Far From Home

Hallucination?

     After the incident at the pool, Warren had carried Kendra's weak body to the attic, where he had set her down on her bed and tucked her in. He'd told her to get some sleep and after weeks of being awake, she finally slipped into oblivion.

     She slept for several days, waking up only to drink, eat and go to the bathroom. Warren brought her warm soup every day, while Vanessa cleaned her up in the shower. Kendra didn't remember much from the next week, even the parts of her being awake were fuzzy, like her dreams.

     Each time she went back to sleep she was scared of seeing her brother's face again, but he never appeared. It was over a week later, that Kendra made her way down from the attic, leaning against the wall heavily in an effort to hold herself up.

     She found the others sitting around the table, conversing quietly, a large map spread out on in the middle. As Kendra stumbled forward, the others turned to look at her and Warren rushed to her side and helped her sit down in a chair, while scolding her about getting up without one of them helping. Through refreshed by all the sleep, Kendra still felt weak and thanked her cousin for the help and apologized, smiling slightly.

     "Are you feeling alright, dear?" Grandma asked. Kendra nodded and gave her grandmother a smile.

     She nudged her head towards the map. "What are you doing?"

     Warren moved away from her and leaned against the table, bowing his head. "We're trying to figure out the whereabouts of your brother. We sent some fairies to the clearing where he was most likely taken, to see if they could pick up something we couldn't. "

     "Well did they?"

     Warren grimaced. "In a way, yes. It doesn't help us very much, though." He lifted his head and looked at the others as if to see if it was okay to tell Kendra what they knew, in fear of making her stressed. Grandpa nodded. "They picked up some traces of his magic. But though a Shadow Charmer's magic is different from other dark magic, it's very hard to trace and we could get distracted by other dark creature's auras if we tried to follow his. It will be hard, nearly impossible, but there is a chance, that we can follow his magic to where he is now."

     Kendra felt a glimmer of hope inside of her, but it was soon shot down when images of Seth's pale and bloodied face filled her mind. She felt a shiver go down her spine and she gripped the sides of her chair tightly.

     Tanu rose from his seat and put a large hand on her shoulder. "Maybe you should lay down for a minute. This is all too stressful for you to be worrying about in your present state." Kendra nodded slightly and Tanu led her to the living room and set her down on the sofa. Within minutes, Grandma had made a cup of hot chocolate and was sitting next to her on the sofa.

     She pulled Kendra under her arm and held her close.

     "Grandma?" Kendra whispered. "When I fell into the pool, the other day... I saw something." Grandma shifted herself to look at Kendra and motioned her to continue. "I... I saw Seth. I saw him. He was right there next to me, saying my name. But he was. . ." Kendra took a shaky breath. "He was pale and covered in cuts and bruises. He was dying, Grandma. He was dying and he was telling me to find him."

     Grandma opened her mouth to say something, but Kendra didn't let her speak. "And, I know, that it could've been a hallucination because I hadn't slept, but deep down, I know that at least some part of it was true." Kendra bit back a sob. "Something terrible is happening to him, and I know it. And there's nothing I can do about it."

     Silent tears streaked down her face and she leaned into her grandmother one more. Grandma was silent next to her, holding her close her brows knit together in thought. They stayed like that for a moment, before Kendra pulled back and rubbed her eyes.

     "We'll find him, dear," Grandma said. "I promise."

     Granda smoothed down the hair on Kendra's head, gave Kendra a warm smile and told her to relax on the sofa. She made Kendra lay down, kissed her forehead and walked away after a comforting word or two.

     Even as Grandma walked away, Kendra felt a dread deep in her bones; fear so overwhelming it made her heart start pounding.

     Had she seen something in that pool, other than a hallucination? Was there some meaning to it? Or was she simply going mad?