Chapter 360: Storm Cloud
Nedra finally arose from the bed she had been delivered to after passing out at the castle, sighing when she thought of how embarrassing it was to need to be carried around. She was a powerful alyko. She should not need to be carried like an infant.
If only Zagan would leave her alone and stop making requests. They were getting fewer and farther between—thankfully he tried to stay away from her and keep her as content as she could be. He knew she had her limits. He knew she hated him with every fiber of her being. But there was always something he eventually wanted. The vampire’s appetite was endless—that was one certainty. He would always want more at some point.
That piqued her curiosity all over again about who it was he needed the cage for. Why would he want an alyko staying next to his room rather than in the facility? He never had an alyko stay at the castle, and suddenly she was struck by the need to know. What if he had gotten ahold of Selah? What if he had found out about one of her children? Zagan certainly would not keep one of them in the facility.
She jolted up out of bed, rushing around in a panic at the thought of him getting his hands on one of them, replaying what he had said and the facial expressions he had made, trying to recall if there was anything off about him—any slight indication he had given that he had found her out. Zagan would surely get a kick out of having her create a cage for one of her own children without even being aware of it.
Tears pricked her eyes at the thought. That could not be what happened. Selah was so careful, and Sage had never used any of his abilities since they discovered how powerful he was. They were careful. They took all of the proper precautions to stay out of the vampire’s grasp. And Selah knew enough about Zagan and this place to avoid being caught if somehow Sage did slip up and was discovered, but... but then who was in that cage? Who was Zagan keeping so close?
"No, no, no. It can’t be one of them, Nedra. Calm down," she tried to soothe herself as she darted around the cottage, exhaustion forgotten now that the possibility of her children being in danger had entered her mind.
She should stop Selah from coming to visit. If it was not Selah or Sage in that room in the castle, that was what she was going to do. She was going to tell Selah not to come visit her on the island anymore. It was too dangerous, even with the secret portal door that she had created especially for Selah to use.
Nedra was getting weak. She wasn’t the alyko she once had been, and if one of her children were caught—she didn’t know if she would be able to do anything to help them. What she did know for certain is that she would do anything—she would give anything to keep them safe. She would sacrifice herself, Seth—she would even sacrifice every alyko on this island if it came to it. It wasn’t right, but she would do it.
The panic of that possibility was winning. She could feel it rising in her chest and her throat, making it difficult to breathe. She braced herself against the counter in her kitchen, trying to even out the spikes of terror in her mind. It was going to be okay. Somehow she would be able to contain whatever threat she would encounter in that castle. Her children were going to be okay.
"I am calling on all the higher powers that be," she panted desperately, envisioning the white healing light of the moon embracing her as it always did when she was graced with the night sky—something she sorely missed while being stuck here with the eternal, incessant day of this portal world, "surround me with your healing light, fill me with the confidence of the power I have been gifted in this mortal body, illuminate and uplift me so that I may embody my highest Divine truth and potential to help the others who depend upon me."
She clenched her fists against the counter, eyes squinted against the tears that were still coming. She couldn’t make this fear for her children disappear. She wasn’t as strong as she once was.
A rumble filled the skies outside her cottage window, and her eyes shot open. There were no storms here. There was no bad weather. There was always the perfect, pristine daytime with its occasional rainfall that kept the grass and plants green and thriving. But no rumbles like what she just heard.
With hands trembling, she walked outside and looked up at the sky she had created. A dark cloud was hovering over the sea nearby, threatening the shoreline with something new to this portal world with its ominous low lying presence.
This was because of her—she was losing it. She was losing her ability to keep this place together. She could feel it slowly tearing away at the fabric of her inner self like a weight that had gotten too heavy—one that she could no longer bear to carry along with everything else.
She took a series of slow, deep breaths, focusing on the white light she had called to embrace her. She had to let it in, let it help her, let it clear away the worries. The last thing she needed was Zagan coming here, questioning her about an errant cloud.
"It is going to be okay," she murmured, closing her eyes again and imagining the blue cloudless skies—willing the storm cloud away. "It is going to be okay," she repeated like a mantra or a lullaby.
She took her thoughts to Selah when she was young, tucked into Nedra’s side at bedtime, shielded from the world. There was a lullaby she always sang to that sweet little pup with the bright green inquisitive eyes—her little mini me, the most precious thing in the world.
"All through the night I will be watching over you..." her voice rose and fell, finding the promise and the truth in those words that she sang to the pup. "And through bad dreams I will be... there holding your hand, whispering that it is going to be alright."
Her eyes opened, tears streaming down, and she looked up to see the bright blue sky restored.
