The sound of desperate scratching, interspersed with pitiful yowls, pulled me out of a deep sleep. I was not a happy camper. I promised myself a sandbox for Luther—today--as half-awake, I stumbled from the bed to let Luther out of the room.
Happy to have gotten my attention, he wound his body sinuously around my bare legs, nearly tripping me before I could get the leather thong lock unwound and let him out.
The minute the door cracked open, he darted out through a sliver of an opening hardly wide enough for my hand to slip through. He took off like a shot down the hallway then disappeared down the stairs. Yes. Definitely a sandbox.
With a wide yawn, I wiggled my way back under the heavy gatzu robe and snuggled down for a few more minutes of sleep. I closed my eyes, and as if my brain was a movie projector, a re-run of scenes from yesterday began flickering through my mind. Again, I could feel the alien touch of that evil entity that had touched my mind. I shivered and opened my eyes.
Going back to sleep with that on my mind would be impossible. I wrestled my way out of the animal hide blanket, and crawled out of bed again. I went over to the window and pulled back the heavy curtain. An alien dawn backlit the diamond windowpanes with sickly gray. With a shock, I realized morning had broken already.
Hmmm? Where was Marta? She hadn’t come to wake me. That was odd. God forbid that I miss Latin class at 6AM in the morning. Was Varak sick or something?
I took a last glance back at my room before I headed down the hall, making sure to tightly closing the door behind me. I looked over to William Helm's usual corner, only to find it empty. Really, really, Odd, I thought, as a prickle of anxiety flared up inside me.
Thinking of missing people reminded me that there had been no sign of Julius last night, either. After what happened yesterday, I had to wonder why he hadn't at least come to check on me. Maybe he had made it safely out of the castle, and for whatever reason, could not return. As I descended the stairs, I couldn’t help but wonder when I would see him again.
Sooner than I had expected, as it turned out. About halfway down the stairs, I could hear a loud dispute drifting up the stairs from the dining room. Julius's voice, raised in anger, rang out from the rafters. From the sound of things, he wasn’t having a great morning either.
“You were not watching her close enough."
“Calm down, Julius,” Dr. Spinner’s calm voice floated up the stairs. “Accusations will not serve your purpose here.”
What was Dr. Spinner doing here? I wondered. Did it have something to do with William Helm's and Marta's absence?
“I will not tolerate insolence from the likes of you, half-breed,” stormed Vorst.
“Oh crap!” I ran the rest of the way down the stairs.
All of the voices went as silent as a graveyard as I had stepped into the dining room as they turned to look at me. Vorst, Varak, and Natos stood on one side of the table facing Dr. Spinner, Chloe, and Julius on the other.
"What's going on?" I wanted to know when no one spoke.
Two Nintuks I didn't know stood guard to either side of the doorway. I recognized Mauk. He wore a voluminous gray robe over his clothes. Mauk nodded at me grimly.
I turned to the other Nintuk, a stranger, and obviously a full-fledged Knight of the Black Rose, judging by his black robe. He, too, glanced down at me and nodded.
Speaking of Knights of the Black Rose, I thought looking around the room, where was my tormentor, William Helm?
Julius came to stand by my side without saying a word. I could sense the depth of his emotions and his righteous anger. The strength of both surprised me.
“What’s going on?” I repeated my question to him, but before he could answer me, Chloe spoke to me from the table.
"Storm.” She turned her dazzling smile on me. “You’re up! I’m glad. I am tired of listening to all this men talk. I’m starved, too.”
Chloe sprang up from the table and grabbed my arm in her excitement.
“Let’s go get something from the kitchen and take it to your room so we can talk.”
She pointedly ignored Julius as she continued, “Where it’s quieter. All this yelling is giving me a headache.”
Chloe was trying to distract me. The awareness of her purpose took me back for a second. Hah! I looked around and realized they all wanted me out of the room where they could continue discussing me without my being there--Julius included.
Well, not the Nintuks, to be honest. They didn’t care if I stayed or went. They were carefully trying not to listen to anything anyone said. It was just a job to them. A Job? About then I realized I was interpreting their emotions if not their thoughts, and not the Nintuks only. I was stunned.
“Storm, did you hear me?” Chloe asked hesitantly.
“Chloe, stop!” I ordered. “I’m not going anywhere—with anyone.” I looked down at her arm looped through mine and twisted away from her. "What are you doing here anyways?"
Chloe looked at me in surprised dismay. If I’d suddenly morphed into an elephant in front of her, it couldn’t have startled her more.
“Ah!” Natos nodded. “It seems young Storm has the developed a talent at last,” he announced.
Everyone looked at me as if I had grown three heads. Even Julius. Especially Julius. "What? Are you sure, Natos?" If possible, Julius seemed even more agitated.
I had felt the surprise and alarm in the others, but in Julius his reaction was off the scale, and another emotion that I didn’t understand. Fear!
He was afraid of me. Afraid of me? I asked myself. Why hadn't I noticed that before? Had his fear been there all along? Had my perceptive ability only now developed enough to recognize his true emotions?
“Where are my uncle and brothers?” I asked coldly, ignoring everyone's stares. I needed to know my family was safe. To hell with what anyone else thought. I looked around with my new perceptive abilities and realized everyone at the table had been deceiving me in one way or the other. Julius included. Julius most of all.
Had I been so needy I had left myself wide open to becoming prey to the first person who showed me the slightest bit of affection? I felt sick to my stomach all of a sudden. "Where are they?" I demanded when no one spoke.
“Jung has them doing impromptu archery practice,” Julius answered close to my ear, causing me to flinch away from him.
I could feel him appraising me, the tension mounting in him like a coiled spring. It was beginning to dawn on him that he would have trouble pushing me into the background while he made all the decisions concerning me. The question was why he wanted to do that in the first place. I could feel him desperately wanting me out of the room.
“What is your problem with me being here, Julius?”
“Go with Chloe, Storm. You don’t need to be here. Let me get this straightened out.”
“No. I won’t go. Listen, Julius. I don’t know how it is here on your planet, but back where I’m from, women don’t sit around waiting for men to make decisions for them. So don’t ever expect that from me. It’s not going to happen. Here’s the deal. I fight my own battle. I will never fight hiding behind you.”
My words infuriated Julius. I saw it in his eyes.
“Fine, then,” Julius ground out coldly, indicating the bench where he had been sitting.
His anger was a beautiful, passionate thing to watch. He was totally the Alpha male in a glorious fury. He had been sure of his right and my acquiescence in protecting me. His anger focused on me--not because I defied him--but rather that because he couldn't control me any longer. That had aroused the slumbering beast within him.
I sat down where he indicated. Julius sat down beside me.
“Yes. Um, Well,” said Dr. Spinner clearing his throat, trying to pick up his train of thought. “As I was saying to Vorst; Marta is gone. There is nothing else we can do at the moment.”
“We’ve already put the best Knight we have on her trail.” Vorst offered. “I will let you know something as soon as we hear anything.”
So that's where Sir Dark and Gloomy had gotten off to this morning, I thought.
“Storm thinks she used illusion to get her post here,” offered Natos.
I had? I asked myself.
“To keep up that kind of illusion," Natos continued. "And, get past all of us; she has to be a powerful Wizardess. A Mere Knight, no matter how skilled, may not be able to see her out there. Sorry, Vorst,” Natos said when Vorst growled deep in his throat. “We’ve got to consider the possibility that we are compromised—as the half—er--Julius was saying earlier.”
“Breakfast is served,” announced Britta, putting an end to the debate when she waddled in shouldering a huge platter of fruit and rolls. Behind her came Isaac. He held another platter containing place settings and two pots of Farrow Fruit Tea.
To my relief, Jung led Uncle, Andrew, and Luke into the dining room moments later. I reached out to their minds, causing Luke to look at me sharply from his place across from me. I shrugged and looked down at my plate. I hid my relief that they were truly unaware of the inner turmoil surrounding the rest of us. Luke glanced occasionally around the table, but everyone was shielding their minds, and he finally gave up.
All the adrenaline that had kicked in when I came down the stairs whooshed out of me once I actually sat down. I felt about as wobbly as Jell-O sitting through that interminable meal. Julius ate beside me in silence—both external silence, which was bad enough. However, the silence in my mind was harder to bear. So be it.
When that agonizing meal finally concluded, Varak stood up before anyone could leave the table.
“There will be no further lessons today, as we have other pressing business to which we must attend," he said for my family's benefit. "In addition, Marta had to leave unexpectedly. It will take time to replace her, so if each of you could see Britta and Isaac in the kitchen. They will be happy to have some help with the chores."
Dr. Spinner rose then, and spoke. “Some of you may know Mauk. He has been a student at the monastery for some time now. Kau-weh, you don’t know. He is Mauk’s nest brother. We have hired the two of them to guard your family.” He looked around at each of us with a tight smile before continuing. “Please cooperate with them, if you please. Now, if you will excuse us….”
Andrew went to Chloe as soon as the Hermits left the table. Together they went off happily to the kitchen. Chloe did look back at me, though. It wasn’t hard to figure out her expression, even without my newfound ability. When I would have followed Andrew and Chloe into the kitchen, Julius slipped his arm through mine.
Later, she mouthed, meaning she would be having some answers from me, eventually.