by Arden, Mari
Crystals and ice.
The room is a paradise of white, and deceptively serene. Looming ahead, and taking up half of the enormous room, is a large crystal. The crystal.
It's unlike anything I've ever seen before. From afar I can see the white stone, pulsing, vibrating as loud as an ocean. I'm reminded of Rhys's eyes, because the crystal appears to be colorless, but the opposite is actually true. There are many colors swirling inside, shooting from the base to the top and down again. The crystal is glinting, and shimmering with a radiance that's strangely mesmerizing. As it pulses, the little Braxi crystals jut out, and then back in. The stone looks like it's moving because the Braxi crystals vibrate, I realize. Is the crystal made up of millions of Braxi then? I wish I could get closer to find out, but I know it's not a good idea.
A white bowl is on top of an altar a few feet from the base. Two pallid pipes are attached to the stand, and my eyes travel the length of it to the bottom of the crystal. Small nails attach the pipes to the monstrous stone. The pipes aren't human made. Even from afar, I see movement within them. As the crystal pumps, the white pipes reciprocate the vibrations, until the two are moving as one. The dance makes me think of ocean waves rocking back and forth, and I question how they don't crash.
There are no other guards beside the woman, but more aren't necessary. An air of defeat surrounds the two men, and I wonder if they can sense death standing five feet away. The female speaks, but her words can't defeat the roar of the crystal, and the sounds are lost before they ever reach me.
The first one to go is the smaller man. His stooped shoulders, and heavy steps show how sick he is. The guard has no patience for it, and kicks him. He falls to the floor like a broken doll, which makes her angrier. She hits him in the stomach, and I don't have to hear the sounds to know the pain he feels. She drags him back on his feet. He's swaying, rocking because it's painful to stand.
The crystal is getting louder, humming like a slumbering giant. She notices because she glances back. It's shimmering and more colors are visible. Purple, yellow, and oranges coil together, twisting into ropes inside.
His hand is around her shoulders. She helps him walk to the crystal. When he nears it, he begins to fight, trying to shrink back. It's as if he can sense what the crystal wants, and he's using his last few breaths to resist. His attempts look futile, and it isn't long before he's next to the giant stone, violently shaking beside the alien guard.
With terrified anticipation I watch as she slips the robe back from his body, revealing a sliver of pale skin. The ruby cloth hangs on his thin shoulders as a cape. She holds out his hand, pressing it into the wall of the crystal. Instantly, the stone sparkles like it's turned on. A rush of colors shoot up and down, and the man screams. It's a terrifying sound. I flinch.
She takes a step back, yet the man remains immobile, frozen with his feet to the ground, and his hand intimately pressed to the crystal. A flash of metal catches my eye, and she pulls back revealing a small katana sword. Before I can anticipate what she's doing she raises the sword and plunges the sharp tip through the man's hand and into the crystal.
Instantly blood oozes out, as red as the cloth around my body. His screams are never ending, and the crystal absorbs it all. Blood trickles down, but before it can fall, it's sucked into the stone. The millions of Braxi crystals are taking his life force, consuming the most precious parts of him. A faint blush covers the base of the crystal, and as more spurt forth, the pink color travels further up. Each vibration causes the scarlet liquid to move higher, pumping like fish swimming upstream.
Soon the crystal's shrieking becomes louder than the man's. The guard moves behind the man, doing something to him that I can't see. I press my face against the door, peering closer.
She stays behind him for a half minute longer, then steps back, ripping the crimson cloth from his shoulders. His naked body is revealed, bony and abnormally pale. The cloth falls to the floor, light as a feather, burning a picture in my mind's eye.
Suddenly a sharp yell pierces through the roar of the crystal, and my eyes swerve to the second captive. He falls back, a crazed expression on his face. I follow his line of sight and let out a shriek, hitting my face against the door.
"Kenna!"
Nymphora's voice seems far away. All I can see, hear, or feel is the crystal. It's a blaze of even more colors now, pulsing violently against itself. Bile rises in my throat as I finally comprehend what is happening.
He's being sucked into the crystal.
His arms go first. When they touch the crystal, his limbs freeze, motionless against the vacuum absorbing him. After that his chest is next. His skin is pulled, violently suctioned into the interior of the stone like dye dispersing in water. For one terrifying second I see his skin peeled from his body. His face turns away in agony, attempting to escape. But as the Saguinox say, escape is an illusion. The crystal allows him to take one frantic breath, teasing him as it lets go. The second he pulls away the crystal returns full force, sucking him, stripping skin off his face. I see bones and muscles before the guard kicks him from behind, pushing him into the crystal forever.
Loud gurgling sounds emanate from the stone, and the heat travels until even I can feel the hot air as the crystal burns. The smell of smoldering skin wafts through the crack in the door. I hold my breath even as I hear Nymphora making choking sounds.
But the crystal isn't done.
The guard watches his body melt into the stone as a hundred blurry faces rush forward to devour the meat.
"Kenna! Chloris is whistling." Nymphora's pulling me, but I can't move.
My body is frozen.
I watch the pipes pulse in frenzy, and the gurgling sounds get louder. Unexpectedly, something bursts from the bowl. My eyes widen in shock.
"We have to go, Kenna!"
Blood spews forth like a fountain. Within seconds crimson liquid fills the bowl, brilliant against the stark white.
"Now!"
All I can think about as Nymphora pulls me away is my first thought about this place had been right.
The color red means death.
Chapter 18
We're in a hallway, and it's elaborately carved with swirling designs inside and on the pale walls. The design's so exquisite I can't help but wonder if corridors in Heaven are like this. When I peer closely I notice stained glass pieces decorating one side of a wall. They're meticulously cut out, each piece a perfect puzzle part to another. The colors are stunning, flashing deep jewel tones that make my senses ravenous for more. I'm so busy looking at each individual part I don't see the whole picture until I move, taking a step backward. What I see makes my skin crawl. I hear a sharp intake of breath and I know Nymphora has seen what I'm looking at.
Eyes. A dozen haunting, glowing eyes peek out from every which way, all looking up at one thing: a crystal. The eyes are staring at it, worshipping the precious stone like a god. Maybe it is. The crystal reminds me of the Washington monument with its elongated sides, and triangular top. It glitters brighter than the eyes, and I'm transfixed by its startling clarity. I lift a finger to touch the glass, and it's hard, cold- unreal.
Nymphora shudders. "Something so beautiful shouldn't be so evil."
I can't tell if she's talking about the crystal or the Saguinox. Maybe both.
The terrible smell continues to assault my senses. I want to gag. "Do you smell that?"
She sniffs the air, her blue nostrils flaring out. Something's burning. She looks at me, and I'm sure we're thinking the same thing.
"I think it's coming from over there." I point to a double door at the end. It's wide and like the one we slid from there are barely any lines to indicate an entrance. Even though I don't want to, my body ambles over, hesitant. Briefly, I wonder if there are cameras, but I doubt it. From what I'm learning about our captors, their arrogance prevents them from thinking anyone can do what we're about to try.
This time there are handles, one on each door. I pull at the golden bars, gru
nting from the effort. "Locked," I say with aggravation. "Damn it."
I move to the side and let Nymphora try.
She tugs at it, pushing back on one side of the door with one hand, while pulling the side next to it with the other. She struggles, but the double doors remain still. She hisses. "If only my powers worked."
I scan around, searching for anything of use, but the corridor is empty. I look at the stained glass painting. "Hmm."
I walk over, and attempt to take a piece off.
"What are you doing, Kenna?"
I'm too focused on what I want to do to answer. The little pieces are glued tight together so it's hard to tell where one begins and the other ends.
"Kenna?" she prods again.
One hand is flat against the glass, and the other is delicately trying to pry it apart. "I'm trying to get a piece out so we can use the edge to pick the lock."
She makes a sound from behind me. I turn back, letting out a breath.
"It's worth a shot," I say, a bit defensive when I see her incredulous expression.
She shakes her head. "Not your best idea."
"Desperate times call for desperate measures. Do you have a better idea?"
"Actually." Nymphora glances at the lock underneath the handles again, pensive. She turns back, smiling deviously. "I think I have something that might work." She lifts a finger up, and I watch in utter amazement as one blue fingernail starts to elongate slowly, the tip thin and pointy like a needle.
I take in a sharp breath. "I thought you said your powers are locked."
"They are." She looks at the shiny blue nail. "This isn't my power. It's a part of my body."
"You have six inch claws inside your body?" I ask in amazement. "That would've been nice to know before."
She snorts. "What can I do with these? Scratch the Saguinox to death?"
"Maybe."
She rolls her eyes.
I kneel beside her as she gently maneuvers the pointy end of her nail inside the keyhole. I've never picked a lock before, but I don't reveal that. "Just poke around until you hear a click or a gear shift," I advise.
Her eyes narrow in concentration. She jerks back, yelling "Ow!" She pulls her nail out. She looks annoyed, as she picks the broken piece off with her other hand. "It broke."
"It'll grow back, right?" I ask, worried.
"Yeah. By tonight, probably."
"We can't wait that long!" I shriek.
She sends me a cool glance. "Relax. I got nine more." She flashes me her hands. Her pinky is growing, unsheathing like a fragile sword. The end is even smaller and pointier than her index nail had been.
"Oh." I wonder if I look as sheepish as I feel. "This place is making me dumb," I mutter.
She's laughing when she says, "The jury's still out on that one."
I give her a look, but I don't reply. Within moments, this nail breaks too, but I don't freak out because her other pinky expands, elongating until it's touching the door.
"I think I'm pushing too hard," she thinks out loud. I hold my breath in anticipation. Come on, I think. Work! Then there's a heavy click, followed by a heavier, relieved sigh from me.
She gives me a triumphant smile. "One for us, zero for the glowing aliens."
"Um, I think you mean five for the glowing aliens, and one for us," I correct, thinking about the people lost to the crystal.
She shrugs. "If you want to look at the glass half empty…"
"Shh." I hear sounds. Something is sizzling from the inside. I open the door a crack, just enough to see through. A soft breeze hits me and I'm reminded I'm naked beneath my red towel.
The female guard who took us to the bathing room this morning is standing with her hands behind her back, inspecting two figures in red robes. My heart jumps to my throat as I recognize the two men from before. Both are standing with their heads bowed, still as statues. I see a door, half opened from behind them, and I know they've been "cleaned" in preparation for this moment. The robes look fresh and the scarlet color is brilliant against the white walls.
Like the hallway we're in and the bath room, this space is completely white. The room is large, and it isn't an extension of the building. The ceiling is pyramid shaped, and seems to be made from a combination of Styrofoam and plastic, clearly alien made. The top seems to glimmer, sparkling gently. Even the colorless floors have a slight glean to them, reflecting light from its surface.
Crystals and ice.
The room is a paradise of white, and deceptively serene. Looming ahead, and taking up half of the enormous room, is a large crystal. The crystal.
It's unlike anything I've ever seen before. From afar I can see the white stone, pulsing, vibrating as loud as an ocean. I'm reminded of Rhys's eyes, because the crystal appears to be colorless, but the opposite is actually true. There are many colors swirling inside, shooting from the base to the top and down again. The crystal is glinting, and shimmering with a radiance that's strangely mesmerizing. As it pulses, the little Braxi crystals jut out, and then back in. The stone looks like it's moving because the Braxi crystals vibrate, I realize. Is the crystal made up of millions of Braxi then? I wish I could get closer to find out, but I know it's not a good idea.
A white bowl is on top of an altar a few feet from the base. Two pallid pipes are attached to the stand, and my eyes travel the length of it to the bottom of the crystal. Small nails attach the pipes to the monstrous stone. The pipes aren't human made. Even from afar, I see movement within them. As the crystal pumps, the white pipes reciprocate the vibrations, until the two are moving as one. The dance makes me think of ocean waves rocking back and forth, and I question how they don't crash.
There are no other guards beside the woman, but more aren't necessary. An air of defeat surrounds the two men, and I wonder if they can sense death standing five feet away. The female speaks, but her words can't defeat the roar of the crystal, and the sounds are lost before they ever reach me.
The first one to go is the smaller man. His stooped shoulders, and heavy steps show how sick he is. The guard has no patience for it, and kicks him. He falls to the floor like a broken doll, which makes her angrier. She hits him in the stomach, and I don't have to hear the sounds to know the pain he feels. She drags him back on his feet. He's swaying, rocking because it's painful to stand.
The crystal is getting louder, humming like a slumbering giant. She notices because she glances back. It's shimmering and more colors are visible. Purple, yellow, and oranges coil together, twisting into ropes inside.
His hand is around her shoulders. She helps him walk to the crystal. When he nears it, he begins to fight, trying to shrink back. It's as if he can sense what the crystal wants, and he's using his last few breaths to resist. His attempts look futile, and it isn't long before he's next to the giant stone, violently shaking beside the alien guard.
With terrified anticipation I watch as she slips the robe back from his body, revealing a sliver of pale skin. The ruby cloth hangs on his thin shoulders as a cape. She holds out his hand, pressing it into the wall of the crystal. Instantly, the stone sparkles like it's turned on. A rush of colors shoot up and down, and the man screams. It's a terrifying sound. I flinch.
She takes a step back, yet the man remains immobile, frozen with his feet to the ground, and his hand intimately pressed to the crystal. A flash of metal catches my eye, and she pulls back revealing a small katana sword. Before I can anticipate what she's doing she raises the sword and plunges the sharp tip through the man's hand and into the crystal.
Instantly blood oozes out, as red as the cloth around my body. His screams are never ending, and the crystal absorbs it all. Blood trickles down, but before it can fall, it's sucked into the stone. The millions of Braxi crystals are taking his life force, consuming the most precious parts of him. A faint blush covers the base of the crystal, and as more spurt forth, the pink color travels further up. Each vibration causes the scarlet liquid to move higher, pumping like fish swimming upstream.
She stays behind him for a half minute longer, then steps back, ripping the crimson cloth from his shoulders. His naked body is revealed, bony and abnormally pale. The cloth falls to the floor, light as a feather, burning a picture in my mind's eye.
Suddenly a sharp yell pierces through the roar of the crystal, and my eyes swerve to the second captive. He falls back, a crazed expression on his face. I follow his line of sight and let out a shriek, hitting my face against the door.
"Kenna!"
Nymphora's voice seems far away. All I can see, hear, or feel is the crystal. It's a blaze of even more colors now, pulsing violently against itself. Bile rises in my throat as I finally comprehend what is happening.
He's being sucked into the crystal.
His arms go first. When they touch the crystal, his limbs freeze, motionless against the vacuum absorbing him. After that his chest is next. His skin is pulled, violently suctioned into the interior of the stone like dye dispersing in water. For one terrifying second I see his skin peeled from his body. His face turns away in agony, attempting to escape. But as the Saguinox say, escape is an illusion. The crystal allows him to take one frantic breath, teasing him as it lets go. The second he pulls away the crystal returns full force, sucking him, stripping skin off his face. I see bones and muscles before the guard kicks him from behind, pushing him into the crystal forever.
Loud gurgling sounds emanate from the stone, and the heat travels until even I can feel the hot air as the crystal burns. The smell of smoldering skin wafts through the crack in the door. I hold my breath even as I hear Nymphora making choking sounds.
But the crystal isn't done.
The guard watches his body melt into the stone as a hundred blurry faces rush forward to devour the meat.
"Kenna! Chloris is whistling." Nymphora's pulling me, but I can't move.
My body is frozen.
