Open World

by Casey Moss

  Cassandra peeled Hope off of her and cast her gaze at the ground. “I wish I could explain it all. I woke up in my secret location, dressed in the outfit I use for ceremonies, and a note from Morrigan requesting I meet her when I have a chance.”

  “So you don’t know where anyone is?”

  “Nope.” Cassandra shrugged. “Sorry.”

  In a strange world. Family’s missing. Den is nowhere to be seen. Thank God Cass is here. I hate being alone. Hope’s blood ran cold through her veins. She rocked slightly, twisted her hands together as she dealt with the news.

  Cassandra gripped her shoulders. “Look at me, Hope.”

  Drawing in a breath, Hope met her cousin’s gaze.

  “We’ll be all right. Got it? You trust me, don’t you?”

  Overwhelmed and at a loss for words, she nodded.

  “Good. Now, buck up. We need to figure out how to find Faith and the others.”

  As if Cassandra conjured Faith by just saying her name, Faith materialized next to them.

  Faith wobbled on her feet, and Cassandra caught her before she fell. “Good of you to join us Faith. Hope and I were about to discuss a game plan to find you, but now that you’re here.” Cassandra grasped Faith’s hand and also Hope’s. “In the words of our favorite story fairy godmother…Bippity. Boppity. Boo!”

  Hope, her sister and her cousin appeared in a great room of a house. A large picture window had been boarded over. Cassandra opened the front door, letting a cool breeze drift in. Hope caught a glimpse of the Strip in the distance. The area surrounding it spread out in a black blanket, dotted sporadically with gold. At least she thought it was the strip. The row of lights didn’t seem as grand as she remembered. The whole city was probably in shambles, same as the area Buzz had found her in.

  “Where the hell am I now?” Faith stomped over to the entrance. “We’re up near Lone Mountain, aren’t we?”

  Cassandra directed her back to the center of the room. “Come. Let’s sit, and I’ll do my best to answer your and Hope’s questions, and hopefully between the three of us, we’ll determine what’s going on.”

  The three of them sat upon a large black throw rug. Candles placed throughout the room winked to life then flickered in golden light. Hope gasped as did Faith. Seemed her cousin had been able to access her character’s abilities. She wondered when she’d be able to work some magic herself, like the shifting Den had mentioned.

  Cassandra pulled a slim footlocker from beneath the breakfast bar that separated the great room from the kitchen, produced a key from a chain around her neck, unlocked the container and removed a book and bag. She loosened the string of the bag, opened it and dumped rocks with bizarre markings on the floor.

  “Mom and Dad would be so pissed if they saw this stuff. Tarot cards… Astrology books… Wiccan instruction manuals…” Faith remarked as she poked through the box. She held up a plastic bag with pale green leaves on twigs in it. “Is this…”

  “No. It’s not pot.” Cassandra snatched the bag from her cousin and put it back in the box. “It’s sage. I like to burn it to purify the areas I’m living in when no one’s around.”

  “You’ve used it in the house?” Hope took the bag out of the chest and sniffed it. “So that’s the smell. It’s been driving Father nuts,” Hope commented. She put the bag back and then picked up one of the rocks and studied it. “You know Mother and Father would be upset if they ever caught what you’re doing.”

  Cassandra opened and closed her hand. “Give it here. I’m not doing anything wrong,” she said when she got the rock back and placed it amongst the others. “I’m not dabbling in the black arts. I’m learning how to become one with the universe, to understand the truth present in all ways of life, to honor the earth. Did God not create the heavens and the earth and all that’s in between including the seen and unseen? Since he has, then what we do here is not bad because God created this form of honoring him and his creations as well as all else.”

  Faith shrugged.

  “Makes sense to me,” Hope offered. “But I still think Mom and Dad would have a fit.” She crossed her lower legs with her heels near her crotch and put her elbows on her inner thighs. “So tell us, how did you manage to transport us here?”

  “Yeah. Plus I want to know where’s here? Where’s everyone else? What the hell happened?” Faith included.

  “Well, I don’t know about the two of you, but I woke up here, dressed in my ritual garb. It took me a few minutes until I realized I was in the game I don’t know how we got into the game. Maybe something with the crystals. Something with the storm? Your guesses are as good as mine. Once I determined where I was, which is in my special spot in the game near Lone Mountain, I knew I had some special capabilities due to the nature of my character.

  “I changed into the pair of skinny jeans and purple tee that you now see on me. Then I pictured you two in my mind, and zip, I was with Hope. You guys should have the power to transport. It’s inherent in every character.”

  “That makes sense.” Faith leaned back on her forearms. The forest green t-shirt she wore stretched against her chest. “I came to in the intersection of Fifteen and Sahara. Thank God there’s no vehicular traffic, or I’d have been flattened. To tell the truth, cars or not, the location scared me. Without even knowing what I was about to do, I closed my eyes, imagined being with the two of you, and then there I was. What about you, Hope?”

  The growls of the CWU, and an image in her mind of where she’d been, sent goosebumps traveling up and down her arms. She rubbed her skin. If it hadn’t been for that guy, Buzz, she didn’t know what would have become of her. “I had help getting downtown.”

  “Help?” Cassandra lifted a brow over one of her green eyes.

  A shiver racked her body, but she pressed on, “I ended up across from The Circus in the not so nice section of town. One of those urchin creatures decided I might make a tasty treat, but then this guy…he said his name is Buzz…came and saved me. Once the creature was gone, he asked where I needed to go. I told him ‘The Experience.’ He flashed me. I was there in front of the Horseshoe.”

  “Interesting.” From her box, Cassandra removed a book about runes and the deck of tarot cards. She shuffled the colorful cards and spread five out in a cross pattern. For several long moments she sat silent, staring at the spread. “Seems that there’s going to be a truce between two clans, a celebration and a family dinner. Father’s bringing a new friend. Let’s see what the stones can tell us about the upcoming events and Father’s new friend.” Cassandra picked up the runes and placed them back in the bag. “Let us cast.”

  She closed her eyes, breathing in and out, long, slow, and deep. The bag moved in her hand as she worked each stone through the cloth. Cassandra removed the first rune and placed it on the ground. Moments passed as she repeated the process, creating another cross on the floor. More minutes ticked away as she consulted her book.

  Finally, she rose from her spot and opened a drawer in an end table. She produced a red votive candle, a glass plate, which she put on the top of the piece of furniture, and a pen. With the pen, she drew on the candle. After she put the candle on its holder and lit it, she returned to the floor.

  “I see here peace. One’s talents and skills will be recognized. I’ve lit a special candle to assist all this to come to pass,” Cassandra began, waving a hand over the stones and closing her eyes, “Father’s new friend…he’ll come with a purpose. He will pick one of the two of you. I don’t sense myself as part of his plans. He will be charming and loving, but I get the impression this is a front. He needs to overcome a situation from his past, and a relationship is a means to his end. There will be domination, submission. Sadism.” She opened her eyes and pointed at the top stone. “But don’t be disheartened. The last rune here is Gebo, the rune of love and forgiveness. Its gemstone is opal. If the challenges of this relationship are overcome, then there will be a loving partnership.”

  Hope didn’t believe all the m
umbo jumbo her cousin was into, but there was one word which reverberated through her and repeated in her head… Domination. A rough, harsh word, it didn’t make her all warm and fuzzy inside. She squeezed her legs together and smiled wanly. All this game weirdness was getting to her. She wanted to stop playing, return to the clubhouse, feel the safety of Den’s arms. But try as she might to picture that scenario, even going as far as clicking her heels together and wishing for home, traveling back to her reality didn’t happen.

  Chapter Five

  “Oh my God. That was so awesome,” Faith exclaimed backstage after the last round of bows to a standing ovation in the ‘The Experience’s’ outdoor theater was complete.

  “Yes, it was wonderful.” Hope swept her arm out toward the stage. “I love dancing.” She did a pirouette.

  “And I love the theater,” Faith responded, affecting a Shakespearean accent and pose.

  “Do you think that man Cassandra divined will ever come over to dinner?” Hope headed toward the changing room with her sister.

  “Yeah, he’ll be there,” Faith answered. “Have you noticed how Father has been raving about a new clan member the past week?”

  Hope nodded then pulled the muslin dress over her head.

  “I’ve actually met him and then run into him a couple of times as I’ve been out and about helping with the peace activities. There’s a cold and wicked gleam to his stare. I feel some kind of malevolence emanating from him. Cassandra says it’s his persona, his aura. Whatever it is, I don’t like it. The guy gives me the creeps. Father’s been acting like the guy is his long lost son, or to put it how he puts it ‘The son I never had.’”

  Pulling on her jeans, Hope stared at her sister. “Why didn’t you tell me this sooner? According to the game clock we’ve been here for over two weeks. And I know we’ve been preoccupied with the peace treaty and then the talent show, but still. I haven’t seen or heard from Den. Mom and Dad don’t know what happened to him. Now you’re keeping secrets from me?”

  “Great jobs, ladies,” a man said to the two of them as he passed by. He winked at Faith.

  “Poor guy,” Faith said quietly to her sister. “Big T told me he has terrible scarring from a bad accident and has to put on twice as much makeup as everyone else. Even when he’s not on stage, he’s in makeup. He reminds me of those Cirque performers with their artistically painted faces. I don’t think I’d recognize him without his masks.”

  “That’s interesting, Faith, but don’t change the subject. Why didn’t you mention Father’s friend to me? Do you know his name? Where he’s from? What does he look like?”

  Faith pulled a t-shirt over her head, tucked the hem into her jeans and zipped them up. “I didn’t say anything because I didn’t want to freak you out. I don’t know where he’s from. But he looks like a military biker dude, and his name is Buzz.”

  An image of the man who’d saved her sprang to the forefront of Hope’s mind. Beneath his black colored garb there was a promise of a body made of hard lean muscle. A rush of anticipation swept through her. She rubbed her sweaty palms on her jeans, chastising herself for even thinking of another man in a sexual bent. “We don’t have time to dawdle here. I want to get home and get this dinner over with.”

  “What’s the rush? I didn’t think you wanted to see the man Cassandra warned us about.”

  “Of course I don’t want to see him, it’s Alden who I’m focused on. Before all this occurred, us getting sucked into the game and all, Den was going to ask Dad for my hand in marriage. After my performance. After dinner…” Just like today. “I can’t believe he hasn’t found me yet. He’s supposed to know this game inside out.”

  Faith hugged her. “I know. This whole situation sucks the big one. I miss Tavis, too. I’m sure they’re doing what they can to get to us. Let’s get to Mom and Dad’s place, and get this night over with.”

  Back at the house her parents had commandeered and she and Faith had settled into for the time being, Hope absentmindedly assisted her sister and cousin in setting the dining room table. She laid down each fork, knife and spoon by rote next to metal plates that had seen better days. It pained her that she hadn’t heard from Alden nor seen him after the play, which she thought was odd since he had been outside waiting for her after all her other performances.

  At least in the real world. The real world. Oh no. She was supposed to perform in a play. Then Den planned to come over and ask permission from her father for her hand. Had the play gone on without her? Was Den stuck in the real world while she dealt with the craziness of being in the game? Was time even passing the same where she was compared to out there?

  Too many questions for situations she had no control over and shouldn’t worry about. She took a deep breath. The aroma of the pot roast her mother had pulled out of the oven and placed in the center of the table tantalized her. Praying Den was all right and would show up soon, Hope sighed. She loved him more than she wanted to admit and wouldn’t be able to bear life if he were no longer around.

  A knock sounded at the door. Hope’s heart lifted hoping it was Alden. After her father answered, she heard Buzz’s deep, rumbling voice greeting him.

  “Good. He’s here,” Grace said, coming into the dining room. She finished putting the food out. “Now we can sit down to eat and get this ordeal over with.”

  “Mom?” Hope questioned her reaction with the one word.

  “Don’t let your father know, but I don’t like that man, Buzz. He’s too full of himself.”

  “Don’t you think that’s very unchristian-like Aunt Grace?” Cassandra challenged.

  “You know I am religiously devout,” she said sotto voce. “But that man irks me and is evil, pure and simple.”

  “Good afternoon, ladies,” Buzz announced as he strolled into the room. “For the meal.” He held up a clear bottle with an amber liquid in it. “Hello, dear,” he said to Hope and gave her a peck on the cheek.

  She jerked at his touch. “A little forward, don’t you think?”

  “Oh. Sorry, dear.” Buzz smiled and looked at her family members. “We’ve met once before.”

  “Good to know,” James said and motioned everyone to their chairs. “Seems you know everybody but Cassandra.” He pointed at her.

  She bobbed her head once. Buzz matched her action.

  Confused, Hope sat and quirked an eyebrow at Cassandra who shrugged. She’d learned, along with her sister and cousin, that her mother and father had no affiliation with any clans in the devastated city. They’d found themselves in the position of ambassadors. It’s one of the reasons her clan and Faith’s clan had drawn up a treaty. But what did Buzz have to do with them? Why, if her mother was in a position of helping others, did she have such strong feelings against the man?

  Buzz poured everyone a glass of what looked to be cider and raised his. “To good friends, family and loved ones,” he toasted.

  “Here, here,” James replied, tilting his glass toward his friend.

  Grace and Faith smiled at the thoughtful toast and tipped theirs as well. Hope followed suit, still puzzled as to everything that was going on.

  Cassandra brought the glass to her nose first and sniffed. When she moved to acknowledge the toast, the glass slipped from her fingers and crashed to the table. The flute broke. Liquid gushed all over her plate and utensils.

  Hope’s usually non-klutzy cousin seemed unfazed about dropping her drink.

  Buzz on the other hand… His lips thinned. The fire in his gaze could have melted the steel.

  Everyone’s reactions are so odd. She chalked up the weird actions to the uncomfortable situation.

  “I have no more cider to give you, Cassandra,” Buzz grit out politely, narrowing his eyes on her.

  “That’s quite all right,” Cassandra replied, returning the stare. “I’m not too fond of cider as it is.”

  Hope’s gaze darted between her cousin and Buzz. Something weird had passed between the two of them in their exchange. Cassandra grinn
ed as if she had won a contest.

  Throughout the rest of the meal, Hope kept her thoughts to herself and stayed silent. Every so often she’d stare out the window at the sky that’d change from one gray shade to another over the mountains in the distance. It was the same view the kitchen windows framed. Her family wanted her to tell them how she’d been rescued from the CWU, but she passed on relating the story, letting Buzz regale them with the tale. He didn’t embellish a lot, just enough to seem like he was a knight in shining armor.

  “Sir?” Buzz inquired as he rose from the table at the end of the meal. “May I speak with you privately?”

  “Yes. Come with me to the study.” James rose and led the man out of the room.

  Hope nervously helped the other women clear off the table and put the food away. She had no idea what the men could be talking about, and her mother added to her unease of the whole evening when she mentioned that the new family friend might seem honorable but wasn’t. Her girls should keep their wits about them and not get fooled.

  Of course they’d keep their heads clear when it came to the man.

  An hour later the men emerged. James laughed and slapped Buzz on the back.

  “Come, my dear, let’s go for a walk,” Buzz said to Hope when he met up with her in the living room. “So, you’re almost done with your college degree,” he remarked outside, taking her hand and giving it a squeeze as they headed in the direction of the park.

  “Yes, and I’m so excited.” She wanted to kick herself for sounding like a silly twit. If she didn’t know better, she would have said she’d drunk a bottle of wine. “I’m planning on applying to some shows on the Strip as a dancer.” At least that was the plan before this stupid game took over. If I ever get back… “I’m going to make it my mission to get a dancing gig either in Las Vegas or LA.”

  “Los Angeles? You won’t have to go that far. In fact, you won’t need to leave and go anywhere. I’ll be taking care of you, so in essence, you don’t need college or work.”