Prisoners of Prophecy

Chapter 11

Cato - Saturday, July 13th, 2019; 9:53pm

     The river rolled calmly on, between the holes of the fence that cut the school off from the outside world. Sometimes, I wondered if I dived deep enough into the water, if I could go right under that fence and escape what my life had become. The bracelet that bit tightly into my wrist was what stopped me from trying.
     The sound of the stream rolling across the smooth rocks beneath, of the current crashing against the sides of the scar it had created in the earth, was relaxing. The breeze caressed my face. Breathing it in made me feel weightless. The sky was cloudless and full of stars. It was beautiful out here, especially at night, where nature could consume all of my senses. In moments like this, I could control my thoughts. I could be alone. This was the only time I felt utterly sane.
     Would the prophecy be fulfilled? Was it even real? And if it was, what did it mean for us? What do those countless voices want?
     Those questions were constantly repeating themselves in my mind, unanswerable. But, here, in this place I visited often, those worries were momentarily silenced. Here, I didn't have the weight of something so important hanging over me.
     The power of this unknown thing was immense, and I felt it every time I even got near the abandoned house where it resided.
     "Cato!" a familiar voice yelled, followed by the sound of light and hurried footsteps.
     It was Xantara. She was still quite a distance away. I could tell that she was in front of that house now, even without sitting up to see. Since coming to ShadowWood, my ears had begun to pick up things I had never noticed before. Sometimes it would become overwhelming, especially in busy places. All the heightened sounds around me could even get painful. That's why I spent all the time that I could by the river that cut through this school that was more like a prison.
     I stood up from the flat rock that I had been sprawled out on and turned to face Xantara. Her long legs carried her to me quickly. Her chest heaved as she gasped for breath, that sound coming to me as clearly as it would if she were next to me. I swallowed my heart, which had climbed up my throat. Her beauty was almost as daunting to me as Calypso's. She reminded me of the night itself - her black eyes and hair, her exotic features. Her and Calypso were the opposite when it came to appearance - light and dark. But there was something about Xantara - her knowledge, her kindness, her mystery - that sent chills down my spine and butterflies into my stomach. I wanted more than anything to pull her into my arms and calm her down. I could feel the fear coming off of her like it was my own.
"Cato, where are the others?" she asked breathlessly as she skidded to a halt in front of me. In the moonlight, her alarmingly pale skin almost glowed. Her irises were now fully black; black as coal. The scars that had suddenly appeared on her face were even more prominent than they had been earlier today.
"I'm not sure," I responded. "What's wrong?"
"I-I need to get everyone to the house." She glanced around us frantically, as if we were being surrounded by things I couldn't see. "I need you the most. You can... You can talk to them."
Warmth enveloped my body at her words, but only for a moment. The urgent desperation coming from her in waves was more important. "I'm here for you. But they haven't spoken to me in at least a month," I said.
She shook her head, a knowing look in the intense stare she was giving me. "I think it will be different this time."
The way she was glaring at me made my mouth dry. It was hard to breathe under the force of those deep dark eyes. Despite the feeling of doom in the air, Xantara's very presence left me flustered, and it took a lot of effort to shove those emotions down below the obvious.
That she had experienced something. Something to do with those voices.
I probed her mind. The only thing I saw was an image of Melany surrounded by darkness, nothing but candlelight playing on her features. Was that the basement? I wondered.
Xantara put a hand to her forehead and shot me an annoyed glance. "Don't be impatient. I'll tell everyone at once. You know that hurts." She dropped her arm back to her side and tilted her head curiously, studying me with narrowed eyes. "Is something wrong?"
"No, I -" I started, not sure what I was going to say.
"Yo, guys!" Kai's voice floated to me on the calm breeze.
Kai and Illisha were jogging towards us, Illisha struggling to keep up. Xantara turned to watch them hurry across the field, scowling.
They stopped in front of us. "You know it's almost time to go in," Kai scoffed. "Or do you guys care?"
"We need to get Calypso and go to the house." Xantara insisted. "And you know more than any of us that they don't give a damn about the curfew on school nights."
"I hope you're right," I murmured, wanting no run - in with those odd, masked guards.
"Why do we have to go in there right now?" He asked, his bright green eyes flicking back and forth between me and Xantara.
"I was just there, alone, and... I don't know. We have to get down there. Quick."
"Alone?" he exclaimed, baffled. "For what?"
"It happened, didn't it?" Illisha intervened.
Xantara nodded solemnly.
A silence fell over us. I realized instantly what Illisha meant, without having to probe her thoughts, and my heart sank into my stomach, heavy with dread. If Xantara was right, and Melany was the one, then that meant that this chapter of not knowing what we had been gathered for was over. I had spent many nights begging those voices to tell me something, anything. But, now, a relentless terror ran through my veins.
"I just saw Calypso in the library," said Illisha. "She's probably still there. But the library will be closing any minute now."
"Let's go, then." Xantara hurried off. We followed. I forced my leaden legs to carry me forward.
When we reached the library, we could see Calypso through the large windows on either side of the glass doors. She was standing at the desk, watching the librarian try to check out her book and gape at her at the same time.
The connection that the group had formed since the school had brought us together was almost terrifying. Calypso glanced away from the woman and looked directly at us, as if she had felt our presence. She took her book and started walking in our direction.
The moment that she stepped outside, we all gasped collectively. Her elegance and beauty was like a drug to all of us. She was gorgeous in a way that I was sure none of us would ever see in anyone else. I didn't have to search the minds of the people surrounding me to feel the desire that came from each of them. I struggled to breathe, putting a hand to my chest like I would have to shove my heart back through my ribcage at any moment.
     This was not the same feeling that Xantara instilled in me. This I could not control. It was like a physical force that willed me to become completely useless. The combination of her unique features and her allure gave her the power to deconstruct someone's rationality until they became her puppet. It was unusual, even horrifying.
     "Why are all of you here? And so late?" she asked. Her commanding tone snapped all of us out of our dazes in unison.
     Xantara spoke, her voice shaking. I wondered if it was fear of what she had just experienced or the effect Calypso had on her, before coming to the conclusion that it was surely both. "We have to go to the house."
     Calypso studied her intently with her pale gray eyes. She seemed to notice her anxiety in the way she shuffled her feet, her hands clasped tightly together in front of her, and her eyes darting around as she constantly surveyed her surroundings. "Well, let's go, then," she suggested without question, speaking more gently than she had before.
     We started towards the abandoned house without another word. Each of us took long, steady, purposeful strides, even though I felt apprehension coming from us all. I had begun to feel foreboding in the air, like that patient energy you could sense before a storm.
     The door was wide open. A chill ran through us as if we were not five but one. Was someone in there, waiting for us? I almost thought I heard that question in everyone's mind. We stepped onto the rickety porch cautiously, standing so close together that our arms touched.
     The moment that I stepped inside the house, voices buzzed in my mind. I gasped, startled. It never happened so soon. Were they hearing this too? I wondered. There were times when I had even stood in the basement for hours without hearing a single thing. Their authority over this place settled over my shoulders, and it felt like it weighed tons. My body shook with alternating pulses of strength and weakness. They immediately gained their reign over me. I was being possessed by hundreds of unknown beings. I pushed through everyone to stand at the front. They parted to let me take the lead as if instinctively knowing that I had the advantage here.
     Down in the basement, the voices were so loud that I could hardly hear my own thoughts, but the sound of Kai snapping bounced off the walls and reverberated around me. The single candle - which had almost entirely melted away - was lit at his command. We gathered around it wordlessly. Shadows danced on the stone, and I hoped they were ours.
     "Does everyone feel that?" Illisha asked, breaking the silence.
     We nodded. They were strong tonight.
     "Melany..." Xantara began nervously. "She knows we've met before. I told her. Maybe it wasn't such a good idea. But I did. And she told me this morning that she had a dream. Not a dream but a memory. I'm sure it was one about me." She spoke in rushed, broken sentences like she was afraid she'd be silenced any time.
     "And?" Kai asked. I felt his mind teeming with impatience. I glared at him to silence the smart comment I was sure he would make, then turned back to Xantara to offer her a reassuring smile.
     She returned it, and it made the hair on the back of my neck stand up. "I came down to the basement after school to wait for her. She had asked me if we always hung out here. After that, I was sure she was curious enough to come here.
     "She got down the steps, and the candle lit by itself. I felt... whatever it is in here, and it was so much stronger than it even is now. Then she ran - "
     Kai snorted, and this time all of our dirty looks quieted him.
     "Then she ran, and they spoke to me. Not like you say they've talked to you, Cato, but out loud. Like it was in here with me."
     My mouth dropped. A flurry of different emotions ran through me - awe, fear, even jealousy of it being her who had experienced something so unreal but also so impossible to deny. "What did they say?" I ask in a whisper that still somehow echoed all around us.
     "They said she was the final one!" she exclaimed, her shy tone turning into one full of haste. "You have to talk to them, Cato. They have to tell us what happens next!"
     Everyone except Calypso inhaled sharply, glancing at each other with wide eyes full of both excitement and terror of what turn our lives would take next. Though we had expected it coming down here, hearing it from Xantara brought life to it. But, Calypso only nodded, a small smirk on her lips as if she had already known. "She's right," she said as her hypnotizing gaze found mine. I felt myself tense under the force of it. "Try to talk to them."
     Unable to resist any order she gave me, I closed my eyes instantly, diving into a darkness I hadn't prepared myself for. The whispers of countless spirits grew in volume until I was afraid my head would explode. Then they were gone. A strength I could have never imagined entered my bloodstream. For a few seconds, I felt divine. In this moment, I was sure I could tear this old house from its foundation with my bare hands.
     What do we do? I thought, asking the unknown entity that I felt swimming through my veins.
     That power disappeared, as quickly as it had come.
     And then it answered. Its voice shook the very ground beneath my feet, deep and raspy and all - consuming. I struggled to keep my footing.
     "You all must gather here together. Once you do, you will be graced with the presence of things stronger than you or me. May the grace of the Gods be with you."