Apprentices: New Moon

Bad News

The next couple of days, I don’t know where my head is. It’s a good thing it’s sticking to my neck. Because the moment Cyrus leaves, my life consists of worry. I’m staying in his office, alone. I can’t sleep at night. I don’t even eat.

He talks to me every day, I literally didn’t let him leave unless he checked in every three hours, even during the night. That’s eight times in one day. He could send me to hell. I mean, I’d send myself to hell with my silly demands.

But him? He assured me that he’d do anything to keep me calm. Still, even after every single call that I get, I can’t get myself to relax, let alone fall asleep. He’s protecting Cleveland, along with his group of warrior witches.

There are so many groups, that I can’t even follow up. My aunt wasn’t called in on the first round, but she’ll get her turn at the exchange, and I’m not sure what’s worse. Not knowing if Cyrus is going to make it back okay until the last minute, or knowing that my aunt is going to replace him soon and make me worry all over again.

The positive side is, the soulthief attacks settle down drastically. Which means that our warriors are either really successful at keeping them at bay, or the damn creatures have simply found another source of food. It’s a disturbing thought that no one really wants to deal with.

The second night that I spend alone, I’m sitting on Cyrus’s bed, waiting for his call. It’s almost nine in the evening and I’m waiting for him to call me. Bubba is lying beside me, pretending to be asleep, even if I know she’s not.

She’s been just as restless as I was these past two days. Like she knew that something’s not right. Obviously, she knows that Cyrus isn’t here, but I feel like she can also sense that I keep being on edge, no matter all the calls that I get from my boyfriend.

Punctual like the clock, my phone rings a second after it turns nine. I pick up on the first ring, desperate to hear his voice. “Hey,” I greet him quietly, starting to play with the sheets.

“Hey,” he greets me back in the same way. I have no idea where he is at the moment, or what he’s doing. I usually never find out, because he doesn’t want to talk about it. But no matter what, he always calls at the right time. He’s not even a damn minute late.

“Is everyone okay?” I ask first. I always do. I really don’t want to hear bad news, because it only makes me feel worse. He breathes out, having so much patience with me that I can barely believe it.

“Everyone’s fine. How are you?” he asks, despite the fact that he’s returning tomorrow. But he won’t be back until the afternoon, while my aunt is going to leave much, much sooner.

I take a deep breath. “You know … Restless,” I mumble in response, fiddling with the sheets so much that I almost start tangling the fabric together.

Cyrus sighs into the phone. “Eva … You know that you need to get some sleep. I’ll leave you alone tonight, so I don’t wake you up every three hours,” he tells me in a worried tone. But before he even finishes the sentence, I’m already gasping for air.

“No way, if you don’t call, I won’t be able to sleep at all!” I protest, making myself a promise that I won’t let him leave me hanging like this. Under the usual circumstances, this would probably make him chuckle. However, this situation is anything but usual.

He murmurs: “I want you to rest. Everything’s grown quiet here. I’m not sure how long it’s going to last.” After a few moments of my protesting silence, he asks: “How are things in the other cities? I don’t have much information about how everyone else is doing.”

“It’s horrible, Cyrus. Warrior witches are dying,” I blurt out before I’m able to stop myself. I know I should’ve used some sort of filter, but I can’t say this in a nicer way. “There are fewer human victims, but it’s no use, when our own are dying … And getting turned into monsters,” I continue in a gentler way.

My boyfriend grows completely quiet on the other side, while I can barely breathe. It’s the truth. Yes, humans are doing much better with our protection. But what use is it to us, when we’re losing more warriors every day?

I’m not very good with statistics, but judging by our numbers, we have lost approximately a third of those, who have gone out to protect the human world. It’s not a very encouraging picture. “Are you only saying this because you want me to come back, or is it really so bad?” he asks after a few moments of silence.

For a moment, I’m taken aback by his words. Does he really think that I don’t understand why he went out there? That I’m only being stubborn and try to have it my own way? Instead of getting mad, I take a deep breath. We’re both sleep-deprived and he’s two hundred miles away, without either of us knowing if he’s going to make it through the night.

So, I force my ego to shut up and tell him: “It’s real, Cyrus. I’m not telling you this because I’m trying to make you come back. I’m giving you straight facts, numbers if you want them. A third of warrior witches, who are on the shift now, are already dead.”

He contemplates my words for a moment, then takes a deep breath. “And are the numbers decreasing more rapidly as time passes?” he asks, his voice revealing that a lump has formed inside his throat.

“Yes … Hour through hour, we get messages of more and more dead warriors,” I respond quietly, surprised that he’s even talking about this matter for so long. By the way he grows quiet again, I can tell he’s really nervous and that he’s contemplating the order that he gave out. “Cyrus, you couldn’t have known that this would happen,” I try to make him feel better, because I know that guilt is starting to settle in.

I can hear him swallow nervously on the other side. “I should’ve know that I was foolish … But I tried. I really tried to help the humans too … We can’t make them go extinct,” he breathes into the phone.

I furrow my eyebrows, knowing how difficult of a situation this is. “Cyrus … I think we should try to come up with a way to destroy the soulthieves. Chasing them away isn’t going to do it,” I murmur.

He draws in a sharp breath. “How? We’ve tried everything and they just won’t die, damn it!” he barks back, making me flinch in surprise, even if he’s so far away. I know that he’s only stressed out, so I don’t make this into an argument that we don’t need.

“Listen to me. I’ll try to find something. I know it might be impossible, but I’ll start working on it. I won’t give up, do you hear me? Stopping Amelia isn’t enough anymore, we have to destroy those creatures once and for all,” I speak up, not knowing where all this motivation and inner strength is coming from. Maybe I forced it upon myself.

Who even cares? As long as I can get Cyrus to function again, I’ll do anything it takes. I can tell he’s contemplating my words, but that he also doesn’t want to say too much. I’m still the only person, besides the Elite, who knows about their immortality.

I know that I should be worried. If they didn’t manage to find a way to defeat soulthieves in two thousand years, what makes me think that I’ll find one? “But we tried so many times, to no avail. We’ve accepted that it’s not possible,” he breathes out, trying his best to keep his cool. I can tell it by the tone of his voice.

“I know that I’m an infant, compared to you, but maybe you shouldn’t have accepted it. Maybe you should’ve kept going, until you found the solution. If Amelia figured out a way to control them, then I can figure out a way to destroy them. Once and for all,” I conclude.

He grows quiet again, but I can tell that I’m starting to convince him. “Alright,” he finally gives me the green light. “Start working on it, but don’t turn to dark magic, I’m begging you. We can find another way,” he warns me.

For the first time in these past few couple of days, I manage to smile. “You won’t regret it. I’ll give it my all, I promise. I won’t even sleep until I find the solution,” I tell him, already thinking of where and how I’m going to experiment.

“Okay, you don’t have to overdo it,” he remarks, almost sounding amused, before I hear some kind of screeching sound in the background. Then, a scream. I freeze, shooting up in bed and feeling my heart starting to race inside my chest.

“Cyrus?” I call him in a panicky way, hoping that this isn’t what I think it is.

But I don’t get a response anymore. I stare at the phone in complete silence, listening to the horrifying sounds on the other end. I can hear the screeches and the screams, unable to hang up, because I’m not ready to cut the line. I can’t cut it!