Orange/ Between Sunsets
1966 Words
Hir yw'r dydd a hir yw'r nos, a hir yw aros Arawn ;
Long is the day and long is the night, and long is the waiting of Arawn."
Jamie greeted everyone gathered in front of the altar of Arawn.
They built it every year deep in the woods for the celebration of Samhain.
It was the time when the darker half of the year began.
According to the old legend Arawn was the master hunter deity, their initial protector.
The rituals dedicated to him were much bloodier in the old days, but now things were different; at least to some extent.
It was always Candice's father who did the offerings, but this year there was something different.
It was Jamie who was going to do the offerings.
He was wearing a leather mask covering half his face.
The flames of the huge bonfire were dancing in his dark brown eyes.
He was shirtless and the Samhain mask was believed to be the way of finding and guiding the spirits.
When Candice turned to her friend, standing next to her, she saw Mia looked absolutely fascinated.
"He looks like he was born for this, doesn't he?" Candice whispered, leaning towards her.
Mia only nodded, as if she was in trance. " Will you say hi to him afterwards?"
Mia's eye brows formed a single line and she said a quiet.
"I don't think he has time for this."
"Oh, come on, you know he wants to see you."
"He doesn't."
"We keep telling you this."
"What did I miss?"
Ryker appeared out of nowhere and stood between the two girls.
He wore black kohl almost always-school was no exception, but girls were freaking out about it.
The dark eyeliner, combined with his messy spiked blond hair made his cornflower blue eyes stand out even more.
Leather jackets and well-worn Levi's. Classics.
No wonder he was so popular among all females at school- and that meant the teachers included.
Ryker carried a bottle of wine on one hand, glass in the other.
"You look nice in those dresses."
"You aren't drunk, are you?" Candice asked.
"When have I been?"
He said and finished his glass.
"You're terrible,"
Candice said without any trace of actual anger in her voice and then she saw Tyler approaching.
I t was difficult to miss him- he was twice bigger than most of the guys.
He joined them a few minutes later, after he'd greeted everyone on his way.
"You've been fighting the bears, Tyler?" Ryker asked and Ty gave him the finger.
"You go hunting for all of this next time. " Tyler was dressed in leather and animal skins, his shoulder-length auburn hair pulled back in braids.
Candice knew everyone saw what she did- a warrior.
He looked intimidating in their normal every day life, where they pretended to be ordinary humans, but in occasions like that one it was unmistakable Tyler was not just any human.
"Nah, you do your thing, I do mine." Ryker said and offered him his bottle of wine.
"Your date's not coming?" Tyler asked, accepting the drink and Candice knew the question was directed at her.
"Eadan is..."
she began saying when Ryker asked "What?"
"What do you mean Eadan is Candice's date?"
Ryker looked at Tyler puzzled.
Tyler suddenly grew tense.
She saw the look the two of them exchanged.
It was as if something passed unspoken there and Candice was just about to ask what was this all about when Ryker looked away and groaned theatrically.
"Ughh, f**k me...Are we still doing that s**t?"
He looked at the altar the moment Jamie was accepting the silver blade from his father.
Candice knew what he meant without even following his eyes to see what he was looking at.
Part of the sacrifice required blood to help the dead return home.
This time they had chosen a goat.
She was sure Felix felt relief to some extent in wasn't a stag, like they normally did.
"But it's way to praise the past, right?" Mia whispered.
"Yaay, look at that- little Mia's part of us now."
Ryker joked.
"The veil shall lift, "Jamie's voiced traveled and everyone's eyes were now on him
"Spotted with thy blood to help close the cycle and lead the spirits."
He cut the goat's throat in one swift move.
Blood trickled and colored the goat's white skin and everyone erupted into roar.
Candice looked and Mia and expected to see a terrified expression but found something else.
I can't wait to see her expression at the next thing that's about to happen.
She thought.
Jamie had told her and Tyler the night before about his plans and she was sure he hadn't discussed it with his parents for obvious reasons.
Jamie said a silent prayer in the old language and then ran a hand through the cut.
His fingers were wet with the animal's warm blood.
He then moved towards the gathering.
Jamie approached them and stopped right in front of Mia.
Candice risked a look towards her mother and saw the expected horror in the woman's eyes.
Her brother- and her- were going to have to explain things tomorrow.
What Jamie was doing was probably giving their mother a near-death experience.
Jamie took Mia's hand in his - the girl looked like she was about to faint and Candice chuckled quietly.
Her brother drew two simple crossed arrows on Mia's forearm.
"The two arrows are symbol of friendship." he whispered quietly, but Candice was close enough to hear.
"It's a start, right?" Jamie looked onto Mia's eyes and a slow smile spread on his face.
Candice felt like an intruder, this was a very intimate moment between two of her closest people- and she quickly averted her eyes.
The blood spilling was the end of the official part of Samhain and she saw people beginning to scatter, looking forward to the more fun part- drinking spiked alcohol and the games.
She saw Tyler and Ryker going to somewhere in the woods, and she assumed they weren't going for more wood, considering Ryker's totally inapropriate for such things attire.
****
"How is he?" Tyler asked, leaning on a tree trunk.
They were deeper in the woods now, but the light of the big bonfire could still be seen in the distance.
Ryker pulled a cigarette and offered him one, but Ty refused it.
"Considering the things he sees, I don't know ."
"What happened?"
"Nothing, just..."
Ryker gestured around and Tyler asked, worried
"Something happened. Is this why he didn't come tonight?"
"No, he's fine. My uncle's still teaching him how to break patterns."
"I sometimes forget all of you except for Candice come from families of Dream Catchers."
"Yeah, but she has talent, you know that."
"I know, I'm just teasing her. "
"Besides, her and Eadan are the only ones who deal with terrors. I mean, she's starting to, but still..."
He exhaled and added " No one else wants to deal with those, but Eadan was the only one born with the gift, I guess she's just trying to help him. "
"If you could call that a gift."
"If you could, yes."
"How bad is it?"
"It's just...normally it's passed in the family." Ryker exhaled and continued, "My mother was dealing with lucid dreams and the gift we have often has to do with the family guardian. I keep thinking that's how my mother tricked my father into marrying her, by the way". They both laughed
"But in the case of my cousins's family...I don't know, it's like Eadan pulled the short stick."
"What do you mean?"
"Well, let's say most of the time our talents have two sides. Take mine, for example - I often save people-women mostly- from rapists and s*x maniacs and there are those sick heads who like to ...yeah, you get the point."
"I do,"
"But I sometimes enter nice ones."
"No, don't tell me about those."
" You've always been such a bore, Tyler." Ryker said lightly and Tyler looked at him flatly.
"but anyway." Ryker continued "Felix's are exhausting, because he's a healer.
He can't always save the person in the dreams he enters; it could be because the person's time has come, or something else happens.
But very often he succeeds. While in Eadan's case ..."
He trailed off.
"What?"
Their eyes met and Ryker said
"There's just no good part. Even if he saves the person, it's still horror all over." Ryker almost shivered visible "I can't even imagine what it's like."
"Damn it."
Ty was quiet for a short while when Ryker said
"Are you ever going to tell him?"
"What? No."
"Ehh...but..."
"No but. And don't ask me questions."
Tyler said.
Flatly and there was no arguing with him when he was like that. Ryker still said.
"So that dream with you on top of him on the beach will remain secret."
"What?"
"And it was so hot, man. Why beaches, though?"
"Ryker?" Ty sounded alarmed.
"I thought you can't meet a person you've seen in a dream."
"Well, yeah, that is if you're a human."
"Oh, no..."
Ty looked horrified.
And funny, considering he was intimidating as hell normally and for the first time ever he seemed to be nervous and embarrassed by something.
"Woah, so you've actually imagined him like that." Ryker laughed. "You should see your face. It was just a wild guess, but s**t, Ty."
"Screw you, Ryker."
"Yeah, I'm just saying I don't need to have been in your dream to notice the way you look at him."
"This is bullshit."
"Is it?"
Ty seemed very interested in a rock on the ground where his foot was at that moment.
"It is."
Ryker tilted his head.
"You know you can tell me. I've known you for ages and you've never been like that."
"The thing is..." Tyler said, "I wasn't born with the talent of leading people, or being nice or whatever.... Look at me- I'm just brute force. Chopping wood, killing animals, that stuff."
"I thought I was the drunk one, I'm not sure I'm following?"
"My point is- you say you've seen the way I look at him...well - I've seen the way he looks at me and just..."
"You're overthinking. "
"No, I'm not. And all the things you just said" Ty searched for better words "I'm the least of his problems, that's all."
"And you won't tell him?"
"No."
"You're really dumb, Ty."
"Yeah, thanks. But..."
"But?"
"Can you...maybe if you could try and watch over him, would you?"
Ryker stubbed his cigarette out on the ground and said
"You know dream catchers don't usually enter each others' dreams, unless something's happened, right? "
"I'm not talking about the dreams."
"Then what are you talking about?"
"Just watch out for him when you can?"
"Uhh, okay. But you could do that too, if..."
Ryker tried to argue but Tyler pushed away from where he was leaning and said
"Let's go back to the others before they've decided we're doing something else."
"You're not my type, don't worry."
"You don't have a type, Ryker. "
"Yeah, at least I'm not a coward."
"Oh, go to hell, you damn snake."
Tyler pointed a finger at him and said
"And if you tell someone about any of this..."
"No, no- don't worry. Even I'm not that crazy and stupid to cross you."
"Good."
Ryker laughed and followed Ty back to the others.
- Writer
