The prophecy by Selena Rico (distant reading .txt) 📕

scratched into the cover appeared, Neutrals latens. I dropped the book, jumping up. Those words, they frightened something deep within me. I began to run again, to the smell and away from that awful book, the book that reminded me of him.
The sky darkened and began to pour, but my pursuit continued. The ground began to mud and I slipped the mud and water pulling me along the ground. My white cotton dress was dirty and wet, my blonde hair plastered to my face and caked with mud. I started to scream, raking my fingers thru the mud, trying desperately to stop myself from being drowned as the water began to elevate to my mouth.
I couldn’t breathe and I could feel my lungs begin to burn the inside of my body. It was an odd, strangely powerful feeling. Subconsciously, I noted the name I was crying out for, Cayden.
My back began to burn and I cried out, praying for someone to hear me, for Cayden to hear me and slowly, my body began to rise from the gunk I had been in. I couldn’t see out of my swollen eyes, but a voice rang into my ears, “The plan will fail. The storm is brewing. Take to your castle until war is raged.” The smell called out to me, begging me to find it. I continued to scream. I was cold and my back was shooting pain all along my body and at that moment I wanted to die, to escape the terrible pain and the frustration at my inability to reach my destination. I yelled and shrieked until I felt a hand on my shoulder, shaking me back into consciousness.
I shot up, my eyes flying open and darting around my surroundings. My arms wrapped around me, trying to stop my shivering. My back was still sore and I felt as if I was soaked. “Temperance, are you alright?” Camilla asked, pushing a clump of sandy brown hair behind her ear.
I opened my mouth, but as I tried to recall my dream every aspect of it left my mind. “I…No!” I cried, trying to get up and off of my dorm rooms couch. “Ahhh it burns cousin!” I cried stiffening.
Camilla helped me up patting my back. “Nathanael come quickly!” She yelled. I could feel the panic radiating off her body. Not again, I thought angrily, please not again.
“What?” He asked, shocked at Camilla’s order. She wrapped her arms around me, pulling me on her lap and wiping tears from my face. Funny, I thought, I didn’t remember beginning to cry.
“Help me carry her to the infirmary!” She answered, lifting me and handing me to him. Every step she took made me scream in agony. Nathanael was no better.
“Why?” He questioned as I saw the color drain from his face. ”Her back’s bleeding! What happened to her?”
“I don’t know! I heard her screaming and I came to wake her up. She started to complain about her back and then she started crying…” I listened, dazed, as Camilla reported every detail of events as they carried me to the infirmary. My back stung like needles and I tried to remember why this gave me an odd sense of déjà vu.
When I felt my back make contact with the hospital bed in the infirmary a trail of fiery fury exploded up and down my back to spread all along my body. I could vaguely tell I was screaming at the top of my lungs, but the sound was drowned out by the loud nerves screaming at me to stop this torture. The worst part was I couldn’t black out. The pain was so excruciating I was afraid to even close my eyelids. “Has she been taking the medication?” The nurse yelled at my brother as the rest of my friends and cousins made their way into the hospital like room.
“Of course she has! It was stronger this time! The medicine isn’t working anymore!” He argued. “It’s that boy! That’s why this is happening!”
“Bullshit! This has been happening since the day she was born!” Camilla yelled. I was surprised I could hear her at all over my shrieking. “Cayden has nothing to do with this!”
“Enough all of you! Who will be giving the blood?” The nurse, Natasha, asked two fingers on my wrist and another two at her neck. She brushed my hair from my forehead, the sweat making it cling to my face. I bit my lip, trying, unsuccessfully, to stop my shrieks.
“I will.” Nathanael came forward, rolling up his striped sleeve.
“Oh no you won’t! With your attitude you’d end up giving her an episode!” Camilla said. “Let Lana do it, her bloods stronger anyway.” NO, I wanted to cry, I didn’t want her to give me something so personal. Secretly, I didn’t want her to be any closer to me. It wasn’t personal; I felt the same about everyone who didn’t know about…that time.
“I’m fine with that.” Lana said, biting into her wrist. She walked towards me, face slightly pained. “You have to get better alright Temper?” I tried to shake my head, but I barely moved. She put her wrist to my lips and I felt the thick rich liquid trickle onto my tongue and down the throat. I stopped screaming, latching onto her arm, holding it firmly in my hands. I could feel the energy radiating in the room and slowly I felt the energy wrap around me. My back stopped stinging and I could feel the sticky blood along my back. Lana whimpered my draining beginning to cause her serious pain.
I released Lana’s wrist, wiping the trickle of blood that hadn’t entered my mouth. I turned to the Natasha, my temper flaming. “What the hell was that? You said the pills would stop this!” I yelled.
“They should’ve. It seems the bond between you and the cursed one is growing stronger.” She replied, her tone worrying. “Do any of you know where he is?”
“He seems to have disappeared.” Morgan interjected. “He’s no longer on campus.” Morgan was wrong. He was still here. I could feel it.
I got up, taking off my jacket and my bloodied shirt. My bra was drenched in blood and clung to my skin. After a moment’s hesitation I removed that too. I vaguely noticed my brother and the other boys flush and turn away, but it didn’t bother me. I was never very self conscious. I turned my back to the mirror in the farthest corner of the room, flinching at the deep red gashes that were closing up. They stretched from a few inches above my shoulder blades to the small of my back. “Shit!” I cried. Camilla came over, peroxide in one hand, peroxide in the other. I hissed in pain as she cleaned the gashes. Silence seemed to fill the room.
“Crap, this is ridiculous. Can’t the elders do anything?” Leslie asked, finally turning around. He seemed nearly as angry as Nathanael.
“Sure they can. They can hand her over to him and be done with it like they want too.” Morgan replied, her voice annoyed. I looked around at the worried faces of my friends and family, my coven. If I wasn’t so determined to outrun the prophecy, I was sure I’d feel guilty. Unfortunately, the reality was simple. Loyalty in our kind ran deep and everyone in that room was utterly loyal to one another.
We were the children of the families providing the school with financial backing. It was six families; The Quinn’s which consisted of my brother and I, then our cousins the Jasper’s which consisted of Camilla and Morgan. The Sinclair’s were old family friends. They had two twins Elizah and Elijah. Then there were the Cliff’s who had one son, Leslie. The Daphne’s were nearly family with their only daughter, their pride and joy, Lana. They also had a son, Mikhail, who was a large boy with the heart of a teddy bear. The Bane’s had the largest amount of people at the school by far. Three sons, the oldest Jinx, the middle child was Crow and the youngest was Damien. Natasha, the nurse, was their big sister and Nissa was the youngest of them all.
Mikhail took off his button up shirt, handing it to me. I smiled, pulling it on over my sore tender flesh. “Thanks Mikey.” I whispered. He smiled, his silence making all this seem a little less horrible. When Mikhail talked it meant trouble, for whoever his voice was directed at. His silence, it meant it hadn’t yet come to that.
“So what exactly are my options?” I asked, feeling the sting of my flesh pull together as Lana’s blood began to help me heal, my labored breathing cutting thru the silence.
“For now I suggest continuing with the pills, but I…” Natasha stopped, debating whether or not to say something.
“What?” Lana cried, placing her hand on my shoulder. The little gesture was quite a bit comforting and I leaned into her hand, praying to god she wouldn’t move. I wasn’t a weak person, but at that moment I was on the verge of breaking. The fact that I could be hurt so badly so easily, made my very core shake in fright.
“Our powers are strong, for now, but the Neutrals Latens are gaining power. Soon, they will break down our protection charms and enchantments.” She paused, sighing. “They’re coming for her. It’s what was expected after all. They tricked us and we have to suffer the consequences now.”
“So there’s no hope?” Nathanael questioned, his face pained.
“There is always hope, but at this point we’d need a miracle. We’re bound by a promise and we can’t take that lightly.” Jinx answered instead of Natasha.
“But they tricked us!” I snapped. “This wasn’t what we promised!”
“It doesn’t matter! It’s what they promised!” Natasha snapped back. I bit my lip. Her eyes softened. “Take the pills Sweetie. Keep practicing the counter divinations and remember,” she grabbed my hand, “none of us plan on handing you over.”
I forced a smile on my face and stood, shaking off the comfort that now suffocated me. “I’m going to go change,” I looked around at the girls who proceeded to follow me, “alone.” Before anyone could mutter a protest I ran from the room, my cheeks burning in rage. That ass hole hurt me again. He purposely used the link to carve into my flesh. The others may not have known what that meant, but I knew. He was teasing me, showing me just how easily he could hurt me, even with my brother protecting me, but he didn’t seem to understand my mindset. I wasn’t planning on their protection. I could handle him just fine.
I wrapped the shirt tighter around me and exiting the school building, out into the school’s garden. I looked around, sensing that familiar dread, radiating from the large oak tree. “I know you’re up there Cayden!” I yelled, kicking the tree with all my might, but I might as well have tried to peel a rock. “God, come down here right now!” I cried, losing my cool, like I always did around him.
“Yes, your highness?” I turned around, shocked, as I came face to face with my long term tormenter. I pulled the shirt from my arms, turning my back to him.
“I got your message.” I answered, holding back the hiss that welled in my throat as the air touched my sore back.
“What? Were you playing leap frog with Edward scissor hands?” He laughed. I could feel his fingers on my back. “Really, what happened?”
“Don’t play stupid.” I snapped, pulling away from him and shrugging Mikhail’s shirt back on.
“I’m not following you.” He answered, sitting down on the grass. He