The Violet Thread (Part One: Portal Rods)

Chapter Fifteen

Home, something about that thought nagged at her mind, but she was too exhausted to puzzle it out. She barely had enough strength to cast protections around the cottage. If Gavin did find them, hopefully, they would have a little warning.

Violet had barely been able to stand by the time they entered the cottage and had fallen asleep on the overstuffed couch the moment she sat down.The fire crackled from the hearth, a strange but comforting lullaby. Sawyer pulled the patchwork blanket over her before retiring to his own room with Wyeth. They checked on Katia before going to bed, but there was nothing more they could do. The twins had put a potion on Katia shoulder and Wyeth had healed her as best he could. But, they were still unsure how effective any of their remedies had been. They had given her a sleeping draught after she had twice awoken shrieking, writhing from pain.

The quakes continued, intermittent in the night, their severity as erratic as their timing, but still the household slept. Violet's eyelids fluttered as images swirled through her sleeping mind, potion induced dreams, conjured visions, and foreign memories. Her subconscious was doing the work her conscious mind was too taxed to do. While her body rested, her mind toiled.

The words of the Oracle swirled through her thoughts as the smell of freshly baked bread filled her nostrils. She blinked the world into view. Her head pounded as she sat up. Her muscles ached and her throat was dry. She staggered to the kitchen where Arach, Dot, and Dora were quietly arguing. The tension was thick in the air. Arach's wing was bandaged and the gash down his cheek had been sewn. She sat down, her legs shaking. Dot brought her tea and a slice of bread. She set a glass in front of her filled with what looked like spoiled avocado. She took a gulp without being prompted and tried not to spit the concoction across the room. She succeeded in only dripping a little down her chin. From the window she was startled to see the sun was low in the sky. She had slept over half the day. A slight quake shook the table and her cup rattled, sloshing tea onto the saucer.

"They're still happening?" She asked rhetorically as she wiped the spill first from her face and then from the saucer.

A shadowed figured crept across the window and she sat up in her chair, dropping her napkin.
"It's alright, dear," Dot said, putting her hand on Violet's shoulder reassuringly. It's just Sawyer collecting herbs from the garden. I need to make another sleeping draught for Katia. It's really the best thing for her right now."

"How's she doing?" Violet asked, feeling a bit guilty for not asking sooner. It should have been her first concern, but her dreams were still shrouding her thoughts.

Arach growled in response and slumped in his chair.

"We're having some differences of opinion on that one," Dora said with a forced smile.

"I see," responded Violet contemplatively, rubbing her forehead.

The air outside was ominous. Dark clouds moved quickly across a gray sky. The sun, barely visible behind the thick haze, was lowering on the horizon. It seemed as if the world itself was holding its breath. Until, suddenly, it could keep it contained no longer and a thunderous roar echoed across the world and the sky exploded in a monsoon. Sawyer came bursting through the front door, a handful of herbs tucked under his coat. Wyeth came down the stairs and was halted by the image of Sawyer, his hair dripping and a pool forming around his feet. Wyeth erupted in laughter, startling the people in the kitchen who had not noticed him descend.

"Oh, man, brother," Wyeth said, grabbing a towel from a laundry basket by the stairs. He sniffed it before tossing it to Sawyer. "Man am I glad I didn't volunteer for that job! You look ridiculous."

Sawyer rubbed his hair and threw the now sopping towel at Wyeth's face. He ducked and it hit the wall behind him. He flicked his wrist to the right and dropped it quickly down. Water, as if from a bucket above his head, doused Wyeth. His mouth opened silently as he shuddered from the cold.