Mated

Eighteen

I woke, startled to be back in my room. From the corner of my eye, I saw that James leaned on the wall beside the window. I remembered coming to my room when it got late. I didn't remember lying in bed and falling asleep.

"Hey," he said. His stance was rigid. His lips tight.

"Another memory." I closed my eyes.

"You don't have to talk about it now, we can wait until morning if you want."

"The war you have clippings about didn't start yet. I want to go back and find out how it happened."

I didn't even ask how James knew I had been in another one of those out of body experiences.

"No."

"It didn't hurt this time. I'm going to try." I kept my eyes shut and thought about being Diana again, being in her body and watching her life unfold through her eyes before the war.

"Malia, don't. Stop!" James' hand clenched my arm, shaking me to open my eyes. I focused harder to shut him out, envisioning the Chancellor of Jehiva, his town, the Hunters, and Mel from memory. And just like that, I felt myself fading from my bed, from James' hand on me.

The baby giggled in my arms.

His eyes gleamed in the sun's rays as I bounced  him up and down from my hip in front of the window overlooking the garden. It was peaceful outside. Mary walked through the grass, occasionally scooping down to pull at stray weeds.

The baby cooed. I looked down at him.

"I know, nice and full," smiling, I brushed my nose against his and he kicked his feet inside his swaddle in excitement. The sun was setting. "Mel should have been back from the mines by now."

I looked through the window and scanned the trees.

It was peaceful, too peaceful.

Turning, I grabbed the small towel that draped over the arm of the rocking chair and took us into the washroom, the baby happily cooing all the way there. I settled him down next to the bathtub into a woven baby carrier then prepared the water.

"Diana!" Mary's shrill call pierced the air of the quiet house. I rose from where I stood bent over to test the water. I hurried back into the sitting room and footsteps thumped onto the porch. Mel burst through the door with Mary following behind. Their eyes were panicked. The sound of their fast beating hearts pulsed in my ears.

"Where's Charlie?" Mel asked, looking around the room. His face was drained of color. Pieces of my heart began to drop like pebbles.

"He's in the washroom for his bath. What's happening?" He came over to me and grabbed my hands in his rough ones. Mary rushed past us and into the washroom and I turned to look but Mel's usual steady voice was shaky, bringing me to look back at him.

"Love...the Chancellor of Jehiva was killed." I felt my blood leave my body and was left a cold corpse. I could barely breathe a wavering breath.

"The Chancellor's dead?" I could barely hear my own voice. Mel's eyes explained it without needing to say it aloud. Mary came back into the room holding Charlie who's eyes peered at me, oblivious to the shift in the world around him.

"We have to go, now," she said, looking between us.

"Mary will make sure Charlie is safe. We have to leave," he said. I felt my blood return to my veins. Now it rushed into my cheeks and a hot tear rolled down my face. My ears twitched, the sound of distant yells coming into range just yards away. Mel and Mary heard it too. Frightened for my baby I pushed at Mary's arm.