Ok. Parts of this you guys have already been seen but there's some differences too. Enjoy!
Tanya
Chapter 6
“You’ve been watching over him, haven’t you?” Millie’s kind blue eyes studied Tyanina curiously.
Violet eyes pools of tears, head held high, Tya nodded.
“Why are you crying, child? You don’t even know me.”
“Of course I know you.” Tya reached over and brushed her fingers on the surface of her mirror. Image after image flashed before the women’s eyes; Noah and Millie, the day of the adoption, the day they went shopping. Their evenings together, talking and drinking tea. Millie tucking a sleeping Noah in, a look of pure maternal love on her face. “You’ve been good to him, kind lady. Before you, he had not known much kindness. Thank you for that.”
“He feels you, you know. He used to tell me he felt a constant presence. Although he grew up alone, he was never lonely because he has you there with him.”
“Only in my heart and my mind. You were the physical presence he needed.”
“Who are you child? Do you accompany everyone like you do him?”
“I am Tyanina. I am Lady Death. I had only been so for two weeks when I felt his birth. Something about it called to me and I have been watching over him ever since.”
Millie’s eyes narrowed. “You knew his parents?”
Tya shook her head. “His mother’s name was Moira. She died giving birth to him. When she suddenly appeared in my head . . . She was being beaten by a man she called the father of her baby.”
Millie closed her eyes and inhaled sharply. “He caused her to go into labour?”
“Yes. She owes her baby’s life to a homeless man whom she woke up with her screams of pain. He lifted her up and ran to a doctor. That man saved Noah’s life, even if he was too late for Moira.”
Millie’s eyes suddenly opened and a tender look crossed her features. “You still haven’t told me why you are crying, Tyanina.”
Without saying a word, Lady Death once again brushed the surface of the mirror. Noah instantly appeared. He was in Millie’s study, his hands on the back of the chair she used to sit in. A muffled noise could be heard and the older woman took a step closer to the image of her adopted son. Her eyes filled with tears when she realised what the sound was; Noah was crying. The sound got louder. Heart-wrenching sobs now escaped the twenty-one year old boy. Millie had been his whole life for eight years. What would he do without her?
“Why Lord? Why did you take her from me? You could have taken anyone else, but not her!” His anguished roar was deafening. Tya curled her fingers into her palms and the image disappeared.
Mildred wiped the tears from her cheek. “It isn’t the Lord he should be angry with, it is you. That’s why you’re crying.” It wasn’t a question.
“I don’t have a choice in the matter, Millie, I swear I don’t. There are strict rules that must be obeyed. I am simply a vessel.” A sob threatened to choke her. She pushed it back. Her father had offered to do this in her stead but she had refused. It was the least she could do; pay tribute to the woman who had meant so much to Noah.
“There, there, shh.” Millie whispered as she pulled Tya into a comforting hug. Tya knew she should pull back and escort the woman to Heaven –where she rightly belonged- but she couldn’t stop crying and she missed her mother. Millie’s comfort reminded her of the woman she’d lost over twenty years ago. Finally, with a last sniffle, Tya pulled back. “I’m sorry for breaking down, I really am. Noah is . . . a sensitive subject with me.”
A pair of wise eyes glanced at her. “You love him, don’t you?”
“Is there any point in denying it?”
“I can’t say there is. But . . . What of this love?”
“I . . . Will wait until he dies and pray my father will allow me to offer him a home here.”
Millie nodded. She seemed to understand what the young woman was saying.
Drying her tears with her right hand, Tya extended her left hand to the woman. “It’s time to go.”
Millie reached for Tya’s hand, then hesitated. “Go where?”
“To Heaven, where you belong.”
Millie recoiled. “No, no. Can’t I . . . Can I stay here?”
“Excuse me?”
“You . . . Are the only link to my son. Please. May I stay here?” Tya started shaking her head but Millie pressed on. “You are going to offer Noah the possibility of staying here, why can’t I? Would I not fit in?”
Tya glanced at the woman’s prim and proper look, her gentle blue eyes and snow-white hair. Her usually sage blue eyes were now wide and pleading, her hand outstretched toward the young woman. “Please,” she whispered.
Tya could easily picture how beautiful Heaven was and how easily the other woman would fit in. Then she pictured Hell and she shuddered.
“But Millie, do you know where you are? You are in the Underworld. In Hell.”
“I don’t care where I am, Tyanina. You have watched over my son all his life, I want to be with you and him.”
“But in Heaven you’ll be with Arthur, your husband.”
She turned to the mirror of souls, even if it was now devoid of image and stared at it unseeingly. She was so deeply lost in her thoughts that Tya didn’t think even a earthquake could rouse her. She noticed Millie flinch once, then shudder a moment later. Tya was beginning to wonder if the older woman wasn’t somehow in shock but Millie finally inhaled deeply and opened her eyes. “I’ve known Arthur my whole life. Our parents were friends. Our marriage was arranged and we later on fell in love. I’ve already had a lifetime with my husband. Now I want my child.” She turned her determined gaze to Tya who nodded slowly.
“Papa?” She called out.
Dreico instantly appeared alongside his daughter. He had been listening in on the conversation, in case Tya needed him. He glanced down at her, his pride evident in his dark eyes.
“You were listening, weren’t you?”
“Yes, In case you needed my assistance. But of course, you did not.”
“Then you know what I am asking?”
Dreico turned to face Mildred. Much like Noah had years ago, he could feel the gentleness coming from this woman. He opened up his senses to her and discovered what he already suspected; she was a woman of integrity, she was kind and wise. She had been very lonely until Noah’s arrival and he had rapidly become her whole world. Although she had been patient with Tya, he could feel her pain of losing her son forever. Nevertheless . . .
“Hell is for sinners, Madam,” Dreico said sharply. “If you wish to remain here with the Sinners, you will have to live like the rest of them; working your hands to the bone, either furnishing the fires of hell, or breaking your back carrying heavy loads of dirt and rubble. The living quarters are a common room and everyone is piled in, trying to sleep whenever they can. You will have no privacy, no intimacy. You may be beaten and raped, you will have to learn to defend yourself. Is this how you wish to spend eternity?”
Tya gasped and looked up at her father. That wasn’t how most sinners lived, what was her father doing? Tya looked at Millie. The older woman gulped then straightened her shoulders and raised her head. “And when would I be able to glance upon my son?” She gestured to the mirror.
“You may have half an hour every night but it will cut into your sleep period.”
Millie closed her eyes and a small smile appeared on her lips. “I’ll do it,” She murmured. “Perhaps he will feel my presence like he feels Tyanina’s and he will be at peace.”
Tya glared at her father. “Are you satisfied now, Papa? She’ll work her butt off for Noah! She’ll feel pain so he won’t have to!” she demanded in his mind.
“Actually, daughter, I am quite pleased with her answer.” Out loud, he told Millie, “I’m sorry, Madam, but it will not be necessary to put you through this labour.”
“I . . Don’t understand.”
“I have just tested you. I needed to know what you would go through for Noah. You deserve to be in Heaven, Madam, and I wanted to make sure you really wanted to give up Heaven for this boy.”
“He isn’t simply ‘a boy’,” she said stiffly. “He’s my son!”
Dreico’s smile grew wider. He walked closer to Millie, took her hand in his and kissed it gallantly. Looking up, he locked gaze with her. “I think we are going to get along just fine,” he murmured before disappearing.
“You can offer her a room in our house until we get one built for her.” Tya heard her father’s departing words in her mind.
“Will you come with me, Millie? I’ll show you to your new living quarters.”
Millie gestured to the mirror. “May I . . . Please? Once more?”
There was no need to finish her sentence; Tya understood. She touched the mirror gently and it sprang to life. Millie’s fingertips brushed the cool surface lightly, reverently as Noah’s anguished face appeared before her. “How does this work? Is this present time? Past?”
Tya tried to find the words to describe the mirror. “It is an extension of me, for lack of a better definition. My mother was Lady Death before me and she killed herself a little over twenty-one years ago because she could no longer deal with the deaths.”
Eyes wide, Millie turned to Tya who nodded. “Everything happened in her head and she heard voices constantly. She grew tired of them and she was going crazy so she escaped the only way she could; by killing herself. I subsequently took up the title and I realised that if I didn’t find a way to categorise my thoughts and those of the dying, I would end up as crazy as my mother.”
Tya gulped. It was still hard to think of her mother after all these years. “I asked my father if there was a way of creating a pond or a mirror. Even a crystal ball, anything to help me sort out the deaths. He asked his brother who built me the mirror.”
“His brother?”
Tya studied Millie for a moment. “I’ll tell you about my uncle Mineos some other time. I think you’ve had more than enough shock for one day.” She looked puzzled but Tya pressed on. “Every morning I come in here before the voices in my head get too loud and I lay my hand on the mirror; that way, I can transfer the voices into it and organise the deaths, the suicides, the wounded.”
“Why is it you can here them? Do you here the happy people too?”
Tya shook her head. “No. You see, when you die or are gravely wounded, your soul cries out. It’s a simple as that. Putting it into words isn’t easy but to me it sounds like a startled gasp.”
Millie’s eyebrows shot up and Tya smiled.
“It’s as if the soul had been frightened and had gotten a knee-jerk reaction. That’s what I hear. Millions of souls call out to me daily and this mirror helps me sort them all out.”
Millie nodded slowly. “And what about Noah?”
“I can’t explain him and my father can’t either. For some reason, I’ve felt his mother’s death and his soul has stayed with me ever since. I haven’t been able to follow any else life either, but for some reason, I can with Noah.” Tya shrugged helplessly. “There must be a reason for it.”
“Maybe it has something to with his own soul? Maybe it wasn’t supposed to be born and it is rebelling? Maybe his birth was too shocking, too painful, and the soul still feels it all these years later?”
Tya eyed Millie with renewed appreciation. “You are one smart lady. I really think I’m going to enjoy having you around.”
* * *
Noah felt a deep dark rage bubbling inside himself. It came from his stomach and it spread out; downward to his toes, filling his legs, then sped back up from fingertip to fingertip. He felt so full of rage, so heavy with it that it was almost as if he was made of lead. He roared his anguish while digging his fingers in Millie’s soft blue velvet seat. The same way he had opened up to Millie’s gentleness years before, he opened himself up to his rage. He needed an outlet, needed to let the rage out but he couldn’t, he didn’t know how. And so he screamed and roared until his throat was dry and raw. He gripped the seat so tightly he felt it give and only then did he abruptly stop. He couldn’t destroy Millie’s chair. Millie’s chair.
His shoulders slumped and something crashed; he jumped up, startled. He looked around trying to find the source of the noise and he stilled. His heart beat accelerated, going three times its usual rate.
Hovering in the air, right in front of his eyes were inanimate objects of all kinds; glasses, a book, a log, wood kindling, a pen and a few loose sheets. They were trembling as if cold although it was impossible for them to feel anything. He rubbed his weary eyes and looked again. He wasn’t dreaming; everything was floating mid-air. He reached for a pen, plucked it from the air and held it loosely in his hand. No quivering or trembling. He released it and it returned to its place in the air; it resumed its trembling.
Noah heard another noise and stared in astonishment as Millie’s chair, four legs on the floor, began trembling. He gasped, and took a step back without looking. He tripped on something that had managed to remain floored and he fell backwards, landing on his butt with a groan of pain. One second later, every object that had been hovering crashed to the floor and remained there.
What had just happened? What had everything in the room suddenly floated up to Noah’s height? He looked at the objects on the floor and slowly shook his head. Only the smaller objects had flown up. The chairs and table, the heavy logs had all remained unmoving. Until Millie’s chair began trembling.
Noah felt uneasiness in the pit of his stomach and for some reason, he thought of two days ago when the doctor had pronounced Millie dead. Noah had turned on the doctor, had grabbed his coat and had shook him none too gently. “Do something! She can’t be dead!”
The doctor had laid a restrictive hand on Noah’s shoulder but he had been too full of grief to let himself be calmed. He had pushed the man back against the wall and had shaken him again. This time, the doctor’s voice had been gentler. “Son, it wasn’t in my power to save her. God eventually wants to have his angels back by his side and so He called back your mother.”
Power . . . The word resonated inside of him, clamouring like church bells on a wedding day. Power . . .
Noah’s palms were slick with sweat and he struggled to his feet, surveying the objects on the floor as if they could jump up and attack him. He backed several cautious feet to the door, his eyes glued to the floor.
Power . . .
Years ago, when Millie had asked him to develop his abilities, he had agreed but never had. He didn’t want to consider himself different, didn’t want to be a freak. He had never met anyone like him or if he did, he knew nothing about it. And so he had ignored his curse and thought nothing about it. Millie had never again brought it up.
What if he had developed them? Was there something within his power that he could have done for his mother? For the woman who had nurtured him these past eight years? Could he have cured her of the cancer ravaging her lungs? Could he have saved her?
He flashed back to ten years ago when Miranda and her baby had died. Had his full potential been discovered, would he have been able to save her too? But . . . If he had, he would have lived with her and Nelson and the baby. He never would have known Millie.
All those years ago, the voice in his head had told him that all things happened for reason and that was why Miranda had died. “So what was the reason for Millie’s death?” Noah said bitterly to the empty room. He wondered if the voice would answer him but she didn’t.
Noah had been at her lawyer’s just this morning where he had been told just how extremely wealthy he now was. Millie had left him everything, including the house. What would he do with this house? With his wealth? He never needed to work, that was for sure. He felt a pang of gratitude. Throughout his childhood, he never could have imagined that he would have ended here in this house, mourning the most wonderful woman who had ever existed.
Waves of grief slammed into him and his knees buckled; he dropped to the floor. “Oh Millie, what will I do without you?” his whispered words sounded like a shout in the quiet house.
Power . . .
Noah stilled. In his mind’s eye, he heard Millie ask him to work on developing his abilities. He remembered the feelings of hopeless rage boiling inside him right before he noticed the objects floating in the study. He thought of how the word ‘power’ kept reverberating in his mind and suddenly he knew what he would do with this house. He would use it as a practicing field to test his abilities. He would work hard, it would be arduous he knew that. He would have to figure out where to start and how to developing them.
But he would, he could. All he had to do was keep in mind that if he had done what Millie had asked of him of those years ago, he might have been able to save the only woman he had ever loved.
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