Carol, Part 11 - Darkness

We don't stop running, until we finally collapse on a bus stop almost an kilometer off mall. The both of us are breathing hard, our breath coming out in puffs of white in the cold air. Flame is getting increasingly anxious.

"We can't stay here," Leea pants. Then she glances around and whispers, "What if they followed us?" I look around as well.

"I don't think so..." I say. "But let's go to my place, we're like halfway there already."

We walk swiftly the rest of the way home.

~x~

We barricade ourselves in my room and I open my bag to let Flame out. It lets out a soft cry and jumps out, stretching its legs. I notice something at the bottom of the bag.

"What the-?" Leea looks at me as I pick it up. An envelope. I turn it around in my hand. It's sealed with a butterfly.

"What is that?" Leea asks, leaning over. "A letter?"

"I think it's from that Cecil," I say quietly and get up. I pick up my letter opener and carefully slice the envelope open. There is indeed a letter inside and on the letter is one word.

""Darkness"?" Leea reads over mt shoulder. I lift the paper up against the light, but there is no hidden text on it.

"Maybe should try the opposite," Leea suggest. I frown. "Y'know, it says "darkness", so maybe it's something you can only read when it's dark."

"Oh. That might work," I say and pass the letter to Leea to go turn off all the lights. Flame glows softly on the bed, where it's curled into a ball.

"Nothing," says Leea, sounding disappointed.

"Wait, I'll cover Flame. Maybe it needs total darkness." I go over to the bed and place a blanket on Flame, who apparently doesn't like the idea and instead jumps off the bed. "Damnit, stay still!"

Flame jumps around the room as I chase it, trying to cover its light.

"Wait!" Leea shouts suddenly. We both stop. "Look!" She turns the paper so Flame's light shines through it. Flame sits down and scratches its ear while I go around to Leea's side. My eyes widen.

There's writing on the paper, glowing lightly.

""The elemental is in danger. We need to talk. Dreamshare, tonight."" Leea reads and then points at a few lines in the bottom of the page. "That's a dream spell, I think. To create a common dreamspace."

"Are you sure?" I ask. I'm not sure what to think of all this.

"I took Spells 101, I can do basic magic," Leea says and looks at the lines closer. "We say the words before we go to bed and when we fall asleep we'll be in the same dream."

"You mean like Cecil was in my dream?" I ask.

"No, not like that. That must've been a projected dream. He made you see that dream and he was in control of it. But this time we're all controlling it. Sorry, it's kinda hard to explain," Leea says, smiling at me sheepishly.

"So do we do this? I mean, do we go meet him?"

"Well, it's a dream so he can't actually hurt us even if he wanted. And I think he really wants to tell us something."

"I guess so," I say. There's a knock on the door. I sweat and throw a blanket on Flame just as mom opens the door.

"Oh my, it's dark," she says. "Dinner time, honey."

"Mom, can Leea stay the night?" I ask before she leaves.

"Oh, sure. Does she have her school things with her?"

"My books are in my locker," Leea says.

"Well okay then. Now come eat," mom says and leaves. Flame lets out a displeased sound and crawls from under the blanket, lighting up the room again. I sigh.

Two hours of idle chit chat with my family and another two of finally finishing my math homework later Leea and me are sitting on my bed. I've made her a bed on a spare mattress on the floor and Flame is currently bouncing up and down on it. We've brushed our teeth and changed into our pajamas. Well, I've changed to my pajama; Leea is wearing one of my star trek tees. She had a toothbrush with her, but not even Leea carries a pajama everywhere.

"I can't believe it's been just one day," I say. Leea pats my back.

"Well, time to get started," she says and gets down on her bed. I, too, get under the cover and lean over the edge of the bed. Flame is curled on Leea's chest like a cat and she lifts up the paper she wrote the spell on. We read it out loud.

We wait. And wait.

"Should something happen?" I ask. Leea bites her lip.

"Usually there's a sleep spell in the dreamshare spell, but I guess this one doesn't?`We'll just have to fall asleep the normal way."

"Okay then," I say and flick off the lamp on my night stand.

~x~

We're walking down the hallway. Leea looks determined next to me and Flame is sitting on her shoulder, eating a stick. I don't know why I'm surprised it was able to follow us here. When we get to the door she yanks it open and we march inside. We're in the choir room.

"Why didn't you tell me you'd find them?" someone says. Cecil.

"Well I couldn't have told you when that bloody git Wasp was hanging around you all day, could I? That guy is thick as fuck, but he's dangerous and there's no way in hell I'm gonna say anything when he's around!" is the reply. Rachel.

"I know he's dangerous, why do you think I made him go on that wild goose chace to the woods?!" Cecil is shouting now, but Rachel ignores him.

"And now you've probably scared off the only people who might be able to help us! What the hell was that about breaking into people's dreams, do you even realize how creepy that sounds? You were an utter moron back there, spewing all that shit, I swear to God it's like you-!"

There's a high voice that sounds like bells and magic. Flame.

They finally notice us. Cecil's eyes widen and his mouth falls open.

"I-is that-?" his voice is barely over a whisper now. He reaches out his hand. Flame jumps on his face.

There is a short period of chaos as everyone tries to get Flame off Cecil's face and Cecil tries to decide whether he wants Flame off or closer. Finally we get Flame off his face, but it refuses to let go completely, instead clinging to Cecil's shirt. He looks like he couldn't be happier.

"So what's the big deal? Why couldn't you talk to us back at the mall?" Leea asks. She and Rachel are sitting on the edge of the stage while Cecil and I stand in front of it.

"We couldn't talk because Wasp was there," Rachel says. "He's another member of the organization and he is not nice. He's strong and persuasive and very trigger-happy. He wants to capture the elemantals and sell them, he doesn't care about the knowledge."

"I told you the truth about that, by the way," Cecil says, eyes fixed on the elemental in his arms. "We do really just want to learn to understand them. We do not want them any harm." Flame lets out a purring kind of noise and Cecil's smile just grows. He seems like a completely different person than before. In the shop he seemed stressed and suspicious and almost anxious. Now he's relaxed and excited. Flame really seems to like him, too.

"How did you know we had the elemental?" I ask, not taking my eyes off Cecil.

"I'm not blind, I saw the bag shifting on your lap in the shop. It wasn't subtle," Cecil says and Rachel snorts.

"Oh," I say. Flame makes a happy noise. "But I did mean before that. How did Rachel know to give us your stone. And how were you in my dream?"

"Mostly luck, to be honest," Rachel says. "I was checking in on all the chorister's houses and I could feel the elemental's energy from yours."

"Wait, what has this got to do with the choir?" Leea asks with a frown.

"The elementals search out others like them. They were often found following choristers and singing carols with them," Cecil says. "We had reasons to believe that there would be elementals in this town this year, so, last night I projected a dream to all the people in the town choir in the hopes that I could tell them who I was and what to do if they came across an elemental." He pauses for a second and looks down. He seems... sad? Uncomfortable? "That didn't work when Wasp caught me and shot me in the dream. I did manage to make a lasting impression on you though, so that's good." He looks up at me then and smiles. I can't help but give him a small, crooked smile of my own. Then I realize something.

"You... You said all the people in the choir?" I ask and he nods. I turn to look at Leea. She look surprised. "Did you have a dream about him too?" I know it's stupid, but I feel kinda disappointed now that I know I wasn't the only one who saw the dream. I had kinda hoped I'd be special or something.

Leea contemplates it for a while.

"I did have a dream about choir practice last night that ended with the choirmaster getting shot," she says finally. "Although I'm not sure it was you. I was more interested in the words on the music sheet, because I had no idea what language they were."

"Oh?" Cecil says and for the first time turns away from Flame. "Do you think you can remember the words? Because they might come in handy later."

"Why, what were they?" I ask. Cecil grins.

"I haven't the foggiest."

Rachel facepalms. Cecil turns back to Flame with a smile. Leea and I exchange looks of desperation, wondering what we're really getting into. I take back any suspicions I had of Cecil, the guy is a loser. But, like, in a good way.

"I have a question," Leea says. "If elementals come out during winter that means Flame wasn't hibernating in that tree, right? So what was she doing up there?"

"She was probably following you around. She could tell you are a great singer," Rachel says and gives Leea a grin and a wink. I would say she looks away and smiles bashfully, but the Leea I know doesn't do bashful. But I suppose not all sides of her are for me to see.

"So what now?" I ask after a moment of silence.

"Now," Rachel says, "we know there are elementals here. And if we want to have a chance to study them without Wasp scaring them all away in an idiotic hunting attempt, we need to convince him there aren't. And then he will piss off."

"But what you need to do," Cecil says, "is continue with your lives as normal, and keep this precious little elemental safe and secret. But whatever happens, Wasp cannot know there are elementals here. That guy is a walking Murphy's Law; if there's a possibility for him to fuck something up, he will. By accident or not." He takes in a deep breath. "It's possible he comes to talk to you. Tell him what you told me, that you saw one run across the lake but didn't see it up close or engage with it. If we stick to the story he should believe you. Hopefully."

Flame makes another happy sound and hops to sit on Cecil's head. Then it jumps to Leea's lap. Cecil looks only a little sad.

"We should wake up now," Rachel says and hops off the stage. "Wasp could be back soon."

"Keep her safe," Cecil says once more and then the dream fades to darkness.
 ________________________________________________________________

Yaaaaas. FINISHED. Damn that's long.

Your topic is........ Cookies. I'm going to bed, bye.
Pie out.