CACKLE- Book 1

Chapter Thirty-Nine

Remi lay in her own filth, covered in blood, dirt and Goddess knows what else. Her magic was drained. She called to it, but she couldn't feel it. Unlike the horrible throbbing in her back. Her consciousness swayed, her eyes rolling.. Remi shook her head and pushed her self up, willing her arms to hold her as she dragged her body beneath her.

Panting from the effort, she surveyed the clearing. Once green and lush was now soaked in red. Burned and sizzling, the ground was coated like a floor covered in overly ripe raspberries. The smoke from the smothered fire made the ebbing dawn feel surreal. The sound of crackling from a near by solders body, struen over the smothrterd fire reminisce, left plooms of burnt hair to fragrance the morning air.

Remi tried but she couldnt resist looking at Huxleys mangled corpse. Ryker had crawled his way to his friends side. He lay on the ground next to him, sobbing.

'Your mother.' a small voice in the back of remis mind reminded her... Marella... she was coming for her. Remi started off towards the woods, in the direction of Anna's village. Ryker didn't try to stop her and she was grateful for it. She stumbled and tripped through the woods, stopping every so often to check the skies. Anna's village was to the West of where they were. As long as she kept the rising sun to her back she would be heading in the right direction.

She walked until the sun turned the canopies into a blanket of emeralds. Her feet felt like stumps with every step she took. When the trees began to thin she found a frequently treaded path to follow the rest of the way. When she reached the clearing the village was still. Silent and sleeping. She walked the blocks until she found Anna's home. Remi raced to the gate and stopped. Icey cold fingers raked her raw spine... the front door was open.

Remi didn't remember running across the rainbow stones but she was at the door in a heartbeat, flinging it open and falling to her knees at the sight.

Her mothers mangled body was splayed out in the center of the cottage. Surrounded by towels and blankets, and blood. So much blood. There were burns on her arms and hands, burns that were tinted with black blood. 'She faught back'. Remi realized. This was all wrong... Remi crawled towards her mother and wiped the blurry tears from her vision. She stared at her face, eyes closed. If it wasn't for the sight of her mangled body, she may have been sleeping. Soft red hair flowed from her back to her waist in soft tandrles. Remi gently wiped the loose hairs that clung to her mothers still damp forehead. Her skin was so soft, so pale and lifeless, but she was still warm. Maybe she could have saved her... but with what? There was no magic left in her veins, no stamina left.

Remi's mother was a blurr behind a lens of tears that refused to slow. She pulled a fur blanket from the layers around her and draped it over her mothers body, leaving her head exposed. She tried to convince herself that she was just sleeping. The words 'in a better place' came to mind as well. But it was all a lie. A soft cushion for her emotions to rest on. This was her fault. She had failed, everyone. She didn't stop the assassination, her mothers death, or Huxley's...

A few months ago, the knowledge of this outcome may have been really bad news. But now that she had knew the royal family, the guards that laid down their lives... her beloved... and the sight of her mother... Knowing it was her fault. That knowledge was pain. A burn, worse than the acid of a hellhounds blood, began to spread through Remi's insides. The tears flowing from her eyes felt too hot. Her skin felt too hot, it itched and burned. This wasn't her magic, or anothers. This wasn't from contamination or contact... She knew, this was the pain of a broken heart.

Remi wailed. Collapsing over her mothers body she screamed and cried. Worse than any tantrum she had thrown as a child, she screamed into the fur- grabbing fits of it as her throat ripped and roared with pain. She was hyperventilating. Her head felt dizzy and her eyes were swelling. She screamed until she could taste blood in the back of her throat. Then she cried, until the sweet release of darkness welcomed her.