A Mysterious Arrow

Chapter Eight: Bow & Arrow

"Wasn't Markus just lucky,"

"What?"

"I mean, to have a daughter like you must be some sort of accomplishment, isn't that right Thalleous?"

~~~~

Like a prayer being answered, Cora didn't have a single dream the night prior. If she did, she didn't remember it, which was almost a miracle in itself. "Guess he was too busy, huh, Misha?" Cora laughed to herself while getting out of bed. Before she could leave, something caught her attention. A light from the corner of her eye. The silhouette under her bed. Cora had completely forgotten about it. When she looked under her bed, the silhouette was no longer an arrangement of glowing colors, it was a glowing, blue bow. And it matched her arrow perfectly. "What the?" when Cora grabbed it to pull it from under her bed, her eyes shone the same blue from the cafe and she started to see things. That man wasn't in her head. He was real. Cora saw him convince Thalleous to help him, she saw him leave Abbigail to be an orphan when she was young, and she saw everything he did to people. How? He was only a mere human, how did he have such power? Was it witchcraft? Was it the Songs? Cora had no clue.

    When the images stopped, Cora dropped the bow and ran downstairs to write to Abbigail about what she had just seen. Eventually, Galleous, tired and hungover, walked into the living room not expecting Cora to be there. Startled, he jumped. "Christ! Cora, what are you doing up?" he asked, squeezing the skin in between his eyebrows in pain. "It's morning," Cora replied, not looking up from her writing. "It's 5 am on a Saturday," Cora stayed silent. Galleous, his concern growing at Cora's silence, peeked at her letter. "Who are you writing to?"

    "Queen Abbi, it's important," Galleous knew right then that Thalleous warnings weren't tricks or lies, Cora was in trouble. Galleous had unintentionally saved her from the horrors of life before, and now, she was right back into it. Galleous would rather die than let it go any further. "Alright, go back to sleep." Cora groaned in annoyance as Galleous picked her up. After half-asleep complaints, Cora went back to bed. Intrigued, Galleous read what Cora was going to send to the Queen. 

The voice isn't a voice, he's the one who killed your dad. Thalleous is a LIAR!

    Galleous didn't have as much time to be shocked as he did to be angry. Thalleous had been working for that dumb man-voice. When he came over, he wasn't just being annoying just to be, he was warning him in his own way. "That girl needs to figure out that dumb arrow and she has to do it fast,". Thalleous words played over and over in his mind. Galleous sighed in defeat. No matter how much he wanted to dismiss his brother. He had to believe him.

A few hours later, Galleous set up a target in his yard and sat Cora down about 5 meters away from it. "Pull the string all the way back." Galleous' intrusted. "And don't be so tense." Cora tsked and rolled her eyes. "Were you this bossy with all your students?" Galleous softly chuckled. "Probably." when Cora shot, the arrow barely reached the bulls-eye. "This target sucks! And how am I supposed to get more arrows?" just as Cora's early morning frustration was at its peak, another arrow identical to the original arrow dropped on the ground next to her. "Oh."
    "Feeling better?" Galleous joked. "Definitely." the next time Cora shot, the bow went perfectly into the bulls-eye. "Yes!" Cora exclaimed. "It's gonna be hard to be the best archer ever." Cora sighed before laughing to herself. "Why'd we have to do all of this anyway?" she asked. Galleous stood up after her and cracked his back. "Well, it's unfortunately because my brother may have been right all along." Galleous saw Cora furrow her eyebrows in doubt and changed the subject slightly. "I read your note to the Queen," Cora's face softened. "Before your dream, Thalleous had come over and warned me about the voice...man...thing. And he told me you needed to figure this out to stop him." Cora crossed her arms. "It's rich that you believe him." she retorted. Galleous sighed. "Look, I understand why you're so upset with him. Bet when it comes between believing my idiot, gullible, follower of a brother and a man that's been trying to hurt you or worse, I'd take my chances. And I think you would too." Cora looked up at Galleous before looking back down. She knew he was right. She had no idea what the voice wanted from her and Thalleous hadn't been much help. Well, no one but Galleous had been much help. She hadn't heard from Abbigail in a while, even though she experienced the same thing Cora did, the voice was trying to kill her, and Thalleous went back and forth when it came to betrayal. Cora felt completely alone. But Galleous made Cora feel a little bit better about being alone. God had given her a chance with another father, and Cora wasn't going to allow the voice to end her life, and end everything.