Chapter Thirty
“Goodnight Rill,” Rainer said as he put his little sister to bed, who was exhausted after a long, stressful day, a meeting with her father, and a long kind of dinner that was typical of Italians in that realm.
“’Night Jaydn,” Lily smiled, pulling the blankets up to her chin, gathering it in thick bunches in her small hands.
“You get some sleep now,” Rainer said. “We’ve a long day ahead of us tomorrow.”
“Are we going to see Father?” Lily asked, straining her eyes to see her brother in the darkness of the small room they were in. They had illegally moved into a vacant house near their target house.
“Yes, probably,” Rainer took a sharp intake of breath. It rattled as it came in through his teeth.
“Oh.... ‘Night,” Lily said again, yawning and closing her eyes. Within minutes she was asleep, and Rainer was still standing over her, his expression calm; not that anyone could see it.
He smiled, bending over and kissing her forehead. “Sleep well Lily,” he said, turning and leaving the carpeted room, leaving her roll up mattress and blankets behind him, looking up and down the lit hallway, hearing Avery and Rafael discussing something in one of the rooms in their “indoor voices” which were about as loud as the average person’s “outside voice.”
Rainer ran a hand through his hair, sighing, closing his eyes for a moment. “Raph! Every!” he hissed, walking down the hall, his heels clicking against the hardwood floors. He forced himself into the room they were sharing, seeing them tangled in a mess on the floor, and he wasn’t quite sure if they were trying to wrestle, or if it was something else. He hoped it was just wrestling.
“Quiet! Lily’s sleeping,” Rainer hissed. “What do you two think you’re doing? Take your... whatever it is outside if need be. I don’t want any fights in here, and above all, I don’t want and make out sessions. Understand?”
Avery gave Rafael a good shove, getting up and leering at Rainer. “Says the one who has been making eyes at his little sister.”
“Shove it Avery,” Rainer grumbled. “It’s none of your business.”
“I’d say otherwise,” Avery retorted, rolling his eyes at Rafael’s giggling. “Seeing as she’s my little sister.”
“Adopted sister,” Rafael pointed out.
“Doesn’t make it any better,” Avery pointed out. “I bet he fantasizes about her at night,” he made groping motions with his hands. “Not that I’d do something like that, thinking about her, no, there’s an invention in this world called margarine,” he said. “Those thin, cheap books with pictures,” he laughed. “You ought to get yourself one.”
“You mean magazines?” Rafael asked.
“Shut up.”
“No, both of you, shut up,” Rainer hissed. “Stop arguing and go to bed. I have to go somewhere.”
“Running off again?” Avery frowned. “If you’re going to some stripper bar, take me with you,” he raised his voice.
“No!” Rainer raised his voice, turning to leave. “Lights off, stay quiet. This place is supposed to be vacated. We don’t need suspicious people snooping around,” he said.
“Fuck you,” Avery sneered.
“Same to you too,” Rainer turned, his footsteps echoing throughout the building, the sound of the back door signaling his exit soon after.
“That went well,” Rafael commented, grinning when Avery leered over his shoulder at him, his lips curled back.
#
Rainer pulled back his long sleeves, looking at the bracelets on his left wrist, their thin metal bands intertwining to from a much stronger one, words in a long dead language etched into the intertwining cords. Grow down, not up, for growing down offers the most stability. You may seem weak, but you’re the strongest of all, having the strongest hold on the world. Use that stability for me; live without regrets.
Rainer only knew the old words from Oroitz Aro, and that had been a long time ago, long before Marisol had been stolen from their lives. Oroitz had left the bands with Rainer, promising he would grow into them, and he had, as promised, but so far he had not lived up to the foreign script etched into the bands.
Over the years, he had added another band to it, golden, unlike the silver bands Aro had given him. It was glowing in the dark, and had also been the reason Rainer had been wearing long garments to cover up its glow.
He frowned at it, the soft golden light illuminating his face, and a good part of the street he was on. He turned, making his way to Mull’s Place, the golden band beginning to hum, and vibrate with every step he took that brought him nearer.
“Before he knew it, he was standing in front of Mull’s Place, and then on its porch, his hand on the doorknob. He knew it was locked, the golden band vibrating violently, causing his whole arm to jitter. If he were left handed, he might not have been able to write.
“Knock, knock,” he said in a loud, clear voice.
Silence.
“I beseech thee, open the door and let me pass. This ring called me to this place, and I shall not leave nary I have spoken to the one who called me.”
Then, a voice; “Enter the Jabberwock.”
The door clicked open, swinging inside, revealing a swirling darkness.
Rainer reached his left hand forward, watching it disappear as it passed the edge of the doorframe, and for a moment, he could not feel his hand at all.
He fell through the darkness, the little voice in the back of his head assuring him that it was the only place he belonged.
_______________________________________________________________________
I'd say "Come to the dark side. We have cookies. That is all," if it was all, but it isn't :P
thanks for reading ^^
Now that's all :P
greetz,
steph
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