The Fifth Element

Part 2 Chapter 28

There was the sound of sobs retreating footsteps and the whoosh of the wall opening up and I guessed Shirley had left us.

"Good riddance," Hampton said and sat back down beside me.

I never in my life wanted another person to die so much as I did in that moment. Shirley didn't deserve any of the good things in this world, but nobody deserved that.

"Patience, there will be a time we will be able to end that miserable life form," the voice whispered softly in my head and I hoped she was right.

Greta did her annoying her tongue again and her gray eyes shifted from me to the side that my mother sat on, "I still can't see all the way into your mind, Caroline. Such an insolent child, learning to block your own mother out of your head, and that's how I knew you were never mine. My child wouldn't be afraid to share every single thought with me."

What the heck did Greta she think normal childhood was? Childhood was all about keeping things from your mom. My mom still didn't know that she wasn't the one who lost her favorite earing when I was eleven.

"Well I'm hungry and all this talk of disappointing is making me hungrier. Disappointment tends to do that to me. That's probably why I gained 50 pounds after bringing your mother home, Violet. Now please dig in! One of my finest chefs prepared this feast for us."

My hands and arms began to move by themselves and  place food onto my plate. Even worse, after they were done choosing the food, they began to shovel it into my mouth and I had to swallow it quickly to keep from chocking

I sure Greta was doing all this to throw me off balance, make me vulnerable, but whether I wanted to admit it or not, it was working. I felt completely helpless

"Caroline, what's with the long face? Do you still not like roosted Pegasus? Maybe you just need to eat a few more bites to get used to the taste," Greta said.

I felt my blood go cold. Everyone who knew my mom knew she not only hated Pegasus but was slightly allergic to it. It made her entire face swell and itch unbearably and could probably be considered a mild form of torture. Even though Greta would probably win the worst mother award, even she had to have a line she wouldn't cross. Right? Like killing her own daughter, even though she didn't technically consider her daughter?

"I'm full," she said and clapped her hands together and one of the twins emerged from the wall beside the fireplace. He stared at Greta with emotionless dark eyes, "Tell the chief that he has my compliments," she said the boy disappeared. With him gone she turned her steely gray eyes back onto me for what felt like the hundredth time.

"Miss Silver," she said, and I felt some of her magic leave me, at least from the neck.

I flexed my jaw and marveled at the sensation of finally being able to move my own body again.

"Would you say that you are familiar with the other world?" Greta asked.

"Are you familiar you with the other world?" she asked me.

"Yeah, I was only stuck there for a year after being pushed in by your half-faced lady servant and did battle with one of your undead soldiers."

"I can't say that I am," I lied.

Greta tucked one of the gray strands that had fallen out of her bun behind her ear, "Theoretically if you had you would know that because there is so little magic over there that there is say little resistance that can be met if beings like us were to say conquer them?"

"Like I said before but in different words, lady, I have no idea what you are talking about!" I snapped.

"Well since you know nothing about this world would you say that you loved your world and country better than it? Because if you don't that wouldn't make much sense would it."

I didn't answer, instead, I cast my eyes down at the plate of food I had not chosen for myself and kept my mouth sealed shut.

"I see that's the game you want to play, but whether you decide to answer or not, that's not really any concern to me. What does in the best for our lovely country, Tilmalia and I hope you share my sentiment."

"I do," I said without looking up, "and that's why I sacrificed my father to tear up your army down below and after they're done with them, they will claw their way up to this castle and rip you apart!" I met her gaze.

Greta shook her head at me, "Do you really think that you can do that before I kill everyone you love?" she asked, "But honestly I would rather not have any more of our people's bloodshed. They deserve the absolute best quality in life, not no life at all," she said.

Suddenly, with the sensation of being hit in the face by a small round object and I was no longer sitting at the table anymore. No instead I was standing a couple of hundred feet in the air above the ground but wasn't standing on anything or anything as in dragon of any other possible flying beast. I was standing on nothing but air and Greta was right beside me, not.

Below us, was a great city surrounded by a forest. Its towering white structures rose almost to the height we stood. A clear blue river ran through the city and cut it in half, and I could see boats big and small bobbing in its waters. Narrow lines crisscrossed their ways between the buildings not divided by the great river, and I could see colorful little ants traveling along them. Sky taxis and sky cars flew through the air and in-between the tall white structures.

I turned my head towards Greta "Where are we and how are you doing this?" I asked and tried to keep the panic in my voice contained.

A smile spread across her face. Not a phony, unnatural, forced one, but a real genuine grin. "We're in my future the ideal future for us all. I'm showing you what it looks like inside my head," Greta replied and held out her hand and suddenly we were down below on the sidewalk under the towering city.

It was then I realized that the colorful little ants were not ants at all but people, well imaginary people. They walked past us, but their eyes didn't acknowledge my existence. One passed through me and exploded into colorful smoke only to reform into a man wearing a red and white striped suit before he continued his imaginary journey down the imaginary sidewalk.

"Okay cool you want to build a city with taller than average buildings. What does this have to do with the other world or me or being just plain evil?"

"Because it's not our people who build this," Greta said and clapped her hands and suddenly we were standing in an incomplete city and the sidewalks were empty. The buildings looked to only be half finished and were being worked on by men and women dangling from ropes, or standing on makeshift platforms above us. They haled white stone up upwards, fussing mental beams together with a device I had seen before in the other world, I think they were called blowtorches. These weren't people of our world, but people of the other.

"So basically you want to concur the other world for cheap labor?" I asked.

"No I want to conquer them for their knowledge," she replied. "In our world, we have grown lazy. We rely too much on magic to drive us forward with everything we do and therefore we have not gone for, but these people have. They have weapons that can destroy countries in a matter of seconds. They have the ability to build buildings this tall without the use of magic, but with the simple use of math. They are so much weaker than us, but at the same time so much more advanced! How do you think we built our non-magic energy system? It was because a book about it fell from the other world into our hands. But it's not enough to hope that such great and powerful knowledge comes about naturally again, we must take it all for ourselves.

So whether you approve of my message or not. How I refused to accept a child that was not my own you have to see what a much better future this is! I want to restore my element, and yours and make an ideal world for our future generations to live within. And for you, the hero and one of the founders, to live in with the one you love. So what are you chose to live with them, or let them die?

"What are you talking about?" I asked, Lacy's words rattling about in my head.

"Well if I am reading our darling Shirley's brain right now, she currently about to stab your beloved Mr. Hemlock for the third time, and this time through the heart and I'm the only one who can stop it.