Shadow's Kiss: Blood, Lust and Magic

by Adria Eustis

  Nina took in a deep breath, how do you even reply to someone so deep?

  “It was so lovely to speak to you, but I think I'm going to grab something to eat now.”

  “Fair well Nina.” Lasiah took a small bow as she turned and walked away.

  CHAPTER TWELVE

  JANINA

  October, Year of the Pearl Acacia

  That afternoon, Nina and Opal sat on their bunks, their room was half the size of the ones lower down, only fitting two. Opal barely spoke, her face always seemed stuck in a book. That day, Nina had seen dozens of new inmates arriving, but at the same time, she saw many leaving too. There was a light above that same barred door that she'd entered by. When ever it lit, a long, buzzing sound flooded over speakers throughout. Girls queued up nearby, waiting to see if their name was called by the guard waiting outside. They'd put their names on the list to join the battle on the island. Apparently - Bridget had told her - the names are drawn randomly. That didn't mean much, aside from that if Astra really could help her get to freedom, she could hardly guarantee they'd get out there at the same time. And the fact that she thought about that bothered her. Because as much as she wanted to deny it, Nina was thinking about trying her chances. So far today, she'd stood against the wall, staring at the door, and counted thirteen girls leave. That meant thirteen had perished for them to be taking their place. And still, from her cell, that buzz kept giving her earache. She'd heard it throughout the nights too, followed by the distant sound of cells being unlocked, now those noises made sense. She felt like a starving mouse at the start of a maze, waiting for the door to open up so that she could search in panic for the cheese and die in the trap. And she was literally starving. Holding the spoon of goo in front of her face earlier, she had thought she might have over exaggerated it the day before, but as soon as she smelt it up close she knew that was not the case.

  From out of nowhere a fierce shriek reverberated from the bottom floor up to her cell, followed by the thudding of feet as she and many moved to the railings to see what was happening. Below, stood two older girls, who by the looks of their jeans and hooded jackets had only just arrived. The chubbier one had the smaller ones hair in her fist and was pushing her face into the floor, whilst sitting on her back.

  “Get off!”

  “You bitch, this is your fault you bitch!”

  The rowdy girls wrestled all over the floor, as crowds scattered rather than gathered to cheer them on.

  “Nina,” Opal said, shoving her jacket into her face. Nina's brow furrowed, every one seemed to be putting clothes over their faces, bed sheets, blankets, bras anything that was close.

  “I'm gonna kill ye, ye tramp!” The girl's faces turned beet-red as they rolled around together, slapping, thumping, pulling hair.

  There was a familiar scent that reminded her of the New Year's fireworks that her dad would light in the garden when she was young. Within seconds a white cloud gathered all along the ground floor, the sound of a what she could only image as a some sort of broken steam pipe troubled her ears. The white cloud was coming from upstairs too, panicking, she found the source; the air vents.

  “Restraining gas,” Opal said, heading for the window. The floors cleared of people, alone, she watched. The boxing match continued for a few more moments, until she couldn't see them through the thick ivory smoke anymore. Pressing the jacket to her face was no use, it burned her eyes. Slinking to the floor against the railing, she felt like some one had dropped a boulder on her chest. Skin, flaring, eyes pressed shut. Nina blindly dashed for the window, Opal's hand guided her, but still the air from outside was not much comfort. Screams rang out, the cell bars against the concrete floor. Croaky, muffled voices hollerred from below.

  “Eviction!” Was the only word she could pick up the hysteria.

  Clinging on to the bars, praying for it to be over, Nina coughed up phlegm and cherished every breath that she could manage. The noise from the spreading gas had stopped minutes before, but the tainted air took too long to dissipate.

  Disorientated, Nina found herself staring down the walls of the shower rooms with Opal holding on to her arm. Masses of girls huddled together, fully clothed under the flowing water. With a shove, she found herself pushed up against a stranger, taking a freezing shower. But it felt so much better. She never thought she'd be so pleased to see the green mold on the ceiling so clearly.

  ~

  “How'd you find your first eviction?” Astra asked, as she and Opal crashed to the floor of Astra's cell.

  “That was the worst feeling in my life, I thought I was gonna die. I literally saw my whole life.” Drenched hair soaked through her tunic, wasn't it cold enough in here?

  “Hah, can't have been a long show.”

  Nina shot the vixen a mean look. “I noticed they'd taken the 'Nelly' down, about time. What'd they do with those new girls?”

  “Upgraded them a rank, and thrown them out there as extras.”

  “Extras?” Nina dared asked.

  “You really never did see the show did you?” Astra tutted, “An extra is someone who gets a spot even if the field already got its full 65 out there. They get a red armband and are worth ten points.”

  “And everyone else can see exactly where they are on their info-pads,” Bridget added, throwing a scrunched up, poem reject under the bed.

  Astra glided a finger across her neck, “basically they’re dead within the hour.”

  “Anyhoo, I'm off down to the lounge for a bit of television, gotta keep up to date with who's in play, so I know all their weaknesses when I get out there.”

  With Astra gone, Mol seemed to awaken. With a thud on her top bunk, she turned to face them.

  “Your sister's sick?” Her voice was weak and raspy.

  “Yes,” Nina said, staring down at her hands. Did she have to remind her?

  “Come here.” Mol beckoned her close.

  Up close she could see the deep cracks across her lips, and dark bags under her round brown eyes. Her crimped tresses were matted where they'd been against the bed for so long. “My Uncle Jeri, he's a Diviner, a Healer, he'll heal the tiny girl. Jeri's a saint, a good man, old and wise.”

  “That's nice and all, but impossible to do from here,” Nina whispered, mirroring Mol's volume.

  Mol glanced around, as if searching for signs of an Oculus, “you're from Nanta right?”

  Nina nodded.

  “If you can get out of here, find my uncle, he lives in the house with the red door, next to the pet shop on Keran Street. Tell him Mol sent you. But you can't tell another soul, he keeps himself secret, it's the only way.”

  Nina's eyes welled up at the thought that Eri could be healed, and that a stranger would help her so immensely. “How sure are you?”

  Mol's eyes seemed to pierced through her. “I tell no lies. Find Uncle Jeri. Save Anna.” Mol heaved her big-bone frame back over to continue her plight to burn through the crumbling wall with her eyes. So many cryptic people in here. Nina didn't know what to believe. But it wasn't at all too hard to believe there was a Healer using his powers, behind the back of the law in Nanta. If was found out he'd be done-for. All she had to do was get the message to Rohn, without revealing this man's doings to the world. She headed back to the yard to escape the little bits of gas that still clung to the air, and to think of a way around it.

  ~

  There was far-off gunfire coming from the south as she sat, arms around her knees on the bleachers, beside a snoring girl. I could tell Rohn; 'take Eri to see this man, tell him Mol sent you'. Rohn would go right? Even if I didn't explain why he needed to go. Once there he'd realise why I sent him. And even if the guards were listening to the conversation, they'd not suspect any crime from a sentence as innocent as that. Right? Her chest warmed at the thought. She had still two phone calls left. Yes! Everything is going to be alright! Eri will be well again, she'll might be small, but she's clever, she'll look after herself whilst Rohn trains. Maybe he'll find a little job to pa
y the rent, maybe he can take her to the Ninzi mountains with him? Before she knew it she had dashed back inside and was cradling the telephone receiver in her trembling hand.

  28282, she tapped in her code. Brought the earpiece to her head.

  “You have... zero... calls for this period. You have... zero... calls for this period. You have... zero... calls for this period.” The computerised taunt spat at her over and over again. This has to be a mistake. She checked her sleeve. 28282. Dialled it again. And again, and again, then she slammed the receiver down. Astra would have answers.

  ~

  “Astra!” Astra perched on the arm of a sodden armchair, The Amphitheatre played on the TV set close to her seemingly delighted face. Catching a glimpse of a greying man sharpening a knife on a rock, she turned her back to it and waved in Astra's vision.

  “Astra, it says I have no more phone calls.”

  “You just used the phone yesterday girl calm down.”

  Nina folded her arms, her foot tapped uncontrollable on the soggy carpet. “I'm supposed to get three calls.”

  “Yeah one per season. Chill out.”

  “Season? Astra, this is serious, I need to know when I can make another call.”

  “What month is it?”

  “October.”

  Astra looked off into space for a moment. “January.”

  “January!?” Nina looked towards the ceiling, pulling on her own cheeks, “why?”

  “Why do they give us running water clean water in the taps and showers, but piss in the canteen water? Nina not a single person knows who invented the rules here, go figure.” She blew a big bubble from her pink gum, it burst slapping against her pouty lips. Gah. Life just kept throwing shit her way.

  ~

  The sun was setting, darkening her cell, as she lay on her bunk, chipping away at the wall with her fingernails. How could Opal be so calm and still down there, her face buried in the world of mountain lions?

  “Did you ever consider your chances on the battlefield Opal?” Nina swung her head over the side of the metal frame.

  “I'd be useless.”

  “What if you had someone with you that you trusted?”

  “Nina,” Opal's expression fell serious, “don't listen to that Astra. She doesn't want to help you or anyone else.”

  “But it would make sense for her to want to team with someone, to use them as a distraction.”

  “Make sense indeed.” She nodded, “but Astra doesn't care much for sense. She only lies.”

  “You can't be sure.”

  “I am sure. Just like I'm sure that your sister's name is not Anna.”

  Nina jumped down from the bunk. What? How could she?

  “How would you know that?”

  “Not all gifts are magical, some are just there, all the time.”

  “I lied because I didn't want that brat knowing my little sisters identity. Was it so obvious?”

  “Not obvious to others, but to me yes.”

  “Are you psychic or something weird?”

  “I guess so.” Opal's small features wrinkled into a cheeky grin.

  “Huh,” Nina said, chewing her lip, “so tell me, am I lying now? My mother's name is Hanna, she works as a veterinarian.”

  “Yes and no.”

  “Yes and no?”

  “Your mother's name was Hanna, but she doesn't work as a vet anymore. She died didn't she?”

  “Holy crap. Okay, okay. My favourite colour is blue, and my best friends name is Velle.”

  “Not blue. Yes Velle. But you're kind of unsure if she's your friend anymore.”

  “So, what you were saying before. Astra doesn't want to help us?”

  “Definitely not.”

  Nina paced the room, she'd been counting on Astra's help in her strictly hypothetical way home.

  “Ask me what you really want to know?”

  “What d'you mean?”

  “Ask me if Mol was telling the truth.”

  “Was she?”

  “That's a resounding yes.”

  “Uncle Jeri is real?”

  Opal nodded.

  Should she trust that delicate, sweet, young face of innocence? When she looked at Opal, she saw flowers blossoming, and a girl with her heart on her sleeve. When she looked at Astra, she saw a spoilt, wild, witch. A rat waiting for it's rival at the poisoned pellets, ready to offer it a plate.

  Hammers smashing within her chest, she decided to trust nothing, but her own instincts. And in those short thrilling ticks of the clock, her instincts whispered that though she wasn't strong or fearless, she was determined enough to win freedom, and thorny enough to, one way or another, make it home.

  A passionate flurry of sea air came in the wind, it smelled like home, her home on the beach. That home were her brother and sister waited for her. As it rattled around the room she could have sworn it held the same storm that Rohn had inside of him that night, as they buried their Aunt Maire.

  Some people just give up Rohn. She had said. Why? Why would anyone give up? Why can't they conquer the battles that life hurls at them? Why don't they even try? Why surrender like a coward? He had said, with the full force of his emotions. It was those words that drowned out the commotion of Dedite's damned Penitentiary, as she advanced with speed towards her objective. Dismissing negative thoughts, head held high. She took that pen, and she boldly wrote her name – Janina Ambrose – on the theatre sign-up board, below twelve others. What have I done? She dropped the pen and stepped back.

  “I know I could count on you.” Astra's shoulder knocked into hers as she reached for the pen.

  “Lydia Hayes.” She wrote, in curling letters. Astra turned and winked her eye, “we have much to discuss. Let's go plan our destiny.”

  Bridget stood, open mouthed her notepad hit the floor, “you're not leaving me here.”

  “Bridget Bryant.” The girl wrote so fast it was hard to believe she hadn't already done so.

  Fate sealed. They walked through the staring crowds, why they stared she didn't know, she'd already watched a handful of people sign up just that morning. It wasn't un-ordinary – she guessed they were judging their competition, or wishing they were daring enough to go themselves. But as she place her first foot on the metal steps, Bridget gasped, “not Opal too, she's so teensy-weensy.” Janina glanced back in surprise, to witness her cell-mate, on tip-toes, writing her name on the board.

  “I'm all out of books,” Opal said, as she joined up with them.

  “You'll make excellent bait for my traps little one,” Astra said.

  ~

  The girls stood on the top floor, leaning over the railings. Nina couldn't keep still, the buzz could come any moment. Perhaps they'd picked her name already.

  “How soon can we be called?” She asked, unknowingly biting her nails.

  “Well, they'll have picked our names up from the surveillance already, but there was quite a few names on there, and no doubt more will be signing up already. Not to mention there will be even more names put down from the other wings. It's truly out of our control. But, actually, sometimes they do just come in and take multiple girls at the same time. Ya know, I must say, Nina, this is very unexpected of you. I had you down for a Swinging Nelly in a few months. “

  “I can't believe so many sign up.”

  “Have you not seen this place? You couldn't cut it for a week, how do you think the rest of um feel?”

  “Cannot believe I just did that.” Bridget was deathly pale, shivering, her teeth clattered together.

  “Could they call us right now?” Nina asked.

  “Yah I guess. It's totally random. Gosh you are in so much of a rush? You're practically willing someone to snuff it so you can get out there.” Nina was quickly tiring of her remarks.

  “What happens when we get out there?”

  “We will all meet up at one place, if you girls get out before, just hide as best as you can till I get there.”

  “Do you have a place in mind?” Brid
get asked.

  “Yes, I've seen it on the show, along the beach is a light-house, don't go in it – there will be someone in it no doubt. But near the light-house, close to the sea are some big jagged grey rocks. Now it might not be an ideal place to hang out, what with the waves and that. But that only makes it more likely that you'll be the only ones there.”

  “Jagged rocks, light-house, sea, got it,” Bridget said, nodding, eyes wide like she'd seen a spook.

  “They'll put you out on the island through a portal, like the one that got you here. The portals are random anywhere on our side of the theatre. They have to be, otherwise people would wait outside their spawn locations for prey. They'll give you an info-pad, it won't have a map, but it will have a compass. Go south and stay hidden, move slowly, be seen and you guys are totally screwed. It could be days before we are all together. But competitor turn-over is fast so it shouldn't be longer than a week.”

  “A week? I'll have starved by then,” Bridget said.

  “Eat barnacles or something gees.” Astra waved her away. She seemed more interested in Nina, pulling up close to her, she said, “don't worry angel. I'll keep you safe.”

  It was time for lock-up, they began to split to their rooms. “And if one of us goes in the night, good luck to all, and let's all promise to be at the meeting spot,” Astra said.

  Nina looked backwards at he sly grin on Astra's face, crossing her fingers out of view. “Promise,” she called back.

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  JANINA

  October, Year of the Pearl Acacia

  Nina's backside was getting numb from sitting on the bleachers so long. She'd committed the image of the island to her mind for when she was out there. But like Astra had said – she only had view of a small area – no doubt behind those tall hills were masses of land. Her head was pounding from lack of sleep, and she was trying hard to keep down the meal she'd forced herself to eat. If you could call it a meal. The sign-up buzzer had only rang out once since she had put her name down, they'd taken Opal just a few hours into lock-up. Now, Nina was trying to stray her attention to anything but the thought of little Opal out there. It was her fault that the sweetheart had gone. Opal wasn't a talker, just a quiet Elven child. The only thing she'd said since signing up was to tell Bridget not to go to the meet up place. Then she'd rolled over to sleep. Did she hate me?