Tales & Darkness

by G. Bailey

  As the lift goes down, it soon reveals why it’s glass: the view. The middle of each layer is all open plan, making a giant white room with many glass rooms and escalators, with dozens of people sleeping all over the place. The large room soon disappears as I go down three more levels before the lift stops and the doors open. My footsteps sound so loud as I walk out into the lobby, where there are even more people sleeping all over the floor and down the corridor behind me. In the middle of the room is a big circle-shaped desk, with four women sleeping on the desk, their bodies still in their chairs.

  I walk around the people and the desk to the front door, seeing that it is just as massive on the inside as the outside. I search around until I find a man slumped near the wall, and above him is a red button. I get closer and see the button says “Open” on it. Wow, these Masters are quite literal if this opens the door. I press the button and loud alarms blast in my ears for a few moments as the doors shake before slowly sliding open. Knox runs in first, and I see the panic in his eyes turn to relief the moment his eyes find mine.

  “What happened to you? It’s been hours, Madi,” Sin demands, the panic in his voice hard to miss, as he comes in next, followed by Warren. They all get to me at the same time, but Warren cups my cheek before moving some of my hair away from the cut.

  “I can heal this,” he says.

  “No, I don’t need it healed, but a bathroom to clean up in would be good,” I reply.

  “How did you do that?” Knox asks, placing his hand on my other arm as Warren lets me go, and Sin eyes Warren like he isn’t impressed. My head hurts too much to think about it.

  “I couldn’t land,” I admit as grandmother gets to us and frowns at me.

  “That needs to be cleaned up before we do any searching,” she says.

  “Why don’t I take Madi to our parents’ flat and sort out the cut?” Sin suggests. “And then you three can go and get the magical book from the vaults before we head back. We can come back with everyone tomorrow once the magical book has told us something useful.”

  “Good plan,” grandmother replies as I go to argue with it. Sin doesn’t give me a chance to say anything as he takes my hand and tugs me with him as we head to the lift, and the rest of our group goes down the corridor. Sin presses the button, and the lift opens, with the same man still sleeping in it. We head inside, and Sin presses the button for the seventh floor.

  “Are you okay?” Sin asks me, likely because I’m so quiet, lost in my own thoughts.

  “I think the dark goddess is coming to me in my dreams. There have been two of them now, and they scare me. Really scare me, Sin,” I admit, and Sin wraps an arm around my waist, pulling me to him.

  “It’s only dreams,” he gently says.

  “Do you really believe that?” I ask.

  “I don’t know. I just know if the dark goddess was really out to get you, she would be here. She and her sisters gave all of us our powers; she would beat us. So why go to your dreams?” he ponders. It’s not that he doesn’t believe me, he just doesn’t know how exactly to make sense of it all.

  “You’re right. It doesn’t make sense,” I mutter as the doors open onto the big open plan room.

  “I don’t think a lot of the world makes sense now. I try to just remember the things that do,” Sin explains.

  “Which are?” I ask.

  “My love for you, the future I want us to have, our family,” he says. “To list a few things.”

  “What do you want for our future, Sin?” I ask as he turns us down a pathway to an escalator where piles of people have accumulated at the top, with someone’s cloak stuck in the escalator’s top, making it stop. We head up the steps, and Sin helps me climb over the people pile.

  “I want us to go back to Lost Time Academy for the next three years and graduate as we should do. Then I want us to travel the world for a few years, see all the magical things we haven’t had a chance to,” he explains to me.

  “Then?” I ask.

  “Then we could come to work here and settle in an apartment here. Find our calling in the tales community and make it a better place...if that is even possible,” he says.

  “Do you see Warren in this vision of yours?” I quietly ask.

  “Do you?” he counters, stopping in his tracks, and I pause too. Sin turns back to me and steps in front of me, resting his hands on my arms. “Tell me,” he softly asks.

  “Yes, because I love him like I love you. Like I love your brothers,” I say, feeling brave to even utter half those words.

  “I know. I knew from the second you moved in the middle of us fighting,” he gently tells me. “It’s okay to fall in love with him. He saved you, kept you safe, and there is a bond between you. It’s like our bond and your bond with my brothers.”

  “Do you think it could work with us all?”

  “Yes,” he answers straightaway. “You know why?” I shake my head, and he gently kisses me, the soft action making butterflies swirl around in my stomach. “Because we want you to be happy. We want a future.”

  “I love you, Sin. You always know the right thing to say to me,” I say.

  “I’m a smooth talker, that’s why,” he replies, and I chuckle at his cheesy comment. I rest my head on his shoulder as we walk across the pathway and to a door with the number twenty on it. The door is slightly open, and we head inside to the open plan kitchen and living room. On the sofas are Mr. and Mrs. Tale, both of them fast asleep like I expected to see them.

  “I don’t think I’ve ever seen my parents so relaxed,” Sin comments. “Or sleeping near each other.”

  “They don’t share a room?” I ask him.

  “No, not ever. It’s a marriage on paper only, the very thing I would never want to have,” he explains. “Many of the tales community have relationships like this. Our marriages are chosen by someone else, not by love like it should be. I don’t believe the Masters are evil and that they want the worst for our kind; I just believe they are backwards in their rules. If they changed, if they saw the dark tales for who they really are, then things could get better. Dark tales and good tales, all living together, going to school together and building a future that is happy.”

  “That’s a nice thought, and it’s sad to think many people are like your parents,” I say, looking at them. “I don’t know what is evil and what is not, but your parents and the Masters have done terrible things. It’s a wonder they can sleep at all.”

  “We have to stop the Masters...even if it costs us everything,” Sin says, knowing it’s the right thing to do. To have a better future, we need to get rid of those who are keeping us in the past.

  “I agree,” I whisper, and we look at each other, the same resolve in our eyes. The bad guys can’t win this. The Masters have to be destroyed, just like the prophecy said.

  But how exactly do we do that?

  Chapter 10

  “So this is the first magical book,” I say, looking at it on the middle of the table, where we are all stood around. The book has a brown leather casing with the classic good tale symbol on the cover. The symbol is cast in pure silver, but it has gotten a little tarnished over the years, and there is a big crack down the middle of the cat. I run my fingers over the words circling around the symbol, words that I can’t read but suspect are Latin. My Latin classes at Lost Time Academy were lost on me. “Honestly, I was expecting it to look super powerful or something more than this. It looks like it should be at Lost Time Academy with how old and falling apart it is.”

  “Same, but it doesn’t matter because we can’t open it,” Knox explains what we have all figured out since coming back here. Mum, dad and even grandmother don’t have a clue how to open it. The book isn’t locked by anything we can see, but every time anyone tries to open it, it just stays shut.

  “One minute,” I say, going to my bedroom and getting out Lane from my cabinet drawer. I run back to the living room as mum and dad move to sit on the sofas with grandmother. Warren and Tobias are standing
together near the book, Knox and Sin are talking quietly about methods to open said book, and Noah is looking at me as I come to his side and place Lane on the table next to the magical book. I open Lane up, and he appears almost instantly, floating in the grey fog of smoke around him.

  “You look pale today. Have you heard of the sun? It’s this big shining thing in the sky, and if you sit out in the sunlight long enough—”

  “Lane,” I growl, wishing he would shut up, and he rolls his eyes. I swear I’ve got the sassiest book out of the lot of them. Lane all but gives me a diva tut as I hear everyone else hiding their laughter.

  “Yes, your majesty?” he sarcastically replies.

  “I need your help,” I reply.

  “When do you not? You’d never find your room without me,” he feels the need to say.

  “You got me lost on my first day and many times after that,” I point out.

  “You are always bringing up the past. Honestly, you need to forget—”

  “Is there a point to this conversation with Lane?” Noah asks, sounding very amused. In fact, everyone in the room is chuckling as I look up to glare at them. This is so embarrassing. I feel like Lane is my third parent who loves nothing more than to embarrass me.

  “Lane, next to you is the first magical book. We can’t open it,” I tell him. “If we are going to stand a chance of saving our asses from the new threats, we need it open.”

  “Of course you can open it,” he replies.

  “No, it won’t open,” I tell him.

  “Oh, right. Did you not read the writing on the cover? Not the Latin, but the writing under the cat?” Lane asks, and I look to the magical book, seeing nothing but strange symbols on the outside.

  “I can’t read whatever that language is,” I say.

  “It’s old school Celtic, and it says, ‘Only the blood of a tale can open.’ Or at least something along that line,” Lane explains, and I get it now. Why does it always have to be blood?

  “Thanks, Lane,” I say, shutting his book before he can embarrass me anymore. This is why I open him in my room, and he stays locked in a drawer at all other times.

  “I will get a knife and cut my hand,” Noah says. “Blood doesn’t bother me.”

  “I have a better idea,” I say. I reach up and peel the bandage on my forehead off, seeing the dry blood on the material. I press the bandage onto the cover of the book, and the book brightly glows blue for a moment before it swings itself open. Blue smoke spreads across the table, making the book and Lane’s book disappear under it before a white cat appears in the smoke. She has big green eyes, bright white hair and almost pointy ears. Her teeth look like they are painted purple, or they might naturally be that way, and she stares at me as I look at her long tail hanging in the air.

  It had to be a cat, didn’t it? The cat hisses at me, and I step back as its eyes watch me with a lot of caution.

  Now I understand why the tales symbol is a cat. It’s for the cat in this book.

  “Wow, I didn’t expect that,” the grandmother says in the silence, the cat never taking her eyes off me. I expect her to attack me, but she shocks me more by talking instead.

  “The blood of the Dormiens calls me, and I am forced to answer. What is it that you wish to know?” the cat asks in a strange voice, one that reminds me of Lane and all the other books I’ve seen. I shiver from the sheer creepiness this cat is Instilling?

  in me before I answer.

  “We need to know how to kill the dark goddess. The one who created the dark tales many years ago and is now a risk to not only good tales, but dark tales and humans as well,” I say, still feeling odd about speaking to a cat in a book.

  Thank god everyone is here; they would never believe me otherwise. I don’t think I will be telling this story to anyone else.

  “Only two of the chosen lines, merged together, will kill the goddess,” she tells me, her voice suggesting she would rather not talk to me at all.

  “Who are the chosen lines?” I ask, figuring she means certain tales.

  “Nightshade and Dormiens. Sleep and night. Forever linked, forever in love,” the cat says, the words making me snap my gaze to Warren. “Together, only they can save what should.”

  “So Warren and I can end the goddess? How could we even get near her and be merged together?” I ask, well aware that the room is getting tenser by the second.

  “I made a prophecy many years ago when I was still human and not locked into this cat form. A prophecy that tells the end of this fairy tale. If not blood, power must be mixed,” she cautions. “But tales can only hold one of the two power lines. Good and dark must not be held as one, death will only follow.”

  I look down at the ground as I run her words over in my mind, and I just don’t know exactly what they mean. I have the feeling the cat is going to let us figure it all out ourselves.

  “Thank you,” I tell the cat, which just hisses at me before licking its right paw.

  “No more words for you and your family, Dormiens,” she tells me.

  “Thank you for your help. Can I ask something else?” Knox asks, drawing the cat’s attention.

  “You may,” she says in a far more friendly manner.

  “What are the magical books? Are you trapped in there?” he asks.

  “We are the spirits of the fallen, those who lost their lives many years ago and chose to stay to protect our families. We are not trapped, and we may leave when we wish,” she explains, and I look to where Lane is, though I cannot see him under the smoke. He can leave whenever he wants? And he chooses to stay. I smile, my heart warming to Lane more than ever before.

  “Even you?” Noah asks.

  “I must stay until there is peace and the magical books are no longer needed. That time is far away,” she says. “I am the first, the magic that holds all books together.”

  “We will get peace for our races,” I tell her.

  “Possibly. You may also die trying, Dormiens. Be careful of your dreams. They are links to the soul and the real world as much as they are nothing but dreams.” The cat disappears into smoke after her words of caution, and the book slams itself shut, leaving us all in silence, not knowing what exactly to say to that.

  “Seems like you and Warren need to save the world,” Sin states.

  “Not alone, you aren’t,” Knox says, and I nod, looking down at the book, reflecting on the words she just said. The dreams might be more dangerous than any of us could have suspected.

  Chapter 11

  “You look so tired, Madi,” mum says as she pulls my hair into a tight French plait, and I wince from the pain as I try not to yawn. Moments later, I can’t resist the urge anymore, and a long yawn escapes my lips, and I rub my eyes which are sore from staying open so long.

  “I can’t sleep right now. It’s not safe,” I remind her the reason why I’ve been up so damn long.

  “You might not dream of the goddess,” mum says, and I know she means well. She wishes well, but all this talk of sleep just makes me grumpier and more tired.

  “But what if I do see her, mum? The book said—”

  “It could be wrong. Either way, you can’t not sleep, Madi,” she tells me what I already know. I’ve kept myself awake all night, and I doubt I will be able to stay awake for much longer. She rests her hand on my shoulder, meeting my eyes in the mirror. “All done, love.”

  “I will figure something out. Thank you, mum,” I say, placing my hand on hers for a moment until someone knocks the bedroom door. I stand up as mum goes to the door and pulls it open.

  “Hey, Mrs. D. I have something for Madi,” Tobias says as mum lets him inside the room, and I see the light blue cloak hanging over his arm. I run my eyes over Tobias’s long black cloak, the white shirt and jeans underneath that fit him almost perfectly. They are a little bit tight, but I’m not complaining. His silky brown hair reflects the dim candle light in here, making it take on a soft golden tone.

  “You are back early from the weapons
vault. Did you find some useful things?” I ask, and Tobias holds up the cloak. It’s almost glossy in its material, and the shoulders are cut away with long gaps for my arms. It has a long hood to boot.

  “It is a magical cloak that is said to protect you. The note next to it said it would repel any magic, so it might keep you protected in your dreams as you sleep. If not, we will keep breaking into the vaults to find something,” Tobias says and moves behind me. He slides the cloak over my shoulders, and I clip it together.

  “It really suits you, Madi,” mum tells me.

  “Thank you, Tobias, you didn’t have to do this for me,” I say around another yawn.

  “Why don’t you rest with Tobias keeping you safe? I’m going to prep dinner with Noah,” mum says, and I nod, feeling desperate to get some sleep. Mum hugs me tightly before leaving the room, and I practically run to the bed and collapse on it. Tobias comes and lies next to me, and I rest my head on his chest, linking my fingers with his hand on his stomach.

  “Sleepy, thank you,” Tobias tells me, and I look up at him, wondering what he is talking about. “Thank you for being there for me when I pushed you away and chose moon rock instead of you. I don’t deserve you, and we both know it, but I’m forever grateful you gave me a chance.”

  “You didn’t need me for you to see that those moon rocks were nothing more than a way to push everyone away. You didn’t need anything or anyone to be yourself, Tobias,” I whisper to him, resting my head back down on his chest. “I’ve always known you are special, and I quite like you.”

  “Like?” he quietly asks.

  “I love you, Tobias,” I say, hearing his heartbeat in my ear, and I yawn once again, my eyes shutting on their own.

  “I love you more,” he gently tells me.

  “Are we really doing that ‘No, I love you more. No, I love you more’ thing?” I ask, though I struggle to keep my eyes open as I speak.