The Swords of Memory: Second Chances

Chapter 15

Zara woke up to the sun shining on her face. In her hurry to get to sleep the night before she had neglected to close the curtains on her window. She looked at her phone and saw that it was almost eight. She climbed out of bed and got ready. While she was eating breakfast her phone dinged. It was a text from Warren. "I'll pick you up in ten minutes?" Zara had forgotten that he had volunteered to driver her to the hospital. She quickly finished her cereal and was just washing the bowl when the door bell rang. She answered it and let Warren in. He sat at the table while she washed and put away her bowl and then led the way to his truck. They drove for a few minutes in silence and then he started asking about the portal game.

"So what happened in the portal game last night? You know I took everything you said yesterday on trust. You have yet to give me any actual evidence as to if the portal game is even real or not."

"If you want to do a test you can ask Mrs. Johnson something that Eli could tell me while I'm not there and then I can find it out there and tell you when I get back. That would prove that we are both there and that its real."

"I think that's a good idea. I would rather not have to go one hundred percent faith on this. Especially considering how you didn't tell me about your plans to die until it would have been too late."

"Are you going to hold that over me forever? I already apologized."

"Probably. But what happened in the portal game?"

"A lot actually. I appeared in a cage and then had to heal Eli so he could use his power to break us out of the cages. His power is making invisible slash imaginary things appear. Then Aaron showed up and took us to heal Daniel and then he brought in some of the servants from the other day and had them keep watch over us. We overpowered them and escaped through the portal at the edge of the village. A kid named Hayden followed us and for some reason or another is going to help us. He seems intent on finding out how to get a power for himself. Daniel told us about a sword of truth and two swords of despair that had the memories of where the powers were and how to get Eli home."

"Are you crazy Zara? You shouldn't be trusting that Hayden guy. If he only wants to come with you to get those swords he will betray you the first chance he gets."

"The thing is he needs us to use them. The memories in the swords can only be used by people with powers and two of them can only be used by a girl. Even then, as long as we don't tell him everything we found out we will be safe. Those swords supposedly hold information about how to get Eli home."

"You already know how to get him home Zara. He's trapped there because he is in a comma. He has to wake up from it and then he will be back in this world."

"But what if there is something keeping him there? Trapping him there so that he can't wake up here? I need to make sure that there is nothing standing in his way when he tries to wake up."

"I don't know how you guys are in this shared dream but I don't think there is anything about it that's keeping him in a comma."

"It isn't just a dream Warren. Its real."

"I know." It was still clear that he had his doubts. Zara suddenly wondered why she was so certain. There was just something about the place. It seemed so real. She scolded herself for being so cliché. They pulled into the parking lot and went to Mrs. Johnson's room. She was staring out the window again. When they entered the room the light returned to her eyes and she became alert again. After an hour of talking Zara left to use the bathroom, giving Warren the chance to do some investigating without Zara there to overhear. When she came back Warren and Mrs. Johnson were both looking at Eli, worry visible on both of their faces.

"What did I miss?" Zara said. They were both slightly caught off guard by her return and neither of them answered. After a few minutes of halted talking they started to talk again in earnest. After a few hours Warren said that they needed to get going. They said goodbye and went to the car.

"She needs help Zara." Warren said once they had gotten to the car.

"What are you talking about, Warren?"

"Mrs. Johnson, she is all alone. She only had Eli and her husband. Now they are both gone. She isn't handling it very well." Zara didn't have anything to say. She had assumed that Mrs. Johnson had other family that would take on the role of making sure she took care of herself.

"What about extended family? She doesn't have any siblings or cousins who could help her out?"

"No. She was an only child. Zara, we talked for a bit while you were gone but then a nurse came in and told Mrs. Johnson that she had to go get some sleep at home. When she refused the nurse said that she hadn't been home since the accident."

"Warren, why are you telling me this? I am already doing everything I can with these visits."

"I know Zara. I just thought you should know. These visits, they are the only light she has left. That and the hope that Eli will wake up." They drove in silence for a while. "She told me about Eli's first pet. Find out what animal it was and its name if you want to prove to me this whole thing with the portal game is real."

"Got it." They pulled into Zara's driveway and she climbed out of the car. "Same thing tomorrow?" Warren nodded and then drove off. Zara went inside and spent the night with her family again. She finally went to bed ready to go about finding the first sword of memory.