The Crone
The Crone
\[Elise’s POV\]
I stand in place, confusion, fear, and something so much deeper rushing through me as I watch Tristan try to get Denali to wake up.
“Is she…” I whisper, and Tristan shoots me a look.
“Please, just do as I asked you.”
For a moment I don’t move. It’s like my feet are rooted to the floor, but when Tristan gives me a look of desperation, I finally turn and begin to head toward the room’s exit.
“Jolene,” I murmur when I reach the hall. “Where would Jolene be…”
Honestly, I didn’t know her well enough to know where she would hang out aside from…
“Infirmary.” I announce, turning and beelining for that place. “Please be there.” I mutter, moving as quickly as I can. “Please….Jolene!” I gasp as I burst into the infirmary and with luck I find her sitting at her desk.
“Elise?”
“Jolene!” I hiss, rushing forward and grabbing her hand. “Please! You have to come with me now.”
“What’s wrong?” Jolene asks, jumping up from her place. “What’s going on?”
I don’t respond to her question, instead, I give her a tug and begin to pull her back to the room where I left Denali and Tristan.
When we arrive I find Tristan hovering over Denali who continues to not move in her bed.
“What happened?” Jolene demands, jumping into action. “What is this?”
“It’s bad,” Tristan murmurs. “Real bad. I think…” He trails off, his words getting caught in his throat as he tries to speak the truth that I understood in my heart. “I think our side lost.”
“What?” Jolene gasps. “No, that’s impossible. How could you say such a thing?”
“Look at her.” Tristan snaps. “How can you say it is impossible when Denali is in this condition?”
At Tristan’s words, Jolene’s gaze drifts to the unmoving woman on the bed between them, and then her expression darkens.
“No way,” she whispers. “I would have felt it. What about Jose and the others?”
“I don’t know,” Tristan admits. “But I felt it. I felt the bond severing with multiple members.”
“I see,” Jolene mutters. “Then this doesn’t bode well.”
As she speaks, she begins to examine Denali, and as she does, her expression darkens more and more. While it does, I don’t need to ask what is going through her head, I already know. She’s worried and scared, just like the rest of us who were left behind while our comrades rushed into battle.
Now what? The small voice in the back of my head asks. What are we supposed to do to turn things around?
If only…if only…
If only what? I wonder as something starts to slowly bubble up, but as it does, fiery hot pain shoots through my head.
“Agh!” I groan, grabbing my head as it feels like it is about to rip apart.
“Elise,” Tristan calls, but his voice sounds far away. “Elise, do you hear me?”
“I…” I stammer as black spots begin to dance in front of my eyes. “I…”
I don’t ever manage to get out the words that I want to say before the world fades around me, and begins to rearrange into a different world entirely. Once it settles, I find myself standing in a lucious green field with a large sparkling lake, and crystal blue sky above.
“Where?” I whisper as a breeze brushes against me and I look down to find I’m standing in a silk white slip. “Where…”
“Elise.”
The voice is soft and gentle as it reaches me, and even though I don’t recognize it, my heart begins to kick up in speed.
“Elise, sweetheart.”
“Who?” I murmur, looking around, trying to find the source of the voice. “Whose there?”
As I speak, I continue to move until finally I spot someone.
She’s beautiful with long wavy dark hair that hangs around her curvy frame and sparkling blue eyes that remind me so much of Denali’s. As I take her in, I feel a sense of longing and pain, but I don’t quite understand where that feeling is coming from.
“Elise,” she repeats. “My sweet Elise.”
“Who…” I murmur, still not recognizing the woman. “Who are you?”
“Your mother.” She tells me, moving forward. “I’m your mother.”
Mother.
Why did that word leave such a sour taste in my mouth? Shouldn’t it have left me feeling elated?
“Elise,” the woman, my mother, continues, closing the distance between us. “I don’t have much time. Please, listen carefully. You must save everyone.”
“Me,” I repeat. “And how am I supposed to do that?”
“Change fate.” She tells me. “The path that has come to fruition is one of death and destruction, that is, if something isn’t done to stop it.”
“How can a fate that has already been decided be changed?” I demand. “We’ve already lost!”
“You haven’t,” my mother tells me. “You haven’t, not yet.”
Crazy.
This woman standing in front of me looking so serious was crazy. There was no way that I could undo what was already done.
“Elise, you must go back and change fate.”
“Go back,” I repeat. “And how am I supposed to do that?”
“Find the crone.” She tells me. “Ask her to grant you the ability to go back in time and fix what you have done.”
“Me,” I spit. “Are you saying all of this is my fault?”
How was that even possible? What the hell did I do so wrong to be blamed for all of this?
“Find the crone,” my mother repeats as the world around us starts to shift once more. “Find her and do as I have instructed.”
“And if I don’t?”
“Then the world will most certainly end.”
She doesn’t say anything more as I feel myself being tugged and then pulled and when the world returns to the one that I was in before my mother appeared, I find Jolene hovering over me looking worried.
“Elise,” she says as I just stare at her in confusion. “Can you hear me? Blink once if you can.”
Remaining silent, I just stare at the concerned woman above me while wondering what the hell I just experienced.
“Dammit, Tristan,” Jolene hisses. “She isn’t waking up.”
“Get her off the floor.” Tristan instructs and as Jolene attempts to grab me, I finally snap out of my daze.
“I’m fine,” I tell her, wondering if what I just experienced was a delusion or if it actually happened. “It’s just…” I trail off as my mother’s words return to me once more. “It’s just…tell me, do either of you know how to locate the crone?”