Chapter 5
Laen was ten years old the day she saw him.
It wasn't that she fell in love with him, it was that she felt... drawn to him. The moment she looked at him, something sparked in her brain. A part of her mind that had died so long ago. Suddenly she remembered... something. And when he looked at her, it came flooding back. She nearly fell from the physical blow of the memories washing over her. A blond man- standing over her crib- holding her as a baby- reading her thoughts- she could read his- she remembered that he loved Mommy.
Laen gasped in horror. Could this be the blond man? How could he have loved Mommy? She was so cruel... but she had been nice sometimes. She felt thoughts entering her head, the blond man's thoughts, as they used to when she was a baby, and she fought them. She turned and ran, struggling with her mind, desperate to kill the part of her that remembered. She remembered Mommy.
Finally, when she was out of sight of the man, she managed to crush the spark that had been born in her again. She wiped away the memories, though she was physically exhausted from running and thinking so hard. Laen collapsed on the ground, and nearly passed out when the spark reawakened. If she hadn't been so tired, she would have screamed. But as it was, she only had the energy to open her eyes. The blond man stood over her.
"Are you all right?" he asked.
Somewhere within, she found the strength, probably out of sheer terror, to shriek at the top of her lungs, "Help! Get away from me!" On an adrenaline rush, she stood and bolted away.
She could hear behind her the blond man running, too. And she could hear that he was fast, and her energy was running out. She was about to burst into an explosion of speed with the last of her energy, just to throw him off at the very least, when he grabbed her arm. She gave a shout of surprise, but it was weak, and she didn't have the energy to fight anymore. At his touch, the memories came back, her entire life story, all in a millisecond, and she fell into his arms and blacked out.
*****
When Laen came to, she was home. The blond man was gone, and Janneh weas sitting nearby. When she saw that Laen was awake, Janneh bounded up to her and said, "Who was that man?"
Laen shook her head and told her, "I really don't know. I saw him, and... something happened to my mind. I tried to run but I was just too tired. Besides, I was..." Laen couldn't find the energy to finish the sentance.
Janneh frowned and said, "I saw a man sitting on the ground, and he was holding you. I attacked him, let me tell you. But he's trained in fighting, and I don't think he really wanted you. He could have killed me if he'd tried, but he just let me get away with you, and he walked away. He seemed nice enough though, like he was fighting to protect his own skin, not to get mine. I don't think he was going to hurt you."
Laen wanted to explain that she knew he wasn't, but she had never been able to make Janneh, or Ophila, understand the spark in her head. She decided not even to mention it.
"Why were you so tired? You didn't do much yesterday, or today. You couldn't have been tired enough to pass out!"
Again, Laen didn't feel like explaining, so she just said, "I've been feeling pretty lousy lately, and I haven't been sleeping well."
Janneh didn't say anything for a moment, then said quietly, "I think he used magic on you. To make you weak, and to make you slow. No one can catch you."
"He was different, Janneh. He was fast. He could have caught me even if I wasn't so exhausted. And... he was a lefty."
"Yeah, so? How could you tell, anyway?"
"I just could. And isn't someone famous left-handed? I can't remember exactly who..."
"Did you land on your head or something, Laen? Get some rest. Don't worry about anything for a good couple of days."
Laen knew that would be hard advice to follow. She couldn't stop thinking about the blond man. She remembered that he had triggered something in her, memories, but they were gone now. She had remembered something about him, but it had left her. If she could only recall what it was...
|
