The Nocere: A Haunting Dystopian Tale Book 1

by Heather Carson

  “Vorie, that’s powdered milk. Who knows how old it is?”

  “They have to make it from real cows.” Vorie rolled her eyes. “They are still making and packaging food from somewhere. Otherwise we’d have run out a long time ago.”

  “Alright.” I didn’t want to ruin the moment by arguing. “You might be right. I’m not sure where we will find the animals, or even seeds, but we can try to make this work. Do we know where we want to go yet?”

  Vorie’s eyes lit up. She cleared the coffee table and spread a map out across it. I had seen maps like this before, but they didn’t mean much to me. I knew we lived in the dot that said Los Angeles and there were other places where people lived too. I’d never been anywhere besides here and the realm.

  Every time I saw a map, the realm made more sense. I could jump from place to place as easily as my fingers could touch the different points on the map. It was as if the realm was the air I was standing in now, and it looked down on the dinky piece of paper that was confined to a flat plane.

  Confusing, right?

  I glanced down at the boot shaped mass labeled Florida and I thought of Fergus for a moment.

  “We know the ocean is toxic.” Vorie drew my attention back to the area where we lived.

  “That’s what they say.” I’d never been to the ocean even though it was only a few miles away.

  “Let’s assume they are right. Plus, nothing grows here because of all the concrete and the pollution left in the dirt.”

  “Something like that. That’s what everyone says is the reason it stinks so bad too.”

  “Right. I think our best bet is to head here.” Vorie trailed her finger up the middle of the map and landed on a state named Idaho. “There is not a lot of cities up here,” she smiled. “Probably not a lot of people either and that means no portals. The green shows that the land is forest. It means that it is wild there.”

  Hope sprang into my chest. “You’re really planning it all out. This is exciting.”

  “I can’t wait.” Vorie’s face looked completely serene, as fear and happiness fought for a major place within me.

  “Thank you for waiting for me. I don’t know what I did to deserve such a good friend.”

  “Stop it.” Vorie glared at me. “I would never leave you behind.”

  *

  “I saw your state today.” Fergus looked at me like I was broken. “On the map I mean. It looked like a boot.”

  “I’m not sure if they are considered states anymore. They are just places with names from a long time ago.” He smiled with dimpled cheeks as we entered The Nocere. I kind of liked walking with him.

  Raleigh waved and I refused to look at the mirror as we passed it. If I couldn’t see the antlers, they didn’t exist. The girls were waiting in the employee lounge. Well, everyone that is but Astrid. She came strolling in a few minutes before opening.

  “Who got the flowers?” she asked as she closed the door behind her.

  “What flowers?” Lilith asked.

  “At the bar. A bouquet just appeared.” The five of us poked our heads out the door. Sitting on top of the wood counter was a huge arrangement of delicate purple orchids.

  “I’ve got this.” Karl walked over to the flowers and plucked out the card. He broke the wax seal and read the contents out loud. “To the sweet little deer from the big, bad wolf.”

  My body froze as my heart thumped hard against my ribcage. The twins put their hands on my back as I closed my eyes. In the darkness of my mind, green eyes were taunting me, so I quickly opened mine again.

  Fergus was suddenly in front of us. The muscles in his jawline clenched and the veins in his neck swelled as he held out his palm. He scanned the card briefly before staring angrily at Karl.

  “Who sent this?” he asked through gritted teeth.

  Karl shrugged and began to prepare the glasses. “No one else is in here. It could have come from anywhere.”

  Fergus slammed his open hand on top of the flowers. The whole manifestation disintegrated under his touch. I’d never seen someone with the power to do that so easily. His eyes met mine from across the counter.

  “Don’t worry about this.” His voice was flat. “Just go relax until opening.”

  Once we were back in the lounge, I sank into the deep papasan chair and chewed my lip.

  “I think Fergus has the hots for you,” Lilith said as she stretched out onto the couch.

  “Did you see how fast he crushed that bouquet?” Chloe turned to her sister.

  “It was pretty sexy. Too bad he already made his pick of the women,” Claire teased.

  “Are you okay?” Astrid whispered to me over the laughter of the other girls.

  “Yeah. It’s just… I mean that was scary.”

  “Don’t worry. Fergus will protect you.” Astrid smiled. “I wish I had someone like that for me.”

  The rest of the night went off without incident, but I felt like I had to keep looking over my shoulder. Thankfully, my tables sat mostly empty after the initial wave of customers left.

  “I’m sorry you had to see that,” Fergus said as we walked to the portal. “I wish I could have disposed of it before it bothered you.”

  “I’m fine,” I lied. I felt uneasy and nervous for some reason. “I’ve never seen someone crush someone else’s manifestation like that. How did you do it?”

  Fergus looked to his feet as he walked. “I’ve had a lot of practice.”

  The portal brought me back, but I didn’t breathe easy until I was on the safe side of my locked door. It was a restless night as I tossed and turned thinking about how awful the next year of my life would be.

  Chapter 13

  ∞

  At the edge of the city limits was an abandoned open-air mall. Vorie borrowed Brayson’s truck and Lane bought the gas from Kramer. It was a twenty-minute drive to get there, but it was only the second time in my life that I’d been so far away from our streets.

  We cruised down the abandoned roads, passing by towers of crumbling structures. Every so often, we’d see a line of drying clothes hanging from a balcony like a flag signaling a sign of life. Mostly, it was a wasteland.

  From the freeway, we took the exit for Pasadena and Vorie parked the truck on the empty street in front of the mall. The stores had closeout signs plastered in dirty windows, but there were still piles of inventory left hanging on dusty mannequins. No one cared about any of this when they left for the realm.

  It sat there forgotten until Lane threw a rock through the window and we walked in to admire it. We climbed walkway after walkway. Lane found a suit he liked and Vorie found a similar one for Brayson.

  “There is nothing good here,” Genie groaned as we left yet another store. My legs were aching from how far we’d walked. The bags I was carrying were getting heavy. We’d loaded them with random items we found.

  “I liked that blue dress,” I mumbled a little too loudly.

  Genie spun around on her heeled shoes. “Fawn! That dress was awful. You cannot wear something like that to Dives.” Vorie smiled at me as she placed a finger over her lips behind Genie’s back.

  “We haven’t seen everything yet,” Vorie said encouragingly and I scowled at her. “Across the street are some cute boutiques. Why don’t we go check those out?”

  Genie pulled more jewelry from the case and tossed it in the bag I held. “Fine.” She stormed out of the shop. “There is nothing worth value left in this mall anyway.”

  Lane took the bags from our arms and headed back to the truck. My eyes were pleading to go with him. He just laughed as he walked away, saying he wanted to go take a nap.

  The windows of the formal dress shop smashed with a loud crack as Genie swung a metal rod into them. I reached over and unlocked the door. Inside the shop was a gold and orange patterned carpet with oddly curved benches placed around the room. I laid down on one as Genie began to pull out gowns.

  “This is more like it,” Genie cheered. She tossed a knee leng
th green chiffon dress on top of me. “Try this on Fawn. I think it will be perfect for you.”

  As I walked to the dressing mirror, I spotted this beautiful black silk wrap dress that hung delicately on a rack. The material slipped through my fingers like water.

  “How about this one?” I asked as I pulled the hanger down.

  “No. That’s too boring. We want to stand out.” Genie returned to inspecting the rest of the gowns.

  I slipped on the itchy green dress and zipped up the side bodice. Rows of tiny beads were stitched down my waist and material bunched in weird sharp angles at odd places. I couldn’t breathe.

  “Are you sure?” I turned to face her.

  “It’s perfect. That’s what you are wearing…” Genie’s voice ascended into an inaudible high-pitched screech. I assumed she’d found the dress she wanted. Vorie walked over wearing a flowing lilac gown that bunched in an empire waist and flowed delicately down her legs.

  “That looks awesome on you,” I said.

  “Thanks.” Vorie smiled. “That dress doesn’t look so great on you.”

  “I know,” I whispered, even though she couldn’t hear me through her screaming. “Genie likes it though.”

  “It’s your choice.” Vorie gave me a good wink before walking over to help Genie try on the dress. I pulled off the green thing and put my clothes back on. Then I folded the black dress neatly, placing it at the bottom of my bag. I shoved the green one on top of it.

  Genie stood in the small circle stage, admiring herself in the mirrors. The gown was antique white and sleeveless. Lace covered the tight bodice and a sheer material spilled out over the wide skirt.

  “The wings will clash beautifully with this,” Genie said as she stared at her own reflection. We had to physically pull her down from the stage, and convince her to get out of the dress, so I wouldn’t be late for work.

  *

  “What are you doing on your weekend off?” Fergus was there waiting when I stepped from the portal.

  “Catching up on some reading.” I smiled at the way he looked at me. Maybe Genie wasn’t an idiot after all. “And my friend’s end of service celebration is on Saturday.”

  “Where are you going to celebrate?” He took my hand and we manifested to The Nocere.

  “Dives, if you can believe it. She is dating this guy who got us in.”

  The muscles on his jaw tightened as he opened the door. “Are you sure that is a good idea?”

  “Why not?” I paused to look at him. “It’s just some ritzy club, right? I’m sure we’ll be okay.” The corner of Fergus’ mouth curled into the hint of a snarl. “Are you alright? You seem upset about something.” As if I’d imagined it, his face instantly changed back to normal.

  “It’s just the people there. They are dangerous.” He lowered his head sadly and I reached out to touch his arm.

  “I’m sure they aren’t any worse than the people here,” I joked. “But if you know something that I don’t, you should probably clue me in.”

  He turned to look at the expanse of the in between before showing me an expression of concern. “The customers here are not pretending to be anything other than what they are. The people there are worse. They hide behind their masks.”

  “Doesn’t everyone?” I asked as we walked through the door. “That’s why I hate the realm so much. It’s fake. In the world you get hurt and it sucks, but it is real. This place is just pretend, and no one seems to care.”

  “That’s why I like you,” he smiled. “You’re real.”

  “Well these antlers sure aren’t,” I scoffed as I passed the mirror.

  When we stepped into the bar room, a blood curdling scream filled my ears. I reached desperately for Fergus’ hand.

  “That’s her,” I whispered. For the past few days I’d been trying to pretend I’d never heard that sound, but her voice pierced my chest and brought tears to my eyes. “That’s the spirit from the other night. Why is she still here?”

  “We’ve been searching for her all day. She won’t come out.”

  “Has she been screaming all freaking day?” I couldn’t stop the tears from rolling down my cheek.

  Fergus reached over and wiped a tear away with his thumb. “Don’t worry Fawn. I’ll find a way to take care of this, so it doesn’t bother you anymore.”

  “What?” I took a step back and released his hand. “I don’t give a shit about what I feel. That woman is still here. She needs to cross over to the realm so she can be at peace.”

  His eyes looked pained as I stared at him in confusion. “We didn’t know this would happen…”

  I cut him off. “Wait? Who is we?” My brain was reeling. “Did you have some part in this?”

  “I mean we, all of us, everyone who works here. No one knew the spirits would stay. The grates were supposed to pull them in so the customers could have a show. They wanted one last look at their victims before they crossed over.” His eyes shifted as he spoke.

  “Something about this doesn’t make sense.” I pushed past him and made my way down the steps.

  He grabbed me calmly by the shoulder, but his warm touch sent cold chills into my stomach. “I’ll fix this. I promise.”

  “I just need a minute,” I said, mustering a sweet smile. My heart was racing, and I wanted to get away fast. The spirit woman screamed again. He let me go.

  *

  The girls were already waiting in the employee lounge.

  “How was your walk with Fergus?” Chloe teased while fluttering her long cat eye lashes at me. The rest of them stopped talking and stared at me anxiously awaiting the juicy details. I shrugged as I let the panic roll off my back. The woman’s screams were making me feel irrational and I needed to be in control to deal with the customers tonight.

  “Just a walk,” I said. “Did you guys hear the screaming?” I sat down next to Chloe.

  “Yeah. I’m hoping they get that stupid projection sound fixed soon. I’m expecting to drop a tray full of glasses if it goes off randomly during our shift,” Lilith laughed. The rest of the girls giggled in agreement.

  I bit my lip as they discussed their plans for the weekend. They had no clue it was real, and I didn’t want to unnecessarily stress them out. Maybe it was better to believe the lie, especially because we had no choice but to work here. I did wish there was someone I could talk to about it. I’d need someone to help me figure out a way to save the spirit woman and get her to the realm where she belonged.

  Chapter 14

  ∞

  “Are you with us, Fawn?” Claire snapped her fingers near my face.

  “I’m sorry. I was lost in thought. What were you saying?” I shook my head to ground myself in the present moment.

  “We were asking if you had any plans for the weekend,” Lilith laughed.

  “Oh,” I said. “I’m going to Dives with some of my friends to celebrate my roommate’s end of service.”

  “No way.” Astrid’s star eyes widened. “How are you getting in there? I thought it was only for elites.”

  “It’s not as prestigious as everyone says it is.” Chloe leaned back onto the couch. “I went there last year with the son of an oil driller from Texas.”

  “That makes him elite. There is only one family who produces oil for the whole continent.” Astrid was still in shock.

  “Yeah but Chloe isn’t special,” Claire teased.

  “How was it there?” I turned to ask her. My thoughts bounced back to Fergus and his vague brooding warning.

  “It was kind of boring actually,” she explained. “They love to talk about their jobs and rub it in that they’re rich. They know they own the real world and they made Dives this super ritzy place so they could show off their wealth to each other.”

  “I wish I had a real job, one where I’d create something tangible.” I looked down at my hands. “I want to do something useful instead of wasting my life playing around in the realm.”

  “I know what you mean.” Lilith gave me a sad s
mile.

  “The realm is real,” Claire yawned. “It’s a real place and we will all end up here eventually. It’s just that stuff is fluid here.”

  “I like to be able to feel things I guess.” I wasn’t sure how to explain it.

  Karl opened the door and let us know that it was time for our shift to start.

  “At least this job is cushy,” Chloe said as she stood. “Easy hours, two days off every week, and we have a short shift the night we come back because we get to hang out in here instead of watching their sick projection show.” She turned to smile at me. “You can thank Fergus for that.” I swallowed hard as I walked out of the door.

  *

  The cello was louder than it had been. The music coupled with the chatter of the customers helped drown out the intermittent screams of the tortured woman. None of us dropped our trays though. There weren’t as many customers as opening night, but it was still busy enough that I was exhausted.

  As I was going for a refill on a whiskey and coke for the booth in the back, a lone customer walked over to another table in my section. He removed his coat as he looked around the room. I froze clutching the glass in my hands.

  His green eyes danced in the low light that reflected from the chandelier. Karl said something to me as he poured the drink, but I couldn’t hear him over the sound of my heartbeat in my ears. I wordlessly gave the glass to the customer in the booth. My steps were measured, and I steadied my breathing as I approached the table.

  “What can I get for you, sir?” I kept my head down and refused to meet his stare.

  “There is the little deer.” His words rolled like silk from his tongue. “Did you get the flowers I sent you?”

  Anger replaced my fear as I raised my face to glare at him. “Sure didn’t. They must have been thrown away. What can I get you to drink?” His eyes were playful as he looked me up and down.

  “You’re a terrible liar,” he chuckled. I felt my cheeks flush. “Can you sit with me for a moment?”

  “I’m very busy.” I glanced over to the customers who were getting ready to leave. “Do you need more time to decide what you want?”