A young girl scurried about her room.
Carrie Anne Heasley.
“Good day,” she said when she noticed Beth was awake.
“And you as well.”
Beth sat up and tried to think how she could contact George and Deej with this girl right here.
“I’ve heard of your legacy.”
Beth walked to the table that the girl had covered with breakfast; muffins, fruit and fluffy eggs with large pitchers of juices--orange and crimson. “I have none.”
“But you do.”
Beth sat down and the girl poured a tall glass of the red juice. “Have you been here long?” Beth asked and for a flash, she thought she read understanding. The girl met her eyes, held for a moment and then went back to her task.
“Your first time hence, you brought evil. The evil came for you.”
Beth took a bite of the egg concoction. “You have heard the story of lore.”
“Evil is close at hand even still, but it is possible to transform it. I believe that.”
“You believe what?”
The girl set the pitcher down and rubbed circles in her abdomen. “I have drawn from the once evil, now repentant.”
What the hell?
Beth chewed, swallowed, took a sip and tried not to scream or cry or stomp her feet. “In what way?”
“The true evil one who pulled you from here.”
Beth took another stab of the eggs just for something to do. “The true evil one?”
“The one you foolishly built a life with.”
She was talking about Chris. “I know of who you speak.”
“You are tarnished now.”
Beth set her fork down. Was this girl baiting her or too dumb to know that she was revealing too much? “How so?”
“By becoming one with the evil one.”
“And this tarnishment of which you speak--how shall it affect me?”
The girl opened a cabinet, removed a wrap identical to the one Beth wore and set it on the bed. “It already has.”
Okay, she was getting pissed. “I have been absent from the beloved Flora-Sky for some time now. I don’t understand your words.”
The girl turned. She was so young; what had she seen? Why had she given up her identity for this when she had a life somewhere else?
“He is being purged of his error.”
And the first glimmer of hope. “How so?”
“You are concerned about the one of evil who has tricked you?”
“Curious.”
“What of the children you created--the children who will know only sorrow?”
And it was then that Beth came close to snapping that well trained Yankee reserve. But she sucked in a breath and kept right on acting effectively enough to rival her performance as Emily in Our Town senior year. “The children no longer belong to me. I cannot be a mother.”
The girl slid her palm over her stomach, once, twice, three times. “But I shall.”
Oh no. Another one. “You are with child?”
“Yes. Just recently.”
“The Most Masterful is most prolific.”
“But it is not him. I am not yet fit to carry the child of one so great. But I have been chosen to be the receptacle of the gift.”
Oh dear lord, could they just make sense?
Beth took another sip of juice to calm her. “And what of this gift?”
The girl swung her shoulders in a teasing mode as if she’d won the best prom date. “The one who you drew life from. The evil one. His power is great, but had been misused. Now he has put it to good use in the Flora-Sky. Though this child will not be worthy to rule, it shall be worthy to assist.”
Oh My God!
Beth grabbed the table so she wouldn’t give it all away and fall into a chair. Chris had gotten this young girl pregnant?
Beth closed her eyes, but then remembered and opened them. They’d forced him of course, forced him into it. But what did it matter? If she were lucky enough to pull this off and get him out, Chris would never turn his back on his own child. And though she’d known with very little uncertainty that their life together was through, now it had to be. There was too much that had gone wrong.
She wanted to cry to Deej that she couldn’t do it a second more, but she couldn’t do that because they’d all be dead. She prayed for strength and trudged ahead. “I care not.”
“For you were chosen long ago by The Master.”
“I was.”
“And this child is atonement.”
Beth swallowed and tried to remember those breathing exercises from labor. “What of this evil one turned victor?”
The girl smiled and gave a little twirl. “He rests for a time.”
“Where?”
She shook her head. “I am not about to participate in folly.”
“I only seek to be assured that he is kept far from me, for his absence is my redemption.”
Carrie Anne Heasley from Manhattan picked up Beth’s breakfast tray. “Then stay far from the west turret room.”
She left with a swish of the door.
Beth snatched the microphone from her chest and turned her back to the door. “Deej,” she whispered.
“I’m here.”
“Did you hear that?”
“Yes. Sorry, Bethie.”
She felt that tickly feeling that made you want to sneeze when tears were waiting to fall, but blinked them back. “He’s here. She told me where to find him.”
“Don’t do it alone.”
“I have to.”
“She may have been playing with you, Beth. Holden’s a sick fuck.”
“And she may not be. If it’s a trick, then storm the place.”
Deej gave a sad chuckle and George came on the line. “This is torture, Beth. The waiting. Just try and locate the guns--”
“I have located them, George. I wasn’t able to tell you yesterday, but I saw them. They’re being put to use by the thugs at the gate.”
“They’re using military weapons to guard the doors?”
”Yes.”
“Are you sure?”
“I’m certain and I’m heading up to find Chris.”
“Bethie--”
“I’m going to find a way to get to him. I know he’s in the west turret. I’ll be in touch,” she said and disconnected.
Chapter 19
Beth washed, changed her wrap and moved to the door only to find it locked. How dumb was that--thinking that she’d just waltz out of here and wander the fortress?
She heard a small rap and startled when the door opened and Bryan Holden sauntered in. He wasn’t a bad looking man--not her type certainly; he was too pretty to be rouge and too small to be seductive--but she could see how a naïve co-ed looking for some excitement in her life could be swayed by his boyish charms.
Too bad he was deranged.
He closed the heavy door behind him and entered the room without an invitation. “I slept not at all. My mind was filled with visions of you present.”
“I am honored, Most Masterful.”
He tilted his head and gave an odd smirk. “Tell me, Farley-Fauna, what prompted your return to your true home in Flora-Sky?”
George and Deej had talked about this--it was a rehearsed question. Beth tried to think fast. “I suddenly became aware that I’d left the place which I truly belong.”
“How did you find our new sanctuary? Jaelyn existed far from here.”
Beth drifted to a chaise and sat down with flourish. “I honestly do not know. Something, some force, guided me. I was not even certain that it would be you and the Flora-Sky that I encountered.”
Beth’s heart beat a steady rhythm--pulsing through her veins and pumping her blood--as she waited. Bryan Holden simply stared, not blinking, not speaking, just looking.
Why the hell wouldn’t he just go--leave and let her be the cavalry in Chris’ life for once? But Bryan Holden--The Most Masterful of all lunatics--wouldn’t be doing that.
&nbs
p; “I take it you’ve been pleasantly surprised to find that it was in fact your people awaiting your return here to our new realm.”
“Aye.”
He moved toward her, smelling surprisingly of Old Spice, and reached out to lightly, almost reverently, stroke her hair. “Oh, I’ve been waiting, Farley-Fauna. Now all is complete.”
Beth lifted her chin and tried to steady her heart that pounded so loudly, Deej and George were certain to hear it through the tiny microphone chip. “I’m proud to serve as your completion, My Master.”
He held a strand of her hair in his hand and rubbed the ends through his fingers. “I trust you implicitly, Farley-Fauna.”
“As you should, Master.”
“You shall be my bride.”
Beth sucked in her breath, but managed to nod. “That is my hope.”
“Does it surprise that I still would choose you even as I recall that your foolish decision to cleave to the one of evil cost us much?”
Beth exhaled. “I believe it is my determined course. If I may be so bold as to ask though, My Master, is it not troubling to you that I am both older and not untouched?”
He allowed her hair to fall. “There is no age--no frames of time to confine us. As long as you’re able to bear children, it is of no concern to me. Secondly, only the weak and transparent persona which you mistook as truth has been touched, my love. Farley-Fauna the Divine is still as pure as driven snow and sanctity.”
Beth swallowed and hoped she appeared grateful, not disgusted.
“And what of your children of this other life?” he asked then with a cross of his arms.
A picture of Noah and Audrey flashed in her mind. She should be buying costumes and stuffing candy into tiny paper sacks decorated with silly Frankenstein monsters and haunted houses with smiling black cats patrolling, not sitting at the mercy of a madman. But Noah and Audrey’s father should be shoving in a Milky Way or two himself and she had to remember that.
“The children I bore are not mine--I scarcely recall the experience. My place is here with you and the Flora-Sky.”
He leaned close and she closed her eyes. She waited for a kiss that she’d somehow have to devise a way to respond to, but miraculously it didn’t come. “I’ve waited so long,” he whispered. “I am seldom wrong, Farley-Fauna, but I am not hesitant to admit that I’d believed I would have to seek you out. I believed that once the one of true evil was removed, it would still be necessary to convince you of your place here among us. How delightful that I misjudged your obedience.”
He stood then, straightened his ridiculous outfit, and walked backwards toward the door. “I shall return momentarily. Await me, Farley-Fauna.”
But before he could get away, Beth piped up like a liberated woman of the Flora-Sky, and so boldly asked, “When will the joining ritual take place?”
And he smiled--almost a grin of pity. “Oh, my love, you are not ready. Not yet.”
She lifted her chin. “But I am, My Master.”
But he was already gone. He moved quickly despite the heavy and unyielding door. Beth squirmed on the chaise and raised her fingers to her mouth and nibbled. Then she remembered that Farley-Fauna would be above habits so mundane in The Most Masterful’s eyes and abruptly stopped. She felt the microphone and wanted desperately to call into it--just to hear the voice of Deej or George and enable herself to realize that this was a game and reality was still out there somewhere, but she didn’t dare. Bryan Holden could be just on the opposite side of the door.
It seemed like forever, but the door opened once again and he returned, holding a golden and gray ferret with scared eyes. Beth instantly softened. She and Noah had played with one at the Garrity fair. They were quick and engaging and loveable. She popped up and stroked the silky fur. “He’s adorable,” she said and then instantly wished she’d used, dear, or most adored, or at the very least precious instead.
The tiny animal raised his pink nose and sniffed. Beth smiled despite herself as she pet him and then remembered Bryan Holden was clutching him tight. “You enjoy my little Antony, Farley-Fauna?”
Beth let her hand fall because she suddenly had the eerie feeling that this was a test. “I find him pleasant.”
Bryan’s small hand burrowed in the fur of the chubby male. “I am most pleased.”
Beth lowered to the chaise once again and cleared her throat. “Pardon my
inquisitiveness, Most Masterful, but you neglected to answer my question. Please forgive my curiosity, but I’m most interested to know when the joining ritual will take place.”
He shook his head and waved his finger before her eyes. “Do not rush the power, Farley-Fauna the Divine. Not yet. There is still much to be done.” He touched her hair again, just a tiny swipe of his finger. “Rest now, Farley-Fauna.”
“But I’ve only just awoken, My Master. Certainly I shall be granted a tour of the new sanctuary.”
Bryan Holden simply smirked as he opened the heavy door panel with Antony the ferret tucked beneath his arm and walked through without once looking back.
The second the door closed and Beth heard the slide of the lock; she spun to survey the room that housed her. Only one window--far too high off the ground to be any help at all. The door was securely locked and even a far stronger person than she wouldn’t be able to budge it. Her eyes took in every nook, every corner, but Bryan Holden was wise enough to know that if you didn’t want someone to steal away, you made damn sure that the escape would be an impossible feat.
***
The Most Masterful flung Antony into the arms of Dara-Dawn.
She caught the trembling animal. “What is it, My Master?”
“Leave me,” he screamed as he hurried down the hall.
But Dara-Dawn was a persistent girl. She moved slower now since she was nearing the time that the child would be delivered forth, but caught up to him nevertheless. “Does Antony displease Farley-Fauna?”
He stopped in his tracks. Could this girl truly believe that she was more than a receptacle to him? “Dare you question Farley-Fauna the Divine?”
“No, Master, but I--”
His arm flew out, slapping her cheek, causing her face to spin to the side. She straightened, still clutching the little rat, and for a moment looked incredibly human with her shock.
Then she curtsied and scurried down the opposite end of the hallway.
The Most Masterful of all slammed the door to his sanctuary and sent forth a scream of fury.
Farley-Fauna dare toy with him?
Oh she had no idea.
He hurled to his leather chair and snatched the receiver. “Now,” was all he uttered and slammed it down.
The Most Masterful tapped his sculpted lips and attempted to clear his mind of the polluted world outside the sanctuary walls. What was Farley-Fauna--no, not his Farley-Fauna, but Beth Stoddard--attempting to accomplish?
She was divorcing her husband and by all accounts she’d fallen in love with another man--another agent for gracious sakes. Why then would she be here, most likely trying to save Christopher Stoddard?
For the sake of her unworthy children he supposed.
The Most Masterful’s mind turned quickly, fine-tuning reels as they appeared to him. He could have the children brought forth and show Farley-Fauna that they could be one big happy family. They didn’t need the arrogant secret agent father who had given them life.
But did he want to deal with the children of Stoddard-of-handsome-face? Did he want a constant reminder that she, his divine one, had coupled with the one of true evil, not once but twice?
The Most Masterful’s head shook of its own volition.
No, that was not the answer.
Whatever Beth Stoddard’s reason for coming here, she’d already once proven that she was subject to the ways of the Flora-Sky. The Most Masterful was well aware that though Agent Christopher Stoddard had been broken, he’d not been converted and it mattered none the less to him. Stoddard served simply as retribution. Th
e Most Masterful no more wanted Stoddard in his fold than the arrogant fool wanted to be there. The Most Masterful had tortured and would torture more by proving that Farley-Fauna had returned to the arms of Flora-Sky when Stoddard-of-handsome-face hadn’t been able to convince her not to leave his worthless ass.
The Most Masterful would not allow this opportunity to slip by.
But as omnipotent as Farley-Fauna the Divine was, Beth Stoddard could not have worked alone. Most likely one among his followers had helped. Weeding him or her out would not be pleasant. But certainly unpleasantness was part of greatness.
Calmer now, the Most Masterful sucked in a cleansing breath and tuned his music.
Verdi.
Then he sighed.
***
Beth pressed the tiny microphone close to her chest. “Deej?”
She heard static and nothing more.
“Deej, George?” she whispered, eyeing the door and praying that Bryan Holden’s ear wasn’t pushed to it.
A scratch and what sounded like a distant murmur.
“Deej?” she whispered again, but there was nothing, just the sound of an AM radio that didn’t even want you to hear the ever-present gospel or country.
“Damn,” Beth muttered out loud to no one. So much for asking for help to enlist her one ally in this place whom she may not even recognize if she got lucky enough to stumble upon him.
Beth scurried to the room that served as a bath. Her only hope was a grate of some sort, just wide enough that with luck she could shimmy through. She glanced at her clothes--how the hell was she supposed to slip through wrapped in satin and gauze? But it was the only chance she had of getting to Chris.
She climbed onto a bench that she’d swiped from beneath the vanity and extended her arms as high as she could. No luck.
Beth hopped down and fervently looked around, desperately trying to locate something to help her climb the three feet to reach the opening. There was nothing--no bathroom scale thick enough so she could stand on her tiptoes and make it, no rubber stool with a dinosaur face smiling up like the one that Audrey used to brush her teeth, no boxes stuffed into a closet or step ladder stored to swipe at corners with a feather duster.
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