Daeva: Black Diamond Chrysalis - Danielle Bolger (essential reading txt) 📗

that can break down stones so finely that there is nothing left but sand. When this state is achieved, the diamond core of your soul is dispersed entirely into aura and that the shades can consume. So, in the case that you found yourselves in two days ago, yes, you would have been killed if those shades had not been stopped."

"That means." I assessed after a quiet moment of contemplation. "That you didn't just save our lives that day, but also our souls. You put yourself in danger, fought so many of those monsters all at once... for us."

Humbly Ariel lowered her head. "I was just doing my job."

"Our job now." Bethanie smiled at the platinum blonde.

"And mine too!" I declared. "Please, let me help! I want to fight, you said I had potential right? Let me use it!"

"Abigail, no!" Bethanie refuted.

"You do have potential." Ariel admitted. "You can naturally see aura and retain its memory. A skill that only teenage girls possess and even then few of them at that. That means you have the quality of soul that may accept the transformation seed, but still, you are so innocent. I don't want to bring you into this dark..."

"Quit treating me like a little kid!" I yelled over the top. "I'm a young woman and I care about this world! I know that if you give me the chance then I can do it, I can fight!"

"No, Abigail!" Bethanie retorted. "It's too dangerous! Those shades mean business and if you try to attack them they will kill you!"

"But Ariel said that they can only kill us in numbers, so even if I'm not very strong if I start by just fighting one at a time..."

"They don't need to eat your soul to kill you!" Bethanie shouted, tensing her fists tight.

"She's right." Ariel agreed. "If threatened a shade will cut you to pieces to protect itself. It would be a waste for it normally, since once dead your diamond core would be instantly absorbed by Gaia leaving only traces of aura behind, but still it would not hesitate if it meant protecting itself."

I exhaled deeply. "Fine then, they're still dangerous. But that doesn't mean I can't fight! You could give me that power!" I pleaded to Ariel. "You could turn me into a daeva and then I wouldn't be so weak, then I could protect the ones I love!"

"No, Abigail!" Bethanie yelled again. "It just isn't going to happen, I can't let you put yourself in that kind of danger!"

"And you think it's okay that you have!?" I argued my face beginning to become wet with tears once more. "No, that just isn't fair, Bethanie! How can you be that selfish? Put yourself in harm's way, risk your life and tell me to simply watch!"

"Because, Abigail, I couldn't bear it if you got hurt!"

"And you think I could?! No, I couldn't, I couldn't ever! I couldn't live with myself if something was to happen to you and I wasn't there!"

"Abigail... this is just too..."

"Stop it, Bethanie! Just stop! We're meant to be best friends so please, stop pushing me away! I just want to be by your side, best friends forever. However dark that path might take us down, it doesn't matter so long as we're together!"

Tears were leaking from me profusely then just as little sobs hiccupped my words but I didn't stop looking at Bethanie, I wasn't going to let this one go.

Finally Bethanie turned her gaze aside and watched the black tombstone mutely.

"You can protect me." My voice softened. "If we're side by side, then you'll be there if something happens but if you push me away then you'll never have that chance."

"She does have a point." Ariel murmured thoughtfully. "Now that she has been associated with us she will be a target and either those dark daevas or the shades they're in league with will likely make a move on her and left human she will be vulnerable, incapable of defending herself."

"I'll..." Bethanie whispered meekly. "Protect her."

"You can't be around me all the time." I rationalised. "I have to go home, where I have my own family that need to be kept safe also. Given this power then maybe I can protect both myself and them. But mostly we'll be together and you can make sure that nothing happens to me."

Bethanie's frown deepened.

"I don't like it," Ariel admitted, "but we may not have any choice. It seems that your latent ability has already made you a target to the shades, your aura a heightened magnitude and character. The very thing that made those things attack you two nights ago is the reason that you have the potential to become a daeva, but even so there will be other dangers and a life that you can never leave. Once you transform you can never return to just being a human anymore. Your soul will change forever."

"I've already changed," I stated resolutely, "since the night we were attacked I've sensed the darkness lurking, my eyes have been opened and so I just can't look the other way. I simply can't walk away from this, not after everything I've learnt and especially not since people I care about are involved."

"It's painful." Bethanie interred.

I recoiled but maintained my stance. "If it's so bad then why did you join up?"

Bethanie continued to stare at the black marble tombstone. "So that I could protect the people I love."

"Well then," I smirked, "that's enough for me too!"

Ariel smiled wanly. "If you're sure about this, then I will arrange it. Tomorrow meet me at a certain clearing past that park at the summit of this mountain. Be there just before sunset, Bethanie will show you how to get there. But, if you choose not to, then you are free to decline this invitation and simply refrain from showing up. It is your choice since it is your fate in your hands."

I grinned triumphantly. "I'll be there, you can count on it!"

Bethanie never smiled however and even as we walked away it seemed like she was still staring into that stone slab, the one that bequeathed the life of a woman that spanned for too short a time period.

Chapter 10

 

Abigail

 

"So, Abigail, do you like your milkshake?" Eric asked me nervously from the other side of the cafe table.

"It's the best!" I exclaimed after a large sip through my straw. "Strawberry is my favourite flavour, thank you so much for getting it for me! But you know, Eric you didn't have to buy it for me, I do have money! My allowance is solely for the purpose of things like this, going out and spending time with friends."

"Yeah, but I wanted to. I want do all kinds of things for you, if you would let me." He turned his head away coyly but the full force of the outdoor sun unveiled the deep blush to his cheeks.

My own face felt like his. "You're a perfect gentleman, Eric, so I know that all those things would be good things!"

He smiled as his fingertips patted his chocolate milkshake. "Hey, Abigail, there's something that I've been meaning to ask you for a while now. It's really important but, well, every time I go to say it I never get it out. I wanna tell you, I wanna. I mean..."

Again he floundered over his words and when nearby birds screeched in some trees they immediately took his attention as he frowned at them.

"You know, Eric, there's something I've been meaning to tell you too. Well, actually I guess it's really show..." I reached into my oversized handbag then and pulled out my visual art diary. Opening it up to the latest sketch I laid it out in front of him. "You told me yesterday what you think of me and I've been really wanting to do the same to you, only I'm more of a visual person than a speaking or writing one." I smiled nervously. "I'm sorry for not letting you see it in class on Thursday, that was very rude of me, sneaking a peak at your sketch and refusing to show you mine. But I hope, as you see from this, why I did it. It's because I wanted to tell you something very important but it had to be just right. That's why I didn't let you see it then, because it wasn't finished yet."

"Abigail..." Eric breathed. "But this wasn't the drawing you did of paradise?"

My face deepened red as I answered. "It was, and... it is."

He stared at it a for an excruciatingly long moment with raised eyebrows and a mouth shaped into an O. He observed every aspect of it, the grass and intermittent flowers by the edge of the road, the street-side bench, but his eyes dwelled heaviest on the two figures at its focal point. Sitting down on the long wooden chair were two teenagers, a boy and girl, holding hands and smiling at one another.

"These two people," Eric observed, "they look terribly familiar." It was more of a statement, as if he knew exactly who the two in the sketch represented.

"Yeah, I guess they do." I bit my bottom lip nervously.

"And like always, it's beautiful." He grinned.

"Really?!" I exclaimed happily. "You like it?!"

"Well..." He reviewed the work with some more thought then. "I'm not so sure the boy in this drawing is all that great, but the girl is the prettiest thing I've ever seen!"

'Do you..." I almost exploded with cheer. "Do you mean it!?"

"I do. She's so stunning and this guy here, even though he's not that good, he looks very lucky to have such a beautiful... girlfriend?" Then Eric bored frightened large eyes on me.

"You're right. In this drawing the two are boyfriend and girlfriend and like each other a hell of a lot."

"Well then, so how 'bout we make... your paradise a... reality?"

"Yes! Yes! Oh, yes!" I all but screamed where people from their own tables turned around and stared at me where every single one of them had an alarmed eyebrow raised.

Feeling incredibly embarrassed I made an attempt at dissolving into my seat, my eyes staring at the condensation of my milkshake glass.

"So that means you will, you'll be my girlfriend?"

I drew my eyes back upward and saw his excited, almost exploding expression and despite all the looks I received I exploded in reality. "Yes!"

Eric laughed as he reached across the table and grasped a wet hand from my glass. "Very cool."

I left him soon after, with a smile and a hug, before making my way up the mountain. It took only twenty minutes to reach my destination, the peak of Skyward mountain where a familiar playground was situated. There I slunk onto a swing and began to shift my weight backwards and forwards as a girl on the next swing addressed me.

"So, did you get up to much during your Saturday?"

"I met up with Eric. I showed him this drawing I did of us together. In it we were holding hands."

"Did he like it?" Bethanie asked thoughtfully.

"He did."

My friend smiled. "So then, I take it you're an item now."

"Yeah, we are." I grinned.

"I'm happy for you, Abby, I'm really happy." And yet I didn't hear it in her