Across Worlds - Chapter 8

Falyn

"Wait, you’re telling me that the Seers were overrun and Pollume is just—gone?”

Akia sighed. “Pollume is still there. It’s known as Lightport now. And it doesn’t look exactly like what you see.”

It was early the next day and the five of them were heading through the woods. There was a path that started close to Sam’s house and continued through to the river that divided the two cities.

The sun had just barely risen and there was an orange tint to the sky. It was still cold so they all walked close together. Zeke was the only one off on his own. He trailed quite a distance behind them.

“So Pollume is Lightport,” Falyn said slowly, hoping to understand if she said it out loud. “And it looks completely different? Is that even possible? How long has this been going on?”

Akia rolled her eyes, something that she seemed quite fond of doing. “You can stop asking questions now. I told you, I’ll answer them all when we get there.”

“Fine.” Falyn mumbled. She really didn’t understand why Akia refused to give her any answers. But she was at least getting some answers. It was a start.

She took advantage of the silence that had fallen over the group to look around. The woods weren’t as exciting as they had seemed when she was growing up. She had never been in the woods before, but she had heard stories. Henry, one of Mina’s friends, once convinced her that there were bears and raccoons there. He also said that there were old barracks still standing from the Four Parts war.

But there wasn’t. Falyn didn’t see any bears or raccoons or barracks. There were only trees; trees and flowers. The trees were towering above them, creating protection. At the same time though, they seemed to be looming over them, threatening to overtake them and force them back towards the city.

Maybe she was the only one that felt that way. The rest of the group was walking on, heads held high and laughter on their lips. They seemed to feel that there was nothing to worry about.

Falyn felt someone squeeze her arm. She turned to face Mina next to her.

“You holding up okay? You don’t look so good.”

“Yeah I’m fine,” Falyn responded, lying through her teeth. “It’s just the Force. I can’t shake the feeling that they’re following us.”

Mina smiled and shook her head. “They’re far behind us. That memory spell would’ve held them through the night.”

“Great thinking by the way. Guess you really do belong in extra schooling.”

“Thanks, but none of that matters now,” Mina responded sadly. “I’ve learned all the magic I’m ever gonna learn.”

Falyn couldn’t help but feel sad for her friend. Falyn had no choice but the leave everything behind and escape. But Mina had a life ahead of her in Agathi. She knew that Mina was only being the supportive friend she had always been, but there was something else that told her Mina didn’t want to be traveling with them.

“You really didn’t have to come along you know,” Falyn said in an attempt to cheer her up. “I would’ve been fine going on my own.”

“Yeah, but I couldn’t let you go alone. Besides, I couldn’t trust my little sister to strangers! I’m here for you no matter what.”

Despite her sometimes passive nature, Mina was very loyal. And Falyn loved her for that. They weren’t sisters by blood of course, but they had felt like sisters from the beginning.

The two of them met in grade school. It was their first day and Falyn was less than excited to be going to school. She chuckled to herself as she remembered that day.

Her parents—or whoever they really were—were obviously annoyed by the situation. She was standing on the front steps, refusing to go into the building. She had thought that her parents would carry her into the classroom themselves. But they didn’t. They just stood there, aggravated with the whole situation.

Just as her father had grabbed her hand and turned to lead her back home, a girl clearly older than her came up to the front steps. She was dressed in a blue sundress and her hair was back in twin braids. It was Mina.

“Are you scared?” she had asked. “Don’t worry, stay with me and you’ll be fine. You won’t want to miss out on the double chocolate brownies for lunch.” Mina had held out her hand and Falyn took it. Together, they had walked into the school building.

From that point on, Falyn followed Mina everywhere. And Mina seemed to be perfectly fine with it. It didn’t seem to bother her that she had a shadow. If anything, she was enjoying it.

The two grew closer as the years went on. Falyn always found herself wishing that they would be in the same classes; although it was obvious that would never happen because of the age different. So when she was offered the opportunity to skip ahead in her education, she accepted without a second thought. It didn’t matter that she’d have to cram three years of magic into one. It didn’t matter that everyone would be bigger than her. All that mattered was that she had a friend; one that would never leave her side.

The path began to fade away as they pressed on. While it was made from clean, well placed rocks at the beginning, the rest of it was falling apart. Cracked rocks stuck out from the ground and soon enough there weren’t many left to even hint that the path was there. Falyn hoped that Akia knew where she was going.

“Hey, Falyn,” Zeke called out from behind them. She fell back in step next to him. “Do you want to know a secret about Akia?” Falyn hesitated before nodding.

Zeke leaned close to her ear and whispered, “She killed her father.”

“She killed—wait what?”

“Be quiet will you,” he hissed as Sam turned to look back at them. Falyn must’ve been louder than she had thought. “It’s not really common knowledge.”

“Then how do you know?”

Zeke shrugged. “I have my ways.”

Falyn looked ahead at Akia. She was walking arm in arm with Sam. They were laughing about something she couldn’t make out. They seemed so comfortable with each other.

Her stomach twisted in knots and her chest felt heavy. How was Akia able to be so close to Sam? Falyn had never been able to hand out with him alone; ever. And they were never super close. Akia seemed to have his heart though.

The more she thought about Akia, the less she believed what Zeke had told her. How could Akia be a murderer? Much less one that killed her own father. She had only known Akia for a short time, but she knew her well enough to judge her character. Akia was a headstrong kid who wasn’t going to back down from a fight. She knew what she wanted and she wouldn’t stop until she got it.

But she most certainly wasn’t a killer.

“I don’t believe you.”

Zeke scoffed and stuffed his hand in his pockets. “And why not? Because you think you know Akia? You’ve only known her for a few days.”

“I’ve only known you for that long too,” Falyn retorted. “How do I know I can trust you?”

“I don’t want you trusting people you shouldn’t.”

“Thanks for the advice, but I think I can figure that out by myself.”

Zeke only shrugged and looked away. He didn’t say anything else on the subject as they continued on.

They soon reached a clearing and decided to rest. Falyn was more than happy to take a break. Her legs were burning and she was sure there was a stick stuck in her shoe. She sat on a particularly large stone and kicked off her shoes. Sure enough, a few sticks fell out when she turned them upside down. How they had gotten there she had no idea.
“We only have ten minutes,” Akia announced. “We should get some rest and then head out again. It’s just a three hour walk from here to the river.”

Falyn didn’t care if they only stopped for a few minutes. She needed a break more than ever. Ten minutes was better than none. Besides, it would give her some time to talk to Sam. If only she could get him away from Akia.

“So how do you really feel about all this?” Mina asked, sitting next to her. “I know you said that you’re fine, but I don’t believe you.”

Falyn smiled and shook her head. “I feel like you’re just trying to get me to turn back and head home.”

“That would be nice,” Mina responded, grinning. “But really, I just want to make sure you’re okay.”

“Really, I’m fine. None of this really bothers me.” Falyn fell silent. As she was talking, dozens of thoughts flooded her mind.

It all had been pretty normal so far. There was a feeling she had, one she couldn’t describe. It made her want to believe everything that Akia was telling her. None of it sounded as outlandish as it should have.

But her father—was it possible that the man she had called father for years had just ben another face in the crowd; a stranger? She felt dizzy just thinking about it. The forest floor began to spin and there was a ringing in her ears. As much as she had put on a strong face, no pain could ever compare to losing the only family member she had ever known.

She sighed and turned to Mina. “Maybe I’m not alright. I don’t know anymore. It’s tough, ya know?” She looked across the clearing at Akia who was staring back at her. She held her gaze, hoping that Akia would look away first, but she didn’t.

“Did you ever notice anything weird about my father?” Falyn asked, turning back to Mina.

“Well,” Mina admitted. “He did always seem to be overprotective. You know, he always wanted to know what you were doing when.”

“But that’s what parents do, right? I don’t remember anything out of the ordinary.”

Mina pulled her into a hug. “You miss him don’t you?”

Falyn couldn’t take it any longer; she began to cry. The salty tears ran down her cheeks and fell to the ground, dispelling all the memories that made her want to leave and go back.

When she had emptied her body of tears, she took a shaky breath and composed herself. When she looked up, she saw Zeke looking at her. There was a smile dancing on his lips, one that he barely tried to suppress.

“Get that look off your face,” she snapped. Zeke only laughed and shook his head. Without another word, Falyn took off and stalked into the woods.

She prayed that no one would follow her. She wasn’t in the mood to talk.

“Buck up will you?” Came a voice from behind her. She didn’t have to turn around to know who it belonged to.

“I don’t want to talk to you.”

“And why’s that?” Zeke asked. “Because I laughed at you?”

“Because I don’t want to talk to you, okay?” Falyn whirled around to face him. He was staring back at her with the same look on his face that he had before. It only made the rage build up more inside of her. She stalked up to him certainly and smacked him across the face.

He didn’t stumble back or glare at her. Instead, he held a hand to his cheek and laughed.

“You’ve got some nerve. I wouldn’t have done that if I were you.” With that, he turned and walked back to the clearing. But not before she caught him wink at her.

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For the LMS contest. Word count: 1,992