‘Amber, where have you been? Why didn’t you call us?’ He’s not alone. Three wolf totems treaded carefully round the perimeter. She remembered how difficult it was when she first saw the wolves. They seem so out of place in an English forest. Andrea explained that totems did not depend on where you lived. Your chosen totem was a gift from Gaia herself although according to Andrea, you have to have a little common sense. Totem groups don’t like attention. The story of the Jaguar that frightened local villagers was always brought up in meetings as a warning. Newspapers were filled with terror titles. Most of non-totems thought they had escaped from the local zoo, but only true totems knew. She felt the darkness closing in on her again. As if to remind her, pain flashed across her body when he picked her up. She smiled weakly until another wave of pain tore into her. This time she embraced the darkness, falling into a tormented sleep.
He half carried, half dragged her across the forest floor, towards the van, and laid her gently on the blanket.
Above, Hawk watched with the others, his totem eyes alert as they hovered. Only the rustle of the trees indicated the Ecos moving through the forest. In the distance, Raven’s group skirted the tops of the trees and houses, monitoring for other totems, while Andrea continued to slide through the forest, alone. Amber had hurt her more deeply than she could ever expect and even though she didn’t want to admit it, she was worried about her.
Apart from the three wolves that leapt into the van, no-one seemed to be on watch. The van meandered through the long stretches of country road until it arrived at a crumbling old manor house, surrounded by familiar Harp antennae. They seem unaware that they are being followed.
Back in the Harp fortress, Amber screamed on the raised platform. He made a note to call Anna; she was worse than he imagined. They had to get the remains of the totem off her or she would die. He wondered whether she had been lying there all night. He pinched her cheeks together making her focus on him. Her eyes were glazed and he knew that they didn’t have long.
‘Look at me Amber. Remember what Anna has told you; only the brave survive.’ She didn’t respond and it was the first time he felt the fluttering of human anxiety. Amber had grown on him. At first he had found her incessant talking irritating. She whimpered, and he stroked her cheek before withdrawing from the lonely tear that dripped down her face.
‘You were so desperate weren’t you? So human. You got your wish, and now you know how vile totems actually are. Now you know.’ he whispered.
He stood staring at the disfigured body before him. The totem had left its mark all over her body, and the inquisitive girl he knew was gone. He looked at her evenly; it was not the time to reveal how totems disgusted him. To him, they were the earthly offspring that stunk the air between their two worlds. The worse moment was over; he no longer had to pretend, like before. He had felt tortured at that school, and being near her was the most difficult thing he had done. Her other friend, Jo-Jo, was the most difficult to deal with and he often thought about getting rid of her permanently. Only Nevaeh kept him going, kept him sane.
He sensed Anna a message, while holding Ambers hand as she writhed from another wave of pain. Saving her was his parting gift to this world, and he knew she would make an excellent servant when he was joined with Nevaeh. The destiny Anna had mapped out for him, for everyone, was finally here. He fought the urge to smile, astonishing himself at the deep longing to be around her. She was his equal and her smile, her laughter, filled a void.
Nearby, the human Seth interrupted him, swearing at him. He forgot to block him, his thoughts distracting him and breathed in, absorbing the raw anger of the human. He tried to wipe the taste away, damning his empathic power. Rage returned. It was the first emotion he recognised when he was called to this world and he focused on Seth. It was his totem that had caused Amber’s agony. Even though he wasn’t their first choice, the female’s totem evaded them in the transition, slipping from their clutches before the frequency could contain it.
The multi-transitional chamber that separated totems had malfunctioned. It was a human invention, Anna’s invention with a little help from Khaos. Her entire group was the first to be integrated and divided into drones and slaves. Revenge was her emotion; she was soaked in it and became detached and unforgiving. Fuelled by her great plan, she never blinked when some of the humans dissolved, like the Ecos. If the captives were unwilling to be turned to their ways, she transferred their totems to new hosts. The two compartments in the transition chamber acted like a conduit with the captured totem in one and the new host in the other. At first, it seems like Seth’s captured totem recognised his imprinted signature on Amber and, like hundreds of others, responded. But, like some of the others, the signature slipped away, revealing themselves. She had had the worst rejection, and he wondered if it was because she came from the same group.
‘You will both pay for what you’ve done; Gaia herself will make sure of that. And I’ll take pleasure in killing you myself.’
Seth screamed again, interrupting his thoughts. He looked at Seth calmly before turning up the dial, each cage attached like an octopus to the central Harp computer. Seth’s cage, vibrated and he grinned at the animated reaction of the human. Everything about this place amazed him. Even now Anna was an incredible scientist, and it was this mind that worked out the ancient energy source, and minded the depths below. He wondered if she truly understood that the ancient magic she had tapped into was drawn from creation itself, just like he was. Sometimes, he thought he saw a trace of the goddess herself in her, but then he dismissed it for madness. If Anna had originated from anywhere it was from here, he reasoned, madness was not an immortal characteristic. He smiled to himself thinking again of the plan, imagining the children of Khaos and Gaia together again and almost sighed in pleasure.
He stopped when he saw Seth’s tongue lolling between his teeth and his soul start to stretch and separate. A scream from the female in a nearby cage pierced his ears, and he hovered his hand above the dial, threateningly. They were becoming a liability, even after they had been placed in separate cages, they still communicated, still connected to each other. If it wasn’t for Anna, he would have killed them long ago.
‘Please, don’t, not again….’ Nettles held her hand out desperately. He pulled his hand away watching her whisper something to her mate, trying to soothe him. Why did she try? He couldn’t hear her, not now.
He turned away, irritated that he had to babysit. He didn’t want to be here, and his longing returned. Away from here, he was free to be himself and she made him whole, two parts fitting together. When he thought of the other one, the one named Hawk - he felt his father’s blood rise up in him. The thought disgusted him – a human with a goddess, and to make it worse, a totem human. It was a violation of every law and he flexed his fists angrily. Whatever hold she had on him, he was determined to break it.
Amber moaned interrupting his thoughts, and he let his hand linger on her cheek. Anna had not returned his message, but if he didn’t help her now, she would be dead within the hour.
He held her hand before closing his eyes. A vibration pulsed through his body as the gathering liquid energy poured from his hand. He pulled away and heard her sigh. Humans, he discovered, were sensitive and could literally melt if too much of it entered their bodies. He watched the colour return to her cheeks, and her eyelids
