"I know," I said.
Neeva looked down at me, with two purple pools swimming with confusion. "You do?" he asked.
I bobbed my head and brushed some of my long black hair away from my face. "Yeah...ah, Dad, Henry, and I have been investigating all of the activity going on over there. We didn't know it was Greta for sure, but we figured she had something to do with it..." I trailed off and glanced around me quickly, to make sure no one was close enough to hear me, before I lowered my voice and leaned in closer to his ear, "I'm not sure if you already know this, but beyond the veil, there is no magic."
He leaned far enough away from me so he could look at my face, "No, I was not aware of this fact until you told me just now."
"Okay, well, there isn't, well, almost none, so when something magical entered that world, you can feel it from a ten-mile radius in all directions. That includes mostly objects from this world, but one time the thing that crossed over was not an object." I shivered with the chill the memory brought.
Flashback, five months earlier in the other world
"Henry, can we please take a break or at least slow down a bit!" I gasped while I tried to keep up with him on the steep dirt path that snaked through a clump of unfamiliar woods behind a Denny's. We had been running at full speed for at least ten minutes, which might as well have been half an hour based on the pace we were keeping.
The sky around us was falling from a light blue into a bright yellow, and the ground was muddy and slippery from the heavy rain the night before, which prevented me from getting good traction to properly propel myself forward. At least I had the common sense to tie my unruly black curls into a bun before we left, so at least it wasn't blinding me like it usually did.
Henry either didn't hear me or chose to ignore me, because he kept sprinting in front of me without pause. The back of his black t-shirt became farther and farther away, and I knew I would soon lose sight of him.
Really, I loved that he took care of himself, but did he really have to be that physically fit? I mean, I had started working out a bit this year, having a boyfriend who exercises constantly is good motivation. I wasn't that much of a slob anymore, but dear gods, it should be illegal to create someone that could run that fast!?
I was so concentrated on Henry in front of me and the burning in my lungs that I missed the rock protruding from the ground in front of me until it was too late, and I rammed my foot into it at full force. A sharp pain fired up my leg, and I was forced to a screeching stop.
I hobbled over to one of the tall skinny trees that lined the obscure forest path and leaned against the slightly damp bark. I removed the Toms I had slipped on this morning when our plans had just been dinner, and not jogging through the woods behind them.
Henry and I had actually just been seated when a magic wave so strong that it had caused me to physically jerk in my seat, hit. Henry had jumped to his feet, and we had stared, wide-eyed, at each other from across the table for a brief second.
"What do you think that was?" I had asked him.
He had reached his hand inside his jeans and dug out a ten-dollar bill and slapped it on the table, "I'm not sure, but that wasn't a book, or a cup, or pants."
When something magical entered this world of the mundane, it gave off a magical pulse, like a heartbeat. Depending on what it was, the pulse was either strong or weak. Books were stronger, clothes were weaker, but nothing had ever set off a wave like this.
"We gotta go," he had said quickly and pulled me up and off the seat of the booth and outside. And that's how I untimely ended up with a stubbed toe and a boyfriend that apparently didn't even notice that he had left me behind.
I examined my toe under the still bright sky and was relieved to see that it was its normal straight self, though I was lucky if my toenail stayed on, based on how hard I had hit that rock. I slipped my shoe back on, resigning myself to w for Henry to return. Maybe it was better if I stayed behind. I would probably only get in his way like usual.
"Violet!?" Henry's worried voice floated through the woods, and a second later, he appeared on the trail ahead of me. "Violet!?" he called again, and this time, his voice carried a bit more worry with it.
He soon appeared on the path ahead of me, but the way, he kept moving his head side to side; I could tell he hadn't spotted me yet. In my brown sweater and black leggings, and brown Toms, I blended in with the trees almost perfectly. A very immature part of me wanted to crawl into the woods and hide from him out of anger that he had left me behind, even if it was by mistake, but then again, I wanted to know what caused that wave.
"Here," I called out, and his blue eyes fixed onto me in the dying orange light. Less than ten seconds later, he was beside me.
"What happened? Why the hell! You just stopped following me!? I just turned around, and you were gone. Did you really get lost again? I mean, you just had to follow me in a straight line like last time! I don't understand why that's so hard?"
"I'm fine, thank you so much for asking, and no, I didn't get lost, I kicked a rock because you had to be Mr. Speedy!" I snapped and pressed a finger into his chest, "And that only happened one time, and it was a big crowd of people, and I got separated from you! How was I supposed to know you went straight and didn't turn left!?"
He groaned and turned away from me and pressed his head against another tree beside mine and placed both hands on its rough bark surface, "Because I told you just walk straight, and five minutes later, you were walking in the opposite direction!"
"If you just waited for me again instead of speeding ahead, maybe I wouldn't have lost you !" I snapped angrily, growing increasingly annoyed. "And it's not like you haven't done something stupid before, like how you got Drake and Jay Z mixed up, I mean, come on! They both have two very distinct sounds!?"
I pushed myself away from the tree and winced slightly when I put weight on my injured foot and was rewarded with a new supply of pain. Since Henry was facing away from me, he didn't notice, and I didn't feel the need to point it out to him.
Henry began to bang his head against the tree ever so slightly, and I punched him in the back hard, and he spun around. I crossed my arms and glared daggers at him. Judging by the look he returned, he was about to say something nasty back.
Sure enough, "Sorry, I felt like my head was going to explode if I listened to one more word you said!" he snapped, and I gave him a furious look, and angry tears began to pool in my eyes.
Henry sighed, and his voice softened, "Hey, look, I just wanted to see what caused that wave, because it was powerful and might be able to get us back home and back to our families," he added, reminding me that he had his sister, Amber, back home, and of my mother and father. Even thinking about my mother caused a pain in my heart so strong that I felt the need to curl up in a ball and cry.
"You worried me when I turned around, and you weren't there," he continued and reached for me and wrapped me in a quick hug, which I didn't return, and planted a light kiss on top of my forehead.
I pushed him away, "I'm still mad at you!" I said, "But we do need to investigate whatever caused that energy wave!"
I turned away from him and began to hobble up the path, and tried to ignore the pain in my foot, but it was taking a lot of effort to keep in my whimpers of pain that threatened to escape my lips.
Henry caught my arm in a strong grip before I could go a step further and firmly held me in place.
"Get on me!" he said and pointed to himself with the hand not grabbing me.
My mouth dropped open in shock. "Are you serious!? Right here and now, and when I'm this mad at you?! I don't think so!"
Henry's eyes widened, and he shook his head quickly. "No, I didn't mean that..." he trailed off and paused and squinted his eyes at me, "How did you even get that out of what I said?" he blinked, "Sometimes I really wonder about you. I meant to get on my back, you aren't walking when you are in that much pain.
"What are you talking about?" I said, playing dumb.
"I'm not playing this game with you right now," he said and grabbed me by my middle and hoisted me over his back, like a sack of potatoes.
"Hey," I shrieked and began to hit him with my fist, which bounced right off him, without doing a thing.
"Sorry, Violet, but I don't have time to argue with you over this, he said and began to climb the path, "We have to go investigate what I just found, you'll see it when we get up there."
"Finnnne," I said reluctantly, and stopped hitting him and crossed my arms over my chest. I stared angrily at the moving ground beneath me and Henry's black work boots moving against it and didn't say another word.
After about ten minutes, Henry stopped walking and gently set me back on my feet. Before he turned towards whatever we were stopping for, he quickly pressed his finger to my lip and motioned for me to stay behind him.
I nodded my head in understanding, and he turned around, while I peered over his shoulder.
When I saw it, I gasped and grabbed onto Henry's shoulder and began to shake it slightly, "Is he dead!?" I whispered, yelled. There, lying in the grass on his back, with his eyes closed, wearing a scarlet red uniform, was a soldier who appeared to be from Timalia, the country we were from. In the air around him hung thick with magic, almost too thick.
I was having trouble breathing. There was also another feeling in the air that I wouldn't quite put my finger on, but it wasn't a good one.
"That's what I was wondering, Henry said and gently removed his hand from my shoulder, "You wait here," he commanded, and slowly began to inch his way towards the man.
The closer he got, the more uneasy I grew, until Henry was right beside the fallen soldier and slowly crouching down beside him. He took his finger and moved it towards his neck.
"Henry!" I called, unable to contain my uneasiness any longer. I knew, knew what that feeling was in the air now. It was the feeling that came when I revived the dead!
Henry's head jerked up towards me, and so did the dead man's head. The dead man's hand reached up and grabbed Henry's shoulder, yanking him to the ground while I screamed.