A Shade of Vampire 43: A House of Mysteries(9)

It’s gone wrong…this is all wrong!

I struggled harder in her grip, trying to tell her that she needed to let me up, or else I was going to die. More bubbles rose to the surface, but rather than passing out or my vision darkening to complete blackness, I realized I was okay. Uncomfortable certainly. The water in my lungs was the strangest sensation—like they were filled with cold air, waiting for me to exhale…except when I did, the pressure didn’t release. I was breathing underwater.

Or you’re dead and imagining it, I thought to myself.

That was a possibility, but my mind felt strangely alert. I looked up again, focusing on Serena. Her blue eyes rippled and distorted over the water, her mouth set in an anxious line. She kept looking forward. I guessed she was listening to the Druid’s instructions. Her hands still held me firmly in their grip, but I knew she wouldn’t need to keep them there for much longer. I felt like a dead weight, sinking to the bottom of the tub.

Tired, I let my eyes close, and a peaceful warmth radiated across my body.





Vita





[Grace and Lawrence’s daughter]




When I opened my eyes again, the water had gone, along with the tub and the concerned expression of my friend. I was alone, standing in the middle of a valley. The ground was dry, the earth cracked and dusty, with small islands of dried-out moss turning yellow and brown in the sunlight. The valley was about three miles wide, and went on as far as I could see in both directions. High walls stood on both sides of me. From the pattern of the rock I imagined that a river must have run here once—but a long, long time ago. The sun was at its pinnacle in the sky, large and red, burning down on the earth, with a slight breeze that knocked dust up in my face, irritating my eyes with grit particles.

Am I having a vision?

It didn’t feel like the last one, where the images had felt like they were appearing in my mind and I could watch them like I would a TV. This was completely different. I was part of this, feeling the sunshine and everything else as if it was real. I stepped forward, knocking a small rock with my foot. It moved, and I could feel the crumbling earth beneath the soles of my feet.

I looked around. What was it that I was meant to be seeing? The place was completely silent, to the extent that I felt like I was the only person on the planet. Not knowing what else to do, I kept walking. The ground hurt my feet, while the sun burnt my bare arms and the top of my head. I idly wondered if I could actually get sunburned, whether I’d come out of the semi-conscious state in the basement with a peeling nose and a killer headache.

“Hello?” I called out. The sound of my own voice was strange, and it echoed across the valley, a lone, weak voice that went unanswered. I was starting to become afraid, wary of my own lengthening shadow on the ground, and the oppressive silence that blanketed everything. It reminded me of the journey from the portal to Sherus’s fire star in the In-Between, those moments of deafening silence that made you think you were going half-mad, that you would lose your mind completely if it didn’t come to an end soon.

Shielding my eyes from the sun’s glare, I took another look around. It was difficult to see—the heat created a hazy fuzz that rippled in the distance, but there did seem to be a figure up ahead. Whatever it was, it wasn’t moving, which suggested it was more likely a tree or rock, but I called out anyway.

“Hello? Can you hear me? Anyone?”

The figure might have moved—I couldn’t really tell—but no one returned my call. I started to pick up my pace, stumbling over the rocks and gritting my teeth as stones bit into my feet.

I could feel perspiration running down my back, my hair sticking to my temples and neck. It was almost enough to make me long for the ice-cold bath that was waiting for me back in the basement. Ahead of me, the figure was starting to become clearer, and I decided that it was definitely human, or human-shaped, at least.

Please be someone I know.

“Jovi?” I called out hopefully, knowing the moment that his name left my lips it was a dumb conclusion. Jovi would have answered back, and come toward me. Still, maybe in a vision that stuff was different. The figure was about the right height for Jovi, and had the same dark hair, though as I got closer, I realized that there was a lot less hair than Jovi had. He stood with his back facing me, not moving.

I reached about a yard away before I realized who it was, and I came to a standstill.

Bijarki?

He was the last person I expected to see. What was he doing in my vision? He was wearing different clothes to the ones I had previously seen him in, a loose white shirt that fluttered in the breeze and khaki-colored cotton trousers. They must have come from the plantation house, as they were certainly of that period, and I couldn’t imagine that he would have gotten clothes like that anywhere else.