7/26/3028
Again, I found myself alone in that dull room with neither doors nor windows. Three mirrors appeared—one in front and two behind me. There was no reflection when I stood in front of the mirrors, and I knew that this was the same dream I had in the forest during our escape from Possen Fort.
I turned to face one of the two mirrors behind me, then waved my hand slowly across. Little by little, Sye-Liene's reflection materialized in the mirror. Her image moved in sync with me, just as my own reflection would. I stepped to the second mirror beside it and waved my hand again. Nothing appeared. I must have spent a good fifteen minutes peering into the second mirror, and I was ready to abandon it entirely when a reflection slowly came into focus. My hand went over my mouth when I realized that I had seen her only once before, in my vision of Mór Mountain.
It was Lise-An.
***
I woke up with a start and clutched my locket against my heaving chest.
The two mirrors behind me had reflected both Sye-Liene and Lise-An. What did this mean?
I mindlessly flipped open my locket and fixated on the compass. Last night before I left Rahaiwen, the compass was spinning, but once I had returned to reality, the needle pointed south-west and it was still locked in that position as I looked at it now.
I let the lid snap shut and stuffed the locket back under my shirt. By now I was far too awake to go back to sleep. Elossai was wrapped snugly in her blanket with her head covered. Ilta's bed, farthest to the right, was neatly made with no occupant, and to my left was Martin's empty bed in disarray. The sound of running water came from the bathroom.
"Martin?" I was loud enough, but still mindful of Elossai.
"Yeah?" he answered.
I wonder where Ilta went?
I sat up sluggishly and gently combed my fingers through my hair before peeking out the window. There were few clouds in the sky and the sun was positioned high in the sky. Why was Elossai sleeping so late in the morning? She was always one of the first to wake up.
"Elossai," I said as I got up from my bed and sat next to her. Elossai shifted under the blanket but didn't respond. "Elossai, it's time to get up," I said, this time a little louder.
"No, I can't," Elossai moaned. Somehow the voice from under the blanket was unmistakably Elossai's, but the texture of her voice sounded different.
"Are you sick?"
"I don't know..."
I tugged at her covers, but she held them down firmly.
"Elossai, are you being difficult? You can't hide there forever."
A little whimper came from underneath the blanket, then she slowly pulled down the covers to reveal her face. My mouth hung open in complete disbelief.
Nothing could have prepared me for what I saw.
"It's that bad, I knew it!" She threw the blanket over her head again.
"No, it's not," I said, gently pulling her covering down to look at her again.
She no longer had the face of a prepubescent girl. I was looking at the face of a lady. Elossai looked every bit like she had aged ten years overnight. She was astonishingly beautiful.
Elossai's eyes glistened with tears. "How can we fix this?"
"I don't know if we can. Aging is a natural process, though I've never seen anyone change so suddenly."
"You're right," she nodded. "I don't know why I'm acting so irrationally. I apologize."
"It's all right, Elossai. Come on, let's get changed while Martins still in the shower," I said.
When Elossai got out of bed, it was very obvious that she had gone through a complete physical metamorphosis. Elossai, who once stood no taller than my shoulders, was now a few inches taller than me. She also had curves I didn't have. I gave her my extra clothes because she could no longer fit into hers.
"I have a question," I started.
"Yes?" she answered.
"When you aged before, was it sudden like this?"
"No, it wasn't anything like this at all. It was gradual," she said, frowning. "I don't know what's wrong with me, I—"
Before she could finish, we heard keys jingling by the door and I could hear Ilta's voice talking to someone who was with her. Elossai ducked back into bed and shielded herself under the blanket.
My heart swelled with delight when the guest stepped into the room.
"Keiran!" I cried. I rushed over to him, nearly tripping over myself to wrap my arms around him. "How did you get here?"
"Ilta updated me while you were still on the ship to Tau. I took a direct private flight here," he said. "The authorities already know of your disappearance and are on their way, as well. I probably left only a few hours before they did, so we must depart as soon as possible."
"Well, look who decided to join us," Martin said, leaning against the arch of the bathroom doorway with just his pants on and a towel slung around his shoulders. His hair was still dripping with water.
"Pleased to see you again, Martin," said Keiran.
"Alright then, we're all ready to go?" Ilta asked.
"Not really. I think Elossai is unwell." I pointed to the curled-up mound under the blanket which was Elossai.
Ilta marched over to her bed sternly. "Elossai, what is the matter with you? Get up."
"Go away," Elossai said in a small voice.
Ilta's eyes grew wide, surprised by Elossai's blatant rejection of an order, but before Ilta could yell at her, I interjected.
"Elossai, you have to let us help you," I said.
Slowly, Elossai peeked out of her blanket and, the room fell into a stunned silence.
"I don't know how this happened!" she cried.
Elossai covered her face with her hands and sobbed.
I rushed over to her to calm and console her. I hated seeing her cry. I didn't know what to do so I looked to Ilta and Keiran, hoping that they had some sort of explanation.
"Martin," Ilta said. "I must ask you to leave the room for a moment."
"What?" Martin held his hand out in a perplexed manner. "I didn't do anything."
"It's all right, Martin. I'll go with you," said Keiran, leading Martin out of the room.
"There's no need to cry, Elossai." The tone of Ilta's voice and how her lip curled to the sight of tears showed that she abhorred Elossai's show of emotion. "Calm yourself."
"I know. I am sorry for my behavior." Elossai sniffled and mopped up her tears with her sleeve.
"So, do you know what's wrong with her?" I asked Ilta.
"Clearly her aging process has accelerated, but it couldn't have happened on its own. There must have been something to cause such a sudden change to take place."
"How could that be? She's been with us the whole time."
"Tell me now, what did you do yesterday, Elossai?" Ilta pressed on.
"She didn't do anything—she was talking to Martin for the whole day."
"Exactly." Ilta smirked.
Elossai seemed to understand what Ilta was implying, and a blush once again reddened her cheeks.
"Can someone tell me what's going on?" I was lost.
"She is right, Ellis Ann," Elossai said, looking down at her hands. "From when I first met Martin, I became deeply intrigued with him. And yesterday, after I spent a lot of time in conversation with him, I felt rather odd. The feeling was an emotion that I had not felt before."
Elossai has a crush on Martin?
"You—" I stopped. Saying it out loud would have made the moment even more awkward.
"Well, I don't think we can fix you, Elossai." Ilta smiled with a tight lip as if trying hard to hold back laughter.
"What do you mean?" Elossai's piercing green eyes were glassy. I could see the fear in her eyes, as if not being able to fix her would be a death sentence.
"I don't believe Elos were ever meant to experience that particular emotion," replied Ilta.
Elossai bit her lower lip. It appeared she didn't fully understand this new emotion herself.
"Don't worry, we'll figure it out." I tried to be as optimistic about the situation as I could. "Look on the bright side—you matured beautifully. Just look at you."
Elossai beamed happily then turned her face away as she blushed. "Ellis Ann, please forgive me. We don't have much time to leave here before the Elite Ankin soldiers arrive in Tau, and here I am being absolutely ridiculous. I don't know why I'm behaving so irrationally."
"It's all right. Adolescence can be difficult." I shrugged. "Or so I've been told. I can't remember mine."