by H. E. Barnes
A burst of light shot into the air. Aviva watched as it exploded into the night sky. She was pushed back, hard. The scene disappeared with a shock.
Aviva put her hands on the ground and pushed herself up. She shook her head trying to clear the weird vision away. But the warmth from the necklace was still there. She took in a shaky breath. She put the necklace on, the warm gold filling her up with a sense of hope. Hope that maybe something more was out there. Hope that her life could change.
Chapter 5
Idalia Gallagher stared at the ceiling of her classroom. The professor droned on and on about some mythological creature Idalia could care less about. The only reason she took the class was because she had heard it was the easiest of the allowed electives. But it was boring.
“Ms. Gallagher,” the professor called out as the students around her got up and started leaving. “Please stay back.”
Idalia met the professor’s eyes. He had a twinkle in his. She tried to hide the disgust behind hers. She had heard rumors about him from some of the other girls in her dorm. She had a feeling the rumors were true.
“Yes, Professor Hendrix?” Idalia asked coming up to the side of his desk. He stood silently until the last of the students left the class.
“I just wanted to inform you that you are failing my class. We haven’t been in session too long, but I don’t want you to get behind. You need the credits to graduate.”
Idalia nodded. “I know. I’m going to study harder for the next test,” she said coating her voice in sweetness.
He came from around the desk and perched on the side, sitting so close to Idalia she could smell the whole bottle of cologne he had doused on himself.
“This could be a very easy class,” Professor Hendrix said, “for someone like you.” He looked her up and down, and her skin crawled. “A little extra credit could go a long way.” He raised a hand and let it fall on her bare shoulder. Idalia wanted to pull away but knew better than to make him upset.
“What do you have in mind?” Idalia asked sweetly, stepping back and flipping her red hair back over her shoulder.
His hand fell into his lap. “Oh, you know,” he almost whispered, “just a few late nights here and there.”
Idalia knew exactly what he was talking about. The rumors were right, but then again, so was he. She was failing. And she needed the class.
“I’ll think about it,” she said with a wink. “I gotta get going though. Have to study.” A small laugh played on her lips.
Professor Hendrix licked his lips. “Oh, of course.” He grabbed her forearm and squeezed. “Have a good night.”
Idalia didn’t say anything. She turned and left, rubbing a hand over her arm where he had held her. Small red fingerprints popped up on her skin, and she knew it would bruise. Like she needed any other reminder of the disturbing experience.
She turned a corner and stopped short, right in front of Professor Hendrix’s wife. She looked just like the picture he had on his desk. “Oh, sorry,” Idalia apologized, not making eye contact with the wife of the sleepy professor.
“It’s okay, dear.” Mrs. Hendrix said. “Would you happen to know where Professor Hendrix’s class is?”
“Yes ma’am, just right around that corner. Room 215.” Idalia said pointing to the corner she had just come around.
“Thank you,” she said smiling. She was beautiful. Idalia wondered how someone like the professor could get her.
“So y’all were right,” Idalia said to her friends. They were sitting around a table in the University Lounge.
“Well, of course we were,” Brittany said looking at Katie and shrugging, “but about what?” Brittany took a big bite out of a burger, the juices running down her hands.
Idalia laughed at her disgusting friend. She picked fries off her plate and plopped them into her mouth. “Professor Hendrix. He made a move.”
“Oh, yeah. He always does.” Katie said.
“What’d you do?” Brittany asked taking another big bite. She seemed to swallow the thing whole.
“Said I’d think about it. Didn’t want him to fail me on the spot.”
“It’s only a couple times, no big deal.” Brittany said shrugging. Idalia and Katie turned to her with wide eyes. “What?”
“Why on earth,” Katie started.
“You slept with him?” Idalia said, her voice rising.
“Shh,” Brittany said jumping to cover their mouths.
“That’s disgusting,” Idalia said from beneath Brittany’s hand.
Brittany shrugged again. “I didn’t feel like taking the class. It was boring.” Her shoulders went up and down. Idalia was sure they would get stuck like that.
“That’s just wrong,” Katie said shaking her head.
“He has a wife.” Idalia said.
“I know, she’s nice.” Brittany said nonchalantly.
“Oh my gosh,” Idalia said putting a hand to her forehead.
“What?” Brittany shrugged. “You think she doesn’t know about him?” Katie and Idalia stared at her blankly. “She most definitely knows what he does around here. Why else would she come to campus all the time?”
Idalia and Katie shrugged, mimicking Brittany.
“Look, all I’m saying is do what you gotta do.” Her shoulders lifted. “It was the easiest way for me, but I only had him for one class. You’ll have a lot of his classes, so might not want to give it up just yet,” Brittany laughed.
“Or never,” Idalia said.
“Your choice,” Brittany said.
“Can we change the subject?” Katie asked, pushing her plate away like she was disturbed by the conversation.
“What? Are you jealous you’ve never been propositioned?” Brittany asked, bumping her shoulder.
“Not even.”
They all laughed. “I gotta get back to my room. I have to study.” Idalia said.
“Wouldn’t have to study if you took Professor Hendrix up on his offer,” Brittany said.
“Ew, no. I’m good with studying.”
“Your loss,” Brittany said, getting up from the table and throwing away her food. Idalia and Katie followed her and they all walked out into the night together.
“Bye, losers,” Brittany said, hugging them and then walking away in the opposite direction.
“I can’t believe her,” Katie said.
“You’re telling me. But that’s her. Taking the easy way out instead of using her brains.” Idalia said. She could see the outline of her dorm against the black night.
“What brains?”
“Who knows,” Idalia laughed. “See you tomorrow.”
“Okay,” Katie said going towards her dorm.
Idalia walked up the stairs and unlocked her dorm room. She looked down at her welcome mat. Sticking out of the corner was some gold necklace. She reached down to pick it up. There were four stones entangled in the roots of a tree encircled with diamonds. It looked expensive. Idalia looked around to see if anyone was around who could have lost it. But it had been stuck under her welcome mat. No one could have dropped it there on accident.
The necklace was hot in her hand. Her body heated up until she wanted to scream. But nothing left her mouth. She was stuck in a pitch black, burning hole, with only the necklace as a tether.
Idalia’s eyes finally started working again.
In front of Idalia, in a big wide open room, there were five thrones. On top of each throne there was an elegant crown woven into the chair. The throne in the middle had the most significant crown. It rose high above the rest. The different colored jewels shone so brightly Idalia was forced to cover her eyes. The jewels were the same color as the stones on the golden necklace Idalia still felt hot in her hand.
She walked further into the room. Trying to get a better view of the thrones. But as she walked and walked, nothing changed. She was still far away.
Slowly, inch by inch, four figures came into view. They sat on the outer thrones, their faceless shadows all Idalia could
see. No one dared touch the middle throne.
Idalia’s eyes were drawn to the left of the Great Throne. She watched as the throne erupted in fire. She jumped back, putting an arm over her face to shield herself from the intense heat.
Idalia shook her head clear. She dropped her arm to look again. But there was nothing there. Nothing besides her dorm room door. She pushed the door open and walked through. The heat of the flames still burning around her. She fell onto the couch, exhausted.
Chapter 6
In the land of Season
Queen Quinn sat beside King Quilo’s bed. She was like a stone, frozen in time. She hadn’t moved an inch since Brey announced the death of her husband. Not as King Quilo took his dying breath, and not after everyone who looked on finally parted ways. Queen Quinn was all alone. Just how she liked it.
“My queen,” a whisper of a voice said from behind her. She turned, slowly, her muscles aching from sitting so long. She rolled back her shoulders, straightened her spine, and looked up at Brey.
“Yes, Brey?” Quinn said in a voice that couldn’t hide its irritance. She only wanted to be alone, for once. Was it too much to ask of her subjects? To leave her with the dead king?
“We must call on the Daughters,” Brey said, repeating the words that still hung heavy in the back of Quinn’s mind. She had heard him the first time. And she heard him this time.
“Must we right at this moment?”
“It is protocol,” Brey said lightly, as if she needed reminder of the protocol that ran her life minute by minute.
“There is no protocol for the situation my dear late husband has put us in.” Quinn snapped. She stood from her seat by the bed. The black silk ruffled around her as she moved away from the king. She shook her head. “But, if we must call on them, we may as well do it someplace else. There’s no need for the Daughters to see the king in this state.”
“Very well, my queen.” Brey said falling into step behind her. He bowed his head and followed Queen Quinn out of the ballroom where the king had been on display. It was customary for the last breaths to be viewed by many. So there was assurance that no ill will had been bestowed on the king.
Brey didn’t make a sound, his footsteps practiced. He was used to being invisible until he was needed. That’s what it meant to be the king’s Hand. He waited on the king, hand and foot, until his final breath. And he would gladly do it for a hundred more years. The king was his friend, and now he left him to be ruled by the queen. Until the new queen emerged.
“Here,” Queen Quinn said, stepping aside.
Brey pushed open the huge doors. He held them as Quinn passed by him. She walked around the room, to the large stone table in the center. She stopped short of the head of the table where two chairs were stationed. She called over another servant. “Get rid of it,” she said motioning to the chair she used to occupy.
The servant looked to Brey. Brey could only nod. It was the queen’s way now.
The servant picked up the plush chair and moved it out of sight. Queen Quinn sat at the head of the table, in the golden chair. In the king’s chair. “Hurry up, Brey. We don’t have all day,” she said. She rubbed her eyes and sat back into the chair, trying to get comfortable. But it wasn’t meant for her. The impression the king had made in the plushness of the chair made her want to call the servant back to return her chair. But no, she was ruler now. And she would sit where rulers sat.
Brey laid a pendant on the table. It was circular, a row of diamonds encasing a golden tree. “We call on the Daughters. Return to Season. Return home.”
The pendant lit up. The yellow, blue, green, and red stones shot brilliant light into the room. A gust of wind, a chill, an earthy smell, and a burning sensation filled the room in one instant.
A loud pop sounded. And then four bodies appeared.
“Welcome to Conformity Castle, the heart of Season,” Brey said into the dead air. Four pairs of eyes looked at him in wonder.
Brey bowed down, the hat that sat on top of his brown mop of hair surprisingly did not budge with the sudden downward movement. He stood up straight, running a hand down his silk shirt. “My name is Brey Sullivan. I am the late King Quilo’s Hand.” He turned to glance at Quinn. She did not smile as he made the introductions. Instead, she looked somber. “And now Queen Quinn’s.”
The four eyes that had turned on him were masked in confusion. As if he were speaking a language they didn’t know. And he might as well have been. The Daughters knew nothing. They had been left blind to their destiny.
“Eira,” Brey said nodding towards the blonde girl. “Please, have a seat,” he said, motioning for her to sit to the right of the queen.
Orla, Idalia, and Aviva watched as she stomped up to the chair. She pulled it back. A loud screech filled the room. Quinn covered her eyes.
“Don’t look at me,” Eira snapped at the girls. “I don’t know what’s going on any better than you do.”
“It will all be explained.” Brey said as Eira situated herself in the blue chair. “In due time.”
Eira looked strange; she felt it too. Out of place in her contemporary clothes while the queen sat high and proud in a great gown that billowed around her. But Eira wouldn’t let it show.
“Idalia,” Brey came around to the other side of the table. He pulled out the big golden chair with red backing. Idalia made her way to to chair and sat down quietly. She surveyed the room, not paying any real attention to what was going on. She glanced at the large, open window, to the light that it let in. It was a soft light, delicate, as it fluttered over the table and pendant.
“Orla.” She sat in the yellow chair, next to Idalia.
“Aviva.” The last girl, the youngest of the four, bowed her head as she made her way next to Eira. She was small, sunken in on herself. She looked even smaller in the grand green chair.
Eira ignored Aviva, but Orla looked across the table at her, trying to get her eyes. But Aviva hid them, looking at her hands in her lap instead of everyone around her.
Brey made his way to the top of the table, next to the queen. He paced back and forth, never stopping, and never sitting down.
“It is nice to see you all again,” Brey started.
“Again?” Orla asked, leaning towards Idalia who only shrugged.
In all this time, Queen Quinn never moved. She had turned to statue again, something she often did when things bore her. “If King Quilo hadn’t made such a mess with things, we wouldn’t be having this conversation,” she murmured. If she had intended for it to only be heard by herself, she was deftly wrong.
Brey made an effort to fix his face in front of Quinn, but inside he was boiling. It hadn’t even been a day, and already the queen was dishonoring the king and his wishes.
“You four,” Brey said, turning his back on Quinn and looking out at the table where the four girls sat. They looked lost and very, very confused. “You are the daughters of the late King Quilo of Season. With his death, you have been called back home. One of you,” he said, meeting the eyes of each girl, “will be the next Queen of Season.”
“Wait,” Eira said making Brey stop in his tracks. “We’re all daughters of this legendary king?” Her voice was covered in sarcasm. She didn’t believe a word Brey said. “And what about this queen? What happens to her?” Eira let out a sharp laugh. She turned a blue eye on Queen Quinn, looking her over.
Unease settled into the room.
“Queen Quinn is only here until one of you rise up.” Brey said.
“And, if none of you prove worthy, I am here to stay,” Quinn snapped. She didn’t have time to waste on this foolishness, nor Brey’s snarky attitude. She was Queen of Season. And it would stay that way.
“So we’re sisters?” Idalia spoke up, waving a hand about the room as if to include a multitude of people.
“Yes,” Brey answered. “This was the first time The Four were sent into a new realm to be raised. Your father, the king, thought it best if you did not reside in Season for y
our upbringing. So that only true leadership would be born from his death.”
“Or the end of us all,” Quinn quipped.
Orla brought a hand to her chest, brought aback by the queen’s anger. Instead of understanding, she felt the warmth of the necklace. The necklace that matched the pendant laying on the great table.
“Ah, yes. The necklaces,” Brey said motioning towards Orla. She dropped her hand into her lap. “It is what brought you all here tonight. And it will continue to beckon you until one is chosen and remains permanently.”
“Is this a choice?” Eira asked, her voice pitched low like she didn’t have a care in the world.
“No, unfortunately, the only choice you have is if you’re willing to do what it takes to become queen. Because it is a hard choice. A life or death choice.” Brey had stopped pacing for the first time since the girls entered the room. He looked each one in the eye, taking turns around the table. “The next Queen of Season will have no competition. She will have defeated any and all who stood in her way. Only one of you will survive.”
A deathly silence froze the girls in their seats. Aviva looked up for the first time, as if to check to see if Brey would crack a smile, to say he was joking. That all of this was some elaborate plot to give Aviva hope to get away and start anew, and then destroy it.
“You’re joking, right?” Eira said, a boisterous laugh leaving her mouth. The laugh seemed out of place in the dead room.
Brey said nothing.
And Quinn finally had a look on her face that wasn’t anger or annoyance. Instead, it was joy. Joy that she hadn’t had to endure what her daughters would have to. Joy that it only took a marriage and a death to put her on the throne.
“I don’t know what kind of joke this is,” Eira continued, rising from her seat, “but I’m out.” She pushed the chair backwards and headed for the door.
“Leave if you must. But you will return. You all will.” Quinn’s voice floated over them all. It was chilly and dark. It left a perpetual hole in the pit of their stomachs.
