Garden of Spiders Volume 1: A Companion Book to The Fallocaust Series Book 3

by Quil Carter

  Perish was gone now. Zamir had decided, since he was the only adult alive in the apartment, that he was going to take Perish into custody. A phone call had been made to Commissioner Talbot and several thiens came in to discreetly remove him from our presence.

  Silas had been brought to his bedroom to resurrect, this was done before the commissioner had arrived since it would cause drama if word got out that he’d died under mysterious circumstances.

  It had been the first time we’d seen him dead and it was scary for all of us. Garrett and Ellis were near tears, Nero looked gaunt and afterwards had lashed out and punched the wall in the hallway to release his anger. Me on the other hand, I’d retreated to my room where I felt safe and drowned myself in my studies until my siblings came knocking on my door. They saw me as their rock, their emotional support and someone they could lean upon. I didn’t begrudge them the security and the comfort, and together the four of us stayed together and watched movies in my room. I enjoyed the company, which was a window itself into the seriousness of what had happened upstairs.

  We didn’t talk about what Perish had said to Silas. I don’t think my brothers and I knew what to make of his words, or even if they were the truth. I myself refused my thoughts whenever they wandered to the angry things he’d shouted, and the confusing things he’d said. They touched upon a subject matter that was alarming to me, subject matter that I myself had just started to become curious about but had flat out denied myself from thinking of it. So if I wouldn’t even let myself think about the S-word, I definitely wasn’t going to pile on even more confusion by trying to pick apart just what Perish meant… and what that meant for us.

  All I’d known about… sex…

  I blushed even saying that word in my head.

  … was that it was something that people did when they were in a relationship. I knew the mechanics of it, thanks to Nero and his magazine, but that was it. I think Perish was just saying it to make Silas angry. And even if that wasn’t true, it was going to be my truth because the subject as a whole was just too shocking, too jarring. It made me extremely uncomfortable which made it easy for me to not think about it.

  I wasn’t sure how my brothers felt. Nero, from what I’d seen, seemed to be on a mission to find out anything and everything he could about it, and Garrett was like me – I think. But even if they both wanted to figure out what Perish meant, they were keeping quiet about it and I was too.

  What remained of the evening passed by quickly and soon it was bedtime. My siblings didn’t want to go upstairs so it was decided that they’d sleep in my bedroom with me. Cushions were brought in from the couches downstairs for Ellis and Nero on the floor, and Garrett slept in my bed with me.

  Now it was morning. Unsure of what to do, we’d ordered breakfast and my brothers and sister were now eating quietly in the dining room. The events of last night were still branded upon all of our minds and there was no laughing or rough-housing like one would usually expect from four thirteen-year-olds at breakfast. Not only were we off-kilter over what had happened last night, but we didn’t know when Silas was going to wake up and the last thing we wanted to do was disturb him. After this, they were going to go about their usual routine. Garrett was going to shadow Zamir today which was typical for Mondays, Nero and Ellis were going to stay behind since they had no plans except for their usual routines.

  But me? This was an important day for me… this was the important day for me. School was supposed to start in forty-five minutes and I was dressed and ready to go with my backpack full of my carefully organized supplies on my back. I had to leave soon but Silas was supposed to accompany me there.

  I didn’t even know if he was alive yet, and truth be told, I was worried that he would forbid me to leave after what had happened. I didn’t want to knock on this door, but I didn’t have a choice because if I didn’t and I just slinked off, and he was inside that bedroom alive and possibly waiting for me… Silas would be furious.

  I took in a second deep inhale and knocked on the bedroom door. My body flushed with a cold feeling as I waited with baited breath for any response, and while the seconds ticked on slowly, like they were minutes in disguise, I warned myself that I wouldn’t be disappointed if he told me I wasn’t allowed to go. I was in control over my emotions, not outside forces, and if I told myself I wouldn’t be upset… I fully expected myself to comply.

  “Yes?”

  The cold flushed feeling that had taken me just moments previous, returned with a vengeance that suggested it had a grudge to settle. It acted as accelerant for my pulse, and increased its rate to became a steady anxious thrum.

  “It’s Elish… I’m…” I hesitated but pushed through. If he was going to tell me I couldn’t go, there was nothing I could do about it. “I’m about go to school… I wanted to make sure you were okay first.”

  My words lingered longer than usual on the tense air that my own thoughts had created, but even the voice that had shattered this darkness eventually faded and disappeared. I shifted my feet in the self-created silence and waited for a response I wasn’t sure I wanted to receive.

  “You may enter.”

  I hesitated, but not for the reasons one would think. It was because of the tone of his voice. He sounded listless, defeated. There was no strength behind his words; they were so weak a gentle breeze could’ve blown them away. Not only that, the bright fire that usually licked and burned each octave had been snuffed out. This didn’t sound like the king, the master that I loved with so much of my heart.

  I mentally prepared myself for whatever it was. I held my chin up high, squared my shoulders, and in case he needed me, I drew strength and made myself a rock. Silas and I may have had our issues, he’d created many black holes in my heart that had never healed, but when all of that was boiled down, the fact that he was still my master remained.

  With those thoughts standing guard in the forefronts of my mind, I opened the bedroom door and stepped in.

  The room was dark, the lights off and only a vertical slit of sun was shining on the wall opposite to the curtain-covered windows. That defiant beam of light illuminated the wall above the head of my master’s huge four poster bed, but not the curled up heap that was below it.

  I closed the door and my night vision lit everything up in its blues and silvers. My eyes went to that heap, and I saw Silas curled up tight with his eyes open but staring off into the darkness.

  “Come here, little love,” Silas said. I walked over to him and tried to steady my nervous heart.

  There was something about seeing him vulnerable like this that I disliked. It was as if I was embarrassed for him which was a confusing feeling. I decided to analyze it more at a later date – for now I just wanted to get through this.

  Silas looked up at me and I was surprised when I saw his eyes fill with love. But like the king, this love was weighed down with sadness.

  “My golden boy,” Silas murmured. He reached out a hand and motioned me closer. I got down on my knees and Silas wrapped an arm around my neck and drew me close. He kissed my forehead and inhaled slowly. “I’m sorry about last night, little prince. You weren’t hurt badly, were you?” He pulled away from me as he said this, and touched the black bruise that was visible on my left cheek, almost on my jawline. The worst of it was on the small of my back where there was a black bruise framed with red, and several small cuts from where the lamp had broken and punctured my skin. They didn’t require stitches though and Ellis had helped me bandage the wounds last night.

  I told Silas about my other two injuries, but not wanting to worry him, added: “But they barely hurt at all.”

  Silas made the motion with his finger to turn around. I obliged and when he pulled up my button-down (I was dressed in my best clothes for school), he sighed. I turned back around and saw that he didn’t look happy.

  “My golden boy defended his master,” Silas said. “I wanted to change my mind… I wanted to tell you that I would no longer allow you to atte
nd public school.” My face dropped. “But how could I punish my beautiful boy for something that he had no part in? Especially when he showed such bravery.” He slowly shifted to the sitting position. I felt awkward again when he buried his face into his hands, then slowly drew them down.

  Like he was wiping his face clean of expression, the sadness disappeared. But there was nothing left behind, just the hints of morose, and a deep sadness that seemed to suit his facial features, as if he’d had a lot of practise making such a face.

  “You’ve made me proud, Elish.” I filled to bursting with pride. I was so full I felt it physically hurt. “And if I didn’t think that this adventure was going to help you break those shackles you put yourself into four years ago, I wouldn’t allow it. For thousands of reasons I wouldn’t allow it, and even now I tread along the edges of changing my mind. I have taken every precaution imaginable, but yet I cannot predict the future, or the dangers that may lie ahead. I know that I must let you make your own mistakes, for if I hold your hand for the rest of your life…” This was when he slipped his hand into mine. “You’ll never learn on your own.”

  Silas squeezed my hand and looked down at it. “Soon this hand will be larger than mine. Soon you’ll look down at your short little king.” He smiled at this and I did too. Silas was five-nine, an average height, but his three male chimeras were going to be taller than him, Nero and I especially. “You’re… I can’t believe you’re a teenager now. You’re no longer a child, you’re no longer that little baby who would cry whenever I called him Elias.”

  I squeezed his hand back. “I remember that frustrating me to no end.”

  “Yes,” Silas whispered, “and now… you’re almost a man. Raising you four has been my greatest challenge… and I repaired the world.” He laughed dryly, still with that smile on his face. “And here I am preparing myself for three new chimeras. I must be mad.”

  “You’ll have us four to help,” I reminded him. “We’re old enough now. We might not have much practise, but neither did you. We’ll learn, and it’ll be easier on you. Just like we’re almost old enough to help you run Skyfall. It’ll all be easier on you soon, I promise.”

  Silas paused at this. I was afraid that I’d said something to upset him. “It’ll be easier… once I have him again.”

  The swell of anger that hit me was unexpected, but it stabbed my body like Silas had turned and thrown a lance at my heart.

  Him.

  Fucking him.

  I knew who he was talking about, and the unadulterated hatred that I felt for this dead immortal that I’d never met was stifling. It made the room fill with a choking heat, one that had me inhaling embers and exhaling flaming words.

  But I caught those words as they seared my tongue, and even though they heated up my stomach, creating an oven inside that boiled the bile in my gut, I refused to voice them. I knew the dangers involved in voicing opinions regarding Sky Fallon, and it would be detrimental to me and Silas.

  Don’t feel angry. Stop feeling angry.

  How can I not be angry? That parasitic dead man has been the root cause of one of the most traumatizing, horrific events of my life. Sky Fallon had kicked that domino, and the end result was not only almost being killed, and experiencing such horrific things in that mall that I still had nightmares, but it also caused… it also caused…

  I couldn’t say his name, even in my head.

  It also caused my sengil to be killed right in front of my eyes.

  No, you will not feel those emotions. Erase them from your mind. Prove to yourself right now how in control you are over yourself and vanquish them into the darkness. You’ve been challenged, win the game.

  I defied my own intense hatred for Sky, and shocking even myself when I smiled.

  “I know, Master Silas,” I whispered to him. I rubbed his shoulder, my arm still secured around him, and kissed his cheek. “But until then, you’ll have us.”

  ‘He will be my heir… he will be my protégé. And once he’s older… he very well may be my husband.’

  You’ll have me. And I swear I will make you forget Sky Fallon ever existed. When I’m old enough and if you do end up wanting me to be your husband… I’ll do a better job than Sky ever did. I’ll be the best husband there ever was, and the two of us will rule the world together.

  The solemn resolve behind my words shocked even me. I didn’t realize just how much I meant them until I was saying them to myself in my head. I… I think I really meant them.

  “Thank you, little love,” Silas said. “You made me feel better, which is not easy to do.” He glanced at the clock on the wall. “I’m in no state to accompany you to the school, but I will get out of bed today which I had no intentions of doing before your words, so feel proud about that.” I helped Silas rise from the bed, and I did swell with pride. “I believe… I believe it is time I took care of something I should’ve done for a long time.” He grabbed his remote phone which was on the side table beside him and glanced down at it. “It is time to get rid of this toxic presence that has been plaguing me for… quite a while.”

  I didn’t know what he meant by that, and I knew better than to ask.

  Silas walked to the door, but instead of opening it and showing me out like I suspected, he picked up a beige envelope that was on top of his dresser and handed it to me. “Your school schedule, I picked out the classes I wish for you to take.” My eyes widened as I took it. I hadn’t even thought about class schedules or anything of that nature. I was so relieved he remembered or else I wouldn’t know what the heck to do once I was there.

  “Go to school and have a good day. I may be gone when you get back, but I’ll be here once I take care of some matters.” Silas opened the door and one last kiss was placed on my forehead.

  Over the years, he’d stopped having to bend down to kiss my forehead, and now for Nero he had to stand on his toes. “Be good, lovely boy, and if you need help finding your class, ask the principle. He’s a friend of the family. And remember you’re a prince, Skyfall’s first prince. Feel free to remind the peasants of that fact as well.”

  I laughed lightly and nodded. “I will, Master Silas. Have a good day.”

  “You too, love.”

  I made our driver speed to the high school. My conversation with Silas was more important than anything, including being on time for my first day of school, but I still didn’t want to be late.

  While I was being driven to class I opened up the envelope Silas had given me. Inside was several sheets of paper held together by a staple, a spiral notebook with Skyland High 154 A.F on the front in fancy letters. There was a picture of the Skyfall skyline on the cover which was a hologram, the picture went from day to night depending on how you moved the book.

  It appeared to be an agenda-type book, an organizer to keep track of your classes, homework, things of that nature. When I flipped through the book, this was confirmed when I saw dates, two dates to a page beginning in September when the school year started. It was the end of March; I was starting school at the beginning of the last semester. I would’ve ideally started school at the beginning of the year, but since Silas wanted me to be thirteen… well, it was what it was. I had a feeling that if I argued with Silas over attending in the middle of the school year he would’ve made me wait until September.

  I put the agenda to the side and found my schedule. Silas and I had discussed what classes I’d be taking but I wasn’t sure just which ones he’d settled on. I’d been studying from a grade seven math book, an English book, and a science book which were mandatory classes so I assumed those were going to be included.

  But it looked like I wasn’t going to take many of the traditional classes. I’d expected a lot of science classes since I’d been shadowing Perish, but perhaps the science they taught was too different from the science I’d be doing so it would be a waste of time. I only had one science class which was called Introduction to Skytech, I’m assuming it was one to prepare people who wanted jobs at Sk
ytech in the future. Then I had Fallocaust Survival Studies, or FSS, Advanced English 10, Psychology 10 which was surprising since I was only entering grade seven but I suppose I was rather intelligent, Business 10, and History.

  This was exciting, but I tried to hide it on my face, even if our driver wasn’t looking at me (Silas forbade them to speak to us, or even look us in the eye, unless we initiated first). To know that these were going to be classes full of kids my age (and older for the grade 10 ones) was nothing short of exhilarating. A new and exciting chapter in my life was starting, and I’d look back on this day as the beginning of something great – and possibly the start of me getting my very first friend outside of the family and Mantis, and who knows, maybe my first boyfriend!

  Feeling good about myself, I thanked the driver for the ride once we arrived and complimented his wristwatch, just to give him something to be happy about as well. Then I turned and jumped up onto the curb, and looked ahead at the school that was going to be mine soon.

  The school was made of brown-red brick with white trim that also framed the large windows. There were pillars in front of this school, holding up a second storey that stretched out farther than the entrance so the entrance itself was in shadow. That second storey had Skyland High School in silver letters below the windows, and the windows themselves had pictures of the solar system.

  As I walked towards the entrance I passed bike racks full of bikes, empty benches and tables, and vending machines which stocked both snacks and ChiCola. The entrance itself was all windows, slightly tinted, and normal doors and automatic ones for students with disabilities.

  I opened the door with my heart pounding from excitement. The inside had a lot of natural light from the windows, but were lit with those flat lights that you saw in these types of buildings, usually with push panel ceilings. The floors were off-white and the walls beige with corkboard boards full of notices centered in the middle, and pictures of the faculty in front of what appeared to be the main office. I walked to the office, and down the long hallways I saw blue lockers on both sides.