Chapter Five
I awoke a few hours later, with the book still in my hands. I dropped it with a thud as I stood and raced to the window, to assure myself I was still in Escya. The dream, or nightmare more like it, I had just awoken from made me feel as though I still was in Erycana. I tried to calm my ragged breathing and wiped the sweat from my forehead. I was in Escya, safe and sound.
I looked down into the street at the Crawlers, which lights lit up the streets below. Yes. I was still is Escya. I felt a familiar melody start to dance on my lips, a lullaby my mother had sung to me when I had awoken with bad dreams, a song she probably now sang to Korin.
"Sleep still my child, and I'll sing you a lullaby," I sang softly under my breathe, the familiarity of it soothed my racing heart. I leaned back against the window sill, and closed my eyes. "Back to a time when the world was at peace…
…Follow my voice, as you fall back in slumber. Rest easy now, you have nothing to fear." She sang softly to me, patting my hair down, tucking it gently behind my ears.
"That's it, Erin, sleep my darling." She wiped the tears from my eyes and kissed my forehead.
"Momma," I whimpered, "Don't leave." She smiled sympathetically at me, and patted my hand.
"Come now, Erin, you're a big girl," She said standing, turning to leave.
"No! Momma!" I called after her, but she was gone. I could see her shadow on the wall as she went back to her and Daddy's room. Then the door swung shut with a loud thud.
"All alone again Erin?" I heard a raspy voice off to the side of my bed whisper. My head jerked around, my eyes straining in the blinding dark.
"W-Who's there?" I asked frightened. It laughed, slow and cold. The hairs all over my body stood on end.
"Don't you remember me, Erin?" It called, now on the other side of me. My head swung to see a pair of glowing yellow eyes, like those of a cat.
"Erin!" It screamed with bloodcurdling intensity, that made my heart do a somersault. I couldn't help but be frozen in fear, as it laughed loud in my face. "Come on Eeeeriiin Leeeviiine!" The way it drew out my name sent a shiver down my spine.
"G-Go away!" I whimpered, finally finding my voice. Suddenly I felt it grab ahold of my arms pulling me to my feet.
"Only if you come with me, Erin!" It growled in my ear, I tried to pull away but I seemed to get pulled farther into the thick darkness. I tried to scream, but the black started to choke me. I couldn't breath, I couldn't breath, I was going to…
I sat up with a start, breathing hard. I squinted in the light of the dawning day. Just another bad dream.
I went through the day not noticing much. Everything was a bit of a blur, my mind wrapped around the voice from my dream. It seemed so familiar, yet I know I never heard it before. Mr. Taytum had returned to the inn to pay for his night there and give me a gift. I could hardly believe him, believe what he did.
"I'm sorry about inconveniencing you, Miss Erin." He said with a serene smile, handing me the Riyal Pieces he owed me, along with a package wrapped in brown paper, tied with a soft twine.
"You didn't have to repay me," I said, my voice feeling a million miles away. He noticed it, but seemed to brush it aside, which I was grateful for. "What's this?" I picked up the package, and the weight of it made me guess automatically. A book.
"Something I thought you might like to read." He said with a small nod of his head, "I hope you like a good scary story." He smiled kindly, and I smiled back, hoping it didn't look too forced. I loved to read, more than a lot of things, but after the night I had just had, I didn't really want to read a scary book.
"Yes, thank you." My voice quiet. I could feel the hair on the back of my neck stand on end, the image of the cat like eyes piercing me with fear. I suppressed a shudder.
"Ah, I see you are a bit preoccupied. I'll let you be." He said turning to leave, "Goodbye Erin Levine."
"Goodbye." I replied, my voice on autopilot. I felt like I was being pulled in a million directions, like a tornado was set spinning inside of me, spinning, spinning. I closed my eyes and I felt a familiar sensation start to overcome me.
The tears started to spill over my eyes and down my cheeks. I could feel my face flush, and I sucked in a breath, letting out a heart wrenching sob. I stood there crying for a good while until Remi finally discovered me.
"Erin, what's wrong?" She asked concerned, her eyes searching mine, and I let out another quiet cry, "Erin?"
"R-Remi," I said between gasps of air, trying to stop crying, "D-Do you think we could t-talk somewhere?" I sniffled and she looked at me sympathetically.
"I could really use a friend right now." I added, and she looked at me, her eyes unusually hopeful.
"Follow me." She said quietly leading me into the parlor and up to a wardrobe used to hold the aprons and such. She turned to look over her shoulder then opened the door and pulled back the aprons to reveal nothing but the back of the piece of furniture.
"What are-" I began to ask, but she put her thin finger to her lips and I hushed. She felt up the corner inside the wardrobe and pulled on a brown string. I gasped as the back swung open to reveal a set of stairs. She stepped up lightly and beckoned for me to go ahead of her. As I stepped inside and slipped past her she pulled closed the wardrobe door and then pulled back the secret panel.
"Let's go." She said, the dark hiding her frail figure, so her voice made her seem more adventurous than she actually was. I felt her hand brush past me and I heard something switch on, and one by one a small light would flicker on, illuminating the secret path. She stepped past me leading me up and up, and up until we reached a door. I watched curiously as she pulled out an odd key. She caught my look and smiled softly, "A skeleton key, they're from a few thousand years ago." I mouthed a 'wow', and nodded. She turned toward the door and pushed the key in, turning it, and unlocking the door. As she pushed it open I looked at its vague features. It didn't look like wood, but it did at the same time, and as she pushed it open it shimmered in the light cast by the lights of the stairs.
"Come along, Erin." I heard Remi call, and I stepped into a small looking room full of…books. I looked around, mystified, and finally caught up to Remi.
"Is this your private library?" I asked, looking around wide-eyed. It was like being a child in a candy story, not knowing which one to pick, which one to try. She gave me an odd smile and sighed.
"You could say that." She said. I looked at her for a moment and then my eyes flittered to a book that lay open on a table a few feet away. I began to step toward it, feeling drawn to the book, but Remi rushed past me and grabbed it, pulling it to her, closing it with a thud and spinning around and placing it on the shelf. Her sudden brash movement, and boldness worried me, and I instantly became aware that I was alone with her, and no one knew where I was.
"Sit." Remi said, the gentleness back in her voice. It soothed my nerves, but I was still on edge. I inched toward one of the chairs by the table and sat down quietly. She nodded and sat down beside me in another chair, and sighed quietly.
"What was it that you wanted to talk about?" She asked, seemingly back to normal. I sighed, and rubbed my eyes, realizing I had stopped crying.
"You know, each time you sigh you lose one happiness." She stated matter-of-fact. I looked at her and laughed, in spite of myself, and after a moment she laughed too. And for a while that's all we did. We laughed till we had tears streaming down the sides of our faces, and our sides hurt. Yet, the laughter soon died away and we sat, quiet.
"We don't know a lot about each other Remi." I said, breaking the silence, "Friends should know at least a little bit about each other." I saw her nod out of the corner of my eye.
"You consider me a friend?" She asked, as if the two didn't belong together. I nodded.
"Yes, Remi, here you are my only friend." I said almost disdainfully, then regretting it, because of the fact she had shone me nothing but kindness the moment she met me. Fortunately enough, she didn't notice it.
"I'm glad," She said, then catching herself, "Glad that you think of me as a friend, that is." This time it was my turn to nod.
"Yes," I said turning toward her, "So let's get to know each other a bit."
"Agreed." She said, turning to face me too, smiling.
"My name is Erin Nicole Levine, I am 19 years old, and I was born and raised in Erycana." I said formally, extending my hand. She took it and she smiled wider.
"I am Remi Knox O'Conner, age 16, born and raised…well, here." She laughed lightly, and we shook hands. She looked at me curiously, "Are you really from Erycana?" I nodded.
"Through and through." I said.
"What was it like?" She asked bright eyed. I thought about it for a moment, before coming to an answer.
"It was a beautiful place, sure." I said contemptuously.
"But?" She egged on.
"But, it wasn't right for me. It never felt right, not inside. It was my home, it was a beautiful home but I could never stand being confined. The city was big, not as big as here, but with lots of people, beautiful people. Everything was made from the timber of the surrounding forest, with the city overlooking the sea…" I rambled on.
"Is that why you left?" She asked.
"What?" I asked, losing my train of thought.
"Is that why you left, and came here?" She repeated herself. I shook my head.
"No, I ran away for a different reason than that."
"You ran away!" She asked shocked. I looked at her sadly, and nodded. "Why?"
"My parents were going to make me get married." I said.
"But that's so first millennium!" She gasped. I nodded, thinking back to when I was younger. My parents had always been protective of me, and even more so with Korin. I had always been the 'dangerous' type, pushing the boundaries, getting carried away, and most often catching the attention of the boys with my wild nature, unfortunately for my parents. That's when they started to push for me to get married and settle down.
"Did you hear me?" Remi asked.
"What?" I asked, snapping out of my thoughts. She huffed and rolled her eyes good humouredly.
"I said, 'was there a love interest'?"
"A what?" I asked. I hope she didn't mean…
"Did you love someone else?" She asked enthusiastically, seeming to love the drama of it all. It slightly annoyed me, then remembering she was a few years younger than me, I wasn't surprised she would ask that.
"Ugh…Yes." I muttered under my breath, blushing. My mind raced with only one name.
"Who?" She asked, almost bouncing out of her chair, life returning to her cheeks for a few brief moments. I felt my cheeks turn even redder.
"Just a friend I knew since I was little." I said, trying to brush it off as nothing more than a kiddy crush. She didn't buy it for a second.
"A childhood romance!" She exclaimed, putting a hand to her heart.
"No, no! Lewis never knew I loved him!" As soon as the words left my mouth I regretted them. She smiled widely and giggled.
"So Lewis is his name, is it?" She asked, eyeing me playfully. I nodded, embarrassed.
"Tell me about him." She said happily, and having already told her a lot I decided to spill the rest.
"Well he's a boy, 19, about this tall-"
"No! The way you see him." She said. I closed my eyes and began to describe him to her as I saw him, as I remembered him.
"He's handsome, very, very handsome. He has these eyes, sweet eyes that are the color of wood, and they glitter strangely like some sort of jewel. He has short, thin, straight hair the exact color of smoke, like the smoke from the chimneys I saw when I first arrived here." I sighed, remembering Lewis. "He's sweet, too. Athletic, and handsome, and adventurous, and a great friend, and…" I sighed again.
"He seems wonderful." She said longingly and I felt my cheeks warm.
"He is." I said.
"You should tell him how you feel." She said very confident.
"How?" I asked, hopeless.
"Send a letter."
"Too slow."
"A Holo-Message?"
"Maybe." I sighed. I couldn't tell him. And even if he felt the same, what was he going to do? Come here?
"Face to face?"
"Just as bad as a Holo-Message."
"This is going to take a while." She sighed, patting me on the back.
"So," Remi said, pulling her knees to her chest. "You aren't ever going to go back?"
"Never." I said, shaking my head, feeling the familiar weight of sorrow upon my heart.
"Not even to see Raina or Lewis?" She looked at me with a pained expression.
"I don't think I could ever…" I paused, feeling my eyes start to burn. "No."
We had been talking for hours. I had told Remi about my life and family, about all of my adventures and vacations. She seemed to love my stories, like she was trying to live them through me. We had sat in a thoughtful silence when I told her that I was a descendant of the Eleusianites, and after a while she broke the silence by revealing that she was a descendant of the Elites. It didn't surprise me, by the massive accumulation of books.
After that, I started telling her more about my life back in Erycana, and she enjoyed that even more than the adventure tales.
"Hey, Erin," Remi said after a minute, "Let's be getting back." I nodded and Remi stood, starting for the door. I stood and began to follow her, but an odd sensation caused me to turn back. I found myself staring at a book…no…the book Remi had slammed closed before I could see it. I dashed over and pulled it off the shelf, stashing it under my dress.
"Erin?" I heard Remi call from behind me, and I followed her voice, and met her at the door.
"Here!" I said with a forced smile, anxious to get back to my room and look at my loot.
"Come on." She said with a hushed tone, and again I was led down the stairs and out into the parlor. Remi turned and shut the panel and shut the wardrobe door soundly. She then turned to me.
"Let's keep this a little secret between you and me, okay?" She said quietly, gesturing to the library. I nodded and she smiled.
After a brief goodbye and goodnight, I escaped to my room. As soon as I stepped foot inside, I turned on the lights, locked the door, and ran to my bed to read the mysterious book.
I traced my finger along the unmarked cover and flipped it open. As I read the inside cover I got a chill down my spine.
"Erin Nicole Levine…" I read the words aloud. Why would Remi have a book with my name on it? I turned the pages and looked down at the handwritten paragraphs. I opened to a random page and began to read.
"She seems to have a liking for Atreals…
…so it would be quite easy to poison one and give it to her. Or maybe just poison one of the ones she has in her room (From Mr. Cymore no doubt).
She turns out to be an Eleusianite, which are easy to deal with. All you have to do is get them to eat the bone of a Elgabar. So I could just grind one up and slip it into her food. I'm not sure how it works, but it has been known to make them loose their power of Eleusian.
She's run away from home, so if she were to suddenly disappear, no one would really notice here. And her parents don't know where she is, but she might tell Lewis Caine soon…
How does she know Lewis's last name! And how did she know this if I had just told her that? I felt all of the hairs on the back of my neck stand on end, yet I couldn't tear my eyes away. I continued to read.
…but she might not. Anyway, unless she does something against me, I am going to let her live. She could serve me well.
"Erin?" I heard Remi say loudly, there was a hint of anger in her voice. I sat scared for a moment and closed the book silently, and rushed to hid it under the mattress.
"ERIN!" Remi's voice was loud and threatening. I looked around and made sure that the book wasn't noticeable, then I went to the door.
"Yes, Remi?" I said quietly through the door.
"Please. Open. The. Door." She said, trying to control her rage. She knows, I thought, she knows I have the book.
"I-I'm not decent." I managed to say, and she huffed. I could feel her menace through the door.
"Okay. Then could you please tell me something, Erin." I could feel her glare through the wood, and I shuttered. "You wouldn't have taken anything from my library, did you?" I gulped.
"No, why do you ask?" I squeaked out. I could almost see her grinding her teeth in irritation.
"No reason, Erin. Sweet dreams." I could hear her walk away, and as soon her footsteps receded down the stairs until I could hear them no more, I let out a relieved sigh. I turned and walked back over to the bed and lifted up the mattress to get the book. I reached under and felt around, but the book wasn't there. I lifted it higher and looked under to see only a slip of paper. I pulled it out and let the mattress fall. I gasped as I read the note.
I hope you like Atreal Crepes, Erin. We're having them for breakfast, I read silently, From - Remi. P.S. Stealing things aren't a good way to make friends.
I tried to swallow, but there was a lump in my throat. My head swam with questions. How did she know I took the book? How did she get it back and leave in it's place this note? How did she know Lewis's last name? How did she know all this stuff about me?
The next thing I knew I found myself rushing over to the desk to get the book I had gotten from the library flipping it open. I skimmed the page until I came to what I was looking for.
"Then there were the dark ones, known as the Wyverns, who submerged themselves in knowing everything about anything, and using it against their enemies…" I read aloud. She wasn't an Elite, I realized, she was a Wyvern. I skimmed the paragraph over and over. Finally I stopped and closed the book.
I couldn't stay here a second longer. Not here at the inn, not here in Escya.
I began to gather my things.
