Of Noble Chains (The Ventori Fables)

by Miles, D. L.

  “I tried to call Wolf,” I came in, “but he wasn’t picking up.”

  Bridget eyed Scarlet for a long moment, but finally let us inside. The lobby smelled like it always did; apples and old magazines. It was what we called the lobby, but was really more like a doctor’s waiting office, with a couch, a few chairs, and a desk. On the opposite wall were the elevator doors, painted a bright blue to stand out against the chocolate walls.

  “You two go downstairs and find one of them,” Bridget ordered Jayd and I. “I’ll look after our little friend here.”

  “Are you sure you don’t—“

  “Go.” Bridget was being strangely authoritative. She had always been more of a grandmotherly type to me, but the way she watched Scarlet made me think otherwise; her years in the Air Force were shining through, and she almost seemed to view Scarlet as a threat.

  “Come on.” Jayd pulled me towards the doors as he looked towards Scarlet. “We’ll be right back.”

  Scarlet looked like she wanted to follow, but Bridget quickly distracted her with a barrage of questions. Jayd and I stepped into the elevator, and waited for the second set of doors to open for us to transfer to another floor when Scarlet suddenly shrieked. We whipped around and jumped out to find her unconscious in Bridget’s arms, another person in front of her.

  “I’m sorry,” my classmate, Gavin said, his eyes wide as he looked to us. His elven ears sticking out from beneath his long black hair. “I didn’t think I’d have to worry about glamouring here.”

  Normally anyone in the Center didn’t have to worry about their glamour, the power they used to hide their, ah, less than human features. Most of the people here didn’t have to worry about it; they all looked human. But Gavin, being part elf, had to constantly hide his ears. They were giant things, that added about half a foot to his height, and he found it difficult to keep his glamour up. That was why he came to the Center, partly to be able to relax without worry of exposure, and partly to learn how to keep the glamour up for longer periods of time.

  My brow crinkled at the image of Scarlet lying on the floor, and Jayd just laughed. He elbowed me jokingly, “I wonder how she’ll handle seeing a werewolf Shift.”

  Bridget started barking out orders. She told Gavin to help her take Scarlet downstairs, and told me and Jayd to find Wolf already. We stepped back into the elevator, the doors shutting slowly on the sight of Gavin struggling to hold up Scarlet in his spindly limbs. Jayd was still chuckling.

  “It’s not funny,” I pouted, “she must have been really scared.”

  “It’s kind of funny.”

  I didn’t respond, and admitted, “I’m kind of jealous of her.” Jayd asked why, but I didn’t say why. Anything I told him would hurt him, or make him worry.

  When he decided I wasn’t going to tell him anything, and the elevator ride began to drag, he picked up a strand of my hair. “What’s this, then?” His slight British accent came through, just a hint of it.

  I knew I perked up too much then. “Do you like it? I did it today! It took a while, I had to lighten my hair and then use the purple dye, but it still wasn’t the right colour. So I had to put it in a couple times, but I don’t think I waited long enough and—“

  “It looks great,” Jayd interrupted, “very pretty. It suits your eyes.”

  I smiled up at him, and he gave me a gentle one in return. “Thanks!”

  The doors in front of us opened, and Wolf was there, towering over our small frames. He looked like he had fallen asleep at his desk again, small indents from the edge of a binder still imprinted on his left cheek. His chin was coated in stubble, and his clothes were a little wrinkled. He blinked at us first, before focusing on my hair. “What are you doing here?”

  He stepped in beside us, and actually pushed us into the hall. I said, “We came to find you. You didn’t pick up your phone and Bridget said we should get you and the director for—“

  “I heard,” Wolf cut in, “the director is already coming by. You two go to one of the emergency rooms and lock the door.”

  “Why?” I questioned, brow furrowed. Was there someone dangerous nearby? And how had he heard about something that happened literally one minute ago?

  “You brought an unidentified preternatural into the building, Em.” He looked at me disapprovingly. “We’re in a state of emergency, and I don’t want you getting hurt. Either of you.” The doors shut before I could ask any more questions.

  “Let’s find a room then,” Jayd said rather too hopefully. I pouted.

  “I wanted to make sure Scar was okay,” I sighed. But he wasn’t going to listen, and grabbed my arm. He pulled me down the long white hallway, past a few of the doors. We came to our usual room, which was always empty, and stepped inside.

  The Emergency Rooms at the Center had all the necessities; a large Queen bed, television, couch, microwave, bathroom, and more. They were made in case anyone should need a place to hide out after exposure, or they were a place to stay if you had nowhere to go. At any given time there were about twenty spooks in residence at the Sagefall Rec Center. Ever since I was a kid Jayd and I had chosen this room as our own, and it was filled with memories of pillow fight and blanket forts, secret club meetings, and countless television hours.

  I flopped onto the bed, and Jayd did the same next to me.

  “Why do you think he wanted us to lock the door?” Jayd asked, and I managed a weak shrug. Wolf was always like that, seeing danger in nothing. There was no way Scarlet could mean harm to us; she didn’t even want to come for goodness sakes!

  “I don’t know,” I murmured, “maybe he thinks she’s involved in the disappearances?”

  Over the past two months there had been twelve disappearances of spooks all across the world. It was the most powerful ones, too, and nobody knows what’s happened to them. No bodies had shown up, no ransom notes, nothing. It was as if they just woke up one day and decided they didn’t want to…exist.

  “Maybe.” Jayd tucked his hands behind his head, nearly hitting me with his elbow. “She did attack you.”

  “That was an accident,” I defended Scarlet, looking at my quickly healing scratch; the marks were now bulky red lines. “Besides, if people were being kidnapped why would they come to Sagefall? There are no powerful spooks here. Least of all me.”

  “You’re stronger than you think.” Jayd looked at me, but I kept my eyes on the white ceiling. When I didn’t cheer up, he added, “You hear the Center is getting a new mentor? And a student, I think.”

  That brought me back and I faced him, the bed bouncing with the quick motion. “Really? Who?”

  “Who? How should I know?” He chuckled. “I know the mentor we’re getting is a Kitsune from Japan, not sure about the student.”

  “Japan?” I squealed. “Do you think they could teach me Japanese? I’ve always wanted to learn, it would be so cool to read manga and watch anime in the right language! I can never focus long enough on those home books.”

  Jayd patted my silvery-purple hair with a smile. “Guess we’ll have to ask. I think the student was a witch; my grandfather mentioned something about needing a witch advisor soon.”

  “A witch?” I repeated. I hadn’t met many witches before, but they weren’t usually nice. Okay, I had met one, and she was mean. “Is it a boy or a girl?”

  “Dunno.”

  I began to think about the witch being a girl, and that I might have a chance at a new friend again. Jayd curled a piece of my hair between his fingers, a slight grimace on his face as he opened his mouth to say something. But an alarm cut him off.

  A high pitched wailing came from the speakers on the ceiling, telling us that something very bad had happened in the Center. My heart dropped, and I rushed to the door to find Scarlet.

  Chapter 2:

  PASSING

  The alarm at the Center always made my heart jump into my throat, and tonight was no different. As I rushed to get to the door Jayd chased after me. “Ember!” he shouted. I managed
to get the door open before he could stop me. It was against the rules to go outside of the rooms when the alarm was blaring, but I couldn’t stop thinking something bad had happened to Scarlet! What if someone had broken in and she was the one they were after? She could be in danger.

  I jumped from the Emergency Room and looked to my left just as Jayd clamped a hand on my shoulder. When I whirled around to check my right, I had the air knocked out of me by something. I crashed to the ground, a person crushing down on my ribs and screaming. My eyes opened, a dull pain radiating through my center, to find Scarlet there. Jayd hauled her to her feet.

  “It’s your fault!” Scarlet shrieked, struggling under his grip for the second time that day. “I knew you were going to do experiments on me or something!”

  “What?” I croaked, realizing that it was hard to speak. I held my stomach as Jayd tossed her aside; he leaned down to help me up. Thankfully she cowered against the far wall, eyes wide.

  He asked, “Are you okay?” I managed a weak nod, but he only pursed his lips as I was pulled to my feet. Scarlet was still screaming about how we were agents for the government, determined to steal her DNA or something; maybe make her breed with someone. Jayd and I exchanged a look, completely confused.

  I heard a POP before I even knew what had happened, or before I even saw Wolf down the hallway. My attention was focused on Scarlet, so much so that I hadn’t noticed him pointing the large black tranquilizer gun in our direction, or saw him pull the trigger. Jayd inched me backwards a step, and Scarlet finally stopped screaming.

  Her eyes went wider, and then fell low as she stumbled forward. She was mumbling now, and just before her knees buckled Jayd caught her in his arms. I sighed. If she were conscious, she would know just how lucky she was to have a boy do that for her. I had always dreamed of something like that happening to me; well, minus the tranquilizer shot and Jayd. Maybe just tripping and being caught. Jayd scooped her into his arms, and she was out.

  “What happened?” he questioned as Wolf and Gavin approached us. “What’s she doing down here?”

  “She woke up,” Wolf growled, gun lowered to his side now. I eyed it, uncomfortable; I didn’t like guns much. And a tranquilizer gun was only slightly better than a real one, right?

  “And she required an alarm?” Jayd grimaced at them both before shoving Scarlet towards Gavin. He gave her a lingering look though that I couldn’t identify. It was as if he didn't want to give her up.

  “That was my fault,” Gavin blushed, the red coming through strong on his pale cheeks. He took Scarlet into his arms, struggling still. “She punched Wolf in the throat and booked it, so I hit the alarm.”

  “Are you okay?” I closed the distance between me and Wolf, and he nodded.

  “I’m fine,” he told me, “she just caught me by surprise. She’s got a strong arm, I’ll give her that.”

  I reached up to touch his throat, having to stretch my arms almost their full length just to do so. Wolf passed the gun to Jayd, and his arms locked on my wrists and he leaned over to my height. “Are you okay?”

  “My stomach hurts a bit,” I shrugged, “but I’m good. Was it really necessary to shoot her? Will she be all right?”

  “She’ll be fine” Wolf said in a sigh. “I don’t know how we’re going to calm her down long enough to explain everything. Let’s get her into a room for now.”

  He led us across the white hallway, and opened a door to a vacant emergency room. Inside, Gavin set Scarlet on the bed, where Wolf clamped a silver bracelet on her wrist. He said, “That should keep her from Shifting on her own.”

  Jayd and I hung by the door. He whispered, “Are you sure you’re okay? You didn’t hit your head, did you?”

  I touched the back of my head, and found it felt fine. My fingers laced through my hair as I pulled it over one shoulder and told him I was okay. I imagined I would be saying that a lot for the next couple of days, to both him and Wolf.

  “You two go home,” Wolf turned and ordered us. “I have to deal with this.”

  “I want to be here when she wakes up,” I told him, earning me a grimace.

  “Take her home,” Wolf looked to Jayd, completely ignoring me now. For a brief moment I looked to Gavin for help, as if he actually would help me. He avoided my eyes, and quickly walked past me out of the room, mumbling about going to bed.

  “Are you going to come home tonight?” I asked Wolf, my voice small but hopeful. I hated when he didn’t come home, it made the apartment feel so…empty. It made me feel empty.

  “I can’t.” Wolf came over and gave me a hug. I gave a tighter one back. “I’ll see you tomorrow though. And I’ll let you know what happens with her.”

  “Okay,” I conceded, eyes looking to my feet.

  After I retrieved my bag, Wolf agreed to at least walk with me to the front doors with Jayd. He eyed the extra weight I carried. “Did you buy more books?”

  I smiled. “Yeah! My friend, Carrie, told me about this new series and it sounded really good, so I went to the bookstore where I found Scarlet and then I got a couple other books, and—”

  “Why don’t you tell me tomorrow,” Wolf suggested with a weak smile, and my own faded as we stepped into the elevator. It was a quiet ride up, and I suddenly felt like I was a burden. Well, at least when I got home I could message Carrie and tell her about my books.

  “Goodnight,” I called to Wolf as we left. He only waved at us, as did Bridget. But before the doors shut on them I saw a look pass between the two; something was going on. I had the urge to stay, to find out what was happening with Scarlet, but decided against it; I would only be in the way anyhow.

  “Guess what?” Jayd pulled me away from the doors. I hadn’t realized I had stopped. We started walking down the concrete path towards home. There were no stars overhead, completely hidden by the clouds and fog. Even the streetlights were blurred, giving an ominous glow to the long, dark streets.

  “What?”

  “I’ve got an appointment in a couple weeks to get my driver’s license.” He grinned wide. “Wanna come along? It’ll be after school.”

  “Okay!” My pace quickened, excited at the prospect of Jayd getting a license. Then we could actually drive places, not that I had anywhere to go. But it could be fun, and maybe he could teach me a thing or two.

  As we crossed the street I got a sudden chill, thick fog rolling at our backs. I stuck my hands in my pockets and shivered.

  “Sorry,” Jayd said, “there’s a friend nearby.” That was his code for “ghost”. We had made it up when we were younger, in case anyone was listening. He stopped on the sidewalk. “Wait.”

  Jayd was looking at someone I couldn’t see, an earth-bound spirit, as he called them. He was a ghost whisperer, which was why so many people at the Center avoided him. Ghosts were universally scary, apparently, and sometimes they made me want to run. But Jayd did so much good by helping them, so I tried not to let my fear show. Besides, most ghosts weren’t even dangerous—they only wanted help.

  “What do you mean?” Jayd eyed the empty space, or whoever occupied it, I guessed.

  “What’re they saying?” I whispered, taking a glance around to make sure we were alone. We were, with the streetlight illuminating us like a spotlight. Down the block I saw the faint image of a man sitting on a bench, but he was too far to hear anything.

  “It’s a warning,” Jayd murmured, “I think. He’s not making any sense.”

  I hated when the ghosts weren’t clear, which was often. If they couldn’t get their message across, they would usually show Jayd what they meant; and that led to nightmares. But the visions were worse when he was awake; thankfully they hadn’t happened in a while.

  He had been plagued with them ever since I’d known him and he first moved here. He never said what they were, but they usually involved dying, and he had them most nights. It had been better recently, since Wolf had showed him a few techniques to control his dreams…but I was never surprised to wake up to him screami
ng. Jayd feels everything the ghosts feel, and they were always miserable. They were dead, how else would they feel?

  The cold disappeared, at least the supernatural cold did. Jayd turned to me, and I knew we were alone on the sidewalk again. I questioned, “Well?”

  He only shook his head. “I think it was a warning, but he wasn’t speaking English. The only word I got was a name, Ezra, I think.”

  “Should we tell Wolf?” I whispered, and he shook his head again.

  “It’ll come, in its own time.” He gave me a reassuring smile, but I could see something behind it. “Let’s keep moving.”

  He was terrible at hiding when something was really wrong. But I let him have it, and we continued on the way home. Ghosts weren’t really my thing, anyway. Jayd seemed to have picked up his pace, and it only got faster as we came near the man on the bench. His hat was low, and he flicked the newspaper he held as we walked by. I thought I heard him say, “Weak.” But ignored it.

  “Jayd,” I whined, feeling as if I was starting to run, “slow down!” Just as we passed the bookstore, the smell of coffee caught me and I stopped. The store stayed open until two in the morning, and with its connection to the coffee shop I couldn’t resist. “Let’s get a drink.”

  Jayd sighed and turned, trying to convey just how much he didn’t want to. But I smiled at him and said, “It’ll only be a little while. It’s not that late.”

  “It is late.” He crossed his arms. “But five minutes. That’s it.”

  I chirped, “I’ll buy!”

  Inside it was warm, and though the scent of coffee and teas was enticing I picked us each up a hot chocolate. We sat near the window, our reflections making us look as normal as we could. It was moments like that that made me wonder how many people around me were actually spooks. Sometimes I could tell, I could force my eyes to look past the glamour. It felt like crossing my eyes, and if the glamour was too strong, it would give me a killer headache. I checked the room, and found there were no other spooks nearby.

  “We really should have just gone home,” Jayd murmured, hiding his lips behind his cup with a pout.