Chapter 32 River spirit
After they had rested for a while, Joana got off the bed and began to put on her clothes.
“Where are you going?” He asked her.
“Back to my room.”
“So soon? Don’t you want to stay here for a while?”
“No, I can’t, I don’t want the others to catch us here.”
They’re not going to do anything if you tell them, you know.
“I know,” Joana said. “But I’d rather they didn’t know about it, especially Dana, promise me you won’t tell them about this.”
“Ok, suit yourself.”
“Thank you,” she said. As soon as she finished putting her clothes on, she gave him a goodbye kiss before going back to her room.
She entered and threw herself on the bed, smiling to herself as she recalled everything that happened with Derick a while ago. Her thoughts then drifted back to Andrew, she hadn’t seen him in almost a year and now she wondered how he would be doing. There were times in the castle where she would wish to go home, even if it were just to visit grandma Jen and Andrew for a while. But Dana warned her against doing so, as making them see her when she knew she couldn’t stay with them would only break their heart and make them wonder why she couldn’t stay.
She just hoped she would be able to get the sacrifice done on time so she could return to her normal life. She thought about her new family, Derick, Dana, Edmund and Hillary, she had bonded with them, kind of. And she knew she would miss them if she left, everyone was so good to her here. For a moment she even wondered why Marylin wanted so much to leave this life. Maybe the love between her and John surpassed whatever she had here, she didn’t know, but for her, she had a perfectly good reason; she had a family, she had a husband, and she had friends, before her transformation, she was happy with her life the way it was before she came here and she wanted that life back, and to be able to do that, she needed to start finding the ingredients.
The first one the council told her was the waters from the evergreen river, she had done so much research on it, but didn’t have a clue as to where to find it.
While she was deep in her thoughts, she heard the others voices downstairs, they had returned.
She went downstairs to welcome them in, she was so glad to see them while also being thankful that they hadn’t come early enough, during the time she and Derick were having sex.
“Welcome back,” she said to them. “Where did the three of you go?”
“We went to see a couple of old friends who know a lot of history and all, we thought we could ask about the ingredients you were looking for,” Dana said.
“Why do you guys do so much for me?” Joana said smiling.
“Hey, it’s the least we could do, besides, we vampires are always in search of a new adventure!”
“But why didn’t you wake me up to go along with you?”
“Dana told us not to,” Edmund said. “She thought you deserved more time to rest after all that training.”
“Thank you!!!” Joana replied gratefully.
“Let’s go and discuss in the study room,” Dana said. “We got some information from one of the soothsayers we saw about the evergreen river.”
“Really? I can’t wait to hear it.”
They all went into the study and took their seats before Dana began to speak.
“The evergreen river, that is the first ingredient that the supreme council told you to collect, I saw the poem you found, and I thought it sounded strange that the river was being described as if it was a person, a female person. Well, that’s because she is.”
“I don’t understand, the river is a person?” Joana asked.
“Yes,” Dana said. “But she’s not just a person, she’s a spirit. She’s not a physical river, that’s why you couldn’t find her anywhere.”
“My word!” Joana exclaimed. Now the poem began to make sense to her, she wondered if the poet had even met this river spirit before.
“But there’s a problem,” Dana continued. “The river chooses only those who can see or access its waters, only those she believes are good of heart.”
“I don’t think that’s a problem,” Joana said. “I know I’m a good person.”
“We know that too, and we hope that the river knows too, else you’ll be drowned.”
“Ok then,” Joana said. “Did the soothsayer tell you how to access this river? Because the poet didn’t reveal it.”
“The poet did reveal that she’s a spirit, and what better way to call upon a spirit than praying to it?”
