Chapter 18

Time Catches Up

It was another dream

Anna knew it, but all she could think about was that it was the first dream she had had since waking up in Halloween town.

This one wasn't as surreal as the one with the mirror at least. Or maybe it was more surreal, and it just hadn't occurred to her yet.

She hit the dirt. It felt so real. The damp earth was cold and dug under her fingernails. Tiny rocks scratched her. The smell of moss and dust after rain was thick but oddly sweet and calming. She could hear the air push through branches and taste blood in her mouth from landing so hard.

Do you ever feel like you're falling while in bed, and then suddenly you wake up? It was like that, except Annalise didn't wake up in Halloween Town.

She was in a forest. It was cold. The brisk air twisted around her and leaves followed. Anna thought about the Wind. The witches had told her about the element that was an honorary member of the town and she had heard it sing during the town song. It was strange to think of a natural force of the world as a person. She hadn't spoken to it yet, though she wanted to. What do you even say to the wind?

"Ow," she muttered, standing up to look around. She brushed the dirt off her.

Everything had a strange fuzzy look around it, like sfumato. Sfumato was a method used by Renaissance painters to blend sharp outlines in their paintings to show atmosphere and give a soft look. The world looked a little like that to Anna.

Was she supposed to do something?

She shouted and almost fell to the ground again as someone ran past her, not seeing her.

She stared at them. Was that…

"Jack?" she murmured. She scrambled to her feet and stood. She took a step. Then another. Soon she chased after the figure.

The faint sound of water got louder as she followed, the cold air biting her skin.

She almost tripped on a branch at that thought.

Skin?!

She looked down and bit back a scream.

There was flesh on her fingers. If you could call it that. Red burns and flaking skin covered her arms, and there were a good number of blisters on her body. It really didn't look too bad, but it was painful. Never mind, it looked pretty bad.

She had to stop running as the pain caught up to her. She leaned against a tree and winced as she checked her bare feet, fighting back the tears.

For such a calm looking dream, it felt rather hellish, pardon the language.

Her feet were red and blistering. Dirt was getting in the wounds. A few tears escaped her eyes at the pain, but the salt only made the sores on her face sting. The longer she stood, the more she became aware of her injuries. Where did she even get these burns? Did she forget to put dream-sunscreen on or something?!

Anna trembled. She couldn't even hug herself because it hurt too much to touch the burns.

"Make it stop." She whispered. She wasn't sure who she pleaded to.

Keep going.

Anna looked up at the voice. It sounded like a woman's voice. It was familiar, but she couldn't place it. It had an airy quality to it, but it wasn't the wind. The wind sounded neither male nor female, but this voice was more feminine.

Keep going.

Anna winced and did just that. She forced herself to take a step, then another, until she was following the path she saw Jack take. She couldn't run very fast, but it was progress.

The sound of running water was roaring by the time she stumbled out of the woods into a riverbank.

The spindly, thin form of Jack dressed in old earth-toned rags stood up from a log in shock as someone cried out and tripped into a bush, crying as the branches scratched tender skin.

"Who goeths there?" the skeleton glanced toward the tree line. If it was a human, he needed to get out of sight quickly.

There was whimpering, and he ignored his better judgment to investigate.

He found a young woman, human, supposedly, in lightly burnt rags covered in rashes and blisters. Her garb was a little shocking and far too exotic. A white dress. He had never seen fabric so white. He didn't think such a brightness was possible to make. It was stained with a little blood on her neck and arms where the fabric was closest to her skin, and the bottom was brown with dirt.

Something else caught his socket. It was like the girl wasn't quite all there. And he didn't mean mentally, though that was also true. She was barely conscious. But she had a strange haze about her, like a mist that could blow away in an instant.

He frowned and the skeleton creature turned to walk away before she could regain consciousness.

"Help."

Jack froze, then sighed, kicking himself.

Anna's everything hurt when she was finally aware of her surroundings again. Everything still stung, but she was being soothed by the water.

She opened her eyes in shock only to find herself soaked and sitting halfway in the cold river.

"Who art thou?"

Anna jumped and looked at Jack, who was sitting crossed legged about ten feet behind her on dry land. He looked a little fatigued and wet around his sleeves and ankles.

She frowned at him. "Who are you?"

Jack seemed moderately confused at her language and accent. "I'm nobody. And thou aren't afraid of me. That is intriguing. Where did thou receive such injuries?"

"A fire I think.

He wasn't speaking English, Anna somehow knew. Yet she could understand him like such, but the "translation" was weirdly off.

Jack flinched and his glare at the water hardened. "Art thou a spirit?"

"Like yourself? I don't know. I don't think I'm really here."

"Thou speaketh in riddles. Art thou a demon here to taunt me?"

"I don't think so…"

They were quiet for a long moment, the human girl sitting by a skeleton.

"Art thou the spirit that I saw many years ago upon the night of my death?"

"Maybe? Did I ask why you left your son?"

Jack was silent but nodded, his expression blank. "Thou appear different. But thou hath not aged."

Anna winced and cupped some water to splash on her face. "Did you expect me to have aged?"

"Given how it hath been twenty winters I would think so."

Anna spat out the water she had tried to drink. "Twenty years?"

"Aye. How dost thou not know this, spirit?"

"I don't think I should be expected to know everything about my dreams," Anna grumbled.

"Dreams?"

"I'm dreaming. You're a dream that I think I'm supposed to learn something from." The skeleton girl that wasn't a skeleton at the moment said it so matter of fact. Since it was a dream, she supposed it didn't matter what she said to the characters.

"I am no figment," Jack chuckled at her drily.

"I don't think you would know if you weren't."

"Then perhaps thou art the figment."

"I can't be the figment, I'm the one dreaming!"

Jack rolled his eyes at the strange girl.

"Did you just roll your eyes at me?"

Jack stiffened. Apparently, she could tell without any eyeballs to see.

"Where did thou come from, maiden?" Jack asked, eyeing her curiously without looking directly at her. It was disconcerting because she still seemed able to tell he was looking at her.

"The future I guess," Anna said. She then frowned. "Did I pass out?"

"The future? " Jack scoffed. "…Thou art' mad."

"…Probably," Anna murmured shyly. She rested her itching hands in the cold water. "Thank you for helping me." She was a wee bit worried about hypothermia, even in a dream, but the burns hurt so bad that the tradeoff was worth it.

Jack stared at her for a moment longer.

Anna looked up in surprise as Jack stood and started walking away.

"Where are you going?" she asked.

"I do not wish to associate with Fae," Jack said shortly. "Not making that mistake again…" he muttered.

"I'm not a fairy," she said snappishly, scrambling to stand up. She started shivering immediately. Most of the burns weren't quite agonizing yet due to the numbness, but now she was soaking wet. She took a few steps to follow, and tears pricked at her eyes as the sharp rock cut her tender scorched feet. "I'm a skeleton like you."

Jack stopped, one skeletal foot poised over a branch he was planning to step over. "What?"

Anna winced and jogged to catch up, every step painful. Why did she never seem to have shoes when she needed them?!

Jack looked back over his shoulder to stare down at her.

Anna backed up, realizing how much taller he was compared to her. She hadn't noticed how short she was as a human.

"Why thou speak such obvious falsehood? Thou have skin. Flesh. Thy bones art not visible."

Anna shrugged. "This is a dream. I look different."

Jack made a strange expression that crossed between a disbelieving scoff, a frown, and patronizing smile, his skull morphing to accommodate his expression. He just turned and walked away.

Anna followed, ducking as a branch swung back.

They walk for a long time without saying anything. Anna wasn't sure how long it was. Eventually, she couldn't take another step without wanting to cry. Branches brushed her, irritating the burns. She was cold and wet too, but the soothing of the river had long worn off.

She shivered, the damp burnt rags clinging to her, sticking to the wounds. It would rip any healing apart if she pulled the fabric away. "Can we stop for a bit?" she pleaded.

"Stop following me," Jack snapped.

Anna looked up. Jack had been ignoring her for a long time. "How long have we been walking?"

Jack pulled up short and looked at her in amazement. "We've been walking these wood for three days, maiden. I was hoping thou wouldst be left behind long ago."

"Three days?! It feels like ten minutes."

"Whatever thou art, thou art not human. We hath not slept. Nor ate. Nor drank."

"Oh. Where are we going?"

"I don't want thy presence here! Why dost thou insist on following me?"

"Because this is a dream, so I figure following you meant I will find out what this means."

Jack shook his skull and muttered at the insanity. "If you must know. I am traveling to my old village."

"Oh. How far away are we?"

"About a fortnight's walk."

"Two weeks?!"

"Aye."

"Uh…" Anna stuttered in the cold, "Okay."

"Thy wounds are worsening," Jack mentioned.

Anna glanced at her hands. It had gotten worse. There were more blisters now, and her skin was discolored everywhere. On her left arm, a large burn had somehow gotten deeper and was brown around the edge.

She flinched. It still hurt. It was agony, but somehow, she was pushing through. She wasn't sure how such a thing was possible. She was slowly going from first-degree to second and third-degree burns. That's not the way it works!

They had continued to walk as she inspected her burns and she gasped and looked up when she ran into Jack's back, making the skeleton stumble.

She glanced around his body, the sight of a familiar little village making her gape.

"I thought you said we were two weeks away?"

"We were," Jack said as he steadied himself, his voice slightly raspy from being unused, "I stated that two weeks ago."

"What?" Anna looked around her, realizing that it was a different time of day and that the trees had changed since she last looked up.

"You've been following me the entire time."

"What?! Did we ever talk?"

"No."

"So we just walked for two weeks straights without saying a single word to each other!"

"Aye. We did."

"Why?!"

"Apparently, we had nothing to say."

"B-but…" Anna was cut off as Jack left, walking down to the village. "Hey wait!" She was still trying to wrap her head around the fact that two weeks somehow felt like less than a minute.

She followed close behind, nervous as they walked right by many villagers who didn't seem able to see them.

"Are we invisible?"

"I am," Jack said shortly, still suspicious of this strange girl who inexplicably followed him around. "But not completely. I've found that many of the living can see me out of the corner of their eyes, but are unable to see me straight on. But children are not so blind. I know not thou abilities."

Anna watched as they passed a butcher hanging meat outside.

The man suddenly jumped and turned toward them, looking around in fear. He chuckled and shook his head, going back to work.

This happened a few times with random adults. They seemed to see the skeleton and burnt girl for a second and jumped or gasped, but when they turned to look, it was like the spirits disappeared.

Jack stopped and ducked behind a house when a group of children, ages seven to twelve turned a corner and came into view.

Anna was caught off guard and stood in the open wondering what to do.

The kids saw her, and one screamed in fear and surprise.

Anna jumped and ran behind the same house Jack had.

The skeleton man glared at her for following him and went around the other side.

The children ran into the alley looking for the strange lady. Anna and Jack were cornered.

"Be silent," Jack whispered.

Anna nodded, wide-eyed.

"Miss? Are you here?" one little girl asked sheepishly.

"I think she went down this way!"

They ran right past the spirits, not seeing them.

"Yet when I intend to hide," Jack explained, a skeletal hand moving Anna out of his way, "Then I am entirely unseen."

Anna nodded again and quietly followed Jack from the "alley" when the coast was clear.

"Where are we going?" Anna asked.

Jack didn't answer. He had grown accustomed to ignoring the strange woman-like creature that seemed to harmlessly just following him around. He really wasn't sure what to make of the situation.

They reached a house near the center of the village. Jack slowed as he and Anna approached.

There was a small crowd of half-a-dozen humans hanging around outside. They all seemed somber.

One woman, she looked about twenty was being comforted by several other women while a few men talked nearby, just outside the door.

Jack froze and almost ran to the house.

Anna felt her stomach drop at the scene. She hoped it wasn't what she thought it was. These people were grieving.

Jack almost ran into the window and quickly gripped the windowsill, peering in through the old rugged shutters, roof thatch falling down on him.

Anna witnessed his shoulder blades sink in relief. She went to peek around the men to look inside, careful not to touch them.

A young woman was lying on the bed. Two men were at her side, one older, one young. Anna assumed the younger man was her husband and the older one was the town healer. He was checking her eyes and stuff.

"Please sir," the young man murmured, "How is she?"

"Her fever broke, James," the older man said, "But I'm am concerned that this is the second time this harvest. Winter is coming, and I fear she will not be strong enough."

Anna watched intently. Was that really Jamie? Not her brother James, of course, but Jack's son? As she looked closer, she could see the resemblance between the tall, lean muscled man and the little boy she remembered from the past dreams.

James held the young woman's hand and brought them to his lips for a kiss.

She was pale and barely conscious, but she opened her eyes to give her husband a small smile. Anna was surprised that she didn't look that much older than Anna herself.

James gave his wife a loving smile back.

Anna glanced to the side.

The men had moved, and now Jack was standing behind Anna, watching the scene with a heartbroken (so to speak) and concerned look.

"…What about the baby?" James whispered pleadingly. He was doing all he could to stifle the fear in his voice, but it still shook him.

The healer patted James on the shoulder. "The babe is well, for now, son. Time will tell."

James nodded as the healer left.

Anna had to duck out the doorway to avoid being run over.

She moved too fast and tripped over a rock, falling backward.

She woke up…

Anna gasped and sat up straight, hitting her head on the ceiling of her attic room again.

"Anna? You awake?" Helgamine called from downstairs.

"Yeah," Anna called back, wincing and rubbing the sore spot on her skull.

"Oh good. When you're ready, some of the town children wanted to see your new Trick sometime."

"Um," Anna said, then paused and raised her voice. "The ropes thing?" She didn't imagine that? It was so cool that she had freaky supernatural powers like that, but the concept felt so unreal. And apparently, those "Tricks" were enough to knock her out from exhaustion.

"Assuming ropes are all you can do, and the mimicry if you want."

Anna got up and opened the door, leaning out so that her voice could carry downstairs better. This was going too fast. "Shouldn't I practice more?"

"That's what I'm suggesting. Practice with an audience."

Anna could hear a few higher pitched voices begging with the witch, though she couldn't make out what they were saying.

"…Are the kids here now?" Anna asked.

"Coincidentally, yes. And no, we didn't plan when you would wake up. You've only been out about half an hour. I was just about to send them away when I heard you have another accident. Can they come up?"

"It's your house." Anna scowled a little at the idea of bumping her head being a common thing Helgamine listens for.

"Horrid. Up you go you imps!"

There was a cheer and giggles as a small crowd of monster children ran or flew up the stairs and filed into Anna's room, Anna stepping back to let them in.

"Afternoon, Ms. Anna!"

"Horrid to meet you, Ms. Anna."

"Your hair's really messy."

"Do you have fangs?"

"How many fingers do you have?!"

"That was soooo cooool what you did to Lock, Shock, and Barrel."

Anna leaned back outside again, "Helgamine, I literally just woke up and I just got these powers. Is it safe for me to practice with all these kids here?"

"No, but it's fine. Their parents can have a row with you if you give those little scamps a couple rope burns. Have fun!"

The kids giggled at that while Anna sputtered. A few had jumped onto Anna bed and the window seat, scaring both cats that Anna hadn't noticed were in the room. She felt like she should care about a bunch of strange, creepy looking children hanging out in her room, but she couldn't bring herself to be concerned with it. She just woke up. Maybe she wasn't thinking straight.

"Helgamine!"

The witch's head poked up the top of the stairs. "Just kidding. I'm coming up too." She chuckled at Anna frazzled expression as the girl realized what she agreed to and shifted the box of ribbons and ropes she was holding. She did a double take and paused, lowering her voice so that the children couldn't hear.

"Are you alright, Skellygirl?"

Anna leaned down a little, "Yeah. I just had a weird dream."

"If you need to rest we can…"

"I'm alright."

Helgamine stared at the skeleton for a long moment before she nodded and gestured for Anna to go ahead into her room.