A Vial of Life

So stark was the silence that followed, it was as though someone had hit the mute button.

My parents gaped at River.

“What brings you to this conclusion?” my father asked.

At this, River faltered a little. “I–I had a dream. Just now. Ben was in it. He told me that his cousin was on the island, that I needed to urgently warn you to keep witches near you to protect you at all times. He also said that Jeramiah was staying in an old farmhouse, the one near the potato fields?”

A hundred questions crowded behind my parents’ eyes but, seeing River’s earnestness, they turned to face the others. “You know that old house.” My father’s voice boomed through the chamber. “Search the building and its surrounding area immediately.”

The council shot to their feet and began piling out of the hall.

“Do you know where Aiden is?” River asked, her eyes filling with worry as they trailed along the line of people leaving the room.

My mother’s face tensed. “He didn’t attend the meeting,” she said. “Last I saw of him, he was sitting by the lake. He just wanted to be alone.”

“We need to locate him at once,” my father said. He turned to Ibrahim and Corrine, who had hung back from the crowd. “Will you two accompany us?”

“Of course, Derek,” Ibrahim replied.

“I’ll go search for Aiden, if you like,” Corrine offered. “That will free the rest of you up to join the hunt.”

“Yes,” my father said. “Please do that, Corrine.”

The witch gave him a curt nod, and then vanished.

My father glanced again at River before addressing Ibrahim. “This could be nothing but a fabrication of River’s imagination, but I’m not about to take the risk that it isn’t.”

“I have no idea why I had the dream,” River said, her expression still mired with confusion, “or why on earth I dreamed Ben telling me all this, but… I didn’t even find out about your penthouse or Aiden’s mountain cabin burning down until after I woke up. It just seems like too much of a coincidence.”

“I agree,” my father murmured, even as he began hurrying to the Dome’s exit. “And even if it does turn out to be a wild coincidence,” he continued once they’d piled outside, “no harm’s ever done by taking extra precautions.”

With that, everyone formed a circle around Ibrahim and they vanished. They would no doubt join the others in the fields. Satisfied that, thanks to my love, River, everyone had received sufficient warning, I was now burning to locate Jeramiah and the witch again. Ever since I’d lost sight of them, not knowing where exactly they were on the island had been eating away at me. I prayed that Corrine would soon find my grandfather, and they hadn’t managed to swipe him already. He had been all alone and vulnerable by the lake…

I tried to stop thinking about the worst-case scenario, and focus on what I had to do next.

I need to think. When I parted ways with them, Amaya had left to deliver Jeramiah’s note to the hunters, while the vampire was supposed to follow soon after her. His plan had been to wait just within the boundary, and then assist Amaya back in once she had successfully completed her task.

Now the question was, had they already managed to complete the first part of their plan?

Truth be told, I’d expected it to take longer to raise the alarm around the island—and that was if I’d even managed it at all. But it had not taken much time for the idea of intercepting dreams to occur to me, and then the dreams themselves had been fast in coming. And now, thanks to River’s receptiveness, warning the others had gone smoothly.

I was uncertain if enough time had passed for Amaya to deliver the note to one of the vessel’s captains. Hopefully, the witch was still hovering near the naval ships, while my cousin waited in the waves by the boundary for her return. Jeramiah and Amaya still being outside the island would have been the best possible thing that could happen. But there was only one way to know for sure.

Chapter 21: Ben

I swept across the island and quickly arrived at the beach. I dashed across the sand, and when I reached the water I continued running over the surface of the waves. I had been onshore for some time now, and although the sensation was no different to traveling on land, the thought of running on water had become strange to me again.

I directed my gaze toward the boundary, praying that I would see Jeramiah’s dark head bobbing above the waves. He had said that he would swim in a direct line from the Port, and that was exactly where I headed, but when I arrived, to my dismay I couldn’t see him anywhere.

I scanned the surrounding water, just in case he had drifted further along. Heck, I was so desperate that I traveled several miles left and right along the boundary. Still, I couldn’t spot him. Unless Jeramiah had dallied to enjoy the scenery on his way to the shore and hadn’t even reached the beach yet—which I couldn’t bring myself to believe—this could only mean that he and Amaya had returned to the island and were now preparing for the second part of their plan.

I stopped my futile patrol over the waves and shifted my focus back to the island. My task had become significantly more difficult. They could be anywhere in The Shade now. Where would I look first?

Everyone was searching the area near the farmhouse, but as Jeramiah and his witch were invisible, it wouldn’t be difficult to dodge the searchers. The raiding of the old building would be useful for my parents to verify River’s dream, because on arriving there they would find the makeshift stone that Jeramiah had crafted in honor of his father—assuming that my cousin had not returned to the building and removed it already.