Ashes, Ashes (READ THIS ONE)

Chapter Five

Chapter Five

You used to shine so bright but I watched all of it fade.

Taylor Swift, 'You're not Sorry'

Later that day, I'm sitting on Addison's bedroom floor, attempting to communicate with Nathan or Eliza. So far I've had no luck. Addison's been keeping herself busy, still trying to find anything to do with Cupitor.

"Any luck?" I ask her after she makes a pretty frustrating sound at the screen of her laptop.

"Nope. I'm about to give up since it is-" -she checks the clock on the top of her desk- "-almost midnight. Did you get anything?"

"Other than a pounding headache, no."

"Maybe you should take a break. You've been through enough today."

"But I want answers." I need answers than anything right now. I need to know that I'm not crazy.

"I'll be back," Addison tells me, pushing herself up from her desk. She starts down the stairs when my ears get a bad ringing in them and Addison's room changes into a dark forest.

I'm in the bushes again, with Eliza nowhere to be seen. I have a feeling she's not very far away from where I first found her. "Abbigail," I hear in my head, as if I were talking to myself but it's clearly Eliza's voice.

"Eliza?" I ask out loud, probably giving away my location if those people who are after Eliza magically start to hear me now. With my luck they would be, and one of them would be right behind me and then I'd be screwed.

"I don't have much time so I'm going to explain fast," she tells me.

"Explain what?"

"You're a Cupitor like me," she starts, acting as if she hadn't heard my question. "A Cupitor?" I say. "I saw that word on a piece of paper earlier."

"So you got the note. I wasn't sure if I'd have enough time to explain everything I wanted to and I still have a feeling I won't, but I wanted you to know what you are."

"What's a Cupitor?"

"You can communicate with spirits. Like what I'll be in a few minutes. Dead people and the like. There's three other types. Mortalitas are hunters. They hunt us, Agnosco -that's what your sister is- and anyone else that threatens The Kind's safety."

"What's The Kind? And why do we threaten them?"

My head starts spinning, trying to remember everything Eliza is telling me exactly. It would've been nice if I could have some warning and could've, like, teleported in a pen and paper -if that's even possible.

"There's one more type of people in the kind. They're called Virtus. Not many people know much about the Virtus, since they're usually used for The Kind's safety and such."

Then she stops talking and I'm stuck in silence.

Addison's room comes back into focus slowly, blurring my vision and making me dizzy. Addison must still be downstairs, since she's not in her room. I stand up and walk over to the landing that separates our rooms, and holds a little place for the ladder that goes to the attic.

I start down the stairs, clinging to the handle on the wall; I'm not sure how well my legs will handle going down stairs, since my head is still spinning and the room won't go into complete focus. "Addison?" I call softly, knowing that both of our parents would be asleep.

I find Addison in the space between the kitchen and the dining room, chewing on a sandwich thoughtfully. "I had a vision." I tell her as I approach. I've decided to start calling them visions instead of hallucinations, because that makes me sound crazy and I don't want to question my sanity any more than I already have to.

"You did?" she says excitedly, almost dropping her sandwich to the floor. She runs to the island on the kitchen side of the floor and sits her food back on it's plate. "What happened in it? Did you talk to Nathan?" she asks me, barely slowing down to take a breath. She's excited.

"Eliza, actually." I retell what I can remember. Addison looks confused once I get to the part about her being part of The Kind. She's just as confused as I am, wondering why I'd be in danger, since Eliza never really got to explain. "Since you managed to talk to Eliza, do you think talking to Nathan would be a good idea?"

"It's worth a shot." I tell her. I concentrate on everything I associate with Nathan: summer air and days spent on the beach, his sweet, almost candy-like smell, the way our hands seemed to fit perfectly together.

I get a response almost immediately.

Abbi, I hear, making me jump. He sounds relieved to be talking to me.

I miss you so much, I tell him.

I miss you too. I can't talk long. It's not safe.

Why isn't it safe? What's going on?

You'll understand soon enough. I have to go.

Nathan? Don't leave me. I need you.

But after that, all I get is dead air. I look around the room for Addison, but find I'm alone. I stand up and peek out the door for her. She's started walking back up the stairs. "Oh hey," she says, picking up the pace and walking upstairs faster. "You're finally back in this world."

"What do you mean?" I ask her.

"You were off in la la land for about half an hour. Did you get him to talk?"

"For a few minutes."

"What did he say?" She sits down on her rolling desk chair and crosses her legs.

"Not enough. He told me that it wasn't safe. And then left," I choke on my words, tears starting to flow down my face. I don't have to look up to know that Addison's moving fast to get next to me, to make me feel better. "I'm about to beat up a dead person for upsetting you. I can't decide if I should classify this as weird, or the most normal thing in our lives right now."