Author: Heather Marie Adkins
Category: Literature
Go to read content：https://onlinereadfreenovel.com/heather-marie-adkins/page,19,478501-relics_and_s_anthology.html
Chloe thought it odd as her call went to voicemail. Professor Hadley was expecting her call. He always answers, she thought as she left him a message. “Professor, it’s me. It happened right where you said it would. The unusual migration of the Monarchs, the swarm, it shifted again, and I saw something or someone… I -it looked, I don’t know, like someone was forming beyond them. It’s hard to explain. They’re connected somehow. I’m sure of it now.” She looked around her empty room but continued in a hushed voice, afraid someone was listening. “I...I think you were right. There’s something bigger at work here. I’m on my way to your office now.”
Her thoughts went to the strange creature which had twisted and shimmered into existence right before her eyes through the kaleidoscope of Monarch butterflies she’d been tracking. Calling it a creature seemed juvenile, but she couldn’t explain it any other way. It hadn’t been entirely animalistic, but it hadn’t been completely human either. Before she could get a closer look, it had dashed around the corner of a building, vanishing into a bustling crowd of people, oblivious to it somehow as they hurried off to work and their busy lives. The memory of seeing the creature had begun to dissolve from her mind like salt in water just as quickly as the beast had appeared in the shimmer of feathery light. But it was the sight of that light, through the wings of the butterflies, that was ingrained in her mind, like a lens into another realm that could never be unseen, so the memory of the beast itself remained.
“Don’t get too close…” Chloe snapped out of her trance at the repetition of her professor’s most recent warning coming from the television. A local Seattle journalist was reporting on an accident just a few miles away. The anchor had given her field reporter a congenial warning to avoid the flames to which he stood precariously close.
“Thanks, Jill. Dr. James Hadley, Professor of Anthropology and Mythological Studies at the University of Washington, has been pronounced dead at the scene of this horrific car accident.” Chloe dropped her phone onto her bed as a video of the professor’s car engulfed in flames flashed across the screen. “Authorities report only one vehicle involved and one fatality. Officers at the crash site are working to rule out foul play at this time. Now, Jill, what makes this scene so suspicious is the enormity of the fire that seems...”
The sound of the journalist’s voice was replaced by the pounding of her heartbeat. Trembling, Chloe searched her bed and found her phone. She threw it onto the floor as if it, too, were on fire, and with two stomps of her shoe, she broke its glass. The screen turned black as the smell of melting plastic wafted towards her. She kicked the dead phone under her bed, and changed the password on her laptop, putting it and everything else that could be construed as incriminating into her backpack. In a moment of clarity, she also threw in a change of warmer clothes, several protein bars, and the water purification kit the professor had given her at the beginning of the school year. Her eyes scanned the photo she left on her desk as she memorized each line and curve of her parents’ faces. She took a shaky, deep breath. Chloe feared she’d never see them again. Closing her eyes, she whispered, “I wish he’d been wrong.” She wiped the tears from her cheeks and left her dorm room for good, trying to ignore the sinking feeling it would be the last time she felt the safety of those four walls.
Chloe ran flat out, cutting through the University Center, and headed straight for Professor Hadley’s office. The news reports on the UC’s televisions had gotten even more dreadful as she rushed by. Three volcanoes were erupting simultaneously around the globe, and the earthquake aftershocks plaguing Mexico and California were measuring at 6.5 and higher. The wildfires were so fierce in the surrounding states that Chloe swore she could taste the soot in her mouth. The professor’s prediction had been correct, although his calculations were slightly off. The world didn’t have a matter of years left, it had, maybe, only days. She ran faster, clinging to her backpack and all the fae secrets it held inside. She knew it was reckless carrying such secrets in plain sight, but if she were caught, it wouldn’t matter. Time was up.
Chloe stopped in the hallway around the corner just shy of Professor Hadley’s office. Straining to hear, she tried to steady her breathing as she crept closer to the door. Chloe could hear someone on the other side of the door rustling through papers and opening and closing desk drawers. As she got closer, her mind conjured up several different scenarios which might play out on the other side of the door. Her self-defense class suddenly seemed a paltry weapon as she imagined who, or what, she might have to confront. She knew she was taking a big risk, but time was running out, and she had to take the chance to find the late professor’s journal before it was too late. Chloe squared her shoulders and clenched her jaw.
She gave a shudder of relief as the voice behind the door spoke in a hushed voice she recognized. “Professor, where are you? It’s happening right now. We have to go!”
They killed him, she thought to herself as she rushed to the door. “Bram, let me in,” she said, jiggling the locked handle as she looked in both directions down the hallway.
The door opened, and she rushed in. Bram closed it behind her and locked it again. Chloe’s eyes scanned a specific corner of the room as Bram continued searching in vain. It’s not here! she thought to herself.
“Chloe, I need to find the professor. Do you know where he is?” Bram looked just as frazzled as she felt. His clothes were wrinkled like he had slept in them, and his wavy black hair was more disheveled than usual.
“Bram, it was on the news. He…he was in a car accident. Professor Hadley’s dead.” Chloe choked on the words.
“It was no accident.” Bram tugged the hair above his forehead as if he wanted to rip it out. Bram Tice had been Professor Hadley’s teaching assistant well before Chloe started school, so she knew he must be taking the news hard. He couldn’t be more than twenty-seven years old, but Bram’s easy rapport with the professor had her guessing they had known each other for a very long time.
“Chloe, I don’t know how much Professor Hadley told you, but…”
“I know everything,” she stated defiantly.
Bram stared at her for a long time, his eyes searching hers. “Not everything,” he bristled, running his hand down the stubble on his tan face. Chloe always thought Bram looked like he was hiding from something or someone behind the dark facial hair ranging from scattered stubble to full beard he always sported. Being that close to Bram, his presence seemed bigger than his frame allowed, like he was a supernatural force fighting to be freed from his cramped shell. They were both on edge, but Bram’s casual demeanor was completely gone, replaced by something more animalistic, almost feral. “I need his journal. Do you know where it is?” he demanded.
“No,” she lied. Chloe’s response was almost instinctual. Bram wasn’t acting like the professor’s assistant anymore. Chloe was certain he was hiding something. There was only one other place the professor’s notebook might be, but she wasn’t going to share that information while he was acting so odd.
Bram looked out the window and clenched his fists. He seemed to be trying to calm himself, even through all the devastation primed to strangle them. It felt like a suffocating blanket of death hovered over Seattle. The sky had taken on an eerie amber glow like the serene beauty of an encroaching, deadly wildfire. “You should probably call your parents. I don’t know if you’ll be able to contact them after…” He didn’t finish the sentence and seemed to be struggling to express something, but he sighed instead and turned on the professor’s television, offering Chloe some semblance of privacy.
She picked up the professor’s landline and dialed her mom’s number first. Her parents thought she was crazy when she had first told them what was coming, but, eventually, they had listened and prepared. She watched in horror as the news flashed from one disaster to the next. Coverage of the earthquakes in Mexico and California were eclipsed by images of the massive plumes of smoke and ash from the three erupting volcanoes. On the screen, billowing soot chok
ed out the light of the sun, and the sky was swiftly thrown into darkness. She took some semblance of comfort knowing her parents weren’t in a city about to go mad, but in their secluded log cabin tucked into the base of Mt. Rainier. At least, if the Fae decided to activate Mt. Rainier the way they had erupted the other three sleeping giants, her parent’s end would be quick.
Chloe closed her eyes as her tears swelled. Her mom’s line rang once, then went to dial tone as the skies of the campus darkened, mirroring the volcanic skies on the news. There was a brief electronic screech followed by silence, and then the phone went dead. Chloe heard multiple cars crashing outside as all the vehicles on the street below came to sudden stops.
“We’re too late.”
“No!” Chloe screamed in horror. Her eyes dashed to the window past Bram, searching the horizon for Mt. Rainier.
Bram followed her gaze questioningly and then looked back at her. “Mt. Rainier? It’s still intact.”
“How? What do you mean? Bram, are you sure? My parents!”
“Are safe,” he reassured her.
Chloe felt panicked, searching for hope. She remembered it was Professor Hadley who had suggested the area, so Bram was probably right. Mt. Rainier was barely visible as the amber sky turned to ashen shadows, but the mountain was still whole. Chloe gave a slight sigh of relief but knew that what came next would be much, much worse. She put the phone down and braced against the desk in front of her, mentally preparing herself for the onslaught of the unknown about to begin. The world is never going be the same, she thought to herself.
Waiting for something she thought would feel like an earthquake or an electrical shock, Chloe couldn’t help but watch in stunned awe as beautiful shimmers of feathery white light danced in the air. The shift in reality as the fae realm surreptitiously invaded the human world was almost exhilarating. After a few moments, she noticed a subtle hum as the gossamer light began surrounding them in a most ethereal glow. The visual effect of the light was breathtaking, almost angelic, but she knew that with it came the monsters. She thought of nights spent camping in the summer, staring into the fire as the embers glowed, burning hot, when she felt another shift in the air around her. Just as before, like looking through a magic lens between the wings of butterflies, she glimpsed into the faerie realm and directly into the real Bram Tice.
Chloe felt suspended in time as she turned all her focus to Bram. The fine hairs on Bram’s forearms bristled with magic through the thin veil of undulating and shimmering light brought by the fae disturbance. What Chloe could only describe as glowing dust particles surrounded and betrayed him. She could physically feel the intimidating otherworldly power radiating from him, like the tension in the air between enemies. Goosebumps on his skin coalesced into reptilian-like scales the color of rust. The scales rippled up his arms, in and out of existence, as the shimmer of the faerie realm faded, and her world was thrust into complete darkness.
Chloe tried to swallow, but burning cinders coated her throat. “Oh God!” she choked. “You’re one of them!”
2
The Beast Within
Thunderclouds the color of a grey death shroud roared past the window behind Bram. The wind howled, and blood-red lighting blazed through the sky. Chloe blindly stumbled away from Bram’s general direction, tripping over a chair and scrambling for escape. “Chloe, wait!”
“Stay away from me!” She tried to slow her movements as she shuffled backward towards the professor’s door, forgetting it was locked. More lightning, the color of a fresh vampire kill, streaked through the sky, striking several of the buildings across the street. Slowly, her sight returned as a faint but distant light began to shine. Farther in the distance, the University Center had been engulfed by a roaring fire.
“We can’t stay here!” Bram took a step towards her. “Please, let me…”
A loud boom rang out, and the window behind Bram shattered. Glass shards exploded all around them. Chloe felt a sharp pain near her hairline as her head whipped backward like she’d been hit with a baseball bat. She started to feel dizzy. The edges of her vision blurred in a soft, serene white light, and all the objects in the professor’s office, illuminated by another lightning strike, began to fade as though they were being erased from her memory. All sounds stopped, replaced by a low thrumming in her ears.
Bram’s body somehow took up the entire room as he lunged towards her, knocking her numbed body to the ground. As the tranquil white light faded to black, muffled sounds returned. Chloe could have sworn she heard a boat’s sails unfurling in the wind as two large gossamer objects the color of rust enveloped her, cradling her as the darkness came.
Chloe struggled to open her eyes. Her eyelids felt like someone had glued them shut with liquid cement. Blinking hurt, as if her eyes were covered in days-old bruises, but she tried to focus as she looked around an unfamiliar room. Strange objects that could have been weapons were strewn across a table, and a few candles flickered, illuminating walls that looked like old painted metal. Where am I? Her head started to throb as she got up off the sofa and went towards the table. She grabbed one of the weapons. The object she hoped would prove useful was ice cold in her hand and looked like a polished silver stake with a brass knuckle grip at the other end.
“Good choice.” Bram snickered from behind her.
Startled, Chloe whirled, aiming the weapon, immediately regretting the jolt she gave her head. The room started to spin. “Woah.”
“Easy, easy. Here, let me take a look at that.” Bram eased her into a chair at the table of weaponry and handed her a glass of water. He pulled another chair closer and sat directly in front of her. “You’ve got a pretty nasty gash from that blow to the head you took.” He removed blood-soaked gauze from her forehead and replaced it with a clean bandage. “How do you feel? Nauseous?”
Chloe shook her head. “It feels like I got hit by a bus.”
“Close. The tree branch was the size of a smart car, give or take.”
“How long have I been out? And where are we?”
“A couple of hours and my apartment.”
“Why does it look so strange?”
“Iron.” Bram tapped on the wall closest to them. The room echoed like he’d rapped the hull of a ship. “Most of the lower caste fae won’t come near it. It hurts them.” He shrugged. “Thought it was as good a place as any to lay low for a couple of days.”
“A couple of days? I can’t stay here!” The haze surrounding Chloe’s mind started to fade, and she began to remember what had happened in the professor’s office, the way Bram’s skin had shimmered like something not human. “You’re, you’re one of…”
He sighed. “And there it is.” Bram quickly slid his chair away from her and stormed off before she could finish her sentence. He walked over to a wall, extinguished the flame from a nearby candle, and gestured her over. “Here. Let me show you something.”
She reluctantly rose, taking care to avoid the dizziness assaulting her again, as she walked over to stand beside him. Whatever Bram was, he’d never been unkind to her. So, for the time being, she would trust him.
Bram slid a lever and pulled the wall of metal away, exposing a regular-looking apartment window. He motioned to the bars on his windows, “Also iron.” Then, he pointed downward. “Those are scabs, one of the lowest castes of Unseelie. They feed on fear, blood…” Bram scoffed. “Some even feed on magic. That type of scab can track magic use as well.”
Chloe looked out the window in horror as a hunched, barely human-looking-creature ran down the sidewalk, chasing another figure into a building. The figure it pursued held the faint outline of a woman. It appeared she was running away from the boogie man. The creature pursued the woman with a grotesque lumber which ensured its prey would falter. The teal scarf flying behind her began to fall to the ground as she desperately tried to outrun the scab. She stumbled into the carcass of a building, and the creature let out a sickening squeal as it closed in on its prey. Chloe squeezed her e
yes shut and instinctively turned away from the gruesome scene about to unfold. The sounds of horrified screams and predatory snarls coming from outside were unbearable.
Chloe didn’t know how she’d survive the despair she felt. Everything seemed hopeless. How could humans fight things they didn’t even know had existed only a couple of hours ago? How would mere mortals stand a chance against magic? I thought I was prepared. She wanted to be struck in the head again and go numb; hoping another blow would wake her up from the nightmare. But she was awake, and the current chaos was her new reality.
Scanning the horrific scene before her again, she tried to take in the extent of the destruction. Everything was burning or had burned away. Some buildings had collapsed into rubble, other structures were hollowed out husks. Scattered amidst the destruction, though, were buildings left hauntingly pristine.
The power was out everywhere. No lights glowed from lamp posts or inside buildings, and there wasn’t a single moving vehicle anywhere. Most cars had either crashed, been abandoned, or were still parked along the streets next to ruins of the buildings. Chloe barely recognized Seattle anymore, but she did know that where there should have stood several ten-to-twenty-story apartment buildings, there remained nothing but dust and rocks with twisted beams sticking out of the mountains of debris.