Redemption (Night Marchers #2) Written by: Rebecca Gober and Courtney Nuckels (3 page)

Breaking the silence he says, "Yes Emma, I do
watch you every night and obviously, rightfully so. I just
can't
let you go. You can't run away." He steps in front of
me blocking my path towards the woods.

“Tristan, you
have
to let me go. My
friend is in trouble and he needs me. I’m the only one that can
help him now. You
need
to let me leave.” I say the last
words barely above a whisper. I don’t want to leave Tristan but I
know deep down I have an obligation to at least attempt to help
Adam, and nothing is going to change that.

“Then I’m going with you!” A look of
determination is set in his expression.

I stand there at a loss for words. “What?” I
ask.

“I’m going with you Emma; I can’t let you go
alone. Not this time, not ever. Whatever you need, I’ll be there.”
He doesn’t wait for an answer as he steps to the side and grabs
hold of my hand. “Lead the way.”

I don’t argue, I don’t even think about what
just took place; I can't waste valuable time. I just allow myself
to lead Tristan down the beach, hoping I am going the right
way.

When the light of the moon can no longer
guide us, I shuffle through my bag for the flashlight. Turning it
on I display the beam before us looking for some sort of pathway or
trail that we can follow. I know enough to not venture into the
woods without some sort of guiding path, or someway to establish
directional guidance. I shine the flashlight towards Tristan and
find him just a foot behind me with worry lining his eyes. I give
him a grim smile, since it is all I can muster at the moment. I
wonder if Tristan knows the secrets these woods hold, especially in
the dead of night.

After wandering around aimlessly for a few
minutes I spot a small trodden path that leads away from the ocean.
Since it’s the only footpath I have found thus far I go with my gut
and we begin our trek upwards through the woods.

Off in the distance I hear rolling thunder
and upon looking up I confirm that the dark sky is filling with
churning storm clouds. It's amazing how fast a storm can brew on
this Island. I look over to see that Tristan has noticed the storm
as well. Not allowing his worry to faze me, I continue trekking
ahead.

It seems like we follow the same trail for
over an hour or so and still I catch no sight of Kai's tree house.
Doubt starts filling my mind as I realize this probably isn't the
right way. Sounds are amplified all around from the storm that has
continued to blow in and from the night wandering creatures.
Shuffles of feet, and scurries are haunting to my ears. I try not
to let my imagination wander as I focus on Adam and how much he
needs me. It doesn’t occur to me until now, that I have no clue
what I am going to do once I find him, that's if I find him. If he
is being held hostage, we still aren’t sure by whom. Paul said the
person looked just like Kai, so it's most likely Kao, but there is
no guarantee. Whoever it is, Is that person going to be there when
we arrive to try and rescue Adam? I try and settle my mind’s
thoughts by looking back at Tristan. He hasn’t uttered a word since
we spoke on the beach and the uncomfortable silence puts me more on
edge.

Suddenly, as we reach the top of the hill my
foot gets caught under a root and I fall hard on my face as the
flashlight rolls down the opposite side of the hill and comes to a
stop about twenty feet in front of me. Tristan rushes over to my
side and helps me sit up. My foot is still deeply buried under the
root and I can’t seem to wiggle out of its hold. But, I soon
realize my foot is the least of my worries. The faint sound of
drums begins radiating through my ears! Fear rips through me as I
look to Tristan. We catch each other’s eyes for a moment before we
are hurriedly trying to free me. The sound draws nearer as we both
aggressively tug at my foot. We even try to remove my shoe, but to
no avail. Boom-boom; boom-boom. The drum’s rhythm nearly matches my
pounding heartbeat. Closer and closer still the drums are coming. I
feel as if we are in one of those horrible scary movies where the
girl is stuck on a railroad track and a train is barreling towards
her at maximum speed.

Fire! I see fire through the dense vegetation
and in my desperation I jerk my foot so hard that it comes
barreling out of my shoe, the force driving me straight back into
Tristan. I grab my shoe and slip it back on quickly before the
first flame appears. Without a second’s hesitation, Tristan whisks
me into his arms and starts running in the opposite direction. Kai!
The thought of him rips through me as I begin flailing my arms and
kicking my feet trying to get Tristan to release his grip on me. I
fight with all I’m worth to get out of Tristan’s grasp. All the
while Tristan repeats, “Emma, calm down! What on earth are you
doing? We need to get out of here!” But, he doesn’t understand and
I have no time to explain. I finally rip out of Tristan’s grasp and
land with a hard thump on the ground. There is no time for pain as
I grab the earth with my fingernails and haul myself up taking off
in a sprint towards the steady drumming.

I don’t get more than five feet before
Tristan tackles me from behind. He wraps his legs and arms around
my entire body and holds on tight as I try to implement everything
I ever learned about fighting. In this position though, my efforts
seem fruitless. I begin to scream at Tristan to let me go, but he
isn’t listening. The drums are growing more distant as I see the
flickers of flames moving off towards the West. My heart sinks to
know that Kai is so close, yet so far. I still flail every limb not
wanting to give into the total exhaustion my body is demanding. I
feel Tristan’s grip loosening as my strength begins to falter.
Tears are streaming down my face. I begin sobbing as my body goes
limp. I feel so helpless, confused, and beaten. Tristan rearranges
himself so he cradles me in his arms like a small child. Small
droplets of rain begin falling from the sky. So it is not only I
who mourns, but perhaps God himself as well. It doesn’t take long
for the rain to become increasingly intense soaking us through.
Tristan lifts me from the ground and hurriedly sweeps me away. I
can tell that the rain is making the climb very hard on him now
that it has moistened the soil. With no strength left of my own I
just sink into Tristan’s arms, close my eyes and let God’s tears
cover me from head to toe.

It isn't until several minutes later that
Tristan sets me down softly on the hard ground. I am soaking wet
but the ground I lay on is dry. There is only a small sliver of
light from the cloud-covered moon that casts a small ray across the
stone floor. It doesn’t take me long to see that Tristan has
brought me into a cave. I watch Tristan’s shadow as he walks around
the cave picking up what looks to be different sizes of sticks and
pieces of wood.

My eyes struggle to adjust in this dim light,
but soon I see sparks of ember igniting. The cave slowly comes into
focus as a fire begins to burn. Flaming shadows dance on the cave
walls sending an eerie chill down my spine. Tristan feeds the fire
more wood and then comes and takes my hand. Without a word he helps
me up and leads me near the fire.

The wind whistles loudly outside as the rain
pounds harder and harder against the rocks. Brief flashes of
lightening streak across the sky followed by the deep bellow of
thunder that shakes the ground beneath us. As if my body finally
realizes it’s cold, I begin shivering as Tristan sits me down next
to the fire, my back to the cave wall. Instinctively I reach my
hands out towards the warm heat. I rub my hands together and watch
as they change from a cold purple back to their normal pinkish
color.

It feels like I will never be able to stop
shivering. I'm unable to warm up in these rain-drenched clothes. My
face hasn’t dried either, and I can’t tell if it’s the tears I
cried or rain falling softly down my cheeks from my hair, or maybe
a little of both. Tristan wraps his arms around me in a comforting
hug. He rubs my arms trying to warm my skin with the friction from
his hands. I'm not sure how I should feel, should I feel anger for
him holding me back from seeing Kai? Or, should I be relieved that
he saved me from a possible nightmare? I don't even know what I
would have done if I had found Kai. I watch the rain fall down in
thick sheets over the cave opening. I feel utterly defeated. I have
no energy to figure out my feelings or what to do, so I let my head
fall into the curve of his neck. We sit there for what seems like
hours. No talking. No moving. Words aren’t needed now, not needed
at all.

My body may be limp, but my mind is still
running at full speed, trying to sort itself out and make sense of
things. It gives me the dreaded time to think about everything that
has gone on these past few weeks. All of the emotional baggage I
now carry makes the burden all that more difficult to bear. I
inhale deeply trying to regain composure before I completely lose
it. I feel numb, unable to process everything, unable to give it
reason, or understanding. I snuggle deeper into Tristan, yearning
for the comfort he so willingly provides.

"Six months ago, I lost my best friend.”
Tristan combs his fingers gently through my hair. Through his voice
I can hear old pain that was once buried deep skimming to the
surface. I stare blankly at the fire hoping my silence will
encourage him to continue. I rest my head in his lap as Tristan
leans his back against the wall. Still caressing the strands of my
hair he continues. “We had been friends for as long as I can
remember. We had a knack for running into trouble instead of away.
Not like law trouble, more like we sought out risky adventures each
time daring to do more than the last. One Friday night, with
nothing to do, we met down by the beach with plans to go on a late
night hike. It was a cool night, an eerie moon had risen up in the
distance; I will never forget the way it looked. Deep down I knew
something just wasn’t right, but I couldn’t put a finger on it. The
two of us were experienced hikers and had all of the correct gear
so I just wrote it off as we headed further and further into the
woods. Looking back I wonder if the feeling was a premonition or a
foreshadowing of what was to come that night. I usually check my
flashlight for batteries before leaving on any type of night trip
so I'm not sure what happened that evening. The next thing we knew
we were smack dab in the middle of the woods when the bulb of my
flashlight went out. It was a pitch-black night, like tonight, and
neither of us had any extra batteries or a secondary light source.
It's dangerous to hike at night without light; we would be too
susceptible to injury so we decided it would be best to find a
place to set up tent. We had survival gear on us so we knew if
needed, we could find a place to spend the night out there. It was
about that time that we began hearing drumming in the distance. We
honestly didn't understand where it was coming from. We thought
that perhaps there was another camper out there or maybe even a Boy
Scout troop or something. Curious, we began to shuffle through the
forest towards the noise. As we got closer and closer we were able
to see several lights shining through the trees. My friend took the
lead as we rounded over the hill. What we saw next made my stomach
churn. It was a procession of Night Marchers headed straight for
us. I grabbed his arm and began pulling in the opposite direction
but he wouldn’t move. It was as if his eyes were locked in on what
was ahead of him grounding his body as well. I pulled with all I
was worth but it was of no use. I ran behind a tree and covered my
face with my hands. I prayed and prayed hoping God would hear my
pleas. I felt guilty for having left him there, but I had no other
choice. My mother had told me legends of the Night Marchers since
before I could walk and I knew I was running out of time. I just—I
didn’t know what to do. I kept hearing screaming—someone was
screaming over and over and over. I couldn’t look up, because I
knew what would happen.”

Tears began streaming down Tristan’s face. I
reach up and wipe a single tear away holding my hand there in
comfort. As he exhales a shaky breath he continues. “I just didn’t
know what to do. From the legends my mother told me, I knew that if
I were to just run after him it wouldn’t do any good. You can't
reason with a Night Marcher. It was one of the worst feelings you
could imagine, to not be able to help your best friend when they
needed you most. When the drumbeats faded off I ran towards the
spot where I had last seen my friend. I had heard stories of Night
Marchers trampling over people that got in their way. I feared the
worse, which was that I would find my best friend trampled to
death. Instead I found nothing, no sign of him, no sign of what may
have happened to him, nothing!" Tristan stands up and starts pacing
the cave. I watch his shadow move back and forth furiously across
the cave wall. I'm not sure if he's furious with the Night Marchers
or himself for not being able to save his friend.

He turns towards me almost too quickly and
says earnestly, "I spent the night looking for him Emma. I did not
just abandon my friend! I was the one who had to tell his parents,
the Kealoha's, what happened." I gasp as I connect the dots.
Tristan looks at me then resumes telling me what he needs to say.
"I told the Kealoha's that I would not stop trying to find a way to
get Noa back. I am the one that found your dad when I was doing my
research online. I needed to find a way to undo the curse. I was
hoping that your dad would help me. Or if he couldn't help me break
the curse, then I was hoping that eventually he could lead me to
them. I have tried to hunt down the Night Marchers by myself. I
never found them; tonight was the first time I had seen them since
I started searching. With you in danger, I couldn't stop and try to
find a way to help Noa, I had to get you to safety." His expression
softens as he gazes at me.