Glint

As the Sentries sit around the campfire eating our dinner, rustling in the bushes could be heard. I spin my head trying to get a bearing on where the noise is coming from, but it sounds like it is coming from all sides.

“Which direction is it coming from?” Riley calls.

“I don’t know, it’s everywhere,” Jude says.

“There,” Nolan is pointing. I gather with the others. In the low bush I can see glowing yellow eyes and the glint of metal that haunts me in my dreams. The same that I saw the first night of Sentry duty. What is it?

“It’s the same one that keeps searching the fence line of Camp,” I hear one of them say. It runs toward up and makes a leap over us. Before any of us could draw on it, it ran back to the brush behind us.

“What the hell was that?” We can hear it circling us, or are there more?

“It’s dangerous, it’s not afraid of us. Split up. Tonight, Sentries, we hunt!” There was a cheer. We split into three groups. We began to search for signs around the campsite of more than one Therion, when we heard a low cry due east.

Once we caught the trail, the decision to flank it was made. We wait for the other groups to get into position and then start closing in. "This is where it is going to get hairy. We've done this before. Stay close, and don't get separated from the group. I believe it is lone, but if not, it could be trying to weaken us and pick one of us off."

We start to move in a few meters at a time. Before long we should be able to see the other Sentries, we have to be getting close to it by now. "Where is it," Valor whispers.

"I don't know, keep your eyes peeled," Andrew says. Within minutes we come on a clearing with high grass. We can see the other groups already there. Riley throws up a hand signal having us circle. "It has to be here. Spread out."

Then, I see the familiar glint just beyond the clearing. I signal to Nolan I am heading that way to check it out. He signals the rest of the group. As I close in, I see it laying there. Someone must have already downed it and I didn't see the signal, so I ran ahead to check it out.

"Scarlett, not too close," I hear Riley yell. I turn to him to acknowledge his command. In an instant I am slammed to the ground with all the wind knocked out of me. I roll to the side and am pinned. It's hot breath in my face. I know better than to panic. I slowly reach down to unbuckle my gun, when its long-clawed hand traps my arm in place. How did it know?

I hear Nolan yell something and turn my head towards him exposing my hood. The Therion lets out a low wail. I close my eyes as I feel it lift its lanky arm. I wait for it to come down on me in a painful slash, but it hesitates and traces its claw along the freshly sown arrow. I look straight up to the Therion. For a minute its eyes almost seem human, it blinks, and the light that is there is gone. I feel a cold metal trace on my chest as it brings its ragged mouth closer. Its upper lip snarls up to bare its gleaming stained teeth.

In an instant Nolan comes rushing in and knocks the Therion off me. As it rolls off, I see a glimpse of a heart-shaped locket. Nolan grabs my chest straps and rolls me down into a dry creek bed. I can feel his heart pounding against my chest. I slightly blush in the darkness hoping he can’t see. The Therion lets out a spine-tingling cry and runs off.

“Don’t you EVER do that again, Scar. Never rush out of the pack no matter how small the Therion is. They have unbelievable advantages. Don’t you ever leave my side again,” he screams.

“Nolan, what in the world is your problem? I could have handled it.”

“You don’t get it do you? You just don’t see… Just forget it,” he says while pulling me in closer to him and turning his head to the side. He lets go of my straps and gives me a slight push off of him still looking away.

“What? What don’t I get? That you think I can’t handle myself out here?”

“Scar, that’s not it at all. You are one of the most capable people I know,” he turns to look at me with sadness in his eyes.

“What is it then?” I look into his eyes searching for an answer that I can’t find.

Nolan closes his eyes and lets out a sigh, then picks himself up and brushes the leaves from his cloak. I look up to the top of the creek bed to see several Sentries all gathered around watching the show. “What are you looking at?” I yell up to them. With anger and shame, I shuffle off home. I can’t take any more of this tonight.

***

I lay back down with nothing but the glow of the embers in the hearth. I didn't want a roaring fire today, I just wanted to put on a sweater, and crawl under the covers. Slowly I started to drift off. Somewhere between the threshold of dreams and reality, I saw the glint of the heart-shaped locket around the Therion's neck. I immediately sat up in bed. I remembered it. It wasn't a chain, it was man-made. It was a locket? It weighed heavy on my mind. Had I seen it before?

I grabbed my sketch book from my side table and quickly sketched it out. Adding all the details I could remember. I tried everything I could to keep awake while doing so. Sleep eventually won out and I passed out with the sketchbook still in hand.

I awoke that night to a gentle rap at my door. I got up knocking something to the floor and kicking it in the dark. The embers had completely gone out by now and it was cold in the room. I go to the door and open it. It's Nolan.

"Hey, sweetheart, how you holding up?" I squint and open one eye to look at him. "That good, eh?" He looks over to the fireplace and gets it going again. Within a few minutes the fire is glowing and warming the room. "Ok, you look like shit." Well, tact was never one of Nolan's strong suits.

"Thanks," I reply as I pull my hair up into a ponytail and go back over to the bed and crawl under the covers. Nolan makes the trek across the room and sits down on the edge of the bed.

"Rough night, er..day?" He says with a smile.

"You could say that; I had a hard time falling asleep. Then I remembered something from last night. It was the metallic glint we saw on that Therion," I say while looking around my bed.

"When I was up close and personal with that thing, I saw what it was. It's a locket."

"Seriously?" Nolan cocked his head to the side.

"Yah, somewhere around here is my sketchbook. I sketched it out last night. I don't really remember a lot of the details though. Hopefully, I got something down before falling asleep." I continue to look around my bed.

Nolan gets up and heads across to the wall and picks up my sketchbook off the floor. "There it is, thanks." I open to the last page and show Nolan. His eyes light up.

"Are you sure about this, Scar? This is what you saw?" He is holding the notebook up in front of my face.

"Yah, that's it. What's going on, Nolan?" He gets up from my bed and heads to the door connecting the lean-to to the main house. He unlocks the latch and goes in. I follow quickly behind stumbling over my gathered sheets. “Nolan, where are you going?”

Nolan walks into the kitchen where my dad is sitting enjoying a cup of warm cider. He throws the sketchbook onto the table with the pages open to the sketch. My dad gives him a stunned look then looks down. His eyes widen as he picks it up and pushes his chair back to stand. “Where? Why do you have this?”

“It’s Scar’s sketch.”

“You remember it, Punkin?” His eyes begin to get misty.

“No, what do you mean?” I look at Nolan confused.

“Tell him, tell him why you are drawing this!” Nolan becomes angry.

“Nolan, what’s wrong?” I plead.

“What is this all about,” my dad’s tenderness quickly dissipated.

Nolan’s voice calms and he takes my hands. “Tell him how you know this.” I can see Nolan is being genuine. So, I told him.

“It all started the first night of Sentry duty. I saw something catching the moonlight in the brush along the fence. I didn’t know what it was, but along with it came a Therion.” My father sits down slowly. I look to Nolan who nods his head to continue.

“I saw it again the other night. I was pinned by a Therion in the woods,” my father’s hand went up to his mouth. “It was all very fast, but around its neck, I saw what was catching the moonlight. It was this locket. Now can someone please explain?”

My father is softly sobbing. “Scar, that’s your mother’s locket. Don’t you remember? I know I’m a bit older than you, but it always hung around her neck.” Nolan looks to me. I think hard and try to remember.

Dad looks up with a smile on his face. “You used to play with it around her neck as a baby. I swear it soothed you. I gave it to her when I found out she was pregnant. Then, I had something added to the design every time we added to the family.” He looks back down to the page and traces the lines with his fingers.

I think back to playing in the back yard with my mom. I’m running around, and she and dad are trying to catch me, then there it is. A glint of light in the sun coming from her neck. Just a flash like a memory, but it there. I know that glint all too well.

Rage boils up inside me. “Dad, no.” I collapse to the ground.

“Punkin, no, honey. Maybe somehow it got it caught.”

“Dad, you don’t really believe that do you? There’s no other explanation.” Nolan comes over and wraps his arms around me. “Why couldn’t they have just killed her. Why this? This, this is so much worse.” I pound the ground with my fists. My siblings come running in. “Get them out of here!” I yell it at the top of my lungs. Joel starts crying. Nolan runs over to comfort them and sends them to their rooms.

Nolan looks to my dad, “Maybe I should just give you guys a bit to process. I’ll be back later.” My dad nods up to him and he silently leaves.

“It’s ok baby, its ok. Shh shh.” He cradles me in his arms. We sat there in the kitchen floor for a long time, past time for tears, and swollen eyes.

It was Fritz who came in. “I’m sorry to come in but Joel is hungry. What do I do, Papa?”

I pick myself up and wipe my eyes. “I’ll get something started.”

“No, Punkin, I’ll do it. You go rest.” As I walk away, he stops me. “Promise me you’ll take care of it. No suffering.” I looked at him not knowing what to say.