A tree's roots flourish in the secrets of the earth
I woke with a start in a small room with intricate etchings of beautiful faces carved into the ebony and ivory walls. There were no windows visible. Memories of the car chase, as well as the bomb hitting Daddy and Shiah's car, came rushing back. "No," I said.
I wanted nothing more than to break down in tears and cry, but numbness gripped my heart.
"I'm sorry, Pendra," said a male voice as a hand reached out to touch mine. I swung around to see Sol sitting in a chair beside the bed.
My eyes narrowed. "What are you doing here?"
He appeared, sorry. "I wanted to make sure you were all right." His eyes searched for mine, but I turned my head away.
I wanted to snatch my hand away and pummel him with my fist. "I'm not all right. Now you know, you can leave." My hand refused to leave from beneath his.
"I will find out what happened to them," he said standing. "Benin is waiting for you outside. Would you like me to send him in?"
"I don't want company right now."
Sol folded his muscular arms. He wore a silver fitted shirt with a zipper at the neck.
"All right."
"Where are we?"
"Trend City, at the home of Mistress Vega."
"Is that my guardian?"
"Yes, and she looks forward to meeting you as soon as you're ready."
"Who brought me in here?"
"I did." He arched an eyebrow.
My eyes narrowed more. "Who changed my clothes?" I ran my hand over the smooth surface of the sky blue pajamas - feeling violated.
One corner of his mouth went up. "You sure have a lot of questions for someone who doesn't want company."
"Are you avoiding the question?"
"Yep." He winked.
"Ugh." Insufferable man.
"Food is waiting for you as well when you're ready."
I nodded waving him away. My stomach bubbled and I didn't know if I could pull up the energy to eat. I threw myself back onto the bed and covered my head with the blanket.
That was the pattern for the next three days. He'd come every day despite me telling him to leave and never come back. At least Benin listened when I said leave me alone.
"Okay, Pendra," Sol said on the fourth day. "This has gone far enough. You're starting to smell and you're ruining the nice new pajamas you're wearing." He hovered over me like a large gargoyle. "Or maybe I should wait until you're asleep and hall you into the shower myself? And afterward, I'll shove a plate of food down your throat?" He tapped his lip with his finger. "It sounds like it might be fun, for me at least." He grinned.
"You wouldn't."
"No?" He moved closer to where I lay with the covers up to my neck. "This is your last chance to get up. I don't think I'll even wait until you're sleeping."
"You... you... ugh." I threw the covers back not caring about my appearance; I flounced out of bed. "There," I said throwing my arms up. "I'm up, now you can leave."
He eyed me. "If you're not outside that door in thirty minutes, I'm coming back and nothing will stop me from putting you over my knee until you comply with my wishes."
I blinked in astonishment trying to picture me over his knee. Would he do that?
"And don't think your earth powers will work on me. I'm protected against such things."
My eyes widened. I was considering wrapping a tight vine around his neck and hanging him from a tree. I looked forward to learning what else I could do. He took my silence for assent.
As soon as he turned to leave, I threw up a vulgar sign.
"Back at you," he said never turning around before exiting.
What had I gotten myself into?
I dragged myself into the bathroom. Anger kindled in the numbness living in my heart. What if Daddy hadn't made it out of the car? Sol promised to find out, but he'd done nothing more than bully me when he came to visit. He should be out looking for Daddy instead of aggravating me.
Benin was no better for allowing him to leave them behind. Daddy would never have left me.
"Shower," I said causing water to fall from the designated area. I adjusted the temperature and let the water run over me with my eyes closed. The warmth felt good on my skin. I took in some deep breaths and tried to relax.
A stern face popped onto the panel on the wall. "You have five more minutes to exit the room."
"I just got in here."
"You've been standing in the water for twenty minutes now."
"What?" I smacked my lips. "Well, that means I still have ten minutes."
"No, you wandered around the bathroom mumbling for five minutes before entering the shower." The young woman wasn't anything less than beautiful and exotic with her slanted eyes and soil colored skin.
I wonder who designed her. She reminded me too much of a certain bullheaded man. Only he'd make an avatar as irritating as him.
"Okay," I said between gritted teeth, getting out of the shower. I dried off and chose one outfit in the closet. They were all the same design, but the colors varied.
The face nodded in satisfaction and then faded out.
I had to admit that it felt good being clean.
I shuffled to the door, not looking forward to facing the world.
Stepping out, I ran into Benin. He examined me with the intensity of a computer search program. "I've been so worried." He put his hand on my shoulder. The spark of his emotions shocked me. I moved from beneath his touch.
"I'm fine." I started down the hallway expecting him to follow. "What have you learned?"
"Well for one they're expecting us that way." He pointed in the opposite direction.
I halted and barely avoided running into him again. Why did he stand so close? We turned and started in the other direction.
"Pendra, there's something you should know about this place." He gazed at the many faces on the wall. Pictures lined the walls of people becoming more beautiful with each photo, and a soft swooshing sound came from the closed doors.
"Oh, my." I realized. "It can't be," I muttered, examining the pictures. I had never been to a Beauty Bar before, but I heard stories from the people that went. They all reported the abundance of faces throughout the bars.
"I thought I should be the one to tell you."
"I thought we were at our guardian's house." I kept my voice low. My eyes darted in suspicion.
"Yes, our guardian lives in a Beauty Bar."
"What?" I frowned. "Are you kidding me?"
"Uh, no." He ran his hand through his sandy hair.
A door opened, and an older woman stepped out. Her face looked perfectly symmetrical. She smiled as she made her way out of the facility past me. This just keeps getting better. We landed in one of the facilities we despised.
Resigned to having a bad day we made our way to the established meeting place.
"This is Mistress Vega's office," Benin said stopping at a room with a silver door panel distinguishing it from all the beige doors of every other room we passed.
I took a deep breath and then entered the room, unsurprised to see the carved faces in the rust colored walls.
Sol sat on a tan love seat with his arm thrown across the back. He had a satisfied look on his face when he saw me. I rolled my eyes feeling only a little chagrined.
My mouth dropped open when I saw the young woman behind the desk. She stood and pressed her fingers into the glass desk. Her hair fell in a neat ponytail at the back of her head. It hung to her waist. I recognized the stern face as the avatar that hurried me out of the bathroom.
She couldn't be my guardian could she? Aside from her voyeurism, she appeared barely older than twenty-two. I glanced over at Sol and then back at the woman. The Mother sent children to help us?
"Welcome, Pendra." She walked around the desk to stand in front of me. "I've been looking forward to meeting you."
Her expression didn't fit her words. A small frown creased her face and her eyes didn't seem to blink as much as they should and an intensity beyond her apparent years swirled in the depths.
"I'm your guardian, Mistress Vega." Her mouth twitched. Was she attempting to smile? Yikes.
She held out her hand for me to take; I took it and sensed the touch of earth.
"I'm sorry for the way events occurred, and the loss of your father, but I didn't expect to lose so much time on your sensitivities." Her eyebrow went up.
"Excuse me?" I released her hand and rubbed my hand on my uniform.
She tilted her head as if she didn't understand. "You have important work ahead of you and no time to nurse brittle human feelings."
My mouth hung open, and I blinked a few times. She walked back behind her desk. I turned to look at Benin and found him examining the brown area rug.
"We were just discussing your training schedule," she said like nothing occurred. "Please, sit down." She motioned to an open seat in front of her desk.
I looked over at Sol. He had a wide grin on his face and winked, but he kept silent. Benin sat in one of the two chairs.
My eyes narrowed, and I folded my arms. I was tired of being bullied.
She stared at me. "Ah, I've offended you?"
I didn't trust myself to answer. She glanced at Sol; he shrugged.
I squared my shoulders. "Yes, you've offended me. I didn't know it would be an inconvenience to grieve the death of the only family I had."
"Yes, I see." She sat down and pulled up a screen in her desk. "We must push hard to give you what you need to complete your mission."
She was crazy.
"Why are we at a beauty bar," I said, getting disturbed by their lack of answers. They planned to throw us into training without a word for our whereabouts, or the precarious situation hanging over our heads. I folded my arms over my chest and gazed into Mistress Vega's eyes, which I regretted because of the power I glimpsed in them.
"The Chameleon Beauty Bar is my establishment," she replied without a hint of regret. Her voice was serene, and I decided I did not like her. "What better place to hide than in plain sight? Now if you'll take your seat we'll discuss training." She dismissed my question with a wave of her hand. Displeased I plopped into the chair. Mistress Vega scanned us with her fingers pressed into the glass table before she explained our training.
Her words washed over me as I recapped, the last week of my life, in my mind. My world changed in an instant and I had to rely on strangers for survival. Strangers with secrets buried behind their eyes. I wondered at Sol and Vega's relationship; where did they come from? All these questions spun in my mind, and then we were dismissed to start our training with Sol.
Authors Note:
Thanks for reading! Let me know what you liked! Please show your support by voting if you enjoyed. Thanks again!
Sincerely,
A. I. Dukes