Flames and Starlight
TWENTY-TWO

Laura, Ruben, and Hannah traveled to Mary’s house in somber silence. They all kept an eye out and Laura prayed to the Fates they’d get to her house without any other attacks. She didn’t think they’d survive another attack with the condition she and Ruben were in.

Laura kept her hand pressed to her abdomen as the pain kept piercing through her. Ruben kept a hand on her arm as they walked, knowing she was hurting. She gave him a grateful smile, relieved he was here through all of this. As bad as things were at the moment, she was thankful that he was with her. She didn’t know what she’d do if she didn’t have him beside her through all of this.

She winced as more pain ripped through her. She prayed she didn’t have any internal injuries. She told Ruben she was fine but given the amount of pain she was in she probably did.

She nearly wept with relief when the house came into view at last. She needed to sit or lay down from pain and exhaustion. She didn’t think she could walk anymore as it took everything inside of her not to fall face down.

They approached the house with caution. She kept her eyes and ears out for any potential threats that could be around. Hannah went to open the front door but Laura grabbed her arm to stop her. As much pain as she was in, they had to make sure none of the possessed supernaturals were around. There was the chance that some of the supernaturals that’d been attacking could have broken in and were waiting inside, waiting for someone to come in and launch a sneak attack.

Hannah frowned and looked at her. “What?”

“We need to make sure there’s nothing in there,” she explained quietly.

Hannah’s eyes dawned with understanding she nodded. They walked around the perimeter of the house and didn’t find anything inside. Before they decided to go in, they checked the windows and listened closely inside. They couldn’t hear or sense anything inside.

“I think it’s okay to go in,” Laura said. “But just to be safe, get behind me and Ru in case something is in there.” Sᴇaʀ*ᴄh the FɪndNovᴇl.nᴇt website on Gøøglᴇ to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

Hannah nodded and stepped behind them. Laura stood beside Ruben as he rammed his shoulder into the door and it flung open. They stood in the doorway, listening closely but they didn’t sense anything inside.

Laura didn’t sense any danger and she locked eyes with Ruben. Silent communication passed between them and both agreed it was safe to go in. Just to be safe, the two of them entered the house at the same time and continued to listen for anything else inside. They still couldn’t see anything and Ruben waved for Hannah to come inside.

Laura was stunned at how much junk was all over the floor. She could barely see the floor and waded through the room, wondering how Hannah and her aunt were even able to get through in this house. She barely managed to catch herself when she tripped over a huge shoe box on the floor and kicked it away in aggravation.

“Sorry,” Hannah said as she closed the door behind them. She waded over to the couch shoved the junk off of it and looked at them apologetically. “I know this place is horrendous. My aunt’s extremely messy and I keep telling her to clean up.”

Laura stumbled over to the couch, feeling weak and dizzy, and nearly collapsed on the couch, Ruben right by her side. She lifted her shirt and saw her wound had reopened, which explained the pain she was in. She heard Ruben hiss in sympathy when he saw her wound and he turned to Hannah and said, “Do you have any bandages?”

“Stay right there,” Hannah said and she rushed out of the room. She came back a few minutes later with a first aid kit and spell book.

“Here’s some bandages,” she said. “And this spell book has some basic healing spells in there. Like I said, I’m not an expert in healing magic but these have some spells I can recite from to help.”

“Thanks, Hannah,” Laura grunted, pain causing it hard to breathe and talk.

Hannah opened the spell book and carefully read the healing spell. Laura let Hannah press her hands to her wound. She watched Hannah close her eyes and silently recite the words from the book. Laura watched as Hannah’s hands began to glow and her eyes widened when her own body began to glow as well.

A warm, peaceful sensation flowed through her and the pain instantly went away. She could feel herself being healed. She didn’t know how to describe the warm, peaceful sensations other than she felt not only her physical, but mental pain lessen as well.

Once she was done, Hannah took a shuddering break and removed her hand from Laura’s body. She looked pale and Laura could tell that it’d taken a lot out of her to do the spell.

“It’s all I can do,” she said. She pushed her hair back with trembling hands. “I hope it helped.”

A strong wave of gratitude washed over her and without thinking, she reached over and embraced Hannah. Emotion swelled up inside her and she had to fight back tears. Hannah stiffened, obviously taken by surprise, but she returned the hug.

“Thank you so much,” Laura said into Hannah’s ear. “Thank you.” Saying “Thank you,” didn’t seem even close to expressing the gratitude she felt toward her but it was all she could manage.

“It’s no problem,” Hannah said in a soft voice.

They hugged for a long moment before pulling away.

Laura wiped the tears that had spilled and said, “Thank you. I’m in your debt. I -”

“You don’t owe me anything. I’m glad you can help.”

“No, you risked a lot to save me. I -”

“Laura, I’m happy to help you and I mean it when I said you don’t owe me anything for this.” She handed Laura the first aid kit and stood up. “I’m going to try to call Mary.”

Ruben helped Laura clean the wound and apply the bandages to it. Even though the pain had lessened tremendously, it still stung and was slightly painful and she was relieved Hannah had healed her with the spell. She knew she would be in so much more pain if she hadn’t done the spell.

Hannah paced back and forth in front of them, or at least as much as she could with the junk on the floor. She muttered, “Come on, come on,” but after a few more tries, she couldn’t get her aunt. She handed the phone to Laura with a grave expression.

Laura tried her parents, then Derek, then Alison, then Peter. No one picked up. She tried calling each of them multiple times but still, no one picked up. She felt dread form inside of her. She knew everyone in her family had their phones on them and the thought of their van getting attacked scared her senseless. She wondered where Peter was and if he was safe. He was practically glued to his phone and hoped he got to a shelter on time.

Giving up, she handed the phone to Ruben. She could tell from the anxious expression on his face that he couldn’t reach his uncle. He tried multiple times but finally set it down, staring down at it.

The atmosphere grew tense as the three of them thought of their families and wondered what to do next. They had no idea what to do and what was going to happen next.

A numbness overcame her and she felt a strange detachment from everything. She could feel herself going into shock from everything that was going on and was functioning on autopilot.

“We should wash off,” she said. “We can’t do anything right now so the best thing we can do is wash off, eat, and then come up with something in the morning. We’re too tired to think of something right now.”

The rest of the way day went by in a blur. The three of them took showers, Hannah washed Ruben’s clothes and let Laura borrow a shirt and a pair of jeans. After they were done, Hannah made dinner for them, a microwave pizza and bagged fries which Laura ate without tasting. They ate in silence, all of them lost in their thoughts. And really, what was there to say? They knew they couldn’t find their families and that a war was occurring outside and their lives as they knew it were going to change forever.

They decided to go to sleep after they ate. All of them were tired and there was nothing more they could do. Hannah gave them her room to sleep in for the night, saying she wanted to be in her aunt’s bedroom.

“Are you sure?” Laura asked. “We don’t want to take your spa -”

“It’s fine,” Hannah interrupted shortly. “I just need to be in there for right now. I don’t mind.”

Before Laura could respond, Hannah went inside without a word and shut the door. Laura thought about going to ask if she was okay but sensed she needed to be alone for right now.

Laura and Ruben silently went into Hannah’s room and lay down in bed together. They held each other close, his arms wrapped around her. She rested her cheek against his chest. He was asleep in a matter of minutes, however, she couldn’t sleep despite being exhausted.

The events of the day played through her mind. Before she knew it silent sobs overcame her and she buried her head in Ruben’s chest, tears soaking his shirt. She pulled him closer as her world fell apart. She wondered how life could have changed so much in such a short amount of time.

Her cries woke Ruben up. He didn’t ask what was wrong because he already knew. He just pulled her closer and held her as she cried into his arms. She felt his body start to tremble and heard him start to cry as well.

They held each other, both of them crying as their world was changed forever.

Hannah pulled the mirror out of Mary’s drawer, needing to see her parents and Carrie. She hadn’t seen the mirror since she last saw them, unable to see them again. With Mary gone, she had to have some semblance of family.

She imagined her parents and Carrie. In the mirror, it showed her parents and Carrie sitting in the living room, watching TV. They laughed at whatever was on the TV and Hannah felt homesick. She couldn’t believe how almost three months, she couldn’t wait to get out of there and be in the Eternal World, and now she wished she was there more than anything.

She spent the next two hours watching them until they decided to go to bed and she set the mirror down and their images disappeared. She thought of Mary, wondering she was, and - Wait.

An idea dawned on her. She quickly grabbed the mirror and thought of Mary. It took longer to get her image but she saw Mary walking through some woods, a tall man in a black Guardian uniform, and three other people walking behind her.

Hannah gasped and gripped the mirror tighter. Mary was alive!

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