If you're just joining the adventure and would like to start at the beginning, click here
Chapter Thirty Two
Jenna sat on Anna's dock staring at her phone. Maybe if I keep on staring it will ring, she thought, blowing hair out of her face in frustration. Anna had been good about sending texts, but she needed to actually speak to her. She'd called and left three messages saying as much and she'd yet to hear anything.
Lately she’d been dreaming of the vampires more and more often.
She’d learned it was a group of fanatical humans who were responsible for the mass murder that always left her feeling helpless and angry when she woke. A few nights ago she had entered the dream just in time to watch in horror as a crowd of leering people set fire to the structure which she thought might have been some kind of community center from the old days. It was made of both wood and stone and large enough to hold about a hundred people. She'd seen a few women fighting their way out of it only to be speared through the heart and beheaded by a waiting fanatic.
In the dream she’d had the previous night she’d come into it when the fire was in full blaze and those inside were screaming, but this time she’d woken up for a few minutes and then slid back to sleep and dreamed about a young female who’d looked a bit like Anna, especially her eyes. She was a daughter of one of the female healers, and Jenna guessed her age to be about seventeen.
Although none of the women looked over the age of twenty-five, which appeared to be the magic time when they stopped aging all together, you could still tell which ones were older by their movements or their eyes. And in the case of the Anna look alike she could tell it was mother and daughter by the way they interacted.
The girl had been sitting in the grass just outside the wall that surrounded the village, stripping flowers of their petals and dropping them in a bucket. She had a wistful look on her face, a small smile tugging at the corner of her lips and Jenna could almost hear her mooning over someone. She was obviously a girl with a crush.
The mother had come through the gate in the wall and said something that made the girl look up and furrow her brows in distaste. Then the older woman had put a hand on her hip and spoke in a sharper tone and the girl picked up the bucket and reluctantly followed her back through the gate.
And the young blonde boy with the vivid green eyes had been in it again too, hopping agilely back and forth on a slanted roof, once again engaged in imaginary sword play. The thought of him being trapped in that community center, of burning to death, made Jenna's eyes water even now.
She had been drawing her own conclusions, such as the girl and her mom were Anna's ancestors, but that made no real sense if only vampires were born of vampires. And those females had died in the fire so that would have put an effective end to the line anyway. Then again the original Faerians had split into two groups and they had most likely been related.
She put her head in her hands, her brain starting to hurt from straining to understand. Why was she dreaming this? And why could she remember this dream about the past so clearly and she couldn't remember the ones about the present and future except in little increments? What good was a gift like that?
She snorted in irritation and stood up, looking out over the lake. The water was so calm it looked like a sheet of glass, not even a ripple disturbed its flat surface.
She eyed a leaf floating a few feet out in front of her and envied it. It didn't have to make decisions. It didn't have a care in the world. It was the picture of peace which was something she did not have in her life right now. In fact she was lost. She'd intended to go to college in Buffalo for the spring semester but now she no longer saw the point. She no longer saw the same future.
Future. She didn't see hers at all, and if she were honest with herself she'd admit she never had, and not just in the clairvoyant sense.
She had spent weeks thinking and worrying about Anna, wanting her friend to feel okay about the turn her life had taken. Now Anna was off on some kind of crusade or adventure, or… well whatever it was she was living her life despite its difficulties.
She might have jumped onto the good ship What the Fuck, but at least she was going somewhere.
What do I do, what is my purpose, what step do I take? Questions that just went round and round in her mind with no answers. The only thing she really knew was that she had to do something. She started for the deck stairs debating on what that something would be.
She kept coming back to Will's take on her not being Faerian and a bubble of anger welled up in her. What the hell does he know? So I can't heal people, she thought, but I have visions. And I see the Shadow Men. There is something different about me, and there must be some reason for it.
She thought about her family. Her mom and dad definitely didn't see things like this, her aunts and uncles; no she really couldn't... wait a minute. She stopped cold on the steps. Great Aunt Harriet. Her dad called her crazy Aunt Harry and she’d met her a few times when she was young. She vaguely recalled something about the woman refusing to take her medication anymore and the whole family basically shunning her for it. She wasn't clear on the details, it had been years since she'd even heard mention of her....she came out of freeze frame and ran up the stairs to the house.
She went inside and stood in the hallway thinking. If she wanted to ask her parents about it she'd have to do it face to face and have a good story as to why she wanted to know about her and particularly why she wanted to visit her...yeah right. Okay, she thought, I have to go around them. She mentally scanned her list of potential sources and landed on her Aunt Rona. She began to feel a small stirring of excitement as she dialed. A machine picked up, of course, so she left a message for her to call.
And now it was back to the waiting game. But at least this time she had somewhere to go.
Generously created for me by @son-of-satire