Sixteen
She wasn't sleepwalking, and she wasn't lucid. Melina's rich brown eyes constricted down until her pupils were spiked, star-shaped pinpricks. Her mouth hung partially open, the sea breeze blowing strands of her hair between her lips. She moved forward at a steady pace without her conscious consent. She was a doll on strings, some force outside of herself compelling her.
Mist lifted off the waves by the wind and licked her bare skin with cold. She shivered but did not rouse from her trance. The very edges of the pink waves kissed the tips of her toes as she faced the water. Melina saw outlines only of what was really in front of her. On top of reality, fell a screen.
In this vision, she stood on a floor of warm glass. Liquid, the color of milk, lapped at the underside of the floor. She was inside a vast hall, the walls and ceilings were white, sleek and seamless. Her body was heavy in the overbearing dry heat of the space.
Smooth white sarcophagi lined the room in three perfect rows, each one propped high into the air on stilts. The stilts came straight out of the bottoms of the sarcophagi tapering down from the top into stiletto points on the glass floor. They towered over her. She walked beneath them, in between the stilts. Each one had the same symbol on the bottom, a black circle.
White noise like a mixture of ocean waves and static filled her ears. She shook her head. The sound burrowed into her brain attempting to silence her thoughts. It was almost painful like a budding headache not yet blossomed. She sighed, wishing she could sleep, it was so warm. There was something she needed here…What could that possibly be? Where the hell was she anyway?
Melina stopped walking and looked up. She blinked and narrowed her eyes. Every sarcophagus was the same except the one directly above her. Smooth and white like all the rest, but with one tiny variation. The circle on the bottom was broken. The shape didn’t connect. One tiny place, no wider than her fingerprint, was open, so the circle was incomplete. This was not only irksome to her mild OCD, just looking at it gave her a jolt. This was why she was here. She needed to get up there. How did she do that?
Melina blinked, her eyelids sliding slowly down and back up like a lifting curtain.
“Mel? Melina?! Hey!” hands gripped her shoulders, shaking her.
She jumped in alarm and yelled as the vision broke apart. Panting like she’d been running, Melina blinked a few times and looked into the worried face of Erin. She jumped again as a wave licked her bare feet.
“Oh my gosh! I’m sorry…I don’t know what I was…I don’t know where I was…” she stammered.
Erin grasped her shoulders again and looked closely into her face. “I came to find you cause you didn’t show up, and you didn’t answer my messages. We were supposed to go shopping, remember? What just happened? Are you alright?”
Melina scrubbed her hands over her face. “I was…sleepwalking, I think.”
“Um…no. That’s not it. Your eyes were open and your pupils were tiny. You looked like you were in a trance or something like that. Is this something you do often?”
Her breath came out in a whoosh. “Shit. No, not often. Once before, but it was totally different. More like I really was sleepwalking because it was the middle of the night. And what I saw was nothing like this time. I came back to myself, or woke up, in my room the first time.”
Erin looked worried. “Have you told anyone about this?”
“No. Do you think I should? Who would I tell anyway?”
Erin frowned for a minute. “If it was me, I’d go tell Rahaxeris first and see what he thought. If he can’t help you, then I’d ask Tesla to look you over, map you or whatever the heck it is she does. You need to do something. You looked really freaky just now.”
Melina gazed at her desperately, the details of her vision still strong in her mind. They weren’t fading as dreams often do once you wake. “I’m scared. Will you go with me?”
Erin hugged her tight. “Of course. Come on. Go get dressed. We’ll go to Kyhael together.” She looked up at the small house high on the cliff behind them. “Are you going to tell your parents?”
Melina frowned and shook her head. “No. Not until I have to. I don’t want them to worry. I’ll tell them if it turns out to actually be something.”
Erin kept her arm supportively around Melina’s waist as they walked up the snaking path chiseled in the cliff face up to her folk’s house. Mel tensed as they reached the top. It was mid-morning. She didn’t remember leaving the house, no idea how long she’d actually been standing down on the beach in her t-shirt and boy shorts underwear. It must have been before they woke up.
“Don’t say anything, Erin. I’ve got an excuse for them.”
“Okay.”
Merick and Netriet were sitting at the small round table in the kitchen, talking quietly, the smell of coffee and toast in the air.
“Mel?” her mom said questioningly as they came in. “I thought you were still in bed.”
Merick got up first, coming over to his daughter and taking stock of her. “You’re shivering.” He rubbed his hands on her arms and shoulders to warm her. “What were you doing outside in your p.js?”
Mel chuckled easily. “I wanted to watch the sunrise. I know I only just moved out three days ago, but I missed the view I have here. I wasn’t paying attention to how cold I was getting.” She snuggled into her father’s chest for a moment and then pulled away. “I’m going to get dressed and head out. Erin and I have some serious shopping to do today.”
“Of course you do,” he said sarcastically before turning his attention to Erin. “Good morning, Erin.”
She smiled. “Sir.”
“Won’t be a minute,” Melina promised Erin before rushing into her room and closing the door.
“Yeah sure,” Erin said more to herself. “I know you better than that. I might as well make myself comfortable since I know you’re going to take forever.”
“Would you like something to eat, Erin?” Netriet asked.
“No thank you. I’m good. Sorry for disrupting your quiet morning.”
Netriet waved her apology away. The next moment, Melina came out, fully dressed, shocking Erin. Even rushing, throwing on whatever clothes she grabbed first, putting her hair in a ponytail, and wearing no make-up, Erin was a little jealous how Mel just managed to look sexy and fashionable.
“I’m ready to go.”
Erin chuckled. “Okay. I guess you can get ready quickly when you choose to. Let’s go.”
“Don’t spend too much,” Merick scolded. “You’re not loaded like your friend here.”
“Don’t worry, I’m fully aware how un-loaded I am…I’ll be home for dinner.”
They left the house, walked a few feet away, and Erin touched the medallion on her wrist, opening a portal for them to Kyhael right into the antechamber of the old Rune-dy headquarters, where Rahaxeris lived.
“Hello,” Erin called out. “Rahaxeris…” she hesitated a moment. “Grandfather? It’s Erin and Melina.”
Mel glanced at Erin and smirked. “I bet that’s weird. Calling him ‘grandfather’?”
“I’m trying to force it until it just comes out. He told me to. Otherwise, I never would assume it would be okay. Calling Forest ‘mom’ is still a struggle, but I’m getting there.”
“You’re lucky. I wish I was a part of their family like that.”
“You are family to them, Mel. And to me. Don’t you know that?”
She nodded. “Yeah, it just doesn’t have the weight your connection carries…I want a destined life mate of my own. I’m so jealous of you and Maddox.” She looked down and shook her head. “I’m sorry. I’ve felt so guilty about feeling like that. I thought maybe I should confess. I’m a bad friend.”
Erin moved forward and hugged her. “You are not! You’re my best friend. I understand. If you were jealous in a different way, like wanting my man in your bed, then we’d have words, and there might be blood.”
Mel laughed and squeezed her. “M? In my bed?” she gave a mock shudder and made a loud gagging sound. “Gross. I don’t know how you suffer through it.”
Erin laughed so hard she snorted. “Oh, yeah. It’s terrible being mated to that gorgeous, sex god who adores me. Just terrible.”
“It must be,” her voice was heavy on the sympathy. She let go of Erin, her stress coming back, and she began pacing. “Maybe Rahaxeris isn’t here.”
“Maybe Rahaxeris isn’t where?” he asked coming around the corner an open book in his hands. He looked up from the page he was reading and smiled thinly at them. “Erin. Melina. What can I do for you?”
“I’m sorry for intruding…We don’t want to bother you…Umm…if it’s a bad time, I mean…” Mel said.
He blinked at her a few times. “What’s wrong? I’ve watched you grow since infancy, Melina. Never seen you falter over your words before.”
“It’s…” she blew out a breath, her cheeks heating. “It’s probably nothing. Just dreams. Sleepwalking.”
“Didn’t look that way to me,” Erin interjected.
“Sleepwalking, eh? When did it start?” Rahaxeris asked.
“A week or two ago. It’s only happened twice.”
“Notice any physical change?”
“I don’t think so. I feel fine.”
He narrowed his red eyes at her. “Except you’re scared. That’s out of character. Follow me.”
He led both of them into the center of Rune-dy headquarters, to the library. He began pulling huge, ancient looking books down and placing them on the table in the center of the room. He opened one and began thumbing to the center when he suddenly inhaled abruptly, lifting his head and closing his eyes. Then he shot Melina a piercing look and shut the book.
She raised her eyebrows as he walked slowly up to her, a calculating look on his sharp features. He lifted his long hands.
“Can I touch you?” he asked.
She nodded, her eyes wide. He walked around her, gazing intently at her neck. He twisted the end of her ponytail around his finger and lifted it up, running his other hand over the back of her neck. Then he let her hair drop.
“Hmm…”
Melina shivered as he ran his finger along the edge of her ear, looking closely behind each of her ears in turn. “No. It’s not there,” he muttered to himself. He grasped her shoulders and turned her to face him, looking her straight on.
“What are you looking for?” Mel asked.
“I’m not totally sure. It was just an idea I had based on my knowledge of your parents.”
“What? I’m a full-blooded vampire. Nothing more,” she said simply.
“Both your parents are vampires, yes, however…” his eyes drilled into hers. “Ah, yes. I see it now.”
“What? You see what?”
“The eye inside your eye.”
“Excuse me?”
He looked over at Erin. “Do you have a mirror?”
She nodded, reached into her purse pulling out a compact and handing it to him.
“Look closely,” he told Mel. “Deep in your right pupil.”
Her hand shook as she held the mirror up to her face, looking deep into her own eyes. She didn’t see anything. Then Rahaxeris turned off the light forcing her pupils to expand. She brought the mirror closer until it touched the tip of her nose. She looked into her eye like staring down a dark tunnel. Her pulse sped up, and she gasped. An eye, the color of smoke, deep inside her pupil stared back at her. No face, no eyelid, just the perfect circle of an iris. She jumped and dropped the mirror.
“I’m possessed!” she screamed. “Get it out of me!”
Rahaxeris grabbed her and gave her a little shake. “Melina!” his voice commanded her to quiet. “Calm down. It’s alright. You’re not possessed. I promise.”
“What is it?! How did it get there?! Can you remove it?” She was hysterical.
He placed his palm on the top of her head and exhaled slowly. A wave of calm flowed down over her from his hand and she quieted. She blinked slowly, her eyelids heavy. He steered her into a chair and she slumped into it as though drunk. Erin came close and took her hand supportively.
“What is it?” Melina asked again. “How did it get there?”
“It’s just another level of sight. You were born with it…You’re not just a vampire. A small part of you is Polyhedron.”
She sat up straighter, shaking off some of the calm he’d put on her. “The world my mother’s arm came from?”
“Yes. That arm isn’t just robotic, it’s alive, and it’s a part of your mom. It grafted into her DNA when it was attached. I’m sure she didn’t think of that when she decided to get pregnant. Or perhaps she did and just didn’t care. She wanted you so badly, Melina.”
Melina shuddered. Her body felt foreign to her suddenly as though his words had changed it, but of course, that wasn’t true.
“What does this mean? I’m not really alive? I’m some kind of robot?”
He smiled as warmly as he could manage and shook his head. “Not at all. This is only a very small part of you. You are as alive as you have always been. You’re not a doll or a golem. The people of Polyhedron are alive. Machines, yes, in a way. Androids. They live and die.”
Melina gazed at him desperately. “I think I’m going to be sick.”
He left the room and came back a minute later with a glass of water. She took it gratefully and drank.
“Why is there an eye in my eye? What else of me is wrong? What does it really mean?”
“I doubt there is anything else to you that is different. The eye means you are a seer.”
Erin squeezed her hand. “Hey, that’s cool, Mel! It’s a gift. Stop looking so freaked. Now you can get as rich as you like, you just need to start gambling.”
Melina frowned. “Would that work?” she asked Rahaxeris.
He shrugged. “Maybe. But I doubt it.”
“Figures,” she complained. “it’s just going to be some crap that gives me weird dreams that mean nothing to me, or have no bearing on real life. And if anyone finds out I’ll become a sideshow and people will drive me crazy thinking I’m a fortuneteller.”
Rahaxeris chuckled and crossed the room, taking down another book and bringing it back to her. “Here. You can learn about Polyhedron.”
She gave him a dirty look. “Okay. That’s really long. Can’t you be any more helpful? Or are you just stuck being all cryptic cause you’re Rahaxeris, the scary, all-knowing Rune-dy, and you’ll show me the path but it’s up to me to take it bullshit? Is that it?”
He blinked at her and then laughed loudly. “Goodness. There’s the Melina I know. Alright. I’ll explain but I still think you should research this part of your heritage on your own.”
She grabbed the book and laid it in her lap. “Fine,” she said tersely. “I’ll read. Now tell me why I’m sleepwalking.”
“I don’t know the extent of your sight, but I can tell you it’s probably a hundred percent personal. Based on my knowledge of Polyhedron, the way they access knowledge and navigate their lives, you are having future memories.”
She looked down, fear pooling in her stomach again.