by KT Webb
“Don’t worry about that, I’ll be along when you need me. For now, you must gather your men and reunite with the princess. There is no time to spare.” With a wave of her hand, the doors creaked open.
I turned to thank her, but she’d already closed and sealed the doors behind us. She must have more work to do. I shrugged at Orin. Neither of us understood what she could do, but we hoped she’d helped us by forging the new amulet.
Her store was in ruins. The coat racks had fallen through the front window during the quake, and shattered glass was everywhere. I couldn’t help but think it was a stupid place to put them. We had to climb over armoires and other furniture that now lay strewn across the only walkway. Once outside, I grabbed the phone and called Lonzo.
We ran through the ruined streets, dodging confused survivors and the crumbling remnants of buildings that hadn’t survive the quake. Lonzo tried to take my hand; he was being chivalrous, but I didn’t need him to lead me like a lost little girl. It may have been stubborn, but I didn’t care. I needed to prove to myself that I still had some control over my world. So much had happened that led me to question everything I thought was true. I couldn’t help but wonder how Paula would react when I showed up with yet another man I believed to be the physical embodiment of a character I’d created.
I couldn’t call her. In times of crisis, everyone seemed to use their cell phones at once. I didn’t understand much about the networks and towers that made the devices work, but I knew enough to understand that when millions of people were trying to call one another, service was likely to be intermittent. Lonzo continued to redial the number I’d given him, he insisted that because he’d gotten through to Taeren he would get through to Paula. I let him keep trying because it was the only glimmer of hope I had in an otherwise terrifying day.
The subway system wasn’t working. I shouldn’t have been surprised, the earthquake had demolished entire buildings, why would the underground transportation system be in operation? Unfortunately, that meant we were on foot through the biggest city in the United States. Neither of us knew how to drive, not that it would have helped much in the present state of things. We came to the station that would take us out to the garage where Paula normally parked when she came to work. Lonzo kept running, but I stopped.
“Princess, is there something wrong?” He huffed as he returned to me.
I scrunched up my face in disapproval. “Look, first of all, you need to stop calling me that. My name is Delia. I haven’t a clue what’s going on, but I have no other choice but to go along with this right now. The whole princess thing needs to stop. Okay?”
A mixture of emotions crossed his face in the span of a few seconds. When he finally nodded his assent, I felt I could continue. I took a few deep breaths before we had to take off running again. Lonzo took the opportunity to dial the number once more.
“It’s ringing!” He shoved the phone into my hands.
“Hello?” Paula’s voice was tense.
“Paula? It’s me. Listen, the hospital is pretty much a lost cause. Most of the people in my ward are dead…but we got the children out safely.”
“Delia, slow down. I’m so relieved to hear your voice. I heard from Doctor Larkin, he said you got out but you left with a janitor?”
“Yes. We have a lot to talk about.”
“Where are you?”
I glanced at the sign and stairs that led to the abandoned subway station. An idea struck me; a brilliant, dangerous idea. “We’re taking the subway.”
“The power is out all over the city. How do you plan to pull that off?”
I was already rushing down the stairs; I knew Lonzo would follow. “Well, we’re not actually going to ride the subway. The power is out, it can’t hurt to follow the tracks to the station near home, can it?”
“ARE YOU CRAZY?” I held the phone away from my ear. I’d never heard Paula raise her voice, and I’d never heard her call me crazy.
“I mean...really?” I couldn’t help but throw some snark her way. Of all the things for her to ask the girl who just broke out of the mental hospital…via earthquake, with a fictional character.
“Oh…I’m sorry. That was a bit insensitive. However, the question remains.”
“No, I’m not crazy, I don’t think. It’s the quickest way for us to get to you.”
“Who is ‘us’?”
“Like I said, we have a lot to talk about. We just can’t talk right now. I’m literally entering a tunnel, so I’m going to lose the call. Can you pick us up at the station?”
Her silence made me wonder if I had already lost the call. When she finally responded, she didn’t sound happy. “Fine. But you’d better be ready to explain when I get there.”
“Okay, mom,” I said after hanging up.
I didn’t stop when I came to the ticket booth. No one was there anyway, so I leapt over the bar designed to keep me from doing what I planned to do. I got to the platform to find it empty. Lonzo caught up to me and grabbed my shoulder.
“We’re not going to try and drive one of those things, are we?”
I rolled my eyes. “Don’t be stupid. We’re going to follow the tracks. It’s quicker than trying to get there by running through the streets.”
“And if the tunnel is collapsed?”
I hadn’t thought of that. I threw him a dirty look and carefully lowered myself to the tracks. “Don’t tell me you’re scared, Sir Lonzo.”
He straightened his shoulders and followed me into the darkness.
Lonzo knew better than to try to lead the way. He kept pace with me in silence. So many questions were running through my mind, I didn’t know which one to stop and ask first. The only thing I knew for certain was that I couldn’t keep walking along, balancing somewhere between crazy and sane.
“Who are you, really?” I asked the safest question.
He seemed startled. “I am Sir Lonzo, Knight of Riona.”
“But, are you really? I mean, Lonzo was a character in a book I wrote about a fantasy world called Riona.”
“Tell me, what is your earliest memory?”
It was my turn to be startled. “Well, I remember waking up in the hospital.”
“How old were you?”
“Sixteen, but I thought I was only thirteen.”
“What made you think that?”
“Because I was thirteen when my parents died.”
He nodded. “Yes, you were. Do you remember how they died?”
I crossed my arms. It was a protective gesture I’d picked up long ago. “No. I don’t even remember who they were.”
“That’s too bad. I remember your parents well. Queen Isadora and King Theophilus were gracious rulers.”
“Stop. Those are characters in my books.”
Lonzo shook his head sadly. “That may be, but they were figures in your real life too. Your parents were brave, fierce and always put you as their top priority. I remember when you were five, your mother wanted you to start your lessons with Chancellor Tilda, but your father insisted that you get three more years to be a child. It was against everything your grandmother had taught, but Isadora wanted to give you that time.”
Flashes of moments holding hands with a bearded man in a garden surfaced in my mind. I had so many stories about Riona that I had chosen not to include in any of the books. They were mine, and didn’t fit in any of the stories I’d crafted. I’d also known the queen and king by those names in my mind, but had given them new names for the books. For some reason, those names felt personal, private. There was no way he could have known those names unless he had read the journals I kept in my room.
“Where did you get those names?”
“What an odd question. I know those names because those are their names.”
I stopped mid-step. We didn’t have time to stop and talk, but I had to confront my fears. I no longer feared the possibility of being crazy. At that point, I feared the possibility that it was all true. If my dreams were actually memor
ies, that meant my life on Earth was the lie. Years in the psych ward, months of having my brain shocked with electric currents, years of anti-psychotic medications; for nothing. No, not for nothing. I did all those things to fit in with what people on Earth thought was normal.
I’d let them take my memories. I’d let them strip away the things that made me who I was. I couldn’t begin to grasp who I would have been if those things hadn’t happened. Would I have played along if I’d been given the chance? If I had resisted ECT as I did just hours ago in Larkin’s office, would I have suppressed my true memories and pretended to be normal by earth standards? Lonzo was talking to me, but I didn’t comprehend a single word he said.
“It’s all real.”
“It’s about time.” Lonzo sighed as though a weight had been lifted from his shoulders.
“No. You don’t understand. If it’s all real, everything in my life here is a lie.”
“Not everything. I heard you call your friend, Paula, ‘mom’. She must mean a lot to you.”
That was true. I knew in my heart that Paula would love me even if she found out the fantasy world I clung to was real. Regardless of my past, Paula knew who I was. She had always been the only one who treated me like a person rather than a patient. I started walking again, with purpose. We had to make it to the other end before another earthquake brought the tunnel down around us.
As we walked, a thought began to tickle the back of my mind. The desperate need to find me, the darkening amulet, the earthquakes; it all had to come to more than just wanting to get me back to Riona.
“Lonzo, it’s all connected, isn’t it?” I picked my way across the tracks. “You guys coming here, the earthquakes. All of it.”
He sighed. “Yes. The Sideon have taken so much from Riona. Our world is dying. Without you and the amulet, together, Riona won’t survive. When you add in the voracious appetite of the Sideon and destructive behavior of the Gorum...”
“You came here to bring me back. How did you get here?”
“The amulet. It’s part of you. It was made from the blood of your ancestor, it sought you out.”
We were nearing the end of the tunnel, I’d ridden that track so many times I knew it by heart. I stopped and grabbed Lonzo by the arm.
“Promise me that no matter what, you will help keep Paula safe. She’s the only parent I have.”
He looked at me with a mixture of confusion and pride. “You have my word.”
Lonzo’s phone kept going straight to voicemail or worse, it didn’t connect at all. Orin and I stood outside of Sophronia’s shop, unsure where to go next. I looked at the amulet around my neck. It was heavy against my chest, and the familiar hum of energy began in the stone and resonated through my entire body. A burst of power hit me as the air left my lungs. I sucked a breath in, desperate to regain what was lost. I stumbled backward.
“Taeren? What’s going on?” Orin placed a steadying hand between my shoulder blades.
My chest constricted. I couldn’t breathe. Colors danced across my vision. A flash of light brought a scene to my mind; Central Park. The air rippled as the ground shook. The sky tore. Suddenly, everything snapped back into focus and I could breathe again.
“What happened? Are you okay?” Orin had moved in front of me.
I looked up at him, I had fallen to my knees at some point and he was bent over in front of me. “I don’t know.”
“The portal is going to open. The Gorum are about to break through.” Sophronia had appeared behind Orin.
She had changed into black pants, boots, and a white t-shirt. The belt around her waist had pockets with various vials stuck into them. Her hair had been braided and tucked up to keep it out of her face. She’d removed the dainty circle from her head and instead had a tucked a pair of sun glasses behind her ears. The Great Alchemist had gone from looking like a mystical healer to resembling an action hero with her wardrobe change.
“I saw that. In here.” I pointed to my head. “How is that possible?”
“The amulet is part of you. When it touches your body, it gives you brief glimpses into the future. But only the future as it relates to the elements used to create it. The longer you wear it, the more you’ll be able to call upon that power and use it as you wish.”
Again, I found myself looking to Orin for guidance. My friend shrugged; it seemed to be his trademark move. I rolled my eyes and returned my focus to the alchemist. She was rearranging the contents of her pockets. I had no idea how she could seem so at ease in such an intense situation.
“So, has the portal been forced open or did I see the future?”
“Oh, it’s probably open. You aren’t quite connected enough to the amulet to see much more than a second or two into the future. That last earthquake probably did the trick. They’ll be pouring in like a bunch of ants now.”
Orin looked at me for an explanation. This time it was my turn to shrug my shoulders. If I was being honest, I didn’t understand half of what Sophronia said to me. It didn’t occur to her to stop and explain, so I decided it was quicker to just follow along.
“Well, what are we waiting for? We’ve got to get to Central Park.” Sophronia moved her hands as though shooing us along.
“I’ve got to gather my men first.”
While Sophronia acted as though it was a major inconvenience to find the other Knights, I knew the three of us were no match for an army of Gorum. No matter what she had in those pockets, we wouldn’t defeat the enemy alone. My men and I had set up a rendezvous point when we first arrived on Earth. We had been strangers in an unfamiliar world, if we were separated for any reason we had to find a way back to one another.
“Are you coming with us?” I asked her.
Orin cleared his throat. “As inconvenient as it may seem, I think my wife and I need a little time alone.”
“Of course.” I looked at him with the understanding that we may not see each other again. “Orin, thank you for your help. If you hadn’t found us, I don’t know where we would be now. You may not live in Riona anymore, but you are a true Knight.”
He gave me a small bow. Though I didn’t know if I would see him again, I hoped I would. Earth was facing a dire situation with no possible way of preparing. Riona was facing total annihilation with only a slim chance of survival. Before I left, I stared at the person who may have put it all in motion.
“Are you just going to stand here all day?” Sophronia interrupted my thoughts with her snarky comment.
“No,” I replied, as she stood staring at me, “Do you ever tire of being difficult?” I’d grown impatient with her childish behavior.
She was flummoxed. “What is that supposed to mean? Don’t forget who you’re talking to, young man.”
I’m certain my eyes would have popped out had I widened them any further. “I haven’t forgotten. Trust me, I know exactly who I’m talking to. You may say you’re feeling guilty for the position you put us in back home, but you sure don’t act like it.”
Her nostrils flared. “How dare you.”
“Taeren...” Orin growled a protective warning. She may have been his wife, but I wasn’t about to let her off the hook because of her relationship status.
“No, how dare you. I appreciate that you’re trying to help us now, but the damage has been done. When you saw the future before you left, did you ever stop to think that it may have been a possible future? That perhaps had you stayed and prepared us all for the possibility of invasion, we wouldn’t be standing here today?”
I watched her face for any indication that she truly understood what she had done. It was unfair of me to throw her mistakes at her, but I was standing in the middle of a partially demolished city in a world that hadn’t asked to be dragged into our war. Her flippant attitude had pushed me over the edge.
Without offering an answer to my accusations, she turned on her heel and disappeared into Orin’s car. For a moment, I considered calling after her, even apologizing to her. Instead, I came to the co
nclusion that I’d wasted enough time and took off at a sprint in the direction of Times Square. It may have seemed like the worst possible place to find each other, but it made the most sense to us at the time. We needed a place where we could blend in. The Hard Rock Café was closed due to the power outage; I was certain, however, they would be waiting for me there.
I tried Lonzo again as I ran. The irritating beep on the other end let me know I wouldn’t reach him, yet again. I dialed one of the others and got the same tone. Stuffing the phone in my pocket, I picked up the pace and found myself nearing the base of the Empire State Building. My legs were screaming in protest as I doubled my pace. Just two more turns and I’d be able to see the normally bustling square. I had never seen New York so deserted. People must have been hiding, or trapped in buildings. No cars darted in and out of traffic, no pedestrians wandered aimlessly into the road. I may have passed a handful of confused citizens looking for help, but other than that I was completely alone.
