by Owens, Wendy
“Huh? What’s going on?” Uri mumbled, still half asleep.
“I said wake up! What happened last night?” Gabe asked, the previous evening still fuzzy.
Uri looked around the room and stretched as the fogginess of sleep rolled away. “You don’t remember?” he inquired.
“If I remembered, would I ask?” Gabe replied in a snarky tone, not in the mood for Uri’s games.
“What crawled up your butt this morning?” Uri grimaced.
“Seriously, Uri, I don’t want to hear it.” Gabe retorted.
“Well I basically saved your life last night, so I guess you’re welcome.”
“Huh? What are you talking about?” Gabe asked, still clueless of the events.
“Well hmmm…. Let’s see if I can jog your memory on the events of the evening. You blew up and acted like a complete ass to a very nice girl who was only trying to help us. Then… hmmm… what happened next. Oh yeah, I transported us back here just in the nick of time.”
Gabe felt a little bad for the way he had attacked Uri with questions, but he certainly was not about to feel any remorse for treating Artis poorly. In Gabe’s eyes she was part of this place and therefore part of the lies. Trying to remove the attitude for Uri’s sake he asked, “Just in time for what?”
“When we transported you passed out like the girl you are, but I managed to get you onto the couch and hop into bed just before the guards and Patina came bursting into our room. I put on a pretty good show if I do say so myself.” Uri explained, painting Gabe quite the vivid portrait of the scene.
As if a light bulb were going off above his head, Gabe remembered the cottage. He could recall everything he had seen through the window as well. Without a word, Gabe quickly hopped up and ran over to retrieve the shoe he had previously chucked across the room.
“What are you doing?” Uri asked, confused by his friend’s sudden actions.
“I remember,” Gabe said returning to the sofa to slide his shoes on. “We can’t trust these people, Uri.”
“Whoa,” Uri said jumping out of bed and rushing over to Gabe just as he was standing back up. Uri thrust him back onto the sofa firmly and stood over him in an authoritative manor. “You’re not going anywhere until we talk about this. What in the world did you see last night?”
Gabe huffed, annoyed. All he could think of doing was running out the door and confronting Patina and all her foot soldiers. “Gabe, stop, we need to get our heads straight. If you want to help Sophie you need to tell me what happened.”
Gabe thought about what Uri was saying and no matter how much he hated to admit it, he knew his friend was right. So Gabe explained everything that had unfolded, not skipping a single detail. From the way Beetlemeyer revealed the real stones, Patina seemed to figure things out a little too quickly. When Gabe described the decoy stones, Uri did not have the reaction Gabe had expected. In fact, he seemed to have no reaction at all.
“Did you hear what I said? They had decoy stones. Someone here swapped the stones on Dina and Raimie. They were in on it, Uri.”
“No wait, we don’t know who was in on it.”
“You’ve got to be kidding me, right?”
“Gabe, hear me out. Maybe it was just one or two people, not everyone at Iron Gate. Wouldn’t that seem like a more reasonable answer?”
“Well, either way, Patina knew about it.”
“Did she, though? You told me they were questioning Beetlemeyer.” Uri pointed out.
“Yeah, so?” Gabe dismissed.
“Well, brainiac, if she already knew what happened, why would they be questioning him?”
“Then why try and keep us in the dark?” Gabe argued.
“Well I don’t know, maybe she trusts us as little as we trust her.” Uri suggested.
“Fine, Uri, take her side.”
“Calm down, Gabe. Look, I know you’re upset about Sophie and I am too, but we are not going to get anywhere jumping to conclusions.”
“So what are we supposed to do?” Gabe asked, Uri finally allowing him to stand. As he did, Gabe began to pace. “If they are not going to tell us what’s going on or let us help with the investigation we may lose valuable time and what does that mean for Sophie and the others?”
“Will you hush and let me think?” Uri scolded, beginning to pace. “It seems to me that we do have an ally here. Perhaps we should be using that more to our benefit.” Uri finally suggested.
“What? Who?” Gabe asked, confused.
“Artis,” Uri replied.
“We don’t know her, Uri! We have no idea if we can really trust her. For all we know, she was a plant who switched the stones. You just think she’s hot.” Gabe was becoming more infuriated by each passing moment.
“Now listen, she could have ratted us out last night, but she didn’t. She stuck her neck out to help us and I think she deserves a little trust for that, don’t you?” Uri questioned.
“I suppose…” Gabe said crossing his arms slightly. “But just a little.”
“And she is pretty hot,” Uri added with a chuckle.
“Just for Sophie I’ll call you a pig.” Gabe said with a big grin.
“Agreed.” Uri was glad to see his friend smile. “I think we should find her and tell her everything you told me. Perhaps she has some answers for us. You never know, she might be able to help point us in the right direction.” Uri urged.
“Fine, we’ll talk to her but I still don’t trust her completely.”
“I need to call home and check on everyone. I’m going to see if someone can show me to a secure line. Do you want to come?” Uri asked.
“No, I think I will head out and get some breakfast, but make sure you ask how Sophie is, too.”
“Come on, like I am going to forget to check on Sophie. I’ll meet you in the dining area… wherever that is.” Uri replied.
“Don’t worry, I think our lovely hosts will make sure we both have a guard with us at all times. Think of them like our own personal tour guides.” Gabe joked.
“Keep it together Gabe. You can’t let on that we know anything. Got it?” Uri warned.
“I know, I won’t. But we had better get to the bottom of this fast. I can’t even stand being around these people knowing what they are really like.”
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
“Peter,” Gabe heard Artis’ voice behind them. “Wait up. Where are you headed?” Soon enough Gabe realized Artis was talking to the guard that was escorting him to breakfast.
“Alfred has me on guest duties.” The muscular boy replied.
“Yeah, guest duties.” Gabe mumbled under his breath as he rolled his eyes. “More like guard duties.”
“Guest? What guest?” Artis asked, clearly playing dumb to Gabe’s existence.
“Some Guardians are in from Rampart.”
“Uh yes, hello… I am right here.” Gabe chimed in with a hateful and sarcastic tone.
“This one here has a pleasant disposition.” Artis remarked about Gabe.
“Gabe,” Peter still managed to say politely. “This is Artis. Artis, this is Gabe.”
“Nice to meet you, Gabe.” Artis said, extending a hand. Rolling his eyes at the charade, Gabe reached out his hand and shook hers briefly.
“So you’re from Rampart?” Artis continued.
“That is what the man said, isn’t it?” Gabe snapped, now hungry and annoyed to be the guests of what he considered quite dishonest folks.
“Peter, I have a ton of questions about the demons of their region. If you don’t mind, I would be willing to be his escort so that I can pick his brain a bit.” Suddenly Artis’ plan became quite clear to Gabe and he wished he hadn’t been so antagonistic.
“Oh, I don’t know Artis. Alfred told me not to let him out of my sight.” Peter protested.
“Oh come on, Peter, I promise to keep a good eye on him.” Artis replied.
“Yeah Peter, she promises not to let me off my leash.” Gabe added, trying to sound convincing with his at
titude. “You can run along.”
Peter gave Gabe a disapproving look and then glanced back to Artis’ sweet and innocent smile. “Alright, but you swear you will come get me if he gives you any problems?”
Peter looked at the two, still concerned about his decision as he backed away. Artis reassured him with an eager nod.
“So where can I take you?” Artis asked loud enough for Peter to hear as he continued walking hesitantly away from the pair.
“I’m starving,” Gabe replied in an equally empowered pitch.
“Alright, follow me and I will take you to the dining hall. Sooo…” Artis glanced over her shoulder and once she realized Peter was far enough away she sighed a puff of relief and relaxed her posture. “I thought he’d never leave.”
“What’s your angle?” Gabe asked, giving Artis a questioning stare.
“Angle?” Artis sneered.
“Yeah, what’s in this for you?” Gabe continued, refusing to relent his hard line of questioning.
“Nothing, I just want to see justice done and I want to help your friends.” Artis insisted.
“Yeah, ok, whatever you say.” Gabe snapped. “For some reason Uri trusts you, so I guess you’re what we are stuck with.”
“He does?”
“What?” Gabe asked.
“Uri trusts me?” Artis repeated, almost swooning as the words left her lips.
“I don’t know, I guess.” Gabe’s continued negative tone at last silencing the young girl.
The pair continued walking toward the Iron Gate dining hall in silence. At last, Artis couldn’t remain quiet any longer. “So what happened last night?”
“Actually, it was quite exciting.” Gabe replied, happy to retell the evening’s heroics as they had been relayed by his friend. “Uri said Patina and her guards burst in our room last night, but of course I was passed out from the transport spell.”
“Well, wasn’t he?”
“No, it weakens Uri a lot but he has been training so long with our leader, Michael, some things come easier to him.” Gabe explained.
“He can transport freely?”
“Well no, even small distances are still taxing on him. I would guess that after Patina left he pretty much passed out. It’s a pretty recent thing that he can actually transport and stay conscious. Honestly though, I am shocked he was able to transport us both and keep it together.”
Gabe noticed Artis looked confused.
“What’s wrong?” he asked.
“Just surprised I guess. We are not even taught transportation until fourth year and we certainly are not allowed to attempt it.” Artis explained. “Don’t get me wrong, we are teenagers, it’s not like we don’t do it anyway. We just try and hide it from the administrators.”
“We don’t learn it until fourth year either, but there are some students Michael takes under his wing and helps along. He says it’s something to do with preparing us, blah, blah, blah.” Gabe grinned, hoping his dismissive approach would change the subject which felt increasingly like he was being probed.
“Well that’s understandable since he’s your friend.” Artis replied as she continued to walk.
“Wait, what?” Gabe asked, perplexed by her statement. “What do you mean because he is my friend?”
“I’m sorry; I didn’t mean anything by it.” Artis defended herself.
“What did you mean?”
“We all know about the prophecy. Patina warned us all that Baal is on the hunt for you.”
Gabe was speechless. He couldn’t say anything because everything Artis said was true. His friends were in danger because of him. Uri had been put through rigorous advance training since he came to the manor because of him. Hell, Uri had even been handpicked to befriend Gabe when he arrived to make sure he was always protected. Now he had put everyone at Iron Gate in jeopardy just by coming here. Gabe started to wonder if he was angry with everyone at Iron Gate or really at himself. One thing he couldn’t deny is that people who get close to him either get hurt or end up dead.
“Are you all right?” Artis asked, still concerned she had upset him.
“Yeah, sorry, I’m just really hungry.” Gabe partly lied.
“Well, here we are.” Artis said coming to a stop outside the dining hall. Gabe was surprised to see how similar it was to their great hall back at Rampart. The two silently slid in, filled their plates with food and took a seat at an empty table. The awkward silence still hung between them.
It wasn’t until they had finished their meals and were back outside the hall that Artis decided to talk again.
“I know you may not trust me, or any of us, Gabe, and you have no reason to, but I really do want to help you and Uri. I know you think Patina has something to do with what happened to your friends, but she really is an amazing leader. She just lacks people skills sometimes.” Artis explained.
“Well, you’re wrong. I know what I saw last night.” Gabe insisted.
“What exactly do you think you saw?”
“I know what I saw!” Gabe exclaimed.
“Ok, fine. What did you see?” Artis relented.
“I saw your precious Patina looking at a set of stones. A set that apparently were used as a decoy until the cursed stones could be passed off to my friends.” Gabe explained confidently.
“What? Oh no.” Artis gasped. “Well, I am sure Patina knew nothing about them before.”
“What is with you defending Patina all of the sudden? Does she know what I saw? Did she send you?” Gabe interrogated.
“What are you talking about?” Artis cried, stumbling back a couple steps at the allegations.
“You don’t get it do you? She is in charge, this happened under her watch. She might as well have switched the stones herself. I don’t care if she knew anything about it. She should have been doing her job and now, because she didn’t, the person I love most in this world is lying at home, and I am not sure I will ever get her back. Do you get it now?” Gabe shouted enraged.
“You can’t be serious!” Artis pushed right back. “Are you telling me Michael has never let anyone slip past him? He has never been betrayed by someone he trusted? Why do you think Patina is taking this so personally? She probably wants to figure out who is behind this more than you because whoever did it was someone she trusted, we all trusted.”
As soon as Artis’ words hit Gabe’s ears, an image of Anthony on the beach popped into his mind. Michael’s closest friend had betrayed him and tried to kill Gabe only months ago. Perhaps Artis was right and he was being too hasty in his accusations of Patina.
“Whatever,” Gave said in a dismissive tone, not yet willing to openly admit his error. “We need to figure out who actually switched those stones. Who would possibly know that?”
Artis thought about Gabe’s question for a moment. “If Beetlemeyer didn’t know who did it, than the only other person who might be able to help is Katrina.” Artis replied.
“Great, who is Katrina?”
“Our Oracle.”
“Oh God, please tell me you’re joking.” Gabe had had enough experiences with his own Oracle to last him a lifetime. The last thing he wanted to do is deal with another troublesome crazy Oracle.
“I am out of ideas.” Artis said.
“Fine, let’s get Uri and then you can introduce us to this Oracle I suppose.” Gabe said walking towards the building where his room was. Even though Gabe dreaded the idea of dealing with Katrina, he was beginning to feel the urgency. He had to figure out this curse before it was too late.
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
As Artis and Gabe arrived, a guard stood at full attention in front of the door, clear evidence that Uri was back inside the room. Gabe looked down at the ground sheepishly, deciding it was best for Artis to take the lead on the situation with the guard.
“Artis, what are you doing here?” The muscular boy in his late teens asked. “Wait, I thought Peter was with our guest.”
“He was, but I relived him.” Artis replied,
hoping her vagueness would suffice. “I am going to take them to Patina.”
“What?” The guard replied. “Nobody told me anything about this.”
“Well of course not, she just sent me. I found this one with Peter while I was on my way here.” Gabe couldn’t help but marvel at the way she weaved her tale of deception with such ease, batting her big eyelashes and shrugging her shoulders innocently.
“I see, well I suppose that makes sense.” The boy said, his eyebrows clearly showing he wasn’t sure if he was doing the right thing. Turning to grab the door knob, he continued, “This one made a phone call earlier but has been in his room ever since.”
“Great,” Artis croaked, leaning forward and touching the boys hand. “I will let Patina know about his activities. Please, Gabe, won’t you ask your friend to join us?” Artis asked, trying to sound official.
“Yeah, of course.” Gabe replied, still in awe as he watched Artis take the guards hands and lead him to the far side of the hall like a puppy in love with its master.
Gabe walked in the room, closing the door gently behind him. He quickly clued Uri in on what had been transpiring in the hall and that they were going to try and meet with Iron Gate’s Oracle. Uri didn’t miss a beat and assured his friend that he was prepared to play along. After a few moments, Uri and Gabe emerged from the room.
“Excuse me, I was told Patina would like to see us?” Uri questioned, another pro with the charade. Gabe smiled as he thought how perfect Uri and Artis probably were for each other. Though he was not willing to trust her yet, he could tell Artis did excite his dear friend and for that, he was pleased for him.
Artis simply nodded and turned to the guard once again. “I’ll take it from here, thanks.”
“Wait, I don’t know… Artis, he is my responsibility. If anything happened, Alfred would…” The boy stammered. “I know. I will just go with you.”
“No, really, I’ll be fine.” Artis insisted.
“Artis, come on, really. There is no way I am leaving his side after the warning Alfred gave me. I will go with you to Patina’s office.”