The Tangle of Blood

Chapter Six: Fortunes from Cookies

Rosalyn reached up and gingerly touched the throbbing mass on the back of her head and winced sharply. The loud hum of the plane only worsened her thundering headache. The stone floor had proven unforgiving, but Rosalyn knew the pain was only partly due to the knock she had taken the night before and partly to the mounting tension from the events leading up to it.

She reached into her pocket and felt the cool piece of metal and pulled out the small key. She didn't know what she had expected, but when she wasn't pulled from the plane into another vision, Rosalyn turned the key over in her hand. Studying it, she held it close and noticed the 'R.A.E.' etched into the shaft. R.A.E.? Assuming this was her given initials, she wondered what the A and E stood for.

She was determined not to care. With a huff, she shoved it back in her pocket.

It wasn't true. It couldn't be, she thought to herself firmly. There were no no such things as other realms, a fact she was all but sure of. She certainly was no guardian or warrior. It was an illusion, a trick of the mind. A good one, even going as far as involving the Byrnes, but a trick nonetheless.

And yet, every time she closed her eyes she saw them. The cozy couple in the illusion, the man and woman whom she'd known instantly to be her parents.

Her mind drifted back to the last of the three visions, and immediately felt the ache deep in her chest. How could anything but a memory cause this much pain, this much grief. But it couldn't be a memory. It just couldn't be.

And as much as she wanted to believe that to be so, she knew it was. Real. All of it.

Tina sat in the seat next to her. She was quiet, watching Rosalyn out of the corners of her eyes. She wanted to reach out and comfort her but resisted and waited for her to engage first.

This moment was exactly the moment they had prepared for, the moment they longed for and dreaded. In a few weeks time, they would travel home. Ahhh, home, Celestina Byrnes thought, giving herself a moment to bask in it. Finally, after a long decade of waiting, it was time. As warm and bubbly as she felt inside, she knew the child next to her did not hold such feelings. She must be approached in the right way.

The decree was made very clear. No member of the guard would be made to return. It must and had to be of their own volition. And head- and heartstrong Rosalyn, Celestina thought, would require much persuasion.

Rosalyn glanced over at her brother and sister. Rowena slept soundly with a hint of a smile across her face. Alex, on the other hand, tossed to and fro as much as his first class seat would allow. She wondered what visions were haunting him.

She closed her eyes again, willing herself to sleep. After several minutes, she gave up with a loud sigh. Without facing Tina, she asked in a low whisper, "Why? Why didn't you tell us?"

"It was forbidden," Tina answered simply.

"And Eliza?" she asked.

"Yes, dear, she knows. We were sent with the Campbell's to help watch over you," Tina reached out to run hand through Rosalyn's hair, much like Clara used to do, but Rosalyn pulled away.

"All this time, we were just an assignment to you, to all of you," Rosalyn remarked. She thought of her parents. She thought of Eliza and Jarren, her best friends, and it had all been a lie.

"Rosalyn, dear, it doesn't mean we do not love you all the same. We do. Eliza and Jarren do," she assured her, reaching to grab her hand, and sighed as Rosalyn pulled away from her.

Rosalyn wrapped her arms around herself and felt the sting of tears. She kept her eyes shut tight, damming them in, and finally drifted off into a deep dream-filled sleep.