Vitality (Vitality Series #1)

Chapter 41 Immortal

Ava sat against the wall, watching the human-less creature in front of her, with the name of Verina, put together a fire, her face void of all emotions. Inside, Ava wept somewhere behind a cloud of numbness. The fire lit up the cave, casting melancholic shadows against the walls.

The small lapping of warmth against her cheeks was barely enough, but she didn't move closer. It was just her and Verina. Layton was gone. The one called Gabriel had disappeared without a word.

"Fire." Verina pointed to it — "Warm your body" — gesturing for Ava to come closer. Her black eyes stared at Ava almost robotically, waiting, showing nothing. Ava stared back quietly, ignoring the invitation. The creepy dark depths of her eyes, and the ticking of her head when she seemed to be measuring, watching, listening, or thinking, reminded her of an owl. It was chill-inducing, but Ava didn't have it in her to feel terrified right now.

"What are you?" Bile hung in Ava's throat.

Verina was sitting at the edge of the cave near the opening, close to the fire. When Ava asked her, she only looked blankly at her for a long moment, as if in the very far back of her mind, she was discussing how to converse with her. And possibly, whether she wanted to at all. Ava had barely heard her speak and she now wondered how much she could, or even if there was another language for them instead.

"We are," Verina finally said, "immortal. Hybrids of sorts." When her voice came out, it made Ava's stomach queasy. It was beautiful and mostly human, with flow of divine in between, but to hear it contrasted to her crude presence was unsettling.

After what Ava had seen, it was hard to remember that she had ever thought of them as human at all. That memory was so smothered in new layers that it seemed impossible now. She had always thought they were different, that there was something there — but not this. How could she have ever thought this...

"Half-human..." Verina continued. "At least we were once. And half an entity that does not fully exist in this world, nor the other."

"What do you want with me?" Ava asked quickly.

"I am not sure, really." Her head ticked to the side. "What do you want of us?"

"Nothing."

"Are you absolutely sure?"

"I want to go home and be left alone." She ignored where that question was taking her mind.

"You are angry because you are scared. And because Layton is entirely different from anything you had imagined. This is the world you live in, and this path was laid out by you, as much as Layton."

Ava turned her head away angrily. But she couldn't help turning back, too alarmed to keep her eyes away.

"Are you breaking?" Verina asked, seemingly curious. When Ava didn't answer she continued. "Either way it went, you would have been given the understanding of Layton. And either way, you would have never felt further away from anyone. Whether you like it or not, this world has just begun expanding for you." She spoke these words in monotone. Her neck extended slightly towards Ava as she went on, almost as if she was trying to connect without a bridge. "That is easy for me to understand and expect. It is natural." She slowly moved her gaze out to the ocean. "What I don't understand is what has become of Layton."

Ava shifted. "What has become of Layton?"

Verina brought her eyes back to Ava, and this time they squinted, something they never seemed to do. She blinked sometimes, but her eyes had never changed in movement or emotion. It was like there were just words, facts, and memories — pictures — floating behind the eyes, but no emotions, no feelings. She just seemed so empty, which was the scariest part about it.