"Early in life we recognize certain talents in ourselves and we focus on those to the exclusion of others. It's not that nothing else is possible, but that nothing else was nurtured." {Reynaldo, pg 258 book 3}
AURORA POV
Before Mr. Bentham could explain anymore Nim rushed back into the room.
"Pardon for the interruption, sir. But Mr. Sharon has returned with the two other guests you requested."
Emma and Jacob? Aurora stood, eager to see her friends but politely waited until Mr. Bentham had PT pick him up with his massive paws and carry him into the foyer. Then she followed the odd man, still keeping her distance from the grimbear no matter how tame his owner said he was. She hoped the others would forgive her for running out on them the way she did and she hoped they hadn't worried too much for her sake. Then she turned a corner and saw the large boatman, he'd be hard to miss with his tall stature and ominous trench coat but when she saw her friends all sense of politeness and manners went out the window.
"What did you do to them?" she demanded as she saw Jake and Emma. Emma was being held up by one of Bentham's associates while the boatman supported Jake. Both were unconscious and badly wounded. Addison was nowhere in sight and Aurora heard the man looking over Emma mutter something about a double concussion, broken rib and torn shoulder. As bad as Emma was it was still better than Jacob who looked dead.
"Saved their asses is what I did sweetheart." Sharon replied, "Which is more than you did after runnin' off and causin' more trouble. If I hadn't called in a favor your friends wouldn't have left Smoking Street in this good condition."
"Kim." Bentham addressed the assistant holding Emma, "Why not put the lady down in that chair there and fetch Reynaldo and Marion."
oOo oOo oOo
Reynaldo and Marion were the healers who worked under Mr. Bentham, while Sharon and Kim settled Emma and Jake into beds so they could heal Aurora was introduced to the odd pair.
"I'm Reynaldo." The young man said holding out his hand. He had brown skin and bright eyes and wore a silk shirt with a wide brimmed hat and he was leading the healing woman as if she were blind. "And this is Mother Dust. I speak for her."
The only visible parts of Mother Dust were her left eye and left hand. The rest was hidden beneath acres of fabric: shawls, scarves, a dress and a bell shaped hoop skirt. She seemed to be missing her right hand.
"Pleasure to meet you both." Aurora said then turned to Reynaldo, "She can help my friends?"
"She can heal anything with a beating heart." He assured her, "We know what we are doing."
Then he led Mother Dust into Jacob's room, for he was the one who sustained the worst injuries. It looked as if he'd used his body to shield Emma from whatever or whoever had beaten them.
"Now she will make the dust." Reynaldo explained, "Stand back and be careful not to breathe it in. It will put you to sleep instantly." Reynaldo strapped a dust mask over his nose and mouth while Aurora covered her face with the long sleeve of the shirt she wore, then the boy untied the shawl that wrapped around what was left of Mother Dust's right arm. The stump beneath was only a few inches long and it came to an end well above what would have been her elbow. With her left hand Mother Dust began to rub the stump, which released a fine white powder that hung in the air. Holding his breath Reynaldo combed the air with one hand and collected the dust. Aurora watched fascinated at how the other healer worked, she was so entranced by Mother Dust's abilities that she forgot any notion of asking if the woman wanted help. Then she remembered what she'd done to those men in the alley and looked down at her palms, she wasn't sure if she could still heal people after what had happened.
After Reynaldo collected all the dust, about an ounce, the same amount that was now missing from Mother Dust's stump, he transferred the dust into his mistress's hand and she leaned over and blew some of it in Jake's face. He inhaled it and jerked suddenly but Mother Dust remained calm, this seemed to be the normal reaction to her gift. Then Jake settled and they moved on to Emma.
MILLARD POV
The next time Millard woke up it wasn't in his cell. He found himself tied to a rather simple wooden chair bound at his wrists and ankles. His back felt like it was on fire and being pressed against the chair didn't help. On top of that every time he turned to try and figure out where he was he felt his shirt – now stuck to his fresh wounds from the dried blood – tug and pull at the raw skin making him hiss in pain. Then the only door to the room opened and two wights walked in, it wasn't the ones who had whipped him – thank the Birds – and they moved to stand on either side of the doorframe as two more people walked in.
The first one Millard had never seen before he had dull brown hair that was neatly combed to one side atop his head, he had a simple mustache above his lip and wore a matching grey vest and trousers with a white collared shirt and dark necktie. He was the kind of bloke you'd expect to see walking down a street in London, perhaps on his way to work or about to board a train, only his white colorless eyes stood out and reminded Millard this man must be dangerous. Following behind him was Caul and immediately Millard felt his heart rate jump as his breathing became panicked.
"Hello again Millard." Caul said casually as if they were old friends. "It's nice to see you again – or rather nice to finally see you." He chuckled at his own humorless joke. With the dried blood on his face and now the blood on his back Millard was more visible than he'd ever been.
"I understand you've given my guards some trouble." He said folding his hands behind his back as if he was scolding a child for stealing a cookie.
"They were picking on Hugh. And they started it yesterday anyway." Millard replied referencing the unprovoked beating he had suffered. Caul only chuckled again.
"Oh, don't be bitter toward them Millard, they were only following orders. You see, I have a natural born curiosity – none too different from you in fact –" his sentence was cut off when Millard spat in his face.
"I am nothing like you." He said with venom in his tone but Caul only chuckled again and wiped the spit off his face with his finger. He looked at it for a moment and Millard felt dread settle into the pit of his stomach. The look on Caul's face was the kind a scientist would have when examining his lab mice and Millard didn't like it one bit.
"Fascinating, peculiars of the invisible persuasion have always been a subject I find most riveting." He flicked the spit away and returned his hands behind his back as he looked closer at Millard. "How deep does your gift go I wonder. If I had my men cut off your arm would I see your bones? We can see your blood that much is clear. I remember that other boy, Radi, when he was half invisible you could lie under him and see his lunch digesting, his invisibility resided only in his skin." Caul slammed his hands against the armrests of the chair and he leaned closer to Millard who pushed back against his seat regardless of the pain in his back, his only desire was to get away from the deranged man in front of him. "I would love to take a knife and cut you open layer by layer just to see how long it takes to find something visible inside you."
Millard tried to keep from shaking in fear but he couldn't, this man in front of him took scientific study and turned it into some kind of Frankenstein experiment. He felt nothing for the people he tortured all to soothe his own curious mind. He'd step on whoever he had to, kill whoever got in his way all for the sake of power.
"You're the devil." Millard whispered in horror, his eyes wide with terror, and Caul laughed again much louder than last time.
"No Millard, very soon, I'm going to be a god."
AURORA POV
After both Emma and Jake had been given their dose of dust Bentham asked to speak with Sharon in private and Aurora found herself in a deep discussion with Mother Dust via Reynaldo. He said that Mother Dust's dust was her and of inherently limited quantity. She wore herself away a little every time she healed someone.
"I hope this doesn't seem like a rude question," Aurora began, "but why do you do it if it hurts you?"
Mother Dust turned so that her good eye could see Aurora and spoke. It sounded like a mushy garble of someone who had no tongue but Reynaldo was able to translate it.
"I do it because this is how I was chosen to serve, same as you child." Aurora could sympathize with that, she knew she used her own energy when she healed and if Millard, her friends or anyone was hurt badly enough she wouldn't hesitate, her natural instinct was to help so that's what she did. She thought back to when Hugh was hurt in Blackpool Tower, or when Claire fell ill, she hadn't been thinking of what healing them could do to her, the consequences her own body would face, her focus was that her friends were hurt and she had to help them. If her gift was like Mother Dust's and it rubbed a bit of her away each time she used it she still would give it all for the people she cared about.
She looked down at her hands again before asking, "Has your dust ever done anything besides heal?"
"No." Reynaldo answered again and Mother Dust leaned forward and placed her good hand on Aurora's knee in comfort. She mumbled something and Reynaldo said, "But you were meant for much greater things child."
MILLARD POV
"I don't believe you've met Mr. Barker" Caul said gesturing to the man who had entered with him. "He's a member of my innermost circle, one of the first who joined my cause. He possesses a rather unique gift."
As Caul spoke Mr. Barker approached Millard from behind and rested his hands on the back of his chair. Millard tried to squirm away from his reach when the wight placed his hands on either side of Millard's head. "He can dig into your mind and pull out your worst fears. . . and your darkest memories." Then everything went black.
He was nine again sitting in his bedroom, he could hear the door open as his father came home from work, his mother's heels clicking on the hardwood floor as she went to greet him. He could hear their muttering voices as she told her husband how their son had refused to leave his room all day and Millard turned his gaze to the chair he'd used to barricade the door shut, then he turned to his hands -each one was missing several fingers. He clenched his hands over and over, he still felt each finger, it was still there he just couldn't see it. He felt the hot tears start to pour down his face, what was happening to him?
Then there was a harsh knock on the door as his father shouted for Millard to come out for supper. It wasn't a mean or cruel shout, just stern and demanding as most fathers were when their child misbehaved. Millard grabbed a pair of wool gloves and quickly tried to think up an excuse as to why he would be wearing them at the dinner table.
Then the scene changed,
"Get back! Or so help me –" his father never finished the threat but with his fist raised Millard was pretty sure he knew the end of that sentence. So he backed away from his parents with his hands raised like he was surrendering to an enemy, though now they were entirely invisible along with his legs, part of his neck and one ear. His father was standing in front of his mother who was cowering behind him like they were facing some sort of beast.
"Please!" Millard begged falling to his knees, "I'm your son, please just listen, it's still me!" But his father only seemed to become more enraged that Millard had the gall to call himself the man's son and his mother started to cry. Millard's gaze met hers, "Mother." He tried for her sympathy his own tears now falling down his face, "Mama, please. . . please."
"What did I give birth to?" she asked through her tears and Millard's heart shattered.
oOo oOo oOo
He cried himself to sleep that night not knowing what would happen now. He'd tried so hard to hide it but it had spread too much and one little slip up was all it took. Like a crack in a dam it only got worse until everything came spilling out.
He didn't sleep well that night either, he kept tossing and turning and he couldn't shake the cold feeling that had settled into his bones. When he woke up he realized why his sleep had been so disturbed. He was pulled from his rest when he fell into a mud puddle on the side of a dirt road far from any town. The cold sloppy water soaked through his clothes chilling him to the core. As he leaned up on his elbows he realized the harsh reality of his situation. Already far down the road was his father's automobile, jostling on the uneven road. Millard tried to get up and run toward the car but he fell immediately and landed face first into the mud again. His body shook with sobs as he gave up and curled into a ball on the side of the road as it sunk in that he'd been abandoned at nine for something he had no control over.
AURORA POV
Aurora had been sitting in a rocking chair by Emma's bed for hours now. Sharon was still speaking with Bentham and Nim had brought her a sandwich at noon for lunch. Reynaldo's words to Bentham were still echoing in her head as she looked at Emma's sleeping figure. It will be twenty four hours at least, forty eight at most, before either of them is well enough to discuss anything with you sir. Aurora's heart sank, it could be another two days before Emma and Jake woke up. She tried not to be negative about it, given their injuries it was a miracle that they'd be fine in such a short amount of time. Still, Aurora couldn't help but think of Millard and the others and she knew deep in her core her mind was already made up. It was stupid and it was desperate but she knew if she didn't at least try then it would eat away at her. She'd seen what this loop had turned people into and she refused to succumb to that. She looked back at Emma and took her hand.
"I'm sorry." Then she got up and looked out the window, there was a ledge just outside it with several handholds in the exterior wall from decorative knobs and gargoyle heads in the masonry so the climb down would be safer than a jungle gym. She was two stories above the street in the 'good' section of Devil's Acre, when she reached the ground she'd be able to locate Smoking Street easily. She turned and looked at Emma again hoping it wouldn't be the last time she saw her then she hopped out the window.
MILLARD POV
He was running through the loop entrance, he felt the air shift as he was brought to the present and his lungs burned as he took off for their bombed house. Bronwyn had found the letter Victor had left saying he was leaving and he planned to bring Aurora with him. He had to find her, he had to fix everything before he lost her for good. He easily found their destroyed home and ran across the dull grey yard heading for the large hole in the sunroom window.
He tripped on one of the bricks that littered the ground and landed in a pile of debris. When he pushed himself up and looked over the pile he felt his world come crashing down around him. Victor was there with Aurora in his arms and the two were engaged in a passionate snog. When they realized he was there they didn't jump apart, Victor only turned to him with victory in his eyes as Aurora rested her head on his shoulder.
"Told you I could offer her more." Victor mocked him. "She's leaving you with the wights and coming with me." he said wrapping his arm around her waist.
"What woman would ever want you?" Aurora asked her tone disgusted, "Your own parents didn't even want you."
Then a shadow fell over Millard, it was tall and thin and he could see the wriggling of tongues and knew the hollow that had attacked Victor had arrived. Only now it wasn't Victor it killed, one of its tongues grabbed Millard around the middle and threw him into the air. As he felt the sharp pain of teeth cutting into his flesh he also heard Aurora laughing.
Again I apologize for what I put Millard through in this chapter, I can't say things will get better in the next one but I can promise that it will keep you on the edge of your seats!
Thanks again to everyone who's still reading this and if you have the time please leave a review!