Defying Equilibrium: Book II

Chapter 22: Swords and Shields

Madame Jade got up and walked upstairs, and the rest followed. When she reached the attic and pulled down the ladder, she groaned.

"These legs aren't what they used to be," she complained. "Makes stairs a pain." She slowly made her way up the attic steps, and once everyone was in the attic, she left it open for Dare when he came back. She turned to speak to Liana and Sansu. "This is a secret that has been passed down the generations of my family. And if Ahmed hadn't shown up here, exactly seven years ago, then this secret would have been passed on to you two as well." Madame Jade pried up two of the floorboards, and underneath them was a large, black case. Liana suddenly remembered that she had seen it before.

Seven years ago, when she was eight years old, there was a huge storm. The wind howled and howled like some terrifying beast and the thunder sounded like its footsteps. Liana had always been terrified of storms, but Sansu loved them. If she could have, Sansu would have been standing by the door, gazing out into the wind and rain, but as it stood she was bedridden, sick with a fever. She asked Liana to go and see what the storm looked like. So, terrified as she was, Liana stood by the door, gazing out into the wind and rain.

And then he had arrived.

A tall man, with long blonde hair and dirty, drenched clothes. He had arrived and promptly fell to his knees at their doorstep. It was only then that Liana saw the blood on his face. He was hurt, and freezing. He had been walking through the storm for hours.

Madame Jade had seen him coming in a vision, and she was expecting him. She opened the door to him, and helped him inside. Liana was even more scared of this man than she was of the storm.

"Everyone in my family was told that we must guard this with our lives." Madame Jade stooped and pulled the large black case out of the hole in the floor. "We were told that one day, someone would come to collect it, and that we must safeguard it until then." She looked up at Ahmed. "In my case, that someone finally came."

By this point Dare had once again rejoined them. He had stayed with his brother for a little while, and once again sworn him to secrecy. He missed them so much, it hurt to leave again. Before he left, Nico had given him Jackson's last letter. It sat in his pocket, unread, weighing him down. He would read it later. Right now, there were more important matters to attend to.

"How did you know it was him?" Asked Sansu. "He could have been anyone."

She shook her head. "The gift of seeing visions has been in my family for longer than this has," she said. "I had seen a vision of him long before he came."

Madame Jade gave him clean, dry clothes and then helped to patch up his wounds. The man did not speak a word, but Liana could sense his gratefulness. He seemed like someone who had not seen kindness in years. In many, many years.

Then they gave him food. Liana could tell that he was ravenous, that he had not eaten in days, yet he ate slowly. And when Liana offered him a hot cup of herbal tea that Madame Jade had brewed, he smiled at her and said his first words of the evening,

"Thank you."

And then he slept. Madame Jade offered him the spare room, and he slept for two days straight. Liana checked on him every few hours, and Sansu's fever began to fade too. She was curious about the stranger.

When he awoke, Madame Jade took him up to the attic. Liana had followed them, thinking that she was being stealthy and sneaky. They were fully aware that she was there, but they indulged her. She watched them pull up the floorboards and pull out the large black case, and open it. She never understood its significance.