Banished To Earth Book Two, Souls Adrift (29)

Chapter 57

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   Crushed by shock and disbelief she collapsed to the wet grass helpless to do anything but pound her fists against the ground until drops of blood flew from her grit torn hands. She screamed into the cold uncaring night. “He was leaving! He was leaving! She was coming for him!” She wailed. “It was working! It was working! They didn’t have to take him! They didn’t have to take him!”

    The cold unblinking moon looked down at her, an accusing spotlight. Her body heaved and trembled, the cool chocolate perfumed breeze could not comfort her. Pushing herself up from the muddy grass, her eyes scanned the barrier one more time. Nothing had changed. But everything was different. Davin was gone, Chase was gone, along with Mabel and Stayner. They were safe and Davin was gone.

    Her face buried in mud, the thought of filling her lungs with it, clogging them with filth struck her as a fitting punishment. Her body, however, was having none of it. It did not want to die. Her head spun right, then jerked up. Her mud caked nostrils flared, blew snot and dirt out and sucked in the night’s healing coolness.

   Prostrate on the ground, time crept by unnoticed, seconds ticked off uncounted, as sleep inched its way over her, a comforting blanket of forgetfulness, that would not last.

   They found her the next morning, face down, caked with mud, and happily lost in sleep.

   Beth and Nikki were not there. Beth of course kept her baby safe and secure in Trudy’s house, which was noticably lighter and warmer than it had been for weeks.

   Kneeling beside the pathetic little vampire, Trudy reached out, lay her hand ever so gently on her trembling back.

   Her white night gown, streaked with mud and dappled with blood, rose and fell against the cold wet ground, like a sail in a dying breeze. Each breath clearly an act of monumental will.

    “Sweetie. What happened, baby?”

   Tucker dropped by Trudy, Silhouette did the same.

   A groan so deep and filled with pain it tore through their hearts like a rusty bush axe, as it escaped her tortured body.

    “Davin.” She murmured. “Davin.” She groaned, as she curled up on the muddy grass and wept.

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  Looks of confusion and pain swept across their faces.

   Several silent moments were allowed to pass until Tucker finally spoke. “Pry,” he purred, “where’s Davin?”

    “He’s gone. Davin is gone.”

   “He,” Silhouette choked “,He, uh, he sacrificed himself for us?”

   Pry slung her face up. “No! I did. I did. I gave him to them. I sacrificed him. It was me.” She whimpered.

   Trudy flung her arms around her.

   “I’m a fool.”

    “No baby,” Trudy cooed as she rocked back and forth with Pry.

   “Pry don’t’ you worry. We’ll get him back.” Tucker quickly added chomping at the bit to do something to fix this awful situation.

   Trudy glanced up at him and shook her head. “Let her cry Tucker, just let her cry.”

   He and Silhouette traded looks of frustration. “Got your back, just say when.”

   “No.” Pry screamed, “you can’t get him back. She swallowed him. He’s inside her and she’s in the barrier. No one can get in.”

  “Huh, what?” Sil asked as she stepped up to the swirling wall of twisted air and punched her finger through. She grunted and snatched her finger out. “Felt different, didn’t hurt though.” She poked it again. “Huh. Yeah, be like trying to climb into the air. It’s there but its not.”

   Tucker walked over and did the same thing she did.

  “Not lying Tuck.”

   “Wish you were. Not going to be easy, but…”

   “There’s no but Tucker!” Pry yelled at him. “He’s gone. He’s just gone! I thought I was doing good. I thought giving Mable back to her son was all I had to do. I just wanted Davin, just like on Alisar, I Just wanted Davin.”

    “If we can’t save him…”

  “Save him.” Pry yelled at him. “Davin is dead!”

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   Tucker kneeled and looked deep into her eyes. “I don’t believe that. And you shouldn’t either. You know what this world is. It’s crazy town, all day long. Don’t give up. Trust your husband.”

    Her eyes narrowed and turned black. “He trusted me and died for it.”

  

Tucker sighed and shook his head., “Here he said.” Reaching for her, “let’s get you cleaned up.”

   Trudy and Tucker lifted Pry, who was like water in their hands. Tucker started to cradle her when Silhouette stepped up. “Can I?” Tucker shrugged and handed her off to Silhouette, who gently cradled Pry in her arms. “You did the same for me remember.” Pry just looked away, her eyes vacant and hollow. Her long white hair streaked with mud, swung limp and defeated.

    Nikki was upstairs with her mother when they got back to the house. No one was speaking only caring for Pry as if she was a baby. Sil and Trudy got her into her and Davin’s bathroom. Tucker stayed downstairs to clean up. Everyone was muddy and exhausted.

    An hour later they broke the news to Beth and Nikki. Both wept bitterly. They all wondered if they would ever smile again.

    They were safe and secure. Tom Masters had doomsday meals up the wazoo. Some of them were quite tasty. Canned goods filled the large food pantry ceiling to floor and corner to corner. However, no amount of security could lift their hearts.

    Sava had only promises of care but no answers concerning Davin. Only annoying cryptic statements about the past, ancient light and timeless presence. If there was any useful information in his philosophical remarks they could not tease it out. Still he and his fairy horde provided fleeting bits of comfort and flashes of joy, which burned out too quickly but was better than nothing.

    Pry sat on the balcony, not catatonic but perilously close. Coaxing her down for meals and such was a daily chore, they all felt obliged to do, but none took pleasure in it. Her current state was not only heartbreaking but immensely depressing.

    Tucker and Silhouette had spent hours studying the barrier but had not stepped outside its walls. The last time someone experimented with it the results were devastating. They knew at some point someone would have to leave but it was one of those chores too easily put off. It, like the barrier illusion was simply too easy to live with, like all comforting lies