Stranger Spirits

The Lake [Chapter Three Part Three]

Bruno opened the back door and held it open for us. "I'm going to stick inside and attend to some personal business." I stepped out and as soon as I gazed beyond the doorway I could understand why Bruno didn't need to walk us toward the lake. Before us maybe a couple hundred feet away was one of the most beautiful sights that I've ever seen. The lake was a dazzling myriad of greens and blue hues. The trees made the water stand out even more. It continually rippled as an outdoor breeze spread across the area.

Without even thinking my body began to walk on its own closer and closer to the body of water. My feet stepping over the green and occasional brown blades of grass. Once I got to the edge I could see that even though it was a mix of colors the water was still clear and it looked fairly deep too! "Wow." I exhaled softly.

"A beautiful sight indeed." I turned around to see Atticus walking towards me.

"It is. Back home-" I paused when I saw Atticus put his hand out towards me.

"I didn't mean to interrupt you. I just want to shake your hand to thank you."

I grabbed his hand and shook it. Light goosebumps began to tread across my arm. I shivered and laughed it off retracting my hand. "What for?"

"You saved my life yesterday." He barely looked me in the eyes as he crossed his arms.

"All I did was drag you around. Bruno was the one who really saved us."

"I won't deny that." Atticus moved to stand beside me still looking at me. "You did more than that, though. You took care of me while I was sick and you didn't give up on me...on us. You could have just left me behind or given up altogether."

I blushed. I never really thought of doing either of those things. "I wouldn't have ever considered committing either of those actions."

He crossed his arms. "I now know that to be the truth." He smirked. "You have my thanks."

"I appreciate it." I gazed back at him. "Ready to get clean?"

"Definitely, you seriously smell!" I shot him a look to see that he had already tossed his things aside and ran into the water grinning.

"I am so going to get you!" I laughed throwing my belongings next to his and dashed into the glimmering water.

After a little while of horsing around, we just floated in the water enraptured in our surroundings. Looking back at the settlement I noticed some other structures.

Kicking my legs a little I stayed afloat. "Atticus. I need to talk to you about something."

"What's wrong?" Atticus said as he made his way towards me.

"I had another dream."

"The one that the specter casts?"

"Yeah."

"What happened this time?" He put his hands on my shoulders looking me in the eye. Even though he had a firm grip I could tell that he hasn't fully regained his strength.

"This time it told me something: Ilcryst. Do you have any idea what that means?"

"I've never heard of it." He retracted his hands from me. "It COULD be someone's name, a spell, a location, anything really." He sighed. "I wish I could be of more help. I know this is hard for you."

"Thanks," I nodded. "Should we tell Bruno and Tita?"

"That's at your discretion. They may have been in association with your parents' years ago, but they're still strangers to us. If you feel that we should tell them then we shall."

"I think we should. Maybe they know what Ilcryst is or someone who can lead us in the right direction."

"Sounds like a logical solution, they are the first people we've encountered."

"One more thing," I paused and gazed at Atticus. His hair was slicked back with the water but there was still a little bit that trailed from his hairline down his cheek. His breathing seemed stable and his face had some more color. "When you were in the spirit realm...did anything odd happen?"

"What do you mean?"

"Well," Good job Vaughn you need to figure something out now. "Since you were chosen I was curious to see if you experienced anything peculiar."

"There was something." He rubbed his thumb against his lower lip idly guiding my attention towards it. A droplet of water rolled off his hand back into the lake. "But Shikoba told me that it was probably just my imagination since he's never heard of it happening."

"What happened?" My eyes widened.

"While I was scratching the bark off a tree for a moment I felt like I was stripped naked. It was as if something saw right through my soul. I mean this, whatever it was, it was so bizarre." I nodded along to what he was saying as my pulse began to quicken a little. "I tried following the source but it kept darting away from me. Before I could ever get a good look at whatever it was it'd jump into some bushes or take a sharp turn. I even followed it into this shallow cave but once I was in there it was gone."

"You never got to find out what was looking at you that night." My voice fell in relief.

"No," He got goosebumps and ran his hands along his arms to generate heat. "But that feeling of transparency is hard to forget. I told Shikoba about it but he just brushed it off since it's never been heard of before."

"I swear Shikoba gets on my nerves sometimes." I laughed lightly. "Ah! It's great to say it out loud for once!"

"You never spoke to your parents about Shikoba's behavior?"

"And tell them what? Shikoba isn't nice to me? They couldn't do anything." I looked away towards the forest beyond the lake. "It wasn't just Shikoba though. The other elders never spoke a word to me and after a while other people noticed. Occasionally I would notice a parent staring at me or a group of kids gawking at me...just wondering what was so wrong with me that the Elders, our leaders, would treat me in such an indifferent way."

"I'm sorry Vaughn." Atticus' voice softened.

"It's fine." I looked back at Atticus. "I'm used to it and frankly, to a certain extent, I'm happy that I now know the truth. It was pretty agonizing to not know."

"That makes sense." Atticus grazed his right hand above the water his tiny touch sent ripples across the water.

I think we should head back inside, there is a lot that we need to speak to Tita and Bruno about." We both trudged towards the shore and dried ourselves with our extra cloth.

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Sorry for the late update! I hope y'all like it though!

-Ryan