Shattered Illusions (Terra Chronicles Book 2)

by J. C. Jackson

  Mother produced a small brush from somewhere and worked out the messy braids the girls managed. The boy had remained mostly silent through dinner and seemed saddened by something. As Mother worked out a nasty tangle, I shot Kitteren a look, wanting at least a hair elastic back.

  Kitteren stood to one side of me, not paying attention to me and smiling broadly, but it did not seem to meet her eyes. Don took to the other side and patted my arm in a calming manner. Elizabeth, belly swollen with child, tried her best to organize everyone. Jon kept telling her to relax and this was not work.

  Joanna took an instant dislike to me and I could not figure out why. She seemed to have a good relationship with Kitteren. It bothered me little as Jon and Alex were all too happy to pester me with questions during dinner and after the chaos of taking pictures. I tried to keep my answers short or let my sister or Mother answer for me.

  After pictures Don went into the house and came out with his violin. I forced myself to have a neutral expression despite my excitement. I missed hearing him play and I took up the violin once I transferred to the TIO in an attempt fill the void.

  Don stood before me and held out the case. He said, “I’m afraid I don’t play as well as I used to, but Lindale says you’ve gotten quite good at it.”

  Taking the case slowly, I looked around, nervous. Mother merely nodded, signaling for me to open it. Her grin was mischievous and I came to the conclusion she set me up. So far the evening had gone smoothly and in between asking me questions, they spent the time catching up with each other.

  “I hope you don’t mind I rosined up the bow when I pulled it out of storage this afternoon,” Don said and grinned. “Made sure everything was in working order.”

  Carefully undoing the creaky gold-colored latches, I opened the worn brown leather case being held together by fraying brown tape in some places. The violin looked as good as it did over half a century ago with the golden tones reflecting in the finish. I checked the tune and tightened up the bow, trying to ignore the stares around me.

  Don took a seat next to me, smiling broadly. This mattered for him and no one else. I figured I could push aside my fear of making a mistake in front of others for a little while.

  I lifted the violin to my shoulder and played the song I knew he had a fondness for. Kitteren jumped in and provided the voice. It was a dialect of the common language which, well, did not sound like common. I used to sing it for Don and Kitteren, but I rarely sang anymore and did not think I could do it justice. Only Mother’s tutoring me in private kept me in any sort of practice. Sometimes I thought she hoped I would take to her trade. Genetics forced me into the arcane.

  I glanced at Don who merely leaned back in his chair with his eyes closed to listen. The smile on his face kept me going and I tried to ignore the others, not wanting to find a reason to stop. I rarely handled an acoustic violin and the rich sound was addicting. Even with the decent soundproofing between quarters at the main office, I had opted for the quieter electric version.

  All too soon, I found the end of the song. Lowering the violin, I looked at Don who still kept his eyes closed. “Sir?” I asked softly, barely loud enough for him to hear me. I began to question if I had even spoken after a few moments.

  Don smiled, opening his eyes. “Just remembering a different time. If you wouldn’t mind continuing?” Perhaps he also saw both the past and the present. It made me question my being here again.

  I looked to Mother and then to Kitteren who both signaled for me to play. Alex jumped up and said, “I’ll be right back.” He and his brother acted like grown children. They reminded me a little of Silver in that regard.

  I sat still, unsure what to do. Joanna continued to glare at me. Was it a song she and Don made special? Then she remarked sharply, “I guess she only knows one song.”

  Her words caught me off guard. What did I do wrong?

  “Don’t be rude, Joanna,” Alice chided before she stood up, looking at her watch. “If you’ll excuse me, I need to get dessert out of the oven.”

  Kitteren jerked as if she just realized where she was and smiled, leaning back in her chair. “No, she knows more. Ket just doesn’t often play for others. How about the one you were working on a while back?”

  I sank back into my chair as the attention returned to me. “It’s pretty hard.” I knew the song Kitteren spoke of because she seemed to like it. It was fast paced and fun to listen to, but it was significantly more difficult than anything else I learned. I memorized the song before I had been able to play it fully.

  “You sounded fine the last time I heard you,” Kitteren smirked. She neglected to mention she only listened to me because she would let herself into my quarters. I kept asking her to stop and I still could not figure out how she bypassed the security.

  I looked at the violin in my lap. I knew mine could take the almost abuse I would put it through, but this felt far more delicate. I ran my fingertips lightly over the finish.

  Alex came back with a guitar and another case I did not immediately recognize. He handed it to Jon.

  Jon said as he opened the small case, “Oh, don’t wait for us.”

  I looked at Don who only reached over and patted my leg. “Go ahead. That old thing is tougher than it looks.”

  It seemed he had not lost his ability to somehow know what was on my mind. Not magic as far as I could tell - I had no explanation for it.

  Taking a deep breath, I lifted the violin to my shoulder again and pulled the music up in my head. The fingers on my left hand moved quickly up and down the neck, creating the different notes. Most of the problems were in moving the bow for the more complicated parts, but I practiced this piece for so long, my muscles remembered what to do faster than my mind could direct them.

  Alex bounced in his seat with a broad smile on his face once I finished. “Please tell me you know ‘Dueling Strings’ because I haven’t played it with anyone else in ages.”

  I thought for a moment, recalling the piece in question. For some reason, Mother insisted I learn the piece. “I do, but I’ve only played it against a recorded track.”

  “Lead on my good woman,” Alex smiled broadly, getting settled with his guitar. Jon blew something out of a metal tube and gave a thumbs up.

  Joanna, however, glared at me and stood up quickly, “Well, I’m going to go help Mom.”

  I watched her go silently. I did not know what to make of her attitude. I glanced over at Kitteren who quietly watched her leave - it seemed as if her mind was elsewhere. She also continued to text sporadically through the gathering, but kept her phone down in her lap.

  Steph leaned forward toward me, “Don’t take it too much to heart. She treated me the same way for a few years even after Alex and I got married. She takes a while to warm up to people.”

  “Hey, don’t leave me hanging here!” Alex cried. “I want to know if you can play it better than my old man.”

  Don smirked, “After the last song, my brownie has definitely bypassed me in skill.” I thought he gave me too much credit.

  “Why do you call her a ‘brownie’?” Jon asked.

  I shrank back slightly, not sure I wanted to hear Don’s explanation. I vaguely understood the term, but he never spoke of it in any sort of detail before. Joanna’s son quietly moved to a seat closer to me.

  Don smiled gently, getting settled better in his chair before starting. “I didn’t always know her name. Ketayl was surprisingly more quiet and shy back then. I think I might have heard her talk more today than ever before.”

  I fought the heat rising to my face. Not counting the times he had me sing while he played, his exaggeration was likely not far off.

  Don continued, “So since she would help out around the property cleaning and whatnot and since most of the time I didn’t see her doing it she became my brownie. Then you two came along and it was a disaster again.”

  Jon laughed loudly.

  Alex bounced the guitar impatiently on his lap. I shrugged apologetica
lly and lifted the violin back to my shoulder, settling in for another song, unsure about too many things.

  What really worried me was Kitteren. It felt like she kept something from me - more than this. She remained silent, but distracted through the whole exchange. I knew her mind was elsewhere because she would have stepped in with Joanna before the others.

  Not that I wanted her to stand up for me, but she always tried to anyway. Sometimes I think she forgot I was older and thus it was my job to look after her. Her behavior continued to baffle me.

  ~*~

  The sun disappeared below the horizon by the time we got back to the hotel. My mind continued to run in circles about everything so far which meant rest would be elusive until I calmed it. Digging through my bag I found my normal swimsuit. If Kitteren had replaced it with a two-piece of any design I might have broken down and bought a replacement.

  At this time of day, the pool downstairs would likely be free and since I was sans my reading material I needed to do something.

  “You’re going swimming?” Kitteren asked.

  “I’m not ready to rest yet. I’ve gotten used to late hours,” I said. The workload back at the main office demanded it and I could not sacrifice time in other areas except for downtime.

  Kitteren sat on the edge of my bed, watching me. “More like all-nighters. There was one week I think you made it five or six days without rest. Just because you’re Elven doesn’t mean you should push those limits. You definitely made it easy to convince Vince and Lockonis you needed a vacation.”

  Which now explained why the Director’s second started doing an audit in the lab all of a sudden. I shot back at my sister, “And then Lockonis threatened to lock me out of the lab.” The fact she blatantly admitted to being the one to report me angered me more than having been caught. I clenched my teeth and reminded myself Kitteren only looked out for my health and wellbeing.

  “What happened anyway? It seems like every few months you get inundated.” Kitteren sprawled out on one of the beds.

  I took a deep breath. This time the problem had gotten worse than usual. “A few lab techs from branch offices have a problem with the fact I attended the Arcane College. I don’t like getting Lockonis involved so I try to take care of the incoming work. I just fell behind with everything else I’ve been doing.” I knew I should not let them dump the work they could handle in-house on me, but part of me continued to hope they would look past where I studied at some point and accept me as one of their peers.

  “Geez, Ket, how come you never said anything? I know you had a rough time the first month or so after you transferred, but I thought that was as far as it went,” Kitteren sat up and tried to get my attention, but I kept myself busy with rearranging my suitcase. If it had not been for her and Retanei, I might still be in the same situation.

  “News travels,” I replied, though wearing my Arcane College pin before had been the dead giveaway. At least as evidence, I did not have to worry about it. “It’s not a big deal. I should have put more time in the lab and less in other things. Taken less time off.”

  “Uh, no. Ket, you rarely took any of your actual scheduled downtime. You’ve been juggling a seriously increased physical training regimen, working on getting those filters made and out to the branch offices, and schoolwork from the EAC on top of your lab work.”

  Kitteren forgot about the few hours I devoted to working on trying to figure out the cult of the Ancient Gods next move, but reminding her would only strengthen her point. I also squeezed in practice time, but took up swimming as a second option. I did not want to disturb my neighbors with the sound of my violin during those late hours, though I found the lab to be a good place to play at night while I waited for results from the various machines.

  Then there were the video calls from Silver and the Ocean’s Edge crew. Perhaps if I had tried to minimize those…

  I crossed out the thought - I found I needed those. I started feeling isolated and alone before they began calling. I would hear from someone almost every night. Sometimes during the day if they called for an update.

  Where was an over-sized shirt when I needed it?

  “What are you looking for?” Kitteren asked after watching me for a minute.

  “Something to use as a cover. Why did you have to repack my bag?”

  Kitteren rolled over and looked at me upside-down. I was not sure if she was trying to be cute or not. “Because I love you and you need to have more confidence in yourself. Besides, those are all clothes you got as hand-me-downs from me and Mom. Well, with the exception of a few items. If you don’t like what I packed you can always go buy some new ones.”

  “No,” I said flatly. I could not afford to spend money frivolously. Bad enough occasionally I would sneak out for a small treat when I was in Great Tree. I needed to save my money for Kitteren…

  I stopped that train of thought and looked at my sister. Why did I still feel the need to do that for her? So many times she and Mother told me to stop and use what little money I made at the Arcane College for myself. Now, obviously, both of them were doing well - living very comfortably, but I still felt obligated. I had not even helped pay for anything on this trip so far.

  Kitteren rolled back onto her stomach. “You’ll be fine. I’ll walk you down there - they have towels available inside the pool room. Just change up.”

  I went to leave to go to the bathroom, but Kitteren gave me a look and I simply turned around. I did not want anyone to see my body, even my own sister. More importantly, I did not want anyone to see the scar which wrapped itself from a few inches under my left arm to the front of my left hip. Only Mother, Don, and a few doctors knew it existed. I tried to distract myself while I got the black and purple racing-style suit on. “You don’t want to come?”

  “Nah. I think I’ll go for a run. I’m not ready to rest yet either.” My sister sounded unsure about her idea.

  Kitteren was not changing for a run. Maybe she forgot her clothes. Her athletic shoes would allow her to do so, but they were not her preferred ones for running. I wanted to justify her actions, but found I could not believe them.

  And she knew I still did not like running as an activity of choice.

  I wanted to question her. There were too many things which did not make sense, but I did not want her to start asking about the fairie again. Perhaps I just needed time to figure out how to craft a conversation around the information I wanted to get.

  Once I finished, we exited our shared bedroom into the common room of the suite. The door was open and the lights were off in the bedroom for our adopted parents.

  I tilted my head in confusion - they came back with us from Don’s house and it had gotten late. I did not remember hearing them leave. “Where are Mother and Father?”

  “Mom and Dad probably went to go visit some friends.” Kitteren put emphasis on how she referred to our parents. It bothered her I was so formal. “Mom made a few in the area when we’d come back to visit. They probably went to go meet them at a bar or something.”

  Kitteren seemed annoyed at my taking so long to go for my swim. Which in turn, confused me more. Usually she would be more than happy to join me just to spend time together. Why did she not seem concerned about where our adopted parents had gone? Likely she would have made these same friends, right? Why did they not say anything before they left?

  I shifted uncomfortably, double-checking to make sure I had my key for the suite.

  “You look fine, Ket. Come on or the pool will get cold.” Why did it feel like she was in a rush?

  “Not likely,” I shot back at her. I debated trying to follow her, but I did not have shoes on and while I could cloak myself, I would not be able to keep up with her on a run. I told myself tomorrow I would corner her and ask my questions. With everything earlier, I did not want to push the topic tonight.

  Chapter 7

  I woke early to find the suite still as empty as when I returned from my swim. This worried me greatly and I paced i
n my night clothes, looking out the window, poking my head down the hall, finally caving and calling Kitteren.

  “Well, good morning sleepyhead,” Kitteren answered sounding overly chipper.

  “Where are you? Where are Mother and Father?” I tried to keep the panic and worry out of my voice. There were no notes, no messages, nothing. I started biting my lower lip and then stopped as soon as I noticed the action.

  “Slow down, Ket. Sorry, we decided to go out and get something to bring back for breakfast. I guess it took longer than we figured. Didn’t mean to worry you,” Kitteren apologized. Her voice sounded tired despite her attempt to cover it. And the background noise did not sound like a restaurant - I heard a heavy door close and what sounded like water lapping gently in the background.

  I glanced in our room at her bed and it did not look like she rested in it last night. I could not recall having ever seen her bed made.

  Taking a deep breath, I said, “Kitteren, we need to talk.” I did not want to do this over the phone, but I needed to start somewhere.

  “Can it wait? We’ll be back in a bit.” I could hear the worry in her voice.

  “Fine.” I hung up and set about getting ready for the day. My swim last night had not settled my mind like it normally did. Not with things not adding up. And with as much as Kitteren made me pack, I did not have room for my violin. My tablet also had not reappeared yet either.

  Maybe I would find myself up at Don’s today. I’m sure he and his wife could use help cleaning up after dinner yesterday. It would only be fair to show my gratitude for their hospitality.

  I tried to stretch out the deep purple tank top which clung to me. At least a little longer would be nice. It barely came over my waistband. Kitteren had the figure and the confidence to wear this stuff. I would only wear it under a sweater in the spring or autumn.