by Kim Cormack
Grey added, “Scratch being eaten, and even starvation. Hell, I would find being slowly dipped in lava preferable to Tiberius’ torture week. Now that epically sucked. That was a whole week of slow extremely creative torture. He never actually kills you at the end of each day. He keeps slightly healing you, just enough to keep you alive. He keeps you feeling every second of it.”
Grey held up a finger, “Day one was stabbing, cutting, and being skinned alive. That was lovely. On day two, he removed my intestines. Then Triad played morbid little sick games with them. They kept me completely alert, so I could watch. That same day, Tiberius removed my fingernails and toe nails. That was a good time. Every night he left me almost dead in a room with a half a dozen buzzards. So, I couldn’t sleep. They kept trying to pick at me. Day three was fire and acid. Day four was bloody snakes, spiders and rodents. Day five, I never want to discuss. Day six was all of the above and stretching. That was a good time. Day six was whipping, and stabbing. Then Tiberius went all The Godfather on me. There were actually some power tools involved. Day seven was the day Lexy showed up with Markus and the others to bust us out. Frost had it worse than I did. Princess Lily however had a glorious time.”
Lily laughed and said, “Hey, I allowed him to watch me have a bath in rose petals and get dressed. He also wanted to rub my feet for hours. That was a little bit strange. I was the one that snuck away and contacted the rest of the clan. What was I supposed to say? Hey Tiberius, wait a minute. I don’t think your being fair. Where’s my torture? I want to go next. It’s my turn.”
Grey shook his head and said, “You definitely weren’t in any rush to call for help.”
Lily tossed a handful of grass at Grey. She argued, “You never believed me. I called as soon as I could get out of the room. I had no idea you were being tortured. He had me locked in a room that was set up with some kind of Ankh symbol block. I thought he only took me. I escaped from the room and cut my hand. That’s how they found us. You guys were blocked too. I’m not the only one with a symbol on my damn hand Grey.”
Kayn had to ask. She looked at Lexy and said,” What did you do to Tiberius for hurting Grey?”
Lexy grinned as though a happy memory crossed her mind, and casually said, “I tied him up, put a gag in his mouth and fixed him. Then I let all the rodents, spiders and snakes go in there with him. Then, I closed the door. Oh wait, I let the buzzards go in there too.”
Kevin said, “Fixed him?”
Grey grinned and said, “Think about it for a minute.”
Kevin had a mortified look on his face, and Kayn understood the meaning of fixed. She had creatively neutered Tiberius.
Kevin said,” Remind me to never get on your bad side, Lexy.”
Lily tossed a woven flowered crown at Grey. She said, “Here you go Princess.”
Grey scowled at her and said, “That’s hilarious, you’re a funny frigging girl.” He placed the crown on his head and said, “Feel free to call me the King, Master, whatever floats your boat.”
Lily teased, “Feel free to wear that crown, while you hold your breath and wait.”
Kayn smiled at Kevin. These two obviously had some kind of prior relationship. Maybe Grey wasn’t actually in love with Lexy. Maybe it was Lily. He was acting like a little boy with a crush. Their constant sparring reminded her of a little boy and a girl on the playground kicking sand at each other. Kayn turned to look at Kevin again and he cupped her chin, leaned forward and kissed her softly on the lips. She loved him.
Lily spoke up, “I think heart break is worse than any version of death I’ve experienced.”
Grey said,” You’ve never been tortured Lily. I’ve had my ego wounded, plenty of times.”
Lily sighed, “That’s not heart break. Don’t start that crap again, Grey. It’s not my fault you can’t comprehend the whole friends with benefits thing.”
Lexy added almost too casually,” Arrianna broke Grey’s heart.”
Grey smiled at his friend and explained, “I cheated on her with Lily. She dumped me because of it. That doesn’t count as my broken heart Lex. I did it to myself.”
Kayn smiled and stared down at the grass again. The conversation did not appear to be affecting Lexy. Maybe, she had the situation all wrong?
Frost appeared and walked towards the group sitting on the grass. Kayn felt guilty. She knew why she felt that way. A touch of her twin’s feelings for Frost remained. She remembered her issue with her inner dialogue being overheard. She looked up and was relieved to find that Kevin and Grey were walking away together. She felt someone watching her and she met Lexy’s eyes.
Lexy didn’t say anything as she scrambled to her feet. She held her hand towards Kayn. Kayn took Lexy’s hand and she yanked her to her feet. She said, “Kevin is a really great guy.”
Kayn said, “I know.”
Lexy winked at her and they ran to catch up with the others.
They began to train together without any need for sleep or nourishment. Lexy became their instructor. Lexy had been stuck running the tombs. Kayn was more than a little bit excited about the prospect of being trained by The Dragon. If anyone could give them the upper hand, it would be Lexy.
Lexy began to speak, “Triad is at the house. Let me tell you about Triad. They are brutal, sick, bastards. A fight with them is straight forward. The Trinity are extremely sneaky. They usually try to take you out with poisoned arrows from a distance. Once you have been hit you are drugged. The end result is death. A mortal that is even nicked by an arrow will die within an hour. There is only one rule during a conflict between the clans. The battle has a time limit. There is a shield up. It disguises the energy in the area. Around this shield every mortal within a five mile radius of the outside of the area will lose time. They won’t remember a thing. The mortals on the inside of the shield have to be Corrected.”
Frost added, “If only two clans are present, sometimes no shield is needed. Once Abaddon arrives at a two or three clan conflict there is always a shield. The shield only stays up for three hours. When the battle is over you will know. The third tiers incapacitate all of us with a noise. That is the end of the fight, and the one hour clean up warning. We pick up the bodies and are given an hour to clean the area of evidence and get away. We have twenty four hours to get as far away from each other as we can. We are not allowed to even attempt to pursue each other during that time. The Third tiers have oracles that monitor us for a good week after each conflict. The mission is to keep Kayn from being taken by another clan. This is a battle for souls. Most of us will be dead by the end of it. Once again, we do not stay dead. Arrianna will be there to revive us, when the fight times out. We just have to get Kayn from the house with the tombs, through the trails and into her spiritually protected room. She stays in that room until the battle times out. It sounds simple, but I promise you it won’t be. They don’t have to enter that room to get you to come.”
Kayn asked, “What about Kevin?”
Frost replied, “That’s a tricky one. We don’t know how much the other clans know about him. Kayn can be in there with mortals. That’s fine. The room is set up to protect one second tier. If two of you are inside, it could weaken the barrier enough to allow something else to get inside. It’s more than that. You both have unfinished mortal business. If Kevin doesn’t get a chance to deal with his unfinished business, it could damage his soul. Kayn also has unfinished business to deal with. There are emotional hoops you have to jump through on your way to Enlightenment. If you haven’t dealt with these things properly, you will never make it out of the testing.”
Lexy and Grey had them running from arrows for another six days, or roughly fifty minutes in real time. They couldn’t allow themselves to think of the battle that was going on outside the house that contained their tombs. The six of them ignored their fears. They wouldn’t have the time to figure out how much the other clans knew about Kevin.
The group of them went to visit Winnie as promised, desperate and in dire need o
f her guidance, but she had disappeared. Kevin struggled to see what was coming for them and if anything had changed. It seemed as though his psychic ability had been completely stifled by the ability to absorb memories.
In the last day of training, they made sure to allow Kevin and Kayn some time alone. After telling them both that they had a few hours to spend alone the others disappeared. One would expect that two teenagers in love would have taken off as they had before to their cabin. They had both been thinking of something just as magical, and they were transported back to the moment they first met.
Kayn wore a frilly white dress. It was the very same dress that she found herself wearing in various ages while in this place. Perhaps this was the reason. Her life had many defining moments, but one stood out amongst them all. Chloe and Kayn lay in the grass with their chins propped up by their dainty hands watching the furry bodies of bees as they moved in humming song from buttercup to buttercup. A four year old version of Kayn blew her curls out of her eyes with a puff of air from her mouth.
Kayn sighed and glanced at her sister, and Chloe said, “Be quiet or they won’t come close enough for us to touch one.”
Kayn rolled her eyes because her sister had just said way more words aloud than she had. Out of the corner of her eye she saw a little boy with a mass of dark wavy hair walking towards them. He got down in the grass beside them and quietly watched. He asked what they were doing and Chloe explained.
He seemed to think it was weird, but he was satisfied with her explanation. He quietly continued to watch them touching bees. Chloe left them alone because she had to go to the bathroom. Kayn kept watching, unsure of what to say because she didn’t usually talk to the other kids. She got up and attempted to walk away.
But he stopped her and said, “Wait … this is for you,” and gave her a little purple honeysuckle.
Kayn furrowed her brow and then gave him a giant toothless smile and said, “Thanks,” She started to walk away staring at the flower and smiling.
But he ran up beside her and said, “Do you know what you are supposed to do with that flower?”
Kayn stopped and turned to look at him and said, “No … I don’t?”
He held out his hand, and she gave it back to him, and he pulled out one of the tiny straight purple petals and said, “Taste it.”
When she hesitated to try it, he took one and did it first.
She tried it. Her cheeks cracked a wide smile, and she said, “It tastes sweet.”
They walked back to their mothers together. Kayn and Kevin were sitting on a park bench together already becoming fast friends. Kayn plucked the last petal and popped it in her mouth.
Kayn’s mother scolded, “Sweetie no … Dogs pee on those.”
Chloe appeared beside them and grimaced at the phrase dog pee. She smiled at Kevin and he grabbed Kayn’s hand staking his claim. Kevin held out his hand towards Chloe instead of trying to take Kayn’s other hand.
Chloe thought about it for a second before she took Kevin’s hand and smiled. This was how Kevin became friends with them both.
Their mothers packed up to leave, and made plans to meet up the next day. Matt came bounding up with Clay. They already knew each other from school. They were both a mess of freckles and mischief.
Kevin snuck over and secretly tucked another one of the honeysuckles in Kayn’s shoe when Chloe wasn’t watching. She didn’t have a pocket and they smiled at each other. They blinked, and they were lying in that same school yard together, amidst the sea of buttercups and bees.
Kevin plucked one lone honeysuckle from the ground and said, “Do you know what this did?”
Kayn leaned towards him and kissed him gently on the lips and replied, “It got you a best friend.”
He teased,” What would it get me now?”
Kayn said, “One of these.” She socked him in the stomach.
He groaned and threw a handful of grass in her face.
Kayn plucked a handful of grass and buttercups, and she pinned Kevin down. She straddled his chest and face washed him with grass and flowers leaving his skin comically stained yellow and green. He fought back and did the same to her. They laughed and rolled around in the grass just as they would have before all of this started.
With perfect comic timing Lexy said, “I won. I guessed you would be doing something weird. Painting each other’s faces green, and yellow, that is pretty damn weird.”
They froze, Kayn once again on top of Kevin mashing the pulp of buttercups and grass in his face.
Frost chuckled, “Your guess was too vague Lexy. It doesn’t count.”
Grey said, “It does look like fun.” Grey turned towards Lily.
Lily hissed, “Do not even think about it. I’ll kill you.”
Lexy said, “I’m sorry you two. It’s time to go, and you are going to have to go green.”
Grey said, “That was adorable. Well on the bright side maybe it will look like you have something funky and the demons won’t want to eat you. Nobody likes an upset tummy.”
Lexy put her arm around Grey, and she stated, “You my friend are adorable.”
Grey bent down and grabbed a handful of grass. He passed it to Lexy and said, “Do me … You never know.”
Lexy teased, “I think that’s the most romantic thing you have ever said.”
Grey bent down, grabbed another handful of grass and said, “Fine … I will do it to myself.”
Lexy shook her head and smeared grass stains on Grey’s face. She said, “You should stop speaking, you’re making it worse, hun.”
Frost ordered, “Get up you two. Your weird behavior is contagious.”
Grey began to smear grass on Lexy’s face, and she started to chuckle. Grey held out his hands towards Frost.
He said, “No buddy, I think I’m okay with looking moderately sane today.” They all strolled together through the grass in their bare feet. Most of them had green and yellow streaks all over their faces, and arms.
Grey leaned over and whispered, “Pay no attention to those two party poopers. This will be our tribal war paint. We will own the insanity of this day.” He raised one hand triumphantly above his head and bellowed, “We will not go quietly into our padded rooms. We will bounce off those walls. We will finger paint them with green, yellow, and red."
Kayn said, “Red … why red?"
Grey laughed, “There’s always a crazy amount of blood.”
Kevin said, “That was almost a great motivational speech, until it got creepy.”
The six Ankh stood united in silence. They were sort of emotionally prepared for the battle ahead. They stood in the glorious feeling, warm grains of sand, with bare feet. Kayn wriggled her toes and smiled at Kevin as they shared a quick flash of a memory from their childhood. The sand, filled with diamonds, gleamed in the sun.
The others kept their mouths shut giving Kayn and Kevin a last moment of joy. For they all knew exactly what that meant, and so did the two newest members of Ankh. There was no need to speak the words aloud. They were attempting to offer Kevin and Kayn closure. This was the true purpose of their return to the small island town.
Kayn looked at Frost. He was smiling as he watched her wiggle her toes in the warmth of the sand. Kayn and Kevin had chosen to ignore the reality of their situation in lieu of this moment of beauty, but wasn’t that was life was all about?
Kayn told Frost, “Life is about the ability to ignore an impending painful end in order to embrace a simple moment of happiness.” Then Kayn remembered that wasn’t what everyone’s lives were like, just theirs.
With that thought, they were abruptly thrust as a group upwards so quickly and harshly their backs arched and curved to the point of blinding, excruciating pain. This was not the manner to which they had left the in-between in the past. Their stomachs began to churn and twist in a vomit-inducing dance as they found themselves falling in the tombs. This time no metal music played and Kayn was not feeling peace, but panic and bone chilling fear. She was not ver
y strong. Kevin had acquired amazing strength and catlike reflexes. Kayn had acquired Chloe, but still was not showing any difference in her ability. They plummeted and twisted coming to an abrupt halt. Her chest felt like it was on fire as she gasped for breath inside of a tomb.
Chapter 31
Brains Before Brawn
Kayn could feel the tombs being shifted apart, and as they opened, her heart pounded with fear. Then she remembered that only Ankh could open the tombs. A moment of peace managed to restore her demeanor. As her tomb opened, she laid eyes upon four new Ankh faces.
Lily gasped, “Daddy, you shouldn’t be here.” She seized her father’s hand as he assisted her out of the tomb.
All six climbed out, and Markus introduced himself to Kayn and Kevin. The others in the room were Arrianna, Flora, and Orin. Arrianna looked to be in her twenties. The others looked to be in their thirties.
“You know I had to come,” Markus said. He smiled and hugged Lily against him with one arm. It was apparent to everyone how much he truly loved his daughter.
Arrianna hugged Lexy and Grey. The three of them had gone into testing together. They obviously had a special bond. They all looked at each other in silent solidarity and support for the trial ahead.
Lexy cautiously peeked out of the window through the blinds, and she whispered, “Where in the hell did they all go?”
Arrianna said, “Nobody blocked our entrance to the house.”
“I had a feeling that we were being watched. How many of them were outside?” Markus asked Lexy.
“There were at least ten Triad and a whole bunch of Trinity. They began to fight, and then the Abaddon showed up. I ran downstairs and I waited as long as I could. I thought I heard someone walking inside the house above me, and I hopped into a tomb. You are going to need me to fight Triad,” Lexy replied.
Arrianna said, “I imagine that when the Abaddon arrived, the other clans would have had to make a run for it. They wouldn’t be able to stand in a circle of salt and wait to do the usual Abaddon disposal method. They would have been shot by Trinity arrows as they stood there.”