The Rabbit And The Raven Read online

  “We should camp here for the night,” Cael said, inspecting a small clearing centered among the roots of several gigantic trees. He hunkered down and dug a shallow pit for a fire.

  “I’ll help you,” David offered. He closed his eyes and in his mind’s eye, he could see the dry branches littering the ground rise and settle into a neat pile in the middle of Cael’s pit. He flicked his wrist and heard the crackling noise of flames. When he opened his eyes, he could see they had begun to burn brightly with a blue-edged flame.

  “Nicely done,” Abby said.

  “Thanks,” David smiled.

  Marisol crossed her arms and stared out into the encroaching blackness of the jungle. “It’s not so bad. Nothing scary just yet.”

  As if on cue, a long, lonely howl pierced the air. Jon shot her a look. “You were saying?”

  Marisol frowned. “Yeah, okay. I stand corrected.”

  “Those who dwell in this forest are more restless at night,” Cael said. “But so long as we have the fire and keep watch, we should be fine.”

  “Should be?” Jon asked. “Great. Well, I’m wide awake. Guess I’ll take first watch.”

  Marisol peered into the darkness and shivered. “Yeah, I think I’ll stay up too,” she said, taking Jon’s hand.

  “Very well.” Cael laid out his mat under one of the trees. “Wake me when you feel tired. Oh, and keep your satchels packed—remove only what is absolutely necessary, and return it to your pack as soon as you are finished using it. We may need to leave in a hurry. Swords at the ready,” he added, tapping his scabbard lightly. Then he lay down, closed his eyes, and within a moment was softly snoring.

  Jon shook his head in disbelief. “Dude can sleep anywhere.”

  “Shhh, he’s probably a light sleeper,” Marisol warned. “Here—sit with me back-to-back so we can keep watch.”

  Nodding, Jon rolled a log over for Marisol to sit on and then settled in behind her, his hand on the hilt of his sword.

  David and Abby laid out their sleeping mats side by side. “G’night guys,” Abby said drowsily, curling up on her mat.

  Jon looked over at her. “Et tu, Abby?”

  “She hasn’t been sleeping well,” David explained. “Hopefully she can get some z’s tonight.” He lay down with Abby and pulled her close. “I’m here with you,” he whispered. “No bad dreams.”

  “No bad dreams,” Abby whispered back. She yawned and settled into the crook of his arm. “Love you.”

  To David’s surprise, she drifted off almost as quickly as Cael. “Good night, Abby,” he whispered, kissing her forehead. “I love you too.” Then he fell asleep as well.

  David woke with a start. Somewhere in the night a woman was screaming.

  “Abby,” he murmured, and tried to sit up. Then he realized that Abby was still fast asleep in his arms. He raised his head to look for the others and was shocked at the complete darkness around him. The fire had gone out. He closed his eyes and focused his power to relight it.

  “Ahh!” Jon yelped, when the fire blazed high in front of his face. He had been kneeling in front of the pit, trying to get the dead fire started again.

  Marisol and Cael were on their feet, back-to-back, swords held out in front of them, eyes scanning the forest.

  “Sorry, Jon,” David said. “You okay?”

  “Fine—just singed my eyebrows,” Jon grumbled, rubbing his forehead. He stood and drew his sword.

  Abby woke and looked up at David. “What’s going on?”

  “We were about to wake Cael to take the next shift when the fire blew out,” Jon explained. “That’s when the screaming began.”

  “What do you mean, the fire blew out?” David asked.

  “One minute it was nice and toasty, the next it was out cold,” Marisol clarified.

  A woman’s scream pierced the air again. It was impossible to tell where it was coming from. It sounded close at first, then further away, then close again, from somewhere on the other side of the clearing.

  “Sounds like a banshee,” Abby whispered, clutching David’s arm. “It’s horrible.”

  “It’s La Llorona,” Marisol gasped.

  “What?” David asked. He stood up and pulled Abby to her feet. They drew their swords as well.

  “The Witch of the Ditch,” Jon replied. “The Weeping Woman.”

  “It’s a ghost story from Mexico that my mother told me,” Marisol explained. “There’s this legend about a beautiful woman who drowned her children to be with the man she loved. But he left her, so she killed herself. After that, she was doomed to wander the Earth, searching for her dead children. People say she comes out at night near rivers, and that if you hear her wailing, you’ll die.”

  “And there you go,” Jon said. “We’re done for.”

  “Not quite yet, Jon,” Cael replied. “I have never heard such a sound, but if the creature meant to attack, it would have. For now, we stay on our guard. No more sleeping tonight.”

  “No rest for the wicked,” Abby teased.

  David looked at her and smiled. “I thought the saying was no rest for the weary.”

  “I like my version better,” Abby quipped. “Seems apropos.”

  Morning was a long time coming, but when the canopy turned from black to green tinged with grey, the screamer fell silent, vanishing with the darkness.

  “I’m exhausted,” Jon said, sinking down to sit on a log by the fire.

  “Yeah, me too,” Marisol agreed, joining Jon. “I think that little adrenaline rush is finally leaving my system.”

  “Why don’t you guys sleep for a bit? You too, Cael,” David said, stoking the fire. “Abby and I will keep watch and wake you in a few hours.”

  “We will not get far today if we do that,” Cael objected.

  “True, but if you don’t get some rest, you won’t be ready if that thing comes back tonight,” David argued.

  “Touché. Come on, Sol,” Jon said. Standing, he took Marisol’s hand, pulling her to her feet. Then he led her over to their as-yet-unused sleeping mats.

  “Yeah, I’m game,” Marisol agreed. She rubbed her eyes and let herself sink into a tired heap on the mat. “C’mon, Cael. I know you’re tired too. Don’t be all stoic about it.”

  Cael smiled. “Stoic? I think you have mistaken me for someone else.”

  “Yeah, see—you’re actually making a joke. You must be tired, tough guy,” Jon said.

  Cael nodded. “I am—a bit. David, no more than three hours, please. We will want to put some distance between ourselves and our visitor.”

  “You got it.” David said.

  “Sleep well, guys,” Abby said. She looked around the clearing and found a few more pieces of wood to add to the fire.

  “I can do that.” David stepped in to help her.

  “No need to use power when you don’t have to,” Abby said. “You should conserve your energy in case we need you tonight. It’s not like you got much sleep either.”

  “I’m fine,” he insisted. “If you want, you could take a little nap too—I don’t mind keeping watch.”

  “Sounds tempting, but if I sleep now it will be harder to rest tonight,” she replied.

  “If we get to,” David countered.

  “With any luck, our screamer will get bored and bother someone else,” Abby said.

  Hoping to put some miles between themselves and the previous night’s intruder, everyone pushed themselves to exhaustion during the day’s hike. As evening came and they made camp further into the rainforest, Cael volunteered for first watch.

  “You sure?” David asked. “I don’t mind staying up a little longer.”

  “Now who is being stoic?” asked Cael.

  “Point taken,” David agreed. “Abby?”

  “Yeah, I could use some sleep,” Abby said. She joined him on their mats, settling into his embrace with her back to him. He wrapped his arms around her, pulling her tight against his chest.

  “You as well, Jon and Marisol,” Cael instr
ucted. “I will be waking you soon enough.”

  Marisol nodded sleepily and dragged Jon over to their mats. Soon they too were fast asleep.

  Cael settled into a spot where he could watch for trouble. He realized that the last evening’s visitor had rattled him—his muscles already felt tense in anticipation of the next round.

  Hours later, the night was still blessedly silent. He woke Jon and Marisol for their shift.

  Jon’s hand immediately flew to the hilt of his sword as he startled awake. When he saw Cael’s hand on his arm, he relaxed slightly, but didn’t release his grip on the sword. “Is it back?”

  “No. We seem to have lost it,” Cael informed him.

  “Thank goodness for that,” Marisol said, relieved. “That was so creepy. If I never hear that sound again…”

  “Yes,” Cael nodded. “I think we are all in agreement about that.”

  Abby woke up cold. She reached behind her for David—he was still there. She could hear him breathing steadily, fast asleep. She looked to the fire. It was still going. Whatever had bothered them the night before seemed to be gone—or, if it was still lurking about in the dark, it had run out of things to scream about. Sleepily, she closed her eyes and rolled over to snuggle up to David, face to face. In his sleep he stirred slightly and draped his arm over her. She nestled her cheek against his warm chest and began to drift off.

  “Hello, Rabbit.”

  Abby’s eyes flew open. She found herself looking not into David’s blue eyes, but Tierney’s, which were so dark and intense, they were almost black. She recoiled and tried to wriggle away, but his arms were around her, holding her close.

  Tierney grinned. “Please, don’t get up on my account. It wouldn’t do any good anyway—I’m in your head.”

  Abby glared at him. “What do you want?”

  Tierney studied her clenched jaw and laughed. Apparently the enraged look on her face filled him with delight. I’m so glad to be a source of amusement, she thought angrily.

  He reached out and caressed her cheek. “Don’t be mad, love. I wanted to see you, of course.”

  “What did you do with David?” she asked.

  “He’s still here, lying beside you,” Tierney said, gesturing to his body. He was wearing David’s clothes. “If it makes you feel better, I could wear his face too.”

  “No,” Abby said quickly. “No, don’t do that.”

  “Why?” Tierney asked, feigning innocence. “Would that bother you, dear Rabbit?”

  “No, no, I…” she said.

  Tierney raised his eyebrows expectantly. “Yes?”

  Abby looked into his dark eyes. “I want to see you as you are,” she said firmly.

  “Do you, now? How very interesting,” Tierney replied.

  Abby sat bolt upright, her heart beating fast. She sucked in a breath of air, and breathed out slowly, trying to calm herself.

  David opened his eyes and looked up at her. “Abby? What’s wrong?”

  “Nothing,” Abby lied. “Just a bad dream.” She looked around the camp. Jon and Marisol were sitting back-to-back, eyes trained on the forest around them. She could see Marisol’s hand resting on the hilt of her sword. “Everything’s okay—just go back to sleep,” Abby said, settling in next to David, gently brushing the hair off his forehead.

  “Okay,” he mumbled. “Love you.” David closed his eyes and drifted off again.

  “Love you too,” Abby whispered. She spent the remaining hours of the night staring at his sleeping face, afraid to close her eyes, terrified of what she might see.

  As he woke to take the next shift, David saw that Abby was awake. He reached over and tucked a stray curl behind her ear, noticing that the dark circles under her eyes seemed worse than ever. “No offense, sweetheart, but you look like you’re exhausted. Did you have trouble sleeping again?”

  “A little bit,” Abby admitted. She sat up and pulled her knees to her chest, staring into the branches above them.

  David followed her eyes. Morning was coming; the darkness around them had faded to a dull grey. He sat up and rubbed her back. “What happened? Bad dream?”

  “Something like that.”

  “Want to talk about it?” David asked.

  “No. Not really,” she said, avoiding his gaze.

  David looked at her tired eyes and decided not to press the issue. “Okay. No pressure. But if you want to talk later, I don’t mind.” Were her dreams so terrible that she didn’t want to relive them by talking about them? Or…was it something else? Was she hiding something? David felt frustrated. He wished she would talk to him, let him help her with whatever was going on.

  “Thanks,” Abby said. She smiled wearily. “For the record, it’s not because I’m trying to be stoic about it.”

  David put his arms around her. “I know. But you don’t have to carry it alone. I know it’s got to be pretty bad if you don’t want to talk about it.”

  Abby rubbed her temples as if her head were aching. “It’s just—sometimes it feels so real. Like I can’t tell anymore when I’m dreaming and when I’m awake. I feel like I’m going crazy.”

  “I’ll let you know if you are. And you’re not, by the way,” he said. He slipped his hands under hers and took over massaging her temples.

  She relaxed and closed her eyes, letting her hands drop to her lap. “Thanks—that’s good to know. David?”

  “Yeah?” He stopped the massage to show he was listening.

  She opened her eyes. “Just…just promise me that if I say anything in my sleep, don’t be offended, okay? Just know that it’s a dream, and I can’t always control it. It doesn’t mean anything. Okay?”

  What’s that supposed to mean? he thought. She was definitely hiding something. But what? What could be so terrible that she’d keep it secret from him? David stared at her and then started rubbing her temples again. “Okay. I’ll try to remember that. I can’t imagine what you could possibly say that would offend me, though.”

  “Well, I’ll try my best not to say anything like that,” Abby promised.

  “Look,” he said, taking his hands from her face. The dull grey above them was growing greener. “It’s almost morning anyway, and the others need a little more sleep. Why don’t you get some more rest?”

  “Don’t think that’s going to happen,” she said.

  “It’s okay. Just lay your head in my lap. I can keep watch.”

  “All right. Maybe the light will keep the nightmares away.” She laid her head on his thigh and closed her eyes. Her face relaxed again as he stroked her hair.

  David watched her slip into a deep sleep. The dark circles under her eyes seemed to lighten as her breathing deepened. She almost looked like a child.

  It worried him that she was keeping the dreams to herself. Weren’t they supposed to be connecting, working together? It seemed like they had been making good progress with dreamwalking, but now she had shut him out completely. There was something she wasn’t telling him, but he feared if he pressured her, she would pull away from him more than she already had. What happened to us, Abby? he thought. Where have you gone? And what are you hiding?

  Abby woke to soft whispers. At first, she feared that David was gone and she was trapped in another dream. Then she realized that the others were already awake, and David was talking softly to Cael on the other side of the camp. Immediately she knew the hushed conversation was about her.

  “I’m worried about her,” she heard David say. “I’m losing her, and I don’t know what to do about it.”

  “All you can do is be there for her,” Cael replied. “She will talk when she is ready. She still loves you. Of that, I have no doubt.”

  “I hope so,” David said. “I can’t do this without her. I’m not that strong.”

  Abby saw Cael place his hand on David’s shoulder. “You are stronger than you know.”

  Abby closed her eyes and pretended to be asleep again. After a short while, she gained the courage to sit up and pretend she hadn
’t heard their conversation.

  She spent the day walking beside David, being overly polite, trying to hide her anger. She wasn’t sure why it bothered her so much—it made perfect sense that David would feel that way, considering how she’d been acting, and it also made sense that he would consult with Cael. Who else would he talk to? Jon? Marisol? David had grown close to them, but they wouldn’t understand like Cael, who had his own c’aislingaer he worried about.

  Abby didn’t know if Eulalia had shut Cael out during her years with Ardal, but Cael probably understood the toll Abby’s nightmares were taking. After all the years of waiting to finally be with Eulalia, he was well acquainted with the need for patience. Abby understood all this in some logical part of her mind, but another part of her felt betrayed.

  Night had fallen yet again, and she lay on her side, studying David’s face in the firelight. He was fast asleep, but she could see that he seemed to be having a nightmare of his own. His brow was creased, and she could see the movement of his eyes under the lids. I’m so sorry, she thought, and kissed his forehead. He stirred, and his face relaxed. He was still deep in his dreams, but whatever storm had been raging in his mind seemed to have quieted.

  Over his shoulder, she saw movement. She sat up, staring into the darkness of the jungle. Had the screamer found them? She looked back to the camp fire. It was still burning brightly. Jon and Marisol were keeping watch, their backs to each other, as usual, their fingers intertwined as they talked softly, keeping each other awake. They too were staring into the darkness, but seemed relaxed, unaware that anything might be amiss.

  Abby, on the other hand, felt her body tense up as she became aware that they were not alone, that someone, or something, was watching them, veiled in that curtain of darkness, just out of the firelight’s reach. And whoever it was whispered one word. Her name.