by Rue Volley
“My name is Johnathan, this is Josh. Who are you?” he asked her.
She grinned. “You are Johnathan Morris Graph, but I don't know you,” she said, as she stared at Josh.
Johnathan smiled. “How do you know me?” he said to her.
“Your family owns the Adda house, I read it in the library. You have a sister Sophie, she's pretty,” Rue said to him, as she looked back at her flowers.
She rubbed her hands on the petals and they started to drop off of the stem, they floated to the ground black and withered. She looked back up and stared at Johnathan.
“You have grown,” she said.
Johnathan smiled. “Yes, I've grown Rue,” he said.
She reached her hand up and Johnathan put his hand out to her. Josh stumbled forward and grabbed his hand, pulling it back. He shook his head “no” at him. Johnathan raised his eyebrows and looked back at her. She stood up and flashed away from them.
Johnathan stood up quickly and tried to see where she went.
“Awesome Josh! Where did she go?” he said.
Josh hit him on the arm and Johnathan hissed and grabbed at it, with his free hand. “Ouch! Remember? I got cut… ass!” he said.
Josh looked at him. “Listen, don't mess with her, she is a memory. We can't trust her Johnathan.”
“Well… we need someone to help us. What are we going to do…? Wander around here forever?”
Josh grumbled, “We will, if you start hanging out with her. Listen, just do what I say... okay?”
Johnathan looked at him and ran his hand through his hair. “Fine...where do we go then?”
They both staggered, as the ground vibrated under their feet. They turned around and saw that a huge house had appeared behind them in the distance. Johnathan stared at it. “That's my house!” he said.
Josh stared at it and then to him. “It's a visible illusion,” he said.
“Well, ‘illusion’ or not… we need to go there,” Johnathan said.
Josh groaned and reached for his leg, the blood was still trickling from it. He pressed on it and the blood came through his fingers. Johnathan reached over and put Josh's hand over his shoulder, he half held his weight up.
Josh sighed. “Fine… we'll go to the house, maybe it has one functional mirror.”
“We have to get out of here Josh. I don't even want to think about what is happening with Rue,” he muttered.
“Well, one thing is on our side here... time moves slow top side,” he said.
Johnathan looked at him. “What, time is different here?” he said.
“Yea, we have probably been gone three seconds to them,” Josh said as he walked forward.
They looked across the field and headed for the house.
***
Caine stood there, as he calmed his breathing. His glamor was glitching like static, pulling him in and out of looking like Johnathan. He raised his hands and focused. Light started to pour out of his palms, he raised his hands and slowly ran them over his hair and his face. The glitching stopped and he stood there looking like Johnathan. He looked down and waved his hand over his leg. The cut started to pull itself together, and the blood stopped running down his leg. He touched his cheek and the cut started to disappear under his palm, as it glowed with light. He cleared his throat and looked at Elin lying on the ground. He grinned.
“Looks as if you will live a little while longer,” he muttered.
He reached down and placed his hand on her heart. She twitched under his hand, as light and mist flowed from his palm. She blinked her eyes and focused in on him. She shot backward away from him and crouched down. She gritted her teeth as she rose up.
“I am sorry my love, it was for show. I needed him to believe that I was Johnathan. As you see he is no longer here with us.”
Elin's eyes darted towards the mirror and she started to rise up. She grinned at him and he held his hand out to her. She ran to him and wrapped her arms around his waist. He reached down and touched her hair, as he stared into the woods. Elin wept.
“I will make it up to you later, I promise,” Caine said as she hugged him tightly.
“I thought that you didn't need me anymore,” she whispered.
“No, you are valuable to me Elin,” he said as he pushed her back gently and put his hand on her face.
“I would hope that you mean that you love me, Caine,” she said.
“Do not call me that Elin, call me Johnathan.”
“Okay, Johnathan,” Elin said, as she stared into his eyes.
He leaned forward and kissed her. She relaxed in his arms and he held her close to him, rocking her for a moment. He pulled her back and looked down at her.
“I need for you to go to the house Elin, Johnathan's old house...wait there. I have a feeling that Josh will try to escape memory.”
“How can you be so sure that he will find the house in memory, my lord?” she whispered.
“Because I cannot control Rue, I am sure she is there,” Johnathan said as he stared out into the trees.
“Let me go there, to the memory. I will kill him,” Elin said as she grinned.
“No… you will not. I don't know which part of Rue's memory is behind there. She is too powerful for you,” he said.
Elin frowned and he lifted her chin. “I have told you that she is to remain alive Elin. You must shed this emotion you carry as a human.”
She pulled back from him. “I am not human,” she said.
He laughed. “Oh but you are my love, but the only one worth saving,” he said with a smile.
She started to pull her shirt off and he looked away from her. “I don't have time for any of that right now Elin. Go to the house and kill the new owners, then wait.”
Elin stopped pulling her shirt off and grinned. “I get to kill them?” she said.
“Yes... they are a nuisance,” Johnathan said, as he stepped towards the woods.
Elin clapped her hands together. Then she turned to him.
“Where will you be, my lord?” she asked.
He flashed to her and pulled his blade. He grabbed her arm and etched a symbol into it, as she hissed. She grinned at him.
“This will protect you from being detected. Go now and wait. I have business with Rue,” he said as he flashed away from her.
Elin stood there and grabbed at her arm. She wiped her finger on her arm and tasted the blood. She grinned and flashed into the woods, towards Johnathan's house.
I stood on the front porch and closed my eyes. I suddenly felt a vibration in my hands, I looked down as a blue swirl started to twist its way across my palm. I clinched it, and drew in my breath. When I opened my eyes, Johnathan stood out in the yard in front of me. I looked at him... wanting to grin, but held it back. He stepped towards me and I drew in my breath. I licked my lips and it tasted like metal in my mouth. I slowed my breathing, although my heart fluttered. He grinned, I think he felt it too. Damn it.
He stopped at the bottom of the steps and stared up at me, with those eyes. The ones that melted me every time. I sighed. I wanted to hate him, but I didn't feel that way.
I looked towards the woods and back to him.
“Where is Josh?” I asked him. I thought I saw his face change, but he straightened up.
“He insisted that he spend a little more time checking the lake,” he said.
“Oh,” I said as I looked down at my hands.
“Seems that a tracker has been out there but they are gone now, probably just scouting,” Johnathan said as he reached towards me.
I wanted to take his hand, but I held onto the little bit of anger that I felt still. I turned and sat down on the swing. He walked up the steps and looked at me.
“Are you going to hate me forever?” he asked.
I pulled my shades down over my eyes.
“Maybe,” I said as emotionless as possible.
He sat down next to me and let his leg sit against mine. I fought the urge to reach over and grab his face. I stared ou
t, refusing to look at him.
“Well, I guess I will just have to convince you that I love you Rue,” he said without turning to me.
My heart skipped a beat when he said the words. I don't want to hear that right now, I really didn’t know what I wanted to hear from him.
I stood up and walked to the steps. I turned back to him.
“We are going to the library today. I guess you can come with us, if you want to,” I said.
“Okay,” he said.
I looked behind me as the front door opened, and Theodore stepped out. He was dressed in a nice button down shirt, with a thick tie tucked into a stripped vest. He smiled at me.
“You look great,” I said to him.
He looked at me and then to Johnathan on the swing.
“Where is Josh?” he asked him.
“He wouldn't come back with me. He said a tracker has been in the woods scouting maybe. He wanted to check the lake,” Johnathan said with no expression.
Theodore sighed. “Well, I am sure he'll pop up soon enough.”
We all stepped off of the porch as soon as Sara pulled up. She waved from her car window, while music blared from it. Theodore smiled and held his hand up to his ear.
“Will she turn that noise down on the way, you think?” he asked me.
“Doubt it,” I said.
He sighed and we piled into her car. Sara sat there chewing gum and turned it up. She looked at Theodore and smiled. He half grinned as he squinted his eyes. “I just love this song!” she yelled out. She pulled out and we headed for the library.
No one had talked on the way... we couldn't. Sara had her music so loud, it drowned out any thought. I was kinda glad. The less I had to talk to Johnathan, the better. I was still upset about well, you know Elin, but also, I was confused about last night. Johnathan had been so forceful with me, it was unlike him. I glanced at him and back to the library. Maybe he was just upset. Being emotional has a way of making people do crazy things. The suck part was that for a moment... just a second, when he had me pinned to the floor, I just wanted him to do what he wanted with me. God! What the hell was wrong with me? I swear. He shouldn't be rewarded for what he did with her… if anything at all. Memory or no memory, he doesn't even know... but I saw flashes of gross. I did, I think.
Sara shut the music off and Theodore rubbed his ear. Sara smiled at him and blew a bubble. He blinked when it popped in his face. I grinned. She is too funny, amazing really. After calming down she is back to being Sara, I love it. Theodore opened his door and stepped out, we all followed. I looked up and stared at the gleaming white building. It looked all shiny and new. I closed my eyes for a moment and took a breath. I could hear the echoes from that day. The day my Mother dropped from the ceiling and revealed herself to me for the first time. The day they sank into the mirror with Caine...
I felt a hand squeeze mine and I looked down. Johnathan had grabbed it with his. I loosened my grip and let it go. He didn't say anything as I walked up the steps, and prepared to go through the doors. Theodore ran past me and opened it up, with a grin on his face. I stepped through and stood speechless as I looked around the entryway. The walls were all white stone. I looked up and the ceiling was domed with thick glass. The sun shined through it, lighting it up. I stepped into the sunlight and felt the warmth on my skin. I looked down and saw a shimmer on my hand, I rubbed it as I looked around at the people in the room. It looked busy, busy for a library… I was impressed.
“It's beautiful,” I said to Theodore.
He smiled and bowed to me. I sighed as I pressed my lips together.
“I told you that you would like it,” Theodore said as he started to walk across the huge circle, towards the desk. We all followed him. A young girl sat behind the desk reading a book. She looked up and started to smile as she saw Theodore standing in front of her.
“Hello Theodore!” she said as she sat her book down. Theodore looked back at us and then to her.
“This is Sara, Rue, and Johnathan. I am giving them the grand tour today Brooke,” he said.
She grinned. “Oh, you are all in for a treat then. Don't forget to show them the special room Theodore,” she said.
I looked at Theodore and tilted my head. “What special room?”
The girl behind the counter leaned over and started to whisper at us, “Well... not everyone gets to go in there. It has the oldest books that I have ever seen... better than a museum I think.”
I did the “oh” face at her and she nodded like she had just granted me a magic ticket. Obviously she loves books... a lot. Theodore took my hand and led me in, out of this waiting room of sorts and we stepped through double doors into a huge circular room.
Bookshelves lined the outer edge, it went up in a spiral on the outer edge so that you could walk by every book on every shelf. I stood there and breathed in. It smelled like old leather and paper... lots and lots of paper. I opened my eyes and looked at Theodore, who was waiting for me to faint I think.
“It's absolutely the most beautiful thing that I have ever seen,” I whispered. He clapped his hands together once and it echoed upward.
I looked up and this room’s ceiling was also glassed over, silver metal bars crisscrossing through the glass. The clouds drifted over slowly. I was in heaven, I swear. I looked down at my feet and the white stone had black ravens etched into them in an eclectic pattern, they all looked as if they were taking flight. They were also etched into the stone on the walls and bookshelves in the room, they went all the way up to the glass ceiling.
“I am speechless Theodore, I never would have imagined this in a million years,” I said to him.
“Well... I have another surprise for you,” Theodore said. He ran over and took my hand.
He walked me to the first part of the spiral; it had a slight incline as we walked around the outer edge of the room. I looked at all the books on the shelves, passing me by. I wanted to grab one and just hide somewhere and read it. We kept going upward, I looked out over the thick stone railing and looked down. The birds on the floor looked amazing from here. We finally came to the top and he waved his hand out. In the corner was my chair, the old leather one that I had always sat in there, the one I loved so much. He had nestled it at the end, with a huge window behind it. A low table and a vintage looking lamp sat on the table, with deep red and brown feathers fringing the bottom of the lampshade. He ran over and turned it on... purely decorative, with all the light seeping in up here.
I grinned as I ran to the chair, and sat down. It didn't matter how big I got, my feet didn't touch the ground. I pulled my knees up to my side and leaned back in a groove that I was sure I had created. I closed my eyes and sighed.
“I have made sure that no one uses this chair. It is yours, and yours alone Rue. This room is only first addition of everything… it is for you,” Theodore said as he backed up from me and smiled.
“I don't even know what to say to you,” I said as I relaxed for the first time in a year.
“Well… you don't have to say anything. Happy birthday Rue Volley,” he said as he pulled a small box from out of his pocket.
“Oh crap,” I muttered as I swung my legs down.
“Ohhh girlie... I almost couldn't wait. I was glad that you called, but I would have been here anyway.”
Sara said as she jumped at me and gave me a big hug.
I looked at Theodore. “So you planned for me to want to come here today?” I said.
“Well, with a little help from a spell. I put the thought in your head, so you would not say ‘no’ if I asked... but you wanted to come. So here…” He put the box eye level to me.
I looked at it, all tiny and wrapped in silver paper, with a tiny red bow. I half smiled. Truth was, I didn't really want to remember my birthday. Now I was eighteen... only that much closer to twenty-one.
I took the box and opened it, as Theodore backed up. I pulled the silver chain out of the box and it was going forever, at the end was the most beautiful
key. It spun in front of my face and color swirled on it.
“A key?” I asked him.
“To this room... there are only two. I have one... and you are the owner of the other,” he said.
I looked around and grinned.
“This is a key to this place?” I said.
“Of course, your key... your books... your chair,” he said.
I jumped up and hugged him, as hard as I could. He grunted. I don't think that I have ever been given anything as amazing as this.
“You can come here anytime you like, day or night. There is a mirror around the back that will bring you right in here. It is only for you,” he said as I backed away from him.
Tears were rolling down my face and he wiped them away.
“Oh… are you okay love?” He said.
“OMG... more than okay.” I said pulling the chain out and put it around my neck.
“Now these books are very special. Section 314 will give you a better perspective of what you are, where we came from. I would assume that you would like to read, rather than have me place my hand on your head.”
“This is so awesome,” I said as I looked around.
Johnathan had been quiet the entire time. I looked at him and he grinned at me. I rolled the key in my hand and squeezed it.
“Okay...! Listen Rue, I know that after this…” she waved her hands around. “It would be totally possible for you to disappear in here forever, but not tonight... Tonight we go to a party.”
“Oh no... no, no,” I said in protest. I had gone to a party exactly one year ago, and it did not turn out well.
Sara put her hands on her hips and pouted her lips out. She frowned big and ugly.
“Sara please, don't make me go,” I said.
She ran up to me and grabbed my hands. “Please, please... PLEASE... go out with me Rue...! It's your birthday girlie...! I won't ask for anything from you for a whole year. Cross my heart and hope to die!” she said as she squeezed my hands.
“Oh god,” I said as I looked at Theodore, he grinned. Johnathan smiled too.