"There's No Need Of Wings To Fly"

Chapter 22 ~ The Infinite Bridge.

"Grace, wake up." said a familiar voice.

I opened my eyes, my sight was a little bit blurry.

"Clare?" I said "What happened?" I asked to the girl bent down on me.

"The demon hit you and you fainted. How do you feel?"

"Better" was the only answer I gave. "And you?"

"Good. I don't know how, but the injury I had on my shoulder disappeared... maybe I had just imagined that" she smiled.

"I understand.. the others?" I looked around.

"Hi Grace" said a voice behind Clare. The guy bent down on my head.

"Hey Dave, where are Violet and Nicholas?"

He looked at her and they exchanged a knowing look.

"Violet is on the bank of the stream." answered Clare.

"...and Nicholas?" I asked.

She sighed.

"I think this is something you should ask her."

***

I was sitting, staring at the water of the stream which was flowing and rushing into the waterfall, at the same point where Nick left me.

I was feeling good physically, but I was heartbroken.

"Hey.." a voice behind me drew my attention, I recognised it immediately.

"Hi, Grace." I said without turning around.

"Everything's okay?" she asked me.

"Yes." I answered straightforward.

"Nicholas..."

"He died." was my determinated answer. I tried to hold back the tears that threatened to flood my face.

"I'm sorry." I could feel a warm hand on my shoulder.

"Me too." I answered sobbing, without turning around.

"And now?" she said while sitting next to me.

"Now I'm alone.

I don't know what I've done to deserve this, no one will ever be able to give me back the people I love." I said crying and trying to cover my face.

"Do you have someone to stay with?" she asked gently.

"NO! I DON'T HAVE ANYONE! AND YOU SHOULDN'T BE WASTING YOUR TIME WITH ME INSTEAD OF SAVING YOUR FRIEND!" I screamed desperately, with the tears that surrounded my face and fell down to the ground.

Figuring out what I had told, I tried to calm down.

"I-if you want.. you can come with us.." she said scared.

"But you don't want me." I puffed.

"Of course we do, we care about you, if you want to join us don't hesitate and just tell us.."

"Yes, I'll come." I smiled with the tears rolling down my face.

"Right answer." she smiled back.

"I'll wait for you there." she pointed with her head to the bonfire already extinguished.

"Okay."

I saw her getting up to catch up with the others. After a moment I stopped her.

"Grace.."

"Yes?" she seemed surprised.

"I'm sorry if I yelled at you."

"It's okay" she answered "You have all the reasons for doing so." she winked at me and went away.

I remained there to stare at the water a little bit more.

***

"Great, here we are.. where are we going now?" asked Clare with enthusiasm.

"Follow me." answered Violet. She seemed to have recovered at least a little bit.

"We're coming." I answered.

When everyone went away, I took advantage of that to talk to Clare.

"Have you seen that cat?"

"Which cat?" she asked surprised.

"A black cat with yellow eyes, I see it everywhere, it seems like it's keeping an eye on us."

"I don't know, I had never noticed it.. But if I think about it, I have the same impression of that wolf.."

"But it's just an animal.."

"Also the cat then."

"Ah, ah, ah.. walk or we'll get left behind, miss congeniality." I answered ironic.

"Said the flying fairy." she smiled at me.

***

We went through the wood for hours and hours on foot. We had passed the stream and the waterfall, hated by us all, and we were walking following Violet.

She was in front of everyone, behind her there were Dave and Clare who seemed to be absorbed in an exciting conversation and behind them there was me.

My body hurted, I was really tired.

While walking I was looking around, that was maybe the most gloomy wood I had ever seen, the fog wrapped us up.

I stopped to look at a point and I saw a shadow.

I saw it, it was coming closer to me slowly slowly.

I noticed that I was left behind.. just in time to figure that out and I stumbled.

The others kept on not noticing anything, they kept on not turning back to check if I was okay.

My sight slightly obscured, I recovered in some moments and I ended up having that individual in front of me.

He was hooded, with his head covered and a black cloak around his body.

I couldn't understand who he was, but he seemed really familiar.

A moment after he disappeared, I couldn't even figure that out.

I put myself together and getting up, I catched up with the others quickly.

We talked a lot while walking, I discovered that Dave seemed to recognise a cat and the other girl had a certain affinity with the wolf that had saved Violet's life.

When I told them about the shadow I discovered that the exact same thing had happened to Clare and we hadn't notice it, as if only the person concerned could see it.

The only thing that Violet said was: "It seems like everyone here recognises everything...great."

We walked a little bit more, we were all exhausted and the sun was going down.

"How far is it?" asked Clare.

"I would stop here for the night and continue tomorrow morning." answered Dave.

"Yes but we almost finished the provisions." she said.

"We have arrived." stepped in Violet.

We all looked up, almost synchronized.

"WOW" we exclaimed in unison.

In front of us the wood disappeared and rocks began. At the overboard of it there were anchored some ropes which tied a bridge, this began at the exact point where the rock finished and the empty space began. We couldn't see the end, it seemed to be hovering between the clouds.

"Ladies and gentlemen, here's to you: the Infinite Bridge." announced Violet.