by Andra Leigh
When she’d first pulled out the map she had assumed it should be easy to find the forest and lake of her memories. Rylock was, after all, a giant desert with one lake feeding all sources of water. She hadn’t realised the source forked in so many places. Nor that the lake’s source, the Mythenra Ranges, fed the land around the mountains as well as the lake. Already she had circled four major areas in which her oak could belong. Tequail in the west, Glycine forest in the south, the Mythenra forest in the east and Cursain Valley in the north. That didn’t seem like she was narrowing anything down. Every hour she continued her examination of the map she found more options as to where her past home with Drae could have been. After the four major areas had been circled, she had moved on to including any of the minor wooded areas she could see may have bodies of water in them. To find her home she may have to search all possible compass points of Rylock. Would it even be possible to search every river’s end and small wood in Tequail? She couldn’t count how many rivers its workers had cut into the earth and she doubted the map showed every green patch of trees that were there.
“Please stop,” came a sigh from the library door.
Looking up, she found Jinx standing in the doorway, staring at the map laid out in front of her.
“Stop what?”
“This.” He waved his hand at all of her.
She glanced down at herself, expecting to find something out of the ordinary. Nothing.
“Huh?”
Jinx grimaced. He had clearly been hoping that waving a hand at her would be enough of an explanation as to his problem.
“Your obsession with the past. With finding your old home.”
Her shoulders slumped. “Jinx, my life, for the most part, wasn’t sad or unfortunate. I was loved. I loved. When that was taken from me I would have been missed. Maybe I’m still being missed now.”
“The Clinic has ways to make sure that wouldn’t –”
“Not that kind of missed, Jinx,” she interrupted. “Why don’t you understand that?”
What had happened to him when he had returned to his own home to make him so bitter?
“I had a good life,” she explained. Before the potential marriage of convenience, that was. But she didn’t say that part aloud. She didn’t want to. Not to Jinx. He would use it against her. It would cushion his arguments nicely. It wasn’t necessarily the arguing she had an issue with, but the insensitivity he handled her life with.
“You’re not getting that life back,” he said, proving her point. “You’re not Eliscity anymore, you’re not that girl.”
“I’m not Eliscity anymore?” She snorted. “Then who the Bloods am I, Jinx? And don’t say Angel or E or… because that’s not an answer that’s true or that I want to hear.”
“I know what you want to hear. You want to hear that you can follow your memories home. So go on. Let them lead you…” Jinx gave a throaty laugh and threw up his hands. “Would you even know what direction to turn when you step out the front door?”
Eliscity didn’t answer, she couldn’t answer. She didn’t have an answer.
“Didn’t think so. You don’t know the way back, Angel. And even if you did, who’s to say there’s not a giant piece of the puzzle you haven’t been able to unlock? What if this guy, this Drae, is the reason you were in the Clinic? Have you ever even considered that?”
No, she didn’t need to consider it. There was no way it was a possibility.
When she told Jinx this, he grew frustrated, saying, “You have a problem, E.”
Her jaw fell open. “I have a – why do you train like you do?” she demanded.
“Like what?”
“Like there’s a brewing war coming.”
He looked at her like she was stupid. “Cause it’s the only way this can end,” he spat.
“It’s the way this started, Jinx. If you think this could be ended by going back to the beginning, you’re mad.”
“And you’re mad if you don’t want the enemy to pay.”
“I just want to live my life!” she yelled, shocking herself as much as Jinx at the sudden outburst. “How ever much of it I have left,” she added more quietly.
“Then stop living in the past,” Jinx hissed.
“We have a problem,” Forrest interrupted, appearing at the library door.
“I couldn’t agree more,” Jinx ground his teeth as she glared at him.
“You two knew Acanthea was gone?”
Both of their heads snapped around to Forrest.
“What are you talking about?”
Forrest dragged his fringe in front of his eye nervously, “Acanthea… she’s gone.”
“Define gone,” Jinx demanded.
The urge to shake him overwhelmed her. What possible variations of the word ‘gone’ could he be contemplating?
“She told us she would be spending the day up with Cyan,” Forrest told them. “But we just went up to see if there were any wick ends in the candelabrums. See, we want to try to sustain a flame without a burning source. And we thought, maybe a material that had already had a full life of knowing how to burn would have the best chance of igniting a self-fed flame. Of course, if it goes too well then we have the problem of an everlasting flame that doesn’t require a source to burn. Which could go rather bad if –”
“Forrest!” Jinx barked. “Point!”
“Cyan says he hasn’t seen her today,” Forrest finished.
A few minutes later everyone, including Cyan, had gathered in the Playground.
“How long has she been gone?” Jinx’s voice cut through the large space. “Who was the last to see her?”
Casamir gave a warning growl. “She’s your little project. You brought the Reigness home and introduced her to the people her father destroyed. Don’t go asking us who saw her. She’s your problem. Anything she brings down on us, is on you.”
“We don’t know for certain she’s betraying us,” Laleita soothed. Whether she wanted to be or not she was tucked into the Wolf’s side. Casamir wasn’t letting her out of his sight. “After all, if she had asked to leave for a walk or something we would have denied her.”
“You think the Reigness went for a walk? I can’t imagine any girl less likely to have the urge to enjoy a leisurely stroll through the gardens…”
“You know what she meant, Raiden.” Jinx crossed his arms across his chest loosely.
“Doesn’t change the fact that we don’t know where she is or what she’s doing,” Raiden said. “We should get everyone out. Just in case.”
Eliscity agreed with him, but didn’t say it aloud. Something was stopping her. She wasn’t part of the Family. Not truly. She hadn’t been rescued by Cyan. She didn’t call the Manor home. She didn’t want it to be home. With its windowless walls and promise of a trapped life.
She cared about everyone she currently stood in the Playground with, even Jinx. No matter how much he infuriated her, they were friends. But after the last few weeks of submerging herself in her memories and after the latest argument with Jinx, she felt detached. This wasn’t her place. Not to make decisions on how to handle the situation.
“But how?” Faust asked.
Fletcher sighed. “She knows about Cyan, about the tunnels.”
“She could lead guards right to the front door and block up the tunnels.” Forrest waved his hand at the antechamber door.
“If she hasn’t already,” Fletcher added.
Raiden grunted his agreement. “Exactly.”
“Can we even get out safely?” Forrest asked Raiden.
“Maybe we should hide.” Fletcher looked around the Playground. “There are plenty of nooks and places in here and the upstairs to conceal ourselves.”
Cyan held up a hand. “We’re jumping ahead of ourselves. There’s no point panicking before we know we have cause.”
Casamir crossed his arms over his wide chest. “The daughter of the Reigner, who has been observing us for weeks, is missing. I think that’s cause enough.”
Cyan and Jinx went up to the ground level of the Manor. It was decided they would deal head on with whatever situation ended up coming their way. Jinx refused to let any others remain behind with them. There was no way he was putting any of them in further preventable danger. And if Acanthea did bring the Reigner’s might down on them, he was sure he had a better chance at fighting and evading their force if he only had Cyan to protect.
While Jinx and Cyan were waiting in the Manor, Eliscity and the rest of the Family were venturing into the tunnels to hide.
She and Casamir went ahead of the Family, scouting the tunnels in case the enemy was moving in on them. They worked surprisingly well together. When Casamir held up his hand and made a gesture, she understood what he was indicating without having to ask. She took point, constantly moving forward while Casamir circled from her around to the back of the group and back again, ensuring no one was sneaking up behind them or on either side.
They hunkered down in a caved in tunnel she suspected used to lead to another underground building, and waited for the next signal to tell them what to do. If all was well, and Acanthea returned without the Post, Jinx would set an elemental light at the tunnel’s antechamber entrance to let them know they were safe to return. It was their intention to remain close for a few hours so they would be able to send a scout back to check for the light. If the light did not shine after a few hours they would venture into Stource, the eastern Southern City, and meet up with Jinx and Cyan at the statue of the city’s namesake. Eliscity was a bit nervous about this potential event as it had been years since any of her companions had left the Manor’s boundaries. She was concerned how they would handle it.
Sitting in the dark tunnels she kept imagining guards creeping up on them. She felt like she was cornered; presenting herself as a ready and waiting target.
“If Acanthea comes back and it turns out I’m sitting in a dark, wet tunnel for nothing, I’m going to lock her in with Casamir on a full moon,” Raiden said from where he sat further down the tunnel wall.
The Triplets were huddled together between her and Raiden, talking in excited whispers.
“Connected crystals.”
“Yes. A flame that ignites when its twin is lit.”
“It would be a perfect signal in situations like this.”
“We would have to make the wickless flame work first.”
“And find a method of igniting it through a secondary source.”
“If the same air is shared between the two crystals and–”
“–bottled without a leak.”
“Yes!”
“But without a continuing source of air the flame can’t burn.”
“But it could ignite.”
“Which is enough for an alarm, or signal.”
Tapping the closest Triplet – Fletcher – on the arm she leaned toward them. “I completely forgot with everything that happened with Acanthea. The blinding second of light when a crystal is lit; it would be a great weapon. I mean, it did prove a great weapon at the Falling Inn. You three should definitely think about creating some with that purpose in mind. What about a crystal with a multitude of short wicks? That way one crystal could be used more than once.”
Forrest’s eyes went wide with thought. “Or lit altogether for a big shine.”
“Blinding!” Faust clicked his fingers loudly, earning a warning glare from Casamir.
“A fuse?” Forrest asked his brothers.
“Of course, to prevent the lighter from being blinded.”
Eliscity tuned the Triplets out after that. Sometimes when they spoke together in their quick changing theories and half-finished thoughts it gave her a headache.
Shifting to her left she looked at the oldest member of the Family.
“You look tired.”
Neith smiled at her. “So do you.”
She shrugged. “I’m okay.” She linked her arm through his, feeling the fragile weight of his body. “Are you?”
“Life can prove exhausting.”
“That’s not really an answer.” She peered at him through the darkness. His paleness stood out against the glow of the single crystal they had lit and dulled with a fabric covering.
“I suppose it isn’t,” Neith said. “I’m still standing, still smiling, still here. And I don’t plan for that to change.”
“Good.” She didn’t like thinking about the alternative.
“And you’re still standing, still smiling. Still here?” The last part was a question. His grey eyes pierced hers.
“I guess I’ve started thinking about maybe changing that last part,” she admitted quietly.
Neith squeezed her hand, nodding solemnly.
“We’ll all miss you.”
She wanted to say that she hadn’t made her mind up yet, that for all she knew she may remain at the Manor, growing old alongside the Family. But she didn’t. Neith didn’t need her to offer false hopes or reassurance. He was stronger than that. And cleverer. He had seen her barely formed thoughts of leaving and had accepted them.
“Love you, Neith,” she said, smiling at the man, as she realised it was the first time she could remember ever saying the words to someone. She may not think of herself as part of the Family, but from the beginning she had looked at Neith and seen a grandpapa figure. She was closer to him than her own parents.
“Love you too, Eliscity.”
CHAPTER TWELVE
The Dusted Reigness
• Acanthea •
Acanthea’s craving for a Dusting had been getting out of control.
The strangeness of everything she had learnt about the Realm had been a lot to handle. Too much to handle. Bloods experiments and human trials… The thought sickened her. The Realm – her Realm – was making monsters. And she had seen some of them for herself. She had lived alongside them for the past three weeks. The worst part was they were so human. Aside from Eliscity with her wings. Wings… That was still too much for her. At what point did the humans this Clinic were experimenting on lose what made them human? Surely when they grew wings.
The Reigner had sanctioned these experiments. When she thought about him she could almost imagine what he would have to say about them. His reasons for it all.
Everything unknown about the Bloods could be ignored.
Everything known would be recreated by them.
The possibilities.
It was too much.
Worse was the knowledge that if she hadn’t run away, the day still would have come when she would have learnt about the Clinic. The Reigner would have sat her down and explained everything to her. And she may have never questioned his reasons, as she would never have been offered a different side. And as she was sworn in as the Lady Reigness, she would have become responsible for the continuation of the Clinic and its cause. And perhaps she would have done it without a qualm.
But rather than this, she had run away and the day she had learnt about the Clinic had come early. Cyan Vance had sat her down and explained everything to her. And she had been full of questions which had been met with honest and horrific answers. She knew that despite running away and disgracing her title, there would always be a chance that she would still be sworn in as the Lady Reigness and she would become responsible for the Clinic. She would become the one to blame.
What was worse? Taking the reignership and controlling the evil that was touching her Realm, or standing back and letting someone else be sworn in to the title? Someone who may enjoy that evil. That may
set it free. Her father, for all his flaws, was not an impulsive man. He liked options and decisions. He considered what may result from them and satisfied his own greed and need for power through the subtlety of achieving his ambitions. He didn’t need the Realm’s people to scream in horror to feel like he ruled them. All he needed was the knowledge that they had no clue of the Clinic. That they went about their days unaware that they should be screaming.
Would that someone who could be the next Reigner look at it the same way? Or would they prefer the chaos that would come with telling the people of the Clinic?
And if she made the decision to step away from the reignership for good, didn’t that mean she was just as responsible for the choices made by the next Reigner?
These thoughts, all these thoughts, had been rattling and banging around her head for weeks. The Clinic. The Bloods. Taking on the responsibility. Being the one to blame. Lineages and stolen children. Wings. And Wyon Eddwist.
Finally, she hadn’t been able to handle it any longer.
All she had been able to focus on was getting rid of the thoughts. There was only one way she knew that could happen.
Dust.
The craving, for the Dust and the ridding of the thoughts, had consumed her. It had made her veins itch.
