by Lori Darnell
I knew I would have to get up, without drawing more attention to myself. I had to be brave. I couldn’t reveal to the Reverend that I could see what was to come. I would keep that from him. I would do it for Jacob. I could only imagine what would happen to Jacob if they discovered he lied to protect me.
“Pick him up - apparently he hasn’t the constitution for flying. I don’t have time for this. Make him ready.” The Reverend picked up his robe and slid his foot into my legs, pushing me across the floor, out of his way. I laid still. I could hear his footsteps walk down the steps and off the plane.
The Reverend had just stepped off the plane when Jacob exclaimed, “Marcus, look at me! Are you alright?”
“I’m fine, but I can’t see. The pictures won’t let me see,” I told him in no more than a whisper. I didn’t know how far away the Reverend was or who else may be nearby. The visions continued to blur as I tried to focus on any of them. Jacob took my hand.
“Open your eyes, Marcus. Look at me.”
I did, but it was hard to see past the blur. I could see the shape of Jacob. Pushing hard past the pictures flying through my mind, the images grew more and more transparent, and began to disappear. As they started to ebb away I saw the look on Jacob’s face. He was shocked, but reined it in quickly as he looked over my shoulder at the exit. “Can you tell when you are about to have a vision?” Jacob asked.
“Yes, I feel warm, like a fever is coming over me.”
“Good, close your eyes when it happens, and keep them closed until the vision stops. This is very important. Do you understand me?” Jacob shook me lightly as he spoke; he seemed desperate to make me understand.
“Jacob, what is it, what did you see?”
“Your eyes will give you away… they turn… well they turn... it is hard to explain, Marcus.”
“Jacob, please!” The concern I saw in his eyes scared me more than the visions themselves did.
“Marcus, they turn a sort of liquid, dark blue. But I could see when the visions ended because they return to solid, then back to your beautiful gold.” Jacob reached up and held my face with both hands caressing my temples with his long fingers.
“Just don’t let them see your eyes like that. You need to wait until you don’t see the visions anymore. Wait until it is over, and then some more until you are sure they are over. Only then you should let them see your eyes. Let them think that is the limit of your gift. If you don’t do as I say, you will be considered uncontrollable, which would certainly mean your death.” His tone was serious as he pulled me to my feet. “Don’t give them any reason to single you out. Blend in to the crowd as much as possible. They will make you have visions to serve them, and you don’t want that.” Jacob brushed his fingers down the side of my cheek. I was moved by the compassion he expressed for me, a complete stranger to him just a few days ago.
“I am going to miss you,” I said. He bent and kissed me where his hand had been. I was too startled to react, so I just stood there awkwardly for a moment. Jacob smiled and grabbed my hand.
“It is time for us to get off this plane. We don’t want the Reverend to come looking for us.” The look on his face at that statement made me believe him.
I couldn’t think straight. I knew there was something wrong with me. I knew that I was going to be used because of it. But in this moment, I didn’t feel at all useful and I didn’t like the idea of being used. I could feel my body tremble with anger and rage. Jacob rested his hand on my shoulder and led me to the exit of the plane, where a crowd waited at the bottom of the steps.
“Ah, here he is! Splendid! I was afraid we were never going to see him!” A stranger in the midst of the crowd called out. I scanned the crowd, trying to find the person who spoke up, but all I could see were faces staring back covetously at me, as though I were a rare antique to be sold to the highest bidder.
The Reverend that had brought us here seemed to be waiting at the front of the crowd to introduce us. He motioned for us to come forward with a predatory smile on his face, as though he were luring his prey into a dangerous trap. I instantly tried to take a step back, and if Jacob had not been holding me firmly in place, I may have run. When I looked up at Jacob, I could tell he wanted to run with me.
Running was useless. There was nowhere to go, and I definitely could not think of a good place I could hide. We looked at each other for a moment, and then resolutely walked forward. The crowd chattered approvingly in response.
“Gentlemen, may I present Jacob McConnell and Marcus Unald. I was most fortunate to find them in the throng of children when we arrived on shore. Though Jacob here has been lost to us for some time, he is most anxious to return to his studies with us. So he has accompanied Marcus.” The crowd didn’t appear to react to Jacob’s introduction. This was another sign that I was somehow their freakish center of attention. Great!
“The boy Marcus is most unique - his gift will allow us to spread our word to more of the people that have been secreted away from us by the unfaithful. The boy is to become a witness. Once he matures into his gift, he will be taught to read people after they have passed on. As we all know, the unfaithful take their shameful secrets to their graves, damning us to the horrible wrath of God.” The Reverend’s speech was met with quite a few nods and murmurs of appreciation toward my future training.
I closed my eyes in frustration. How could I lose so much in such a short amount of time? I stared up at the sky, wanting to scream. What God would condone this? Looking back at the crowd, I was more angry than I ever thought possible. Over the past few days, I had lost my home, my family, my friends, and my future. I didn’t think I really had much else to lose. I closed my eyes, and pure rage took over - beyond anger, beyond wanting retribution. I wanted to destroy everything. I wanted to end the world, as my world was ended for me.
In that moment, I had my first stable vision. I was in a small dark room. A little girl in front of me looked me right in the eyes. She was so adult for her age. She frowned; she couldn’t be more than four or five years old. She had thrust her little arms on her little hips and demanded, “Please don’t give up - I need you! If you don’t survive, everything we need to do will be lost. Please don’t let go. Gods will protect us.” She dissolved from view, and then the vision was gone.
I didn’t know what to make of what I saw in that brief vision. A chill ran through my body, and without understanding why, I knew I had to endure. I had to survive. Something about this vision wasn’t really a vision at all. The way that little girl looked up at me, so trusting, I couldn’t fail her. If I failed her, I didn’t know what would happen to us all. Maybe it was a message from God, a message meant to keep me moving forward. I had to trust that I had a purpose in this life other than servitude. If God cared about me… I could endure. God would protect me. Maybe I could be more than a slave to the Church.
My eyes were still closed; I could feel the heat drain from my body. I waited perfectly still, listening to Jacob's breathing. No time like the present to know if it worked. Once I felt my body cool completely, I slowly opened my eyes. It had only been a few moments, but had felt much longer. I looked up at Jacob. He briefly looked down at me. There was no expression on his face. It was safe.
I looked back toward the crowd. They had parted to make a path so we could walk to the Church ahead of us. Apparently we were to be paraded through the ancient Roman streets, on display to bolster faith. It seemed strange to be in Italy, when I had rarely stepped outside our small village. Of course I never thought about leaving - I was happy there. My body was weary, likely reacting to my inner sorrow. I trudged on. The Church wasn’t far, but I felt very tired, and didn’t want to deal with being near these people any longer.
Chapter 6
To my immense relief, it was less than two miles before the streets opened into the large square of the Churchyard. Once inside, the Reverend pushed Jacob ahead of us so we were following him. There was an older priest waiting in the corridor. This priest took
Jacob’s hand and pulled him roughly away. I didn’t get to say goodbye, but I wouldn’t have known what to say, anyway. The Reverend and I walked forward toward two dark wood double doors. He pushed one door open, and we walked through.
The room was large. There were four chairs against the wall, and each chair held a man in a red robe. The robes appeared to be the same as the one the Reverend wore. They were long, stretching to the floor, with large hoods that could be drawn down over their heads. The robes had sleeves that went beyond their hands. In a way, it was a little funny; the robes made them look like children playing dress up in clothes too big for them. I guessed they were in charge of this place; they were seated differently from the rest of the robed men in this room, in an apparent show of power.
“Welcome, Marcus. We have been waiting for you to arrive. I am James - I will be your teacher.” I flinched away from his approach, but James smiled warmly at me. “Don’t be afraid. You are going to love it here.” This man wore a dark gray robe, but like everyone else’s, it seemed too big on him. I looked at him, wondering if he was right in the head. How could I be happy here? Everyone here felt evil; the leering glances and the terrified looks on the children in the hall led me to the conclusion that this feeling was justified.
The man named James came up to me quickly, almost running in his haste to get a closer look at me - the new freak, by all accounts. His movements were oddly graceful, even with all of that fabric swirling around his feet. I secretly imagined his robe tripping him, making him fall flat on his face, and smiled despite myself. The priests viewed this with approval. James beamed, clapping his hands together with excitement.
“You see? It looks as the boy has a good outlook on his situation. See, everyone was worried for nothing! Marcus, would you like to see your new room? It has a window and everything.” Though I wanted to resist, I was tired and I wanted the peace that oblivion would bring me, if only for a little while. I silently nodded my head.
James took my arm and led me away from the large room. There were murmurs of distant conversations from other areas of the building, but we were moving too quickly to hear what was being said. We turned to the right and went down a long hallway that had doors every few feet. By the end of the hall, it seemed as though the walls were closing in around me.
We stopped in front of three narrow doors. The middle door was opened just a crack, and I could see the light of the midday sun leaking out, just reaching my toes. James walked forward and pushed the door open to reveal a tall, narrow window that nearly reached the ceiling. It was only about eight inches wide, but its height made up for the difference. The room itself was small, very small. There was a twin bed shoved up against one wall, accompanied by a small desk that also served as a nightstand. The two items made up the entire width of the room. Across the room, behind the door, was a wardrobe. Abruptly I realized that I didn’t have anything but what I had on my person, nothing of my own to place in the wardrobe. My eyes burned with suppressed grief. Instead of offering pointless sympathy, James opted for distraction.
“Marcus, you are quite special, so I felt that you deserved a special room. You will not be required to share your room. Isn’t that a treat? You get to have your own room.” James smiled with what appeared to be genuine excitement; I forced a smile in return. I was glad that I didn’t have to share a room, though I did wonder if the other children took turns sleeping in the wardrobe, for I could not picture two people fitting in this space. As it was, James had to step out of the room so I could go in. I walked two steps into the room and sat on the small bed. It was hard, but the room smelled clean. I looked up at James. He seemed nicer than the others I had met since my abduction. Of everyone, he seemed he could be trusted for the moment. Despite my exhaustion, before I could sleep I had to have some answers.
“Thank you for the room. I was hoping you could tell me, what is happening to me? Why am I here? What am I going to do? What happened to my parents? Where is Jacob? Will I ever see him again?” The questions flooded out of me in such a hurry I had to cover my mouth to stop myself.
“My, you have quite a few questions!” James exclaimed, patting my head gently.
“How about I answer the ones I can, and I will try to find out what I can about the others? Let’s see… that first one. You are on the brink of what your people call the transformation, which is really a crossing into adulthood. You have a gift, rare, even among your people, of vision. This is a very useful gift. You were chosen in particular because we were informed that certain children from your village showed promise of this gift.” James paused for a moment, allowing me to absorb this new information, then continued.
“Because of your lineage, your gift has the strongest potential of all the children we have been able to find. That potential is why you are here, so I guess that would answer the second one. Let’s see... as far as the others, I can’t fill in all the blanks now. But I will as soon as I am allowed to. For now, let’s focus on taking care of your needs. You look very tired, and I am sure you are hungry? In the future, you will need to eat in the dining hall with the others. But their meal has come to an end, so for today I will have a plate of food and a pitcher of water brought to your room.” “In the cupboard are two sets of clothing.” James motioned to the wardrobe doors opposite the bed.
“Now come with me, I will show you to the washrooms so you can clean up before retiring.” James held out his arm to escort me out of the room. He had given me more answers than I expected, and there was a promise of further information to come. In a way, I felt relieved, as though a minor burden had been lifted from my shoulders.
As I passed him out of the door he reached into the cupboard and pulled out a pair of pants with a drawstring waist and a long shirt that would reach below my knees. It almost looked like their robes, but made of a thinner cotton material. I saw in the bottom of the cupboard that there was a pair of generic sandals that seemed to be the right size, or within a size of what I wore, at least. I wondered briefly about how they would know what size I wore, but let the question pass, for the moment. I wanted to clean up, and James was waiting for me to follow.
James led me back down the hall of many doors. I was instantly grateful to have the middle room at the end of the hall. I could remember that location. Other people living here must have to count off the doors to find theirs – there were so many, and there were no numbers or markings in the hall to signify any differences. It reminded me of a nightmare where I was lost and there were thousands of doors to go through, but none of them led to where I wanted to go. But that was a dream, and this was real – and where I wanted to go was no longer there, at least, not like I remembered it. No doors would ever lead me back home.
The hall ended, opening back up into the large room, now transformed into a lounge style area. From this side, I noticed several openings I had not seen before, each of them the entrance to hallways like the one we were just in. We turned to the right and I saw two open arches; one red, and the other black.
“Marcus, the two arches are the common showers for the boys and girls who live here. The red is for the girls, the black for the boys." He led me through the black arch. The shower room had a massive glass wall in the back that overlooked a courtyard. There were robed figures walking about, talking to each other or reading. Several from the courtyard looked up into the building from time to time, some actively staring, others passively glancing. I was shocked.
“Sir, can they see into these rooms?”
“Of course, what does anyone have to hide? There are no secrets here.” James stated flatly. I couldn’t tell for sure but it sounded as though he didn’t like the idea any more than I did.
Along the side walls were open showers. They stretched the length of the room, and every couple of feet was a showerhead with a small basket under it. As I followed the line, my eyes ran across another boy was there washing himself. He seemed fearless, exposed as he was. He was looking out of the tall windows as he continued
to wash himself. It made me quiet uncomfortable, and I quickly looked away. In moments, that would be me. No privacy. As I struggled to look anywhere but back to that boy washing, I looked into the center of the room at the toilets. Each toilet had a sink installed directly behind it, on its tank. Rolls of tissue sat in various places down the row, some on sinks, and others on the floor. There were no dividers or curtains between them. I shuddered.
James looked down at me and motioned me forward. He led me to a small cabinet at the entrance of the room that held towels and small bars of soap. I took one of the small bars of soap and sniffed; it smelled like strong mint that burned my nose. I held it down to my side, then grabbed a towel and turned back toward James. He led me to the shower wall and waited. I didn’t know if I had the bravery it would take to undress in front of him. But I could see it was expected. So I quickly removed my clothes and stepped to the shower wall. It came on automatically.
“I will leave you to clean yourself. If you have any problems finding your room, I will be in the common room we walked through. I will be required to take the clothes you came here in to the storage rooms. You won’t see them again." With that, he walked out of the room and left me alone. I felt instantly more at ease. Having chosen a spot that was as far from the glass wall as possible, I tried to ignore it and focused on the water and getting clean. As I was dressing, I noticed that the glass wall never really fogged over, despite the steam in the room.