“Save… who?” I asked, my voice squeaking.
Eagle Spirit held out an inviting hand. “Come with me, child.”
I hesitated, but Eagle Spirit seemed much nicer than the monsters I’d encountered before. Perhaps he could save me from the ones marching outside my window. I reached out for him. My fingers grazed nothing but air, but the second I touched him, the room spun around me. Eagle Spirit became solid beside me, and my hand clutched his. Darkness enveloped me, and the thunder immediately stopped. I saw nothing but the glow of Eagle Spirit’s form. He gazed down at me with sadness in his eyes.
“I am so sorry, child. You are so young. You should not have to go through with this yet,” he said gently.
“What’s happening?” I questioned, glancing all around me.
Then I saw it. A bright light cut through the darkness. A woman screamed, and my heart boomed in my chest. I feared for her. She sounded frightened and in so much pain.
“No!” the woman screamed.
“Sophia, it’s time to push!” another woman told her.
The darkness began to fade, and a scene formed around us. Eagle Spirit stood beside me in a bedroom with walls that reminded me of a cave. A woman lay panting on the bed, with several others surrounding her. Sweat covered her brow, and her legs were propped up beneath a blanket, so I couldn’t see what the other women were looking at. A small white creature with big ears and giant blue eyes wept. Another animal that looked like a monkey with blue feathers moved about the room. I’d never seen anything like it.
Shadows formed in the dark corners of the room. The sight chilled me to the bone, and I took a step back. They were monsters. They were the ones causing this. I didn’t know how I knew, but I couldfeelthe darkness coming from them.
“It’s okay,” Eagle Spirit promised. I trusted him.
“She’s still breeched!” the woman in the bed yelled. “Luana, you do anything! You take my life and put it into this baby’s! You hear me?”
“Sophia, we’re not—” one of the girls said, but she stopped when Sophia screamed again.
Something tugged at my heart, almost like I was in pain, experiencing all the fear that she was. It terrified me to my very core. Something deep inside me screamed to help this woman, as if she was my own mother.
I shook as I squeezed Eagle Spirit’s hand. “She’s scared! Help her!”
Eagle Spirit knelt to my level. He pushed my dark hair from my eyes. “I’m sorry, Charlie. I wish there was another way. A baby is about to be born, but she is losing this battle. The gods have done everything they can to save her, but even our magic has limits. There’s one last spell we can try, but the only power strong enough to save the baby and her mother is a sacrifice— a sacrifice fromyou. Charlie, do you know what a sacrifice is?”
Tears stung my eyes, and I shook my head.
“It’s when we give up something we care about to help someone else,” Eagle Spirit explained. “You and this baby are connected. You must choose to give this baby a piece of yourself in order to save her. One day, I hope you understand why I am asking you to do this.”
“No! Ancestors, please! Don’t take her! Take me instead!” Sophia cried.
My heart twisted in my chest. The screams echoed in my ears, a pain I didn’t quite understand.
I could feel the baby. I knew her fear and felt pain. She was slipping away.
I didn’t know what all this meant. I was too small to really understand what death was. All I knew was that I’d do anything to save this baby, and if I didn’t, she would die.
I said the first thing that popped into my head. “My eyes!” I cried to Eagle Spirit. “Give the baby my eyes!”
“Are you sure, Charlie?” Eagle Spirit asked.
“Yes!” I sobbed. “Save her. Take my eyes. I don’t want them no more!”
“Very well.” Eagle Spirit stood and placed his hand on my head.
“One more push, Sophia!” one of the women said.
The screams came to an abrupt halt, and the woman went limp on the bed. Tears streamed down my face, and I hiccupped. I feared that I’d made my decision too late.
Then I saw her. One of the women pulled the tiniest little baby from behind the blanket and held her up. She was so small, and though she was covered in goo, she was the prettiest baby I’d ever seen. She had a mess of black hair, and the biggest brown eyes.
My heart was instantly drawn to her, and I knew without a doubt that our souls were entwined, from now to the end of forever.
