“Thy name is ‘Apostle Tellus’.”
Elen breathes in, then out, and takes a moment to think. Four down, one to go. It seemed like chance when she, Áine, and Māra crossed paths, while David got a general vision on where Salacia could be found, so where could this one possibly be? For all she knows, this last Apostle could be an ascetic in the Jötunn Mountains. And wouldn't that be an interesting trip to take?
She glances at the others, celebrating as if Māra has been initiated into a coven. More than finding the last Apostle or the story David has been telling, something else is bothering her…
When she yawns, Elen decides to think about that at a later time. She needs to get up early tomorrow to put the last touches on her assignment before she and her group turn in at the end of the week. Elen is just about to stand from her place on the floor when David steps in front of her. When did he get there? And when did everyone else leave the room?
“You are plagued with dreams.” David states. “Ones that are interfering with your normal life.”
Elen exhales through her nose. “Yeah. I was thinking of going to a doctor for something.”
David doesn’t say a word, and instead reaches a hand out. He touches his fingertips to the top of her headband, a light glowing where they make contact. Elen doesn’t protest. The light washes over her and she’s overwhelmed by such a feeling of comfort and peace that her eyelids become especially heavy.
When the light dies, David says, “There is a guest room and Mystia has spare pajamas. Sleep here tonight.”
Elen wants to argue. Wants to say that she’d rather go back to her apartment instead of staying the night in veritable strangers’ house where she’ll be vulnerable to god-knows-what they might do. But her vision is already turning black and her head feels like it’s filled with lead cotton.
“Okay.”
She must’ve dozed off in the room before David came to her because the light outside has dimmed considerably. Elen goes to the guest room, thankfully with a pinhole door knob which she promptly locks. She removes her headband and jewelry before changing into an already laid out set of pajamas that were left on the bed. There’s a distinct combination of sage and lavender scents Elen notices as she snuggles the pillow.
She, in no time at all, falls asleep.
“Where the hell have you been?!”
Māra’s hands fly up to her ears to protect them from the reverberating voices of both her sister and father even as she curls forward in an instinctive response. They could honestly be opera singers with how they can project their voices.
“We saw the news!”
“You didn’t answer any of our messages!”
“Do you even know how worried we were?!”
A fresh wave of guilt settles in Māra, but she still reassures herself that this isn’t the first time she’s lied about where she was. She takes a deep breath before telling them, “I’m sorry. The EMTs were making sure I wasn’t injured and we didn’t think to call you guys.”
“You could’ve used your AIDCard,” her father, Jesus, reasons. “We have you sew it into your hoodie for a reason!”
Oh. Right. She hardly uses it for anything other than paying for stuff and using the train pass so Māra didn’t even think to send an alert to them saying that she’s still alive. Yeah, that’s her bad. “I’m sorry. Everything was so crazy that I didn’t think about it.”
Jesus huffs, then wraps her in a hug. “I’m just glad you’re okay.”
Māra holds her father back tightly and Itzel joins them. This probably brought up a lot of bad memories for both him and her sister. She knows it would’ve for her. She should’ve just gone back home to let them know she’s alright instead of going with the others. She should’ve just told them that she’d meet them at the restaurant at a later time.
Jesus leans back, wiping an eye. “Now that that’s out of the way, let’s eat. I made your favorite lamb stew.”
The rumbling in her stomach reminds Māra that she had skipped lunch to rush making a new piece for the Quarterly Gallery. “Will there be soda bread?”
“You can’t have stew without it.”
Māra smiles as she follows her family to the dining room.
There are children running about the playground, whooping and hollering as they play on the playground. An older child holds up a flag and the others instantly sprint towards them before they’re led back to the classroom.
The child smiles as the teacher pats them on the head and adds a sticker to their booklet. Just two more and they’ll be able to pick out the movie for their end-of-the-month free day!
It’s nearly evening when they’re in their family’s backyard playing with the dog. They wrestle with the toy between them, neither giving up without a good fight. When the dog shakes his head, the child lets go of the toy to let him win. Gotta let that happen once in a while or it won’t be as fun.
The dog stops the destruction and his ears perk forward. He lets out a low growl, and his eyes are fixed at a certain spot. The child knows what that means. Is there an intruder? A raccoon? If it’s human, they need to get into the house as soon as possible and call the police if necessary.
“Woah, there! Don’t worry.”
There’s an intense pain in the child’s chest. More so than any stitch they’d gotten when they were running for gym class or when they sprained their wrist after falling off the swing-set. They never knew that such pain could be possible.
They collapse while the dog lets out a booming bark, lunging at whoever was invading his territory and hurting his human. There’s a yip and he lands hard on the ground but the child can’t go to him. All they can do is collapse on the ground as their vision grows darker.
“Don’t worry. We’ll put this to good use.”
Elen pries her eyelids open, the sunlight streaming in from the window and burning her eyes.
‘Huh? It shouldn’t be this bright so early in the morning.’
She groggily turns to rummage through her bag to grab her phone. When she unlocks the screen, Elen sees that the alarm has been ringing for over three hours and she was late for school.
“Shit! How did I oversleep so much?!”
Elen rips the blankets off of her and springs up from the bed. Dammit! She needs to call the school and explain the absence. She’s only missed school because of being sick a couple of times so they’ll probably be lenient with her. That excuse should work this time as well.
*Knock Knock*
“Elen? Are you awake?”
She stops as she’s pulling on her blouse and turns her head to the still locked door. “Ah! Yeah! I’m late for school.”
Mystia doesn’t say anything else, so Elen rushes to finish dressing and snatches her bag. She exits the room to see Mystia, Fredrick, and David sitting at the kitchen bar eating waffles. It’s almost unnerving to see David in normal clothes instead of his robes, but she can’t think of that right now.
“Good morning!” Elen clenches her fists to hold herself back from hitting Fredrick for his chipper mood. “We have more batter. Do you like strawberries or blueberries?”
Despite the mouthwatering smell, Elen shakes her head. “I can’t. I need to get to school.”
“You’re already late. Might as well be late on a full stomach.”
Elen freezes when her stomach growls. The secretary in the office is really nice, so she’s sure she’ll be understanding if Elen just explains herself. “Alright.” She takes the empty stool at the bar where Mystia sets down a plate of a large waffle loaded with strawberries and whipped cream. ‘The last time I’d had a home-cooked meal made by someone else was when Auntie Flora threw that party before I moved here.’
After clearing her plate, Elen finally looks down at her clothes to see that her blouse is wrinkled and her vest is inside-out. Does she have enough time to go back to her apartment to change? She can’t even think about how long it would take, as if something is blocking her from even thinking.
The same feeling of contentment flows through Elen’s body and she lifts her head to see David next to her. Whatever magick he’s using, it sure feels nice. “You’re magick is very unstable,” he tells her. “It’ll be better for you to take tomorrow off as well.”
Maybe it’s her brain being slow or David’s low tone of voice, but it takes a few moments for Elen to realize exactly what he’s saying. “Can’t. My quarterly assignment is due on Friday.”
“That’s still a couple days away. You can work on it when you’re feeling better. For now, go back to bed.”
Elen’s glare hardly works on Fredrick as he ushers her back to the guest room. “You guys aren’t my parents or guardians. I could call the police for kidnapping.”
Fredrick smiles as he draws the curtains closed. “Do you really think you can go out in public when even we can see you’re not 100%? Just go back to bed.”
She wants to protest. Wants to just leave and go home. But damn can Elen see the logic in what he’s saying. As soon as Fredrick leaves the room, she changes back into the pajamas and drops hard onto the bed.
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