Jessica hears talking at the door downstairs. She peeks out of the window. She cannot see the door from her window. She opens her window as far as she can push it, and leans out.
“Still can’t see the door,” she thinks. She twists and turns, leaning even further out, so much so that she knocks a candle off the window sill, hitting one of the roaring lions near the steps. The people at the door stop talking and look up.
“O, sorry. I was looking for somebody. Sorry,” she pulls her head in and shuts the window.
“Raven! I’ll write to Raven,” she decides and pulls out a piece of paper and a pen. She writes three sentences and stops.
“I can’t write to Raven about this. He hates vampire stuff,” she scribbles it out checks the clock - she does have an alarm clock, of course - 12:15. Jessica folds her arms and looks, again, out the window wondering what is taking Theopolis sooo long to return Penelope to home.
Today, Jessica is out in the hallway of the boy’s boarding house building knocking loudly on Theopolis’ door. She switches to the other hand, and knocks, loudly again.
“Theopolis!” Jessica yells, “it’s nearly dinner time. Open the door!” She lifts up a mat in front of the door and picks up a silver key lying there. Desperate measures; she unlocks the door. She walks into his bedroom.
“Theopolis!” He stirs. He rubs his eyes. They are very red and he rubs his mussed hair.
“It’s 4 o’clock in the afternoon. I was knocking on the door for like an hour.”
Theopolis looks at her, “Huh?”
“Wow,” is all Jessica thinks of to say.
“What?”
“You look, um, different.”
“Like what?” he asks.
“Like you grew into a real vampire over night or something. I don’t know, vampire-like, vampirish? Your eyes are kind of red. Well, very red. How late did you stay out last night?”
“You don’t want to know,” Theopolis complains.
“I watched for you two, on the stoop,” Jessica confesses, “but I fell asleep - about 1 o’clock, I think.” Theopolis squints against the light.
“Jessica could we talk about this later?” he says. Jessica sits down in a chair.
“Okay,” she says, “you probably want to get changed for dinner. Go ahead, I’ll wait here. Then we can go eat. I’m star-ving! I thought you were coming over today, so I didn’t want to go out until, well, I finally came over here. I just couldn’t wait any longer. If we go early we’ll beat the dinner rush and -” she is interrupted.
“I can’t go to dinner with you, tonight. You should go early, though, sounds like you need the food,” he reaches out his hand and pulls her up from the chair. He holds onto her shoulder firmly, and walks her to the door. Suddenly, with a most ‘vampirish’ way about him (she assumes), he sees her out, cold stare and all.
“I’ll see you tomorrow. Seven o’clock. See you then!” he says and shuts the door. Jessica stands staring, for a moment, at the opposite side of the door. Then she opens her fist; she still has his key. She opens his door, tosses his key up and down, and instead of putting it under the mat, shoves it into her pocket and walks off with a haughty flip - as if she is miffed by what he’d just said (although he didn’t say anything) and doesn’t even shut the door.
At bedtime that night, Jessica writes a letter to her Father:
I think I’d like to look more into this legend and maybe take the jump - into the underworld. Do you have any advice for me? I never thought I’d be writing these words to you - Did you? I feel so grown up. I didn’t think I’d ever like being a vampire… Is it really worth it? I just feel like I want to see what it’s like - on the other side, in the ancient underworld, the vampire’s castle. There isn’t any danger of not getting back, safely, is there? Please answer all of these questions in your next letter, but please know, I may have already jumped by then.
(And then she draws more hearts and curly-ques, right here, and signs her name.)
pJessica
Another day arrives and Jessica waits outside of the library looking up at the gargoyles; she admits to herself they look much more daunting than they did the first day.
“I know more about the history of the school than I did the first day,” she thinks to explain it when Theopolis walks up and interrupts her theory. He is smiling.
“I almost wondered if you were standing me up,’ Jessica says coldly.
“No! just a little late, as usual. The coffee shop?” Theopolis asks.
“No,” Jessica tells him, “I have a surprise. I decided… I want to go. Off the bridge. Jump.”
“What?! This is great!” Theopolis exclaims. Penelope just at this moment walks out of the library and straight up to Theopolis. Jessica tries not to glare.
“Hi Theopolis! Hi Jessica!” She continues talking as if everyone of the three were b.f’s. f. Jessica can’t think of anything to say. She is surprised she hasn’t puked listening to this. Jessica studies Penelope’s face.
“She doesn’t look drained,” Jessica mentions after Penelope leaves and the two continue on to go find breakfast.
“Energetic, not spaced out in a corner somewhere,” and then Jessica stops walking.
“You didn’t bite her, did you?!” she exclaims; and then deduces an answer to her own question.
“You slept late - I did that; you looked different; your eyes couldn’t stand the light, even though it was near evening. Got it… she’s bounces back quickly. She’s had a day and a half and she’s already back to her old cell count. That it?”
“No,” Theopolis doesn’t look Jessica in the eye as he says this, “I didn’t bite her. Um, not yet? She’s nicer than you think. She’s not that bad. I talked to her about being rude to you. I mean, you can tell she’s trying -”
“Nicer?! Not that bad? But you’re a vampire!”
“I’m getting there, probably. I’m going to - someday - I thought you were the reluctant vampire, here, sheesh, I sound like you!”
“And I sound like my Father! Uh!” Jessica throws her hands up in the air and stomps off toward the cafeteria. He waits a minute, then runs to catch up to her.
“Tonight,” he crosses his heart - the ultimate in vampire sarcasm.
“No! I thought we were going to the underworld, too, and now this - I thought we were jumping tonight,” and then she mocks, “O Jessica please, please, just this once-”
“Okay, yeah, that’s right you mentioned that. Yeah! Let’s do that. That’s a vampiry thing we can do together,” he says. Jessica stops still in her tracks at the stupidity of the sound of what he‘s just said, the condolences.
“A vampiry thing? O, now I’m just some connection to the ancient call. Suddenly we must do some ‘vampiry thing’ together or there’s no reason to even mention me in your plans for the evening - just that vampiry obligation you had to get to? Forget it! This is so fake!” She stomps a few steps further.
“No, wait up. I want to go do something, like jump, a movie - it can be anything. Come on, don’t be angry. Let’s go eat, and Jess, I’m not in love with Penelope.” Jessica stops, again, and looks at him until he feel uncomfortable.
“What did I say?’
“WELL of course not! Penelope?! I did not assume that you were,” Jessica then makes some sort of sound with her throat, like a scoff or a cough or something.
“Then why are you getting so upset with me for spending time with her,” he asks.
“Because you were supposed to BITE her!” Jessica reminds him.
“What are you, the vampire conditioning coach?” he fakes footwork and boxing moves, “I’ll get back in there, Jess. I’ll try harder,” he smiles.
He puts her hands over her ears, stars humming and walking away. He fakes boxing moves to both sides of her as they walk; she pretends to be ignoring them.
The silhouette of Jessica and Theopolis’ shadowy figures stand at the edge of the Stygian Downs Bridge at dusk. In the approaching darkness, a mist floats up fr
om a thick fog below the bridge and sort of hovers there, near them. Theopolis stands with his arms straight out. Jessica’s arms are crossed over her chest with a hand on each opposite shoulder. She closes her eyes. He has his wide open.
“On three,” Theopolis states firmly.
“One, two…”
Jessica screams, “Three!” She jumps. He watches her go all the way down, then lurches back, away from the edge of the bridge.
“Holy Knight!” Theopolis yells, his voice cracks a bit. He inches toward the edge again and peaks over the edge.
“O despair!” he moans, “Agh!” he yells getting out his anguish and then, “Three!” Eyes closed tight, he jumps.
Jessica is seated at a round, white table-cloth covered table, alone. A moment later, Theopolis bumps the chair and is seated as abruptly as if he’s been thrown into the chair.
He shakes his head, “Whoa!” He regains his composure, balance, and wits about him.
“I almost thought you weren’t going to make it,” Jessica whispers do the waiter won’t hear.
“Did you jump at the same time I did?”
“Yeah. Kind of. Different weights? Maybe I took longer, I don’t know. Well, here we are. Freakishly frightening! That jump! And look at us!” They both look at their clothing. Jessica is wearing a sort of spidery dress with a short, black chain of jewels around her neck. Her hair is done up and looks darker or polished. Theopolis is dressed in a vampire’s elegance, too. Black jacket and leather boots, very well to do.
He leans in, “Did you see any trolls?” he asks quietly.
“A witch, actually, looking for a troll. Calling and calling out some sort of strange name. But, no trolls.”
“I did,” Theopolis says.
“Were they -”
“Friendly? No! I had to throw things at them to get them to go away. They were crowding around me when I remembered what the Legend Teller had said. So, I picked up a stick - they all hobbled off in all directions, making a bunch of hoops and hollars, like they were expecting it. ‘Knew he would’, I thought I heard one of them say in a garbled up way.”
“Scary! I hope I don’t see any trolls, on the way home.”
“Shhh. Don’t say ‘home’. Not here,” Theopolis reprimands Jessica quietly.
She covers her mouth, “Okay.”
After dinner, the two explore the ins and outs of the ancient underworld castle. They even venture up the creepy, curlish tendril of a spiral staircase - the one that leads up to the tower. Theopolis arrives at the top first. Peering over the edge, he throws a tiny stone off the tower ledge and watches it fall all the way down.
“Cool,” he says as Jessica finally arrives at the top. After a long pause he admits thinking more about the near troll fight than the castle.
“I should have bitten,” he says. Jessica rolls her eyes as he rolls another pebble off the side of the tower’s alcove window ledge and watches it fall into the darkness. Then he stands up, smiling, and looks at her, first in the eyes, and then at her neck. His fangs show accidentally. He looks back into her eyes, “Sorry. I’m having fun - that’s all. Didn’t mean to smile, you know, quite so wide,” he explains.
Jessica rolls her eyes again, “You were staring at my neck!”
“Must be this creepy, old tower,” Theopolis scoffs, “besides, you’re a vampire! I’m not gonna feed off you! I’m not a cannibal! Ancient sakes and all the dead! Loosen up.” Jessica looks down at her feet for a moment and then gives a quick glance toward the open doorway to the spiral stairs in a subconscious estimation - a safe distance from the harm of only evil and evil alone.
“I’m only a half!” she says, her jaw set firmly, her tone accusatory, “Maybe you would?!”
“Drained rats, Jessica, I was just having a little fun.”
“O,” she says and looks around, “Maybe we should go back now?”
Theopolis agrees, “Yeah, okay. How do we?… go back?”
Jessica exasperates, “I thought you knew!”
“No, no,” Theopolis starts, “we’ll go! I just…”
“I just assumed - the Legend Teller - He’s your friend - and you’d already heard the story! O vitals, I forgot to ask you if you knew the way home!”
“I told you not to say home,” he snaps, “let me think - I’ll figure it out. The legend teller, okay, did he cover this part in the story? Calm down, Jess. I’m sure he did. I’ll remember, let me think. Well, there’s got to be someone we can ask. Did I say anything to you about getting back? I’ll remember if you remind me. Jess, please, calm down.”
Chapter Six
This very night, while his darling daughter and her new, of-the-blood chum, in full vampire regalia, search for escape along the ancient stone walls of the underworld castle - upon which the very essence of prestige, for a vampire, is written just in getting there, but directions for escape or return, apparently, are not - Jessica’s Father sits at home, writing at his night desk: a letter to Jessica. His quill pen - of which he’s learned to quell long ago (using ink rather than the ancient vampires‘ customary use of blood) - and so he has just curled the last serif of the last word in the last section of the letter, which reads:
No… no.. Darling! Do NOT jump! Not from Stygian Downs. Not the Underworld Castle. I forbid you to jump. You’re much too young. Not in years, dearest, as much as knowledge. You are not a full vampire yet. You won’t know the way back. Maybe I’ve held you back. Maybe I sheltered you too much. Just promise me you won’t. Relax! Take your time. It’ll come to you. You’ll know when you’re ready. YOU Are NOT Ready! And just because I know the obstinance of youth - O ancient taste of hope, do I know the obstinance of youth - I imagine you are just about to utter, out loud, the insistence that, O yes, you ARE ready; I request a moment to reiterate: Darling, you are NOT ready.
At about the same moment as her father signs his full, prestigious name in the full cursive lettering he feels it deserves, and pulls his head away to admire it, Jessica, on the other side of the world - or should I say ‘underside’ of the world - Jessica admits they are lost in the middle of the stonewalled, ancient room at the top of the castle’s tallest tower.
Bringing her hands to her cheeks and cries to Theopolis, “This is great, Theopolis. This is just gr-eat!”
“Stop breaking my concentration,” Theopolis says, dropping another stone from the window ledge, “I’m trying to remember the story.” He leans out a bit and watches the rock fall all the way to the ground. After which he gets a slight shiver at how high up the tower really is and pulls back away from the ledge.
“Now, what did I say to you? Word for word. Before we left. Do you remember?”
“Heoh! Okay. Let me think,” She says and then recounts, “you said there’s this great legend, blah, blah, blah; jump with me, bladda, blah; story - long and much more interesting than this night has turned out to be - hmm-hmm-hmm; let’s jump, yeah, yeah, okay!” She is yelling at him by the end of her recounting, and then she almost blames him, but he interrupts, “You didn’t-” she starts to say.
“Well, you didn’t ask!” he explains.
“…talk about how to get out of here.”
“You’re the studious one. If the formula wasn’t complete, I thought you would have mentioned it. You should have mentioned it,” he complains.
“This isn’t getting us anywhere. You’re right about one thing, though, you are not a details person. I’ve got to figure this out. Let’s go back downstairs. The mind on the stone throwing, over there, is interrupting my concentration.”
Now just as Jessica’s father, at his night desk, has sealed the envelope of his letter to Jessica; and, just as Jessica has accepted the knowledge that she and Theopolis do not know the way out of the underworld castle, and the pair have gone back downstairs to devise an ‘exit plan’, a third party to this beginning of a new legend with two young vampires has made her way across the In Between, heading for the bridge, looking for the late Tyrannomous whom has not shown
up to help her with the weekly chores. She walks along a dusty, dty gulch. There is a yellowish haze to the sky as she enters the area of thick, grey, cloud mist lurking just above the gulch, as it always does near Stygian Downs Bridge when looking up from the In Between. The Witch kicks a dirt clod with her pointed boot and swears.
“Blast that loon! I’ll turn a chamber pot upside ‘is head… how’em I going at getting the roofing done, now? Not here,” she grumbles with the a kind of witchy shriek - more grating than it is loud. She continues searching, her witch boots covered with the dirty sediment of the dry and dusty In Between. From the back she looks a bit like the tree that stands not far from her, dusty gray and brown with a pointed tip at the top (the tree and her hat), the bottom much like the hem of her frock, as if a witch, once dressed much like her, had walked the In Between before and had been frozen there ever since. In a black and white photograph, taken form the back of the witch, standing near the little tree, the two would have looked just the same! ‘The Witch Tree’ it is called, by everyone in the In Between, except the Witch, of course, and not when she is within listening distance (which she always is if she chooses to be, but luckily, she rarely does). Now, back to Jessica and Theopolis, who have just gotten into some kind of spat, or something in the lie of a spat, about gargoyles. I think, or truly it is about the tension and lack of planning on both of their parts - each choosing to ‘vent’ on the other - about having jumped into the underworld without much more to go on than ‘stories’ of a Legend Teller. It has turned into quite a gripe session since both are equally determined that the other is at fault.
“I don’t agree!” Jessica nearly yells in frustration as Theopolis offers another explanation of how they both listened to the legend and she, being the one with a better grade point average, really should have asked about the exit from the underworld.
Legend of Stygian Downs (Vampire DeAngeliuson Book 2) Page 7
