INK

Part IV ~ Valkyrie

I am a little girl. My father is with me. We are both happy. He loves me. I am playing him a song on my piano. It was his favorite. His eyes are so kind. I feel safe. I don’t want to wake up. A voice from the dream calls me.

“Pyro. Pyro. Wake up. Wake up!”

The ink of the scene smudges away.

I gasp for air. I see a doorway of light with the blue sky behind it. I am in a room of marble and white stone pillars. A fair-skinned woman in a long white dress is kneeling over me.

“She’s awake.” Her voice is as soft and silky as her long black hair. “Pyro, I am Valkyrie, Sentry of the sky. I found you in the rubble of Delirium. You are in the Temple of Haven, now. You will be safe here.”

“Pyro?”

I turn. “Tuck?”

Tuck falls to his knees beside me and wraps his arms around me. “It’s okay, Pye. You’re safe now.” He pulls away. When I finally see him in the light, my heart drops. His right eye and cheek is full of seared flesh. The burn marks run down his neck, chest, and arms.

“Tuck you’re hurt!”

He shakes his head. “Just a few burns. Nothing serious.”

“But Tuck ... I did that, didn’t I? I hurt you!”

What have I done? How could I hurt someone I care so much about? I start to cry.

“Hey,” Tuck says, placing a tender hand to hold up my chin. “I’m not dead, okay? Besides, it wasn’t your fault. Don’t blame yourself, Pye. We’re gonna try to fix whatever Father did to you.”

“Don’t blame yourself.” His words are familiar, like a haunting nightmare from a dream I can’t remember. I see bursts of images and flashes of light. I see my sister’s face. She is so sad. She’s raising up a hand to grab mine. I reach for her, but I don’t grab her hand. I watch as a pillar of fire sweeps between us and turns her to ash.

“No!” I hear my voice echo in the stone hall.

“Pye? What’s wrong?”

I can’t breathe. I’m numb. My lips are shaking. This isn’t real. Please, someone tell me this isn’t real.

“Pyro,” Valkyrie says, “I can’t begin to understand how you are feeling right now, but you need to calm down. Try to focus and breathe.”

Water bursts from my eyes. “I killed her, Tuck. My own sister. I killed her.”

“No, that wasn’t you. I know you. We’re gonna help you, Pye. I promise you.”

I wish my tears were an ocean. I wish they would drown me. I wish I would drown and never wake up again. “Tuck, what’s happening to me?”

“I don’t know but we’re gonna find out. You’re gonna be okay.”

“Pyro, I need you to concentrate.” Valkyrie says.

I turn to her. She is standing amid the light of the doorway. “When you were in the Temple of Truth, what exactly did you see?”

I take a deep breath. I feel Tuck’s warm hand stretch over mine. I close my eyes and try to picture the memory in my mind. All I see is darkness, like there is a hole there. The only knowledge that remains is that whatever truth I learned in the temple, whatever I saw, that’s what started it all.

“I can’t remember. It’s like that part of my mind has been erased.”

“You must try harder. You told Tuck that you saw a vision of Father wielding a great pen like a staff and whatever he drew came to life.”