Darlings (24 page)

A feeling of uneasiness took over the crowd.
“What’s going on?” Gwen asked. 

“Come on.” Lily said dodging pale prisoners
left and right to find Tiger. She found the girl standing alone
searching for Lily. Taking her daughter’s hand, they walked quickly
back to their places. 

“Stay here.” Lily bit her lip and scampered
up ahead a few people to the bright blond disturbed girl. Gwen kept
a close eye on Tiger as they waited uneasily for Lily. Soon she
returned to their sides. 

“What was that about?” Gwen
whispered. 

“I didn’t get much out of Kierra, but I think
she said they want us to rest and recharge…our bunny batteries like
last time.” Lily shrugged. “To get the most out of your energy I
would guess.”

Again, they marched out of sync down the
barren hallway to their barracks for the last time. Once the guards
locked the doors the inmates began to talk. The uneasiness hung
over their heads like a low storm cloud, just before opening its
massive flood gates. Unsure of what to do, most made way to their
bunks, or friends’ bunks to impatiently wait their fate. 

“I don’t like this,” Lily said eyeing the
others from her bunk. “I don’t think we should wait until tonight.
They’re too skittish. I’ve never seen them like this before.” She
pulled Tiger closer. 

Gwen hated to admit it, but she agreed. They
were getting too restless. Like animals before slaughter. 

“Yeah, I agree, but it’s too public now. No
one’s going to be sleeping.” 

Just then around six bunks down, Gwen saw a
rather burley girl with thick hips and a square face climb up onto
a dresser. 

“Damn,” Lily cursed this time in English.
“This is what I was afraid of. No guards. Locked doors. People are
bound to get antsy.”

“What?” Gwen asked not taking her eyes off
the husky girl. 

Just then, the girl pounded her fist on the
table, getting everyone’s attention.  “My fellow prisoners,”
she said in a low and commanding voice. “I fear this is no regular
draining. No guards? The doors are locked in the light? We’re
trapped like rats. Lab rats.” Her thick top lip snarled as she
continued. “As you probably know, Janiah was one of the first ones
here and the oldest surviving immortal among us. She’s been through
two drainings. Janiah, tell us how this is different.” 

The frizzy dirty blond girl was frail and
walked with a limp. Her voice quivered as she spoke. “Never have
they left us unattended. Never. Never have we stopped working early
either. I’m not sure what this means but I’m afraid it isn’t
good.” 

The crowd shifted in their places. Some burst
out in tears others began shouting questions. 

“Here now, listen!” the burley girl shouted.
“I say we come up with a plan. We go out fighting!”

She raised a thick fist into the air, driving
home her irrational point to the already frantic crowd. 

“This is bad,” Lily muttered to Gwen. “Very
bad. They’re going to get us killed sooner. We won’t have enough
time to stop them.” She clenched her strong jaw.

Without hesitation Gwen found an equally high
dresser to her right, and climbed to the top herself. She stood
strong and tall in her filthy green cocktail dress. Putting two
fingers into her mouth, she whistled loudly. The startled crowd
suddenly gave her all their attention. Gwen began to
speak. 

“Listen, everyone please,” Gwen began. “I
know you’re scared. Truthfully…I am too, but rebelling in this way
is not our answer.” 

A voice rose from the rest. “Oh yah, princess
then what is? You going to do something about it?” 

The another, “Yah, what are you going to
do?” 

And another, “Nothing, that’s what. I say we
stick with Uranda’s plan to fight.” 

Before she could lose her guts, Gwen
continued, “We…we have a plan,” she said more calmly now, but I’m
going to need all of your help if we stand any chance of surviving
the night.” 

Silence fell over the audience. 

“You see, I’m a borrower.” Only a half lie,
Gwen thought…she could be a borrower. The crowd looked uneasily at
one another. Whispers swept through the terrified spectators like a
game of dominos. 

A boy with spiky black hair and large ears
broke the silence. “So?” he crossed his thin arms. “Are you
forgetting the collar you’re wearing? This is ridiculous. We’re
wasting time I say   let’s-”

“I broke the collars walls…” Gwen blurted
without thinking. Gwen prayed she was doing the right thing
revealing their secret to everyone. Not her best plan, she thought,
but the only one she had. 

Silence filled the space between Gwen and the
crowd once more. 

“How do we know you’re not ling,” Uranda, her
burley opponent skeptically asked. 

Gwen hadn’t thought of that. “You don’t,” she
said quietly. She had them hanging on her every word. “You’re
right…You have no reason to trust me and every reason to judge me,”
Gwen swallowed hard and prayed she had the strength to continue on.
“I’m the daughter of your runaway queen. The woman who betrayed all
of you. But believe me this, I am my mother’s daughter…but I am not
my mother. I will not make her mistakes. Truth is I didn’t even
believe in myself… until now. I have finally found my purpose…It’s
you. It’s every… single… one of you. If I have to give my last
breath to free you from this hell…I am prepared to that.” To her
own surprise, heartfelt tears streamed down her dirty face. “I am
asking for your trust. You’re faith in me. We have a plan. I can’t
reveal all of the details but trust me it’s our best shot and I
need you…all of you to help us…Please…can I believe in
you?” 

Janiah made her way slowly through the
dumbfounded crowd to Gwen. Her eyes were full of joyous tears.
“It’s you. It’s really you. You are who I thought you were. I knew
you’d come. You’re the one. The one predicted to save our worlds
from the darkness.” Gwen Looked to Lily. She wasn’t sure if Janiah
had cracked under the pressure and gone insane…or if there was any
truth to what she was saying. Nevertheless, she believed in Gwen.
She sparked the glimmer of hope…and it spread like
wildfire. 

“I believe in you,” Uranda said sternly.
Heads nodded in the crowd.

“I believe,” Lily said. “I have all along.”
It was true. Lily had laid down her daughter’s life, because she
believed in Gwen. Despite their situation with Pete, Lily had such
enormous faith in Gwen, she looked past what must be tearing her
heart out of her body. 

“I believe in you princess,” A voice shouted.
Soon, Gwen was surrounded in a sea of people who trusted her and
her abilities. She had gotten them on board. Now she just had to
keep up her end of the bargain. 

“Alright, hush. We don’t have much time. The
eight of you come here.” Gwen motioned to the front six
immortals. 

She pulled them in close. Four boys and four
girls. She explained the plan, and they listened, mouths open and
eyes wide. Gwen felt in command. She explained their jobs. “I need
you to find out everyone’s abilities. Group them. I’m sure it’s
been a long time for most since they’ve used their energy. Some may
have not had much of a chance to use it at all before they were
captured. Find an experienced immortal in each ability, and have
them go over a quick lesson with their like powered immortals.” She
turned to a particularly small girl with black frizzy hair and dark
caramel skin. “I need you gather a group of around thirty to stay
by the door and keep watch. Act natural and scared. You’re our
first line of defense if anyone comes in.” The girl nodded her head
in understanding.

“Now go. Separate your groups and get
started.” Gwen said. She looked to Tiger and Lily who sat waiting
for Gwen on their bunk. Lily had hung a multicolored blanket on all
sides, creating a makeshift private room for their mission. Gwen
took a deep breath and crawled inside the tent. It reminded of her
of the tents she made with Jonah when they were children. They
would drape their bed comforters over the backs of chairs and turn
off the lights. Jonah would sit in the middle of the tent, little
blue flashlight in hand, waiting anxiously to turn it on, and shine
it onto the crisp pages of his favorite story. How Gwen longed for
that to be the case. 

“Okay. I guess we should get started.” Lily
said, taking a deep breath. “Lay down here Tiger close to me on
your back. Careful, don’t touch Gwen. There you go honey.” Tiger
lay down her small head on the straw pillow. Her black hair fanned
out and she rested her tiny calloused hands on her hungry
belly. 

“Mama, I’m scared. I don’t want Gwen to go to
the dark place,” she squeaked. 

“Oh baby, it’s okay. Gwen’s strong, she won’t
let the spirits get her ok? You just lay down and rest your
beautiful head my angel.” Lily stroked her daughters raven hair.
Gwen felt her heart begin to race. She was sweating from head to
toe. Reluctantly, she lay down beside Tiger. Gwen laid in silence,
staring at the heavy wood grain of the bunk above her. 

“Gwen?” Lily asked. “Are you ready?” It was
the same question Gwen was asking herself. 

“Ok.” Gwen answered. She turned her head and
looked at Tiger. “Ready?” 

Tiger looked back at Gwen her eyes welling up
with tears. “Be careful Gwen. Stay away from the big grey tree.
That’s where they want you to go.” Gwen nodded, and Lily began
singing a lullaby hushed and slow. Gwen closed her eyes and slid
her hand slowly across the rough straw mattress until she felt
Tiger’s small cold hand. 

Gwen concentrated hard and felt the spark
flicker through cracks in her mental wall. She heard Lily’s soft
voice growing farther and farther away as she reached for the
spark. She felt the flow. It started slow, like thick liquid
medicine through the needle of a syringe. It was easier than she
imagined until suddenly the collar’s wall gave way even more. It
was like a gush now. Gwen felt as if she were standing in a rushing
river, struggling to keep her footing, as the water flowed harder
and harder around her. The hole, she remembered. She created the
hole as Rynnal had told her to. She let the energy flow into the
empty space until she could fit no more inside. Stop.

She knew she had to stop. The hole was full,
and energy began leaking around it into the blackness. Gwen pushed
the back with her mind. She pushed with everything she had in her.
Close the gates. She had to push back. Rebuild the wall. Cut the
flow. Every muscle in her body was engaged. She shook as the energy
slowed to a trickle, and then finally was no more. Gwen pried her
hand from Tigers and focused on the energy. She opened her eyes and
saw Tiger lying beside her… still…was she breathing? Yes. Her chest
rose and fell. Unconscious, but alive. 

“Gwen, you did it,” Lily whispered. Suddenly,
Gwen felt her mind split. She felt herself rise from her sleeping
body. Looking around, she saw herself lying eyes closed beside
Tiger. Gwen put her hand up to move the blanket, but her hand moved
right through. She tried to talk to Lily. “Lily? Can you hear me?”
she asked with no answer. Of course she couldn’t hear her. Taking a
deep breath Gwen walked through the hanging blanket. 

She heard the sound of clapping. “Bravo
Princess. I knew you could do it. You’re a natural!” It was him.
Rynnal…but grey. 

“Oh my god, Rynnal!” He was sitting on a
crate right outside her bunk. “How did you? What are you? You’re
grey?” Gwen stammered. 

“You’re not,” he smiled. “I’m dead… and you
aren’t. You have a visitors pass. Us dead spirits who don’t go
towards the lights turn grey, from what I gather in the short time
I’ve been…dead,” he said pushing his glasses up on his
nose. 

“Did it hurt? Did they find out you weren’t
an immortal?” she asked. 

“No, I didn’t feel anything and it was
priceless! They didn’t get another because they didn’t want to
admit their foolishness.” He shrugged. 

“I am so sorry, Rynnal –” Gwen said 

Rynnal held up a hand. “No. No being sorry. I
am here to help you. This was no accident. I wanted to help you
from this side. Now we have to go to Andrew.” 

Gwen tucked her wavy auburn hair behind her
ear, “There’s been a change of plans. I have a few things I have to
do first…” she admitted. 

“What things?” he asked. 

“I need to find someone, and…bring them back.
Thankfully I have already found one.” Gwen smiled. 

“I had a feeling you’d say that…” he answered
motioning to his left. Gwen saw  Mariam sitting quietly on her
bunk, a grey woman sitting beside her singing a song the girl
couldn’t hear. Her mother. Number two down, Gwen thought. “You know
we can’t do this without a dark fairy?” 

“I do.” 

“Gwen you have to cross over into the dark
world if you want to find one. I…I don’t know what’s there, I do
know it’s dangerous.” 

“I understand.” 

Just then, another grey figure came into
view. She had light hair and equally light eyes and wore a long
floral printed frayed skirt. “I felt you cross and had to see for
myself. It’s not often we visit with the living.” The girl seemed
to float instead of walk. “I’m Soula. The first immortal to die
here, and hell-bent on being the last to leave.” 

“Hi, I’m –”

“Gwen. I know. Remember,” she giggled. “I can
watch you.” 

“Right.” Gwen did forget. “You felt
me?” 

“Sure. When the living enter the spirit
world, a wave of energy crosses through us. Like a speed bump,” she
said wrinkling her pointed nose. 

Gwen thought she was far too happy for such a
grave situation. “So you know why we’re here then? Oh and this is
Rynnal” she said. 

“Yes we’ve met she smiled. He informed me you
were coming. That’s why I’ve joined you.” Her face got serious.
“You see, I refuse to cross into the light until they’re stopped.
Immortals and other creatures die horrible tortuous deaths most of
the time here. I stick around to guide them in the right direction.
Tormented spirits can get confused and tempted to stick around…if
we stay too long…we lose our chance to go to the light…forever.” A
smile returned to her pinched face. “Thankfully you’re here
tonight, and it will end.”