by Holly Martin
Without my powers, there was very little I could do, I couldn’t even communicate with anyone.
But I wouldn’t waste this opportunity. I could still use the projection for my own gains, at least I could find out more about what was going on in the castle. Maybe I could find Quinn.
I floated out of the door. Two of the Royal Guard stood sentry either side. I drifted along the corridor. It wasn’t the same cell that the Oraculum had put me in, this was different. How many cells did they have and for what reason? Regardless, I had other things to find out before my projection ended. I found some stairs and a member of the Royal Guard stood at the bottom, a locked gate barred the way, though this prevented me with no problems. I drifted up the stairs and through a door that was guarded by two more of the Royal Guard. I followed the long corridor to another door guarded by two of the Guardians in black. Once I had drifted through this I was in a very busy corridor with doors and other corridors leading off it. This was filled with the coming and goings of hundreds of Guardians, the green and the black. Seven Guardians stood between me and this corridor, seven that I would have to defeat. But if I or Mason or anyone else who wanted to help managed that then we would be faced with hundreds more. Mason was right, he couldn’t just grab me and run. We would both be killed.
But much worse than that would be Seth’s vain attempts to get to me. If he got this far, he would never get any further than that.
The corridor I was in seemed to be the main corridor so I followed it, without taking any detours off and through another set of double doors, guarded on the other side by two of the Royal Guard, was the great chamber. Adam was sitting sprawled out on his pretentious throne, his legs swung over the sides and to my horror Quinn was sitting at his side.
Adam was absently playing with a small flame in his hand, letting the flame crawl over his fingers like a caterpillar.
Mason suddenly walked into the room, he was dressed in the green uniform of Adam’s Royal Guard, just as I had seen before. He came to attention in front of Adam and saluted him, his arm across his chest. Quinn’s lip curled in anger as he looked at Mason.
Adam looked at Mason idly, Mason’s head was bowed, silent, waiting for permission to speak.
‘Yes?’ Adam said.
Mason looked up and eyed Quinn suspiciously.
‘Your Majesty, I would like to speak to you about your guest,’ Mason said.
Adam laughed. ‘Quinn? Whatever you have to say about Quinn, you can say in front of him.’
‘I meant your other guest, your Majesty.’
Adam straightened up in his seat, and Quinn looked at him in confusion. He didn’t know.
‘Quinn, can you leave us.’
Quinn stood slowly, then nodded. ‘Sure, I need a run anyway.’ He glared at Mason as he walked past.
Mason watched him go and then turned his attention back to Adam. ‘Is he completely trust worthy, your Majesty?’
Adam laughed again. ‘Quinn? Yes he’s my brother.’
‘He’s also Eve’s brother.’
‘HALF brother,’ Adam spat.
‘Even so, Quinn has known Eve all her life, he has only known you about a week.’
‘Quinn is like all shape shifters, he is really only interested in money and power. He knows who is stronger, who is the best and that’s why he’s with me. Besides he has been telling me how pathetic she is. I really don’t think he likes her any more than I do,’ he laughed.
Quinn was loyal to me, I knew that. If what Adam had said was true, I had to believe that Quinn had said those things to get on Adam’s good side.
‘Very well your Majesty. I’m sure you know best.’
‘I do,’ Adam smiled, smugly.
‘Your Majesty, Eve has an infection, blood poisoning from her wounds.’
Adam nodded. ‘I thought something was a bit odd the other day, she was mumbling incoherently. I thought I might have finally sent her mad. Is she in pain?’
‘I would imagine so yes, your Majesty.’
‘Good,’ Adam smiled, swinging his legs back over the edge of the throne.
‘Your Majesty, she’s dying.’
Adam eyed Mason suspiciously. ‘And is that a problem?’
‘No your Majesty, not at all, I’d be quite happy to be there at the moment of her death. I just assumed you would want to prolong the torture as long as possible. I figured a tiny bit of medication would drag her back from the precipice of death and you would still be able to torture her for the next few weeks.’
Adam sighed. ‘I’m not sure. I grow weary of her. She’s not as entertaining as I thought she would be, she barely screams when I torture her now. She just lies there. It’s pathetic really. I feel like I should be done with her now. I think I should just let her die.’ Adam looked away, as if he was bored of talking about me already.
Mason shifted awkwardly. ‘May I speak freely, your Majesty?’
Adam nodded.
‘Maybe this could be a true test of loyalty for Quinn. Heal the infection, and when she’s better you could get Quinn to kill her for you. It would be much more effective if she was conscious when Quinn killed her, so she was aware of his betrayal.’
Adam smiled broadly, his smile growing bigger by the second. ‘I like it. I know Quinn is loyal to me, but I like the idea of her dying at the hands of her beloved brother. How long would you need for the medication to take effect, for her to be awake enough for it?’
Mason shrugged. ‘Five days your Majesty.’
‘Five?’ Adam was incredulous.
‘Three then. Her genetic makeup is different to the average human, it may take a bit longer, but I would say between three and five days and she would be back to almost full health. If I may sir, I’m happy to be in charge of her medicine and I will inform you as soon as she is fit enough.’
Adam nodded, thoughtfully. ‘I don’t want her healed too much. I still want her to be in pain, just enough that she is aware of what is going on around her. Two days should do it.’
Mason swallowed. ‘She’s very sick your Majesty, I don’t know if she will be fit enough, if you want it that quick a Zeki would probably be best…’
‘NO! No Zekis. You have two days.’ Adam said, clearly not pleased with being argued with.
‘Of course your Majesty,’ Mason said, saluting across his chest and then turning and sweeping out the room.
I floated out of the room in a daze. I headed for the main entrance which was guarded by four Guardians in black. I drifted through and headed out towards the portcullis which was now closed and guarded by no less than ten more Guardians. The sun was setting now, colouring the outside world with a rosy golden glow. I looked back at the castle. The portcullis was really the only way into the castle grounds, though my Guardians could probably climb or jump the wall surrounding the castle. Though on the inside of the outer wall, many Guardians patrolled the perimeter. If my Guardians came here, if Seth did, they would be dead as soon as they hit the ground. If they managed to get past these Guardians the only way into the castle was through the main entrance. The first level of windows was at least a hundred feet up. My Guardians were strong but I didn’t think even Eli could jump that high.
It was hopeless. I couldn’t get out and my Guardians and Seth would get themselves killed trying to get in.
I drifted over the outer walls and into the forest surrounding it. There was a definite path leading from the portcullis down into the valley and I took this now wondering, half hoping that I would see Seth. But I could be hoping for nothing, he really could be dead and this thin sliver of hope in my heart was completely futile.
I came to a stop, focussing on what I had just heard. Mason really was here and though he seemed to be loyal to Adam, I knew he would never betray me. And Quinn, my dear brother, there was no way he would kill me, no way he had turned against me, this was part of his plan, I was sure of it. But regardless I now had two days to get out of here. When Quinn refused to kill me, Adam would do the j
ob himself. And if Seth was alive then I had to get out before he got here. That would be the cruellest twist of fate. That he was alive and then he died trying to rescue me.
Suddenly I heard footsteps, a movement through the bushes and Quinn ran past me, heading back towards the castle.
He stopped, leaning against a tree and I moved to stand in front of him.
His eyes were so sad. I ached for him. I had missed him so much, and he was standing right in front of me and I couldn’t even hug him.
He pushed himself away from the tree and ran up the hill. I followed him and when he reached the portcullis it opened and he went through. The portcullis quickly closed behind him.
I drifted back through the portcullis, through the main entrance, the great chamber and along the corridor heading back towards my cell.
I stepped back into my body again and woke up. I was still hot but at least I could still think rationally. For the moment at least.
It wasn’t long though before I heard the clang of the gate at the end of the corridor. I knew it was Mason, returning with more medication.
He appeared in the room and smiled when he saw me awake.
‘You’re looking better Eve. I’ve got some more medicine for you, it’s a needle again I’m afraid. The doctor here said it wouldn’t be good for you to swallow the antibiotics on an empty stomach, and that it would be better if it was injected straight into the veins.’
I felt a cold wetness on my arm and then a sharp pain as he injected me.
I sighed. As if my situation wasn’t bad enough, Mason had just put a deadline on my stay here. We had to get out of here in two days. ‘Mason what were you thinking, suggesting Quinn kill me? That was a terrible idea.’
Mason frowned. ‘How did you know that?’
‘I projected.’
‘Eve, if you can do that, maybe you can find Eli and the others as well, maybe you can find all of them. Your powers, you must be getting stronger.’
‘I’ve tried, my link to them is still blocked. But now we have even less time to get me out of here.’
‘I had to do something Eve. Adam wants to let you die, which is what I expected but I didn’t think he would grow bored of you so soon. I thought I’d have a few more days to get as many people to help as possible. I had to stretch it out, I had to do something. As we were talking about Quinn’s loyalty moments before I grabbed on to that. I said that this would only be effective if you was well enough to be aware of his treachery as that would buy me some more time. It wasn’t my best idea but if he gave the order to let you die, then I couldn’t even sneak down here to give you medicine, at least this way I’m doing what he wants. I have five of the Royal Guard that will stand with me, but it’s really hard to ask people about their loyalty. I can’t give away how I feel to too many people in case Adam gets to hear of it. Being killed would kind of put a dampener on my escape plans for you.’
I couldn’t be angry at him, he was doing his best to get me out.
‘But your powers are getting stronger?’ he asked.
‘I think so, Mason I think… I think I can enter people’s dreams as well. The medication you gave me must have helped me.’
‘You can? But that’s great, you can communicate with your personal guard.’
‘I already have, I think. I spoke to Lucas earlier. But they are still quite far away, they’re making their way here as fast as they can, but they’re still days away.’
Mason pulled a face. ‘They’ll get here too late.’
I nodded. ‘But there’s only a handful of them now, I’ve seen the defences, they’d never get to me.’
Mason shook his head. ‘Maybe I can get you some stronger medicine, maybe that will help you access your powers more.’
‘The two times Austin gave me pain killers I was able to enter Seth’s dreams, and then the antibiotics helped me to enter Lucas’s dreams and project.’
Mason’s face fell. ‘Eve, Seth’s dead.’
The words pierced a bullet through my heart but I pushed away the dark cloud of grief that threatened to engulf me. ‘I… I think maybe… he isn’t. If I did enter Lucas’s dreams then he isn’t. Lucas said he was alive too. But I have no way of knowing whether I did really enter his dreams or whether I just dreamt that I did. It could have just been a drug induced hallucination.’
‘Well you’ve just had some more so… if you can you should make the most of it. Find Seth, find Lucas, tell them what’s going on, tell them to round up more help. We’ll see what we can do here. If we can just get a few more Guardians to stand with us it might make the difference. Though regardless, in two days we will make a move.’
I nodded.
‘I’ll be back in a bit, get some sleep Eve,’ Mason said, meaningfully.
I closed my eyes. I had to find Lucas again.
‘Wait.’
I opened my eyes and Mason was still standing over me. ‘What?’
‘I have an idea, how we can tell whether you are actually entering people’s dreams or not. Ask them to tell you who my brother is. You don’t know that do you?’
I shook my head.
‘Well if you come back with the right answer then we know you really are entering people’s dreams and it’s not just your subconscious creating a false reality for you.’
I nodded. ‘Good idea.’
I closed my eyes and as I heard the cell door close, I relaxed, trying to fall asleep. But it was at that tiny brief moment just before I fell asleep that I could take control and enter the dreams of my friends. Once asleep, my dreams could take me anywhere. I had been lucky before to find Lucas, I might not be able to do that again. I couldn’t let myself fall asleep, I had to time it just right.
I felt myself become dozy, aware of the outside world, but also aware of the dreams that waited for me and as I hovered on the edge I reached out for Lucas. The peculiar sucking sensation ripped me from the semi-conscious world and spat me out in Lucas’s room again.
Chapter 14
Lucas was painting one of the walls with what looked like a picture of the Oraculum’s castle.
‘Lucas.’
Lucas turned and grinned when he saw me, quickly crossing the gap between us to hug me again.
His smell was so real, so was his warmth.
I pulled away. ‘Lucas, how’s Seth?’
Lucas pulled a face. ‘Exhausted, he refuses to sleep, refuses to even rest, I don’t think he’s eating or drinking either. He’s just running.’
I had to believe in this reality, I had to believe he was alive, because if the truth really was that he was dead, there was only a dark abyss of pain and grief waiting for me. I couldn’t go back there again, I’d only just crawled out.
I swallowed, closing my eyes against the answer to my next question. ‘Do you know who Mason’s brother is?’
‘No, why?’
I opened my eyes, feeling the horrendous grief swallow me, sucking me in.
‘Mason said it would prove whether I’m really here or not. If I came back with the right answer, then I’d know that I had entered your dream, that Seth really was alive. But you don’t know.’ I turned away from him.
Lucas caught my shoulder and turned me back to face him. ‘I don’t Eve, but then as your Guardians we rarely sit around in idle chat, most of our conversation was about you, about how to protect you, what was happening beyond your house that might cause problems for you. What you were going through. We rarely talked about our past, our families. Guardians are not the sort of people that would get out the photo album and reminisce.’
‘Mason said you’d know,’ I said.
‘Me?’ Lucas looked away from me, as if he was trying to remember. ‘Eli probably knows, he knows a lot more about your history than I do, and he chose the personal guard himself. I’ll ask him as soon as I wake up.’
I nodded. ‘I guess I’ll have to wait,’ I looked across at the painting. ‘What are you doing?’
‘Trying to control my dreams.
Once I’m asleep I’m not really able to control where they go, hence why Persia keeps cropping up in them, so I’m trying to force them in a certain direction. I decided I wanted to paint so the paintbrush and paint appeared. I painted the Oraculum’s castle because… well I thought it might help.’
I took the paintbrush off him and painted in the portcullis, closed. ‘There are ten Guardians on the other side of this, and the portcullis is the only entrance through this wall,’ I pointed to the wall. ‘The wall is about thirty feet high, so I imagine you could get over it, but there are lots of Guardians patrolling the inside of the wall, you couldn’t get past them all. If you did, the only entrance into the castle is the main entrance as the first level of windows is easily a hundred foot up, maybe more. The main entrance is guarded by four more Guardians.’
Lucas nodded, taking it all in. ‘And where are you from the main entrance?’
I opened my mouth to speak and then closed it again. I was giving them ammunition to kill themselves with. It would be very unlikely they would get as far as the main entrance alive, but if they did, they wouldn’t get much further than that. Eli, the most skilled and proficient of my personal guard couldn’t fight hundreds of them. If he somehow managed to get as far as the main corridor he would die there. They would all die trying to reach me. I stepped back from the painting, shaking my head.
‘Eve, the more we know the more chance we have of getting you out. Your Guardians will go in there regardless of whether they know where you are. Not telling us is not protecting us, it just makes it worse for us. We’d have to search the whole castle for you, which means we’re more likely to die if we’re searching in the wrong place.’
‘It doesn’t matter anyway, in two days Adam will kill me or have me killed. How far away is Seth?’ I prayed he was three days away, then it’d be over before he got there, I’d have either escaped with Mason or I’d be dead from trying. Though that wouldn’t stop Seth, he’d go in there to avenge me.
‘A day I think. Eli is two possibly three days behind him.’