by Kristen Day
Convincing Leigh was the easy part. I ran into Kinga more often in those two days than I had in nearly two months of being in Beyond. Each time I saw her I kept my eyes stoically away from hers, I didn’t need her seeing the truth behind my eyes. I also did my best not to talk to her. Each time I saw her I hurried past so it would look like I was busy doing something, which I usually was, but I could tell she kept trying to talk to me and I knew the longer I avoided her the more annoyed and determined she would become to talk to me.
Six o’clock on the evening we were to depart saw our small party of volunteers eating quietly in a somber dining room. Max and Avery were talking in hushed voices across from Michael and I. Gregor was scribbling madly on a paper napkin, Michael was whispering the plans in my ear again for the ump-teenth time, and the five others who were accompanying us were staring at their plates still full of food. Even I was unable to eat, each time I attempted to put a piece of pulled pork into my mouth my stomach would churn dramatically and I would have to set my fork down again.
Michael told us all we would have to leave the table one at a time so it didn’t seem too suspicious. Max and Avery jumped up very first; I noticed a furtive glance between them when their arms brushed as they stood. It didn’t seem probable, but for the first time I wondered if there was something more than friendly between the two. If so, they were by far the oddest-looking couple I’d ever seen. Max was nearly a giantess, and Avery was exactly the opposite, the only premise for attraction I could think of was their personalities.
Next, Gregor stood and left with a short nod to Michael. Two of the unnamed at our table stood holding hands; the woman, I think she was called Bridgette, seemed to be the woman Snow White was based on. Her dark curly hair cascaded down her shoulders and midway down her back, mixed with her olive complexion, slight but feminine figure; green, almond shaped eyes, and graceful movements, she was a raven-haired goddess. The man Bridgette was with was equally beautiful, but in an entirely different way.
His name was Roman. He was larger than Max, and could have easily broken Bridgette in two with his thumb and forefinger. I could see why Michael had thought he would be a valuable asset. One look at Roman and I was sure even Daman would be running for the hills.
I watched as Bridgette and Roman walked out of the dining room and wondered for the millionth time what it would be like to actually have a real romance that wasn’t with a manipulative villain.
The last three people besides Michael and I stood to leave. They were easily discernible as siblings and I tried not to imagine what unhappy circumstances would have surrounded their deaths. All three looked somber, the girl most of all. It wasn’t hard to see that she was the youngest, her two older brothers, who both shared her red hair, stood next to her as though they were her body guards. Together, the two boys flanked their sister all the way out the dining room doors.
That just left Michael and me.
“Are you ready to go?” I asked Michael.
He looked up from Gregor’s napkin and thought for a moment, “No,” he finally said, “I need some time to think a few more things through and I should probably try to eat something.”
“Okay,” I said, “I’m going to go though. I need to check on Maria one last time and make sure that Leigh is going to be all right while we’re gone. Plus, I haven’t really packed yet.”
Michael nodded and I knew he wasn’t really listening. He was poring over the napkin as though it were the most enthralling novel he’d ever read. I rolled my eyes and went to the dining room door.
I still couldn’t just think and have a door open where I wanted it to, but usually if I asked very nicely, I could get most of the doors to do what I asked. This was not one of those times.
I walked out of the dining room and into a hall I didn't even sort of recognize, it was completely different from any I'd seen thus far. It was carpeted in brilliant white, the walls were paneled mahogany and the ceiling seemed to be in a state of constant, exquisite twilight. I felt like I had stepped into a prince's private rooms. I turned back to the door I'd come through hoping I'd be able to return to the dining room and have Michael help me find my way back to my own room, but it wasn't there, in fact there weren't any doors.
"Don't panic," I whispered to myself. I'd had doors disappear on me before, but I'd always been in a hallway I recognized or had someone with me who could get me out. I forced myself not to think about the year I'd spent in agony before coming to Beyond and just focused on keeping calm so that I could find a way out before someone came. I couldn't explain why, but I felt like I was trespassing and I didn't want to get caught.
Unfortunately, the moments when you are most frightened of being seen are the moments when the whole world seems to see you. In this case, it wasn't necessarily the whole world, just one of the most important people in the world, and the one I'd been trying to avoid for days.
"Ira!" Kinga said in surprise as she came through the wall at the opposite end of the hall. Apparently, the doors were just cleverly disguised as more wood paneling.
"Um-- hi," I said. I shifted closer to the wall and felt for a seam in the wood paneling, hoping that I might be able to get the door behind me to open. I didn't care where; I just needed to get away from Kinga.
"How did you end up here?" Kinga asked, "This is supposed to be a private hall."
I didn't dare ask why, I just mumbled that I still wasn't used to the doors and they didn't always work for me.
"Would you like me to show you some tricks?" Kinga asked.
"No," I said. Then I made the biggest mistake I've ever made in my life, "Mi-- I mean Beau has been trying to teach me, but I'm useless at it."
"You almost said Michael," Kinga said.
"No, I was going to say my friend, but then I realized you know Beau well enough I could use his name." It was a poor excuse, but it's the best I could come up with at such short notice.
"I know Beau does not prefer his new name, but he needs to learn to use it. It is much safer that way. He and Alecsander have too many connections, for his safety and the rest of ours, please refer to him as Beau," Kinga said. Her tone was polite, but decisive, forceful and nonnegotiable.
"Right," I said, "I really need to get back to my room now. I left Aida with Perdita and I’m sure they're both pretty tired."
"Just a moment," Kinga said. I had just found the seam in the wood behind me that I was sure would open the door. My heart pounded against my chest, I was thinking of my room so hard I was certain Kinga would be able to tell and would make me step away from the wall, but instead she leaned casually against the wall across from me. I noticed she was still wearing the gloves she had worn when I first met her, it was then I also realized I'd never seen the mark on her hand.
"Why do you wear those gloves?" I asked quickly before Kinga had enough time to gather her thoughts. It was obvious casual wasn't her strong point and it was taking her a few seconds to get used to her position on the wall.
Kinga glared at me harshly. Obviously, despite looking casual, this was not going to be a casual conversation.
"That is irrelevant to what I need to discuss with you," Kinga said. Once again, there was no wiggle room; even though Kinga's only real authority was that she had once been a princess she still had the air about her that made her word law. I assumed that even if she were in prison, shorter and blindfolded, her commanding voice would still be enough to frighten someone into submission.
"What is it we need to discuss?" I asked innocently, "I really need to get back to my room, can we do this another time?"
"Another time may be too late," Kinga said. She gave up on looking casual and stood up straight, feet apart and hands clasped behind her back. Instantly, she was ten times more imperious.
"You have been spending far too much time with Beau," Kinga said. She started pacing in front of me, "Also, you have been avoiding me which I do not take kindly to. I thought we had overcome your childish, rule-breaking habits, but ob
viously we have not."
"How am I breaking the rules by spending time with Beau?" I asked. Another huge mistake, I should have kept my mouth shut rather than challenge Kinga's authority, but her argument was not making sense.
Apparently, I took Kinga by surprise. Evidently, she hadn't been expecting me to see through the hole in her accusations. She gaped for a few seconds before closing her mouth, clearing her throat, and picking up again as though nothing had happened.
"As I was saying, you are obviously incapable of adult thought, despite your age. I am stripping you of your privilege to care for Perdita--"
I attempted to cut her off, but Kinga held up her hand and continued, "Furthermore, Aida will no longer be permitted to visit you without supervision by either myself or Cassidy."
"I don't think I understand," I said. My anger was growing hot and I was fighting with myself to keep from raising my voice, "Are you saying I know longer get to be with the only three people in this entire place that I like because you are jealous that I'm spending so much time with Michael?"
I purposefully used Michael's name that time, it wasn't smart, but it was a slap in the face to Kinga's imagined authority.
Kinga's mouth drew into a thin line and her eyes burned deep into mine. I tried to keep eye contact, but my finger slipped on the door latch at that second. The door fell open and I tumbled through and onto my back.
I looked up to see Kinga framed in the doorway looking livid. On instinct I kicked the door closed and scrambled to my feet.
Chapter Thirty-three
To my utter surprise I was actually in my bedroom. I guess my desperate thoughts had worked. Leigh and Maria were both asleep on the bed despite the early hour.
Leigh was curled in Maria's arms and if I hadn't known them I would have almost assumed them to be sisters even with the difference in hair color. They were both petite, both beautiful, and each had the same way of bringing a smile to my face when I was down.
I bit my lower lip and reached under the bed where I had been storing each outfit I'd worn for the last two weeks. When I started putting them there I hadn't really known why, it had just been on a whim, but now I was grateful for my accidental foresight.
I shoved all the clothes into a drawstring bag that Michael had slipped to me during dinner, all the while I was careful to keep one eye on the door in case Kinga should decide to track me down again.
Once all the clothes were in the bag I pulled the drawstring shut and contemplated whether or not I wanted to attempt sleep or not. I quickly realized that even if I weren't still reeling from my narrow escape from Kinga I wouldn't be able to comfortably sleep anyway since my bed was occupied.
Sighing, I hiked the bag up on one shoulder and asked the door ever so nicely to let me outside. I wasn't really expecting it to work. If anything I had been expecting to open the door and find myself in the walled in courtyard, but to my extreme surprise, I was facing a set of stairs like the ones Michael and I had climbed previously.
I checked behind me to make sure I wasn't being followed before realizing that I was still standing in my room.
I looked back at the sleeping forms of Maria and Leigh before turning my back, closing the door and proceeding up the stairs.
At the top was the trapdoor and when I stepped through it I was standing under more stars and a bigger moon than I had ever seen on the clearest of desert nights back in Nevada.
I dropped my bag and lay down on the grass so I could stare up at the moon more easily.
Before I knew it I had fallen asleep. I entered a dream in which I was still laying on the grass; the only difference was the sun was up and high in the sky. I stood up and looked around suddenly very aware of just how alone I was.
I turned around to face the forest and realized the trees had moved closer, they were barely five feet from the trapdoor now. Panic danced into my heart.
To some degree I knew it was a dream, but it was so real I couldn't ignore it and I didn't want to pull myself out of it. I was too curious to see what would happen if the trees touched the door.
Just as the trees were creeping their roots over the door, someone opened it and stepped through.
"Jamie?" I whispered.
James opened his arms. I ran into them and began to sob just like the first time I saw him after I died. There was something wrong though, he was too tall and too muscled to be the James I knew, and he smelled rotten.
"Ja--" I began as I pulled my head up to look at James' face.
The face of love and the face that haunts
Despite all, the heart wants what it wants.
"What's wrong Alice?" Daman asked tauntingly, "Aren't you happy to see me?"
I started to run, I could already feel the wind pushing my hair back as I flew away, but Daman caught my hand and brought my palm up to inspect it. He traced the circle there gently, lovingly.
"That's where you are," Daman whispered to himself. Then he looked at me and I cringed away from his demon eyes. The circle on my palm flamed red hot and I staggered with the pain, I was only kept standing by my own fear of being incapacitated in front of Daman.
"I'll be there soon, love," Daman said. He kissed my palm and gently placed it back by my side. I was paralyzed with terror; Daman realized this and took advantage of it. He stepped closer to me and bent down so our noses were level, "Don't run, pet." Daman threatened. Then he attempted to kiss me as he had done before I escaped him in the hall, except this time I couldn't fight him.
Daman was hurting me, one hand was gripping my arm like a vice, and the other had a handful of my hair. Finally, something clicked and I began to scream against his mouth and push him away. I could taste the poison on his breath and I was determined not to let him win again.
I screamed and screamed for all I was worth, but no one came. Daman's grip tightened and he pulled harder on my hair so my head was bent back, making it difficult to make any sound. He kissed my neck and bit my throat.
With every ounce of air I could suck in I screamed. It startled Daman and he stopped to look furiously in my eyes. I screamed again and he spat poison down my throat.
"Do not stop me," Daman warned. I could already feel the poison taking its effect on my faculties. I wanted to succumb just so Daman would leave.
"No," I protested weakly. Daman laughed violently at my refusal.
"I'm sorry, I don't think I know what that means."
Daman came at me again. I closed my eyes and tried to go somewhere else, but just as Daman's lips touched me again; another stronger arm pulled me out of the nightmare.
I sat upright so quickly I almost ended up face down. I realized I was sobbing and at the same time realized I was sick. I vomited furiously on the ground for endless minutes. Each time the black coming up became thinner and thinner until I finally was just vomiting up dinner. Even after my stomach was empty I wanted to keep retching to make sure there was nothing left of Daman inside of me. Thankfully, when I was about to start shoving fingers down my throat, someone touched my back and I relented.
My eyes followed the hand on my back up an arm and to a face and realized it was Michael.
"Daman." Michael said. It wasn't a question, Michael simply knew, but I nodded my head anyway. Eventually, I regained myself enough to tell the story of the dream.
"He's knows where we are," I said again after I finished, "We need to leave now!"
"Alice, we can't leave now, you are in no sta--"
I cut him off, "I'll be in a worse state if Daman finds me here. Find everyone else, we'll leave a tip for Kinga to let her know to beware of him showing up and--"
My words stopped in my throat, "And we need to take Leigh and Maria." I finished.
I couldn't see Michael's face but I knew he was stunned, "We can't take them," he protested, "it's dangerous enough as it is."
"But if we leave them here and Daman comes they'll be the first he goes after. He knows who Maria is and if Leigh is with her he won't hes
itate to hurt her too because he'll know it will hurt me. We have to take them!"
Michael wanted to argue, I could feel him tense against me, but there was no valid argument to what I had said. He knew it was true just as much as I did.
"Okay," Michael said, "Kinga's already moved Maria to the infirmary again and Leigh will be either there or in her room. We'll have to be careful, Kinga isn't too impressed with you and she's been looking for you since you left dinner."
I nodded, "I know, she got mad because I was spending time with you. It's like--" I stopped again.
"Like what?" Michael inquired. We were standing now and he was already at the trapdoor pulling it up so I could step through.
"Nothing, never mind," I said and hurried down the steps. I was still a little shaky, but I used the wall and somehow made it all the way to the door at the bottom of the stairs.
"Infirmary please," I said to the door and pushed my way through with Michael hot on my heels.
Chapter Thirty-four
The infirmary was darker than outside had been; the only light was at the end of the room directly over Rebecca's bed. She was still belted down and sleeping like death, as were the rest of the patients. They looked like peaceful corpses lying there and it gave the whole room the eerie feel of being a morgue, I would know.
I followed Michael down the aisle between the beds somewhat hesitantly, I was afraid that just my presence might set Rebecca off again and we wouldn’t be able to come anywhere close to rescuing Maria. If Rebecca started screaming we’d be the ones that needed saving.
We looked at each bed as we passed, but they were either empty or occupied by the same five people I’d seen the first time I visited. Then I saw her, she was directly across from Rebecca’s bed, also belted down and hooked up to a bag of the same sedative I’d seen Katelyn use on Rebecca when she had come unglued.
Maria already looked worse than she had when I had found her. Her hair was a tangled mess, the hospital smock she was wearing was stained and ripped, and there were small cuts on her hands as though someone had scratched her. I realized she must have fought hard against being taken away from Leigh.
