Take her head upon your knee;
Say to her, "My dear, my dear,
It is not so dreadful here."
-Edna St. Vincent Millay
Dmitri had a room in his cabin for Alessandra.
Normally, she wouldn't accept sleeping on a boy's house, especially considering she met said boy the same day.
But normally, her other choice isn't a cage in the middle of a forest.
She entered the cabin hidden in ivy and headed for the only other door she saw.
She got in the room and sat on the bed. It was one of the big ones adults had back in Onixyade. She had only slept on one when she was very small and her parents were still alive.
There were some clothes on the bed.
She put them on, thankful for taking the suit off, the one the Lab had provided days ago. It was a grey cotton shirt a few sizes too big, and black cotton trousers that fell to her hips but didn't fell lower. She felt guilty thinking of Orion in the cage. But there was nothing she could do for now.
Alessandra couldn't sleep, so obviously, she started thinking.
Something was bothering her. She couldn't tell what, as always, and then made her angry. She would always get the feeling. The bothering, the shivers, the uneasiness. But she could never tell what was causing it, until it was too late, or until someone else told her. Which didn't happen often.
The door opened and Alessandra sat up. Dmitri walked in wearing the same clothes, but unlike her, they fit.
Of course. There was one cabin. One door. One room. One bed. Where was Dmitri supposed to sleep?
Stupid, stupid, stupid.
She didn't want to admit she hadn't thought about it. She didn't want to seem selfish. She was so ashamed. And Dmitri probably meant for her to sleep here when he offered since he looked casual about her being in his bed. His bed. God, she had been away from Onixyade for only a few months and she was sleeping in a boy's bed. With said boy next to her. If only Atticus could see her, he would get a stroke.
Dmitri smiled at her, but this time with a raised eyebrow.
"What is it?" He asked.
She had been smiling. Smiling. At the thought of Atticus, dead. What was wrong with her?
"I just... remembered something", she said. It wasn't completely a lie.
"Other boy's bed?" He teased, but he wasn't smiling anymore.
"No, my guardian", she said.
He looked at her with an expression that was a plate of surprise, maybe anger, and horror on top.
She blushed hard.
"Not my guardian's bed". She tried to improve a situation that simply couldn't be improved. She decided to shut up now, since if she opened her mouth again, she wouldn't be able to.
She moved away from Dmitri, to the edge of the bed, to seem like she was making space for him. But the real reason was if she stayed in the middle of the bed, she suspected, Dmitri would still get in. And he would be closer.
Moving, she had learned, was like changing the conversation. It was one of the tells when people lied, shifting or facing another side.
Dmitri got in, and stayed in his side of the bed.
"What about Orion?" She asked, a whisper.
"Don't worry about him", he answered, another whisper.
Easier said than done.
She waited until he fell asleep and moved to the floor. The next day she would tell him she couldn't sleep and didn't want to bother him with her tossing and turning. It was half true anyways. Lucky for her, there was a bedspread, and it was wrinkled at the foot of the bed. She took that and her pillow, and made herself a bed.
It was better than what she had since she got here, anyways.
"Breakfast".
Alessandra turned and saw Dmitri with some fruits and one of his bottles standing over her.
She sat up fast, instincts kicking in. For the last days she was scared to be found sleeping by someone or something. Funny, how that still made her react.
She thanked him, accepting the food. She smelled the bottle's liquid.
"Coffee?" She asked in disbelief.
"Just harvested".
"Oh, you literarily made me coffee".
She wasn't sure if it went through the complete process, but she doubted he would try to kill her after all the trouble.
"What happened to you last night?" He asked as she ate.
She told him her story and to her relief, he accepted it.
The coffee was actually really good.
"So," he said with a single clap, "Ready to meet the rest of the island?"
They went back to a lake. Orion was with them, clean white hair shinning with the sunlight. He wasn't bloody anymore either.
"You were in a cage" Alessandra said, shocked at how comfortable he seemed around Dmitri.
"So were you", Dmitri said with half a smile.
"Just to scare you a bit", Orion whispered with a wink.
They stopped walking and both boys looked at the girl, waiting.
She looked around and saw nothing. She focused. She was probably meant to see some small detail to lead them to everyone else. She closed her eyes, breathed in, and breathed out.
Breath.
The same instruction she had given herself so many times over the years.
She opened her eyes, and there they were, in front of her. The ruins.
She couldn't hide her surprise. First they weren't there, and then they were.
Dmitri and Orion looked at each other, an unspoken I told you so and you were right.
"I will go and update them. Stay with her", Dmitri commanded.
He walked towards a big tree between the ruins, but when he got there, he disappeared.
"He'll explain later, don't worry", Orion said. The boy had more scars than Sewell on his hands.
"Are you and Sewell related?" Alessandra asked, trying to concentrate on something else.
"The hair?" Orion asked, knowing.
"And the scars".
"We Akraqsews believe we are all related. We are all a big family. But yes, Sewell is my brother. The white's not natural, though".
"I noticed", Alessandra said. She remembered the last time she spoke with Sewell, how she noticed his eyebrows were dark.
"Our mom, she was so smart. But so crazy, too. She wanted to be different, and decided that our family should be the only family with white hair. No one laughed at us, and no one complained. As I said, big family. When she died, I guess we kept doing it out of habit, and to remember her as well".
Dmitri came out of nowhere and signaled for them to approach.
"It's time", Orion said.
They walked to where he was waiting.
Dmitri showed Alessandra his hand, palm up.
"Take it", Orion whispered behind her low enough for only her to barely hear.
She did.
Dmitri started walking, pulling at her.
So she stepped forwards, too.
And the world around her changed.
The ruins were no longer ruins, but houses and streets and a plaza. And an old castle far away.
The trees were still there, holding houses together. They hadn't been built around the trees, Alessandra knew. But she wasn't sure of what had happened. It was like the trees grew later, and the buildings adapted, the castle too. It gave a very strange illusion.
They were in the middle of a crowd.
Alessandra felt self-conscious. She was wearing Dmitri's clothes. Not the same she slept in, but they fitted just the same.
"Hello Miss!" A small girl yelled at her. She was smiling with her front teeth missing. Alessandra guessed she must've had around eight years old.
"Miss! Miss!" An even younger boy screamed.
"Excuse me? Miss?" An old man said with that loud voice old people usually have when they can't hear very well.
But Alessandra wasn't looking at them anymore. She was looking at the others. The ones that weren't human.
Men with grass as hair and wooden skin. Girls with branches coming out of their heads like antlers and roots for feet. Goblins. Fauns. Faeries. A fox came out of the crowd and snuggled her feet. She kneeled to pet it and was speechless at its beauty. It was black, yellow and orange. It looked like fire. She even hesitated for a second, afraid she might get burned if she touched it. She shook her head, and was sure the other Alessandra would scold her.
It was so soft. Its eyes were dark green, with split pupils, its ears pointy, and longer than its face.
"Hello there", she said smiling. The fox pressed its small head against her hand as she scratched behind its ears and started vibrating. Purring.
"Come on", Dmitri whispered next to her ear so only she could hear, and started walking. Humans and creatures moved out of his way staring in awe, silent, waiting.
"They adore you", she whispered at Dmitri. He smiled and whispered something Alessandra couldn't hear. The three of them kept walking through the plaza, through the crowds, the streets and alleys. Eventually, the crowd dissolved and the town noise came back, but whenever they came across someone, they were stared at, Dmitri would nod at them, and they would make a small bow with their head. Alessandra remembered what Orion said. Dmitri ruled this people. Was he the king? Orion had mentioned a queen.
They arrived to an open gate, and to the castle. It was like something out of a fantasy book. So beautiful, so imposing, so old. So much like Antupainkia, her own imaginary kingdom. In the entrance, two rows of trees had their branches intertwining into a tunnel, and guards or knights, she wasn't sure, were watching them, nodding, muttering King Dmitri in acknowledgement. Once they were inside, the noise stopped. Orion made a small bow with his head, and left.
"King Dmitri?" Alessandra asked, no longer able to hide her curiosity.
"Yes, Alessandra?" He answered, with that half smile.
"So this is your castle".
"What do you think of it?"
Inside it looked how Alessandra always imagined castles. But with trees.
"Beautiful". She couldn't get the creatures away from her head. So familiar. The ruins as well, when she had first seen them.
"Now, would you like to meet the rest of the counsel?"
"Sure" Alessandra answered, not really paying attention. It couldn't be, could it? But Dmitri had said there was no such thing as coincidence.
She could hear footsteps.
"Wait, the rest?"
"Orion".
Alessandra gave Dmitri her best shocked-expression.
He fully smiled.
She greeted another boy, a nymph she later learned was a hamadryad, a specific kind of nymph who lived in trees, and a faun. She tried not to seem too surprised at the last two's existence, but she remembered reading about them, and was simply awed.
"Sorry, I'm late", A deeper, louder voice said. Alessandra turned and saw a tree, walking towards them. She turned and saw Tremaen.
"No you're not. You just like to make an entrance", Dmitri said, annoyed.
Tremaen, from the Queen's counsel. Tremaen, from Alessandra's dreams.
She kept her best neutral expression and greeted him. When she and Dmitri were left alone she asked him for the name of this kingdom.
"You already know the answer", he said.
"I want to hear you say it".
"You are in Antupainkia", Dmitri said, smiling.
"Explain it to me just one more time", Alessandra said.
Dmitri sighed and looked at Orion with exasperation. He shrugged.
"You chose not to tell her before" Orion said.
"Your ability is your mind. The reason the Lab chose you. You can do anything you set your mind to, and if you focus and keep it working you can have visions", Dmitri said once more, slowly.
"The visions you had were of the old Queen's life. And death. No one knew more about Antupainkia than she did. You got to know this land through them. You are someone very important in Antupainkia's future, so we had to bring you here. That's when we made the plan". He stopped, to make sure Alessandra was digesting everything. But before he started again, Alessandra interrupted.
"What about the trees? They weren't here before".
"They were here when I got here", Dmitri said. "As I was saying-"
"But how did you hide an entire town? How didn't I see the cabin when I was walking around?"
"Magic, Alessandra. An illusion spell hides the different details from the common knowledge of others. For instance, if you're in a cave, and in the middle of the cave there is a tree, that's something you're not expecting to see. So if I were to place an illusion spell on it, you wouldn't see it at all. But only because you weren't expecting to see it in the first place. If you had been looking for it, the spell wouldn't have worked".
"But an entire town-"
"Alessandra don't interrupt me when I'm trying to answer your questions. I won't be able to if you don't let me, clear?" Dmitri's dark eyes somehow reflected his moods. They got even darker or they sparkled. Now, they warned her to stay quiet.
"Crystal".
"Good. As I was saying, the plan is to send two of our own through the Portal, to your past. Someone who will look after you, and someone who will prepare you for anything".
Of course. The Portal can take you to a different time as well as a different place. Why didn't I think of that.
"Great job on the looking after part", Alessandra muttered, thinking again of Atticus. Dmitri ignored the remark.
"The one who must look after you, must also push your mind so it can develop. And the one who will prepare you, his task is to challenge you as well. And of course, to create the Portal Lab and make sure the portal works. Each of them will go with a potion I will make. They will give it to you hidden in drinks. It will connect us psychically and allow me to see the progress. The past me, though". He stopped again and looked at Orion. He nodded, encouraging.
"As soon as we came up with the plan, I could be inside your mind. That was the proof I needed, the proof it would work. And that's the potion's goal. To help me see through your eyes. I was able to... appear to you. Help you".
Dmitri was the other Alessandra.
At least the real Alessandra wasn't crazy.
"And now you're here, which means it will all work".
"You were inside my mind", Alessandra said coldly.
"But thanks to that you're here now, and you-"
"You were inside my mind!" Now she was yelling. She thought. She wasn't completely aware of the way she talked or the things she said. Her mind was someplace else, thinking about other more important things. Like Dmitri being inside her mind.
"Yes".
"Inside my mind! How dare you!"
His eyes darkened even more.
"I did mention how important respect is to me, didn't I?"
Several times.
"Would you like it if I were inside your mind without your permission?"
Alessandra knew she had to shut up. But she couldn't. She felt violated. Every private thought suddenly had never been private.
Dmitri stepped forward and Alessandra stepped back. She didn't meant to, she was supposed to stand her ground. But she didn't think. Dmitri was still walking towards her so she started walking backwards. He moved faster and so did she. Until she hit a wall and couldn't move backwards anymore. Dmitri was so close to her, she could see his eyelashes with perfect detail.
"Would that be the way to speak to your king?" He said, low and calm. If he were yelling, it would be less frightening. "I have been kind to you, but do not assume that will keep on going if you don't show me some bloody respect".
Bloody. That word the other Alessandra used so much. No, Dmitri used it. She was filled with rage once again.
Breath.
Alessandra nodded.
"Good", Dmitri said, finally stepping back. "Orion, take her to her chambers".
Orion stepped forward and showed her his hand the way Dmitri had. But instantly pulled it back at the look Dmitri gave him. Chambers. How long would it take her to take up this old language? How long had it taken Orion, she wondered. He probably didn't talk about chambers or bowed to people back when he was an Akraqsew.
"Come on", he said instead.
Another thought came to her. Dmitri had a castle, with dozens of rooms.
There had been no need for the whole cabin situation.
She was glad Dmitri wasn't there to see her blush.
They walked up some stairs, walked through some hallways, some of them made only of branches or roots, depending if the trees started in the ground or the rooftops, and went up some more steps before reaching her room. It was as big as her whole house back in Onixyade. It had a desk, a bed, a balcony, a door leading to her own private bathroom, a wardrobe, and even a bookshelf. And there was plenty space to move around.
"I need my pen", Alessandra told Orion.
"Right away".
He came back a minute later with her belt. She took out her pen and without even thanking him started writing on her hands.
A knock startled her.
"May I?" A voice said from the other side.
"Sure, come in". She had lost track of time. She didn't know if minutes or hours had passed. Her hands were black with ink. Probably a long time, then. She didn't even know what she had been writing, and now every word was on top of the other and it was impossible to make out any continuity.
A boy came in carrying a tray with food.
"I brought you some food Miss. The King thought you might be hungry".
It took her longer than what it should have to understand that the King was Dmitri.
"Thank you. What's your name?"
"Tacitus". The boy was younger than she was, probably ten or eleven. He didn't move. The way he stood straighter when he said his name let Alessandra know he had been named after someone important to him. Someone he was proud of.
"You can put the tray here".
The boy immediately walked forward and did as he was told.
"Would you like some paper, Miss?" He said gesturing at her hands.
"No, that's fine. Thank you, Tacitus".
The boy smiled at hearing his name, and left the room.
It didn't feel right, being treated like this. She had done nothing to deserve it. Alessandra still didn't know why she was here. Her mind was special, sure. But what did Dmitri want with it?
She examined the food. It looked fancy, but she had no idea what it exactly was. It wasn't like any food she had ever seen. She just picked something and ate, hoping it wasn't part of the decoration.
The sun was setting. She had been here writing the whole day. Alessandra was thankful for the distraction. She could make some words out, "Queen", "eyes", "council", and on her thumb, she read the final words of the story, and went to the bathroom to clean them up.
She took a long shower, finally washing her dark red hair. When she started untangling it, she realized how much it had grown. It reached and went a bit lower than her shoulders before, but now it almost reached her elbows.
Alessandra searched the room, looking for something else to do. She refused to get out of it.
She found the old book with a flower on its spine.
So she started learning the flowers.
"Yes, I am truly sorry. You have to understand it's a lot to take in, though", Alessandra said to Dmitri the next day. She wasn't sorry, not really. But she thought to make the best of the situation. And she still wanted to learn how to do magic. It would be useful. And fascinating.
"I do. I too am sorry, for not being understanding".
"So will you still teach me magic?"
"If you still want me to".
"I do".
And it was the truth.
He didn't say anything at first, just stared.
"Good", he finally said, the ghost of a smile on his lips, the same lips that kept so many secrets.
Secrets she was determined to unravel.