Rimwick

What Was Written

Pulling out of the image is like taking a deep breath after drowning. It takes me a moment to process what happened.

My book. Lark gave Haidee my book, and I found it in the forest, and its pages are made of magic paper.

I want to touch the next name, Cayden Haidsle, but before I can someone knocks on the door. "Riley! It's night, are you coming to school?"

"No!" I ignore the orange word that emerges from my mouth and touch the page again.

I'm walking through my forest, but ahead of me the trees grow thin and scattered. Shrubs give way to grass and a low hill that dips down into the desert of Midas- golden sand, streaming from the sunshine fingers of the fairytale King.

"Cayden!" Behind me, a little girl with warm skin and curls dark as storm clouds tumbles on light feet through the trees.

"Lapis! Go home!" I call. "The border isn't safe!"

"I be your 'prentice," she says to me, coming to a stop with her hands on her hips. "My job be to keep you good." Her young eyes flash like lightning.

I sigh. No one had ever been able to make Lapis do anything. "Stay behind me. And if any thing attacks us, run home."

Her teeth flash in a quick grin, pale against her dark coloring, and she follows me through the sparse grass until we've reached the end of the place that could be called a forest.

I've seen it several times, but the desert still awes me. The monotone sand gives birth to fabulous colors, subtle shades of red and purple that line the dark yellow, the tears of blue across the white-hot sky. If I had magic, it would be the firey strength of this brutally gorgeous place.

And then, pain sears through my shoulder.

I scream and drop to the ground, rolling on top of the thing that attacked me. It snarls and grunts, raking me with long claws, pulling at the skin on my back. I lash out behind me without making contact. All I can feel is heat and the pain, and then there's a flash of light and I'm lying still in the grass. Lapis is screaming, sparks of energy still snaking from her fingers.

"Cayden! Cayden!"

There are feathers all around, tooth marks in my shoulder. I look behind me and almost throw up- a creature, over seven feet tall, with the beak of a raptor and the legs of a man is splayed, unmoving, on the sand. I start to crawl away, back, far from the monster. Agony rips up my shoulder as I put weight on my arm. The colors of the desert swirl around me as cracks spread like a spider web across the sky, blocking the light as my vision goes black.

I gasp as the vibrant picture is torn away.

I feel sick. The pain was real, as I lived those few moments of Cayden Haidsle's life. I hope he survived the monster attack, but I don't know if he did. He must have, right? To become the keeper and scrawl his name onto the page?

"Riley?"

Starting, I whip my head around.

"Felix! I didn't see you!"

"Sorry." He smiles sheepishly. "I knocked, but you didn't answer."

"Oh, um... I was distracted. How was the tree?"

"The tree? Fine. Now that it isn't on top of me, anyway. How are you?"

"I'm alright. Why aren't you at school?"

"I'm dropping out."

I roll my eyes. Felix grins. "Kidding. Echo made me stay here and rest, because of the whole tree situation. Nice book."

"Oh! Thank you." I shut the leather journal. "Not that this is related or anything, but do you know what a keeper is?"

Felix blinks. "I- yes, actually. We had a lesson on keepers once. The word originally meant caretaker, and it was the title used for someone who was in charge of helping when the Dusk Children needed protection. Supposedly, they're granted a magical gift of extreme power."

"Who's the keeper now?"

Felix shrugs. "We don't have one. Some people believe that there never was any such thing as a keeper. Does this have anything to do with your book?"

Reluctantly, I show him the journal. "Don't open it. But yes. Do you know what this is?"

Felix shakes his head. "We could ask The Witch."

"My mother?"

"Yes, when we have time off."

"We have time off now."

"Can you walk?"

"If you can." I set my feet on the floor and stand, then tilt over. Felix catches me.

"Actually, maybe you should stay here."

"Dawn," I mutter. "This the second time today that this has happened."

Felix raises an eyebrow. "What, you falling?"

"Me being a damsel in distress."

"Uh-huh. You were probably using magic too much. Rest, okay?"

"Okay," I murmur, hating being weak but not having much choice. It's my fault, anyway, for touching the names.

Felix leaves and I fall asleep with the book tucked under my arm.