression of misery on her face, as though she longed to be somewhere else. It all suddenly reminded him of the centurion, in the painting at his house.

It was slightly disconcerting, the way she always unconsciously reminded him of the past, and how he missed it.

But he would have to push that all from his mind now; he had work to do.

 "Hello," he said, standing in front of her.

Anika jumped, then relaxed when she looked up at him. "Oh, okay, it's you." She watched him with an expectant look on her face as he sat down beside her, waiting for him to say something.

 And he was about to, when she said suddenly, "Will?"

"Yes?" he replied, a little taken aback.

She looked up at him hesitantly, then said slowly, "There…there's something abut you, isn't there, that makes you different from everyone else? And I know I'm somewhat like that, too." Here she stared at him with a somewhat defiant look, as though challenging him to deny what she had just said. "I just realized there was something different with me, right after you and your family left, last Christmas Eve. And that night, I had a weird kind of dream, too. I don't exactly understand what's different with me...I just know it's something not normal, it's something that happened just now. It started, the night before my birthday. I just – I don't understand it! And I wonder if I'm not going insane…But then I know I can't be insane, because it's all very real. And a few weird things have been happening too…and it's scaring me…and I know you know something about it. And…just…couldn't you tell me?"

There was a plaintive, uncertain note in her voice at the last sentence, that pleaded for answers but wasn't sure where to get them, and Will felt a sudden surge of sympathy for her. He realized that since she had come into her power, there had been no one to guide her, none to explain it to her, the way there had been for him.

Oh, stupid, stupid! I should have come to her sooner, who knows what could've…

Anika looked at him expectantly.

He took in a deep breath, then said, "All right, it is like this. Until two years ago, Anika, when we were both twelve years old, there were two forces in the world called the Dark and the Light. And there was the High Magic, the only power that could order them both.

Well…you see, there was the Old Magic of the earth, and the Wild Magic of the living things, but it was – and still is – men who controlled what happened on earth. And there was the Dark and the Light, and the universe, which was bound by the law of the High Magic.

And the Dark, by its nature, sought to take control of the earth and enslave man. And it was the task of the Light to prevent them. Throughout the history of the world, the Dark has risen, and the Light has kept it at bay. But two years ago, there was the final Rising of the Dark…"

As he spoke, time seemed to stand still, and Anika listened intently while he told her of the final battle between the Light and the Dark, and of his role in it, and of Merriman, the first and oldest of the Old Ones, and Bran Pendragon, the son of King Arthur, and of the three humans Simon, Barney and Jane.

His voice changed as he spoke. It was as though he were reliving every moment of the tale (except it was not just a tale, it really had happened), and there was a mixture of pride and longing in his voice. And he didn't seem at all like a fourteen year-old boy anymore, but older and wiser.

And something stirred in her mind, as though she had known all this all along, and it had just been resting somewhere deep in her memory, something that had been in her from the moment she was born. It was as though there was a fog in her head, ever since her fourteenth birthday, and only now was it starting to clear. But not completely. Not just yet.

"...But where do I come into all of this?" she asked. "What does all that have to do with me?"

Will gazed at her then with such a look of pity and sympathy that it alarmed her.

"You see, Anika," he said, "Your father was from the Light and your mother from the Dark. We don't know how they ended up together, only that they kept it a secret, and when your brother and sisters were born, they took their powers, so that your siblings became human. But they weren't able to do the same thing with you, for the High Magic discovered you and stopped them.

And so your parents were unable to do anything…and now, Anika, you have come into your full power, as an Old One and as one of the Dark. The problem is, two such opposite forces cannot exist in one body for long. You must choose, between the Light and the Dark, before you go insane.  And until you decide, you must learn to take control of your powers. And that is what I am here for."

Anika stared at him for a long time.

There was no expression at all in her face, except in her eyes.

Will knew that if he had not been an Old One he would have quailed under the force of that stare.

But he was an Old One, and so he simply gazed back at her, waiting to see what would be her next reaction. He could see there was something in her eyes that shifted from time to time, but he could not quite tell what.

Finally she said, in a flat voice that was not quite her own, "So my mother is of the Dark?"

Will knew that would have come up sooner or later, but he cringed inwardly anyway. "Yes," he replied cautiously. "She was."
"And…supposedly, those of the Dark are not capable of loving? They have no feelings at all, no, nothing? And their only goal is to…take control of the world and enslave man?"

Will only continued to gaze at her. They both knew the answer, and it would just cause more trouble if he said it out loud.

"You're wrong," Anika said, the rage creeping into her voice. "My mother – she wasn't – isn't like that at all. Look at me – I know how to love, don't I?"
Will looked at her quizzically, which only irritated her further.

"I may be half of the Dark, but before I knew any of this, I believe I did know how to love, and I still do! And who taught me how? My mother! My mother, who is of the Dark and who does not know how to love. And my siblings…they're human, and they know how to love, and you know they learned it from my mother and my father. So tell me, how can someone who cannot love teach others to love? We were a pretty happy family before all this, you know – other people even envied us! And we all got along, more than most families do – so how is that, when…" she trailed off and looked at him.

"The Dark can pretend to love," Will replied softly. "Sometimes the nicest, most ordinary people in the world could really be of the Dark."
Anika glared at him, and Will knew that some of that glare came from the Dark one in her. She was sinking herself into it on purpose.

"So you're saying that everything she taught us was fake? All the love she poured into us, it wasn't real? I'm sorry, but until you've been loved, or, if what you're saying is right, been – fakely loved or whatever  - by one of the Dark, I don't think you or anyone should start talking about  those of the Dark not being able to love. For all you know when they're just being ordinary people they really do love, or…something. Or maybe my mother was special…"

Will could hear the uncertainty coming into her voice again, and was at once reminded of John Rowlands, and felt that wave of sympathy wash over him again. He never thought he'd have to encounter a situation like this all over again. But unlike John Rowlands, Anika was completely unwilling to accept the truth, and in any case could not be made to forget.

He looked at Anika and saw the hatred very clearly in her face.

"Don't look at me like that," she said coldly. "I don't need your pity."

With that she got up and ran off.