Ash Over Seas

The pain was burning throughout my limbs as I twitched upon the forest floor. I writhed on my back, clutching at my chest as if my heart were the source. I clawed at my skin, as if I could pierce it to pull out the beating fireball.

I needed to quench this fire. Now.

With all the strength I could muster, I pushed myself to my feet. I forgot about the wolf and his hateful stare, I forgot about the mild-mannered doe following behind me. The crashing waves thundered in my ears and all I could think about were the rolling tides beneath the towering cliffs.

I tripped and stumbled my way through the rocky forest, cutting my palms as dirt rubbed into the gashes, mixing with my blood.

I came to a sliding halt at the edge of the cliffs. My hesitation lasted only a millisecond before I cried out in pain again and threw myself violently from the clifface.

My body soared through the air, weightless as the fabric of my dress threatened to pull over my head. I let out a scream. Whether of pain, fear or exhiliration, I didn’t know, but soon I was crashing beneath the icy waves of the Pacific Ocean and the fire within my chest was snuffed out like a candle in the wind.

The cold crept into my veins, freezing any movement and I let out a sigh of relief.

I opened my eyes, taking in my new surroundings, searching skyward.

But I wasn’t greeted with the sun, or the beach, or anything of the sort.

Whispers flooded into my ears, loud and indistinguishable despite how softly they were uttered. I snapped my head in every direction, searching for the source but there were only bodies. Shining, metallic bodies in silk gowns, which flowed around their limbs as they rocked peacefully within the current.

The whole scene reminded me of an eery, medieval ballroom, and these spirits were the kings and queens celebrating, though I didn't know what they could possibly be happy about. I searched their faces, but they were pale as ghosts and quiescent. They woman nearest me had striking golden blonde hair that flowed past her waist in rich curls. She was alluring, fascinating almost, and I slowly reached out to brush my fingers along the silk of her dress.

Then it all changed.

As if I had triggered some silent alarm, all figures turned toward me, their hollow eyes opened wide and nothing but black holes as they stared at me possessively, their arms outstretched as if they would take me under with them, and induct me as a guest to their sick party.

Bubbles erupted from my mouth as I tried to scream, but they were all closing in around me, and I had nowhere to run to.

I woke with a start, heart pounding in my chest as I breathed through shallow gasps. I felt around the bedside table for my cup, nearly knocking it over until I brought it to my lips, wetting my parched lips.

When I had finished, I set it back down and collapsed against the pillows, still trying to catch my breath. I pushed my sweaty, knotted hair from my face and closed my eyes, flashes of the dream still darting behind my lids.

It was the end of April now, and my eighteenth birthday was fast approaching and Kim had been hard at work planning some sort of party for me because she insisted that eighteen was the most important birthday I would have. It was the birthday that would officially make me an adult—a woman.

There was a knock on the door and I glanced up to see Atticus slipping in. His brows furrowed.

“Cole? What happened?”

I shook my head, forcing myself into a sitting position as I pulled my hair up off my neck.

“You know you can’t lie to me,” he muttered icily and I glanced up into his eyes.

“It was just another bad dream,” I sighed. “You know I’ve been having them lately… though I haven’t had one in months… I hope it’s not a bad sign.”

Atticus shook his head. “A dream is a dream. Come on, Father will only be gone for a few hours and Carlisle wants to see you today.”

“Okay,” I said, pushing to my feet as I wandered into the bathroom to wash the sweat from my body.

Within fifteen minutes I was dressed and putting on my shoes as Atticus helped me out the door.

The ride to the Cullen’s was silent except for the soft music from the radio, and as usual, Carlisle led me quickly up to his office as soon as we’d arrived.

“What is it?” I asked anxiously as he closed the heavy wooden door behind the three of us. “Have you found anything?”

The blonde vampire shook his head unsurely and motioned over to a small test tube rack filled with various colored concoctions. They looked slightly intimidating in front of the many wires and machines stationed behind it. I recognized a centrifuge, something I had worked with in class, but everything else was a mystery to me.

Carlisle slowly walked across the room and grabbed a vial between his elegant, pale fingers. He held it up to the light, making it shine a vibrant, beautiful teal color.

“I’ve been working with the samples I collected from you several months ago,” he explained, rolling the vial between his fingers idly. My eyes followed the movements. “It’s still very unstable, and I don’t know if it will work, but I found a trace amount of some unusual cells in your spinal fluid that shouldn’t have been there, and I have formulated this serum in hopes of targeting their unique properties and destroying them without compromising your other cells. It took me a long time to find a sample containing these unusual specimen because they are so few, but they are unlike anything I’ve ever seen before, and I think they may be the cause of what’s happening to you.”

I tried to grasp what it all meant as I numbly backed myself into the nearest chair. I frowned. “Do… do you know what it means? Like what they are? And why they're doing this to me?”

Carlisle shook his head. “Like I said, it’s like nothing I’ve ever seen, all I have is my theories. But there isn’t a way for me to confirm them unless I were to get some other samples.”

My heart skipped a beat. He was making progress; he just needed more samples!

“That’s… brilliant, right?” I cheered. “Well I’ll do whatever you want, really, take any samples you need!”

Carlisle’s face didn’t lighten and my smile slowly faded from my face.

“Carlisle? What is it?”

The vampire’s face remained solemn and I reached out to grab Atticus’s hand for reassurance as my stomach churned nervously.

“It’s… not a sample I would be able to get from you… it would be merely for comparison. But unfortunately, I don’t think there is any way for me to obtain these. So I am building this serum on this blind chance that I’m right, and there is a chance that I am. But if I’m wrong, and I inject you with this to find that is incompatible with your natural chemistry… it could kill you on impact.”

My heart leapt to my throat and I fought to take a breath. I forced myself to calm, and breathed deeply through my nose.

“Is there anything else? I… do you need anything?”

Carlisle eyed me for a moment sympathetically and almost nervously.

“I just need your permission to continue with this treatment. I need to know that you are willing to comply with what I discover, and that you know the risks of what is involved if I am wrong. As you know, this is not clinically proven, you are the guinea pig and if this goes wrong, there may not be a way to fix it.”

Atticus’s hand tightened around my own and his body was tense.

I just nodded firmly. “Yes. I’ll do whatever it takes. I’m willing to take that chance.”

Carlisle sighed and flashed me a small smile. “Then that’s all I need.”

“Okay,” I breathed, shakily standing to my feet as the doctor led us back through the door and down to the first story.

As soon as we hit the bottom step, Atticus tensed and his eyes shot toward the driveway. Within moments, I knew exactly why.

“What the fuck do you think you're doing?” my Father bellowed as he stormed into the house, his golden eyes ablaze.

I could see Artemis and Pan, shrunken nervously in the back seat of his car. I turned back to my father to find Atticus standing protectively in front of me.

“How long has this been going on? This little tea party of yours,” he snarled and Carlisle held his hands up defensively.

“Henry, you know Colby can take care of and make decisions for herself now. She is old enough and she told me she wished to continue pursuing my theories. And I think I am making progress. Please, I implore you to see my reasoning.”

“That doesn’t change the fact that you’ve gone behind my back, undermining my authority over my own daughter! Nothing gives you the right to do that!” he shouted and I swore that if he had blood running through his veins, his face would have been beet red.

“Daddy, please,” I whispered, but I knew his sensitive hearing picked it up, and he turned his eyes to me.

They were harsh, but softened just barely.

“Carlisle has been doing well,” I continued softly. “And I don’t know what he’s working on, because he says you don’t want to tell me, but that’s okay. It’s okay that you have secrets—I understand, but I trust him. Please, Daddy, don’t you want me to have a chance? I know you do,” I continued softly, my eyes pleading. “I know that’s why you're doing all this but you have to believe me… this is my best shot.”

There was silence ringing through the Cullen home as my father and I stayed locked in a visual stalemate. After what felt like years, my father’s hand twitched and he turned toward the door.

“Do what you want with your treatment, and I hope it works. But I can’t stand by and watch this… I can’t stand by and watch you be… I just can’t, I am sorry.”

And with that, my father disappeared through the front door, leaving me in a stunned silence.

“Asshole,” Atticus hissed and I shook my head sadly.

“I apologize,” said Carlisle. “But you seem to understand that he does care for you… this is just a hard subject for him to comprehend, and he still doesn’t want to believe that it’s a reality. I promise you he will come around, just give him some time.”

“Right,” I muttered softly. “Time.”