The Kind

Chapter Twelve

The sun was very bright in her eyes when Sarah finally blinked awake. She stretched out her aching muscles and was momentarily shocked when she pulled back sand. As the memories came back, so too did the sick feeling in her stomach, but she suppressed it. She sensed that Silas was nowhere nearby, which upset her, if only for a moment. Then she felt the familiar rush of wind and he was there, shielding her eyes from the sunlight.
“Good morning,” he said softly, “or rather, afternoon.”
“How long was I asleep?” she asked, bringing herself to a sitting pose.
“A few hours.” There was a tension in his voice that had robbed it of the playfulness she used to enjoy. But the tension wasn’t directed towards her, she noted happily.
“I’m surprised you’re still here,” she said, waving at the space next to her on the beach. “Sit, please?”
“I wasn’t sure you’d want me here,” he replied, sitting down. “For the first time in my life, I actually wished I could hear what you were thinking.”
“Not right now you don’t, I’m too angry.” She was staring at a spot on the sand as she spoke. When she looked up there was a small smile at the corner of his mouth. Despite herself, and her anger, she smiled back.
“I don’t know how we can go back from this.” She thought of her life before all this trouble had started: could she really just go back?
“Is that what you want? To return to your life, and try to forget about me?”
Sarah shook her head and found the spot on the sand to stare at again. “I don’t know! And even if I did, I can’t do anything with that… that woman! She’s out there, waiting to kill me, to kill us!”
“Not for much longer. I’ll deal with her, and then you can go anywhere, back to your old life if that’s what you want. And I’ll leave, for good.”
“No…” she started, but then her protests failed in her throat. In her heart she hadn’t forgiven him for everything that had happened.
“It’s alright,” he said. “It’s for the best. Viralynn will be gone, and so will I. After today, you won’t have anything more to do with the Kind.”

The clouds were blood red in front of a setting sun as Silas prepared to disappear from the beach. If he survived, he would be back to get her and take her home. If not, Sarah would disappear into some part of the world, far away from the eyes of the Kind.
“This isn’t right.” Sarah tried to keep her calm, but it was getting harder and harder. “She attacked me! This is my fight too… I want to help!”
Silas gripped her by the shoulders. The fear was plain on his face as he spoke each word.
“She’ll kill you! Even if I never see you again please don’t ask me to watch you die!”
“That won’t happen – you trained me!”
“It’s not enough!” He ran his hand through his hair, exasperated. “You can dodge, and maybe block. But once she’s figured that out there will be no stopping her.”
“That’s the problem! If you can’t stop her then I will spend the rest of my life wondering when she’ll find me next. I’d rather die now than live like that!”
“No… I can’t. I won’t let that happen! I’m going alone, and that’s the end of it.” Sarah never had a chance to respond: as he finished the last word he kissed her deeply, a slow embrace that blocked out the chasm that had grown between them and reminded her of how her life used to be. For a moment she remembered the happiness she had felt then, but in the next she could feel only his lips fading as his body began to vanish.

Under the bright red light of the evening sun, Sarah stood silent in the sand. In front of her stood a very wide-eyed Silas, equally lost for words.
“What… did… you… do?” he breathed. The very act of standing seemed to be demanding his full attention.
“I… I didn’t…” was all she could manage in response. Her mind was racing, trying desperately to process the rush of emotions. She remembered the fear she’d felt as he’d slipped away. She remembered her hands clutching his shoulders, desperately trying to keep him there, willing with every fibre for him to stay on that beach, if only for a few moments more. She remembered pressing her lips harder to his, even as they faded, and a surge of energy from somewhere deep inside.
Silas blinked again then seemed to regain some of his composure. “Do you realise what you just did?” he asked with disbelief.
A weak nod was all that she managed. She had wanted him to stay, or rather, she had wanted the power to make him stay.
“No one, not even the Council, can stop a Kind from teleporting. But you… you are so… human!” He smiled so that it threatened to break his face in half. “You don’t realise what you’ve done!”
“I… have a power?” she tried meekly.
“Not just a power… the power. With this there is no way for Viralynn to escape. We can defeat her, together!”
When the fog cleared in her mind, Sarah would agree to join him in standing together in defence of their lives, just as she’d demanded to do from the beginning. But for now, it was all she could do to throw her arms around him and happily tell herself that she had the power to keep him there as long as she wanted.