The Empty World | The Empty World Sequence [complete | rewriting]

Fifteen

They didn't see the exterior of the Palace Shade, when they first arrived, only Joy standing in a black-walled room. To Morpheus the decor seemed strange and modern. Joy screamed, joyously, when Opium came through the mirror. Mother gave her one tight squeeze and then had to step away. There were soft, backless couches here that looked very much like those Sleep had in his house, blacklights glowed from the ceiling that made Joy's eyes and fangs glow, and the black tile floor was inlaid with accent tiles of red, blue, or purple.

Joy began to excitedly go on and on about how large the palace was, that Athen had hired the famous, local architect, Chris Rhodes, to design the house to his specifications. Rhodes had hired all the best artists from LA to work on the palace. Many rooms were specifically designed to be lived in by a certain person, though guest rooms had styles their own.

"I've never even seen a house so big, ever, not even a museum or anything!" Joy cried. She may have, Morpheus knew, but not as this specific version of Joy that came into being in the early 1990s.

She walked them out into the third floor hall. Its floor was beige marble with veins of black and rose. Its walls paneled in the French manner, couches of different styles lay about, all black or rose, many with gold trim.

They went down a stair to the second floor and Morpheus froze still. Stretched out before them, a wide gallery with colonnade, and beyond the low rail and columns, a long hall, at least fifty feet high, stretching into the distance. Human workers were hanging paintings, standing on various ladders as Athen stood far below directing them. Morpheus rushed to the rail, to the left and to the right two more long hallways burrowed into the wings, just a story high. "It must be as big as the Amber Palace!"

Mother stood at the top of the grande staircase that led down to the hall below. "The palace, it's the shape of a cross?" she asked.

Joy said that it probably was; Athen liked crosses.

"Where do they keep Angel?" Opium asked.

"I think she's still in that coffin. She's alive, but she can't get out. You like though house, though?"

"It's a beautiful palace," Mother told Joy, then continued, "Did they put her in a basement or something?"

"Tower room, I heard, but I didn't go. Want to see some other rooms? I don't know where everything is, but we can bother Shio, or one of the maids."

Mother turned about and smiled at Joy, "That would be fun," she said, but Morpheus knew his mother wouldn't forget the order Sleep had given. They were there to keep close watch for trouble.

They went down to the hall. Joy explained that Shio was Athen's assistant, and she was, "this really pretty Japanese woman," and during the day, Shio was in charge of the palace, of Athen's office, and, "she gets to boss around the servants." But, they didn't bother Shio, instead they found one of the maids.

The servants had been living at the Palace since before it was completed, cleaning the rooms and setting furniture straight, and keeping watch over the sub-contractors to make sure they didn't break anything. Joy didn't know where they came from, exactly, but they were already loyal to Athen. They all knew he was a Vampyre. They didn't care.

They toured a small theater, its row of boxes all lined in royal blue velvet, and its many lamps and mirrors all reflecting light toward the stage. Gold and royal blue velvet everywhere. Joy led them backstage and threw about costumes, there was already a wardrobe full of them; she said Julien was making her more.