Poison

by J P Anderson

  "Nothing to worry about, he has too much pride to tell anyone." Alister whispered. Again the overwhelming feeling that she was thirteen surfaced. He held out his hand and she took it, holstering herself up. They started to walk off leaving an unconscious Acruz on the ground. She looked into her conscious and it was too filled with the past to just leave him there. She walked over and looked down at him, he looked up astonished. She smiled and said remembering a catch phrase she had overused.

  "A storm is coming…watch your back." His face tightened before he snapped.

  "If I was you I would be more worried with my own back than one of your enemy. I will do to you, what I did to your mother and what I'm going to do to your sister and there is nothing you can do about it but sit back and watch it happen." she felt childish rage fill her. She wanted nothing more than to walk over there and hit him really hard across the face but she knew that;

  I wasn't a child

  I have a reputation to uphold

  If she does nothing, revenge with be sooooo much sweeter.

  "You would be surprised what I would do to a venomous serpent like yourself if I didn't have other plans for you." she bit her lip, smiling and shrugged her shoulders acting innocent while she imaged her round house kicking him, sending him flying out the window flickered in and out of her mind.

  "Ditto my princess of the Night" he said weakly disappearing into a fine red dust that dissolved into nothing before it hit the ground.

  "Leave this place sweetness, it's not safe, you're not safe, please, leave" went across her mind in such sincere beseeching, making her nauseous. Holy shit, that was like a really intense conversation. We're had I heard that, sweetness. The dream, Acruz had called me 'his sweetness' at the ball in my dream, none of this made any sense. Why would Acruz, threaten my life, and then tell me to leave because I wasn't safe? Safe from whom? Him, that seemed contradictory, to say the very least. Goodness my head hurt. She stood there for a long while just staring at the floor until she eventually turned to face Alister. For some reason she couldn't force herself to hate Acruz, his eyes made her knees weak and her heart flutter and that was going to need to be put to a stop.

  "Who knew he was so damn creepy." Alister said trying to relive the tension that contorted her body. You're just tired Gen, that what's making you shake. But for some reason, she couldn't make herself believe that one.

  …

  Genevieve dusted off her pants and they started to walk again half flirting half casually talking about their lives when she heard the footsteps and yelps of a familiar voice.

  "Ma'am I mean Genevieve! Your bag!" Gen turned and smiled as Joshua ran to her with her bag in his hand.

  "Oh thank you Joshua always happy to see you." He cheeks caught on fire with blush.

  "No problem princess it was my pleasure." he bowed but she used her nail to bring his head up and stared into his slate blue eyes.

  "I am no more a princess than you are." she said smiling and taking the bag from him like a loving mother. She was tense the rest of the way to her room, her bones hurt like she had been working in the mines all day. Alister, being the very clever man-elf-whatever he was, noticed and stopped her.

  "What's wrong Genevieve?" she closed her eyes like she had been caught red handed with the cookie jar and turned to him.

  "Nothing," she answered and too quickly looked away. She thought he was about to call her on it, but he simply let it go and changed his tone to hostess.

  "This is your room. Would you like me to show what's what?" she wanted him to, she really did. But she needed to be alone. This day was tarring down her crazy factor. She shook her head and opened the door. She turned, stared at him and then closed the door with him on the other side. She heaved a great sigh.

  "Holy shit" she said peered around her room. Silk curtains covered bay windows that open up to a west facing balcony. Selves filled with thick dusty novels covered the bookcases and huge mahogany desk. A fire giant brick fireplace sat to the left of her queen sized bed with trellis and all.

  "And they say they weren't expecting me, God only knows what they would have done if they had any time." she said running her finger down the spins of the books.

  "Eaton cotton is that sort of like Egyptian cotton?" she questioned looking at the silk tab on the end of the softest fabric she had ever laid a hand on. Then with no warning she just let it go, her bag dropped to the ground from her clenched shoulder and she stepped back.

  I'm a horrible person, I lie I cheat and I steal on a regular basic. This isn't real, I don't deserve to be whisked off to some palace while there are people like Peter who do what there suppose to do and get kicking all the time. Peter disserved more of me, I'm his best friend for Pete sake. I have to help him in some way. And even though her bed was within reach, she went to the somehow fully clothed armoire and donned a blue dress. Thank God it isn't pink. Who the hell had the time to fully fill my closet with dresses? Oh right, castles have servants. I will sincerely never get use to that. She bent down and got her bag off the floor, it was bulking and almost overflowing with clothing, she empted out all of the cloths and walked down with hall with her bag on her shoulder and her phone gripped tightly in her left arm. She walked to the front of the castle swiftly making her silk dress sway under her written on broken van sneakers. I could walk, but I have no clue where I'm going on foot, I rode on the back of Therius's horse unconscious so perhaps on foot wouldn't be the smartest choice. Stables are on the side of the castle. She walked into the stables and walked down a line of horses.

  "Okay, so which one of you won't throw me off twenty zillion times?" she asked having never ridden a horse. A white horse walked to her and held down his head for her to pet.

  "Oh yes, you will do just fine." she pulled the horse out of the stall and stood on the side, examining a means of entry. She breathed out mumbling an "Okay you can do this" motioned her head to either side as if she were cracking her neck and adjusted her shoulders as if crack her back. She put her right foot into the holders and swung her left foot around behind the horse's hind quarters.

  "Whoo hoo I did it!" she exclaimed. The horse reared up but she quickly grabbed onto the reins.

  "Okay, um, go." The horse went alright, full speed down the huge winding dirt road down and then stopped at the edge of the very same village she visited earlier this morning.

  "Goodness horse! When I say stop the first thirty times I mean it!" she yelled throwing herself off the horse right in front of the only sign of life in the whole town, a tiny little shop, which sign read Perfect Poison, Bates and Brothers. She tied up the white horse to a hook and opened the door.

  "Hello?" A burly middle aged man with an apron on came out for a swinging door in the back.

  "Hello little lady, lost are we?" he asked staring at her with his chocolate brown eyes. She looked around, all the chairs were up on their corresponding tables, the flames were recently doused and his apron was untied. He was closed and she was barging in late at night.

  "No, I don't want to bother you I'll just leave." She turned to go.

  "I will have nothing of the sort, come on in, I will get you something to eat. The name's Samuel Elton Bates, hence the sign although I'm the only Bates left. But you, little lady, can call me Sam." he said in such a calm sweet tone as he took down all three chairs from a table. He held out his hand. She smiled and shook it heartily.

  "Genevieve,"

  "Genevieve Grave, is it not?" she snapped her head up before he even finished.

  "Calm yourself little lady, I won't let your secret out, although I am wondering about your means of transportation." She glanced at the horse which was now sitting staring down the street.

  "Oh, yeah, it was good until I got on," she sighed "why do you ask?" she looked up.

  "Oh nothing, I just use to know the owner." he said still staring at it as if flashing back. She snickered.

  "Well you can tell them I stole their horse." she looked up again but he was gone, th
e door to the kitchen swinging. A boy came out with a glass cup in all sorts of a rush as if pushed. He pushed back his wavy auburn hair back.

  "Um, here, something called Mountain Dew for the princess." she looked in astonishment at the yellow liquid.

  "How did you-"

  "We thought you might be coming," he said his blue eyes looking very skeptical.

  "How would you know I was coming?" he pulled out the chair next to her and sat in it backwards.

  "Well Gen, can I call you Gen?" he talked to so fast in reminded her of home.

  "Sure," she agreed hesitantly taking a sip of her warm Mountain dew (gross).

  "It's like-"

  "It isn't like anything, get back to the kitchen boy," Sam said swatting at his head with a rag.

  "I'm Regulus, by the way, just in case you wanted to know-"

  "She didn't, go to the kitchen now Mr. Stone." Sam ordered in a serious tone and then cracked a smile at him and pointed at the door.

  "I expect great things from you Gen, I know you be very dear to me by the end of all of this." he shouted as the door closed behind him. She opened her mouth in complete question.

  "You'll have to excuse Regulus. He's a bit of a psychic." he said as if it were a condition.

  "So he saw me coming," she guessed although it was pretty much common knowledge to be psychic or teleport, she feared she would never get use to that.

  "We both did," he said nonchalantly putting a basket on her table and sitting in the chair that Regulus didn't sit in.

  "I'm never going to get use to having everyone know everything before me."

  "Not everyone Miss, just a few unlucky folks." Sam said, looking away into the distance.

  "It would be awesome to be able to see into the future, what are you talking about?"

  "Knowing what's going to occur, doesn't mean you can stop what's going to happen, just makes you feel responsible for whatever does, or doesn't come to pass." He as if it were advice about baseball. She thought of Acruz. Now she understood why he was so crazy. Regulus came back with a loaf of bread and sat where he was sitting.

  "So tell me more about my sister's wedding." she said looking from Regulus to Sam.

  "Well, she is marring Acruz." Sam said scratching the back of his head.

  "Something I didn't already know if you don't mind." she added annoyed.

  "Well, were not exactly in on the hot gossip, but Hilary said that Acruz came in on a boat this very morning and was been pretty much silent. Apparently he doesn't like the arranged marriage as much as some people." Regulus said raising his eye brows as he stood and brushed off the tables with a rag. A spark of hope flashed into her heart.

  "Acruz is being forced to marry Andria?" She blurted with too much of a hopeful undertone.

  "Yes," Regulus answered slowly, "his father, Hunter, apparently was very disappointed with his son and told him to make a name of himself or leave Akadia forever." Hunter, because being the king of the scariest place in Akadia isn't enough, nor is having the scariest kid, you also have to have a scary name, splendid.

  "Um, which way to the forest of Eaton?" she asked abruptly. All this talk of Acruz was starting to make her uncomfortable and she was on a mission. Not to mention she hadn't slept for more than thirty hours now.

  "The forest's edge is on the outskirts of the town. Why? It's two thirty in the morning Genevieve, isn't it a bit late to stroll in a monster infested forest?" Regulus asked arching his eyebrow. She sighed, she was awful at lying. Come on Gen, you can do this, you are a thief, you eat nails for breakfast your tough stuff. Just breathe and let something flow.

  "I lost my earring, I think I might have dropped it, and I'm, retracing my footsteps." Good job Gen that was the worst lie ever told. Your earring, really. Heavy sigh. Regulus just smiled, and nodded.

  "I'll be seeing you Gen. Oh, and good luck with the earring." He said with a laugh as he walked to the back of the store.

  "Bye," she whispered to no one.

  "Genevieve," Sam called, she turned immediately.

  "Yes," she said too quickly. He paused, as if calculating what he should tell her.

  "Watch your back, things here might seem magical, but even magic has a dark side." she nodded with what might have been a scared expression if she hadn't been so tired that emotions hardly even showed on her drugged face.

  "Whatever the hell that means!" she practically screamed with a fake smile. "God I hate riddle, just say what you mean for Christ sake." she said mumble as she walked outside in a daze and jumped on the horse absent mindedly and fell off the other side. She sat there on her side for a moment gathering what just happened before she jumped up again and got on and slid off the other side. She sighed from the ground and pushed her hair from out of her face.

  "Alright, you want to play dirty. Let's play dirty." She went to the fence next to where the horse was tied and hopped, grabbing onto the top and pulling herself up. She lifted her foot over and holstered herself on top of the fence. She wobbled waving her hands about trying to regain balance. She cracked her neck and jumped to where the horse's back was. But as she jumped the horse walked forward and Genevieve fell to the dirt ground with a loud thud. The horse whinnied and kicked dust into her face.

  "Ouch!" she screamed along with other words. She sat there, angry enough to spit. What was different, I just jumped on last time. She sighed wiping her dirtied face. She could have sworn she heard a familiar laugh in the distance but when she listened harder and heard nothing she decided it must have been the wind.

  "Horse, you're going to get turned into glue if you don't let me ride you." she yelled and then put her hand over her mouth when she relieved she was on a street where people where sleeping and she was causing a scene at two thirty in the God forsaken morning. Okay, just be patient. Ask it nicely.

  "Okay, this is going to sound silly. May I ride you?" she asked looking into the horses black eyes. It gave a whinny and shook its head up and down.

  "'cause that's not weird at all." she muttered putting her foot in the holster and pushing herself up. Once she was up she threw her hands up.

  "Ya ta!" she yelled and then pierced her dry lips together. She trotted along pondering the information she had gathered about Akadia.

  "So, in retrospect, I learned that Acruz is being forced to marry Andria by his father who will make him go to Earth if he doesn't." she passed all kinds of shops and homes all dreary and dark from snuffed lamps and drowsy heads.

  It just can't be real, it defies all logic. Having powers to do things that normal people can't do. Another world separated by a wooden door. It just isn't real. And yet, here I am, riding a horse through a wooden planked town filled with sleeping Akadian's which I am their princess of. I, the oldest of the Grave children and, heir to the throne of the capital of Akadia, the measly Genevieve X, hood and riffraff of Jefferson High. My sister, whom I never had any knowledge of, is about to marry the man who killed the mother I never knew. It's all just too much to handle. All too much for my brain to add up. Perhaps this all is some cocaine induced dream. That would make far more since even though the only drugs I've touched are alcohol and coffee.

  She arrived at the end of the town and the beginning of the Forest of Eaton twenty minutes of soliloquy later. The horse trotted through the cut path from earlier this morning.

  "One would think I would be more, well I'm not exactly sure, skeptical. You know? One would think I would be freaking out but all of this just seems like home. Like it shouldn't be weird so it isn't. You know? I guess you really don't." She sighed. I'm talking to a horse, an evil horse at that. I really have hit some sort of personal low. Once she reached the door then she had difficulties.

  "Horse, I'm going to have to leave you here. I hope you understand." she tried to swing her leg over but ended up face down on the ground. She sighed and pushed herself up. Approaching the door she tried to remember exactly what Paige had done earlier.

  "Did she put her hand on the knocker, or
did she turn the knob. Maybe she knocked. I don't remember grrr." she knocked awkwardly with her knuckles, no success. Then with the A knocker, no prevail.

  "Use the force Luke. Feel it guide you." she whispered to herself in a horrible attempt at Obi Wan. God I love that name. I just need to center my inner witch. That is what I am, a witch. A witch that can stop time and heal über fast and can also totally figure out how to open a stupid door. A door which everyone else I know in this world knows how to work. Maybe I can send one of those witch messages to someone and ask them how to open the door. But then the question of why I'm at the door in the first place would pop up and that just wouldn't be good now would it? So I have to do this solo. Solo Gen. She stopped her soliloquy to no one and did the unthinkable. She tried turning the door knob. A granite tablet slid out above the knob with green goo in the shape of hand engraved in the stone. She did a silent victory dance and then went back to the task at hand.