Miles. The soles of his shoes left burn marks on the blue marble as he stalked forward. It was visible that he was angry. His face was stern with a set jaw and angled down eyebrows. His black hair flew back as he walked forward putting a heavy “boom” with every step. Red and orange ran through his hair and his eyes looked like they had when I had been stuck in Fire.
Rile and Xavier ran behind him with mops, scrubbing the ashen foot prints he left. They scowled at him and disappeared in the back of the room.
His eyes flicked to mine and he narrowed his eyes. “How dare you!” He yelled at Kade. Kade smirked looking unfazed.
“You should know better Prince than trespassing on Water ground without-“
“I don’t need your bloody permission for anything!” He yelled again reaching the throne. “How dare you hold her here!”
“You are making a mistake Prince, I advise you to think before opening your mouth.”
Miles scoffed and crossed his arms. “I advise you to think before challenging me.”
Now it was time for Kade to laugh. His husky voice rung clear through the first floor of the palace. Nathaniel even came to see what was happening. When he saw the young prince he walked up to stand next to me. Miles gave him a shortened look and went back to glaring with Kade.
Nathaniel looked down at me and gave me a worried look. Both princes were dangerous, Miles just because he can control Fire, and Kade for everything he has done so far.
“I don’t know what delusion you are in, but anybody who comes in here and advises me in anything is one bold sucker.”
“I guess I am.”
I chomped down on my bottom lip and picked at my nails. I couldn’t do anything, not with this chain. I scooted into the shadow of the throne and watched as Miles and Kade argued over trespassing. They got back on topic with me. Oh God. I could see it coming and I gave Kade’s ankle a little pinch. Miles’ hands glowed and an aurora of red dust began to float around his hands. His eyes began to flash until most of the whites in his eyes were shielded by red veins.
Kade held out his hands and a deluge of water washed over the prince. Miles dropped his hands and stood looking down as his hair dripped and his mouth gaped. “Cool down fire boy,” Kade smirked and then straightened his blazer.
I wasn’t expecting that, maybe just a kind reminder but I should have been smarter, Kade doesn’t do kind.
Miles looked up with his hair plastering to his reddened face. I just seemed to notice the candles the boys had lit. The flames flapped with the gentle breeze coming through an open window. Out of the corner of his eye Miles found the flame, or sensed it.
“Try that again and we’ll just have to see what will happen.”
“Are you threatening me?” Kade laughed.
“I don’t know, am I?” Miles asked.
The flames began to glow stronger, their bodies and forms becoming bigger and brighter as the wax began to melt faster. Rile seemed to notice as he lit the last candle and looked shocked at the first. He rubbed his eyes as the first candle had melted to a wax nub. He looked at me. I looked at Kade then to Nathaniel and to Miles; when it looked like they wouldn’t notice I slightly moved my hand, shooing him away from the table. He took Xavier’s elbow and pushed him away. My pulse was frighteningly fast and the heat in my face was making me sweat- I was nervous.
One strand of hair began to lift away from its framed position along my face and hover in the air. A couple more strands. Not now- not now. I chewed harder on my lip until I was tasting blood. The room felt stuffy, the heat bore a hole into my head and slapped every nerve in my body, making me coil and retract. The chains rattled every time I moved. Levi looked down at me every time I changed position. I heard a voice from somewhere behind me. I looked to the side, behind the thrones and I gasped. Tobiah. A collar sat against his neck and chains linked him to the floor.
“What…” I couldn’t make out what I was thinking. Only Master slaves wore collars; at least that’s what Brew mentioned. He lied, he lied about who Levi’s slave was.
He shook his head. “I’m sorry.”
“Don’t be.”
He looked up to me his eyes shadowed. “Cool down.”
I looked at my hands and the glow surrounding them, I nodded and hid my hands under my skirt.
The lights flickered terribly and everyone in the room looked around. I looked at Tobiah. He had his eyes closed tight and his palms on the wall. I stared at him remembering. Oh, he’s darkness.
Miles stood straighter as the flames on the table went out, blown out by a swift breeze. Tobiah opened his eyes and tucked his legs under him. He looked at me smiling and then went back to staring at the window. I swallowed a much needed laugh, wanting so bad to laugh with Tobiah for wavering the argument. Rile looked in Tobiah’s direction and shook his head.
“You’re overstepping boundaries Prince,” Kade warned again.
The Fire prince sucked in his cheeks, giving a darkened hollowed out frame and smoothened out his jacket. “You will pay for kidnapping the Qu-“ he only got so far before Kade jumped out of his seat and began pushing him towards the door.
I watched in awe as Kade pinned Miles’ thrashing arms behind his back and led him out of the throne room. Knights ran up to help but Kade yelled at them to leave Miles to him.
They back off and instead opened the giant wooden doors for him. The two boys were gone. Levi stood up and straightened the halo on her head. “What are you looking at?” she yelled to everyone. “Get back to work!”
She briskly walked out of the throne room, leaving Tobiah and I chained up. Rile and Xavier came over to us. Rile unchained Tobiah and held his end of the chain like a leash. Xavier did the same for me and then ushered us into the center of the room. Nathaniel came over, a crease forming between his brows.
“You child,” he looked at Tobiah. “Are being very risky with that stunt. Your fortunate Levi hadn’t seen.”
Tobiah bowed his head. “It was better than leaving the prince to burn us to death.”
Nathaniel sighed, “I suppose you’re right.”
“You,” he then put a hand on my shoulder. I looked at him and he shook his head. “You are going to get yourself in trouble.”
“I can’t help if the prince storms in here and tries to set this place on fire, I had nothing to do with it.” I argued.
“Doesn’t matter, don’t think I didn’t see your hands.”
I could feel my face redden with embarrassment and I smiled bashfully. The boys laughed as Tobiah patted me with cuffed wrists. “Atta girl!” I smiled bigger and put my hand around his waist to pull him in a sideways hug.
Nathaniel smiled and shook his head.
“We slaves got to stick together!” Rile cheered and Xavier hooted. Tobiah and I laughed together and he replied. “Right that!
When we pulled away my fingers didn’t want to let go of his shirt so we stood there longer, holding each other. I think he actually might have liked it. I know I did. What is happening to me? Falling for another when I am clearly in love with Cal.
I smiled at him when he looked down at me but everything I felt rushed out of me. I wanted Cal, badly.
I missed his messy blond hair and his glossed blue eyes. I missed the way he held my hand and told me he loved me, I missed it all and I wanted it back.
I felt tears piling behind my eyes so with one chained hand I wiped it away. Nathaniel glanced at me, beyond the talking boys and he very bluntly asked to speak with me. The boys each looked at me. Xavier handed Nathaniel the chain. He looked at it for a moment before shaking his head and dropping the chains. They crashed against the floor, making a powerful high pitched noise.
He pushed me away from the boys and then he turned to face me.
“This is about my youngest isn’t it?” His question shocked me. How well you could know something about someone when you don’t even know the person themselves. Through suddenly blurry eyes, I nodded. I didn’t expect him to pull me into his arms and hold me against his chest. I suppose that is who Cal got his affection from.
“It is alright,” he whispered through my hair. His warm breath tickled the side of my face. “You can see him if you please.”
I nodded quickly, “can I?”
He patted down my hair and held my chin up to look at him. “I know who you are.”
I thought of what Kade might do if he found out he knew. “Kade knows.”
“I know he does, I knew it wouldn’t be long before he had it figured out.” Nathaniel shrugged. “Your problem though will be Levi, not Kade.”
I rolled my eyes. “Sure about that?”
“Kade only wants power, he thinks it is a game, he keeps you to taunt Fire.” He came down closer and made his voice barely a whisper. “What your brother did today proves that my son succeeded.”
I bit my lip thinking about Miles. My brother. I never had a brother so it was weird to me, and if I remembered correctly, I had two sisters as well. Lord. Do all brothers storm into an enemy castle and try to burn the whole place down because of his sister being kidnapped? After a moment of thought I agreed on my careful deduction. Nah!
I pressed my hands into his arms and hallowed my cheeks like Miles had. “He was temperamental,” I tried a smile. He laughed and brought me back to his chest. “You will see Calder.”
“When?”
“Tonight,” he said stoking my bangs back down in front of my forehead and placing a small kiss on my forehead. “I will talk to your unit’s director.”
“My what?”
He pulled us apart. “Brew.”
“Oh.” I said slightly embarrassed. He picked the chain back up and handed it back to Xavier. After one more look, he slipped from the room leaving us alone. Tobiah looked at me curiously but said nothing, just pulled me back to his side and we walked like that all the way to an empty hallway at the other side of the palace.
“This is where Levi’s sisters will stay,” Tobiah said making a face and pushing open the door. Rile and Xavier followed and unclipped the links between the collar and the chain on both of our security.
“I’ll give you a hint,” Tobiah said smiling at me, “this is what we have been ordered.”
I rolled my eyes and grabbed a cloth from Tobiah’s back pocket as I walked past. “Yeah I get it.”
I began to scrub the desk with the cloth and then a familiar bar of wax landed from Tobiah’s hand against the wood. I took it and kept working as Tobiah straightened out the comforter on the bed. Silk pillows in a light shade of pink were propped up and the silk sheets were confirmed “lint free”.
“We have to decorate it to their likes,” Tobiah said rolling his eyes and putting a picture of a deformed cat, on the desk. I pulled my head back and he laughed. “That is Mortis.”
“I am sorry Mortis.”
He rubbed the back of his neck and looked at me. “You know Fiona…you’re not that bad.”
“No?” I smiled.”
“Nah, I’ve seen worse.”
I slapped him on the shoulder and scowled playfully. He wrapped his arms around my torso and lifted me in the air and spun me around while I yelped. He dropped me but held me close.
“Tobiah…”
“I know you love the Prince,” he said looking at the ground. “You call for him every night in your sleep.”
My eyes puffed up again with tears but Tobiah wiped them away. “Doesn’t mean we can’t be friends.”
I nodded. “Friends.”
“Friends,” he repeated. Something else lied in his eyes; he leaned forward and kissed my cheek. For a second my breath was taken away but then I remembered, just friends.
He pulled away with another something, another glimpse of something dangerous looking. He let me go to walk into the hall and pulled in five giant bags.
How much luggage does a girl need? We had drug in thirteen bags in all.
“We might as well get started.” He said kneeling next to one.
He pulled it open and gagged. “How about you taking care of the more feminine items.” I took the bag from him and peeked in. I laughed and shook my head. I went to the drawer and distributed her underwear and bras in it and went to the bathroom to drop off the toiletries.
Tobiah and I unpacked the bags, emptying them all into a closet, colors in order. We worked on the shoes and accessories before heading to the other girl’s rooms.
As we walked back past the doors Tobiah slipped a golden name plate on every door tag slot.
The first was “Morella,” the second was “Hedenna” and the third was “Justice.”
“Well, looks like we are done for the night besides dinner.” We walked into the dining room right as the food arrived in front of Kade. Tobiah gave me one last reassuring smile and went to sit next to Levi. I positioned myself back at Kade’s feet and then a dish clanked down in front of me.
A small mixture of meat and potatoes, unfamiliar berries, a cream sauce and a type of leaf.
This is it; I thought to myself, I could die now or survive.
Kade dropped a fork next to me and I scooped it up. I took a small bit from the meat. I sat quietly with everyone staring at me. I chewed it and rubbed my tongue around the roof of my mouth, waiting for me to fall to the floor convulsing. “Fine,” I announced and they all breathed a sigh of relief. I took a bite of potatoes and they were the same. I bit down on the leaf and stuck out my tongue and informed them that it was very bitter. They laughed at me so I went for the fruit. It was the same. On the last bite I sucked on the sauce for a minute before something felt like it knocked me in the gut. I grabbed my throat and swallowed hard. I coughed violently. Kade stood up quickly, stepping back from his food. Tobiah ran over and patted me on the back. “Fiona, are you alright?” he asked urgently.
I coughed again and again until my throat was sore. “Is it poisoned?” someone yelled from the other side of the table. Kade looked down at me and I shook my head and pinched my face together. “I’m allergic to basil.”
Tobiah took the spoon and messed with the gravy. “There’s basil in it,” he confirmed and shook his head. “What could happen?”
I already felt funny. My lips felt bigger and my skin tighter. “In a couple minutes I’ll be blown up like a balloon.”
Tobiah nodded and looked at Kade. “May I take her back to her unit?”
“Go,” he waved a hand. “Don’t need her scaring people with her face.”
Well that was insulting. I felt my feet drag against the ground as Tobiah practically dragged me back to the door Brew had taken me through. I felt the bright light behind my closed eyelids as it penetrated and temporarily blinded me. Tobiah’s arms tightened as growling started and then eventually it passed and I was being carried. I felt the mattress under me and Tobiah’s warm hand stroke the side of my face- then the pain was nothing.
When I dreamed I dreamed of the cellar. I dreamed of Camellia and Cal- locked up, cold and hungry. It shook me awake or so I thought. I woke up to big blue eyes staring at me from the dim light. I could hear the boys snoring and feel Tobiah’s arm tossed up and over my leg from his place on the floor.
A hand stifled my whining but then it whispered into my hair.
“Time to see my son.”
Without asking questions, I slowly pealed Tobiah’s hand away from my leg and crawled over the foot board and onto the floor. I really had started believing that he just laid his hand on me so he knew I wasn’t being eaten by and ogre. I let Nathaniel lead me through the hallways, past sleeping ogre bodies that were sprawled through one hallway and out into the foyer of the palace.
We quietly walked through the throne room and through a ball room and finally to the door I knew from what seemed a century ago, the chamber.
I nearly ripped the door off its hinges yanking it open. I, all of sudden, felt full of adrenalin; wanting to get to Cal as fast as possible.
I didn’t completely care if anyone heard me anymore, I ran down the steps tripping a little on the way down until I found Cal in the position I last saw him. He was curled up, his legs extended in a painful looking form with his one arm dangling out of the bars. His blond hair looked longer, down to his shoulders. His bangs were past his eyes and were pushed to the side. Dirt coated his clothes and blood was smeared across his face. The back of his shirt was clawed open, like a wild animal got to him.
I let out a small whimper and then a set of fiery eyes settled on me.
“Well look who’s back,” Camellia half laughed. Her red hair got longer and wilder, her eyes got darker somehow. “Lover boy’s been crying for you every night, maybe you can go and get him to shut up.” If I wasn’t so excited to see Cal I might have told her something.
Nathaniel put a hand on my shoulder and nodded to him. I had tears in my eyes as I ran to the bars and fell to my knees. Dramatic yes- overly, no. “Cal!” I yelped shaking his arm. He began to turn and struggle with me but I pinched his arm and he jerked awake.
He looked at me with wide eyes. He mustn’t have known what was happening. He was still out of it.
“Fiona?” he stared at me blankly.
With uncontrollable tears dripping off of my chin, I squeezed his arm and cried “yes.” He let out a sound that sounded like a half moan but sounded painful. “Cal,” I pulled him closer to the bars.
“What did they do to you?” he asked through his own hiccupping and tears.
I shrugged. “Nothing bad.”
“No?”
“No,” I repeated. “I’ve missed you Cal,” I smiled at him.
“I’ve missed you too.”
He pulled me closer to the bars and through the bars he kissed me. It felt like it had before, that spark and the bubbly feeling I felt in the inside after he let go. I stroked his cheek and matched our fingertips together. “Did my brother harm you?”
I shook my head. “No, he has other things to worry about.”
“Yeah?” Cal hiccupped.
“Yeah, Levi’s sisters are coming.”
He laughed and a second later I was laughing with him until we were red faced and choking on our spit. Of course my face swelled up and began to sound like pop rocks because of my own special power and I was reminded by Camellia that unless I wanted to burn the whole palace down that I needed to take it easy.
I told them about Miles, about the tour of the other kingdoms and the acceptance of me being the new Master Slave. I could feel Cal’s hand tighten on mine when I told him about the bathroom incident. He sucked on his teeth trying not to lash out. Obviously, he didn’t like that Kade did that to me- trust me I didn’t either.
It felt like I was back with old friends, sitting around the table discussing what happened in the ten years we haven’t seen each other. I could feel my pulse quicken when Cal hinted to a pain in his back. I peaked at the back of his shirt just long enough to know that something terrible happened- the tears and gashes in his skin weren’t made by the weather, or the elements of the chamber, no these were made by a sharp and fast lash of something. I lightly touched my fingertips to his skin and he winced, I pulled away fast and looked at his back again.
“Don’t worry about it,” Cal said leaning back, shielding my view.
I shook my head and pushed on his shoulder. “No, I want to know what happened, now.”
“So demanding,” he smiled and kissed me again.
If I wasn’t so angry about his back and the arm length scars snaking from his spine around to his ribs, I might have enjoyed him kissing me. I might have even kissed back instead of pulling away, hurting him emotionally. I forget that he still was checked into the ward because everyone thought he was crazy and he completely convinced himself that he was mental too. I guess I got used to the idea of him being the rightful ruler, just didn’t notice that he was struggling grasping the concept. I remembered the mental institute Cal; the boy who came whining to me for stupid little problems- forgetting how to tie his shoes, which hand was left and which was right, how to button his shirt. I showed him by unbuttoning his shirt and making him repeat it until he finally understood. He got it and never came for anything like that again. When I was in the institute, helping Cal, I never knew how much I would end up needing him. To any normal eye it would seem almost impossible, but here in this place-wherever we were, nothing was impossible and being able to form into a new mold was almost too easy. I have molded myself into someone who fought to live another day and survived to make sure her friends lived. Cal, I haven’t been around him too long to know what he is anymore, especially now as a prisoner/ Prince/ water wielder. My life had slowly been spiraling downhill. All I had to do was wait for when I would finally hit the bottom and crash. If I landed in fire it would burn, water I would drown, and stone would break me. Either way I could die. I looked at him sadly. “Who did that to you?”
He sighed, shaking his head. “It is fine.”
Camellia laughed and pressed her cheek to the bars. “You weren’t thinking it was fine when you were sobbing like a baby.”
I looked at her sharply and she retreated into the shadows. Cal looked at his hands; they looked puffy, and red. “Cal?” I said not moving my eyes.
“I’m sorry,” he whispered.
I groaned and put my palm in his. His hands were so much bigger, rougher and thicker. I could imagine the moisture easily producing from his skin; the way my hands glowed and shimmered when I’d light up- just his giving off a blue glow when he summoned water.
“Stop saying sorry Cal.” I told him. “Did they hit you harder?”
He shrugged. “Not really, they really didn’t have a place to do anymore…unless they wanted to do it under water.”
Camellia came back to the bars smiling. “Yep, he flooded the whole room.” She said it like a proud parent. I knew that any other day I probably would have scolded him for doing something so stupid and daring, but it was useless. I knew that I would just be easing myself into more guilt if I scolded him and then followed up with throwing a fire ball at someone’s head. Dare I say it, I might be having to do it soon.
I ran my fingers over Cal’s hands, getting a feel of the soft skin on the tops and the calloused palms.
The only question left in my mind for the night was, when?