Dawson
i
s right next to the car and states
,
“
Daniel, the emergency unit is almost here.
”
Dad turns quickly around to
Dawson
and in a hushed voice replies,
“
She won
’
t make it to
their
ward.
”
Most covens have a witch ward, in human terms
it
’
s
a type of hospital. We don
’
t generally need them for sickness or disease
, but
when something such as this happens
it
’
s
exactly what the witch
world designs
them for. I have
no clue how far this ward is.
David
’
s car came thundering up next to us. Dad looks back at me and says,
“
Ok, on the count of three, Alyssa, hang on for me.
”
I swallow hard, and try mentally to prepare myself. I feel his arm slide under
neath
me, and then under my legs, while his right hand still applies
pressure to my side
.
I really don
’
t want to move, and I know this isn
’
t going t
o be pleasant,
“
O
ne
…
two
…
three.
”
I feel him pick me up out of my driver
’
s seat and start
s walking toward
David
’
s Chevelle. My dad
’
s voice throws out more instructions to Marc,
“
I need you to hold her in the backseat,
and I
’
m
going to drive us to
a healer
that
’
s close by.
”
I can tell my dad is trying to be as gentle as possible. I still find my teeth grinding with each step he takes.
I must look like a rag
doll;
I have no strength to raise my arms to hold on to him. Dad moves me in the
backseat
in Marc
’
s lap within a matter of seconds. He jumps in the driver
’
s seat and starts pulling away before David can even close the
passenger
door.
As I lay in Marc
’
s arms, I can hear
Dad
and David both on their cells, giving directions, informing others of my current condition, and notifying witches within the area.
I turn my head and look up to Marc, we just stare into each others eyes. I study his gorgeous face, and wat
ch
worry wash over him. He gives me one of his beautiful smiles and says
,
“
Hey
.
”
I try to smile back at him with my eyes. Still clenching my teeth down I notice I
’
m not necessarily in control like I think I am of my breathing now.
I know a normal breathing rate is twelve to twenty breaths per minute, mine has slowed down and every time I exhale it seems like forever before I can inhale again.
Marc
’
s hand that is over my wound will freeze up for a second or
two;
he is struggling inside trying to keep
his own element in
check. I want with all my heart to touch his face and tell him e
verything is going to be fine.
The cold that begins
sinking into me is sending me a very different signal. This coldness isn
’
t from my
element;
it
’
s dark, and hollow, beckoning me to follow it into an unknown realm.
I feel so exhausted, allowing my eyes to close for just a moment. Marc leans down,
“
Alyssa, look at me, come on baby, open your eyes for me.
”
I gradually open
them;
looking at him I see so many emotions cross his face, sadness, concern, and distress.
“
How much further?
”
he asks as he looks towards my dad.
Dad glances over his shoulder and replies,
“
Less than a mile.
”
He continues talking on his cell to my moth
er, she is already there, ready and waiting for our arrival
.
I think
w
herever
“
there
”
is
.
I am sure some
one has addressed
where
we are heading
exactly
, but
I really can
’
t remember now. David reaches back from the front seat and touches my arm. Suddenly, I feel a warm sensation of energy gathering from his h
and and then it flows through my body
. White light fills me completely and I can
breathe
with a little more ease. David removes his hand and the light fades away, but my pain isn
’
t
as tormenting. When David touches
me I can see the hint of a small outline around him, it is green, an earthy green, and I can see a much brighter light next to him, my dad,
is nothing
, but
a pure white light. I
’
m seeing their
auras
.
Once he removed
his hand away, I look back up to Marc and I can see a fading blue, lightly hovering around him. I have never been able to see others auras, and then, I
’
ve never been in a situation such as this either. I
’
ve heard of others, mostly the
human
’
s
talk about near death experiences and how they see their whole life flash right before them. Well for me, and maybe it
’
s different because I
’
m a witch, time seems to slow down, like a slow motion movie.
I watch as Marc brushes a stray hair from my face, but it feels like someone hits a pause button and then hits play on some unseen remote control. The same thing when David turns around and looks at me, each movement is a still shot, frame by frame. I feel the coldness slither its way back inside me and I suddenly feel a thick, heavy fluid
in my throat, it makes me want
to cough it out. I try to swallow it down, but I just end up coughing. My body racks with pain,
and then
Marc gently wipes my mouth with his fingers, when he raises his hand up blood is dripping from his fingertips.
Marc yells something up to my d
ad and Da
vid, but the car makes a sharp
halt. The rumbling of the motor stops and my dad yells back as he opens the door,
“
W
e
’
re here, get her out.
”
Marc shifts with me in his arms to the door, the house is unfamiliar. I
’
ve never been here before. As soon as we enter the home I can smell the heavy scents of lavender, sage, and another scent I don
’
t recognize. Marc is walking quickly through one dark room to
another;
his movements are gliding as he moves across the old wooden floor, never jostling me in his embrace.
I hear voices surrounding me as he lays me down on a hard flat surface. My mother appears next to me in her beautiful white ritual robe, she looks like a goddess as she brushes strands of my hair away.
She speaks soft
l
y to me
,
“
Alyssa,
shh
, I want you to try and concentrate on Marc
’
s voice
only. Y
ou can do that for me
,
Alyss?
”
I think I hear a low mournful sound coming from somewhere in the room, but when my mother begins touching my arm it stops. I slowly blink once letting her know I understand.
I give a brief look around the room, candles are burning in all four corners and around the table I
’
m laying on. It is a rustic, wooden cabin and it smells like it is close to a river. The dampness clings to the air.
An older woman appears next to me, smiling her emerald green eyes at me. I know her, Chandelle
’
s grandmamma. Velain has on a whit
e beaded headdress with a black and
dark green, elaborate ritual robe.
She use to be a slave in the early eighteen hundreds in the south, my father saved her and her family. By doing so Velain started one of the eight covens, the Heavans Cove
n, she is their high priestess
. Velain knows black magick and white magick. My dad tells me she
’
s considered a
grey
witch, an extremely powerful one, you definitely want her as an ally.
She begins shaking her rattle over me, her other hand anoints me with a dark liquid that tingles at each spot she touches. My mother
’
s voice starts chanting melodically along with twelve other witches that encircle me.
Marc is whispering to me as his fingers caress my face. My breathing slows down, and the rhythmic beating of my heart pounds in my ears, louder and louder. I inhale one last time, I don
’
t feel the pain
anymore
, I just want to
simply close my eyes, s
lowly watch
ing
the light fade
,
becoming more diminished until my eyes completely close. The sound of my heart beating slows down so sof
tly that it becomes inaudible.
Marc
’
s caresses stop as he pulls me closer. I feel his cool breath against my ear.
“
Alyssa, don
’
t leave me, I
’
m right here with you.
”
I can feel him turning into solid ice and switching back.
I know when he is overridden with intense emotions. His words seem so far away now, like he isn
’
t leaning right next to me anymore. I try harder to focus on his
words;
the last that I hear is
,
“
I will always be with you…
”
t
hen the darkness and cold dance into my soul completely devouring me.
Chapter 40
I begin to slowly open my
eyes;
I
’
m
lying
down on my side on something cold, hard, and rough. I shiver from a cool breeze as it flows through the darken night air. I
’
ve never had the experience before of actually feeling
truly
cold till now. My mind starts running through the million and one thoughts from what happened to me. Am I
dead;
am I asleep, am I dreaming? As I glance down I can tell I am still wearing what I had on before the wreck, my biker boots, jeans, and the dirty deeds tee.
I
’
m never going to forget this shirt for as long as I...live
. That
’
s what I am, right,
s
till alive. Another
nerving
shiver
runs through my body, I touch my ribs where the gapping hole in me had been just moments before, but all I can feel is where the blood has hardened and caked up, making the shirt stiff.
I hear sounds of the wind blowing through some trees, but it
’
s pretty dark around. I place my hand on the surface that I
’
m lying
on;
it feels like some type of stone. A thought suddenly comes to me, it
’
s granite, feeling the texture. I know that
’
s what it has to be. My eyes catch an image lying beside me, leaning closer and I freeze.
First
,
I see her face lying dow
n on the slab next to me. She’
s beautiful, eyes closed, perfect features with her long hair ca
scading down the granite slab.
She is in stone, my eyes
continue to
follow downward, and as I do
,
I realize she is completely nude lying with her stomach against the stone, while one hand is clutching at her chest and the other holding onto the edge of the hard stone.
It
’
s
as if she
’
s forever gripping the grave with her entombed fingers. I take in the full
view;
she appears as if she is asleep, but never to awaken ever again. It catches me off guard and I immediately try to move back.