by K A Riley
The words on the paper were even more bizarre than the penmanship:
Vega,
This key will open many doors. Some friendly, some deadly.
You are a Seeker.
Prove yourself worthy, and you may just save the world.
The Woman
For what felt like several minutes of profound confusion, my eyes moved back and forth between the ornate key and the note as my brain tried in vain to process the dream-like weirdness of everything that had happened since I’d woken up this morning. The odd gift and message from my Nana. Charlie and Rufus’s glowing eyes. The frozen moment in time. The key. And now the note, which, oddly enough, was the most puzzling element of them all.
“I’m being filmed,” I muttered, looking around at the assorted people and passersby in the park. “I know I’m being filmed.”
To test out my theory, I jumped up and waved my hand in the air at what I was sure must be a park full of cleverly hidden cameras. But other than startling a passing jogger who hopped to the side and gave me the stink-eye as he passed, I got no reaction.
Still on the lookout for the host of a reality show to come bursting out of the bushes, I tucked the key into the pocket of my hoodie and zipped it up. I began to walk in the direction of home, my eyes still fixed on the note in my right hand.
I’d gone about twenty feet when I nearly collided with someone.
“Watch where you’re going!” a shrill feminine voice snarled.
I pulled my eyes up to see a tall, elegant woman with bobbed, white-blond hair staring down at me. Her blue eyes were icy, the color of the sky on a cold winter’s day, and as she glared, her thin, shapely eyebrows met in a fierce expression of disgust. A coat of dark red lipstick accentuated the angry sneer on her lips.
“Sorry,” I muttered, folding up the note and jamming it into my bag.
“What’s that you have there?” she asked, eyeing the satchel strapped over my shoulder.
“What?”
“In your bag.”
“Why? Are you mugging me or something?”
The woman pulled her eyes to mine once again. Now, they no longer looked entirely blue. Instead, they seemed to have begun dancing with other colors: Gold. Red. Silver. I stared at them, mesmerized for a moment. Was it a trick of the light? Shadows dancing over her face from the tree limbs above us?
“Of course I wasn’t going to mug you,” she said, her voice taking on a smooth, charming edge as her eyes settled into a deep blue once again. “I’m so pleased to have found you, daughter of Viviane.”
“Um, yeah, I think you’ve got the wrong person,” I stammered. “My mother’s name is…Sarah.” I deliberately avoided telling her I had no mother. I could just see the psycho following me home once she figured out I was living on my own.
Shooting her as menacing a sneer as I could manage, I started to walk again, my knees trembling as I waited for her to pounce on me from behind. I’d had enough of freaky eyes and weird talk for one morning. All I wanted was to get home, shut the door, and spend the rest of my birthday quietly pretending none of this happened. But before I’d taken three steps, the woman reached out and grabbed my forearm, gripping hard enough to make me wince.
I twisted around to confront her, my jaw tensing with a sudden shot of fear.
Someone help me, I thought desperately. Anyone, please. I need help.
It was a strange impulse for me to ask for rescue, even tacitly. I’d grown so used to fending for myself and looking after my own needs that the very idea of leaning on anyone else was foreign to me. But right now, all I wanted was for someone to swoop in and save me from this menacing weirdo.
“Let go of me!” I shouted. I tried to rip my arm away, but the woman was oddly strong, her knuckles white as her grip tightened.
“I can’t do that,” she said, shaking her head, a disconcerting smile on her lips. “You’re the one we came to find. They say you’re the one who will—”
She stopped talking, slamming her mouth shut.
“Get off of me!” I hissed, my fear turning quickly to rage.
The woman, who had apparently lost her train of thought, released my arm and backed away, her eyes brimming with terror. For a second, I felt triumphant, like I’d scared her into submission with my commanding voice and expression of pure ire.
It only took a moment to realize that it wasn’t me who’d caused her to freeze, but something behind me.
Horrified that a new threat was approaching, I spun around to see a fuzzy blur sprinting in our direction at lightning speed, accelerating as it approached.
Before I could process what was happening, Rufus had leapt up and thrown all his weight at the terrified woman, slamming her backwards onto the ground. I backed away, my eyes locked on the dog, who was alternating between growling at her and staring up at me, tongue out, as though he was looking for approval. His eyes had gone gold again, an inexplicable light shining from inside him.
As I stared at him, a voice rumbled its way through my mind. I had no idea where it was coming from, but the words felt like they were spoken by someone so close I could feel them vibrating through my bones. Low and deep, the voice didn’t sound quite human…although I couldn’t say what it did sound like.
I opened my mouth to ask Rufus if he was the one speaking to me. But no, of course he wasn’t. That would have been completely off the rails.
“Get away, Vega,” the voice said. “Get far away from the woman right now. Don’t offer it to her, whatever you do. Protect it with your life.”
“Protect what? What’s going on?” I asked the air, my head twisting around to identify the speaker’s location.
The woman on the ground tried to say something, but Rufus shoved his muzzle in her face and let out a low growl, forcing her to slam her mouth shut.
“Go, Vega!” the voice repeated, this time more urgently. “Before she gets her hands on you again.”
The voice might have been mysteriously disembodied, but the advice was solid. I turned and sprinted away as fast as my legs would carry me. I darted through the park’s gate only to be stopped in my tracks when a tall figure stepped directly into my path.
I let out a shriek only to realize that Callum Drake was standing in front of me. Without a word he reached for my shoulders, the heat from his palms sinking deep into my skin as I struggled to calm my harrowed breaths. Staring into my eyes with the same look I’d seen in the bookshop—the one that made me feel like he could read me—he loosened his grip but still held me steady, a much-needed support for which I was grateful. I felt like I was about to pass out, and he was the only thing keeping me from sinking to the ground.
“Vega,” he said, “Are you all right?”
I shook my head. Maybe it was the tears welling up in my eyes that made his irises look as though they were glowing in the sunlight, a shade of blue seeming to radiate both hot and cold at once. A sudden urge possessed me to bury myself against his chest and ask him to hold me. But instead, I wrapped my arms around myself and trembled.
“What happened?” he asked.
“There was a woman,” I said. “She…” I spun around, looking for the well-dressed lunatic who’d been lying on the ground and the dog who’d pinned her, but all I saw was a scruffy gray squirrel hopping across the path about twenty feet away.
“I don’t understand,” I said under my breath.
“Something’s freaked you out,” Callum said. “Come on, I’ll take you home.”
I shook my head again. “You have to work. It’s okay, I can get there on my own.”
“I’m sure you can. Let me at least get you inside the shop to catch your breath. You look like you’ve seen a ghost eating another ghost. Don’t worry,” he added as I started to protest, “I’m on my lunch break.”
I nodded, too shaken to resist.
He put a protective arm around my shoulder and guided me across the street toward the bookstore, which had a quickly-scrawled “Back in Five Minutes�
�� note taped inside the front door. When we arrived, he led me inside, locking the door behind us.
“Callum,” I said, “You’re sure I’m okay to stay here a minute?” My eyes were moving between him and the window. I was fully expecting someone—or maybe something—to come crashing into the place. “I don’t want to get you in any trouble.”
“Mr. Worrell won’t care. From what I hear, you’re his best customer.”
“I don’t mean about that,” I said, glancing out the window to the street where strange events seemed to be tagging along after me like a litter of insane and potentially dangerous puppies.
“You can stay here as long as you like,” he said, stepping closer. He reached up and pushed a strand of hair behind my ear. The heat in his touch was a comfort, a reminder that he and I were both alive and safe. “What happened out there?”
“The woman I mentioned,” I said. “She was really weird. I mean, she looked wealthy and elegant, but she was so…creepy. She grabbed me, but Rufus stopped her…”
“Rufus?” Callum asked.
“Charlie’s dog…” I shook my head. “You know what? It doesn’t matter. This has been the craziest morning of my life, and to be honest I’m not sure I really want to talk about it.”
“Of course.” We stared at one another for a moment before Callum puffed out a quick breath.
“Listen,” he said, “I should really help get you home. Where do you live? I can offer you a ride.”
“It’s not far. I can walk.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yes,” I said, pushing myself up and then nearly toppling over.
Callum put a supporting hand out, which I grabbed. I felt safe once again, but also incurably stupid. “Maybe I’ll take you up on that ride,” I managed to mumble. “If you’re sure you can knock off from work without getting fired.”
“I’ll risk it.”
We headed out the rear exit to Callum’s beat-up old Honda, and I directed him the few blocks to my house. Along the way, I had to muster every ounce of strength to stop my hands from shaking.
“Thanks,” I said when we’d pulled up to the curb. My breathing had slowed by now, and I’d begun to feel foolish for being so afraid of a well-dressed woman in a public park. What exactly could she have done to me, anyhow? “I’m sorry I’m such a mess. It’s stupid, I know, to run away from someone like that.”
“It’s not stupid,” he said, the words low and quiet. “You followed your instincts. Never second-guess yourself in times of crisis. Do you hear me?”
I narrowed my eyes at him. The way he spoke once again made him sound like he’d had way more life experience than a seventeen-year-old should.
“I’ll take that advice,” I said.
“Good.”
My hand reached for the car door handle, though I hesitated to open it. Doing so would mean walking away from Callum, and I didn’t know when the next time was that we’d see each other.
“Tonight,” he said, reading my mind again. “I’ll be there. I’ll be keeping an eye out for you.”
I gawked at him, puzzled by his seeming interest in me. Why would a boy who was so impressive, so intriguing, so…different from any other boy I’d ever met…keep an eye out for a girl like me? The park would be teeming with far more interesting people tonight. If I wasn’t a nobody in his eyes now, I’d definitely be one by then.
“Why would you watch for me?” I laughed.
“For many reasons. Not the least of which is that you’re beautiful. I’d be a fool not to keep an eye out for you—even if you choose to cover your lovely face with a mask.”
I opened my mouth to say something self-deprecating but decided against it. I supposed that one of these days I should finally learn to take a compliment.
Fighting back the desire to put myself down, I opened the door and climbed out before turning and leaning into the door frame. “Thank you, Callum,” I said with an awkward smile.
“You’re welcome,” he replied.
As I watched his car accelerate down the street, an unfamiliar ache found its way into my chest, an unwelcome sense of hollowness. It was like a part of me had been torn away with Callum’s departure.
Great. I was already falling for the boy with the bright eyes, and I’d only just met him.
“Careful, Vega,” I said under my breath as I headed up the walkway toward my house. “Just be careful.”
When I’d made my way into the house, I trudged up to my second-floor bedroom. I unzipped my pocket and reached inside, hoping to find that the entire incident in the park had been a figment of my imagination. But when my fingers wrapped themselves around the strange key Charlie had given me, I winced. Part of me hoped I’d only imagined it into existence, that it was all part of some intricate hallucination brought on by some dormant psychosis, or, preferably, by my lack of breakfast.
Reluctantly, I pulled the key out of my pocket and stared at it for a moment before meandering over to the mirror next to my closet. After a moment of contemplation, I pulled the silver chain my grandmother had sent me out from under my collar and reached around for the clasp. But as I pulled gently at the chain, no clasp revealed itself. I kept yanking until I was certain I’d done at least two full rotations, inspecting every inch of the chain. It seemed impossible, but somehow, it had fused itself into one long, slinking silver coil around my neck.
“But how am I supposed to…” I muttered, holding the key up to see if there was some sort of mechanism on its back I could use to fasten it.
Even as I did this, the dangling chain lifted itself, pulling toward the key as though some powerful magnetic force had sparked to life inside it. Before I knew it, the key was hanging from my neck, the chain looped through one of its small openings.
On a whim I wrapped my fingers around the key and pulled. It came away easily in my hand, but by some miracle, the chain remained intact.
Once again, I brought the key close to the chain, and the two bonded in the same way as they had the first time. It was the strangest, most baffling magic trick I’d ever seen, and apparently, I was the one who’d performed it.
“What have you gotten me into, Nana?” I asked before tucking the key inside my shirt.
All of a sudden, I felt exhausted. Too much had happened. My brain was on overdrive, and I needed a rest. I spun around, marched across the room, and threw myself down onto my bed. Flipping onto my back, I tossed my arm over my eyes, shutting out the daylight.
“Enough. Enough with this freaking day.”
Will
I drifted into a long, deep sleep.
After a time, I began to dream I was walking down a forest path, a light beckoning me in the distance. I strolled toward it, calm but wary, my pace picking up as a feeling of foreboding began to overtake me. The trees had begun closing in around me, looking to trap me between their oppressive limbs.
As I picked up my pace to a jog, trying to escape the feeling of claustrophobia, the sound of baying wolves began to call out from behind me. I broke into a jog, then a full-out run, but the ominous canine shrieking only grew louder and louder. Terrified, I sprinted toward the source of light in the distance, breathing a sigh of relief when I spotted the outline of a large stone structure rising up before me. Towers, parapets—a massive, looming castle that looked like something out of the Middle Ages. White flags with a symbol I couldn’t quite make out flew atop the turrets.
I ran as fast as I could, aching to escape the encroaching woods, to get to the castle and find shelter from the wolves, who were so close behind me now I could feel the heat of their breath on my heels. I could smell their damp fur, hear their paws strike the ground with the force of a hundred mallets. I tore ahead, knowing if they caught up with me, I’d be torn to shreds.
A hard, shrill cry from somewhere high overhead drew my eyes upwards. At first glance it looked as though a large bird was circling, its expansive wings spread like sails, filling half the sky above the treetops. But as I dashed ahea
d and the trees gave way to a large clearing leading to the castle, the flying creature began its descent toward me. Relief filled me like a drug. Something told me the bird was there to help, to drive away the wolves and carry me to safety.
But when it came crashing to earth, its massive talons digging into the hard ground, I screamed. The flying creature was no bird. It was a dragon, and its mouth was open, sparks bursting to life at the back of its throat.
I was caught between two enemies. One would tear me to pieces, the other would burn me into a lump of coal, and it was up to me to decide which way I would die.
The muffled sound of a male voice stirred me from sleep and saved me from dying in my dream. Disoriented and clammy with sweat, I rolled over and fumbled for my phone, the intense dream fading into wisps of fragmented images.
“Damn,” I said as I stared at the screen. “Four o’clock. How could you let me sleep that long?” I asked. Thankfully, the phone didn’t answer me.
As memories of the morning’s bizarre events and my harrowing nightmare came flooding back, my heart began to race. But when I closed my eyes and focused on the sound of a cheerful young man singing to himself, a feeling of calm swept over me. A smile traced its way over my lips as I realized that the voice belonged to someone I’d missed all summer.
“Will!” I yelled out, leaping off the bed and out of my room. I sprinted down the stairs and into the kitchen where I threw myself into my brother’s waiting arms. Laughing hysterically, he stumbled back against the counter as I crashed into him hard enough to shake the dishes drying in the silver rack by the sink.
“Jeez, Vega, I was wondering if you were going to sleep the whole time I was here!” he chuckled as he released me. He shot me an appraising look before adding, “You’ve gotten taller over the summer, you know.”
“I still have a ways to go before I catch up to you,” I laughed. Will was 6’1” and there was no way I was ever going to catch up to him—not that I particularly wanted to. More likely I’d be my mother’s height—nice and average—which was fine with me.
