Essentia by Ninana Howard

her from harm? 'Bohyne, please let her be alright' I pray to myself "Brother, This is not your fault" Thegan says to me. How is it not. She was all right, living a normal life before she met me. It is my fault.
        I look down at my hands, and my voice shakes as I say, "I-I couldn't protect her Brother, I promised her she would be safe here, I let her down." How was she going trust me now?
        "You could not have stopped this Brother," Thegan says to me in a dark tone. Does he know something I do not? How does he know that I could not have protected her from this? Thegan then says. "After I finish here, and you get her settled back in, I will tell you what I know." All I can do is nod at him. I am worried about what he is going to say to me. My brother never keeps anything from me. It must be bad for him to keep this to himself.   "There she is all sewn up and bandaged. Let her sleep here for now then we can move her to your room. Ok brother." Thegan says to me.
        I position her up on the pillows, and I elevate her leg with some extra blankets. I gently sweep her brown locks to the side out of her face. She is so beautiful, even in this condition. I place a small kiss on her forehead and cover her up. Looking back at her before I leave the room. She has been through so much today. Bohyne, why is this happening to such a pure hearted woman.
        I join my brother in the living room. When I look at him, he has a withdrawn look on his face. "Thegan, the confliction on your face is very worrying, tell me, please. What is going on?" I say to him.
        "Sit, I will tell you what I know," he says. I sit down across from him and wait for him to explain. He seems to be trying to gather the words. Thegan looks down and begins to explain, "It happened to her in a dream."
         "A dream? How is that possible?" I say to him. Since when can dreams harm you? I ask myself.
        "I'm not sure how it is possible. All I know is that it's definitely possible. I have hidden something from you brother, but you have to understand. I only hid it to keep you from worrying" Thegan says to me in a small voice.
        "What is it, Brother?" I ask him. He never keeps things from me. He has always told me everything.
        Thegan then sighs and begins to speak. "It has happened to me. I have been hurt in my dreams before as well." Looking down at his hands. "I am sorry I did not tell you the truth when it happened." It's happened to him? I think back about the past few months and the only time he has been hurt was the cut on his arm. Could that be it or did he hide a different injury of his from me? The cut on his arm that has to be it. He was acting oddly that night when he was telling me about it.
        I ask him just to know if I am right in my assumptions. "Your arm?" I say to him, motioning to his injured arm.
        "Yes, but there have been other injuries you did not now about. Mostly bruises and soreness. This cut is the first time blood had been drawn." Thegan says, looking ashamed. How have I not noticed.
        "I am not mad at you for not telling me brother, you had your reasons. What's important right now is, we need to know how to make this stop before you both end up dead. I cannot lose you or her" I say to him. Something has to be done.
        While we sit and talk about what can be done, I have an idea. I run it past my brother to hear his thoughts on it, "What if we could find a Haruspex, do you think one could help?"       The Haruspex is considered to have oracle abilities, surely if we can find one they could help us. "It is possible that they may know more about what's going on, but I'm not sure where to find one," Thegan says.
        "We could ask Aiden if he knows of one. There has to be at least a couple that has traveled here to this realm over the years." I suggest to him. He nods his head and then takes out his phone and calls Aiden. While he is on the phone, I decide to go check on