Awakening: 37

"Just walk," Mark said, looking up at the sky, hopefully.

Keya was fascinated with the girl, Teresa, in her fancy green dress floating above them. "That's pretty neat," she said. "I mean, the flying thing."
"Yes," Mark said, "Whenever the vampires spot us because of her obvious flying, I think it's pretty neat, too."

"Whatever," Teresa said, now landing on the floor beside Mark.

They walked toward a well in the middle of downtown, Los Angeles. Cars here and there had swerved onto a building or been left stranded. Some were burned and others looked to have landed through the buildings themselves. The deeper Keya went into this world, the more frightening it became to her.

"They don't get too close to here," Mark said. "But you need to be more careful, missy. What are you doing traveling like some crazy person, anyway?"

"It's my book," Keya said, "I'm not really a traveler."

Mark and Tersa exchanged a look of either concern or worry. Then, Mark shrugged, "Stranger things have happened."

"To us," Teresa said, holding onto Mark's hand.

Then, Keya realized that Mark and Teresa might be involved with each other. "What about Wendy, Mark?" Keya asked.

"Who is Wendy?" Teresa asked, looking at Mark's face with some concern.

Again, Mark shrugged, "No idea. The girl must've met a different me."

Keya certainly had met a different Mark. Blasted it all, she'd let herself be fooled by traveling. This wasn't her friend Mark; it was another Mark, who in this world had gotten involved with Teresa, a witch. Keya figured that Mark would certainly be an interesting person no matter what dimension he was in but she never imagined him not being in love with Wendy.

Keya also noticed Mark's obviously more youthful features. His cheeks were more full of life and round and he had those blue eyes that the other Mark had said he had, though, in her world, the in-a-comma Mark had brown eyes. His hair was black, which was a thing that Keya herself would never have guessed. Of course, she couldn't really see how it was combed, since he still wore that ugly brown hat. She couldn't escape that stupid thing, not even in this dimension? She wished she could grab it and dump it on the floor, except maybe that Mark would pick it up with her shoe print and put it back on his head.

"Nevermind Wendy," Keya said, "I've been here, twice and twice you saved my life, how did you know I was here?"

"Well," Mark said, "That has to do with her."

Teresa waved a hand at her. Her now red fiery hair made Keya remember the golden-haired version of her. How alike and different they were! This one wore earrings at least, which made her that much more human to Keya. "I can track humans," she said, shrugging, "It's a talent."

"What does that mean?"

"Radar for real people," Mark said, "She sees it all in her head like a big map, you could say. Then, we just teleport to you. It's something that witches can do but travelers have some trouble with."

"How did you make sunlight appear when the shades opened last time?" Keya asked, thinking she'd been captured at night.

"It's a trick of the eyes, missy," Mark said, "We got into a bit of trouble with the vampires back in the day because they could trick the eye into thinking it was surrounded by darkness. In your case, enough time had passed, that you missed the daylight coming right upon you. Lucky, by the way. If their boss had come, we would have had more trouble getting you out of that hell-hole. Never had I fought so hard to escape a death-trap in my life."
"You just teleported me," Keya said.

"True," Teresa said, now leaning against the well, "But we weren't alone right after that. Many more came, all asking after the healer. I think they may have even let us go, despite me burning up everything in sight."

"Why?" Keya asked, curious.

"Because of you, missy," Mark said, poiting a finger at her, "They really want to convert you into a vampire, so you can heal them."

Suddenly, the howl of wolves startled all three of them. Mark nodded at Teresa.

"Hold still, missy," Mark said to her, "Teleporting long distance is a tricky business."

A bright blue light surrounded all three of them and Keya noticed that Teresa's hands were glowing green. In an instant, Keya's whole world spun in circles. The feeling of it made her almost instantly sick to her stomach. She dropped to her knees and squirmed. Mark walked up to her. "It's over now."

It took Keya a few seconds to adjust her vision. Everything looked blurry. When she her eyes came back to normal, the feeling in her stomach settled down and she felt normal again. She saw Teresa going off to some room. They were in a cafeteria with tables all around them and it was daylight or at least plenty of it was coming in through the windows. Mark smiled down at her but had to look back to do so. She was on the floor of the cafeteria while he sat with his back to her, eating a sandwich of some sort. "We get sloppy-joe day here," Mark said.

A round woman in an early fifty's dress with an apron draped over it approached her. She helped her up. "Don't mind them. As soon as they get here, they want to be pampered like five-year-olds. Where did they save you from, now? Oh, a book, you brought a book with you deary? What are you some sort of scholar now, really Mark, where did you dig this pretty little thing from?"

"Oh," Mark said, mouth half full of sloppy joe, part of it stained orange from the meat, "You know, the abyss of time and space, at Deadman's alley."

"Oh, fancy talk from Mr. I-need-a-napkin."

Now that Keya's sight had come back, she could see drapes over the windows. All around the place, it was covered with curtains or drapes but sunlight still streamed through. It was a huge place, big enough to fit at least two-thousand people but there were only a scatter-set of five benches and various chairs all grouped together in the middle. Farther along the auditorium-like cafeteria she saw hallways and doors along the walls. Then, she spotted a basketball court, now fallen sideways on the floorboards. It was an old stadium.

"Yea," Mark said, looking down at her, "The great stadium where basketball greats played, now the seats are gone. Teresa used magic to move them. They're outside blocking the entrance, you know, to keep the bad guys out. Up there, where it used to be domelike and huge, we built another room or set of rooms, whatever you want to call it. Used a bit of magic for that too but once that place up there was built, we could look down on the vampires and viciously shoot them down with guns. They don't get anywhere near this place, although their numbers, according to Teresa, are expanding. Apparently, some of the travelers are dumping their thrash in our earth."

"Whatever is your name?" asked the woman in the apron as she took a seat next to Mark, who was hoarding over a tray full of those sloppy joes.

"I'm Keya," Keya said, "And I came here to ask your help."

"Came here?" Mark asked, smiling, "Don't you mean, stumbled upon?"

"Well, yes. I meant at first," Keya said, "But I really need your help."

"You want Teresa to magic you back to your world because its too late for that. You know, she can only reverse magic after a set time or something. I don't get too involved with it but I do know some of the rules."

"He doesn't want you to leave, deary," the lady said, with a sigh. She took one of the sandwiches on the tray and picked at it.

"No," Keya said, "I don't want to leave. I mean, not yet."

"Not yet?" Mark asked, mouthful of meat, "You staying for good, I would think."

"My book," Keya said, lifting up the book, "It can take me back. All I have to do is write the coordinates--?"

"Perfectly out of pens," Mark said, quickly.

The lady procured a pen from her apron. "Here you are."

"I don't need to go home right now," Keya said, smiling at Mark's trick. She took the pen and put it under her sweaters sleeve. She had worn a green sweater for this occasion. "I'll just keep it for later, thank you miss--?"

"Adrian Rosales," Adrian said, extending her hand. Keya hesitated to take it, since it was completely orange.

The woman took her hand back. "Right," Adrian said, "So what's the deal then?"

"I think," Keya said, "That I was fated to be here."

"Oh, great," Mark said, "Fate. Don't talk to me about that. Millions of people out there dead and here we are, six or seven survivors, 'fated' to live, some would say. Cursed, I would think."

"They have one of them alive," Keya said, "The vampires."

"Say who?" Mark asked, dropping his sandwich in surprise. "Look, we would have...?"

"No," Keya said, "Because he's, I don't know, different than others."

"He?"

"Is there a place where you see them a lot, where its the most dangerous to be, are they guarding some place that is extremely dangerous?"

"You're saying," Mark said, smiling, "That there's a person...like me and you...that the vampires are holding captive under my very eyes that Teresa can't detect on her radar?"

"I'm almost certain of it," Keya said, smiling at Mark. She took a seat next to him and grabbed one of the sandwiches. She bit into them, not realizing how hungry she had really been. She ate the thing almost too fast, licking her fingers afterward. "These are great!" Keya exclaimed, "What is in these?"

"Well," Adrian said, "It's not really as important as eating them is."

"Trust me," Mark said, "You don't want to know what's in these."

Still, she grabbed another one and ate it a little slower this time. She didn't want to look too eager.

They took a minute to eat in silence before Teresa came out of one the doors, now dressed in her nightclothes. She was wearing loose pants and fluffy clown-nosed slippers and a short-top shirt with a heart in the middle of it. Teresa eyed Keya for a minute because Keya had been licking her fingers eagerly at the time. "You had the meal of the day, I see. At least, someone's a fan of Adrian's cooking."

"Plenty of it left," Adrian said with a deep smile. She herself had eaten three of the sandwiches in the meantime.

"Its sleep time," Teresa said to Mark.

Keya wondered what that meant. Outside it looked like it was a nice sunny day.

"You don't go outside?"

"What part of city full of vampires didn't you get?"

"They come out in the light?" Keya asked.

"What are you saying?" Teresa asked the girl. "No, they--the blinds are a trick. It never gets light here anymore. The vampires have their own wizards and witches. And they invested quite some magic in making the earth a permanent dome of darkness."

"But it looks like sunlight!"

"That's a trick, like when you open that book. You don't really have the traveler's talent but the book does. We don't really have light but the trick does. In this case, a big man named Chris."

"A person is making the light?"

"Yea," Teresa said, "He keeps it up like a shield overnight or over day--we can't really tell. One of us had a watch but genius here lost it fighting the vampires like a week ago. He's up there," Teresa said, pointing at the lookout post that Mark had mentioned earlier.

Keya looked up and saw the wooden platform up there. It wasn't see through but it sure did have enough holes in it. She could barely decipher something that looked like a television screen.

"So is there a place that's all guarded or not?" Keya asked.

"What's she talking about?" Teresa asked.

"She keeps going on and on about some person that we can't detect."

"Oh," Teresa said, nodding. "I guess that could be right."

"Don't give the girl high-hopes, Teresa. She seems too eager to be at it. Who knows, she might even try and go by herself."

"That," Teresa said, "Was a mistake. And it happened a long time ago, mind you."

"What are they talking about?" Keya asked Adrian pulling on her sleeve to one side. Whispering Adrian said to her, "Mark's little sister got killed by the vampires. He thinks that, in any case. We never got her body. Now, that's him, a defeated man but good as heck at slicing at them fellows that took her."

Keya nodded, remembering Mark's katana blade as it fenced off claws and cut down vampires neck-first.

"Well," Keya said, "I'm not looking to get you guys in any trouble. And if you don't tell me about the place, then I'll just go looking for it myself."

"You know we won't let you do that," Teresa said, giving her a mean stare.

"One way or another. I can wait until you're asleep. This is too important."

"Who do you think the vampires have in custody, girl?" Mark asked, looking confused and hurt.

Keya was sad that she had to play the part of little sister but she had to save Mark. This could be her only chance.

"Tell the girl, then," Adrian said, "You brought her here to tell her certain things. She might as well know everything."

Mark sighed. "Now that you've spilled it and told her that there's an everything to talk about. That kind of talks gives girls like her ideas, you know."

"She's not your sister, Mark," Teresa said.

"She might as well be," Mark said, turning his back to Teresa. It started to dawn on Keya that in this dimension Mark was in some kind of relationship with Teresa.

Suddenly, it was a little darker in the room and a six-foot tall black man dressed nothing but large army trousers came into the auditorium from one of the doors.

"What's all the rucus?" He asked. "Well, I'll be, it's the girl! Where did you find--this isn't her.. or is it? You been getting a tan over there with the vampires, girl?"

"Hi," Keya said, smiling shyly.

"It's not her," Teresa said, "She's a traveler. Or, rather, she's got a book that does it for her."

"Fancy book," Chris said. "You guys have trouble on your outing?"

"Yes," Mark said, "But we found her anyway and she was...doing a nice trick. I don't know what it was but all I saw was vampires vanish."

"You didn't see the light?" Keya asked him, now amazed.

"Light?" Teresa asked. "Missy--?"

"My name is Keya."

"Well, Keya," Teresa said, "We came upon you and you had your eyes closed. Mark thought you were asleep. Then, vampires began to vanish. We thought you were sending them to another dimension or something but light--no. There wasn't a light."

"It's my talent," Keya said, "I guess you guys can't see it. I can make a light that only I can see, I guess, and it surrounds me. It kills vampires just fine. I guess they can't see it, either. No wonder they kept running into it!"
"A healer?" Chris asked. He came to a table and sat on it after grabbing two of the sandwiches from the nearly-empty tray. "Yet with a distinct other talent. Everyone sees the healing light."
Teresa had a hand on her chin and was looking at Keya with some interest. "We should tell her."

"Teresa!" Mark snapped, "Now look this is ridiculous, people! Tell her, tell her, that's all I hear around here. How about we do what we intended to do in the first place, like protect people by not telling them we're surrounded by vampires in this dome."

Chris and Teresa shared a look. "There's something to her story that rings true, Mark."

"What?"

"I kept something from you..."

"You did? Wait...about my sister?" Mark asked. He looked distracted and hurt.

"There's a faint bleep on my radar, something human."

"You said there was nothing else!" Mark yelled at her.

Now the dome was silent with only the small sound of Chris taking a bite out of his sandwich.

"You can't blame me for that. We were surrounded by vampires and you wanted to stay and fight. We would have died and you know it! But you refused to leave, despite our odds. I had to do something. However, now that I find we can actually win this little war of yours...I think the truth is in order."

"Why didn't you tell me--did you just say you think we could win?"

Teresa nodded, smiling at Mark. "Oh, yes," Teresa said, "The girl's talent will definitely be of good use. But we need to teach her how to use it better. You willing to learn that much to save your friend?"

"What if it's my sister and not her friend?" Mark asked.

"It doesn't matter," Keya asked, "I'll still help. If there's an area that's well-protected by vampires, it must be that way for a reason."

"Okay, okay," Mark said, "But you have to learn all that we're going to teach you, even the hard parts. And I won't have you going outside alone, again....ever."
"I have my book," Keya said, "I'm never alone."