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

redundant for someone like Pearl and I. What we need is to destroy something that's worth a lot more but that kind of game does not come around too often."

"So Bethanie is right, you and Pearl don't have very long, do you?"

Lara paused when she heard Bethanie's name then recommenced her strumming. "Be wary of that one, she may end up making the wrong decision."

"What do you mean by that? Be wary of Bethanie? But she's my best friend, I trust her more than anybody else!"

But Lara didn't answer, I suppose she just realised that there would have been no way of getting her point across, so then I pushed another question.

"How long do you have?"

"That depends..." Lara began to move onto some more finger-style. "On what happens in our lives, in our hearts and on the battlefield. If we're lucky a couple of months, if not it could be tomorrow. Pearl and I are both at that point now where we're both watching the last grains of sand fall."

I trembled. "There has to be, there must be some way of stopping it!"

"There are ways of prolonging the chrysalis, but stopping it? The only way that's possible is death."

"No, no I refuse to believe that!" I argued. "You can't be given the power to save the world just to die, that's just too cruel!"

Lara clapped her hand against the strings firmly, giving the guitar an unsettling ringing drum before muting.

"I have been a daeva for over two years now and I've watched girls chrysalise, friends die and then others turn into phantoms, so, if there was a way, even the smallest possible chance that we could avoid these harsh fates don't you think I would have tried it already!?"

I took a step back towards the music room door. "I... I'm sorry, I just wanted to find some way to help. I mean, there has to be some way, right?" My voice was meek and frightened.

Lara sighed and tried at a smile that failed miserably. "No, I'm sorry. Your enthusiasm wasn't too different to how all the rest of us started out, but we learned... quickly."

"There's nothing, no way for me to help?"

"No, Abigail, there really isn't. All that you can do is keep yourself at a distance from us and the shades as much as you can and also, save yourself from too much heart-ache. If you can remain safe that will at least give me some closure that when I move on, I do so knowing that one girl may remain to remember me."

Chapter 21

 

Bethanie

 

Keeping behind the trees I followed the girl. She walked alone with her backpack on her shoulders, long straight black hair swaying side to side. She made her way down the mountain, selecting roads that became less and less frequented by pedestrians and cars alike. After almost an hour of tailing her from the school she eventually walked along a skinny dirt track that was blocked off from vehicles by a sign stating private property.

I followed her still, thankful for the plentiful trees I used as cover but as the road spiralled downwards I began to curse them for at many times I lost sight of her. Though there were no more roads to travel, there were adjacent paths and I had to jog to reach the bends to ensure that she did not venture down one of these. But at the last tight bend I lost sight of her again and even with a quiet jog to round the corner I discovered no sight of her.

I ran up further and stopped at a junction where a skinny dirt path intersected. I looked down the length of both as far as I could see which did not stretch too great a distance before chewing my bottom lip indecisively.

I turned to continue towards the original track where, within no fewer than ten paces, my backpack slung about a single shoulder was thrown free as I was barrelled into the ground, face-first. I made to get up but a weight was seated on my back and that held my arms in a vice-grip.

"Why are you following me?" Rebecca's calm voice queried over the top of me.

I wriggled my head sideways to free my mouth from the dirt it was pressed against. "Hey, let me go! I didn't mean anything by it, I just wanted to meet up with you girls - to talk!"

"Then why not talk, why stalk me like you're trying to investigate me?"

"Because, I didn't think you'd listen to me! From what I've seen of you, you seem to like to punch first and ask questions later."

I could hear the smirk in her voice. "If you think so highly of me then why not go and try to approach one of the others? I know Pearl would bake you a cake if you claimed you wanted to talk with her."

I tried to shift into a more comfortable position but Rebecca's firm hold made that impossible. "I would have gone up to Pearl if I had seen her, but I didn't, when school ended I only saw you leave."

"And so you thought by following me you could snake your way into our little get-together, did you? But what gave you the notion that we are meeting this afternoon?"

"I didn't." I admitted. "I don't know anything, that's the problem. I've learnt how to fight but I can't track the shades and if I can't kill them then I can't..."

"Erase those black crystals you've developed." Rebecca finished for me. "It appears you've amassed quite a few. It is only early days for you but if you let yourself get this careless then maybe your own chrysalis won't be too far off."

"Exactly..." I struggled again in her hold but gained no freedom. "Why I need to meet with you, all of you!"

I heard Rebecca sigh before she relinquished me. "Fine, come then. But we're not meeting for a little discussion, today we're on a hunt."

Pulling myself to my feet I smiled. "That's perfect, that's just what I want!"

"Whatever, just don't make yourself a nuisance." Rebecca turned and continued her way down the original windy dirt road.

"I won't!" I promised. "I just want to learn from you girls and help protect the world."

Rebecca's expression showed neither distrust nor belief.

I fumbled with my backpack and ran up to Rebecca's side before I asked the question that had been plaguing my mind. "Rebecca, just how long do Pearl and Lara have before their chrysalis?"

"I don't know. At this point it could happen at any time. All that they're waiting on is a trigger."

"And how about the rest of us, how long do we normally last before the chrysalis gets us?"

"If you're lucky - two years."

"And if you're not lucky?"

"Anything in between."

I shivered. "How short can it be?"

"Since awakening a daeva's erosreaver, the shortest has been eight days." Rebecca turned her emerald eyes subtly in my direction. "So I believe that congratulations are in order, you won't be the least developed daeva to chrysalise."

"Eight days..." I repeated in a whisper.

Rebecca didn't say anything more as we walked and neither did I break our mutual silence. It seemed the Autumn air just suddenly became too nippy for idle chit-chat, or maybe the chill was felt within my own heart, I couldn't be sure. Though we still lived in the same world my understanding of it became more foreign every day.

Eventually we reached a valley that held a river five meters wide at its centre. On this side of the bank stood three girls who appeared to have been waiting in stiff silence.

Vanessa was the first to welcome us. "So that's why you're so late, Rebecca, you've brought us Ariel's pawn. Wonderful, perfect timing for her to make her debut!"

"Bethanie, you're here!" Pearl cheered. "You kept us waiting a long time but seeing you here now means that you've decided to join up with us, right? That's great!"

Lara walked across from the group to meet Rebecca and me mid-way. "So you're ready now? You've come to fight by our side?"

I glanced all about the group, from Rebecca's indifference, to Vanessa's leering smirk, to Pearl's elation and back to Lara's speculation. "Yes, I want to do all I can to help the people of this world, everyone but especially protect the ones I love. Lara I... I'm sorry about what I said the other day, that wasn't fair. You all have obviously been through so much before I came along but you still fight, I find that... really admirable. So, if you'll have me, I would like to help against the daeva-noxes and shades. And if you could, help me learn how to... help myself." I added meekly as I glanced at the flower design on Lara's neck that was now creeping up to the lower border of her bottom jaw. "I would greatly appreciate that."

After a long stare Lara turned back to the rest of the group with a smile. "Well there you have it daevas, Bethanie's a lux and she'll be fighting by our side from now on!"

"Great, I always wondered what it'd be like to be stabbed in the back by an seven foot sword." Vanessa muttered before Pearl ran up to me and embraced me in a surprising hug.

"Don't worry about her, Bethanie." Pearl counselled as she pulled away. "You're with us now and I just know that together we'll find a way to save this world!"

"Lara," Rebecca stated. "I can sense a tear down there. Is that where the shades are?"

Lara gazed down the length of the river. "That's right, I felt the strings break around this location a couple of hours ago. Since it was recent that means that any shadows that have passed through should not have recovered from their disorientation yet and would not have been able to travel far. That gives us the perfect opportunity to launch a pre-emptive strike. Let's make the most of it."

Without even giving the signal to move out Lara suddenly dashed the down the river with the soles of her shoes flashing white. This propagated her motion so that she moved with the speed of an elite athlete. Not a moment later Rebecca and Vanessa followed in the same manner.

Pearl gave a little tug to my hand. "Come on, we need to move quickly. When they cross the tear they become dazed and are easy targets, but it only lasts a few hours." And as Pearl took off, just as with the other daevas, every footfall on the Earth burned whitely.

I looked down to my feet where impractical black leather mary-janes were worn before concentrating the same energy that I used to call my blade into them. Then as I sprinted I was literally kicking the world's aura at my heels.

A few minutes later we reached our destination where we all had stopped dead to gaze upon the scene. Keeping care to stay back behind the cover of trees I stared up at a black star shape suspended above the river. It was jaggered, with dozens of points cutting out and back in acutely, resembling an explosion of ebony thorns in the air. And beneath it the water slowed its flow and from a green-brown