She was free!
She ignored her siblings’ screams and cries to stop—to return to safety. “Eden! Come inside!” Mauve begged. Eden did not listen. She closed her eyes and followed the breeze. She kicked off her shoes as she hummed her favorite prayer, the Hail Mary. The brisk wind felt nice against her blood-wet skin. She was free from the killing—free from the Leviathan Trial. She took one final refreshing breath as her bare foot missed a tile that was not there. She felt top-heavy as she plunged off the roof, three stories high! Levi screamed to her, raised out his arm from the window, but was unable to help her in time.
She fell to her death headfirst, snapping her neck as she landed on the winding cobblestone pathway of the family Zen garden.
Eden would forever rest in the garden.
CHAPTER 16
PHILOSOPHER STONE
Levi cringed as he looked down on his sister from the third floor of Lancaster Manor. Eden, the fallen angel, lay motionlessly, contorted, and disfigured. A jagged bone protruded from her knee. The puddle of blood expanding from her skull seemed to form a crimson halo around her as her mouth was still agape. It was as if she had final words that remained unspoken. Perhaps an apology for her betrayal.
Levi pulled his head back through the window to avoid the sight any further. After a few minutes went by, the intercom down the hall went off a second time. Their father’s static voice was muffled through the shut door. Even still, they could clearly make out Eden’s eulogy.
It was right on time.
‘Soul of white in a world of black.
Would give away the shirt off her own back.
Heart of an angel. Pure as an elf.
Selfless Saint, won’t you think of yourself?
A thankless job. The world loves what you bring.
Do not fall from the sky, my angel, without any wings.’
At that, there were eight Lancaster children left alive. A third of the siblings had perished.
“We have to find a safe way down,” spoke Levi, lost in thought as he stared through the broken glass. He figured it must be the only spot in this locked-down fortress that was missed. All the other windows were impregnable. This hidden chapel room was the one exception. The chink in the armor. Escape suddenly seemed like a possibility. “The others need to know!”
“We can’t go out there!” Mauve refused, staring through the snaggletooth exit of stained-glass. “It’s too dangerous!”
She was right. Pessimistic, but correct.
This part of the roof was incredibly high, steep, and slippery due to the relentless rain. Surely, they would meet the same fate as their sister, if they attempted to use it as an exit.
“We’re going to have to,” insisted Levi. His determination was getting the better of him. “That’s the only link we have to the outside. I’d take a possible death over a guaranteed one any day!”
He thought of supplies they would need to get down.
Rope immediately came to mind.
Offhand, he did not know of any rope in the house. On second thought, there were two decorative lassos placed on opposite walls in the great dining hall. He questioned if they would be long enough, but it was worth a shot. If worse came to worst, he figured they could always use their bedsheets as well. There were plenty of those. He could roll them into ropes. Tie them together. He had seen that several times in old movies. He prayed there was some truth to it. One way or another, the new plan was to create a makeshift escape route right through the chapel’s window.
However, one thing was certain. Levi would not leave without Helena first. For that to happen, he needed to meet her at the greenhouse. It was where he instructed her to reconvene should they ever get separated.
Well, at least he thought she agreed to it.
She just seemed to stare vacantly and blink when Levi gave her the direction. When Levi was done packing his backpack and the Leviathan blade, he made his way out of the chapel room. Before leaving, he crossed his brother’s arms into an ‘X’ over his chest and bid him farewell. Maybe he would see him on the other side, he thought.
He took the diamond-shaped vial of poison with him too, praying he would not need it. Part of him wanted to keep it away from Mauve, so that she would not be tempted to use it as Eden did.
Eden…
As horrible as her act of murder was, Levi could not stop himself from pitying Eden too. He never felt so conflicted in his life. She was the culprit and a victim all at the same time. Even though she took her own life in a grand spectacle of guilt and regret, Levi wished she did not jump. In the moment, his emotions got the better of him.
He would have given anything for Eden not to have jumped…
It would have taken time, years even, but he could have forgiven her. Deep in his heart, he knew that under any other circumstance, Eden would never have been tempted to do what she did.
Such a waste.
Eden may have been the murderer, but his father was just as guilty. All these deaths, and any more to come, would fall on his hands.
Mauve no longer wanted to camp out in the room where two of her siblings met their end. So, she followed Levi down the halls of their home as a last line of defense for her own survival. More and more, their home was looking unfamiliar. The hallways were battlefields. The floor was littered with smashed vases. There were tears in the carpet. Portraits were thrashed as well. Unfortunately, there was nothing left to do, but to adapt to the changes. The children were quickly running out of things that could depress them.
Honestly, Levi was surprised that Mauve decided to stick with him. They never discussed it. He just assumed she would have abandoned him by now, going solo and finding some new place to hide—perhaps locking herself in a closet or bathroom. Mauve seemed to hate and distrust Levi ever since they met four years ago when she was adopted. However, he did not protest her company. It was the brotherly thing to do—the right thing to do. So, he would do anything in his power to protect her.
So long as she did not betray him, as Eden had done…
Mauve unknowingly clung to her brother and crept closely behind him. She was a scrappy little thing. Other than Helena, she was the frailest family member. At thirteen years old, she weighed eighty pounds. She was at a rebellious age where she decided to branch away from her father’s best wishes and got a pixie-cut, adding a tinge of green to her once jet-black hair despite his strict disapproval. Oh, Father Benedict certainly chewed her out for that one.
“Can you be honest with me?” Mauve mumbled. She peeked around each corner they turned down in a paranoid fashion. She was on a vigilant lookout for potential danger. “Do you think we’re going to die here?”
Levi’s mind was elsewhere, but he responded. He shook his head, preparing to answer. “I don’t think—”
Before he could attempt comforting her, Mauve interrupted. “I think we’re doomed to be honest.”
Levi sighed. Of course, he loved his sister, like he did his other siblings, but he thought to himself again and again, ‘Why on Earth did I have to get stuck with Mauve of all people?’
He needed to keep his morale at its strongest. Now more than ever. Having little Ms. Raincloud around did not help their cause. Mauve had a way of dissolving anyone’s spirits within moments of speaking with her.
“Why do you think that?” Levi groaned, immediately regretting his question.
“Because we’re not really family,” explained Mauve. She turned her freckled-filled face to him. “Nietzsche stated, ‘In family life, love is the oil that eases friction, the cement that binds closer together, and the music that brings harmony’.” Disheartened, Mauve got to her point. “That’s how it is with normal families—blood-related family. Blood is thicker than water. But none of us share any…”
Levi pondered it but disagreed. “I don’t think that really matters.” He acknowledged that as a whole, they were dysfunctional, hence their current situation, but he gave her a ray of hope. He spoke in the only way that Mauve
could understand.
Philosophy.
Just as he founded and headed the debate club at Elysium Academy, Mauve was a pioneer that started the philosophy club. “Wasn’t it Desmond Tutu who stated, ‘You don’t choose your family. They are God’s gift to you, as you are to them’?” Levi asked rhetorically. He was always one to do his homework, so he knew he was right. “Other than our father, none of us had any say in who would become our brothers and sisters.” Mauve seemed to be digesting Levi’s words, but was skeptical. “We meet that criteria,” Levi reasoned. “None of us chose to live and grow with each other. However, despite all of that, I see you and the others as a collective gift brought to enrichen my life by God.” He patted her on the back and gave her a reassuring smile.
It was clear that Mauve was not fully convinced. Her brothers and sisters never seemed to see her that way. She was always the burden, the black sheep of the Lancasters—the forgotten child. “I appreciate you saying that,” she mumbled under her breath. “But I doubt any of you genuinely care about me. She revealed a couple self-inflicted scars on her wrist that she kept hidden until now. “I was never close to any of the others, which is why I always have my guard up. I just assumed you all hated me. You all have such show-offy talents—shooting, wrestling, fencing!” She counted them off, as she extended a finger on her hand for each. “And then there’s me. Founder of a school philosophy club?” Mauve sighed and laughed. “What a joke! I know dad always thought I was wasting my time.”
Levi disagreed as they turned a corner and quietly tip-toed down the stairs to the south wing of their mansion. He reminded Mauve of the countless nights he reviewed her essays and encouraged her to practice speeches with him. She thought it was just another one of father’s orders, a requested mentorship. Levi shook his head and assured her that Father Benedict never knew about it. Levi just wanted to help. Not as an assigned tutor. Not for family glory. Levi just wanted to support her because that is what families do.
He reminded Mauve of the time he attended her award ceremony for a philosophy essay she wrote last year. She won a ten-thousand-dollar scholarship. Most of the other siblings were attending one of Allister’s fencing matches. Or was it one of Pearl’s shooting competitions? Or a statewide wrestling tournament with Hiroshi? For the life of him, Levi could not remember. The important part was that his younger sister was celebrating a triumph, and no one was able to attend her moment in the sun. He remembered that day very well. It was the only time Levi ever saw Mauve smile. Her braces sparkled and her eyes beamed as she held up her framed certificate and giant cardboard check. She even made the local news that day. Mauve’s face lit up as cameras flashed and all eyes were on her for once. Levi even helped Troy bake her favorite cake to celebrate. Carrot cake—vegan friendly of course. Levi always yearned to see Mauve smile like that again.
“I remember that day,” she recalled with nostalgic awe. “That was the best cake of my life. Maybe things weren’t always as gloomy as they seemed.” Mauve laughed and gave Levi a half hug and a kiss on the cheek. “If we die here today, I’m sorry that I’ve been a brat to you all. Thanks for reminding me I was never alone.”
“Of course,” nudged Levi, delivering a reassuring smile. There was a warm sensation in having Mauve legitimately saying something positive. It was a rare and unnatural phenomenon. It was energizing. Levi took it as a good omen that there was hope that things could still turn around. “Now, let’s get out of here alive.”
Mauve smirked. “And if we must die, we die defending our rights!” she proclaimed. When Levi furrowed his brow in puzzlement, Mauve chuckled. “…Sitting Bull said it.”
CHAPTER 17
EN PASSANT
There were footsteps, the echoing of clacking high heels in total darkness. Kitty did not remember putting on high heels, but she could feel them alright. She was propped up, strutting down what seemed to be an endless pitch-black hallway. A single twinkling star off in the distance called out to her. It was at eye-level, and yet galaxies away. Nevertheless, she walked towards the light, one step at a time. The closer she came, the more the star grew. It grew thinner and longer and eventually became a line, slicing the universe in half from the top to the bottom. It was a crack. Kitty placed a hand on each side and pressed against a double doorway.
Immediately, she was teleported to a room that was filled with life!
It was a ballroom—the ballroom of Lancaster Manor. It was the room that she and the others climbed into after having wandered the underground bunker for half a day. But this time, the ballroom was not empty.
Quite the contrary.
It was flooded with warm bright lights, the chitter chatter of guests, and the Lancaster children. There was live music playing as well—classical, of course. Violinists, Cellists, clarinets, flutes and more. There was even a harp player. It was a masquerade ball—with colorful paper faces everywhere. It was everything Kitty ever dreamed of—everything she ever wanted. Everyone was dancing, drinking, and laughing. These were her kind of people. Not the trailer park trash she was forced to associate with every other weekend at her father’s mobile home. No longer would she endure a half-life of poverty and misery. From now on, she would become a Lancaster—marry into the family. She would join them, ascend into the top tier hierarchy of fortune, fame, and status.
There was so much to soak in!
Each of the Lancaster children wore sparkling emerald masks that covered half their face, exposing only their mouth and chin. They had little horns that protruded from where their eyebrows would be. Even little Helena chose this celebratory mask over her usual protective one that hid her mouth and nose.
The energy in the room was pure. It was fuzzy and elevated. Kitty noticed that even she was dressed to the nine. While the Lancasters wore their usual colors of obsidian black and emerald green, Kitty sported crimson red. She radiated with a twinkling sheen as she turned side-to-side. She pursed her matching red lips as she examined her flowing ballroom dress on a giant wall mirror. The bottom resembled an upside-down rose with petals embroidered with countless tiny diamonds.
Kitty spotted the twelve Lancaster children scattered about. Some danced with one another, like Hiroshi and Pearl. Others conversed with their father, Benedict, who sat by the musicians. Others entertained their guests with conversations of politics and charities.
A few played games.
Some of the siblings laughed as they spun Sion around, preparing him to pin a fake tail on a poster of a donkey.
Everything was so jarring.
‘What about the murders? What about the eminent danger—the gas that would kill them all if they did not escape?’ Kitty pondered, wondering what had changed in their quest for survival. She placed her finger to her chin with an elegantly gloved hand. Something was off, but she could not put her finger on what it was.
“Evening, Ms. Chao.” Levi appeared before her, greeting Kitty, and extending a hand for her to take. “May I have this dance?” Kitty stared at it before cautiously accepting, allowing Levi to guide her out onto the center of the ballroom floor. They waltzed effortlessly. Kitty did not know anything about waltzing. She never learned and it embarrassed her—made her feel poor and unrefined. However, Levi was an excellent leader. She acted as his reflection. The cues in the heavenly music guided her as well, indicating when to flow with his movements, release a hand, extend outward, twirl, and return to his arms.
“This can’t be real,” Kitty finally admitted, denying this reality as she swayed to the ominous rhythm in the background. As much as she yearned for this, she knew she could not accept this facade. “What happened to the Leviathan Trial?” she emphasized to an unfazed Levi. “Everyone had turned into a murderer. We were fighting for our lives!”
Levi dipped her delicately, so close to the floor that her heart fluttered. And yet, Kitty was in such caring arms, that not once did she fear she would fall. “Fighting?” asked Levi with a skeptic chuckle. “How barbaric. As children of the Great Le
viathan, Lancasters are above such things.”
Behind Levi’s head, Kitty took a second glance at her surroundings. Things were different. The music turned sluggish. The dancers matched the tempo and slowed in their movements as well. Kitty saw that Sion was still blindfolded in the corner. However, he was not playing pin the tail on the donkey.
Not anymore.
Hiroshi spun his little brother around and around, before pushing him forward. Sion no longer held a fake donkey tail. Instead, he clutched tightly onto a knife as he giggled dizzily. The music that was once elegant, morphed and distorted into piercing squeaks and blaring cracks as Sion stumbled nearer and nearer towards Helena. The floor tilted side to side. Helena had her arms willingly stretched against the wall as she gazed blankly as she often did. On her chest was some sort of sticker. It was a bullseye that laid over her heart. “Come on! You almost have it!” her siblings beamed hysterically, guiding their brother with the sound of their voices. Allister was a blood-dripping mess in his pristine suit, grinning and shaking his fists with excitement. “No peeking! You can do it!” he chanted. Sion burst with laughter as he finally felt his blade plunge into his little sister’s heart. He untied his blindfold, throwing it to the ground in triumph.
He was right on target.
The family cheered and clapped as Helena bled like a faucet. “You did it, Sion! Atta boy!”
Even Levi paused their dance and joined in the roaring applause.
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