“So, if they have such an effective weapon naturally why would they have a gun to use?” I questioned further.
“My best guess would be the victim that was overtaken by his shadow had one with him. Formless can take on the properties of what they possess to a fault. so, if the victim had one it would make sense that it was absorbed into the formless as well.”
“Do you see that often?”
“No, usually by the time a Formless shows itself it has already used up all of what the human had, reverting to an animal of sorts. Loic had a lead of a newly turned Formless. His task was to eliminate it before it reached that state.”
“Then I got involved…”
“Yes, but he did complete his mission before anyone else got hurt so a victory none the less.”
He looked at my shoulder. “Well, it seems the bleeding has stopped. That’s good at least.”
“You healed me? Are you a doctor?”
“Sadly, I never got the chance to practice but you pick up a lot in combat.” Combat? I backed up against the sofa. “In Mirror Image, they call us knights but it’s not dissimilar to this world’s militaries.” His tone softened, as if he was trying to put me at ease.
“Enough about that. Why don’t we see about sleeping quarters for you? You can use the next room. It's where Loic stays but I've got him working overtime, so it's yours for now."
Wait, stay here? My mind twisted. I wanted to go home. I was grateful I was saved and patched up, but actually sleeping here?
Wanting to be polite I spoke, “I wouldn't want to impose."
He made a brushing-off gesture. “It’s no trouble. We’re the reason you’re involved so it’s the least we can do. From your blinking and nodding, it seems you need that rest."
“But, can’t I go home for that?”
He paused. “I wouldn’t recommend it. You’ll need to be watched for a little while, and not only because of your wound. You may need protection since you might have a fight on your hands.”
Fear jolted me. “What do you mean?"
Why did I need further protection? Loic said those men wouldn’t bother us again. That meant he, killed them, right? Could you even kill the physical form of sin?
“Ah, well.” He stepped back like he spoke out of turn. “I want to make sure my patch job holds. I wouldn’t want to send you home wounded, would I?”
What was Chase avoiding?
It’s not like I knew him enough to actually be able to tell for sure. He looked concerned about me. Could it be an act? I wanted to think he was being genuine but had to tell myself to be cautious. Although Chase could be concerned, considering I had just been shot.
Yet, something in the back of my mind kept me from accepting him at face value. Nothing but their word and my own pulse, telling me these two strange men had saved me, I had to try and piece everything together until I could get home. Chase was cooperative enough, and Loic was distant and snarky to me. That didn’t make him immediately bad, but I still needed to keep an eye on him. Still, I was far too tired and sore to object to much at the moment, so I just sighed and got off the sofa. I tried to ignore the pain returning to my arm as well as the headache was forming in my forehead.
Chase stood and allowed me to pass ahead of him, escorting me to the next room. It was a small bedroom with only a small single bed and nightstand at its side. The stand already had a tray with a bottled water and a smaller box on it. Chase circled around, leaning on a bookshelf near the door and helped me onto the bed by the wall. My wound began to hurt more, and Chase approached the table and took the small box to get me, what looked like some painkillers. He set down what he got and picked the tray up presenting it to me.
“Here, these should help."
I wasn't sure if it would be right to take the meds from him. I looked at the container in his hand. How did I know they were safe? The box looked normal and seemed unopened, like any of the over the counter stuff at the store.
He handed me a bottled water as well, that looked closed as well and completely normal.
Chase smiled. “Please, dear, you have my word we are no danger to you. We only want to help. You did accidentally get into our mess, that makes your health our responsibility."
Their responsibility? Wouldn’t they have just rather hidden all of this from outsiders? Silenced me somehow? Made me forget everything?
I said nothing, and he set the tray and medicine down back on the end table beside me.
I inspected the box. It was completely untouched. The water bottle seemed just as safe. No marks or openings on the plastic. Opening it to hear that satisfying crack sound of the seal breaking filled me with relief.
He frowned. “I am sorry dear. I hate feeling like I gave you any impression of being untrustworthy. My only intention is to keep you safe until you go home. Ideally, you can forget what you experienced here.”
I swallowed a mouthful of water. “How can I possibly forget? I saw monsters…I was shot. And I don’t even know where I am.”
“Well, I can’t help you forget what you saw or felt but perhaps I can ease your fears of your location…”
Chase pulled a book from the bookshelf, he leaned against before, near the door and blew off the dust. Flipping it over, he showed me a map.
“Here, this island is where we are. Lazzaretto Nuovo.”
I was on an island? “Lazzaretto. Wait…wasn’t there a fort there?”
“A plague quarantine, then a fort. Then it was forgotten. There were going to be plans to restore this place, but with the Formless attempting to get here, most who had wanted to save it have let it be.”
“But you’re here, and it looks updated.”
“I’ve had a hand in maintaining this place for a while. People rarely come here, no ferries stop here on any normal route, so we are left to tend to this place ourselves. No one asked for this of course, but when you are stuck somewhere you want to make the best of it if possible.”
I frowned. “So, the Formless come here too?”
He shook his head. “Not for a few years. There’s a barrier around the area, so they haven’t located it for some time. They do get on the lawn every so often, but none have made it inside thanks to Loic. This is one reason why I insist you stay here. That, and I doubt Loic wants to make another trip into Venice tonight.”
At least now I knew where I was. A whole other island away, surrounded by monsters. That was great. I scowled at Chase as he made for the door.
Something he had said before crept back into my mind.
"Um, Mister? What did you mean by having a fight on my hands?” I crossed my arms.
“What's keeping me from going home?"
He stopped in his tracks and looked back at me. “Let’s just say that Formless don't always let their prey go so easily. It's best if you have some protection for the moment. They cannot enter this place. I've made sure of that. Now, please rest, Miss Rayne. The more rest you get, the sooner I won’t worry about you getting home safe."
He headed back towards the door. My head began to pound even more. So much was swirling around. I was so far from everything, Juliet, what could she be thinking right now? Could she be looking for me right now? And my teachers, would they notice I wasn’t there? My counselor would be checking how I was doing, so they would have to keep tabs on me there. I was missing so much, losing track of the days, how many classes have I missed already? The pulsing in my head grew stronger bouncing against my thoughts so I looked at the medicine again. It seemed fine. Untampered with. I just wanted the pain to stop for a while. Finally, I took the pills and downed the water. Soon after that, I fell into a deep and comfortable sleep.
THREE
♦
Transported
I OPENED MY EYES at first to darkness, then to the feeling of water, not just touching my skin but going through me. I was fully submerged into what seemed like pool water. Looking around, it seemed to have no top and no b
ottom, yet light still brightened the liquid.
All except one spot.
A good distance away, a large shadow floated through the water. This shadow seemed familiar. The shape of a large man perhaps, too big to be either Chase or Loic. Memories of my nightmare came back, along with a pulse of fear. Was this shadow related to the man who attacked me?
I tried to move but I was stuck. I couldn’t get any further from the shadow. I started to move down, pulled deeper into the water. Then I heard a voice surrounding me.
“Erehw si ti. Fi I dnif ruoy thgin rorrim Neht uoy tnow eb raf dniheb.” The voice echoed through the water.
This sounded just like how Chase and Loic spoke, backwards. Was this someone else from their world?
The shadow spoke again. This time it sounded similar to a song:
“Ylno elbisiv yb noom til eye, nword lla esoht oh wees ylno krad. Noitaarapes lanrente, noitcetorp etinif, Thgin Rorrim raeppa!”
The last line stuck in my head for some reason: Thgin Rorrim raeppa?
The words, I didn’t fully understand them, but it seemed familiar somehow, I could repeat them in my head without knowing the meaning, similar to hearing an old song in a forgotten language. I thought back to songs from my church, I could remember the songs without really knowing the words, was this a similar language? Or did this have something to do with that connection I supposedly had to their world?
I looked down. I was naked, my skin paler and glowing. My heart jumped a bit. Focus, Rayne! A new dream was always welcomed over old nightmares. I continued trying to keep the backwards phrase in my mind. Why was that what I remembered from that, and why did it feel important to remember?
I sank further into the water and sleep took me again.
From the darkness, the dream lifted me into a disorienting light. I was in a large empty field with an immense city on the horizon. The buildings seemed medieval in style and glass-like, as though someone steamed up the glass in a shower and drew a castle outline in it in the distance. Aside from a few half-alive trees, the ground and everything around the buildings were cracked and dead.
Everything seemed so familiar, like coming home after years of being away. This place was special. But everything felt desolate. Something was missing... Maybe because this dream felt eerily real, or maybe because I felt so light as if my mind was free, not weighed down by my body.
I continued to look around as I fought back small tremors of fear. But I was not looking of my own accord. As I would focus on one thing, I would be forced to look somewhere else. I barely had time to process what I was seeing before I had to turn to a new place. My mind spun. A voice became noticeable as the spinning stopped.
“Now, where are you?" As the voice finished speaking, I felt like I was being pulled somewhere, yet I didn’t move in the direction of the pull as if my feet were anchored into place against a strong wind. Soon the anchored feeling became dominate and I seemed to settle to where I was meant to be. Glad that the world had stopped spinning, I tried to refocus my mind to see what was happening. I blinked and my view shifted in an instant, like a sudden movement forced me into that desired, anchored placement.
My eyes looked down at a set of hands. They weren’t mine. Inside one of the palms, a stone rested, like the one I had seen Chase give to Loic. Then, my mind placed the voice and the Large, slightly tanned hands, adorned with small scars. Was I seeing through Loic’s eyes?
A dream where you see through another’s eyes? No, this felt strangely real. Despite my feeling of weightlessness, I felt like everything seemed like it did in every other one of my dreams. My view wasn’t much different than when I saw the city. Although this time it was a slightly higher vantage point.
I felt awake and aware. I usually felt like I was in a daze during my nightmares. It even felt different from being surrounded by water from before.
Seeing through Loic’s eyes, I saw the same view, with the castle and the dying trees but from a different angle.
So, I was indeed seeing what he was seeing somehow. A fact I would have to grapple with later.
“Now, to find that Reflection,” he muttered. “And our lucky winner is...."
The stone shifted in Loic’s hand and pointed right ahead, in the direction of the large glass castle.
“Wow, this girl has got a nice Reflection.” Loic laughed. “Probably a servant in the castle. Getting in there, however, will be interesting."
This dream puzzled me. It was better than my nightmares, so I shouldn’t have a reason to complain. But I still didn't understand why I was here. Was it because Loic saved me? Or was it because they told me about the other world? Even if that was the reason, why would that other world look like this? The way Loic corrected me earlier, I would have assumed his proud ownership would be toward a world that was at least a bit shinier.
As Loic drew closer to the castle, the crystalline stone shifted in his palm once again. We looked up at a large dome made of glass. I felt like I was being pulled forward. Then I felt a force and my perspective changed. This time I was pulled away from Loic. Soon I saw Loic’s face, which was filled with panic.
“It can't be..."
He began to run faster. I heard him whisper, "If I'm right about this, you owe me an apology, Chase."
A smile came to his face. A genuine, almost childlike smile. I had a smile like that when I first met Juliet. I had found a friend when I was scared. It was a smile of pure joy.
It didn’t take long for Loic’s childish smile to turn into a smirk. His statement towards Chase held a cocky edge. He was sure about being right about something. Personally, I thought the smirk suited his narrow face much better.
After a little while, Loic had vanished from my view. The view fell into darkness, and then the darkness led to a cold chill surrounding me that felt like being thrown back into the wet void. Suddenly, I felt as though I was drowning. I was back in the water again!
The shadow man was gone now. It was only me in the dark, lifeless water. Closing my eyes, I felt the water vanish. The sudden change shocked me. I hacked and coughed. My eyes soon cleared. Now I was lying on a table surrounded by mirrors. My heart skipped beats from fear. I fell from the table and hit the ground, hard. I caught a glimpse of the mirrors again. Panic shook me. I kicked the table and it rattled enough for a small piece of mirror glass to fall and break. Then more shattering glass echoed around me. I opened my mouth to scream, but no sound appeared. My throat felt sore and dry.
For a split second, I saw my reflection in the mirror behind me. I gasped. One of my eyes was red, and the other an icy blue. My skin was ghostly pale. I looked to my shoulder to see white hair resting near it. The hair was just long enough to brush my shoulder, much shorter than my brown hair. I felt my head with trembling fingers. There was a braid halfway up the back of my head that wrapped around both sides and tapered out into a braided ponytail. Sitting over my bangs and braced against the braids was what felt like a crown. Cold like metal and stone and heavy on my brow.
None of these realizations helped my feelings. I glanced around desperately, but there was nowhere to escape. No matter where I looked there were mirrors. No doors. No windows.
I had no way out.
I hugged my knees to my chest and hid my face. I rocked. Wake up, wake up! I wanted nothing more than to escape this terrifying hell. My heart pounded in my ears, and my lungs felt like they were on fire. All I wanted to do was scream but I could not breathe. Tears welled up in my eyes as my mind realized that this was not something I could wake up from. Then, I heard something from outside. One of the mirrors swung open.
There stood Loic His face was frozen solid like he was staring down a ghost.
“Loic!" I exclaimed. My voice sounded like a hoarse whisper.
Finally, someone I could partially trust. As I ran into his arms, he just stood there with his mouth agape.
“Loic, I'm so glad to see you.” I buried my face in his shoulder. “I
was so scared."
“What? How Princess?" He shuddered.
He repeated himself under his breath. As if he wasn't sure I had understood him. It kind of sounded like English but backwards.
“Tahw, woh ssecnirp?” I had understood him this time. I didn’t want to question how I just hugged him tightly.
“What Princess? It's me. Rayne. The girl from the museum."
I could feel him tremble slightly in my arms. It looked like he wanted to wrap his arms around me in return, but instead, he pulled back. His gaze became very intense before looking around quickly. Without another word, he lifted me up and off the ground. I landed over his shoulder, held tightly by one of his arms. Faint outrage filtered through my relief.
"What are you doing?"
"Shush...” He tossed a hood over my head. I uncovered my face, my nostrils flaring at him as I looked to see what was happening. His lack of sarcasm threw me off. His eyes were narrowed and focused as if to say this was life or death. Loic peered at everything around us and listened to every sound. He walked away leaving the glass dome behind us, the castle in the distance getting further away as well. I hadn’t gotten a clear enough view of anything outside of that view to see where we could be heading, there didn’t seem to be much more around here. He then grabbed a small piece of glass from his neck and held it above us. A clear dome of light surrounded us, almost like a shield. He looked at the glass and spoke.
"Chase, can you hear me okay?"
"Yeah, loud and clear kid. What’s the matter?"
"You won't believe this, but our little guest on that side is our Princess’s Original."
"But that's—that's not possible!"
"That's not the half of it. She's awake.” Loic stopped looking around him then continued, whispering to the glass. “Luna's awake."
Glass Souls (Reflection Book 1) Page 6