Time's Tragedies- The Books Of Beginning [2]

70. Conjoined Dreams

Eternity's feet thudded loudly against the ground as she sprinted up what seemed to be a never ending mountain, her breath ragged as she tried to touch the stars, the refuge, that was forever out of her reach. Aching hands clawed at dirt and pebbles, hauling her away from the fire and the floods that had nearly swallowed the whole world. Her heart was lodged permanently in her throat, yammering away, and she found that, despite everything she had suffered through in her short life, she wasn't ready to die yet.

She still didn't know why the world was ending - all she knew was that she had to find out what was happening if she wanted to do anything about it. Oh god, why did she have to be alone for this? Where were Abby and Jake with all of their puzzle solving cleverness? Where was Rafe, with his years of magical experience? Where was Kate, who could conquer anything she set her mind on? Any of them would be better suited for the task of facing down the Apocalypse than her. She was just a fucked up teenager from New York with a heritage she had no clue how to use and warring instincts telling her to run and to fight for what she loved battling inside her queasy stomach. 

"Dios," she muttered, when her foot nearly slipped from its spot on the steep upwards path. It occurred to her that she had no idea how she had gotten here or where she was going. She might have been in the Cambridge Falls mountains, but then again, maybe not. There was just no way to tell, unless you were a genius at geography, which Eternity was most certainly not.

Find what caused this, she told herself, and get to Lili. Those were her two goals. If she knew how this happened, she could figure out the rest. And with Lili at her side, there was nothing she couldn't do. The Wibberly girl had proven to be her equal in every way, in stubbornness and courage and creativity, and insecurity all the same. She was not only Eternity's best friend, she was her twin flame, the person who made her stronger, more of herself, or the person she wanted to be.

"Whoever got us into this mess doesn't stand a chance," Eternity muttered grimly, even as pebbles fell onto her face from above and her hands shook with the strain of pulling her upwards and keeping her steady. 

"I really shoulda spent more time on the jungle-jim," Eternity huffed, "and there's a sentence I thought I'd never be saying."

Finally, her aching, trembling body hauled itself up over a ledge, flames and floodwater nipping at her heels, onto a somewhat flat surface. Eternity bowed her head and panted, on her hands and knees in the dying grass at the top of whatever mountain she had just been forced to climb. 

"Dios," she gasped for air, the oxygen burning in her lungs, like fire, like a shot of whiskey down a throat, "dios."

There was something in the distance, a structure, walls and a roof rising out of the sea of rotting plants, an oasis in the desert. Eternity forced herself to her unsteady feet and took off running, stumbling, like a baby deer learning to walk. She had no time to gain her balance, to rest her feet, not if she wanted to continue to be more than ash and bones.

Well worn white walls blurred with the tears stinging her eyes as she staggered to the door, pounding fiercely, yelling something, perhaps 'let me in,' or perhaps a four letter name that started with L. She wasn't particularly sure either way. Her ears were ringing and the world was ending and all that mattered was living through the next fifteen minutes. 

Eternity's exhausted body when slack against the door, the fight draining from her. She didn't have much left to give. Blessedly, the door opened, and firm arms and cool hands were pulling her inside the building - a church, she now realized it was. 

"Thank you," she murmured, not to any god, but to the person who had half carried her inside. She got no response, was merely lowered gently to the floor, where she caught a flash of golden hair out of the corner of her eye.