The Legend of Valtera: Chapter 2
Prea woke with a start as a scream pierced the night. That sound was like nothing she had ever heard before and it sent a shock of panic through her body. She looked around in the dark, noticing Alvie’s profile across the room. Her sister sat rigid in her bed, silent. Another shriek erupted; a terrible noise that sliced through the walls as if they were paper. She jumped out of bed in the wake of the scream, rushing out of her room where she paused briefly as she passed a mirror and saw her scared twelve-year-old self staring back at her.
Prea ran into her parents’ bedroom and froze, paralyzed by the contorted look of agony and dread on her mother’s face. Her mother was hysterical and her father was barely holding it together.
“Something’s wrong, Garon,” her mother yelled. “It’s too soon. The baby isn’t ready.” Isa Reed howled again.
“Breathe, Isa. Breathe. Everything will be all right,” her father soothed. He turned, realizing that they were not alone. He came and grabbed Prea by her shoulders, shaking her frozen frame free. He waited as she struggled to tear her young eyes away from her mother’s crying face.
“Prea, you must go now. Get Doctor Locke and bring him back here. Quickly, my child,” Garon demanded. But she couldn’t; her brain told her body to move, but her body wouldn’t listen.
“Go, Prea. Go now,” her father yelled as he pushed her out of their room. Always the dutiful daughter, she ran down the stairs, grabbed a coat and shoes and rushed out the door. The last thing she heard was another of her mother’s panicked cries as she ran into the night.
Prea returned with Doctor Locke, the door still open from when she left. That was not a good sign. Only silence greeted them as they entered, silence and faint crying.
“Come, Doctor. They’re upstairs,” she said, rushing up the steps. When she reached the top of the stairs, Prea stopped. Something was wrong, she thought, as the doctor pushed past her. Prea tiptoed slowly down the hall, pausing at the door to her room. She glanced inside, hearing Alvie quietly sobbing in the darkness. Her heartbeat quickened as dread shivered through her veins, her pulse echoing loudly in her ears as she continued down the hall.
Prea stood in the doorway to her mother and father’s room again, but there was no screaming this time. She spied her mother lying in bed as though she was sleeping, but Prea knew that was wrong. Her father knelt by the bed, head in his hands as tears slid down his face. She had never seen her father cry before. The doctor came towards her now, saying something; his mouth was moving, but she heard no words. Finally his words broke through the fog as he laid his hand on her shoulder.
“I’m so sorry, Prea. We were too late, child. Your mama and the baby have passed on,” Doctor Locke explained gingerly. “They’re stars in the sky, now.”
* * *
Prea’s eyes shot open in the dark, her heart hammering like horse’s hooves in her chest. She sat up and held her head in her hands before she let out a ragged breath. A dream, it was just a dream, she assured herself. That wasn’t how it happened. The proof is sleeping in the next room, she thought, and breathed deeply in an effort to calm her heart. Nonetheless she was rattled.
She got out of bed and silently moved down the hall, stopping outside Carr’s room. She opened the door quietly, peering inside, making sure her brother was indeed alive and sleeping. She made out his outline in the shadows, saw his chest rise and fall as he breathed in slumber. Prea closed the door, letting out the breath she hadn’t realized she was holding. Her pulse slowed and she returned to her bed.
She hadn’t thought of that night in a long, long time. Her father had always expected a great deal from her, but that was the first time she had felt the true weight of responsibility. But now that it was on her mind, Prea couldn’t help but lie in bed and recall what really happened.
* * *
The night before every voyage, she and her father always had a secret conversation, the first of which happened eight years ago, shortly after she found out about Mama and the baby. Prea had stayed up as late as she could manage that night, wanting to spend as much time with her father as possible. He told her tales from his journeys and stories of the places he’d been.
“All right, Prea, time for bed,” he had announced at nine o’clock, when he finished his last story. Mama and Alvie had been in bed for hours and now it was her turn.
“But Papa, I don’t want to go to bed. I’m not even tired,” she said through a yawn.
He chuckled. “Yawning means you’re tired. Time for bed.”
He nudged her along, up the stairs, into her bedroom and tucked her into bed. He sat there as tears welled up in her eyes. “I don’t want you to go, Papa. You just got back. Why do you have to leave?”
He wiped away the lone tear that escaped. “It’s my job, Prea. It’s how I provide for you and Mama and Alvie and now the baby. I know you understand.” Prea reluctantly nodded. “Now Prea, you’re twelve, almost a woman. I’m trusting you to look after your mother and your sister while I’m away. Mama’s going to need extra help. Can you do that?”
“Yes, Papa.”
“Do you promise, Prea?” he asked.
“I promise, Papa.” He kissed Prea goodnight and then he left.
When Papa had come home towards the end of the pregnancy, Mama wasn’t doing so well. A twelve-year-old Prea was relieved beyond belief when she spied Papa’s ship on the horizon. A few days after Papa came home, Prea woke at the sound of a scream.
Like the dream, the doctor had beaten her home as she tugged Alvie along and they reached their wide open door a few minutes later. Holding hands, the sisters crossed the threshold into eerie silence, never a good sign, and Prea hoped she wasn’t too late.
They had waited downstairs, too scared to move. A world without Mama was unbelievable. Papa was gone at sea so much and Mama was all they had. Pulling Alvie over to the sofa, she sat her sister down. Doing the only thing she could think of, Prea grabbed the book of old tales, Mama’s favorite, off the shelf and sat down next to her sister. Opening the book to her mother’s favorite passage, the story of Aylin and Ciro, she started reading out loud to Alvie until she fell asleep. When Prea could no longer keep her own eyes open, she drifted off, her head resting against her sister’s.
Her father had found them hours later, leaning against one another, asleep. He lightly nudged her shoulder, “Prea? Prea, honey, wake up.” She woke sleepily as Alvie stirred beside her.
“Papa? What happened? Is Mama all right? What about the baby?”
Alvie woke at the sound of Prea’s voice. “Papa?” He had looked odd; a mixture of disbelief, fear and relief visible on his face.
He looked at them with gentle eyes. “Everything is fine. Mama and the baby are sleeping now.” He sat down on the floor in front of them with head in hands. The girls shared a glance before they realized that Papa was crying.
Fear trickled in again as Prea asked, “Papa, what’s wrong? You said Mama and the baby were fine.”
It had taken him a minute before he was able to speak, “They are fine, now. But we almost lost them both. We did lose them for a few minutes.” He paused, choking back tears. “I was sure there was nothing for Doctor Locke to do. But somehow he managed it. He brought them both back. By the heavens, they’re alive and sleeping upstairs.” Relief washed over her, through her, as Papa scooped them both up into a bear hug. “I’m sorry, my girls, I’m still a little in shock over it all. Come, let me introduce you to your baby brother.”
Papa had led the girls into his room quietly, so they didn’t wake either of them. At the cradle, they peered down at the tiny pink bald baby sleeping peacefully. He was so small, smaller than she imagined. Prea couldn’t believe that he was there, that he had survived everything. But he did. Her little brother was a survivor. She looked up at her father, saw him watching her baby brother sleep, an expression of pride on his face. “We’re naming him Carr. It means fighter.”
* * *
Knock-knock. Knock-knock. Someone was knocking at her door. Why would somebody be knocking at her door? Prea was confused, hadn’t she just gone back to sleep? She slowly got up and strode to the door, opening it. Alvie’s blue eyes were staring back at her.
“What are you doing, Alvie?”
“It’s late. You’re usually back from the cliffs by now,” Alvie informed her. That got Prea’s attention and she walked over to the window, yanking the fabric away and saw that the sun had broken free of the horizon. How was this possible? She was always up at dawn, always out on the cliffs to watch the sun rise. She never slept in.
Prea turned back to her sister in the doorway. “Is Carr up?”
“I was just about to wake him,” Alvie said as she studied her older sister. “Prea, are you feeling all right? You never sleep this late.”
“I’m fine. I—I had a bad dream. It woke me in the middle of the night,” she answered distractedly. “I’ll go wake Carr.”
“Okay,” Alvie said as Prea passed her in the doorway. She watched Prea knock on Carr’s door before heading back downstairs.
The lingering edginess from the dream was finally fading as Prea got breakfast for her brother. The dream couldn’t have been any further from reality. Carr was a light in her life and he always brought her out of sadness and despair. He was overly energetic this morning, it seemed, but Prea was unusually grateful for his bubbling personality as it had lifted the rest of her uneasiness. Carr was giggling and playful, pulling Prea into his optimistic joy.
* * *
The day had gone by quickly, Prea thought, as she exited the schoolyard, Carr trailing a few feet behind. They were heading straight home this afternoon, the sky above threatening to call forth rain any minute. A storm seemed to be brewing off in the distance, causing Prea to regret oversleeping. She couldn’t remember the last time she had missed dawn on the cliffs; cold and snow didn’t even stop her, though she didn’t stay out as long. She could call on the elements, the sun, moon and stars at any time, she supposed, but it just didn’t feel right unless she was overlooking the bay.
“Come on, Carr, we need to be heading home.”
He hurried up until he was walking alongside her. “The sky looks angry. Is it going to storm?”
“I’m not sure. It looks like it, though,” she responded. “We’ll have to go out as soon as we get home and gather the vegetables.”
“What about Papa?” Carr asked. “Will he be okay in the storm?”
“I’m sure they’ll be fine. They’ve been in storms before. They know how to handle themselves.”
Although she remained optimistic for her brother’s sake, storms were always a concern with her father out at sea. As they arrived home she put her things away, took a basket from the kitchen and walked around back to the garden. Alvie was a miracle worker with the earth; they were able to grow most of their food and whatever excess they had, they sold. She had been at it for years, and now the garden spread from the rear of the house almost to the tree line. She’d had a connection to the earth, it seemed, since birth.
Nature was a very powerful force; it could be both supportive and destructive. The Reed children had learned from their mother at a young age to respect the earth and the elements. Prea had learned to work in harmony with nature, lest she feel its wrath.
Prea gathered all of the ripe vegetables, bringing them inside and starting dinner. There was something comforting in this daily task, though she was still watching the sky darkening out the window. She could hear Carr upstairs playing and didn’t think there was a happier sound in the world.
Papa and Leal would be home any day now and she couldn’t wait. When Prea first met Leal three years ago, she had been quite surprised. Her father didn’t bring people home with him on his voyages and this was a first. Papa had been gone for months, making a trip to northern Delmar on the western coast of Valtera. She was seventeen at the time and had been without her mother for two years. Prea had just started her teaching job and was taking care of a fourteen-year-old Alvie and a five-year-old Carr.
Carr had been a real handful; he was finally old enough to understand where Papa was and noticed how long he was gone. It was hard to contain his energy, though Alvie helped somewhat. Her oldest friends Beda and Dal helped as well; Prea couldn’t have done it on her own. She was tired and grateful for her father’s return. Alvie and Carr had gone to the docks when word came in that they were arriving, while Prea was busy at home making dinner.
Their arrival had been boisterous and joyful, as Papa had come into the house carrying an excited Carr in his arms. Prea couldn’t recall the last time her sister had smiled that big and she had stood, tears in her eyes, as she greeted her father.
It had been a long time since she, herself, had felt that much happiness. Papa had released Carr, letting him slide down to the floor, before he stepped forward, embracing his eldest daughter and holding her tight. The tears slid down Prea’s face as she clung to her father; right now in his arms, she wasn’t an adult or responsible for anything. She was just his little girl. When she opened her eyes once more, she got her first look at Leal standing in the doorway behind her father.
He was leaning against the doorway, a smile spread across his face. Her glance locked onto his kind hazel eyes, and she felt an immediate flutter within her. Finally pulling away from her father, she said, “Papa, it’s so good to have you home. I’ve missed you.”
“I’ve missed you too, Prea.” He turned, beckoning Leal into their home. “Prea, I’d like you to meet Leal. He came back from Delmar as one of the crew. Leal, this is my eldest daughter, Prea.”
“Welcome. It’s nice to meet you,” Prea said, stepping forward.
“The pleasure is all mine,” Leal greeted, taking Prea’s hand in his.
Leal couldn’t have come into Prea’s life at a better time. It had been two years since her mother had passed; two years of increased responsibility, two years of raising a child. She had begun to feel burned out and overworked. Her father was home for as much time as was possible, but it was not nearly enough in her opinion. Leal made Prea feel young again. He took her mind off the responsibility, the work, the stress. He gave her his attention and affection, eventually his love.
Back in the reality of her kitchen, Prea continued to watch the storm forming in the distant sky. She had his love now, had had it for a while, that was without question. She would always have his love; their connection could never be broken. His presence, on the other hand, was desperately needed.
Prea finally had a moment to herself which was something of a rarity. She untied her hair as she strolled into the sitting room, looking for a book to read. Prea was relaxed, reading as she heard a knock at the door. Who could that be? Alvie should be home soon, but she wouldn’t have to knock. She rose; that feeling was back in her stomach, down in the pit, as she crossed the room towards the door. Time seemed to be moving slower than normal. Her hand turned the knob, opening the door slowly.
