Requiem on Water [Book I]

Chapter 16

                             Don't cry because it's over, smile because it happened.
                                                                                                  ― Dr. Seuss

Chapter 16

There was a full moon that night, in the dream world Alice found herself in. Amongst the forest trees, Alice could hear the echoes of the death calls sounding from the women who wanted her dead. Standing unmoving in the clearing she listened, but their voices were incoherent; Alice couldn't make out what they were saying. Cocking her head to the side, she listened more intently. There resided no fear within her; instead she was fascinated to once more meet her human self. To this point, she had done Alice no harm, merely calling out to her and pleading for her to die. It seemed that human Alice did not comprise the ability to kill her. If she did, then she would already have done so, wouldn't she have?

Trees rustled as the wind made its way from the north end. Footsteps sounded on the ground, cracking branches, crunching leaves; then silence. Alice turned in a full circle, scanning her vicinity for the blue eyes she was expecting to meet but instead, she found a woman, tanned in complexion with long, dark brown hair and wide brown eyes, who wore a plaid dress and brown sandals. An image of Cain flickered in her eyes and Alice was certain she was faced with the Mother. Too young to be a mother of such grown children, Alice noted but she supposed that the Mother too did not age. She seemed not a day older than Alice herself, but her maturity weighed in her eyes. It was evident she had come with purpose.

"Are you the Mother?" Alice heard the words rush through her lips.

The Mother turned toward the trees – the same trees that Alice and Cain had hidden in when Darius had attacked her – and waved over her shoulder for Alice to follow. The chanting of the eerie women grew louder, but they were out of sight, which left Alice feeling unnerved. Even so, Alice followed the Mother suit, keeping her gaze fixed on the back of her head. Alice had questions for her. If she were a witch, she ought to know what Alice was. Why else would she appear in Alice's weird dreams? They stopped at the ridge of the woodlands and the Mother gazed melancholically, in silence, at the Alcazar.

"I miss them," she said softly. Alice took in her soft tone of voice, which contrasted against what she had expected. She had expected the Mother to be more cold and unmoving, more menacing and serene. But to Alice, she seemed as loving and caring as any a mother.

"Your children?" Alice asked tentatively, thinking about how Ashlyn longed to reunite with her mother. Alice couldn't fathom the reason for their separation in the first place.

"Yes, the three of them are my life," she sighed.

Alice did a double take; Three? She was more than certain that Cain and Ashlyn were her only children. Who was the third? Darius? Baldwin? Gerlach? Cain had made it explicitly clear that he shared only his paternal genes with his brothers and that Ashlyn had no relation to them whatsoever.

"Neither of them," she absurdly replied to Alice's thoughts. "Thank the great Mother Nature."

"How did—"

"This isn't your dream Alice," she said matter-of-factly, turning for the first time to look Alice squarely in the eyes. Her demeanour was intimidating. She knew by experience what a witch was capable of doing. "I created a vision so we can talk. I can hear your thoughts. It would have been nice if you could hear mine too."

Alice was taken aback. "Is this real, then? Am I actually talking to you?"

"They are real too," said the Mother, motioning toward the women who were clothed in white. There were ten women, Alice noted, after doing a headcount, but human Alice was not amongst them. "You belong with them, Alice, not the Immortales. Your human soul has passed on but with your essence still lingers in your body— you are incomplete. You will never be a true Immortale."