Aiden and Silas Noble tied up their horses at the lighthouse. There was the faint smell of horses and saltwater in the air. It was hard to tell which overpowered the other.
The lighthouse was hours away from making rotations, but Aiden's eyes couldn't stop feeling a memory trapped somewhere between his neck and skull. It tasted like rust and metal. It felt like frostbite—like it might leave his brain black and necrotic if he tried to remember anything else.
Aiden walked up to the lighthouse until it was only an arm's length away. Last night's chill was still trapped somewhere inside the white brick. He could feel it swimming and drowning in the heat.
After they hitched the horses, Silas Noble stopped in front of the door with Aiden. "Do you care about Aydesreve?"
Aiden drew in a shallow breath and looked away "Not really, no."
"Mm." Noble crossed his arms and leaned away. "You're bad at lying. Your cheek twitches."
Aiden steadied himself on the metal railing, but recoiled at the heat. "Fine. Yeah, I guess." He paused to rub his burnt hand. "I guess I care about a few people and this horse here a real honest bit."
"Well, that's good, because I wouldn't ask you to do any of this if it didn't matter to you." Before Aiden could ask what that meant, Silas Noble banged on the front door. It opened.
A woman on the other side bowed and moved aside. "Good afternoon, Captain. Runa Hyde is upstairs."
"Thank you, Margret," Silas Noble lifted off his hat. Aiden took off his hat as well.
Aiden stalled at the base of the staircase. His gut twisted like something bad was going to happen, even though there was not much to give him that eerie feeling.
"Godspeed, Captain." Margaret bowed.
Silas Noble led the way upstairs and walked into a room. There was an older woman sitting in a chair by the window. Her hair was spiky and short, like the dying yellow grasses at the Devil's Frying Pan. The loose nightgown looked awkward on her. Little lavenders were embroidered around the neckline and hem. Maybe she had been a tough lighthouse keeper, but now she was just a fragile, shaken women. Aiden walked back out. He shouldn't be in a woman's room, especially if she was in a nightdress. But it seemed it wasn't his choice—Silas Noble tugged Aiden back into the room by the back of his shirt.
The woman in the chair craned her neck around. "How is the rain today?"
"Good," Silas Noble said. He opened the envelope and lifted out a small vial. At first, Aiden thought there was nothing in it, but then he realized there was a small amount of fine purple powder at the bottom.
"I need you to take this." Silas Noble gave the bottle to her.
She looked at it with a deep curiosity, then shook the bottle until a purple dust exploded in a puff on the inside. A smile bloomed on her face. "What is it, dearie?"
"It may help you feel clearer."
"My Isabella wouldn't have taken it. She hated medicines." The woman set the bottle on the arm of the chair and wrote something down on a piece of paper.
"Isabella Soledad?" Aiden asked. His voice was soft, but he knew Noble had chosen to ignore his question.
"There are risks, but none that won't be worth it." Silas Noble picked up the bottle and uncorked it. "I've a brilliant doctor working for me. You'll be the first one to receive the antidote, just like we agreed."
"A doctor?" The woman set her pen and paper on a little table beside her. "Is he handsome?"
"I'm sure he is, Runa."
Ms. Hyde grinned. Only one tooth poked out from behind her lips. As Noble uncorked the vial, she called out to Aiden. "Bring oil up to the light, you dear creature."
Aiden nodded and attempted to leave the room again, but Noble dragged him back in. Holding the vial between two fingers, Noble handed it off to Runa. "Inhale it," he said.
Ms. Hyde smelled the powder first. Her nose scrunched up. She wrapped her lips around the vial and inhaled. The powder fluttered up the vial and filtered into her mouth. In one breath, she had it all down. She drew the vial away and coughed. Her fingers met her temples. The once drooping side of her mouth lifted slowly. After a blink, her eyes didn't look so glassy. Aiden didn't know what to feel. This didn't make sense. Nothing made sense anymore. He shrunk towards the wall again. Noble watched him out of the corner of his eyes to make sure that he wouldn't go running off again. Now the hallway was looking more enticing than ever.
Ms. Hyde drew her hand away and looked at both sides of it. She got out of the chair and made her way to a mirror on the wall. The reflection gazed back at her, much to her surprise. She touched her yellowing hair, she touched her neck, her breast, her arms. Her mouth moved in accordance and she finally touched that too.
Silas Noble lifted his head. "Ms. Hyde, what do you think?"
I think you are old," she paused. "But I am so much older."
Silas Noble guided her back to her chair. When she took her seat again, she tapped her finger on the arm. "Isabella Soledad came to me when she was only nineteen. She had been all over the world and I—"
"What did he call her?" he asked. "Ms. Hyde?"
Aiden inhaled sharply at the mention of Amelia Rose's mother. His head swirled, thoughts and emotions confusing him. What did she have to do with this? What did Amelia Rose have to do with this? Why was Aiden even here?
"You." She pointed at Aiden. He snapped out of his own head.
"I apologize, I'm listening." he bowed his head respectfully.
"Come to me."
Aiden walked forwards, expecting Silas Noble to tug him back, but he didn't. With clearer eyes, Ms. Hyde examined him over. The chair howled as she leaned forward in it. "I met a man when I was younger. Eyes like frosted glass, he had." She brushed her thumb down Aiden's arm roughly as if she was hoping to find a vein. "You look like him."
"Uh," He scratched the back of his neck.
Runa Hyde's hand jolted out and grabbed the hem of his shirt. She lifted it up. Aiden's eyes widened. He tried to push his shirt back down, but she was relentless. She lifted her hand and slapped him hard across the shoulder when he tried to pull away from her.
Cold fingers traced his tattoo--every word, every number. He recoiled. "What are you doing? Stop that!"
At first, the corners of her eyes shone, but then they began to fill with water until they were sparkling. "It's you," she whispered. "You're—I've found you. Alchiba."
Captain Noble was already turned. His mouth was barely open, but his eyes were indicative of his shock. "Heaven alive," he said. "I had no idea."
Aiden's head swung back and forth between the two of them. He looked back down at his tattoo. The only memory attached to it was one of suffering. Redness flushed his face. "Stop! Stop looking at me!" He tugged out of Runa's grip and fell on his ass. Shame bubbling up into his throat, he pulled his shirt down in one tug. "I'm not who you think I am. I don't know who I am, but I'm not him."
Runa sent a sympathetic nod towards Silas Noble. The lantern illuminated her gaunt face as she turned back to Aiden. "You must know your fate, child." She folded her hands. "We are both pawns. But you might be the only one who can do something. That is why he is afraid."
"Who?"
"Yes, do you know who Helios is?" Noble stepped in.
She shook her head and clenched her eyes. "If I did meet him, I don't remember." The heel of her palms dug into the arms of the chair. "Minkar, My Isabella—she knew." She coughed. "Or she would have if she only could have remembered." Her bare toes pressed into the tile floor.
"Of course," Silas Noble stepped towards her, cautiously, as her adopted daughter was always a sore point in any discussion.
After such a time spent in normal discussion, it appeared that Runa Hyde didn't look very well. Her body was hunched forwards, hands shaking, eyelids fluttering. "Ms. Hyde?"
Her shrill wailing filled the room until her breath hitched. Her palms danced in the air. Just like the noise, she stopped moving. There was a point on the wall that she focused on for what felt like an eternity. It appeared to be dancing, or so Aiden supposed as her eyes twisted and rolled around the room. Coughing erupted from her lungs. The lantern rattled on the table as she tumbled out of her chair. Her body convulsed on the hard floor. Aiden tried to crawl over to her, but Silas Noble was already gathering her up.
There are risks, he had said, but Aiden hadn't anticipated this. Silas Noble only looked half-surprised. If he was worried, his calm demeanor wasn't cracking enough to show it. With his massive arms, he gathered her body upright. She howled. It was inhuman the way her legs fought him when he held her. All her hopes of fending him off seemed to dissolve. She could never fight long enough before her body cracked under the pressure of something choking her from within. For a moment, she laid limp before resuming her battle. She screamed again, her voice searing at the pain of an invisible killer. With a kick to Noble's kidney, Runa rolled out of his arms and back to the floor.
"Margaret!" Noble called.
Aiden scrambled forward and helped him pull Runa off the floor.
"Just drag her if you have to." Silas Noble grunted as he tugged at the whimpering woman. Her body flailed. She kicked Aiden in the knees. Pain exploded in his legs. He recovered and made one last effort. He tugged the woman as hard as he could. Silas Noble pulled as well, and the pair lifted Ms. Hyde back up. She threw her arms about. Aiden ducked and then wrapped his arms around her torso to keep her from collapsing. He could feel her smothered screams vibrating throughout her chest. A heart was still beating inside her. It went along rumbling like a train engine. Then somewhere, Aiden lost the sensation of his own fear. His body was shaking at the same speed as hers. He pushed her as if she were a block. The chair tottered as she fell back into it.
"Ms. Hyde, listen to me," Silas Noble said.
"I can't--" Ms. Hyde's breath caught again. She coughed, screamed, moaned. She kicked both her feet up and extended her wrists out, striking both the men. Without a warning, her wrists collapsed and she carried on staring at the same specter that floated through the room before. There wasn't a sound that made it past her lips. Noble backed up to see what might happen.
She stood up, as reserved as a queen and took a deep breath. The window beckoned her and she approached. She streaked the glass with the oil on her fingers. With a sudden bite of rage, she bashed the window with her fist. A spray of glass exploded in the room. The fresh wounds on her hands made her bleed from her knuckles. Aiden grabbed her by her shoulders and tried to pull her back, but she was immovable. She turned around and tried to strike him, but after he doged, she threw him aside like he weighed no more than rag.
Aiden hit the wall hard. Darkness spotted his vision until all he could see were silhouettes tossing each other around at the far end of the room. His brain blared--an instrument with a thousand strings all wailing at the same time. As his breath finally steadied, he opened his eyes and drew back instantly.
Runa's body was hoisted onto the windowsill. Her arms hung outside, legs dangled in. Broken glass dug into her stomach. A shudder trailed down Aiden. Noble and him both tugged at her legs, but she was as solid as could be.
"What do I do?" Aiden asked, pulling harder.
"Get out of here," he said. "I shouldn't have brought you here, Alchiba. She doesn't know what she's doing." Aiden closed his eyes at the name he hated and tugged on Runa again. She surged forward. They pulled her back. "Go! I said go!"
As Aiden let go and got up, Runa lost her motivation. She fell weightlessly backwards. Noble toppled like a pin, but Runa got up. She slithered towards Aiden. There wasn't a lucid part of her that recognized the glass stuck in her stomach or her torn nightgown. Aiden backed up. She grabbed him by the collar and jammed his body into the wall. "Your father isn't dead," she croaked. "You are addled...just like me, I'm afraid." She hoisted him up on the wall by his collar. But his shirt slipped past her fingers and he fell back towards the ground. Runa's hand slipped around his neck before he hit the ground. His breath left him, too far away to catch. "We are dying because your father didn't," she hissed. Fingers pushed, lungs ached and thoughts became red.
Aiden retched when the bullet tumbled through the air. He choked as he fell on Runa's corpse. Noble stood at the other side of the barrel. The gun shook, only a puppet for his tortured arms.
Aiden's red-rimmed eyes focused on Silas Noble. His voice was thin and painful. "What have we done?" he wiped the spit off his mouth--a cost of breathing too hard. "What have we done to that woman?"
"She was supposed to live or die. That was it." Silas Noble put his gun back into his holster. His hands were still shaking despite having ended his fair share of lives. "But we turned her into a weapon."