The man smiled. "You didn't have to bout I thank you so much.”
He took out an envelope with someone's name and put it in. Rose was sure he had just used it to pay for someone. She put her hair behind her ears and then gathered up the other girls who had walked off distracted. They all took a sip from the bottle, then they walked out in a somber mood, thinking of what they'd find when they got back, Lena was in the lead. She was staring back at Aylea, who was joking and laughing, and then out of nowhere, she took off running.
"What?" Rose asked, but Lena just shook her head. She ran farther than them to where they couldn't see her, and Rose became worried. Tempted, even, to pull her back. “She's going crazy,” Aylea said, but Rose shook her head.
Had she contracted something that made you delirious? Rose started to feel a little sick too. Dizzy and light headed.
"Guys, look at this," Lena called, and they ran ahead but did not find her. The echo told them she had disappeared somewhere underground. Kana called out “here,” and they went over to where she was, happy they hadn't fallen in, for they had been inches away; inside of a huge ditch rested a bunch of clothes. Rose pondered over what was wrong, surely things like this weren't that strange, till Lena smelt them. "Gasoline,” she said, “someone is burning these." Rose could smell it too, even with it being faint. "It's what they used to do during the outbreak of diseases, but it never worked. In fact it made them spread farther." Even Kana showed she understood.
"We should see who's doing it." Aylea said, breaking Rose out of her trance of looking for Daniel's shirt and making sure this wasn't from all those people, gone. "There," Lena sniffed the air, “that way" she got up, following her nose. They went after her down a pathway, while Rose cleared the snow a little so the walk would be easier. It was strange to see Lena leading the way with her nose, almost like they had a dog.
In the end on the pathway there was a house. Plain stone and simple, and yet pretty in its own ways. It was hard to believe that something so pretty and full of flower life could be hidden there. A woman stood on the balcony with blue eyes and long blonde hair. She saw them approaching and said, "Go away please, children, as far as you can before it's too late.” Aylea and Kana turned, but Lena stepped up and questioned, "Why?" "A sickness has fallen over the whole family."
Lena stared her up and down. "You're not that sick."
"As sick as I can be, I'm afraid, sent my boy this morning to burn our things, remembered it might spread.”
"But what is it? What sickness? And you shouldn't do that, as it makes it worse.” "We don't know. We just know it comes every so often, in the end unless you have a cure it doesn't really matter.”But there's a cure shop right down the street. “I bet there's something,” Rose managed.
“There's no cure. None. We're now deep in debt from trying everything.” “But that's impossible.”
Suddenly a scream came from inside that erupted in their ears. "Please leave, girls," the woman said before she ran inside. “You guys stay,” Rose called and took off into the home.
"Yes, stay out here," Lena instructed to Aylea before she ran in after Rose. They followed the mom into a kitchen and saw a disturbing sight; a boy was lying on the ground clutching his neck. He was pale and malnourished, as if he hadn't eaten in days, and his black hair was unclean. He had already turned blue, and his veins had nearly popped from the choking; the life slowly drained from his face.
Rose ran forward to touch him but was blocked by a giant air shield. “Don't you dare,” Lena yelled. When Rose studied what she was doing, she said, "Lena, stop," but Lena only held up her hand to silence her. The boy was turning back to his natural color, and Rose saw that her friend was slowly pulling the air out of him. This liquidy air. When it was done, his mother fell to her feet. "Thank you," she said. “I should have known, but, but the air is clean, I don't understand."
“What are you talking about?” Rose asked.
“It's carbon dioxide.”
"Liquid carbon dioxide,” Lena corrected. “you can pour it into food." So basically poison. Their whole entire world seemed to be being taken or attacked or sick or poisoned.
“Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Never would have known myself.” "Where do you buy your food from?" Rose inquired, ready to report to Ana. "Once we discovered we were sick, we applied and we... started to get it free from the government in the other cities.”
Rose felt that she would be sick, so she opened the back door to let in some air. Lena spent nearly an hour clearing all the carbon dioxide out of the food and air. After she was done she had a big ball of it floating next to her that she planned to release deep in the forest. She had Rose freeze it and then talked to the mother in private. The mother told them she'd stop ordering food from there, and Rose handed her her last fifty dollars. The whole entire family said thanks at least twenty times before they let them get away. When Rose got outside, she did not tell the others straight away; instead she waited till Lena came out. That was when Aylea started to plead and reason while Kana just looked down. Both girls cried when they heard the truth, although Rose decided not to think about it and focused on getting back. Her heart almost stopped beating when she saw her bed empty.
Noah had been moved to the sick room, she found out. Rose went there herself, to give him the medicine and a hug. Then she rubbed his hair until he fell asleep and took a sip from the bottle, it did nothing. She still felt sick.
At night she tried to sleep but she couldn't, so she decided to go talk to Aylea - she wanted to ask what she had discovered since she started working here. While Lena slept, she crept down the hall, joyful that the hallway seemed empty, looking out for air sensors. She had been up this late before, but never so she could just wander around the house; it felt as if it had grown twice as big and now doors were in places she hadn't even realized. At first she thought she might not find Aylea's room after all, then she remembered it was obvious as it was on the second floor, right next to the red hall.
Just as she reached the door, a voice said, "Rose, can you come here, please?” and she turned to see Kana standing in a doorway.
"Is everything okay?" she asked, a little unsure.
"Yes, I just wanted a word."
Chapter 11☆
Rose walked to her. She had never been in Kana's room before, and she had been secretly wondering what it would look like. With a wave of her hand, Kana urged her inside. Upon walking in, the design of it surprised Rose, for it had a very simple touch. The walls were a light wood, fresh and unpainted; her bed had a white canopy and all the sheets were white, making it highly resemble a tent. On the other side was a patch of grass with many beautiful growing lilies and carnations; the roof slanted down like you would see in an attic and there was a big window with a clear view of the starry sky.
If done right, Rose could think she was outside. Kana sat down a few brushes on a brown desk while she looked, longingly, to the sky, her short hair in a ponytail. “I know it's late and you're probably tired."
"No," Rose said plainly, for she hardly ever was.
Kana smiled sadly as she searched for the right words; eventually she said in a rush
"I'm not smart, Rose, and you don't have to argue, because I'm not. I have never been smart a day in my life, and I’m naive - they never tell me anything in this house or let me learn. Now I'm trying to learn and I want to know that I can trust you.”
The weight of the words sank in harder than an anchor. "I promise you can trust me. Also you are smart, strong, sweet and amazing," Rose declared, unblinking.
Kana didn't believe a word of that. "Thank you Rose, if I told you something, would you-"
"Told you," Aylea's voice came from the doorway.
"You weren't in your room," Lena explained, and Rose saw the both of them had come.
"It's very nice in here."
"Yeah, it is, but we'll go," and with that Lena grabbed Aylea by the elbow. "Wait, guys, come back," Rose hurried. They turned back
and Rose looked to Kana. "How about we each all tell the other something, and it can be four different things? That way if the secret gets out, we'll know who did it.”
Aylea and Lena were slightly baffled though understanding dawned on Kana's face and Rose put her hair behind her ears. She really did trust them but Kana had a point and this might be what they needed to build a better bond. The two of them really liked the idea and agreed after they knew what it meant.
"Oh, alright," Kana huffed as she appeared to be debating something huge. “But how should we go about it?”
"Well, we know we should all say different things.”
“I know, but who tells who what?”
Rose thought for a minute. “Aylea tells you, I tell Lena, Lena tells Aylea, and you'll tell me.”
"What?" Aylea asked after a long pause making them laugh.
"Lena will tell you a secret, sweetie, and you'll tell Kana one."
"Can it be about people other than yourself?" Kana asked nervously. "Of course."
“We need other rules.”
“If anyone knows who didn't know before, you're out, no excuses. If anyone manages to find out enough to suspect the secret, you're out. The secret has to be something serious and hard to keep; it can't be a biggest fear or embarrassing story.” “Also it has to be a secret not many know, if you can help it,” Lena added. “And it has to be more than two words long, nothing vague or hard to understand,” included Aylea.
“Good, now I guess I'll start first.”
Without looking at Lena's face, Rose leaned in to whisper. It was harder than she had thought to think of something that would truly be a surprise to know. After a minute, she chose, “When I was eight years old, before my parents left, I ran away from home for two weeks.”
The secret wasn't that big, at least it didn't seem to be; it was the questions that followed that made it bigger. Lena looked at her with her eyebrows raised, but Rose only shook her head. She’d tell her the rest, but not tonight. The image of a baby formed in her head, not now.
Aylea went next, and Kana frowned deeply but didn't seem that surprised. It was Lena's secret that brought out a big gasp. Now it was Rose's turn to raise her eyebrows, which she did even knowing she wouldn't get told. Lena looked at her and shook her head. No. Rose yawned. Finally it was Rose's turn to hear something, and she was almost shaking with excitement.
Perhaps Kana had wanted to say this for a long time, because she wasted no time, which gave Rose almost no time to prepare for the blow. Her voice said that this was what she had planned to say earlier when they were alone. "The maid service is full of monsters, and they have a blood lust so strong that half of them have killed before.”
Rose pulled her head back, waiting for the laugh, it never came. She waited for the denial, it never appeared. Instead Kana breathed out relieved as if she was happy she could finally say something. For far too long it was quiet, and in that silence, they could tell all was not well.
“So we're done?" Lena asked.
Rose had wanted another round, but now she thought better. She wasn't the only one, she noticed. All the things they were told seemed to unsettle them in some way. "Done."
"You girls should go to sleep," Kana said, looking at her in her eyes. She did this out of concern,Rose decided. After the events of the day, Kana was worried for all of their safety.
"Night," she said, and they all repeated.
Together, she and Lena walked out the room in the same direction.
In their room Lena sat down on her bed thinking, while Rose buried under the covers. She listened to Lena's breathing till she fell asleep and then she examined Daniel's notebook. There was nothing in it on this, meaning he had not known.
The next day her and Lena sat by the second floor window catching up on all their missing work. Rose had barely slept, for she spent the whole night thinking of what she had been told.Were they dangerous? Were they in on something? Would they harm people if told?She thought of leaving the house all together but immediately scolded herself.What good will that do?She would be out there alone knowing she didn't do good alone. Besides, she should not fear the maids; Aylea was a maid, Ms. Grace counted as a maid. After some time when people no longer came and the coast was completely clear, Lena closed her book expectantly, and she remembered in a flurry that she still had her part to tell.
“Yes,” she asked, playing innocent.
“Do I have to ask?”
“What do you mean?”
“About what you said you'd tell me last night.”
Rose touched her finger to her chin. “I think I forgot.”
“Let’s refresh your memory then; why did you run away from home for two weeks?”
Rose looked her friend in her eyes. “Will you tell me what you told Aylea if I tell you why?”
“I can't.”
“Why not? We tell each other everything.”
Lena let her words linger. “I can't tell you because I never planned to tell anyone at all before last night and now that Aylea knows, I can't stop thinking about it. I know it seems unfair, but it was your idea that we let nobody else know, so you have to trust me, Rosie.”
“I guess.”
“Are you mad?”
“No, that's a good answer, i'm glad you said no.”
Lena sat back. “You don't have to tell me if you don't want to."
“I want to.”
“So go ahead.”
"I had a brother," she finally announced, and she began building her different colored leaves again. It was apart of an assignment they were given by Mr. Clark, to see who could make theirs the most real. A bunch of “first trial” leaves sat around her on the floor. She kicked them nervously and began to feel tears form in a dangerous way. Not many knew why her parents left, and now she had to tell the story again. The leaf she had been making fell and slid into the pile.
"What?”
"I had a brother, his name was Sage."
It was true, and she didn't talk about it often, for he was three years old the last time she saw him. She still remembered that his eyes had been the same brown as Mr. Clark's and he was the sweetest boy you'd ever meet. They had been close. Their mother used to dote on how gracefully Rose accepted being a big sister. She would try to pick him up out of his crib and gave him all her toys whenever he started crying. It was with him that Rose learned to make characters out of ice, just because it made him smile. But her parents started to let him leave his room less and less as he got older, and there was one day she got home and he was gone.
"What happened to him?" Lena asked as she stopped moving to listen. "My parents gave him away to strangers."
Give one child. Keep another.
"That's terrible, I would run too. Why would they do that?"
“It's not that, they gave a legitimate reason for why he's gone, but it seemed so strange at the time. I thought I was next, so I ran and ran until they found me.”
She wanted to say “and that's why they're gone,” but it was too soon to voice it though it was true. They realized their mistake not long after they found her and tried to get him back - now everyone left would have to live with it.
“Where did your parents go? Like specifically?”
“They never told me. They just said that they sent him to a place where lots of other kids like him are, and now they're there, I assume ”
“Like him? What does that mean?”
“Powerful. I don't know why, but my parents were big on us not using our powers.”
Lena took out her project too. “Do you think it has something to do with the growth on blocking bracelets and arrest?”
Rose sniffled. “How would they know unless Ana told them? Daniel wasn't in politics anymore.”
After cutting out her third leaf, Lena said, “she could have.”
“But she never talked to them, so that's something I can't figure out.” “Did they leave clues?”
Rose shook her head and wiped
her nose “That's something you would have to ask Daniel, they left a note, I know it had clues but I couldn't make them out.” For a wild instant she thought of showing Lena the note.
As Lena realized she had spilt paint all over her already-somewhat-ruined leaves and threw down her book, frustrated, their conversation suddenly gave Rose an idea. You couldn't tell people, true, but that didn’t mean you couldn't talk to people who already know.
“I have a sister,” said Lena suddenly. “It's like the situation with my mom where we're not very close, but I still talk to her sometimes.”
“What's her name?” asked Rose.
“Hera.”
“Wow,” Rose said, trying not to appear disinterested.
When Lena bent over, she said, "I'll be back," and took off before anyone could argue. Down she ran and ran till she made it to Ms. Grace’s room, sure she would be there. Ms. Grace could not deny her anything.
Her plans were foiled as she saw that the old woman wasn't there. She went to Aylea's room and that was empty too. In fact, as she walked around, she saw that various rooms in the castle had their doors open and were empty. This had happened before, but she didn't know why, in fact nobody had questioned it.
"Where's Aylea?" she asked a passing guard.
"I don't know,” she answered gruffly. She saw who he was talking to and stood up straighter. “They took her somewhere."
“When will she be back?" Rose asked.
“Probably by tomorrow.”
The guard smiled at her and kept walking after that.
That's strange.Perhaps the biases of what she found out was what made her so suspicious, but what was she doing that would take her all night?And why are so many people gone?As she walked to different rooms that needed to be cleaned, she saw no one inside.So it really isn't just her?Rose's gut served sickly as she thought that this might have something to do with her.
Aylea did not prove to be “back by tomorrow” as she said. In fact, it was the middle of the next day, and the place was still dangerously empty, as if she had suddenly fallen into a ghost town.
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