The Last Ones - chapter 2

They were dancing around the tree. Hand in hand. August and their parents. The three of them were smiling and singing. Out of the blue, they heard a voice. “Don't worry, you’ll both be dead in seconds,” it said. August looked up at the sky to see where the voice came from and when they looked back down their father was dead. August heard screaming. They weren’t sure if it was their own or their mother’s. Thoughts flooded August’s head. They were unable to tell what they were. They covered their ears and started crying. Suddenly August was lying on the floor inside of a room. It was quiet for a second and then they heard screams coming from another room. Their mother, they had to get to their mother. They tried opening the door, but it was locked. August covered their ears again to block out the screaming. The house fell quiet. August couldn’t breathe. The air had disappeared from the room, they were running out of it. They saw two bodies lying on the floor in their room. Their parents. August tried moving towards them and-

August woke up, sweating, their hand shooting towards their throat. They were breathing. Everything was fine. August hadn’t had a dream like this in a long time. They thought they were doing better, so why was it coming back now? August got up and looked around the room. Nothing looked different. They walked to the bathroom and splashed some water in their face. They were okay. They could breathe. August looked into the mirror. Their short wavy blonde hair almost covered their grey eyes. They looked exhausted. August checked the time on the clock next to the sink. It was 2:20am. August left the bathroom and opened the door to their bedroom when they heard something fall downstairs followed by some cursing. Blair. August walked downstairs as quietly as possible to not wake Rikkie up.

“Blair?” August asked silently. “Where are you?”

Something else fell on the ground.

“Shit! Damn, August, you scared me!” Blair exclaimed. She poked her head around the corner. “I’m over here, in the kitchen.”

August followed them. Blair was holding a notebook whilst stirring something. August looked at the kitchen table. It was filled with jars, herbs and crystals. Most of the jars were labelled and filled while others were still empty. They grabbed one of them. It was labelled moon water and was filled with what seemed to be normal water. Blair must have noticed them staring at it, because she took the jar from August and explained what it is.

“Moon water is charged by the energy of the full moon. It’s used in a lot of potions.”

August nodded and looked at the rest of the jars on the table. They’d seen them before, of course. Blair worked on her potions almost every afternoon. August hadn't known her to be making potions in the middle of the night though.

“Why are you doing this at 2 in the morning?”

“I couldn’t sleep and there’s a full moon, so I could cleanse my crystals.” She tilted her head towards the open window and all the crystals lying on the windowsill.

“Do you often practice in the middle of the night?”

“Usually just when it’s full moon and I can’t sleep, so not that often.”

August stared at them.

“I am usually pretty quiet and you’re not usually awake in the middle of the night.”

“True. Does Rikkie know?”

“She has walked in on me making potions in the middle of the night a few times now. I usually send her away though, because it’s quite distracting,” Blair answered with a smile.

“I won’t keep you from your work any longer then,” August said, and they started walking towards the stairs.

“Wait, August! You're never awake at this hour. What's up?”

August shrugged. “Bad dreams.”

Blair raised her eyebrows, but when August didn’t offer an explanation, she started looking between her labelled jars. She grabbed one of them and handed it to August.

“This one might help you get back to sleep. It’ll take a while before it works, but just, drink it quickly, because it probably doesn’t taste good.”

August smiled and muttered some thanks. Blair gave them a small smile back and then continued her work.

August sat down on their bed and looked at the jar Blair had given them. It was labelled somnun poultice. They opened the jar and chugged down the liquid. Blair was right about the taste, it was absolutely disgusting. August put the jar on their nightstand and walked towards the window to open it. It was quiet outside; all the animals were still asleep. August looked at the blossom tree. It looked even more magnificent in the moonlight. They stared at it for a few minutes until they started to feel their eyelids closing. August closed the window and lay down back in bed, waiting for sleep to take over.

They  woke again at 10am. They didn’t have any other dreams and had a good night’s sleep. After putting on some clothes, a white blouse with a green sweater on top of it and some pants, they walked downstairs to eat something. Blair and Rikkie were already awake. Blair was writing in their journal while Rikkie was just floating around the kitchen. There were a few books laying on the table that Blair seemed to be using.

“You woke up late today,” Rikkie said.

“Good morning to you too.”

August grabbed some bread and noticed that Blair was staring at them. August gave them a small smile and she focused on her journal again. Rikkie narrowed their eyes and switched looks between August and Blair.

“Either of you want to explain what that was about?”

August shrugged and got some jam.

“August walked in on me making some potions last night after they had a bad dream.”

Rikkie looked at August and raised their eyebrows.

“You okay?”

August nodded. They didn’t want to talk about the dream. They never told them about that night or the dreams that followed. August knew that they would have questions. Questions about how they survived. Questions that August couldn’t answer. They sat down on the kitchen counter to eat their bread with raspberry jam, which earned them a disapproving look from Blair. Rikkie still looked concerned, but August decided to ignore it.

“I’m going to the town today,” announced Blair. “You guys need anything?”

“Can I come with you?” August asked. They didn’t really need anything, but they just wanted to focus on something that wasn’t the dream.

“Sure.”

“I’m not staying here on my own, I’m coming as well.” Rikkie said.

Blair nodded and she closed her journal.

“Only if you help me prepare for the journey.”

Rikkie nodded and they both left the house. August stayed behind and continued eating their breakfast. They thought about their dream last night. The voice had been the same voice that they had heard the night their parents died and always came back in their dreams. It had some familiarity to it, but August couldn't figure out why.

Blair and Rikkie were already done preparing once August arrived. Blair was riding in circles on Jorah and Rikkie was holding onto two reins that belonged to Elira and Zephyr. August smiled and approached Elira.

“Hey, sweetheart. You okay?” asked August, while stroking Elira’s white fur.

She nickered. August laughed and put their forehead against the horse’s.

“That’s good,” they muttered into the fur. “That’s good.”

They took the rein from Rikkie and mounted their horse. Next to them Rikkie mounted theirs as well.

“Are you two ready?” Blair asked.

They both nodded and the three left on their trip to the village.

“Okay, I got to buy some herbs from Miss Aldine first, so maybe you guys could buy some food?” Blair announced, while they all tied their horses to some trees right outside the town. August nodded and finished tying up Elira. Once the rest was done too, the trio parted ways.

“Do we even know what we need to get?” Rikkie asked once they reached the market square crammed with people. August looked around them and tried to remember why they even came here in the first place. They always avoided the village at its busiest hour. Why did they think-

“August? Do you know what we have to get?” Right, Rikkie had asked them a question.

“I have absolutely no idea,” August muttered. They started focusing on their steps rather than the noise that surrounded them.

“You’re the one who always makes a list of things to get!”

“I didn’t really have any time to make one this morning though.” Fifteen steps, sixteen…

“Did Blair tell us to buy anything specific?”

“…No? They’re not organized enough for that.” Twenty, twenty-one…

“Fair enough. Hey look! Let’s at least go get one of those.”

Rikkie started pointing somewhere. August looked up and stopped counting their steps. So many people everywhere. They followed Rikkie’s eyes and their vision landed on a guy selling newspapers.

They started walking towards him when someone pulled them back.

“Wait- what? Blair?!” exclaimed Rikkie.

Blair put a finger on her lips and tilted her head to a group of people standing on the other side of the market. They were dressed in black cloaks and all carried long swords with them.

“Oh fuck-” Rikkie muttered.

“Follow me. We need to get out of here.”

August nodded and then they were following Blair. She took them into a small alley and then she started running. August didn’t follow. They stood in front of the alley and were looking at the men. They looked the same way they did the night their parents were murdered. August looked at the person overseeing them all. She had huge wings, resembling that of a bee-eater, and she was the only one who wasn’t wearing a cloak. The last of the Avian race, August realized. She caught their eye and froze.

“August, come on!” Rikkie said, as her tattooed arm grabbed August’s to pull them away.

“Sorry-” breathed August, once they caught up with Blair. It was a lot quieter here. August took some deep breaths and closed their eyes for a while. When they opened them again, Blair and Rikkie were staring at them.

“What are they doing here?” August asked.

Blair bit their lip. Whatever it was, it didn’t seem to be any good.

“Miss Aldine told me. They’re testing every person in and around this town for powers.”

August swallowed. Shit. Rikkie put her head in her hands,

“No no no no no. This can’t be happening.”

“Rikkie, you couldn’t have known,” August assured her.

“I could have! I shouldn’t have taken the risk of being seen! It was stupid!”

“You used your powers outside of the house? When?”

“Yesterday when I lost Bear.”

Blair stared at her with widened eyes.

“This isn’t your fault. Besides, maybe it wasn’t even you they saw, maybe someone heard me drop a jar tonight and went to investigate that.”

“Or someone heard me get information from a bee.”

They all looked at each other and then they laughed. They laughed, until they heard someone scream for help.

“Where do we go?” Blair asked. “I doubt even the forest is safe. There are a few people who know we live there.”

“They don’t know where exactly though. Only miss Aldine does,” Rikkie said.

“Doesn’t matter. It’s too big of a risk. Knowing them, they’ll burn down the forest if they have to. Plus, they’ve been to the house before. It’s not safe there. I say we ride home and grab our weapons. There are bags full of stuff needed to survive lying in the shed. We’ll see where we go from there,” August responded.

“Why do you have bags like that laying in the shed?” asked Blair.

August shrugged. “Peace doesn’t last forever.”