Two Worlds of Oblivion

by Angelina J. Steffort

  “They took him to get to you?” he put together Maray’s words and what was written on the piece of parchment. “But I thought you were there with him…”

  He waited for her to speak, not even a hint of amusement on his face.

  Maray wanted to shrink to the size of a pea. “He told me to hide.” It was embarrassing. Wasn’t a Princess of Allinan supposed to be brave? How could she have even let this happen? “And Pen—the Gurnyak, I mean—”

  “Pen can be pushy, I know,” Heck cut her off. “Does Corey know?” he asked instead of commenting on her explanation. “Have you told your parents?”

  Maray gave him a look that she hoped clarified she hadn’t told anyone yet.

  “We need to tell them.” Heck surprised her. She had expected something like him jumping up and drawing his sword, ready to free Jemin. But Heck was still sitting there on his bed.

  “Corey left before the revolutionaries arrived,” Maray clarified. “She didn’t come by after, did she?”

  Heck shook his head. “We need to split up. You go tell Laura and Gerwin, and I’ll go find Corey.”

  “The moment I tell them, they’ll lock me up for my own safety,” Maray objected.

  “And you know the way out.” Heck jumped to his feet.

  Maray watched him roam the drawers of the dresser beside the magic sink. “And they don’t?”

  “No.” Heck glanced at her over his shoulder for the first time since Maray had told him, a grin on his lips. “Being friends with Jemin comes with its perks.” He turned around, a thick cloak in his hand, and as he noticed Maray’s questioning eyes, he said, “You will need this if you want to stay undetected.”

  He tossed her the bundle of midnight-blue fabric. “Goes with your eyes.”

  Maray caught it and gratefully wrapped it around herself. The hood was large enough to pull it into her face. No one would notice how similar she looked to the queen’s iconic photograph.

  “I’ll meet you in your room in—” He glanced out the window, reading the time from a big clock above the palace entrance, “—about thirty minutes.” He grabbed a pair of gloves and slid his hands inside before he took Maray’s arm and pulled her toward the door. “Let’s go.”

  Heck opened the door and soundlessly snuck into the hallway to check if the coast was clear before he tugged on Maray’s arm to follow. She didn’t question his lead and bravely swallowed any sign of upcoming panic as he guided her back to the broom closet.

  “How do I open this?” Maray pointed at the back wall of the closet and was surprised when Heck pushed one of the shelves inward, making the narrow door swing open, exposing the secret passageway behind it.

  “Thirty minutes,” Heck reminded her as they stepped through the door and headed off in two opposite directions.

  Maray didn’t hear his footsteps as he disappeared toward the other end of the tunnel but heard her parents’ worried voices from behind the tapestry once she was in the wall of her room.

  “And you are sure Jemin is with her?” Gerwin said, and it didn’t sound as if it was the first time.

  There was a sigh, and then her mother’s voice replied, “I personally instructed him to meet them to do some fight training. Corey should be there, too.”

  There were footsteps. From the pace of them, Maray guessed, it had to be her father’s. For a moment she hesitated, anxious to step in front of them and explain what had happened, and then she remembered that it had been her mother who had wanted them to train together. Maray hadn’t snuck out like a child.

  She tiptoed to the wooden back of what she thought must be the closet in her room and searched for a ledge until she found a small opening on the side. The smell of Thaotine and silk greeted her as the secret door sprang open and a ray of pale light shone alongside her father’s worried face.

  “Thank God you’re back.” He pulled her out of the closet and into his arms.

  “I thought this passage was a secret,” Maray murmured.

  “Not to your mother and me.” Maray felt herself blush at his words. “How did you think she used to sneak out of the palace when she was little?”

  Over his shoulder, Laura peered at Maray, a mixture of motherly concern and nervousness on her face as she reached out with her hand and stepped closer to hug them both. “We were so worried.”

  Maray understood and didn’t at the same time. “But I thought you knew Corey was picking me up for training—”

  “We did,” her mother interrupted her to confirm. “And we also didn’t expect anyone else to know.”

  “What do you mean?” Maray, eager to share her own news, bit back what she had to say in order to learn what was going on in the palace.

  “We got a message a couple of minutes ago.” Gerwin let go of her, and Maray felt like a miniature version of herself all of a sudden.

  “What did it say?”

  “No.” Laura shook her head at Gerwin, but he reached into his pocket and pulled out a piece of parchment that could have been from the exact same scroll as the note Langley had left in the clearing.

  “She has the right to know.”

  Maray wanted to hug her father again for siding with her. He knew her better than anyone. All those years she had been missing her mother, it was him who had been there around the clock, listening to her words of anger and drying her tears. She took the note with a sideways glance at Laura. “Thanks, Dad.”

  She unfolded it with shaky fingers and read, “‘Ask your daughter what is more important to her: her life or the boy.’” She stared at her mother with incredulous eyes. “Who delivered this?”

  Gerwin laid his hand on her shoulder. “A child dropped it off at the palace entrance earlier.” He gave her a meaningful look. “There is no way of knowing who this is from.”

  “Langley,” Maray burst out, only half-listening. “Langley ambushed us in the clearing. Jemin told me to hide. He gave himself up so they wouldn’t take me.” She handed the piece of parchment to her mother and pulled out Langley’s note from the clearing. “Here.” She offered it to her parents, hoping that they’d react fast so Jemin would stand a chance of getting out of there alive. “Langley left this together with Jemin’s sword.”

  As she told them the full story of what had happened in the clearing, both her parents’ eyes widened. Along with the details, she left out what her magic was truly able to do, how she had gained basic control over blazing fire.

  “They want to trick you into giving yourself up.” Laura came to the conclusion as she held up both notes with a crease on her forehead and a shimmer of fury in her dark-blue eyes.

  Maray felt the time running out as if she herself was an hourglass. “We need to find him.” She realized she was pacing when her father fell into step beside her.

  “I understand you must be scared, Maray. I have seen how you look at him. But you do understand that we cannot risk your life.”

  Maray’s cheeks burned with embarrassment and fury. “We need to do something.” They couldn’t just sit and wait. “You are the Queen, Mom.” She glanced at her mother for help. “Can’t you order someone to find him? A search party?”

  “I am not the Queen,” Laura corrected, “and you need to calm down, Maray. Rash actions are not going to help anyone.”

  “Spoken like a true monarch,” Maray muttered into her cloak and glanced out the window hoping to spot Heck or Corey.

  Laura and Gerwin shared a look that made it clear they would do anything to protect her. Of course they would. But she would do anything to protect Jemin. She had to. Her heart burned for a second as she thought of the words he had spoken. He was in love with her.

  “We can’t involve anyone but people who already know about you and have proven loyal to us.” Gerwin stopped at one of the blue chairs and sat, falling into his thinker pose. “Scott, Pordin.”

  “We need Scott at the palace to keep the guards under control,” Laura interjected, “just in case…”

  “Just in case what?”
Maray wanted to know. She caught herself glancing at the clock on the small desk in the corner for the fourth time in a minute. Heck would be there in fifteen minutes.

  “Just in case the revolutionaries come after you here in the palace.”

  Maray didn’t inform her parents that she wasn’t planning on being in the palace anyway, instead going along with her father’s suggestion. “Wilhelm then,” she agreed. “He is loyal, and he knows Langley. He’ll be able to help.”

  “I will send for him immediately.” Laura was on her way to the door when she turned on her heel and glanced over at her daughter with intense eyes. “You are not leaving this room until this is over.”

  Her mother’s authoritarian tone demanded obedience. It wasn’t the request of a mother; it was an order from a monarch.

  “I am grounded?” Maray eyed her incredulously. “But I didn’t do anything.”

  “It’s not about what you did,” Gerwin reassured her, compassion prominent in his dark eyes. “It’s about what could happen to you if Langley gets his hands on you.”

  “And what about Jemin?” She fought hard to put up an authentic teenage fight. She could as well have sat down and fallen silent, for she knew Heck would come for her, and she would be gone to free Jemin before the day was over, but she wanted to keep up the appearance.

  “Jemin will be fine once Wilhelm finds him.”

  “And if he doesn’t find him?”

  “He will.” Gerwin got to his feet and pulled her into a hug. “I am sorry, Maray. I know he is important.” And with those words, he left.

  The second she was alone, she rushed to the closet and dug her way through Thaotine and silk to the back wall. There was still no doorknob, no ledge or indentation. She tried every shelf on the side, but the door didn’t open for her.

  “It’s no use,” Heck’s voice came from behind the boards. “It’s locked.”

  Maray jumped even though she had been expecting him. There was a short sequence of cursing, then something moved in the fireplace closer to Maray.

  “Heck,” she whispered as she watched the boy emerge from behind the ornately wound metal that usually kept the fire from escaping.

  Heck coughed as he shook off dust and ashes. “It’s good you didn’t start this thing.” He pointed behind him at the fireplace, a grin half-prominent on his features. “Ready?”

  Maray didn’t even care to wonder what other secret passageways there were, as long as there was a way out so she could help Jemin.

  “Your parents don’t approve, right?” Heck guessed and, at Maray’s nod, turned around and climbed back into the fireplace. “Bring your weapons—and Jem’s,” he whispered before his shock of dark hair disappeared in the darkness again.

  Maray rushed to the cupboard and pulled her belt from a drawer and wound it around her hips before she armed herself with the Cornay dagger and Jemin’s short sword. “Coming,” she hissed and followed Heck into the fireplace, careful not to tear her cloak on the metal.

  Heck was standing in a narrow gap behind the ashes of the last fire. “I told you being friends with Jem comes with its perks.” He ushered Maray into the narrow corridor behind the dark opening. “Watch your head.”

  Maray ducked just in time to prevent hitting her head on the low ceiling as she climbed into the darkness.

  “Why can’t we move around like normal people?” she murmured to herself. There must have been a way to sneak past her parents without navigating through secret passageways with little to no light and posture-harming dimensions.

  “Because you are not a normal person, Your Royal Highness,” Heck reminded her and patted her shoulder as he squeezed past her, closing the gap behind them. “Follow me.” He took her hand. “And don’t talk.”

  Maray would have objected if it hadn’t been for the severity of the situation. Instead, she silently let Heck drag her along the tunnel, keeping her head down the same way he did, and wondering if she was doing the right thing.

  It shouldn’t be this difficult. She shouldn’t have to hide from her people, and she shouldn’t have to be hunted for her blood. This was wrong in so many ways she couldn’t even begin to express it. A queen, evil and after Maray’s blood to gain omnipotence… That was something from dark fairytales, not from Maray Johnson’s life. Yutu, Gurnyaks, magic…

  “Watch where you’re going,” Heck hissed as she bumped into his shoulder when he made a sudden turn to the right.

  Maray apologized and stopped, unable to shake the feeling she was a puppet in someone’s master plan.

  “Just a little further, and we’re there.” He sounded stressed, tense, completely different from the Heck she had gotten to know.

  Maray didn’t ask where ‘there’ was, but she hoped that it was closer to where Jemin was than where they had been before. They continued through the dim light, Maray ducking behind Heck and holding up her cloak with one hand so she wouldn’t step on it.

  “There,” Heck pointed at a pale, oval opening ahead and tugged on Maray’s hand.

  Maray sped up as he moved faster the closer they got to the light. “What is there?” she asked and hurried along behind Heck.

  “Corey is waiting for us.” As Heck was still saying it, Corey’s curvy outline appeared in the light, spilling a flood of relief over Maray. Corey had strong magic. If anyone would be a match for Langley, it was her.

  As they stepped through the small opening, Corey pulled her into a hug.

  “I was so worried,” she said as she straightened her up. “If I had stayed a little longer, I might have been able to help Jem fight them off.”

  “It’s not your fault.” Maray pulled out of her arms. “You couldn’t possibly have known.”

  Corey observed her with dark eyes, one thin eyebrow raised high up on her forehead. “It doesn’t matter. I shouldn’t have left you. I promised your mom I wouldn’t let you out of my sight.”

  “Why did you leave, anyway?” Heck asked, a bitter edge to his voice that made Maray take a closer look to verify it was really Heck and not an impostor.

  He glared at Corey, chocolate eyes devoid of humor.

  “I wanted to give them some privacy,” Corey admitted sheepishly. “I thought that if they were alone, they would make it up…”

  “Make what up?” Heck asked with a frown.

  “Jem thinks he can’t be with her because he’s who he is an she is who she is—”

  Maray looked back and forth between the two of them.

  “Jem is a jerk.” A grin flashed across Heck’s face, reassuring Maray he really was Heck.

  Corey’s eyebrow lowered back where it belonged. “I know.”

  “Let’s go find the jerk.”

  Maray was just about to ask if they had forgotten she was still there when Corey locked arms with her and pulled her forward. “Don’t ever tell Jem I said what I just said,” she whispered. “He doesn’t like for others to know about his feelings.”

  “If we find him,” Maray confirmed, “I will not tell him. Otherwise, it won’t matter…”

  “Stop even thinking that,” Heck barked un-Heck-ishly. His chocolate eyes were directed at the forest ahead.

  “Do all secret passageways lead into the woods?” Maray asked to change the topic. Neither of them liked to think of what would happen if they didn’t find Jemin.

  Corey rolled her eyes but didn’t answer. “Let’s go.”

  “Mom and Dad want to send Wilhelm Pordin to rescue Jemin,” Maray informed them even though she had the suspicion Heck already knew from when he had been hiding behind the fireplace.

  “Wil?” Beside her Corey froze. “I mean, Wilhelm,” she corrected. “Alone?”

  Something about the way she said it made Maray wonder if there was something wrong with Wilhelm.

  “You don’t think he could handle it?” Maray asked, more to get a feeling for what was going on.

  To her surprise, Corey’s normally so confident expression slipped, leaving an awkward grimace on her prett
y features. “I honestly don’t want to find out,” she murmured.

  Maray imagined a blush under her dark skin.

  “Maybe we should find him before he heads out,” she suggested. “You know—” She studied Corey’s horrified face, “—stronger together.”

  “Let’s leave him out of this.” Corey’s words were final. She obviously didn’t want to talk about Wil.

  Heck didn’t comment. He was too focused on looking up at the cloudy sky. “I think it’s this way,” he announced and started in the direction where the branches thinned. Corey and Maray followed, and with a look over her shoulder, Maray memorized the location of the rock they had emerged from. It was half as high as the trees and sealed in a little hill between the thickets.

  Heck led them to a bare hedge that told Maray they had arrived back in the palace gardens.

  “How do you know where we are going?” She peered through the branches, shivering as she spotted the palace in the distance.

  “Corey located Jem while you were back at the blue room,” Heck said as if the rest was self-explanatory.

  Luckily, Corey understood that Maray had no idea how that would work. “I can track Jem through his bracelet.”

  “A locator spell? Like Langley did?” Maray prepared to get upset, but Corey shook her head beside her, black curls bouncing over her shoulders.

  “Like my own magic. I can track my own magic.”

  Maray still didn’t understand, and after a moment of silent staring, Corey decided to give more context. “I refilled Jem’s bracelet this morning. My magic is fresh, so I can track the traces.”

  “Can every warlock do that?” Maray wondered aloud.

  “You might,” Corey replied with an unreadable face, “but I don’t actually know anyone else who has done it. Warlocks usually implant locator spells into items so they can track people.”

  “Jemin tracked me with the crystal you created when you performed my blood test,” Maray remembered.

  “That’s different,” Corey explained. “That was because it holds your blood. It can find you.”

  As Corey was still speaking, it dawned on Maray. The crystal had her blood, but also the blood of someone else. “Rhia.”