“I didn’t realize I was capable…” I trailed off in confusion and he laughed lightly.
“I believe out of all the walls you could have chosen to take down, this would have been the best.”
“What do you mean?”
“I’ve been using this wall as a sort of calendar. Scraping away at it to mark the days. I have a feeling its structural integrity has been weakened over time.”
“Oh.” I grinned sheepishly as I felt my face heat in embarrassment. I should have known I didn’t have the strength to take down a solid stone wall. That’s when the memory of my previous reveries slammed into me. The room with the marks on the wall. The window I had peered out of, meeting the eyes of an old man on a beach. The beach where the same old man had been collecting shells.
“You….” I started, unsure as how to explain what I was thinking. “I’ve seen you before.
I’ve…I’ve been here in a…dream.” I surveyed the room I was currently in. Of course! How could I not have remembered? The room I was in now greatly resembled the stone room that I’d found myself in during my reverie, the first time I’d caught sight of the old man. The second time resulting in a new trace. A new trace brought on by close proximity to my past.
“I saw you too.” His eye crinkled as he smiled. I ran a light finger over the eternity symbol trace below my eye, trying to understand the connection.
“Are you…? Are we…related?” Before he could answer, sounds down the hallway made us freeze as I snapped back to the task at hand.
“You need to go.” His eye darted toward what I assumed was his door.
“Are you chained too?” I asked him.
“Fortunately not, but my door is as solid as a mountain.”
“We can get you out through here!” I exclaimed with excitement, already clawing at the wall.
“You must go-” he began, until I started to ramble.
“My door isn’t locked! It’s guarded by a million spiders, but…”
“No!” he protested. “Your time is too precious! You need to leave!”
“I’m not leaving you here…” I kept clawing at the stone.
“Anastasia.”
The sound of my name stopped me dead in my tracks. “You know my name?”
“You must go.” His unblinking eye told me he was serious, matching his firm tone. “I’ll be right behind you.”
“Okay,” I responded robotically. I didn’t want to leave him. I would never forgive myself if something happened to him. After another moment without movement, the sounds down the hall grew louder as voices could be heard.
“Go!” he instructed, as I finally found my way back to the present and back to the dire situation I was in. I glanced back at his gray, wise eyes one last time before gathering up the chains and running towards the door.
I barely felt the silk webs of the bark spiders as I ran through them with little patience for the shivers they threatened to send down my back. I unlatched the door and wrenched it open, finding myself in a long stone hallway. I briefly inspected my skin to make sure no spiders had hitched a ride. Satisfied that there were no lingering spiders and feeling the hot breath of time on the back of my neck, I ran to the left and away from the voices we had heard.
In the darkness of night, I stumbled down the hallway and almost fell down an abrupt set of stairs. After several twisted ankles and one heart attack, I reached the end of the spiraling stone steps and flattened myself against the cool wall to catch my breath. I had no idea where I was going, or what I was going to do when I got there. I just knew that I had to stop the three conspirators from infusing the prisoners’ essences, as well as mine, into Keto. With that power, it would be impossible for me to defeat her.
Realizing that now I needed to find out whether all of my essence had been drained or if I still retained my abilities, I closed my eyes and reached out with my mind; in search of the ocean. The sensation that hit me in the next second was so unexpected, it brought tears of joy to my eyes. Other times when the ocean had called me, it felt like a light tug; urging me to dive into the arms of the waves. This feeling was so powerful, I lost all control of my feet as they began to run. The urgency with which I needed to be beneath the waves was so overpowering, I could think of nothing else. It was as if my life depended on it. As the burning in my side grew into a raging inferno, I realized that maybe it did.
Chapter 23
When my bare feet landed on the sand that led me towards the welcoming arms of the sea, the moon revitalized my soul and helped me make it the rest of the way to the water. As the burning in my side became unbearable and the world spun out of control, I lost my footing and fell into the shallow waves as they lapped at the shore. The velvety touch of the ocean sent a frenzy of energy through every cell in my body, and I allowed myself to float farther and farther out. I closed my eyes and lost myself in the euphoria of the sea’s magnificent power. It swirled around me and inside of me as I breathed it in greedily. The coolness of its touch spread through my body; cradling my heart and soul in its nurturing, loving arms.
I didn’t bother to move or swim until I felt a light touch on my side. I snapped my eyes open to catch a three-foot-long gray fish attempting to kiss the side of my body. As he re-angled himself in relation to my side, I realized that he was no ordinary fish, he was a Plecostomus – a sucker fish - a much, much larger version of the ones we had back in Atlanta. They sucked up the algae on the bottom and glass sides of the rectangular fish tank we’d had back home. Once repositioned, he attached his mouth to the red, blotchy spot where the spider had poisoned me. The burning in my side started to vanish slowly, as he actually pulled the venom from my body. In any other situation, having a random fish stuck to my side would have been slightly disturbing, but the absence of my intense pain literally extinguished any hesitation I might have had.
Apparently satisfied, the courageous fish detached from my skin. I reached out slowly and ran a hand over his scaly body. One glassy black eye watched me carefully, until it stilled completely and he drifted onto his side; succumbing to the venom. A wrenching sorrow filled my soul and I cried out in horror, but before I could understand what was happening a wall of seaweed had wrapped around me. I continued to search for the fish, but the seaweed quickly pulled me to the sea floor.
I struggled against its fronds, until I felt the tiny sparks of energy that flowed along my skin and throughout my body. Their playful spirit surrounded me and filled me with a pure happiness and unabated joy I knew was not my own. More energy flowed from the seaweed into my veins, clearing my head and revitalizing my drained muscles. Every cell, every nerve-ending reveled in the sea’s arms as a light melody filled my ears. I instantaneously recognized it as the sea’s song. She was calling to me, embracing me as one of her own; loving me and healing me with her love and acceptance.
After what seemed like an eternity, I awakened to an airy fluttering sensation traveling across every inch of my skin. Images of giant bark spiders coming to finish me off filled my mind, and fear instantly gripped me. When I opened my eyes I prayed that it would be a school of sharks, electric eels, or Jonah and his whale - anything besides flesh eating spiders. Thankfully, it was just a mass of baby sea turtles swimming around me with excitement. I knew that they were newly hatched from the aura of pure innocence they emitted.
“Hello there,” I greeted them warmly. At my acknowledgment their joy soared to a new level, and I didn’t think their little fins could paddle any faster. They darted around me, a frenzy of energy and happiness that brought an unstoppable smile to my lips. Just as quickly, my on-land reality slammed into me and I knew I could hide beneath the waves no longer. I could already be too late! Untangling myself from my bed of seaweed, I easily swam back to shore. I felt as good as new, but was still in shock at the sucker fish’s ultimate sacrifice, along with the sea’s incredible healing power. I hadn’t asked for it. I hadn’t even realized it was possible. But somehow it knew and it pulled me in, understanding what it needed to do. And an innocent life had laid down his life for mine. It was a difficult concept to understand, but one that filled me with an even stronger love for the sea and its inhabitants.
With renewed hope and, most importantly, energy, I crept out of the waves with a keen eye for any sign of
