Category: Writers Block
Lily woke one morning, very early. Her mother was shaking her.
Looking up in to Marie's face, Ily saw her mother was afraid, cheeks tearstained, eyes desperate, face white with shock. For a moment, Marie couldn't trust herself to speak.
"Lily, you have to get up now," she said.
"But it's early!" Lily said. "What's wrong?"
Marie said, "Janes Kulanek is coming. For Luinarel." Lily recalled the boy with blue eyes, strange and silent and haunted, the boy Marie called Luinarel.
"What do you mean?" Lily said, eyes wide and dark.
"Janes Kulanek wants to kill Luinarel."
Lily sat frozen for a minute. The boy, dead. Somehow that left a hole in the future that Lily couldn't put her finger on it exactly. If Luinarel died... what exactly would fall out of place? Lily sensed that a lot more were at stake than just Luinarel, something more like reality.
Two hours later, Lily and her mother were out of the city. They had managed to save Luinarel, the pale speechless wraith with his piercing blue eyes.
Marie's car was out of gas, and they had stopped to get more. Lily was watching the city--her home--burn, lighting up the horizon, staining the earth with spilled life. Lily was still numb, still in shock. She couldn't believe everything she knew and everyone she loved was dead.
Luinarel turned to her. His sapphire gaze seemed to pierce her soul.
Lily, he said.
Luinarel was telepathic.
"What?" she said glumly.
It will be okay. It has to...
The thought trailed off. Lily sensed uneven ripples in his energy. She sensed something burst and explode outward, sending a wave of energy past her. Within his mind, she felt the energy's stability deteriorate. There was no pattern to the explosions, and they were getting worse. Lily found she had shut her eyes because the fiery, unstable energy was too bright.
"Lily!"
It was Marie.
Lily couldn't respond. Something froze her, held her. Slowly, everything dimmed and faded. Her mind was in chaos. She couldn't focus, couldn't think...
And then she was caught by the crest of a wave of unstable energy, and her mind was swept away, in to oblivion... away... away... away...
And then even the echoes died.
She felt a flicker of energy within her mind. Slowly, she struggled upward from the murky depths of darkness. She was dimly aware of voices growing clearer, but she couldn't discern any words.
She blinked.
She was in total darkness.
Lily began to panic. Calm, her spirit said. Be calm.
Sight began to return, fuzzy at first.
"Lily?"
"What ... was ... that?" said Lily. Her own voice sounded faint and distant to her ears, as if it weren't really hr speaking.
"She's awake!" said Marie.
That was an uncommonly powerful energy disruption. Luinarel's voice came clearly to her mind. You'll be okay. You'll never get used to them. They wipe your mind. This one nearly put you in a coma. It could have easily killed you. I am sorry; I caused it. I did not contain my own unstable energies.