38

Ari stood facing a large salmon colored cloud like wall. It's various puffs and twirls making like waves in the ocean. There was no sound save for her foot steps on the ivory ground. She looked around to see if there was anyone else with her but she was complelty alone in this void. Just her and this wall.To her right and left the wall seemed to strech on and on, but there was no land marks to indicate where she was. If she turned to see what was to her back it seemed like the wall was always there. Had she even turned? It didn't seem like she moved at all **away** from the wall. However, the only direction she could tell made a difference was when she got closer to it. As Ari stepped closer, she could see faces begin to pull toward her. A low humming at first as the faces appeared and then they began calling to her to come and join them. Some of the voices and faces she did not regonize, others she did. Drax's face appeared in the clouds. His eyes meeting her. Pure hate and anger filled his facial features as his eyes had been the same coloring as his face, which was the same as this cloud wall. "You should come join us sister." he hissed. His pink teeth snapping together as he said *sister*. " I think not." she said smuggly. She backed away from his face and began to walk along or maybe since she gave him no further attention he melted into the cloud and she really did not move. This place was very strange and disoreinting.
Soon two faces appeared that Ari regonized at once, her parents, Adam and Amy. Tears streamed down her face as they smiled warmly at her. "You have grown child." her father said. His eyes crinkling at the edges as he smiled so big. His voice low and calm. He was exactly how she remembered him, save for the solid salmon coloring. And her mother. Her hair tossled around her thin face. Her eyes just as big as Ari's and her lips though quivering looked just like hers. Her mother wiped tears from her face as she reached out to hug Ari. Ari had begun to go to her when her father lowered Amy's arms. she gave a mournful look his way but did as he asked. Ari shook her head tears threatening to run down her cheeks, " No why can't I?"
She could see the pain in his eyes as he spoke, "My child we love you but your work is not done. If you came into your mother's arms you would be crossing the Veil. You would be damning your mate to follow." his voice gentle. "When the time comes we will be here to welcome you sweetheart." her mother sniffled. "Wait how did you know about Mika? And what do you mean damning him? What other work do I have to do?" she was saying the questions so fast she felt like they were just pouring from her.
"We can see you still have a connection to life. I have seen it in werewolves mostly. Not many but that seems to be who has them the most." he answered her. "Also the mark you bare on your neck is a clear indication of a wolf's mate." her mother giggled. Ari reached up to feel her neck. A warm sensation swept over her body as she felt not jagged torn flesh but almost like a branding on her skin. It did not hurt in the least. The warming sensation gave way to butterflies as thoughts of Mika came back to her. She looked over the rest of her body expecting to see skin torn from the fight. "I don't understand?" she looked down to see her clothing was all in one peice. No blood spatter.
"You are in the afterlife, yet you are not. This." he raised his hands to indicate the large wall separating them."is the Veil. It separates the world of the living and the world of the dead. Therefor any injuries you have gotten in the world of the living do not apply here. However, anything that happens here will affect you topside. Keep that in mind child." he warned.
"So if i crossed over it would kill Mika." she stated. Somewhere in the deepest part of her body she could feel those little strands like before. They seemed to trum but she couldn't tell where they were pulling her to. She just felt...stuck.
"Correct. You are one soul two bodies. You have been thread together and to rip it apart again, the soul will not survive." she did not want to do that to Mika so she kept her distance while they spoke.
"Tell us about your life darling." her mother prompted with a hopefull smile. Ari couldn't tell how long time had past as she told her parents about her life's events. She started all the way back at the fire and what happened to her from there. She told them about Keke, her heart hurt rememebring she had released her and hoped the animal had faired well on her own. She told them about George and Kelis, Talia, Theo and Devion. When she mentioned Mika her heart would flutter and her cheeks would warm. They stood listening to every word she said. Engrossed in their daughter's life.
At some point Ari rounded back on her father's statement, "You said I had work still. What do you mean?"
"You and I come from a very special bloodline. Only the females in my family have ever been given the gift. Us males are just lucky to pass it down."
"Yeah Drax had told me what that meant. He wanted more offspring for his brew." she intrupted.
Her father shook his head. "No that was arrogant. That is not at all what your gift is for. It is meant to **protect** life. My great aunt had this gift. If she took in the life force of another supernatural she would shows some of their traits. For example she had killed a mermaid on one of her hunts. She was able to breath underwater- however she did not become a mermaid. You are meant to protect those who can not protect themselves. Human's are weaker against the supernatural. This was nature's way of evening the odds. In times past heros, or herons have risen long before our blood line was so well known, who fought against the supernatural. Hercules, Prometheus, Florence Nightingale, Joan of Ark, Anne Sullivan."
"Anne Sullivan? What did she do?" Ari asked curious of the name.
"She taught a blind, and deaf child to communicate with the outside world. To the normal human it was through phsyical touch, however Anne had come in contact with another supernatural and had absorbed their telepathy and was communicating with her through their mental link."
"She saved this child. She gave her a life." her mother added.
"Did you know about this from dad?"
"No I didn't know anything about this till I crossed the Veil." her voice was soft, not condeming her husband of holding secrets but just acceptance to things she had no control over.
"I did not tell your mother because we had no way of knowing till you were much older IF you were even given the gift. If I did not have to bring you and your mother into that world of responsibility I was not going to do it. Perhaps I was wrong for that." he looked longingly at Amy.
"No my dear. You did well." she placed her hand on his face as she kissed his cheek.
"How did you know? If it only goes to the women in your family dad?"
"Well my great aunt was my father's aunt. My grand father bore two childern- a female and male. My father only had one child- me. My great aunt never had kids of her own, so at the time of her passing she had a book given to me which held the family secret. That is how I learned so much. It was meant to be passed to the next female who had the gift."
Ari sighed pintching her fingers to the bridge of her nose, "You mean to tell me there is a book on how to handle this ..this gift?!" *Like holy shit there was something that could explain to her what the hell is going on.* she thought. There was so many questions and this one little book would have the answers she needed.
"There WAS a book. The men inadertantly made sure to destroy it that night." he corrected. her mother looked down in shame,"No it was me. I destroyed it."
"No my dear that was *not* you. Your hands are not to blame for this." he reassured her.
"Of course it did" Ari said in exsaperation, throwing her hands up. She sighed and accepted that she would have to just learn this stuff through trial and error. "So what now?"
Her father smiled, crinkling those eyes again, shrugging his shoulders. "Rewrite it."
She blinked at him for a few minutes before returning a smirk. "Ok, so how do I get back?"
Her father nodded over her shoulder. Ari turned this time not to see the salmon colored cloud wall, nor a barren white void but a massive oak tree. Its branches seemed to go on and on both vertically and in every direction but never crossing the cloud wall. The brown bark and the deep green of the leaves against the white void was stunning. Ari's mouth fell open starring at its beauty, and also that it had just appeared as was certain it had not been there moments ago. Vibrations from those little strands that connected her to Mika seemed to pull her toward the tree but she stood still for just a moment. She looked back at her parents, this maybe the final time she saw them. Both her parents stood in the cloud wall watching her. Her father's arm was around her mother's shoulder. Both had tears going their cheeks. She stared trying to memorize their features, letting their images seer into her memory for the rest of her life. "We will be here when it is your time Ari. This is not the last time you will see us." he assured her. His smiled was hopeful, but his voice betrayed his saddness. She did not say anything in return becuase she feared if she did all of the things that she hadn't told them would come purging from her, instead she pressed her lips and nodded her head.
With every step toward the tree she could tell the cloud wall was falling away in the distance behind her. Once under it's massive branches she could see the billions of leaves and multiple branches. What she had first thought was veins on the leaves and branchs she began to realize were words, and names.
It appeared that the trunk itself was written, *Earth* as if some great knife had carved it. The first branch the one closest to her read *Cadaver animatum*. A few seconds passed and the word blurred into english, Zombie. She blinked in surpirsed. All the leaves on this branch appeared in tints of yellows, and brown. Some still held their green tints but not many. On another branch she could see the word *lupinotuum* she waited a few moments like before and it changed to Werewolf. Names were scrolled on every leaf. She looked as hard as she could on the millions of leaves seeing names like, Richard, Eugene, Meagan, Carley, Micheal.
She watched as a yellowed leaf written with the name George broke from the branch and floated to the waiting roots.
She watched in wonder as the leaf glowed golden for a few seconds before a wind rushed down the tree and toward the wall.