Another Life

Chapter Five - Hot Chocolate

I shuffled backwards until my back was against the barn wall. My heart was beating out of my chest and I just wanted to escape. I couldn't stop the tears streaming down my face as I braced myself for the inevitable coming torture.

Talon was silent, watching me for several minutes. He slid down to the floor to be on the same level as me and started to slide himself towards me. I whimpered and curled into a ball, cringing away from his approaching body.

Reaching out towards me, he pulled my body towards him and cradled me in his lap. He stroked my hair awkwardly and murmured "It's okay, Princess. "

"How can it possibly be OK, Talon? You hate me and I'm terrified of you. So how can it possibly work?" I sobbed.

"You don't remember, Princess. Yes you remember the old stuff, but not what happened afterwards. How you are the reason I'm part of this group. If you hadn't vouched for me and insisted that the others should trust me, I would never have met our Lord God or started fighting for what is really right. You are only remembering how our relationship began, not what it grew into."

I looked up at Talon and he smiled down at me. I felt reassured that I was just dwelling on the negative, when I should be moving on.

"What should we do now?" I asked, overwhelmed by the cornicopea of emotions that had exploded within me.

"Let's go back inside, Skye. Will is making hot chocolate and we don't want to miss that."

Talon pulled me up and placed his arm around me, guiding me towards the barn door. I leant into him, confused but glad I didn't have to fight him.

"Are we friends?" I whispered.

"Of course we are you little fool," He growled, pulling me in closer.

As we entered the kitchen he let go and I found myself floundering again. I ran my fingers through my hair and realised I really needed to shower. Will was putting the finishing touches to four mugs he had made hot chocolate in. Once everyone had a mug full of marshmallows, cream and flake, Danny asked for everyone's attention.

"Okay, so we'll try the shield again tomorrow, but for tonight, we're going to do another exercise. We're going to raise a star. So one by one everyone, pull your stars into existence, send it up, then allow it to disapate.

I watched as Will pulled a star into existence, sent it upwards, then caused it to disapate.

I watched Talon do the same. He sent his star upwards and waited for it to reach the atmosphere, then let it explode and fall back down to earth.

They could do it with ease, so I should be able to surely? I raised a star and sent it upwards. I imagined it had a million friends and once it rose up it would join them and celebrate all stars. My star went up and I watched it mesmerized. I didn't want to end it and wondered what would happen if I just let it keep going up. I felt an unbelievable sense of peace and rightness. To one side I was vaguely aware of Will staring open mouthed into the distance. I reluctantly tore my gaze from my star and tried to see what was happening. For a moment I couldn't see anything, then my body turned numb as I realised that the whole of reality was being engulfed by darkness in the distance. It didn't look too sinister, but slowly and surely everything was being swallowed by the darkness. The land beneath us shuddered and we all instinctively grabbed the person next to us to keep balanced. The ground below us rumbled and shook. There was a strong smell of sulphur and the air felt electric, as if it might catch fire any second. If I kept sending my star up with all it's new friends the world as we know it would cease to exist, but I didn't care. I didn't want to destroy the star. Danny appeared behind me and talked to me, telling me that the star needed to be brought back down. I needed to close the book. I wanted to let the star carry on. To obliterate everything and take it's place in the world. But I brought it back down and pulled it into the book. I saw the fallout, the others gasping as parts of reality flashed out of being as my star asserted itself. I slammed the book closed as I fell to the floor, heartbroken that I hadn't let the star go.

Danny pulled us all together and encouraged us to drink the hot chocolate.

"Who knows what tomorrow might bring, let's enjoy what we can."

We heeded his wisdom and drank the hot chocolate, in silence. My mind was so full and confused that I didn't even really register the proximity and comfort of the three men gathered around me.

I barely had time to acknowledge that another day had gone by before retiring to my bedroom and falling into a deep, dreamless sleep.