Merritts of Writing 3

Chapter 24-1

Jam

Unlike my sister Angie, my experiences with the Far Beyond didn’t start until after our mother had died. At first the encounters brightened me, made me feel a connection to the woman who had given birth to me. As the years passed the encounters began to concern me.

Those encounters now terrified me. Haunting both my daylight and nighttime hours.

The last thing I wanted to do was talk about was the Far Beyond and death. Looks like what I wanted was once again going to be shot to pieces.

AFTER A PROLONGED SILENCE

I didn’t want to voice my suspicions. However, I couldn’t contain myself. “Are they dead? Is that why Angie had another one of her attacks last night?”

Stevron’s eyes clouded as he looked down at me. “You know about her attacks?”

I nodded. Water splashed across my chin. “She had her first one the day the canisters fell. I know she tries to hide them. I can tell. And so can you. You keep giving her bushberries.”

Stevron gave me a half smile. “Do you know about Jake too?”

“Oh, yeah. That little snake of a brother of mine has my sister tied up in knots.”

“What about you?”

I shook my head. I moved my legs side to side and dipped my feet deeper into the water. “Jake wouldn’t dare. He knows I’d crush him. Don’t worry, Jake’s not the one I have contact with.”

Stevron took a deep breath. “You’re messing with some dangerous shit, Jam.”

I couldn’t disagree. “It’s not the same for me as it is for Angie.”

I felt Stevron stiffen. He eased me back toward the shoreline.

“You know what it’s like for Angie?” He asked me as he got me into a seated position and then reached for a towel.

I nodded again and put the towel to my face. I wiped the droplets of water away before I answered. “Sort of. If the bushberry hasn’t completely dissolved, and she’s close enough to me, I can still pick up a trace of what she’s feeling. I’ll get a series of flashing images. A snippet or two of her conversations with Jake. It’s not much.”

Stevron was silent.

“Jake is cruel,” I said. “And from what I’ve seen through Angie the meaning behind his words are…threatening.”

Stevron swallowed. I could tell what I said was disturbing him.

“Can’t you do anything?”

Stevron gave me a sharp look. “Me?”

I looked back at him. My eyes didn’t waver. “I pick up things from you too. When you’re giving me a ‘treatment’. There’s a strand of something that…connects us. I feel it lingering long after you’ve finished.”

“It’s just an after-clap.” Stevron shrugged casually.

I knew what I’d said had caught him off guard and I wasn’t totally convinced of his explanation. Whatever I felt was deeper, perhaps even ancient. “Then you’re telling me…you can’t reach the Far Beyond?”

The swirls in Stevron’s eyes flickered. I saw them brighten and then quickly fade. He still didn’t look away. “I can do many things, Jam, but the Far Beyond is someplace I definitely cannot go.”

“Ever?”

Stevron shook his head. “No, not ever.”

Okay, I thought. I’d known that Stevron wasn’t of my people. That there were things about him that weren’t the same as the rest of us. If he didn’t enter the Far Beyond after he died, then where did he go?

“Will you die, Stevron?”

Stevron took a deep breath. He handed me another towel. “Yes, Jam, someday I will. We give up our physical bodies just like the Far Beyond people.”

“But you don’t go to the Far Beyond.”

“No.”

“Good, because the Far Beyond is at war.”

Stevron took another breath. “Is that what you’re picking up from Angie?”

I nodded.

“It’s only going to get worse, Jam. More than I can tell you happened the day the canisters fell. The Far Beyond people stopped procreating and it’s caused a disruption in the realm.

“Do you believe in the rumour?”

“Implicitly.”

“A Fyre Life Wings child will save us all.”

Stevron’s jaw dropped and an alarmed looked streaked across his face. “What! What did you just say?”

“Stevron? Stevron, I’m ready.”

I heard Calvin’s voice calling. I looked up stream to see him hurrying toward us.

“I’m most anxious to get those fyre eggs down by the river.”

I quickly began to dry the rest of my body off. “Do you expect some form of an attack?” I said as I tentatively reached for my pants.

Stevron shook his head. His face still held signs of worry. He answered my fearful question with calm. “You know that water reed I was warning everyone about?”

I nodded.

“Well, they are attracted to the light of fyre eggs."

“You want to feed the water reed, why?”

“Water reed don't eat fyre eggs. They wrap their reed-like bodies around the eggs and then secrete an enzyme which turns to a gel.”

“Reed salve,” Calvin furnished, “and we desperately need to replenish our lost supplies.”

Stevron helped me into my pants and shirt. I could feel the tension still residing in him.

“We used all our medical supplies on the villagers. I was so pleased that Stevron suggested we put out some eggs. We should have enough salve collected by sometime tomorrow.”

I glanced at Stevron. “Then we'll be leaving soon?”

“I’m counting on it,” he replied, “after we locate the fyre eggs.”

I couldn’t hide my surprise. “There are fyre eggs in the area?”

Stevron nodded. “This was their original habitat. They only started moving away after the Larcore started messing with the fyre crawlers.”

“Fyre crawlers?” I said in surprise, “I’ve never heard of them.”