The gang waited desperately for lunchtime to come around to discuss the mission they had been given, but the opportunity never came. Gym class was underway, and the class was doing exercises, but there was suddenly a loud creaking noise from above, which caused the students to look about in confusion and apprehension. The teachers, deciding to be more safe than sorry, moved the students towards the door, and even as they did, a beam from the ceiling came crashing down onto the smooth wooden floor, barely missing landing right on top of Blake and Arya. There were screams of terror in the confusion that ensued, and Blake, also quite frightened, grabbed onto Arya’s hand. Only she, and Chris, who was used to dangers of all kinds, remained calm. The teachers ushered the students out of the room, choking and coughing on dust that was drifting down through the air. Arya, slipping from Blake’s grasp, quietly came to the fallen beam, her escape covered by the settling dust and wreckage. She carefully inspected the wooden beam, finding it solid, and very heavy, and was surprised that it had fallen at all, until she reached the end of the beam, and found it rotten right through, which was the cause of the fall. Suspicious now, she went to the other end and discovered that it had also rotted away. She cautiously brushed a finger against the rotten edge, then pulled away at a sharp pain. She had gotten a splinter stuck in her finger. She shook her hand at the sting, and brushed the splinter out onto the floor, then followed the rest of the students through the exit and to the classroom. Some were being treated for shock, and everyone had a glass of water to wash the dust from their throats. Laurie was helping the nurse deal with the hysterical ones as the water was passed out. As Arya entered the room, she glanced around for the gang. Suddenly, someone grabbed her shoulder from behind. She turned to find Chris standing there.
“You stayed behind. What did you find in their?”
“Who says I found anything?”
“Oh please. Don’t give me that. I know what you are. I’m a werewolf, remember? I can sense it on you. So what did you find?”
“Don’t tell anyone. Not even Logan. I don’t think the beam falling was an accident.”
“Someone cut it, you mean?”
“No. Not cut. This saboteur isn’t of this world. The ends were both rotten through and through, but the middle was as solid as if it was straight from the sawmill.”
“Magic?”
“Or the Above. I don’t think so, though.”
“If not from the Above, then where? Is it possible this power is from the Surface realms?”
“No. Not this power. This is of the Underworld.”
“The Underworld?”
Arya turned and looked Chris directly in the eyes, her brow furrowed deeply.
“As I said, tell no one that we have spoken of this. Nobody is to know, have you got that?”
Chris nodded and walked back to join the group. Blake noticed Arya and quickly headed over to her.
“Hey, are you okay? I was a little worried when you didn’t come in with the rest of us.”
“I’m fine. Are you okay? That beam came pretty close to hitting us.”
“Yeah, I’m okay. Just got a little dust in my eyes is all. That was nasty. I can’t believe a beam fell from the roof! Don’t they have, like, inspections and stuff to prevent that from happening?”
“Maybe it’s been a while since the last one. Stuff could have happened. Weather and age, and such.”
Blake grinned.
“I guess you’re right. I should probably just calm down. It’s not like anyone was trying to kill us, after all.”
Arya grinned half-heartedly.
“Right. Not like that at all.”
Gym was skipped that day while the students recovered from the scare. The teachers announced that the gym would be closed until a work crew could clear out the fallen beam and replace it. So gym became a free period for the next week, they announced. Also, the counselor would talk to anyone who wanted to, to help with the shock of the falling beam. Arya smirked to herself, inwardly laughing at how fragile the humans were. The talk that day centered around the event of the fallen beam, instead of the mission at hand, and so Arya was spared any questions about the Tree, and all it represented. The next day, when the students returned to the school, there was still talk of the beam incident. The gang though that everything had calmed to idle chatter about the incident, but then the unforeseen happened. A girl from their class came running in, screaming and sopping wet, and a teacher attempted to calm her, and asked what happened. Through much hyperventilation and sobbing, it was deciphered that a sink in the girls bathroom had detached from the wall and flew against the wall, barely missing the girl and the pipes had burst and soaked her with water. She had screamed and ran from the restroom when her legs finally got their strength back. Arya, not saying anything, slipped out in the commotion and went to the bathroom to see the damage. True to the girl’s report, the sink was lodged in the wall opposite the spurting pipes. Arya contained the water briefly, and observed the pipe itself. It had been rusted all through, but the pipe in the wall was strong and hearty, as though brand-new. The pipe running to the sink, also, rusted at the end, but strong and thick everywhere else. Arya slipped back out of the bathroom, releasing the water behind her. She stole back into the classroom, where confusion was still quite obvious. The teacher was attempting to calm the class, and Arya smirked at the hysterical teens. They were so delicate and unstable. She glanced down at her hand, feeling an odd stinging sensation. Her eyes grew wide and her heart skipped a beat. Her fingertip was black, and the skin around it was brownish. It was the finger she had gotten the splinter in. She felt herself growing a bit faint, but gathered her strength and looked away, slipping her hand into her pocket as she acted as though nothing had happened. The talk didn’t really die down at all, for the very next day, two more incidents occurred. A rack in a storage closet nearly crushed Kyle, falling off of the wall unexpectedly, and Stuart was nearly beheaded when a water fountain blew off the wall in a hallway. These events triggered mass hysteria among the students, and rumors began flying about, theories about ghost hauntings, poltergeists, curses, even demons. On the third day of incidents, Anna was out with Kyle in the school courtyard when a length of fence from the roof came detatched and fell towards them. The only barely escaped injury, and the rumors were only fueled more. Arya investigated all three incidents, and found that the rack, the water fountain and the fence had all rusted away from their holds. Her hand had also slowly turned black, and it had spread to her wrist and arm. She could no longer feel her hand, as though someone had given her a dozen shots of numbing drugs. The fourth day came, and the class was subdued and anxious. Every sound was the sound of danger, and apprehension clogged the air of the classroom. Blake, who had become very close with Arya, certainly closer than the rest of the gang, came and greeted her as she came into the classroom, earlier than usual.
“Hey, Arya. You okay?”
“Fine. Why do you ask?”
“With all these weird accidents, I just wanted to make sure nothing happened to you.”
“No, I’m okay. Don’t worry about me. You know I can take care of myself.”
“Yeah, I know. I’m just stressed out, I guess.”
Then he looked down and saw her hands.
“Hey, why are you wearing gloves? I know it’s cold outside, being winter and all, but it’s warm in here. Why don’t you take them off?”
“Nah, I’d like to keep them on, if you don’t mind.”
Blake shrugged.
“Suit yourself. You’ll get pretty toasty with them on all the time, you know.”
Arya frowned, muttering under her breath, “Just mind your own business.”
“What was that?”
“Nothing. Don’t worry about it.”
“Yeah, okay.”
They took their seats for class, and the bell rang as Mr. Black came in.
Later that day, as they were coming back from lunch, Anna suddenly stopped in the middle of the hallway. Kyle noticed that she had stopped and walked back to her.
“Hey, what’s the matter?”
“I just realized that I don’t have my binder. I need it for class. I think I left it in the lunch room. I won’t be long, just go ahead.”
“No way. With all the weird stuff going on in this school, no way I’d let you go alone. I’ll come too.”
“Okay, thanks.”
They walked quickly back to the lunchroom, and began to hunt around the abandoned room for Anna’s binder. She finally located it, sitting at the end of the lunch counter, and sighed in relief.
“There it is. I got it,” she said to Kyle as she walked over to the counter. Suddenly, there was a loud creaking, and the ceiling caved in right on top of her! Kyle jumped forward, screaming, and threw himself on the pile of rubble, choking in the dust. He dug wildly through the pile and found Anna buried at the bottom, her eyes closed, and blood all over her. Kyle was stunned for a moment, alternately screaming and sobbing, then jumped to his feet and raced from the room. In mere seconds he was at the classroom door, though he didn’t know how he had made it there. But he didn’t care. He flung to door open and screamed his message at the teacher.
“Anna! Help, help! Please! Anna’s hurt!”
Mr. Black leapt into action and ran from the classroom, following Kyle as he called over his shoulder,
“Stay put, all of you! Don’t you dare move from this spot, got it? And someone, call an ambulance!”
Kyle led Mr. Black to where Anna was in the lunch room, and, between gasping breaths he explained what had happened. They couldn’t do much for Anna, not wanting to touch her, for fear of making things worse, and the ambulance arrived soon. Anna was driven to the hospital, and Kyle rode with her. Her condition was pretty bad. Her ribs had been broken, her skull had been fractured, she had a broken leg, and multiple cuts and abrasions. One lung had collapsed, and there was internal bleeding as well. The doctor told the gang that, separately, these issues wouldn’t be a huge problem, but together, they couldn’t do much. The put her on a painkiller and set her leg and ribs in casts. There was too much damage to repair her lung, but they did their best. Her skull fracture was fixable, but the injuries her brain had sustained were not. The doctor gave her only a month to live, under constant care from the hospital, but no more than that. Kyle took the news worst of all, and cried very hard. He never left her side for the next three days, sleeping and eating at the hospital. He didn’t show up for school the next week at all, and throughout that time, the gang visited more than once. Friday, Monday and Tuesday all passed with incident at the school, and rumors died down quickly. Wednesday morning, the weather was quite warm for winter, and as the student slowly arrived in the classroom, Blake greeted Arya as usual.
“Hey, Arya. How are you doing?”
“You mean Anna?”
“Yeah.”
“I’m okay. I didn’t really know her that well, you know. How are you coping?”
“I’m pretty upset about it. She’s a good friend, after all. But I think Kyle’s the worst off out of all of us.”
“That makes sense. She is his girlfriend, after all. He hasn’t been in school the past three days. It must be pretty hard on him.”
“Yeah.”
Blake cast his eyes towards the floor, and as he did so, he saw Arya’s hands.
“You’re wearing gloves again?”
“Yeah, why does it matter?”
“It’s like, 60 degrees out! You don’t need gloves in this weather.”
“I would like to keep them on, if you don’t mind.”
“Why? What’s the problem?”
“None of your business.”
Blake was taken aback. Arya had never reacted this upset at anything before. He frowned in concern.
“Arya, something’s wrong with you. What is it? Why won’t you take off your gloves?”
“You don’t need to know.”
Blake reached out and grabbed her hand, trying to pull the glove off.
“Yes I do! What’s wrong with you? Why are you wearing these gloves all the time?”
“None of your business! Leave my gloves alone!”
“No! Tell me what your problem is!”
“No! Get off of me!”
The glove suddenly slipped off, and Blake saw Arya’s hand. It was completely black, and withered. His jaw dropped, and he pulled her into the back corner of the classroom.
“What the heck is wrong with your hand, Arya?”
Arya grabbed her glove from him and tried to put it back on, but Blake stopped her and rolled her sleeve up. Her entire arm was black and withered, and it had spread across to her other arm, and her entire torso. This he didn’t see, but he felt it through her jacket.
“Arya! What’s happening to you?”
Arya turned away from him, pulling her glove back onto her hand and pulling her sleeve back down.
“Nothing. I’m fine. It’s just a rash.”
“A rash doesn’t turn you black and wrinkly. What is wrong with you. And no excuses.”
Arya turned back to him and looked into his eyes. Her own yellow ones were sad and solemn.
“I’m rotting. I’m rotting alive.”
Blake took a step back in a mixture of shock, disgust, and horror.
“No!”
Arya looked down at the floor.
“Yes. I caught a disease of some kind, and now I’m slowly rotting.”
“What kind of disease does that?”
“Not of this world, that’s for sure.”
“Is there any cure?”
“No, not that I know of.”
“Then… There’s no hope?”
“I’m sorry, Blake. I don’t think I’m going to survive this.”
“But… Your magic! Can’t you cure yourself with magic?”
“Like I said, the disease is not of this world. I can’t cure it with magic.”
“Then… Then…”
“I may have a week, at best. Maybe a few days more. Will you be okay?”
“No, I won’t! I can’t imagine what I’d do without you! You’re like no other girl I know! I think I’m in love with you!”
Arya smirked and shook her head.
“Love? No. That feeling isn’t love. Love isn’t an emotion. What you feel is simply a human reaction. People call it a crush. It’s not love. You don’t fall in love. You choose to love, and you learn to love. Don’t be fooled by simply feelings. There’s more to life than that.”
Then the bell rang, and the students filed to their seats for class.
Throughout the day, Blake kept glancing back at Arya, as though she might simply vanish at any second. Lunchtime came, and Blake felt an overwhelming darkness settling over his heart. He needed to talk to someone. Someone who knew loss, more than anything else, and had survived. So he sat with Logan during lunch. At first, he didn’t speak at all, or eat, but then Logan noticed how quiet he was being.
“Blake, are you okay? You haven’t said a word, and your food is getting cold.”
“I-I don’t know.”
“If you’re okay?”
“It’s just… I think I’m okay… But I don’t think I will be. Or, maybe, I’m not okay now, but I might be okay later. Or maybe-”
“Can you just tell me what happened?”
“Oh. Right. Well… Arya… It’s Arya… she’s… dying.”
Logan’s eyes widened.
“Dying? What do you mean?”
“She has a… sickness. And she says she probably won’t live much longer than a week more. And I… I… Don’t know what to do!”
Blake slammed his fist down on the table, and Logan nodded in understanding.
“I get it. I felt the same way when Layra disappeared. I didn’t know how to help, and for a while, I felt depressed, hopeless, and even lonely. It happens when you lose someone. I lost Layra twice, and I even lost Chris once. But it’ll be okay. Hang in there, buddy.”
Logan patted Blake on the back, and Blake nodded, a sad half-smile on his face.
“Thanks, I guess. I don’t know how that helps, but I feel a little better now.”
“Good. Chris really helped me out when I was down after Layra’s second disappearance, and I’ll be here if you need me. But, you need to find a really good friend who you can trust. Someone who’ll be there all the time for you. Tell them what’s going on, and let them help you through it.”
“Yeah. Thanks.”
Blake smiled a bit, then shook Logan’s hand, and started in on his food, his appetite coming back. Later, he found Chandler and explained the situation to him, how Arya was dying, and Chandler patted him on the back.
“It’s okay. I’m here for the both of you. And you need to be there for her, too. Think how she feels. She’s the one dying, after all! Go on, she needs you right now.”
Blake took his advice, and throughout the next week, he was by her side constantly. They ate together, walked to school and between classes side by side, and he even stayed with her after school. They visited Anna and Kyle at the hospital, and Blake stayed close to Arya always. Saturday afternoon, Blake had stayed with Arya at her dorm most of the day, helping around the room, and hanging out with her. She’d slowly been getting weaker and more tired the past few days, and she could barely stand up now. The rotting had slowly spread to her legs, and was creeping up towards her face also. She smiled often at Blake, thanking him quietly for his help, and it cut through his heart like a knife every single time. Finally, Arya persuaded him to head for home, since it was getting dark.
“And it looks like there’s a storm blowing in. You shouldn’t be caught outside in it.”
Blake gave in, and left, closing the door behind him. But only a little while after he left, Arya looked up and saw his bag lying on a chair in the main room. She grabbed it and stood weakly to her feet. She opened the door and walked out of the building, chasing after Blake with his bag. As she tried to catch up with him, the wind picked up, harder and harder, and it started raining. There was flashing across the sky at a distance, and the faint booming of thunder. Finally, Arya saw Blake in the distance, and taking a deep breath, she called out his name as loudly as she could, picking up her pace a bit. She was running under a large oak tree planted by the side of the road when she heard a loud creaking sound. She stopped and glanced around, then upwards, but it was too late to move. She felt a huge weight drop onto her face, then absolute nothingness.
Blake, having left Arya’s dorm, was walking home, and the wind started kicking up. It was beginning to rain, and he regretted not leaving earlier, or asking to stay the night. As the rain grew harder, he suddenly heard his name being called. He turned, surprised, and saw Arya running after him, carrying something in her hand. Then she stopped, quite suddenly, next to a giant oak tree, and glanced around, then Blake saw a large limb snap off of the tree in the wind and rain, and fall downwards.
“ARYA!” he screamed at the top of his lungs, but it was too late. The limb landed on her, and he saw her body crumple underneath it, before it was hidden by the branches. He broke into a full-on run, and skidded to a halt next to the limb. He struggled desperately with the branch, calling Arya’s name loudly over and over again. He finally managed to roll the branch over, but there was no Arya. No body, no clothes, not even any blood. All that was lying beneath the branch was Blake’s bag, which Arya had been carrying. Blake sank to his knees, the rain soaking him to the bone, and reached slowly out towards the bag. He clutched it in his hands, staring down at it in disbelief.
“My… bag… this is… no! No! It can’t be!”
He raised his face to the crying skies and screamed.
“WHY!”
Then he crumpled into a ball, his forehead sinking to the pavement before him, his hands still clutching the bag as he sobbed hysterically, unable to stop. He couldn’t stop. He didn’t want to stop.
“No… Please… no! Arya! Arya!”
It was too late. She was gone.
Monday morning, Blake forced himself out of bed in the morning and dragged himself to school. He didn’t feel like going, but he needed his friends at this trying time. Class was pointless and miserable, and Blake stared at his desk the entire day. He couldn’t bring himself to look up, and especially not back, back towards the empty seat which once played host the girl Blake had come to like so much. When lunch came, Blake dragged himself from his seat and trudged to the lunch room, but he couldn’t bring himself to eat. Chandler was concerned about his friend, and sat close by as Blake picked at his food. Chandler nudged him gently.
“Hey, what’s up? You seem bummed.”
“Bummed? That’s the understatement of the century. Devastated is more like it.”
Then it dawned upon the kind giant.
“It’s Arya, isn’t it? She…”
Blake nodded, tears welling up behind his eyes. He quickly made an effort to hide them, wiping his sleeve across his face. Chandler patted him on the back kindly.
“It’s okay to cry. We’re all your friends here, remember?”
Blake nodded wordlessly. The rest of the gang all agreed with Chandler, and showered Blake with kind attentions. Arya’s death was announced the next day at assembly, and there was a memorial for her. She had no living family, and no will, so her belongings were given to the school, who gave them to Blake, who was reported to be her closest friend. Tears were shed, and most of them Blake’s. In the hallway after the ceremony, Chandler pulled Blake into a brotherly embrace, and Blake cried for the loss of the life he had tried so very hard to cherish and protect. The official report said that during the storm, a rotten branch had fallen upon her while she was walking by the river, and her body had been swept in by the rain. She had drowned, and her body was unable to be recovered. Only Blake and the gang knew the truth of her disappearance, and they kept it to themselves, for no one would believe that she was a witch, or that her body had disintegrated. But Blake was affected most of all by Arya’s death, and spent the next two weeks visiting Anna at the hospital, alongside Kyle. But a month after Anna’s admittance to the hospital, her condition began to worsen. Kyle and Blake were visiting one day, and Anna was conscious. Kyle was holding her hand as they talked.
“Hey, Anna. It’s me. It’s Kyle. How are you doing?”
“Holding out okay. How are you?”
“I’m doing fine. Are you happy here? Nothing’s bothering you?”
“No, I’m fine. The doctors are nice, and I’m comfortable. How’s school going?”
Blake smiled down at her and offered the latest report.
“School’s great. Of course, I’m still getting horrible grades, but we’re all doing okay.”
“That’s good.”
Kyle patted Anna’s hand gently.
“Do you need me to get you anything? A drink of water? A pillow?”
“I’m okay, Kyle. Stop worrying so. I do feel a little tired, though. I think I’d like to take a nap.”
“Do you want us to leave?” Kyle asked, standing up a little.
“No. Stay here. Keep holding my hand. Stay until I fall asleep.”
Kyle sat back down. Blake, knowing what was happening, walked over to the window, giving the two some space. Kyle stroked Anna’s hair gently, still holding her hand as he whispered loving words to her. She smiled, and her eyes closed.
“You know I love you, right Anna? I will always love you, you know that, right?”
“I know that, Kyle. I love you, too. I always, always will.”
And she smiled warmly, and her breathing slowed, and finally stopped. Blake turned his face to the window, sniffing back a few tears. Kyle held onto Anna’s hand, still whispering little words of loving comfort. Then he stood, tucking her hand under the covers and watching her silently. Blake walked over and put a hand on Kyle’s shoulder.
“You okay?”
“I think… I will be.”
“I’m here if you need me. You’ll survive.”
“Yeah. Thank you.”
The next day at school, the boys gathered in the gym, which had been cleaned up since the falling beam incident. Kyle and Blake were firm in their decision, and what could the others do but agree with the two grief-stricken boys. They would accept Arya’s mission, and they would find the Tree, regain their memories, and return the Tree to it’s rightful place in the Above. And so they had decided it, and without further ado, all twelve of them set out, without waiting for school to end, and began their long journey to find what had been lost. Blake recalled to mind what Arya had said back when she had first told them of their mission.
“Don’t bother telling me if you accept the mission or not. I won’t be here. You heard Layra. I’ll be leaving with Anna very soon. Sorry, Blake.”
The prophecy that Layra had given, and that Arya had delivered had come to pass, as truthful as it could have been. Blake wiped a tear from his eye and balled his fists. This wasn’t simply a mission any longer. This was personal. This was for Arya.
In a dark room, with whispering voices and dim red light filtering onto the rough-cut granite walls. A beam of red caught a girl in it’s glow, her body suspended in it’s eerie glow, it’s illumination catching her hair in it’s light and turning purple against her blue stripe. Her eyes were closed, and her black withered skin was glowing in the red light. A pair of broken glasses hovered beside her, and her school uniform fluttered in an unseen breeze. A pair of voices murmured in the background as two dark forms watched the floating witch with dark intentions in their dark eyes.
“You recovered her, then?”
“Yes, master. Her body was nearly gone, but I managed to retrieve the specimen before she disintegrated.”
“Well done. Our recovery tank will soon return her body to it’s former… health. And then she will tell us what we need to know…”
Hissing laughter echoed through the granite chamber, and two demon-like figures were lit by a red light as a flame shot up through the cracked floor beneath them.
