I'm glad people appreciate this tale enough to review! A little something to keep in mind- if there's a name or place that you've never heard of before, and the name is mine, try reading it backwards! ( - It's my little way to give characters names!) I hope this chapter is enjoyable, and I can assure you that Logan is in it!
Disclaimer: I do not claim to have invented anything found in the HDM trilogy, including people, places, concepts, or items.
Chapter Seven"Logan!" I cried, shocked and angry. Konstantin growled as he spotted Mackenzie behind her human.
"Is anything wrong?" the old man asked. In horror, I realized that the violin was still lying upon the table in plain site to anyone that might enter the home.
"No," I called. "I thought I saw someone I knew, but it was just a trick of my eyes." As I spoke, I motioned for Logan to move out of the doorway so that I could exit the house.
"All right. Hurry, girl, them soldiers are coming," the man said.
I stepped outside and closed the door behind me before trying to run from Logan, who caught my wrist and pulled me to him. I tried to scream, but Mackenzie pinned Konstantin down and put her paw upon his windpipe. Gripping my arms tightly, Logan kept me pinned against him as he walked me across a bridge to platform that had no other ways to reach it. There was no house surrounding the tree, I noticed.
Logan released me, and I tried to run away once more. "Riva," he said. "Please, just hear me out." Mackenzie approached Konstantin, who backed away from her towards me.
"Why should I?" I demanded, the growing night our only eavesdropper. "Tell me why I should listen to you. You're a traitor."
"Riva, they've paid me. I've got the money. I don't need to work with them anymore. Let me come with you," he said.
I wanted to believe him with all my heart. I truly did. "You betrayed me so easily! Now you're telling me you'll betray the Magisterium just as easily." I was yelling now, but Logan approached me and put a finger to my lips. I trembled with pent up rage and something else.
"Riva, please, believe me," he begged, his eyes boring into mine.
I tore my eyes away from his. "I can't trust you right now, Logan. You've destroyed the trust I had." Mackenzie was trying to nuzzle Konstantin's neck, but he stepped away.
"I know. I am sorry," Logan said. "I didn't know that it would hurt so much when I betrayed you." He tilted my chin upwards so that my eyes met his. "But I love you, Riva. I don't know why. I don't understand how. But I understand that betraying you was the biggest mistake of my life. Please give me another chance."
"Another chance?" I asked him, incredulous. "I have no extra chance to give you."
He pulled me close to him, and I tried to stay calm. "Mischa, does it mean nothing to you that I love you? Does this mean that you regret everything you said two nights ago?"
In my heart, I knew that I loved him, and that no, I didn't regret what I had said. "Logan-" I began, my eyes brimming with tears.
"We can leave together, Riva," he said gently, holding me gently. "Please, just give me a chance." I was caught in his green eyes, and then he kissed me. The sweet scent of the trees in the forest mingled with Logan's scent, and all I wanted right then and there was to always be with him. And then I realized where we were, and I broke the kiss. "What is it?" Logan asked, his eyes full of love and longing.
"I can't stay with you," I replied. Konstantin freed himself also from Mackenzie's nuzzling and joined me.
"But don't you feel anything for me?" Logan asked. "Was that kiss just a trap for me?"
"I do feel something for you," I said. "And I did not give that kiss- you took it from me. And now I have to go." I started to walk onto the bridge, but again Logan grabbed my arm, this time more gently. "Logan-"
"Please, Riva-"
"Logan…"
"Let me go with you."
"I-"
"I love you, Riva," Logan said.
"Logan, I must-" Before I could complete my sentence, Logan pulled me into his arms this time, and just held me. I was openly crying now, and Konstantin was licking Mackenzie's face. We kissed again, and this time, I didn't try to break it off.
Shouts reached my ears, and I saw that the Magisterium soldiers had set some of the houses on fire, and were making their way to the old man's home next. I shoved Logan away, forcing to knock his head upon the tree and ran across the bridge, Konstantin close at my heels. He flashed a thought into my head, and I quickly severed the bridge ropes with a knife nearby that was used to splice fibers. "I love you, Logan," I said softly as I stranded him there, hoping that he would be all right later. And then I cut the other bridges that connected the old man's house to other platforms and quickly put together the clarineto.
Familiar notes filled the air, and visions flashed through my head once more. I saw the swampy under levels of the world I was on now, I saw the Oxford of my world, I saw the hotel from Cittagazze, and then I saw huge rolling plains, with gigantic tower-like structures covered with wide conical roofs, with steps in spirals hugging the strange buildings. With an extra note, I was able to see the people that lived in the buildings, and to my delight, they all had dæmons.
One last look behind me showed Logan to be slumped up against the tree where I had left him, unconscious, and then I accepted the vision.
I appeared with Konstantin in the center of a dirt path edged with grasses that were a little taller than my waist that led to two of the towers standing side by side, and we saw that the towers were made of wood. It took about an hour of walking to reach them, and I saw that the stairs of one tower were bustling with men of all ages, and the other was jam-packed with women and their children.
"Which one should we go to?" I asked Konstantin.
He shrugged. "I don't know. Maybe these towers are divided by gender…"
"I think you're right," I said, and led the way to the tower of women. The sheer size of the towers amazed me- they must have been more than half a kilometer tall, and a quarter of a kilometer in diameter. We confidently walked to the tower of girls and their dæmons, and I would have entered the wide doorway at the tower base, but somehow Konstantin and I were forced to go up the spiral stairs. It took a long time for us to reach the top and the women's and young girls' dæmons that were going the opposite way managed to scratch or bump into Konstantin the entire time. I almost went off the edge of the stairs several times as women and children shoved their way past me.
We reached the room under the roof, where a long table was laid out, and seventeen women and their dæmons handed out and received forms. I approached one of the women and asked her what was going on.
"Everyone is applying for a permit to live here," she replied.
"So I can't go downstairs without a permit?" I asked.
She laughed. "You can't leave this room without one- you must have a permit to live in or a permit to leave the tower or else this room is your new home."
I asked her for a permit to live in the tower, and she handed it to me, as well as a fountain pen with which to fill it out. Konstantin found a small bit of floorspace that hadn't been taken up yet, where I proceeded to fill out the required information. They wanted merely my name, my dæmon's name, my height, my weight, and what I was going to bring into the tower with me. I had to estimate my height and weight, because the measurements that they wanted them in were of the New World system, but I was able to return the form to processing girl quickly.
She handed me a temporary pass for a room, told me the rules, and handed me a pamphlet of the year's general schedule. Konstantin and I were allowed to step onto the tight one-person-and-dæmon hoist that took me down to the floor level where my room was located. A cursory glance at the room pass for my room number was all I needed before finding it.
"Room X26," I said to Konstantin as I opened the door. "Our new home."
I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter. Next chapter will reveal more about Riva's features and background (thank you MistressofMagic3- I think that's your penname on this- for pointing out the lack of features and background of my characters. I'll use the next two or three chapters to more descriptively describe the characters in addition to the usual plot structure.), and I hope you will review so that I can get it posted!