Beware the Violet

by Maria Vermisoglou

  Unable to say anything, I stayed silent while he traced his fingers on my cheek. It was cold outside, but his fingers felt even colder. That’s when I realized he was shivering.

  “You’re cold,” I said, and he pulled his hand away.

  “I’m sorry, I—”

  “We should get inside.”

  He grinned at my suggestion. “It will be awkward. Especially since I can’t promise to keep my small form.” He chuckled, and I blushed. Of course, he was right and I couldn’t begin to think the storm of questions that would fall on me if that got out. Still, I wanted to get him someplace warm, but he refused to go to the Blessed Realm.

  “The treehouse!” I exclaimed as the idea formed in my head.

  “Treehouse?”

  “Yes, where I used to play with Diane when we were younger. It’s warm even in the winter.” I helped him up and suddenly, he turned into a rabbit. “Well, thank you. That will make the journey much easier,” I said and carrying him, I walked toward my house when out of the blue, he changed again and I fell on my face. “Or not.”

  “Sorry,” he said, and I got up with my face red, but I couldn’t utter a word.

  “Nothing?” he prompted, grinning, and I glared.

  “Stupid rabbit!”

  He chuckled, and we continued the difficult journey because he kept changing form. After falling several times, I adopted a position on holding him that wouldn’t land me on my face again. When we reached the treehouse’s ladder, he had turned back to a human.

  “It would really help me now if you turned into a rabbit.” The words hadn’t left my mouth when he turned into a rabbit and putting him on my shoulder, I smiled. “I like it when you listen to me.” The rabbit tapped my shoulder, annoyed. When we arrived at the entrance, I bumped my head and rubbing the lump, I took a look at the playground of my childhood. It hadn’t changed a bit even if I had. I had laid the blankets out just in time when Jacques morphed back into a human.

  “Neat,” he said as I lay him on the blankets and then covered him with more. I secured the door and sat next to him, but he pulled me toward him. Blushing, I felt his arms wrapping me into a hug and a pleasant tremor went up to my spine and spread on my limbs. “Tell me,” he breathed, enveloping me in his woodsy scent. “Tell me about the human world.”

  Looking at his blue eyes, I tried to find my way back to reality. “You know about humans, don’t you?”

  “Not really. I spent some time in France when I was young, but mostly, I was raised and lived in the Realms.”

  I chuckled. “That explains the French accent. What do you want to hear?”

  “Anything you want to tell me,” he said, removing my hair from my eyes. I concentrated and started telling him first, about ordinary things. Happy and sad, funny and mundane. I talked for hours and he never interrupted me for one moment. He just listened. My task was difficult since he kept changing from rabbit to human and even though I wanted to help, I knew I couldn’t so I carried on the narration, hoping it would offer him some comfort.

  When I finished, I paused to let him absorb everything I had said. I wanted to share other things with him, many things, but tiredness wouldn’t let me and my eyes shut. Before I fell asleep, I felt his arms wrapping around me and pulling me close. Warm and secure, I let sleep claim me, certain he was here with me.

  The sunbeams peeking from the window woke me up and groggily, I chided myself for not closing the curtain well enough. Half-opening my eyes, I took a look at my surroundings. Where am I? The smell of wood hit my nose as I gazed at the walls and noticed objects scattered across the room. It was familiar yet I couldn’t place where I was. It was like a memory that fought its way to my conscious mind.

  “The treehouse,” a voice said, and I turned in alarm, but as soon as I saw him, my expression softened. “We’re in the treehouse.”

  “Oh.” I realized he was right and frowned. “How do you know?”

  “Does this happen often? To not remember what happened the night before?” Jacques said, brushing a strand of hair from my face, bringing a deep blush to my face.

  “Not much, but I usually sleep in my room.” I bit my lip. “You look better.”

  “I always look better in daylight since I’m a creature of the Light.” He chuckled. “You on the other hand…”

  I passed my hands through my hair, trying to smooth the tangling mess. “I just woke up.”

  “Usually people don’t lose their memory overnight.”

  “I didn’t lose my memory, I’m just not fully awake yet.” I scowled, but he leaned and kissed my cheek. “Not funny,” I said when my heartbeats returned to normal.

  “It is.” Taking a more serious expression, he said, “You had a turbulent sleep. Do you always have nightmares?” When I nodded, he continued, “Since when?”

  “Since I defeated the Dark Master.”

  “What are the dreams about?” he pressured but I shook my head. “I might be unable to do much, but I want to help you if I can.”

  “When the Darkness leaves, the dreams will disappear, too.” To avoid the questions, I turned to the window, but not before catching the look of displeasure on his face. “What time is it?” I asked in panic as I noticed the sun was well high up on the sky.

  “Violet, it’s Saturday,” Jacques said. I took a breath of relief, causing him to grin. “And it’s around ten o’clock, I assume. Time for breakfast, but you need a shower. Maybe that will wake you up.”

  “That wasn’t funny.”

  He rolled his eyes and kicked the blankets away. Sighing, I rose up and arranged everything to their appropriate places while Jacques walked around, exploring the small room. Peeking from the window, I saw my mother taking out the trash, and I quickly hid.

  “Why don’t you want to be spotted?” Jacques asked puzzled.

  “Because they’ll start a million questions ranging from why you were up there to it’s cold outside and are you mad…” I let my voice trail off.

  “Must be nice to have someone care for you.”

  His words accompanied by a tone of sadness made me uncomfortable. “Yes.” My voice abandoned me and I stood there, searching for the right words that never came.

  “It’s all right.” Taking my hand in his cold hands, he looked me deep in the eyes. “I have a family in The Blessed Realm. They might be a little dysfunctional maybe, but still a family. There are some times that I wonder what it would have been like…”

  “Different and you would probably be annoyed with them at times.”

  “Sounds nice.” His longing expression suddenly turned grim. “Oh, no!”

  “What—?” Before I could finish my sentence, he morphed into a rabbit and I smiled. “You are just morphing to make things easier for me. What a nice rabbit you are,” I said, lifting him, but he thumped his hind foot on my shoulder and folded his ears, annoyed.

  Once down, he morphed back and crossed his arms. “I did not do that on purpose. I cannot morph at will anymore.” Then, he added some French phrases I did not understand, but I suspected their meaning.

  “Be nice,” I said, and he glared. “See you on Monday.”

  “Fine,” he grumbled, “but if you ever do a joke about rabbits again, I’ll throw you…”

  I stared at him, challenging him with my eyes. “You’ll throw me? Everyone knows rabbits can’t throw.”

  “Shut up,” he whistled.

  “Okay.”

  His miraculous eyes studied my face, and he slowly traced my outline with his fingers. They were no longer frozen but cool against my skin that was growing hotter by the minute. My heart beat like a trapped bird and I could feel it in my fingers.

  “This is a break. On Monday, you’ll return to your normal self, cold and uncaring.” I was amazed by how much he noticed but I said nothing to confirm or deny it. “Why can’t you stay like this?”

  “You won’t stay like this either.” Taking my hand, he slowly kissed it. “There’s work to be done.” I coul
dn’t command the tremor in my voice to disappear. How could he have such an effect on me? He shouldn’t.

  “I know. I just imagine…” His voice broke, and I watched as some tears escaped from his eyelids. “I thought I might have a little more time to fix my mistakes.”

  “You don’t—”

  Placing his hand on my lips, he put a stop on my speech. “I need to fix them. That’s the only way I will be able to redeem myself. You have a big heart, mademoiselle, but I cannot stand it. Enjoy your weekend,” he said, and I watched him heading to the woods.

  “You’re such a knight,” I mumbled, but he turned with a stubborn expression.

  “No, knights are over done. I’m a shapeshifter,” and with that, he disappeared.

  Chapter 11: Violet Revenge

  As Jacques had predicted, on Monday we all wore our masks.

  Frost covered my features that matched the chill I had surrounding my heart, but there was no other way. I hated it, but I felt the need to pretend was coming to an end. Soon, I could set the bowling ball rolling and the tumble would bring Darkness to its knees.

  Kristy, however, was concerned about me and kept talking to me all the way from school to the gate, but I kept giving her curt nods and answers. I hated this, but I held the hope she could forgive me when everything was settled. Meanwhile, the Darkness had made most of the Blessed Realm inaccessible and thus; we took a longer path to Madelena’s house where otherwise, we could have just walked straight ahead.

  The witch was worried, but had shared nothing with us or called a meeting which was strange. What was she waiting for? For the Blessed Realm to disappear entirely before finally taking action? Every time I went for lessons, Kristy asked if the witch had mentioned anything but Madelena was as silent as I was and I wondered why she didn’t do anything. She was the strongest of all the creatures here and acted as their leader. Shouldn’t she be the first to act according to their needs?

  “Pride,” I heard one voice say snarkily and spinning, I saw Jacques, sitting on a rock. A week had gone by after our encounter and he already looked awful and I knew he would continue to do so unless Light won the battle.

  “Pride?” I uttered, and he nodded.

  “You looked at the witch’s house and then at the Blessed Realm so you obviously wondered why she doesn’t do anything. Witch pride. She thinks she knows better by letting this go on but in reality, she’s more scared than I am. Her powers are hanging in an unsteady balance as we speak. Imagine walking on a thin thread and once you tip on either side—Light or Dark—then the other side will attack you with everything in its armory,” he said and staring at him, my thoughts turned somber. “Staying on the sidelines is all she can do, but she could warn people and let them know what is happening instead of leaving them unprepared.”

  “That’s a difficult job, I don’t think I could do it,” I said and then a thought came to me. “But wait, she summoned me when the Darkness had almost won. Isn’t that tipping the scales?”

  “No. The Believer is neutral in the sense that she can either be good,” he looked at me deep in the eyes—“or evil.” His gaze fell on my fingers and the sticky substance that was now covering half of their surface. “Summoning you didn’t necessarily ensure her success.”

  Troubled, I bobbed my head and turned on my way. “I warned her,” he said, and I spun.

  “What do you mean you warned her?”

  “When the Darkness started appearing for the second time I warned her, but she wouldn’t listen. She thought the people had seen enough and needed peace.” His lip curled, and I remembered that she had told me the same thing when I shared my first dreams with her.

  Anger raged inside me as I realized what his words obscured. “If she had, then maybe things would have gone differently and I would have had my peace.” I ran before he saw the tears in my eyes.

  “Violet!” I heard him calling, but I didn’t look back. He couldn’t know, but if it wasn’t for Madelene’s refusal to listen, I wouldn’t have to craft that foolproof plan to save them all.

  Outside the gate, I wiped my tears and took a somber look as I walked. I expected Khalid would be here as he always waited outside the gate if I had a conversation with any of the Eulogimenoi. He hated them and I had to suffer endless rambling on how he could not wait until the Darkness wiped them off the face of the Blessed Realm and how tired he was of pretending to be nice.

  “What took you so long?” As on cue, Khalid appeared out of nowhere.

  I was used to his appearances by now since he was a vampire and his superhuman abilities could track any movement and he ran at inhuman speed. He could even hear my heartbeat, but I was fairly certain he didn’t pay attention or he would have figured out my plan already. “Jacques wanted to talk. Says the Darkness is getting thicker,” I pronounced the lie without hesitation or he would figure it out.

  Laughing wildly, his cold gaze matched the dangerous predator he was. “Darkness is getting thicker, huh? Bunny boy is in for a wild ride.”

  Bunny boy? Jacques would have slit his throat for that. I walked and as expected, the rambling of complaints commenced.

  “Well, soon it will be over,” I cut him off, tired of the series of complaints, when we arrived at my road and after a moment he nodded. “Yes, very soon, my dear.”

  Leaving me with that, he walked away without a goodbye. I worried about what the meaning behind his words was, but he couldn’t do something drastic. He was, after all, a creature of strength and not of thought.

  ◆◆◆

  The next day, on the way to the forest, Kristy told me about the appearance of another violet thunderstorm but I shrugged. “Didn’t see anything last night.”

  “No? It was pretty big, so I thought it would show in the human world. It’s better that way, the humans won’t suspect anything is afoot.”

  The last time it happened was on my birthday, but it was on the news for several days and all sorts of speculations tried to give an explanation. They varied from scientific to irrational such as UFOs were taking over the world. Something was about to take over the world, but it was not extraterrestrial beings. A dark force that would bring only destruction to the world and the only way to stop it was to decipher the riddle.

  When we entered the forest, voices filled my mind as they repeated the same thing: In this day, the Darkness comes. On this day, she shall be claimed. This day is the end of things.

  I recognized the voice of the Lady of Fate and a lump sat on my throat but I continued walking like nothing had happened, but the voice kept repeating the same verses over and over again, upping the volume every time. Fortunately, with our entrance into the Blessed Realm, the voices ceased, but not the uneasiness of my mind. This is the day where it all happens? How? When? Where? Questions circled in my head and I was distracted during my lessons, but Madelena wasn’t completely present in the moment either.

  “I think it’s best if you left since we are both distracted,” she said and laughed but it was high-pitched and strained.

  Madelena was always restrained and didn’t laugh often and the slight tremor of her hands worried me. Did she get the same warning as me? Concerned, I cast her a careful look, noting more signs of her uneasiness. “Are you all right?”

  “Of course. I’m just worried about something.” She waved it off and it made me wonder if she could hear the voices, too.

  On the way to the gate, my thoughts danced in my head in a wild way, but the sight awaiting me near the gate put a stop to that. Khalid was waiting there for me, but it was more surprising the fact that Jacques was there as well, sitting on a stump. They didn’t talk or look at each other or even acknowledge the other one, it was like there was a glass wall between them. Something was happening.

  “Violet!” Khalid exclaimed, and his gaze went not to my face, but to my fingers and stayed there for a while. Jacques looked at me in question, but I subtly shook my head and he averted his gaze. Khalid tore his eyes from my hands and gave me
a smile that yelled triumph. “We’ll go for a walk now.”

  Uh, oh!

  “Where to?” I said with curiosity, but I knew the decision had been made and there was no way I could say no. Especially not with the crazy look that adorned his eyes, making them shine like black diamonds.

  “Around,” was the only explanation I received.

  “I’ll come too.” Jacques jumped from his seat and I shot him a look. Didn’t he see the crazy vampire situation here?

  “You’re welcome to take a stroll with us,” Khalid said, and I masked my surprise, wondering what the hell that freak had planned. He led the way, and that was how I knew something very bad was about to happen.

  Are you out of your mind? I tried to convey my thoughts to Jacques, but he returned my gaze steadily with steely determination. “You might need help.” The rabbit shapeshifter even though weak, he looked out for me.

  “Shapeshifters!” I muttered, and he chuckled.

  Striding into the woods, none of us said a word for a while, but then, Khalid took the initiative as I knew he would.

  “It’s so refreshing to walk into the woods.”

  In the cold, during the Christmas holidays with a psychotic vampire. Yeah, right!

  “Is that so?” Jacques said, as the sarcasm flowed in his voice like an undercurrent of venom. I couldn’t read his face, but his knuckles had turned white. I prayed he didn’t morph now, but since it was still day, I hoped we would get lucky.

  “Oh, yes. Every now and then we need it,” Khalid said, and I noticed he guided us into an unknown part of the forest for me, but what was more, there were trees with red leaves here. Most of the trees had lost their leaves a long time ago so what was that?

  Stopping, Khalid ignoring the trees, jumped on a rock and stood and in front of my eyes, the rock lowered and having watched enough movies, I expected some kind of secret compartment to open but there was nothing of the sort.