Sabrina smiled, inhaling deeply as she set out at a slow pace. Her shoes made naught but a whisper of sound upon the floor as she walked. The hall was silent except for the occasional servant that passed by. As she passed them, each moved out of her path and gave her a low bow. The only sign of recognition that Sabrina gave to them was a smirk. She had never been fond of her servants. She hated how pathetically they tried to show their devotion to her and the Queen.
As she entered a room, built from more stone and a block of solid ice that was made never to melt, she halted. The room was well lit though there was no visible source of light. Nearly twenty feet in front of her stood a great throne made of ice. Behind it, the rest of the room was dark, as if the light had hit an invisible barrier, unable to penetrate it. The same tint of green filled the room.
“My Queen,” Sabrina said as she made a graceful bow. The Queen was not in sight, though Sabrina knew she was hidden in the darkness. Silence followed for a moment before Sabrina stood up and continued to speak. “I have great news.” This time, she waited for the Queen’s reply.
“Then do not stop speaking,” the Queen replied, still out of sight. “Tell me your news if it is so great.”
Sabrina continued to speak normally, though almost anyone else would have stammered in response to the tone the Queen had spoken in.
“Katie’s graduation will be held tomorrow evening at her school. Naturally, everyone in the room will be focused on the stage where the graduates will stand. Katie’s parents do not plan to attend it so that they can be home and make sure everything is safe. As we speak, Katie is driving home, and when she gets there, her parents will tell her everything; who she is and where she came from. The Dimes have been preparing for this for over seventeen years, getting ready for us to make our move. They expect us to do so soon.”
Sabrina heard an intake of breath. Still, no one else was visible.
As Sabrina continued, the Queen stayed hidden in the shadows.
“This will make it easy for us to make our move. We will set the school auditorium on fire just before the ceremony, buying us time so that when Katie arrives home, we will have already left.”
“Very well,” the Queen replied, her cruel voice sounding out. “That will be perfect. I must ask, though, you do remember the overall plan?”
Sabrina smiled slightly. “Yes, of course,” she reassured her Queen. “This leads me to bring you even greater news, my Queen. Katie’s father, John Dimes, you remember him?”
“Yes, of course! How could I not?” the Queen replied. “It was I who killed his father and his father before that. And that is why tomorrow night must go flawlessly. John Dimes has broken the chain and had a daughter instead of a son.”
“I understand completely, My Queen,” Sabrina said. “Which is why I have developed this plan. I will be seeing the Dimes myself in their home. By tomorrow, Katie will know who she is and from there, it is only a matter of time before her powers reveal themselves.”
“Which is precisely why she will need to be eliminated. She is the first daughter of the Dimes family, which means the power of their family line will cease after her. John did well in making us believe that he had a son, to keep her safe,” the Queen replied directly, a tone of warning clear in her voice. “The daughter will be at her most vulnerable when all those she cares about are gone. Therefore, she must be kept alive. To do otherwise will destroy our chance of success.”
A silence followed. The Queen’s voice sounded dangerous, hateful and scared. Sabrina did not speak. After a few moments, the Queen spoke, her cold voice shattering the icy silence.
“You have stopped speaking. Is there a problem?”
“No, my apologies, My Queen,” Sabrina assured. She proceeded to tell the Queen the rest of her plan. “When the auditorium is attacked, Katie’s powers will ensure that she knows how to save everyone, and she will do exactly that; it is in her blood. By the time the danger is over, she will likely tell those closest to her who she really is. After that, she will return home. Whether she brings her friends with her or not does not matter.”
“Who are these friends of hers?” the Queen asked.
“If I’m not mistaken, by tomorrow night, it will only be Tyson,” Sabrina answered.
“Ah, the human, correct?” the Queen asked.
“Yes, my Queen,” Sabrina said. “He will not matter. His life or death will not factor into the plan. By the time Katie arrives home, John Dimes will be our prisoner and we will have retrieved the item.” Sabrina sounded proud as she said all this. She knew what she was doing, and she knew she was good. That was why the Queen trusted her so much.
“And her mother?” asked the Queen.
“Her mother will put up a great fight, no doubt. She will probably try to save her husband, foolish woman. She won’t understand we need him alive. As I said, we will capture John Dimes and contain him deep in Viscar Mountains,” Sabrina answered. It was clear she had a great strategy. “By the end of it, his wife will be dead.”
The Queen finally stepped out of the shadows. She was tall, her skin a pale gray. Her hair was pure white. She looked unnatural, deadly, and her dark eyes only added to her eerie appearance. The Queen wore a long silver dress that had a slight train. With every step she took, the dress dragged on the floor behind her. Her feet were bare on the cool, stone floor.
A golden crown sat atop the Queen’s head. There wasn’t much beauty in her now, though many years ago there may have been. What made her even more unpleasant to look at was the dark and evil aura that accompanied her presence.
“I must admit that this is good work,” the Queen smiled and showed her teeth, straight but dulled as though ancient. “I always had great confidence in you. But tomorrow you must prove your worth. If anything goes awry, it will be you who pays the price.”
There was a silence that Sabrina relished, although she was being threatened. Sabrina knew the Queen had full confidence in her abilities and was just saying the words. She knew that her Queen was pleased. The Queen smiled again and looked up. She closed her eyes and began to murmur something inaudible. Sabrina waited, watching her Queen savor the moments before their greatest victory.
“Is there a chance that you will fail?” the Queen asked. Her head was facing the ceiling and her eyes were still closed. Her voice was accusatory as if she was expecting bad news. “How do I know that you have worked every step of this out, every move the Dimes family might make, and have ensured our desired result despite everything that might be thrown at us?”
Sabrina answered patiently, knowing that her Queen’s redundant questions were just a test, a test to see if she would break under pressure.
“The plan will not,” Sabrina promised, “I will not fail you, my Queen.” Sabrina took a short bow. She spoke with confidence and superiority, which seemed to calm the Queen. “I have gone through all the possibilities. I hand-picked my most reliable servants for this and have put each one of them through vigorous training. We are exceptionally prepared. The plan will not fail.”
At this, the Queen smiled again. “Excellent. Excellent,” she spoke in barely a whisper, but her voice echoed to every corner of the empty room. She opened her eyes to look at Sabrina, who was standing still. The Queen walked towards her and did not stop until she was right in front of Sabrina. Subtly, Sabrina straightened herself up.
“Sabrina,” the Queen said. “My daughter, Princess of Narque. You have done very well so far, do not make me regret what I am about to do. You were raised as a princess, born as one. You have now truly earned your title. Together, you and I get to set our kind free, set our world free. Long ago, the Dimes trapped us for an eternity. But we will break through. They will perish as we prevail, and our people will live in prosperity forevermore.”
“I won’t let you regret your choices, my Queen,” Sabrina replied.
The Queen walked around Sabrina, inspecting her. Twice she walked around before stopping in front of her daughter again, brus
hing her face slightly with her hand.
“Of course not,” the Queen spoke so suddenly that if anyone else had been in the room, they would have flinched, but Sabrina remained composed and still. “You will need your own crown, a tiara perhaps,” the Queen gave a small, almost fake, laugh. “But I shouldn’t say it like that. This isn’t some fairytale on Earth, where each daughter is taught that they can be whoever they wish to be. It is untrue, of course. Not everyone is meant to be royalty. But this is real. And we will save our world from the evil that had taken it so long ago.”
“Please, my Queen,” Sabrina said. “There is no need–”
“There will be no need,” the Queen interjected, “For you to call me ‘Queen.’” Call me by my name, or mother, if you so wish to.”
“My Queen, mother,” Sabrina said, her voice not as strong and certain as it had been. “I do not know your name.”
“Nayara,” the Queen answered. “Call me Queen Nayara.”
Sabrina smiled and bowed slightly. “It is an honor, Queen Nayara. Would you like me to call upon the men I have chosen for this task?”
“You are on top of things, as a princess should be,” Queen Nayara said. “But there is no need for that. They are already here.” The Queen pointed to the entrance of the room. “It does seem that you have trained them well.”
Sabrina whirled around. She saw three people in the doorway.
“Tell them to come,” Nayara instructed her daughter in a low voice.
“Enter,” Sabrina commanded.
At once, the three figures obeyed. Upon a closer look, one would realize that one of the men was not a man; indeed, he was not even human but a goblin-like creature. Five feet from Sabrina and the Queen, the three got down on their knees and put their heads down in a low bow.
A fourth one came in. He was a short human-like creature with two small leaves growing out of his bald, grayish-green head. This one was one of Queen Nayara’s personal servants.
“Practicus, I need you to make Princess Sabrina a tiara of white gold, with five places to fit gems. We will provide you with the gems as we acquire them,” she told the creature. “Make it well and make it sturdy. On the day of the Duo, once we achieve our final victory, Sabrina will be crowned Princess of Narque. This will be the day when we have ridden our world of the dark forces that stole it from us. On that day, all the Palatinii will be dead.”
The creature bowed and said in a raspy voice,” Yes, my Queen,” before running out of the room to follow his orders.
Queen Nayara then turned back to Sabrina and the others. “The time has come for our future to be made and salvaged. The time has come to take our world and place our people in a position of power and wealth where they belong and to give them the freedom they have been denied for centuries.”
Sabrina’s men gave small, war-like cheers, though the three of them did not sound as impressive as she would have hoped.
“Once the Dimes and the rest of the Palatinii are gone, we will shine a new light on our world. From there we will travel between the worlds, sharing our wealth and success with all. We will lead them, rule over them so that everyone has a chance to become something great. A new dawn will stare everyone in the face whether they choose to accept it or not. This is for the greater good.
“After that, all the worlds will be ours.”
3
Water, Pie, and a Whole New World
“Dad?” Katie asked as she walked into her apartment from the elevator. The apartment itself had two floors. Its entrance hall was well lit and a pattern of entwined vines crept along its walnut walls. The light came from two large chandeliers and a series of small bulbs that jutted out from the walls. Watercolor paintings lined the walls between the lights.
The Dimes family lived in a large penthouse about fifteen minutes from Katie’s high school. Tyson and his mother lived in a smaller penthouse a few blocks away, both having decided that they didn’t need so much room with just the two of them.
“Dad?” Katie asked again. “Mom?” She put her bag down and started the walk to the kitchen. Along the way, she passed a hall that led to the living room and a staircase that went upstairs to the bedrooms.
“Katie! Good, you’re home!” Katie heard her mom, Natasha, as she entered the kitchen. Natasha was wearing a white shirt with pink roses on it and was washing a large pot.
Katie noticed that the rosy shirt was torn in three places. “What happened to your shirt?” she asked.
“Oh, this was just Kitty,” Natasha said. “I have to get her claws tamed down a bit, she loves tearing anything she can with those things. She only recently started but has been on a frenzy since. Don’t worry about that, though, your father and I must have a few words with you.”
“Yeah, he said we needed to talk when he called earlier. I saw something weird on the drive home. What’s going on?” Katie questioned.
Natasha leaned in and gave Katie a worried hug, still holding a pot in one hand and drying cloth in the other. “Let me get your father.” Natasha put the pot away and whisked out of the kitchen and into the dining room, leaving the sink tap with running water.
Katie shook her head and closed her eyes. She then realized that her mother’s wet shirt had made her shirt damp as well. Katie loved her parents, she truly did. But sometimes they were parents. And parents are who they are. Which means that parents will do what parents do. What can you say?
Katie opened her eyes and let out a gasp of shock, stumbling back until she hit the counter. The very real, very solid kitchen that she had just been in was suddenly very much not solid; it was liquid. Everything was liquid, giving the room a light, translucent blue tone. She could still clearly make out the shapes of everything even though it was all made entirely out of water.
The sink was what caught Katie’s attention. Like everything else in the kitchen, it was made of water, and the tap was still on, leaving a stream of water flowing out of it as if everything were normal. But everything just wasn’t normal.
Katie couldn’t find any explanation for it.
“Would you stop that, Katie?” asked a calm voice. Her father entered the kitchen. He was holding a paper, or rather, a water plate with a liquid pie on it in his hands. “It ruins the taste, and I was quite enjoying my pumpkin pie. Not to mention, it makes me get a belly.” John Dimes patted his stomach which, though not large, protruded ever so slightly, giving him the appearance of a soon-to-be jolly old man.
“I-I’m not d-doing anything,” Katie stuttered, though she still felt responsible. Her father just stared at her.
She touched the refrigerator. It was solid, or as solid as liquid could feel at least. Katie wasn’t sure how to describe it to herself. She pushed her hand into the refrigerator and her hand sunk in. She gasped, withdrew her hand and inspected it. There wasn’t even the smallest droplet of water on her hand, though it had felt like it was submerged underwater when it went through the fridge.
“What’s happening?” she asked, scared.
“Well, you turned the kitchen into water,” John said. “You can fix this.”
“How?” Katie asked, not knowing why she didn’t say something about the situation not being real.
“Picture the kitchen as you know it,” John Dimes said.
Katie closed her eyes, took a deep breath and imagined the normal kitchen marble and color. When she opened her eyes, everything had returned to normal. The refrigerator was its usual black, the floor tiles were normal, and the cupboards were all white and made of wood again. The counters were topped with their normal porcelain tile. It all looked as though nothing had happened at all.
“See? I told you it was your fault,” John said, jokingly. He was very calm. Katie noticed that her mother was also very calm. Katie didn’t understand. She wasn’t calm.
What the hell is happening? Is this some late April Fools’ Day joke?
Palatinii Cycle Page 3
