THRIVE: Book One

Chapter 68- Strength

The next morning, Zade woke up before me to go speak with his father about a few things, so I was left on my own for a little while. Once I get dressed, I decided that I want to get out for a while. Despite how sore my feet feel, I want nothing more than to walk down to the beach, but I know that I shouldn't go alone. I make my way to the guard's quarters and find Eloy and Calem finishing up talking to some recruits. I wait patiently in the back for them to dismiss the men before stealing their attention. The new guys all stare at me as they make their way out, but I ignore it.

"Hey sis, what are you doing here?" Calem asks, happy to see me.

"That depends, are you free for a while?" I ask hopefully.

"Um, Eloy, are we done for the day?" he calls over as Eloy carefully racks the swords.

"Yea, go ahead. I'll finish cleaning up here," he states, only half paying attention. That was all the answer I needed. I ask Calem if he wants to spend some time by the ocean and he seems more than happy to join me. He keeps a close eye on me as we make our way through the city, luckily he looks more like an authority figure now that he's a head guard, so no one would try anything stupid. He helps me along as we follow the stone path down to the shore. Once we make it, we start to walk along the water.

"So, it's a girl?" he smiles, and I roll my eyes and sigh.

"You too?" I say frustratedly "Well, now you know I guess." I state, kicking at the water.

"I'm happy for you." he says kindly "I still can't believe you're gonna have a kid."

"Me neither, it's surreal." I laugh "Who the hell gave me the authority to be in charge of anyone?"

"Bree, you're literally royalty now. If you should have reign over anyone, it's your own baby." he laughs.

"Well, I guess when you put it that way, you're probably right." I giggle. After we walk for a while, we decide to take a break and relax on the sand. The sun has made it nice and hot, feeling soothing on my back as I lay down. Calem starts to play around in the sand, building some sort of sand sculpture. As he focuses on the details, I start to poke it, messing him up.

"Would you cut it out?" he asks as he fixes the hole I made.

"Never." I laugh, "You know I always do this." I start poking it harder until one of the walls crumbles.

"Damnit, thanks to you I've never finished a freaking sand castle." he laughs, pretending to be mad. I giggle as I look at my handiwork, it was always fun messing with him.

"You know why I started doing that when we were kids?" I smile. "When mom would bring us down here, she would always wait till you were finished to take us home. When I slowed you down, it meant we got to stay out longer." I laugh.

"You never told me that." Calem sounds surprised "It's weird to look back on stuff like that. It feels like it was so long ago, it's like we're different people now." he explains.

"Tell me about it." I laugh "I have so much more to look back on now, it's so bizarre. But at the same time, there's even more coming and I don't know what to expect." I sigh as I reach my arms behind my head. "Like a swift breeze, life will always surprise you."

"You wanna know something?" he asks calmly "I don't think you're ever going to be ready for these things. But when they happen, you just know what you need to do."

"You think so?" I ask, trying to feel hopeful.

"I do. Change is always inevitable, and you have always been the strongest fighter I've ever known," he explains. I can't help but to blush hearing those words.

"Thank you." I start to tear up "That means more to me than you know." Calem leans back on the sand next to me and we stare up at the sky.

"You never have to know what you're doing, just let your instincts kick in like you always have and you'll be fine." he smiles as he stares at my tummy.

"I want to be a good mom." I smile as I watch the birds swoop around overhead. Without realizing it, we had been out most of the day. As the evening sky starts to settle in, we decide to walk back home. Everyone in town always seems so excited to see me, it makes me smile watching them all as I go. I grew up on these streets, but it's almost as if it's a completely different city now. It's not like anything out here has really changed, but I have. Once we make it back inside, I head up to my room to wait for Zade. I'm guessing someone told him where I had gone off to, so hopefully, he'll make it back up here soon. All of that walking made me exhausted, so I decide to lie down while I wait. That walk was more tiring than I had expected, so I end up dozing off.

My dreams were always so unpredictable, sometimes they would just be dreams, but other times they would be memories once hidden, finally revealing themselves to me. This time, it was different. I couldn't tell what it was, but it didn't feel like a dream, and it didn't feel like a memory. It was somehow both, but also neither. I could hear a voice calling out to me, shouting my name as if they were trying to get my attention. I try to respond, but the words wouldn't come out. I feel like I'm trapped, like I can't move. I start to feel uneasy as if whatever I was feeling was making me sick. The worse it feels, the more desperate I am to wake up. I suddenly start seeing flashes of memories from all of my lifetimes, the fights I fought, the challenges I faced, and the things that slowly made me stronger. The more it all flashes, the dizzier and weaker I feel. I was in a dream, but I feel like I'm going to throw up. Something isn't right here.

I feel like I can hear Zade's voice, but I can't snap myself out of this. Nothing I do is making a difference, I just have to wait until I am released from it. After what felt like ages, I finally started to feel like I was waking up, but all I could hear was Zade screaming for me.

"Umbree! Please, wake up!" he shouts "Help!" he screams even more loudly, and a few servants start rushing in, looking mortified "Find my mother, now!" he commands, looking back to see that I'm coming to.

"My god, you scared me to death, are you okay? What happened?" he asks frantically.

"I was just having a nightmare, what's wrong?" I ask as I started to try to sit up, but suddenly felt a sharp pain in my side. When I look down, I see that my lower half is completely covered in blood. At that moment, I scream louder than I ever have before in my entire life.