A. Rolland: Of Breakable Things

It broke the twins’ concentration for only a millisecond, but that was all Alex needed. She flung her arm through the air like a right hook, allowing its haste to pummel Calla’s freckled face into the dirt. Alex jumped up and lifted her elbow, slamming all of her anger into the hit.

Calla doubled over. She fell to the ground and began scooting away and searching for her brother, but Jack was already gone. Calla yelped fearfully at Alex before ducking her head and crawling into the woods.

Kaleb was fighting what seemed like five spirits at once, his arms whipping so rapidly his movements blurred. Jonas darted around quickly so no one could strike him. There were spirits sprawled across the battlegrounds, but none of them were Chase.

A large body came rushing toward her. Reuben. Her mind reacted, flashing the image of Kender Federive battling the banshee, and the rest of her acted accordingly. Without knowing how or what she was doing, she spun into the air like a tornado and then scissor-kicked her legs, connecting with the air around his piggish face. The force of it sounded like smacking an open palm on bare skin, but it was enough to knock him on the ground. She leaped over him, and in the fray she found Jack, splitting his shoves between Kaleb and Chase. Alex sprinted into the mass, pushing aside everyone in her way. She stopped several feet from Jack and concentrated, allowing her disappointment and hatred to spiral inside of her.

Something that felt like fire shot Alex between her shoulder blades. She fell forward, crying out in pain.

Jack noticed and he screamed out, “Use the rest of it!”

Joey Rellingsworh held a jagged rock the size of a paperweight. He turned it around in his hand, indecision on his face.

“Do it!” Jack yelled moments before Kaleb slammed into him. Jack’s eyes bulged before he fell. Kaleb lifted his arms and aimed a jolt square into Jack’s chest. Without his sister, Jack was no match for Kaleb.

Behind them, several spirits flocked together. Alex didn’t need to question why. If these newburies were birds of a feather, they were vultures. She ran to them, knowing she would find Chase at their feet. There were at least ten spirits on him, pummeling him with hit after hit, not afraid anymore. Some were throwing pieces of jagged rock. There were too many for Alex to take on alone.

Alex fell to her knees before Chase. For a moment, she held out her hands helplessly, and a sob shot up through her before she slammed herself over him, trying hopelessly to shield him from all angles.

She felt a stinging shot into her back, then her neck. She couldn’t stop her body from convulsing with each strike. But nothing was worse than the silence telling her that Chase was gone. She shut her eyes tight, trying to withstand the agonizing pain, and let out a long, low scream. It lifted into the air and carried through the trees and into the depths of the world.

And then everything went silent.

It didn’t feel like her physical death at all. It was like the ending of a fabulous dream, the kind where you don’t dare open your eyes, thinking that maybe if you fight consciousness, the movie reel will resume. And yet you can’t even remember what the dream was about.

In that split second between sleep and awake, all Alex could feel was Chase. It wasn’t like she could feel him lying beside her. It was like he was everywhere . If his smile could become a physical feeling, this would be it. Despite everything Miss Petra had told Alex about the erasing of memories, Alex didn’t doubt for one second that she was tasting Heaven, even if only a spoonful.

Before she could tighten her grip, the comfort was ripped away like pulling the sheets from a warm bed. Alex felt numbed, barren, empty. Her sore head felt heavy, but she could still feel , so that was something, right? So where exactly was she? What exactly was she?

The thought of opening her eyes terrified her. Alex expected she might find herself back in Miss Petra’s classroom with a fresh set of decisions waiting for her, but the scent she caught was not of freshly sharpened pencils and blackboard chalk but hospital smells: starched bed sheets, bleach, and sadness. Her body was stretched out on a stiffly padded cushion.

Had she never died? It was possible that her brain had completely invented Eidolon in some insanely torturous dream, and now she was going to awake in the institution to find a nurse ready to dope her living mind with medication and psychoanalysis. The only good news was that when the true reality hit, it would kill her for sure.

Abruptly, in the midst of her frenzy, a slice of her mind pieced away, opening a space for Chase. He wasn’t far from her.

She opened one eye first. Clipboards lined the wall outside the doorway, and spirits in white coats scuttled past them. Movement from the far corner of her room caused her to jerk upright. Alex focused her eyes only to find a stranger, a boy clutching the seat so tightly his arms trembled. Alex was about to ask him who he was and why he was in her room when he shot up into the air as though the ceiling were magnetic. He slammed mercilessly like a bug on a windshield before crashing back to the ground.

He scrambled back into his chair and glanced at Alex furtively. Alex thought she could have kissed him. He was the very proof she needed. “Are you all right?” she asked, unable to contain the excitement in her voice.

“Go ahead, you can laugh,” he murmured. “The docs say it’s a mental virus spirits can contract, so maybe you’ll be lucky enough one day to experience how much it sucks.”

Alex made a face and covered her nose with her shirt. Thank goodness this time there was no hospital gown, but her head was covered in bandages.

“They put me in here because space is limited, and you’ve been out cold for a while. They didn’t think I’d bother you, but I guess I did,” he said sheepishly. “Sorry about that.”

“No problem.” Alex watched him grip his chair again. “How often do you … uh?” She pointed from the boy to the ceiling and back down again.

“Every few minutes. Good thing there’s a roof. Who knows how far I’d fly if I was outside.”

“How’d you get here then?”

“I projected myself and ran.” He grimaced. “Really fast.”

Alex couldn’t wipe away her smile. She was still alive, well, dead … whatever. She looked at the boy sympathetically. “Can they fix you?”

“They said they’ll just inject something into my head.” He craned his head to look through the doorway. “Do you want me to go get your nurse?”

Alex shook her head. She still existed in this afterlife, yes, but what about Chase? Why could she feel him if he wasn’t here? “Has anyone been here to see me?” she asked the boy.

“No, but I’ve only been here for a few boring hours.” He rested his head against the back of the chair.

Alex began to worry.

“Oh wait; there was one girl who popped in for only a second. She didn’t tell me her name.” He seemed upset by this.

“Was she pretty?”

He looked at his lap. “Well, yeah.”

Alex smiled. “Tall with really long red hair?”

“Yes.”

“Skye Gossamer. That’s her name.”

That meant someone had remembered to pull Skye from the rubble. Jonas must have escaped the battle because besides Chase and Alex, he was the only one who knew where she was hidden.

“A Gossamer, huh? I should have known. I think she said she was going to check on your friend.”

“Do you know which direction she headed?” Alex asked, swinging her feet over the edge of the bed.

“Um, I think that way.” The boy pointed to the right, looking alarmed. “Are you sure you’re okay to get up? From what the nurses were saying, you were pretty much comatose.”