by Leyton, Bisi
“Are you sure?” Alba gave him a tentative smile.
“Yes, I am ready to start my life in Jarthan. I got so confused before with the Terran.”
Alba tilted her head back and stepped away. “I am not a Terran fool. You are lying. You want to return to Jarthan and to your rodent.”
“Alba, get away from him.” Enric dragged his sister away. “And Bach, right now, you need to regenerate, so you are not going anywhere.”
“Enric—” Bach felt dizzy again.
“Your father has heard what happened. You are going to face judgment, so you should wait until you are fully regenerated. Sorry, Bach.” Enric let out a sincere sigh.
Enric’s voice echoed in his head as he sank into sleep once again.
*****
When Wisteria awoke, she was cold. Where was she? How long had she been out? The last thing she remembered was being taken out of Jason’s lab as Bach passed out for some reason.
Was he okay? Jason was also dragged out with her, but she never saw him or Bach after that.
Her next memory was waking up here, wherever here was. “Bach,” she called out. The only response was her own echo. “Jason?”
Was she in Lagos? No, it was too cold. Slowly, she sat up and scanned around. She was alone in a large stone hall. Directly in front of her was a massive rock table, surrounded by ancient chairs. On the other side of her was a fireplace, big enough to roast a large cow. The only source of light in the hall came through the enormous stained glass windows all around. Each window seemed to tell the story of a different person.
Shivering, she tried to stand and shuddered as her feet met the icy floor. She was barefoot and all her clothes were different. She was dressed in a very long, thick, deep blue gown that swept across the ground as she moved across the hall. Lifting up the material to take a closer look, she decided it felt like silk. What is this? Where is the way out?
There were several doors around the hall. Unsure where to go, Wisteria chose one at random.
“Yeah, I would not go through that way,” Felip called out as he sat on top a column. “I am glad you woke up on your own. I was going to pulse you and that would have been painful for both of us. You look very nice.” Jumping down, he landed on a windowsill of one of the stained glass images. The plaque below read Biel Zey. “Did you mother ever tell you about Sen Biel Zey? That he knew your father?”
She barreled to the nearest door.
He laughed as he landed a few feet in front of her, blocking her way out. “And after all the trouble it took to get you out of Bridewell and away from the Family. It took more rhodium than you will ever see to get you here.”
“You can’t keep me here, Felip.”
“Wisteria, you should say thank you.” He reached down to touch her hair.
“You did this. You did all of this. Didn’t you?” She slapped his hand away, hard.
“Of course I did.” He rested his hands on her shoulders. “Since you were not going to come to Jarthan willingly with me, I got the empirics to bring you.”
“Why didn’t you just take me from Smythe, or even in Woolmer a month ago?”
“While you are important to me, Wisteria, you are not my only priority. Things need to be done in a certain order. And frankly, I ran out of time.”
“What do you want?” she snapped, stepping back.
Leaning over to her, he stroked her cheek. “If you help me, I will tell you everything I know about your father and your family. And then I will take you anywhere.”
“Back to the Isle of Smythe?”
“Come on, it would be stupid to send you back to your mother.”
“To my father in Lagos?”
“What? Now you are being unreasonable. Anywhere you have never been or know anyone, but where I can find you.”
“What sort of agreement is that? I’m not helping you.”
“Fine.” He lifted her over his shoulder and jumped onto the upper column. He continued climbing and jumping higher and higher until they came to a balcony. He placed her down gently in front of a black door with the words Room of Ages written in the Family’s Dialect.
“Okay, so you just need to open the door,” Felip instructed her.
Wisteria could read the strange lettering but was too upset to wonder why. “You are crazy if you think I’ll do anything you say,” she seethed. “There’s probably something in there that will kill me.”
“I am not crazy.” Felip took her hand.
She snatched her hand away from him. “Don’t ever touch me.”
Forcing her arm out from behind her back, he gripped her painfully. “You just have to grab on to the handle and open the door.”
“No.” Tensing her muscles, she struggled to prevent him from moving her arm. “Why don’t you do it?”
“I can break your arm if you insist on being foolish,” he warned.
“You said you’d never hurt me.” Seeing he wasn’t wearing gloves, she bit down on his left hand.
“D’cara!” He slammed her against the door.
“Ahh.”
“Sorry, Wisteria.” He halted. “You are right. I do not want to keep hurting you, but I also promised someone important to get what is behind that door.” Brushing the hair out of her face, he calmly turned and adjusted her dress where it had become disheveled.
“Felip, stop.”
“Wisteria, I want you, but I need what is on the other side. And I will get it. I am only asking again, because I do not want to hurt you. You know better than most Terrans, I can get your hand on this door whether you agree to move it or not.”
“Then break my arm, but I’m not helping you.” Wisteria tried to sound strong, but her voice quivered.
Rubbing his face, he stepped back. “Go.”
“What?” For a second, she wasn’t sure what she heard.
“Just go.”
Even though she had no clue where she was going, she didn’t need to be asked again. Stepping past the him, she tried to jump down.
Instantly, he snatched her free arm. Taking her right hand in his, he thrust it against the door handle.
“Ahh,” she winced, as he clenched his hand tightly around hers.
“Sorry.” He squeezed tighter, cutting off the circulation in her hand.
She screamed, as the entire wall folded away, revealing a dust-caked room filled with books, scrolls, and charts.
“Thank you.” He ushered her into the room.
“Why couldn’t you open the door?”
“We will talk when I am done.” He vanished behind a series of shelves.
Scanning her surroundings, Wisteria saw a door, perhaps to freedom, but definitely away from him. Treading quietly, she crept toward the exit.
“Stop this. I am really getting tired of you trying to fight me.” Grabbing her, he dragged her back to the center of the library. “Sit down. We will go when I am done.”
“Felip—”
“Sit.” He dumped her in a stone cube.
“Beloved,” a girl cooed.
Wisteria’s blood boiled as Alba entered.
The Famila girl approached Felip and kissed his lips. “What is she doing here?” Alba froze when she saw Wisteria. “You said she would be dead.”
“I needed her to unseal the door. Watch her.” Felip headed back to the books.
“You only needed her hands.”
“And her breath. She had to speak into the wood or the magic would not work. If I killed her, how do you think I could have gotten that?” He smirked. “Do not be an idiot, Alba.”
“But why is she still alive? You got inside and you have the charts.”
“Alba, you left your own people to die because you were coming back to him?” Wisteria realized. “You were the ones who sent those things, those jumper-biters, into the lab.”
“Jumper-biters?” He laughed. “I love the way you try to define the world with your limited words. They are actually draug. The draug were the gift I promised. Technicall
y, you were not supposed to be there. Just Oriol and the empirics. I was not even planning on killing Bach, but I was glad he was there. Because when he was killed, the empirics would leave you alone.”
At his implication about Bach’s death, her heart thudded wildly in her chest. “But if you killed the empirics, why would that matter? I’d be safe. You’re doing this because you hate him.”
“There are other empirics.”
“What difference will it make by killing these ones?”
“Aside from the fact that Didan hates Terrans; he helped me find what I was looking for on Smythe. He might figure it out and come after me.” Felip chuckled. “And I wanted to test out the draug.”
“Alba, why would you do this? I thought you loved Bach?” Wisteria asked Alba.
“Why is the vermin talking to me?” the Famila girl seethed as she looked over Wisteria’s head.
“Do not say that. I am part Terran as well.” He shoved the girl away.
“You are not like the rest, you are better. You are different.” The girl almost seemed like she’d been renewed.
“Different?” Wisteria scoffed, knowing how much Bach hated the word. She hoped it’d get a rise out of Felip. “A freak.”
“Shut up, you Terran jaga.” Alba slapped Wisteria, sending her careening across the room.
“D’cara.” Felip shoved Alba aside. “You need to learn control, Alba.”
Wisteria groaned, straining to make her battered body get up.
“Move, Terran.” A man nudged her with his feet. “How did you escape from Bridewell?” The man was middle-aged, dressed in a dark suit, and had the Family’s green eyes. The man’s mouth dropped open as he gazed around the room full of books as if it was the most amazing thing he’d ever seen. “How did you get in here? Did Hemlock send you?”
“Maybe?” Wisteria hoped that was the right answer.
“Papa,” Alba ran toward the man. “I found the Terran. She escaped.”
Wisteria scrambled away from him. “Wait, I don’t belong here. It was Felip. He tricked me and brought me here.”
“She is working with him to destroy us,” Alba warned, advancing toward her father.
“Felip’s here.” Wisteria pointed in the boy’s direction, but he was gone. “He’s with Alba.”
“Liar,” Alba protested.
“Actually, it explains a lot.” The man’s hands glowed. “Like how he was able to journey from the home realm through Jarthan.”
“You cannot believe her, Papa. She is a lying Terran.”
“Perhaps.” Alba’s father studied Wisteria curiously. “You are certain that Hemlock Zey did not send you?”
“No, Lord Rafel, she is my guest.” Stepping out of the shadows, Felip clasped Alba’s neck.
“Vappa,” Alba’s father swore in shock.
“Before you call the sentinels…” Felip took out a saw-toothed dagger with a blue blade. “Think about how important your daughter is to you.”
“You dare come back here?” Rafel fumed.
“Ahh,” Alba whimpered.
“Amazing, is it not?” Felip said in disbelief. “That a Terran could open the Room of Ages, after you have been trying for years. Even the great Coia could not get in here. It took me only a few months to figure it out, because I studied the writings, you idiot.”
“Do not hurt her,” the older man pleaded. “I will let you and your Terran go.”
“You will let me go? How generous of you, old fool. You think I am here asking for permission from you?” Violently, he pushed Alba toward her father and the girl tumbled into her father’s arms. “I am in total control.”
“You are a monster. The Elders should have drowned you the day you were—” Lord Rafel groaned and looked down at Alba. “Why?”
She stared at her father, and smiled as she stepped back. “You should not speak to him like that.”
The handle of a dagger stuck out of Lord Rafel’s chest.
“Alba… “Her father gazed at the weapon, confused. He tried to remove the blade from his chest. “Why?”
“Alba, do not let him regenerate,” Felip told her.
“You can’t do that to your own father!” Wisteria gasped as the Famila girl pulsed the older man with a blue light.
“Ah!” Lord Rafel screamed, falling to his knees.
“Do it raw,” Felip ordered.
“Do not worry; this will kill him eventually,” Alba replied, as the streaks of light penetrated the injured man.
“I do not have time for you to torture him, as much as I would love that.” Impatiently, Felip pushed her aside and grabbed Rafel’s head. A blue flame engulfed it.
The man opened his mouth to scream, but no words came out.
“Father.” Alba walked over slowly and knelt down beside the man.
The doors to the library opened and Wisteria saw Enric and another man enter. Green-eyed and serious, they were dressed in black militaristic uniforms.
“Father!” Enric ran to Lord Rafel’s lifeless body. “Mongrel,” he shouted at Felip. “What did you do?”
In response, Felip flamed the uniformed guys, knocking them and Enric down.
At first Wisteria, thought they were dead, but she heard them groaning.
“Enric was not supposed to see that,” Alba stammered. “Thank you for not killing him.”
“Yet,” Felip remarked.
“You’re out of your head, Alba. You just let Felip—” Wisteria seethed.
“Quiet the animal.” Alba marched toward Wisteria, but was held back by two more soldiers. “Let go of me. Felip, stop them.”
But he was gone.
“She killed my father, the Lord of Jarthan,” Alba screamed.
“No, she did,” Wisteria protested vehemently.
“Alba,” Enric groaned. “I saw you.”
Wisteria felt a large pair of hands clamp down on her shoulders and she was taken out of the Room of Ages.
Without a word from anyone, they dumped Wisteria off in a cold, dark cell.
“Please, let me out!” She banged on the door, but no one came. “Help me!” After what felt like hours of screaming, her voice was gone and she backed away from the door and sat on the gravel. Looking around the dimly lit room, she saw there was no bed, no toilet, not even a window. The only light came through the feeding slot on the door.
She tried to piece together what was going on. Perhaps she was on the Family’s home realm, but Bach told her no free humans could survive the journey. Wherever she was, the Family could do whatever they wanted.
Was Jason in a similar situation? Perhap, he escaped somehow.
Eventually, the door opened and a woman, possibly a teenager, came in carrying a large bowl. This girl was also dressed in blue and in a similar style to Wisteria’s dress. The girl’s long dark brown hair was tied in a bun. Oddly, this girl had brown eyes and not green like the rest. “My liege asked me to bring you some food.” She stepped forward, with a slight limp, and placed the bowl at Wisteria’s feet.
“I’m not hungry.”
“You should eat or my liege will be angry with me,” the girl replied.
“What is a liege? Your master or something? You’re a Thayn?”
“Yes.” The girl blushed as she knelt down in front of Wisteria. “Just eat. It is bread and fish soup. It is human food, so you won’t get sick or anything.”
“Where am I?” Wisteria rubbed her eyes. “Please tell me.”
The Thayn paused as if deciding whether to risk answering the question. “You’re in Jarthan, the realm between worlds.”
“Not the Family’s home?”
“No, some of the Family lives here, but not many.”
“Are they going to kill me?”
“I don’t know.”
“Thanks for the food.” Wisteria uncovered the bowl and examined the dish. Her tears splashed onto the food. “Please don’t tell them I cried.”
“Just eat and rest.” The Thayn backed away from Wisteria
and returned to the door. “You could try denying how you feel about the Sen-Son. My liege said that way they’d only renew you and not kill you.”
“Okay.” Although the girl didn’t know it wouldn’t help, because Wisteria couldn’t be renewed.
“But you have to let him renew you because of the Mosroc. That way, he won’t lose his mind,” the Thayn elaborated.
She was right and Wisteria remembered that fact. She could willingly let a member of the Family take over her mind. That way, he wouldn’t go crazy the way Benet had. The problem was that Wisteria didn’t know how to be willing to let a member of the Family renew her and even if she did, there was no way she was going to let anyone do that to her.
“No matter what, never let anyone know you’re bonded to him. They will kill you for that. They don’t understand.”
“And you do?”
“I’m a Thayn. I want nothing more than bonding deeply with my liege,” she admitted.
“Get out of there.” A guard banged on the door.
“What’s your name?” Wisteria asked.
“Nular. Just try and take my advice. If I say anymore, I’ll be punished too.” The Thayn gave her a small vial. “Rub this on your skin to make your spots fade. If they don’t see the shana, they might simply believe you tricked him, and you’ll just be renewed and flogged.”
The doors to the cell opened and a Famila man walked in.
He was dressed in a uniform like Enric’s. Wisteria guessed he was a soldier or police agent, or something else brutal. Walking over to the Thayn girl, he grabbed her shoulder. “You were not supposed to talk to it. Just bring the food and leave.”
“Sorry.” Nular knelt.
“Stop, it’s my fault. I was the one who was talking to her.”
The man practically threw Nular out of the room, before advancing toward Wisteria, throwing her food aside and trampling on it. “Never speak unless spoken to.”
After he left, Wisteria examined the vial the Thayn had given her. Rolling up her long sleeves, she dabbed a little on one of the spots on her forearm and in ten minutes, the spot fade a little. It didn’t vanish completely, but from far away she was sure no one could tell. Not having anything to lose, she took off her dress and rubbed the contents on her neck and back as best she could.