Page 29 of (Sur)real
“If she wants to help us, she should just off Blake and make the Judgement herself.”
I shook my head and thought of the shadow world. “There are rules.”
“What do you mean?”
I hesitated, not sure what to tell them now. What wouldn’t send them running or cause them to dismiss everything I say? I watched the Others swirl around the women in the room, creating my grey view of our world.
“Would you believe me if I told you there aren’t just three races?” I asked.
“Yep,” Bethi said. “Too much crap has come true to not believe something at this point.”
Michelle and Gabby made sounds of agreement.
“There are three races here, but this world touches another where a different race lives. I don’t know what they are. I call them the Others. They kind of float around us, always moving, surrounding people and things. Like brushing up against them. That’s how I can see some things. They outline this world for me. When they stop moving, I’m truly blind.”
“I thought you said they always moved,” Bethi said.
“There have been times they’ve stopped. When something really big happens. Like when you revealed the existence of Urbat and werewolves to the world.”
I focused on Bethi’s shape. “They are the reason we need to maintain balance here. If we don’t, they get to live here.”
“Based on all this world burning crap the Taupe Lady keeps telling me, I’m guessing these ‘Others’ are pretty bad.”
“Yes and no. They want what we have. Real bodies. A way to interact with our surroundings. I think the Lady is one of them. She can control them. Sort of. And they tend to listen to her.”
“This is making my brain hurt. If she’s one of them and they want to live here, why would she want us to maintain the balance? And, that wouldn’t make sense anyway. She showed me how we were created. All of us were in her belly, and she touched different women to put us inside them. That was the very first cycle.”
“I can’t pretend to know our history. That’s for you. I can only tell you about the world I see. The Others are around us. Everywhere. All the time. Whenever someone dies, they try to get inside the body. But they can’t without permission. They can hear me and understand me. They know we’re trying to keep the balance so they can’t have our world, but it doesn’t seem to upset them. They help me see when I ask them.”
“Well, I know I’m not the only one creeped out by the idea of an unseen race moving around us in this room. Tone it down, Michelle,” Isabelle said.
“Sorry,” Michelle answered.
“I feel like we’ve gotten off topic,” Gabby said. “I thought we just needed to decide which race to Judge in favor of.”
“We do,” I said. “I wanted you to understand why you truly need to believe in your choice and what waits for this world if we fail this Judgement.”
“Yeah, we get it,” Isabelle said. “Invisible people who will make the world burn. I think we’re all onboard with Judging for the werewolves. Now what?”
“Now we wait for Bethi to dream the rest,” I said.
Six
HENRY…
Headlights lit the inside of the car briefly before the other car passed us.
It hurt. All of it. Losing Mom and now Dad. Liam shook next to me. I kept my arm around him, trying my best to help him feel safe again. Aden had cried himself to sleep hours ago and currently leaned against me in oblivious peace. At least, it smelled like peace. I hoped the cub continued to have good dreams.
Liam’s scent remained far from peaceful. Worry, grief, and confusion melded together to create a toxic soup that I wanted to choke on with each inhale.
“I’m sorry you didn’t get anything to eat, Liam,” I said.
“I’m sorry they took Uncle Gregory,” he said.
“I know. Me, too. But we can’t stay sad about it for too long.”
He tipped his head up to look at me.
