by S. J. West
I walked up the cement sidewalk lined on either side with an alternating pattern of monkey grass and lavender. I climbed the four steps up to the porch and opened the screen door to step inside.
The smell of pot roast, potatoes, and freshly baked bread made my stomach rumble involuntarily. I stood in the entryway and could hear the Queen humming in the kitchen as she moved around it. Cautiously, I walked down the hallway until I entered the large, open kitchen. The cabinets in the kitchen were white with glass fronts. The walls were painted a pale yellow with sunflower accents in the tile work on the backsplash above the tan granite counters. Queen Lucena was dressed in a bright yellow dress, wearing a ruffled white apron, buttering the tops of yeast rolls in a basket sitting on the kitchen island. She symbolized the epitome of domestication and matched her surroundings perfectly.
As I stood taking in my surroundings, she looked up from the basket of rolls and smiled.
“Skye,” she said, her voice warm with welcome, “you’re right on time. I just got through making supper. I hope you’re hungry.”
She looked at me patiently, waiting for my response.
“What’s going on here?” I asked, looking around the kitchen, wondering what sort of mind game she was trying to play with me. “What’s the point of all this?”
The Queen’s smile faded slightly like she was disappointed I had asked the question. She put the roll and butter knife in her hands down. Her gaze fell to the counter in front of her like she couldn’t quite make herself look me in the eyes as she answered my questions.
“I thought. …” she began but faltered, almost like her emotions were getting the better of her. Her gaze lifted to meet mine like she was having to force herself to look at me. “I guess I hoped making this town for you … for us … would give us a fresh start, a chance to start over with one another. I know you think I’m a monster, and I guess I haven’t given you much reason to believe otherwise by some of the things I’ve done, especially to you. But could you at least give me a chance to try and make things up to you? All I want is for you to get to know the real me. That’s all I’ve ever wanted, Skye.”
I didn’t say anything. I didn’t think it was the right time to tell her I thought she was batshit crazy if she really expected me to just instantly forgive and forget everything she had not only done to me personally but to the world at large. But I did know one thing for certain. I had to find out what she was up to with this charade. If nothing else, I had learned Lucena Day, the woman who destroyed a world and proclaimed herself queen of its remnants, didn’t do anything without having an agenda. I just had to find out what hers was.
“Did you cook pot roast?” I asked, deciding to ignore her questions and change the subject.
The Queen smiled. “Yes, I did. I seemed to remember it was one of you favorite dishes when you were a little girl. Was I right?”
I nodded. “Yes. My mom would make it every Sunday night. Don’t suppose you remembered to make the chocolate cake too?”
The Queen’s eyes darted over to the table in the room. I looked over and saw a perfectly iced chocolate cake sitting on a glass pedestal beside a vase filled with an arrangement of sunflowers.
“Why don’t you sit down?” she suggested. “I’ll bring you a plate. I hope you like my cooking.” She laughed. “It’s been a long time since I dipped my hands into the culinary arts. I don’t think I’ve cooked a piece of toast in years much less a whole meal!”
I sat down at the dining table that was designed to sit six people and let the Queen of the Eastern Kingdom serve me supper.
I felt sure the day couldn’t get any weirder.
I thought supper would be filled with awkward silence but the Queen was a veritable chatter box. She mostly talked about her life as a child with my mom. There were moments I could actually see my own mother in the Queen as she talked about the past. And she was funny. I found myself laughing a few times as she retold stories of how she and my mother would sneak out of their grandmother’s house at night to go skinny dipping in the river.
In a way, it almost seemed natural to be talking with the Queen. At least until I reminded myself why I was actually with her. I was here to kill her. I didn’t need to be getting closer to her. I found it strange that I had to remind myself of that fact.
After supper, I helped her clean the kitchen. She suggested that we go sit outside on the front porch while we ate a piece of the chocolate cake she prepared for dessert.
The “sun” was setting in the sky, causing the pseudo-horizon to burn a beautiful red orange. A gentle breeze blew through the trees around the house making the leaves rustle, completing the illusion of tranquility.
I had just lifted a fork full of cake to my mouth when I felt it happen.
Just like the first time, the first sign of the seizure caused a white haze to envelope my surroundings. My fingers began to move of their own accord, causing the plate and fork in my hands to fall to the wood planks of the porch in a rattle of noise.
“Skye?” I heard the Queen ask, concern in her voice.
I was vaguely aware of her standing from her chair and walking over to me as my body went completely rigid. I saw her kneel in front of me. Her face was filled with worry.
“Oh baby, what did you do?” she asked me, taking my hands into hers and holding them until the seizure passed.
Like the first time, my body was left feeling completely devoid of energy afterward.
“Skye?” the Queen said. “Why are you having seizures? What happened to you?”
I took a deep breath. “I tried to remove the Harvester chip.”
The Queen shook her head in dismay, and I saw the shimmer of tears appear in her eyes. “The chip can’t be removed, not without killing you in the process.”
“Yes,” I said weakly. “We found that out.”
“You’re lucky to even be alive.”
“Can you help me?” I asked, seeing the moment as the perfect opportunity to find out if she had the medication I needed to control the seizures.
“I can’t make the seizures completely go away,” she told me, “but I think I might have some medication that will lessen their frequency and intensity.” She shook her head at me. “Why would you try to do that to yourself?”
“I didn’t want to become a monster again,” I confessed, seeing no reason to lie about it.
The Queen didn’t say anything, just kept shaking her head like she was disappointed in me.
Before I was able to protest, the Queen picked me up from the rocking chair, cradling me in her arms, and walked back into the house, taking me upstairs to the second floor. We entered the same room I once used as my bedroom when I was a child. It wasn’t decorated the same, of course. I think that would have verged on psychotic if the Queen had replicated my room to that degree.
It was simply decorated with a cherry wood sleigh bed and matching dresser and nightstands.
“I thought you might like to pick out your own decorations,” the Queen told me as she laid me down on the soft mattress of the bed. “This is your home now, Skye. I want you to feel comfortable in it.”
The Queen took my shoes off and set them on the floor at the foot of the bed. She pulled a blanket over my body before sitting down beside me on the mattress.
The concern on her face for me seemed genuine. She lifted a hand and gently ran the back of her fingers down my exposed cheek.
I could tell she wanted to say something but didn’t.
Instead she stood and said, “I’ll go see what I have available to help with the seizures. You get some rest.”
She turned and walked toward the door, flipping the switch to turn the overhead light out as she left the room. I lay in bed and heard her walk out of the house, supposedly to get the medication she mentioned.
Before I drifted off to sleep, I realized I had just achieved one of my main objectives.
One down, two to go. …
But why didn’t I feel happier about
it?
CHAPTER NINETEEN
The next morning I awoke to the smell of bacon, eggs, and buttered biscuits. I found the Queen fussing over a tray of food sitting on my nightstand.
She glanced over at me, and I got the feeling it wasn’t the first time. I felt sure she was checking occasionally, waiting for me to wake up.
“Good morning, sleepyhead,” she said, smiling brightly. “I made you some breakfast. You need to eat something with the medication I found to help control your seizures.”
I sat up as the Queen brought the fold out tray to me and placed it over my thighs. There were two orange medicine bottles full of pills sitting next to the plate of food. She took the bottles in her hands and popped the caps off. After dispensing one pill from each bottle into her palm, she handed them to me and picked up a glass of milk from the nightstand.
“You will have to take one of each of these pills at every meal. They should help bring your seizures under control. I’m afraid there isn’t any way to completely get rid of them, but hopefully in time we can adjust your medication in such a way to make them almost disappear. I’m going to start you out on a small dose first and see what effect that has on their frequency. The less medication you need to take the better since the medicine is rather scarce.”
“Thanks,” I said, taking the pills and glass of milk from her.
I glanced down at the pills and saw that one was red and oblong and the other round and white. I popped the pills in my mouth and swallowed them with a little milk.
“Now, make sure you eat all of that food,” the Queen said, smiling down at me. “I don’t want you to get sick to your stomach from the medication. I have a lot planned for us to do today.”
“What sort of plans?” I asked, picking up the fork lying next to the plate.
“I thought we would go into town and pick out some more furnishings for the house. Then I want to take you over to Mr. Lande’s shop so you can get some new clothes. I know you didn’t have time to bring any with you, and I’m sure you don’t want to wear what you have on forever.”
“Some fresh clothes would be nice,” I confessed, stabbing a piece of the scrambled eggs on my plate. I was already feeling a little dirty in my clothes after just a day.
“Good.” The Queen smiled and turned to walk out of the room. “Take your time with breakfast. I have a few things to do before we begin our day together.”
I watched her leave and shook my head. Who exactly was Lucena Day? Which of her personalities was the real one?
Going shopping with the Queen was a surreal experience. I almost felt like we actually were a mother and daughter out on a shopping excursion. I tried to shake the feeling, but it just wouldn’t go away. I knew logically I shouldn’t feel this way about her, but for whatever reason I couldn’t help myself. There were times during the day I had to actually force myself to think about Jace and the kids while I was with her. For whatever reason, my feelings for them seemed to be fading, like our time together was something that happened in the distant past. It almost felt like the passage of time had accelerated for me and my memories and feelings for them were being pushed to the back of my mind instead of the forefront.
But why was I feeling this way? It hadn’t even been twenty-four hours since I left them. Were the seizures affecting my memories? Or was the Harvester chip having an unforeseen effect on me somehow? I didn’t know what was going on, but I did know I didn’t like it. I needed my feelings for Jace and the kids to provide me the strength to do what needed to be done next.
When we walked into Mr. Lande’s store, I instantly recognized him. While we lived in the Southern Kingdom, Kirk and Teegan had worked for Mr. Lande in his dress shop. I had only met the man twice before, but he was unique enough to never forget. He was an older gentleman with snow white hair and a perpetual tan. I assumed the color of his skin was natural since he was of Greek origin. He always seemed to wear a pristine white polo shirt and white slacks whenever I saw him. It seemed odd that he would pick such plain clothing to dress himself in considering the designs he made for others to wear.
“Mr. Lande,” the Queen said as we walked into the shop.
“My Queen,” Mr. Lande said, bending at the waist in an exaggerated bow. “We have everything prepared for your visit, as you requested.”
Lucena turned to me. “I asked Mr. Lande to pick out some things for you to try on. Why don’t you go to the dressing room and see if there is anything you like there?”
I nodded and followed Mr. Lande down a small hallway to the back of the shop. He led me to a room tastefully decorated in a Victorian style where I found an array of outfits lying across the furniture already coordinated with shoes and accessories.
“Take it all if you want,” Mr. Lande said to me. “Everything in this town is yours for the taking.”
“Mr. Lande, is everyone from the second Southern Kingdom here?” I asked him.
“She gave us a choice,” Mr. Lande said with a shrug. “We could either stay there while she destroyed the facility around us or come here and be a part of this town. Needless to say, no one chose to stay in the second facility.”
“Are you treated well here?” I asked.
“So far,” he hedged. “As long as you remain content here, we should be all right.”
“Has she said what she would do to you if I try to leave?”
“She doesn’t have to, does she? I mean we are right below a harvesting facility.”
He had a point.
“You should try on the outfits,” Mr. Lande suggested as he walked to the door to leave the room. “Let me know if I can be of any assistance.”
I tried on all the clothing and found a few outfits that fit just perfectly. In the last few months I had actually been able to gain a little weight and noticed I had curves in places I never thought I would. Living with Ash in the wild of the Eastern Kingdom for five years, surviving on what we could, had kept my body lean and toned. Living with Jace in Michael’s camp for the past four months had allowed my body to reserve some of the fat I would have naturally burned off and helped fill my body out to its natural state.
I decided to wear one of the new outfits out of the store and stuffed my old clothes into a shopping bag Mr. Lande gave to me. From one of the front pockets of my jeans, the pink heart-shaped stone Jace gave me fell onto the floor. I bent down to pick it up and realized I couldn’t remember exactly when he gave it to me. I stood back up, trying to make my mind work and dig out the memory, but I just couldn’t seem to find it. I felt myself begin to panic. It was further proof that my memories were fading, and I wasn’t sure if there was anything I could do to stop it from happening.
I decided not to dwell on the issue and continued to load the shopping bags with my new clothes. As I walked out from the back of the shop with my bags of clothing, I decided I would ask Lucena if she knew what was happening to my memories. If anyone in the world could help me figure out what was wrong, I knew she would be able to find the answers.
For lunch, Lucena and I ate at a bistro in town which had outside seating on a second floor terrace. While we ate, I asked her about my memory loss.
“It’s probably a side effect from either the seizures or the position of the chip,” she said. “I could run some tests to tell which one is having the most detrimental effect, but even if we know which it is, I’m afraid there’s nothing that can be done to cure you.”
“Is there no way to take the chip out?” I asked in desperation.
“No,” she said, and for some reason I believed her. Unless she was just that good of an actress, she was telling me the truth.
“I don’t want to lose my memories of Jace and the kids,” I confessed to her, not really knowing why I was telling her something so private but feeling the need to share my worry with someone, anyone.
Lucena reached across the table and squeezed the hand I had lying beside my plate.
“I’m so sorry, Skye. I truly am. I wish I could help you.
”
“If you would let me go back to them, that would help me.”
Lucena took her hand off of mine and leaned back in her chair. She stared at me for a while before finally speaking.
“I tell you what,” she said. “I’ll make a deal with you. Give me two weeks. Stay here with me and see the life I can give you. If after that two weeks you want to leave, I won’t stop you. I’ll even have Walsh take you back to Jace and your children. Does that sound fair?”
“Why would you do that?” I asked, immediately suspicious of her motives. “Why let me go when you finally have me where you want me? I can’t imagine you went to all this trouble of constructing a town for us to live in just to let me go so easily.”
Lucena shrugged her shoulders. “It’s pointless to keep you here if you don’t actually want to be with me.” She turned her head and looked out at the town. “I did make this town for you, but if I’m being honest with myself, I made it for me too.” She sighed and turned her gaze back to me with a sad smile on her face. “I miss being normal sometimes too, you know. People think I’m a heartless bitch and don’t miss how the world used to be. Nothing could be further from the truth. I miss the sun as much as anyone else. I wish there was a way I could bring it back, but there simply isn’t.”
I felt a need to argue the point with her but knew such information was dangerous for her to know. How could I be certain she was telling the truth? I decided to keep the conversation on the path she had opened: my way back to Jace, Rose, and Simon.
“So in two weeks if I decide I want to leave, I can?” I asked, just to verify the conditions of our latest bargain.
Lucena nodded with a tight-lipped grin. “If that’s what you want, I won’t stop you. And to prove that I’m completely serious,” she said, reaching into the purse she had hanging on the side of her chair, “I have a gift for you.”
Lucena placed a small, square black card in front of me on the table. It lit up with a green digital readout, filled with changing numbers that held no meaning for me.
