CHAPTER 18

Bianca

I'm alone, back in the woods. I don't even know when I returned. I guess I snuck out again, believing that Edmund and I probably missed something, some vital clue that would have led us to the discovery of the well.

I wander through the woods, not really sure where I'm supposed to go. It's still dark. Pitch black even. A part of me seems to remember that it was almost morning when Edmund and I returned to the factory building, but obviously I got something wrong. It's still the middle of the night and I'm back where we were hours ago.

The fact that I don't remember how I got here doesn't sit well with me. I have a strange feeling that I'm not alone, but there is no one around me. At least, no one I can see. But my gut feeling never lies.

I keep walking, still not sure where it is I'm going. But something is telling me that I'm following that map. I don't have it on me, but I have memorized it. I almost memorized Edmund's entire song. But still, I'm not seeing what it is I'm supposed to be seeing.

Suddenly, I notice a flickering stone in the grass. I frown, wondering what it could be. For a moment, I'm thinking it could be a diamond ring someone lost. What other stone could sparkle like that?

I bend down to pick it up. It's not a diamond. It's just a rock. A shiny rock at that.

While I'm pondering what on earth this could be, I notice another one a few feet away, sparkling in the darkened grass. I take a few steps closer to it, then there is another one and another one, leading me down a path through thick shrubbery, where I have to move the branches and keep them out of my face.

I don't know how many of these blinking stones I find, unwilling to take any of them into my hand. They look so strange, almost as if something bad might happen to me if I touch them again. So, I keep myself at a safe distance from them, but at the same time, I can't help but follow the path that they seem to be setting for me.

At one point I reach a tree that is filled with wild cherries. From afar, they look much smaller, almost like… berries.

Berries! I think to myself. Maybe we've been looking at it the wrong way. Maybe berries aren't berries at all, but cherries. After all, cherries are berries, only bigger.

I chuckle to myself loudly and my laughter echoes all around me.

"Bianca…" I suddenly hear someone whisper from somewhere behind me.

I quickly turn around, hoping to see a monster that stems from every child's imagination. But instead of a boogeyman, what greets me is nothingness. This makes me even more frightened, because I'm sure that I heard someone call out my name.

I swallow heavily. "Is someone there?" I called out.

The desire to hear someone talk back rivals my desire not to hear anything. But at least, if I hear someone's voice, I'll know that I'm not insane, that I'm not hearing voices that don't exist.

At that exact moment when I'm looking around, the little shiny stones suddenly start projecting light in the same direction, right at the cherry tree. I focus my gaze there, wondering how on earth this is happening. Am I dreaming? Have I fallen into a haze between wakefulness and sleep? I'm not sure, but I'm not going to question it.

Obviously, some invisible force is drawing me there, forcing me to take this course, because I wouldn't end up there otherwise, on my own.

I walk to the wild cherry tree. While I'm standing underneath it, a cool nightly breeze ruffles my hair, as if some invisible hand raked their fingers through my hair. Strangely enough, it felt peaceful. It was like a caress almost.

Then, someone whispers right into my ear.

"Behind the tree…"

I turn around, hoping to catch whoever it was, but once again, there is no one behind me. I focus my attention once again on the tree, wondering what the voice was referring to.

"Behind the tree?" I say out loud, hoping that the voice might clarify these instructions, but nothing happens. I am left on my own.

I walk around the tree and notice scattered rocks behind it. They appear big, laid out in no particular order. Maybe I've seen them before, but I haven't paid attention to them. Now, I obviously need to.

Just as I'm about to bend down and see if I can move the closest one, I open my eyes, and gasp loudly. I am no longer in the woods, but on a makeshift bed in the factory basement.

"Are you alright?" I hear Edmund ask. He's lying on the bed opposite mine, but he was obviously woken up by my gasp.

"Yeah," I say, sounding confused. I sit up on the bed, planting my feet firmly on the ground. "I just had the weirdest dream."

"About what?" he asks.

"The well," I say, and immediately, his ears prick up, like a Doberman's.

"What about the well?" he asks for more clarification.

"It's just a dream," I shrug.

"You humans always disregarded dreams and reveries as nothing important," he tells me, although there is no scolding in his voice. He seems to be merely making a point. "In the past, you used to trust them, but the more.. civilized you've become, the more you've moved away from your roots and planted yourselves in new soil, one that made you forget who you truly were. But you didn't grow up with other humans. Instead, you grew up with shifters. They taught you different ways, and I'm surprised to hear you dismiss dreams as nothing important."

His words hit me where it hurts. I look down at my feet, feeling embarrassed.

"You're right," I nod. "It's just that my dreams never seem to make any sense, so I thought they were never worth mentioning or deciphering."

"Well, it's not like dreams are a movie, where you have a proper beginning, middle and end," he chuckles.

"I suppose you're right," I laugh as well.

"So, do you want to share your dream with me now?" he asks, getting up and walking over to me, only to sit down next to me.

Most of the other vampires are still asleep. I don't know if it's late in the morning or early. There are no windows so I can look out and see. Not that it matters.

I turn to him, trying not to let his closeness affect my thinking. I tell him my dream, not omitting anything. The glowing stones, the cherry tree, the mysterious voice. When I'm done, he seems shocked.

"Cherries?" he asks incredulously. "Cherries?" he repeats.

"Mhm," I nod, not sure if that's a huge clue or he's just surprised that my dream is so silly.

"Why didn't I think of that?" he says, jumping up and pacing about the room, which was illuminated only by a flashlight that someone left on in the corner. Otherwise, we would be in total darkness.

"Does it mean anything to you?" I wonder.

He smiles broadly, his lips revealing a row of pearly whites to die for.

"I know where there is a cherry tree," he points out. "I didn't even think that berries might be a substitute for cherries."

"Maybe it's nothing," I tell him, not wanting to get his hopes up again.

He grabs me by the shoulders and makes me stand up, so that we're facing each other now. The hopefulness and joy that is oozing off of him is contagious. That dream of mine still makes very little sense, but he wants to believe that it means something, so I believe it as well.

"Maybe it's everything," he replies. "Maybe some invisible force just told you where we're supposed to be looking."

"Told me?" I wonder, shocked. "Why would it tell me and not you?"

He shrugs. "I don't know how the universe works. No one does. If it chose you to share its message and show us the way, who are we to question it?"

I think about his sentence for a moment or two and realize he's right.

"There's no harm in going now to check," he suggests.

"But it's morning," I reminded him.

"We'll be careful," he tells me.

I can see he's impatient. He wants to go now. I won't be able to convince him to wait until the evening.

"Well, in that case, we should get someone to come with us," I tell him. "Maybe it isn't a good idea to be wandering the woods on our own. We might stumble onto the shifters."

"If we take someone, they'll just slow us down," he gives me a counter argument. "This way, we'll quickly go there and return. Hopefully, we'll have something to show for it."

I look into his eyes, those deep brown eyes that seem to hide the very essence of life in them. I could stay like this forever, getting lost in those two chestnut pools, but I know I can't. It's too dangerous. I might dive under and never come out for air again.

"So, you want to go now?" I ask.

"You dreamt that place," he points out. "I will get us there, but I need you to tell me if that is the place you dreamt of."

"I'm not sure I've ever seen it before," I shrug. "Or perhaps I never paid any attention to it."

"If it's that place, you'll recognize it. Come," he says, pulling me by the hand and we rush outside again.

As we're climbing up the stairs, I feel a strange sensation deep inside of me. It's like nausea, a sudden vertigo, and I quickly stop in the middle of the stairwell, grabbing him for support.

"Are you OK?" he asks, immediately wrapping his arms around me, so I wouldn't fall.

I close my eyes, blinking heavily. The place is even darker than usual, but now my eyes added a layer of haze over it. My body feels heavy for itself. My arms and legs feel like they've been sewn onto my torso, and I barely have any control over them.

"Just a moment," I tell him, inhaling deeply, then exhaling. This helps a little.

"Maybe we shouldn't go?" I hear him ask, but I know that's not what he wants.

"I'm fine," I assure him. "Probably just blood pressure from getting up too quickly." That seems like the most plausible excuse. I don't have another one.

"Hold onto me," he offers, and together we continue climbing up the stairs.

As soon as we're outside, I feel better. The vertigo is gone. Even my stomach is feeling less irritated. Although I can't see why it would be so, when I barely ate anything. Maybe that's it. Stress and lousy nutrition can wreak havoc on one's body.

"Which way?" I wonder, looking around.

He takes my hand into his, and we start running.

For some reason, my heart feels full. I feel joy unlike any other I've felt before. I feel… free. Completely and utterly free, unburdened by anything. I know this is a transitory feeling, so I hold onto it for as long as possible, for as long as it will grace me with its presence.

Just like Edmund. He is here now. Who knows where he will be tomorrow? Where will we all be tomorrow?

I try not to think about it, as he squeezes his hand in mine. I try not to read into it too much either. I just take it as it is. We are here now, at this moment. I accept him as he is now, and he accepts me. What will happen later… Well, we can only influence that until a certain point.

I don't know what he's thinking about. He occasionally turns around to look at me. He is smiling. My heart aches at his handsome face, at his lips, at those eyes that seem to want to devour me as much as I want to get lost in them.

We dive into the woods, allowing the lush greenery to hide us away from plain sight. The woods are our friend. I don't know how I know this, but I do. My body recognizes the message around me. My mind recognizes the message the universe is sending me.

Something important is about to happen. I'm sure of it.