Hello, lovely people!

On the last day of 2023, I am delighted to post another chapter.

Enjoy - and expect more in 2024!

WARNING: Some strong language

Chapter 14:

Iona's world

At first glance, they appeared to be in Old Town Square. Gothic-ice-cream architecture, bolstered by small cafes and alleyways to secret, unknown places. Just as it was that sweet, innocent morning so long ago.

Devoid of chaos. Punching things very hard just didn't carry the same weight as bursting into tears. Beth had missed it; a lost part of herself returned with near-painful catharsis. If she were alone, she would have wholeheartedly succumbed to a soggy foetal position and definitely screamed a bit.

But Benjamin and Tia let Beth cry. They held hands, murmuring together in a language Beth hadn't learnt yet…but what was she doing, crying like a child? This was Benjamin. Master of all the elements. She had so many questions!

Like, how did he use fire without killing himself?

A sun warmed Beth's skin. It couldn't be the sun, not this solid, white eye in a cold blue sky. Beth scowled up at it, then down. Diamonds on her hands twisted across the cobbles. "Oh, no. What the hell?" Beth poked her skin, which was still flawless and hard to the touch. "No way!"

"Strange, isn't it?" Benjamin said. His skin glinted, too. Even his teeth shone in a weary smile.

Beth dropped her hands, spluttering, "Strange? I've seen plenty of strange tonight. You – You saw me crying, right. That's a human thing! So why am I still a disco ball?"

Benjamin burst out laughing. "Disco ball. Oh, I like that."

"You are the first new person we have seen." It didn't escape Beth's notice that Tia's grip tightened on her partner's arm. "How long have we been here?"

Shit, am I scaring her? Beth exhaled. "I saw what Iona did to you at the hotel. When everyone was going crazy. You wanted to leave, but Iona…took the fight out of you."

"Iona brought us here," Benjamin said. "Our minds. This place was full of homes and shops and fresh green grass."

Beth caught the yearning in his tone. She smiled sadly. "Go on, what else?"

"We found many people here, happy. Living their lives."

Tia suddenly giggled. Embarrassed, she shook her head when Beth looked curious.

"Okay, then. Iona can separate us from our physical forms," Beth ventured, starting to pace a little. "That's…unsettling, but good to acknowledge. And there's no one else here now. So, where did they go?"

"We don't know. The people left, like spirits." Benjamin nodded to Tia's quick, wide-eyed look. His face twitched awkwardly. "Yes, Tia, I'll ask her – Beth. Ah. Do you know what's happened to our bodies?"

They looked so earnest. "Oh." Helpless, Beth scoured her memory to find an answer to reassure them. "Um…" Even as guilt dragged at her heart and a growing horror told her what she didn't want to voice, she tried to filter through the last few hours.

In the end, she had to admit the truth.

She had no idea.

"It's alright," Benjamin said sadly.

"No, it's not," Beth mumbled. She fought against the tightness in her chest. "I don't know where you are, and those vampires are causing havoc back there. Humans are d-dying. It's like a full-on apocalypse. What is Iona trying to do here?"

"Keep us under control," Benjamin said. He sighed heavily. "We left our country to find new lives, new experiences. We did not come to Prague to be cowed like children again."

Beth nodded. She almost said, "Same," but feared it would undermine Benjamin's situation. Renesmee had shown her about Amun and how jealously he had hidden poor Benjamin so the Aro couldn't claim him. "So, are we stuck here until Iona gives the word, or what?"

"I cannot answer that. But it's suppressing my powers." Benjamin curled and uncurled his fingers with a flourish. "Poof."

Nothing happened. Beth raised her eyebrows. "Poof?"

"No flame, no wind, nothing."

Disappointment sank in Beth's heart. "Oh. Shit, okay, okay, so, this is more than a glamour. I know glamours; this isn't like Zafrina's projections or Bella's shield. Not really. It's some kind of shared consciousness, or – or simulation shit. Maybe a prison."

It was a weak hope to belay some of their suspicions.

"How do you know Renesmee, Beth?" Benjamin said slowly.

"And what about the Volturi?" Tia said sharply. "Is there talk of them out there?

"Oh, yeah. The Volturi is coming," Beth muttered too quickly. "That's all I know, okay?"

"Okay," Benjamin answered.

Beth immediately wanted to cry again. She wanted to be completely honest, but discussing anything further about the Volturi made her skin crawl. As soon as Benjamin and Tia knew of her involvement with them, they would leave her here.

God.

Maybe it was for the best.

"I met Renesmee nearly a year ago through a nomad named Alistair. You know him. I was…lonely, and he probably just wanted to get rid of me." Without a telepath to refute her, Beth hated how easy it was to omit the truth. She could pretend her life was simple. "This is – it's too clean, Iona's world. Don't you think? Like a half-finished video game."

"We have a theory," Benjamin said, following Beth's gaze around them. "We entered Iona's world after she touched us."

"Yeah. So did I."

"Our host can leave us here, and it stays," Tia said.

Benjamin added, "But only for so long."

"Then it starts to wear off," Beth finished, smiling bitterly. "That's why we're the only ones left. Alright. So, there's hope."

Benjamin and Tia stared at her. "Hope?"

"Well, I can confirm Iona's a bit preoccupied right now. Her husband has returned. Marek. He's a fanatic, probably like that Christabel woman." Beth stopped pacing. Glancing back, she saw a look of alarm blaze across Benjamin's face. The fear coming off him was like staring into the fathomless darkness of a frozen lake before she plummeted.

"What? What is it?" Tia gasped. "Benjamin, what is it?"

"I fear...my body may be being used," Benjamin said softly. "For terrible purpose."

Tia squeaked. "What do we do?"

"We get out," Beth said, fizzing with renewed hope. She returned with a stomp in her step. "Have you tried anything to escape before?"

Benjamin gave a little angry hop out of his despairing stance. "Of course, we tried."

"The other people here told us we were doing something to the atmosphere." Tia made a face, annoyed,

That dubious hope fluttered in Beth's chest. She blew out her cheeks. "Meaning, ruining the mood? Or…breaking the spell Iona has on us?"

Benjamin shrugged while Tia hissed, "She is not some djinn."

"I don't know what that is!" Beth sighed, wrestling with her patience. "Look, what did you do to change the atmosphere? Punch the air? Kick a bush? What?" She ran over to the nearest one, opposite a dingy coffee shop.

In a small patch of grass – was it there before? Two plump topiary sheep stood obediently. Beth half-expected them to start moving as she reached out a hand, brushing her fingers over one of their leafy coats.

The sheep gave a content, rustling bleat but remained still.

"How is it?" Benjamin called.

"Um, soft," Beth muttered, astounded. She patted the foliage, shivering at the tickly sensation. "Like feathers! Or, er, wool, more accurately. Hang on…"

As Beth hurried away, Tia leaned into Benjamin. "What is she doing?"

"Adjusting. Some people can't be told things. Should we follow her?"

Tia peered at him, her eyes cautious. "This mad girl?"

"We are in a place that doesn't exist, my love! Come, come. I want to see what she does next."

A trail of leaves, as delicate as goose down, led them straight into a line of trees. Benjamin and Tia stopped under their boughs. "But these look like…"

"Apples!" Splayed out on a branch, Beth held one as big as a human heart. She gave it a tentative sniff. "God, I loved apples as a kid. Grandma's apple crumble was the best. Hey, have you ever had one?"

Benjamin shook his head, thinking of the sugared dates he had scavenged as a boy. At Beth's vaguely horrified look, he asked, "What do they taste like?"

"Well, I always found the green ones too sour, but the red ones were really juicy and sweet. That could be my nostalgia talking, of course. Let's see." With a deep breath, Beth took a bite.

Her eyes widened as the flesh gave with a crisp crunch. She chewed and gave a cry, and before Benjamin or Tia could ask, she grabbed two more apples and scrambled down to them.

"You have to try these. They're not perfect, but they don't taste like dirt as I expected!" Beth was hopping up and down by now. She finished her apple with juice running down her chin. "Christ, what is this place?"

"Our host wants to keep us safe and happy."

Beth huffed, tossing her apple core in the air and catching it. "I guess that explains why she won't give us human skin…" With a sniff, she began looking around, her gaze hungry. "I want to try something."

Tia and Benjamin exchanged a worried look. "What?"

Beth pointed towards the coffee shop. "I want to see if there's anything to eat there."

There was, in fact, the unmistakable smell of coffee coming from that direction. There were tables and chairs on a small veranda and forgotten cups and dirty plates as if the customers had left in a hurry.

Beth approached a cup still on its saucer. Still steaming. "Oh, no way." Plucking it up, Beth felt the warmth of it, the liquid sloshing around inside. "It's expresso!" She exclaimed.

Benjamin raised his eyebrows. "Are you going to try it, too?"

"Ew, no," Beth grimaced. "I never liked coffee. You?" She turned, offering the cup to Benjamin, who took it, laughing.

"Never tried it." He sniffed the contents and frowned, but his eyes sparkled eagerly. "That doesn't smell like any coffee. Hm." Benjamin sipped it - and laughed out loud.

"What?" Beth said, smiling. "Is it so bad?"

"Bad? Oh, no," Benjamin beamed. "It's blood. Tia, here. Have some!"

They didn't see how Beth's face fell. She stuttered away, suddenly desperate to be anywhere else. Foolish, really, in a world created by a vampire, to be shaken by the smell of blood.

"Do you hate it so much?" The voice was soft as a breeze. After that, there was the smallest of noises. When Prague was a ruthless scribble of pain in her memory, Beth would struggle to describe the sound to Anna.

In the end, Beth would compare it to the snap of a wet twig because it made Iona's appearance more anti-climactic.

She wasn't there. And then she was.

"Don't be scared," Iona said serenely. Like Botticelli's Venus, but with more clothes on. "It is a safe place."

Beth snorted. "It's a place to keep us quiet and distracted."

"Yes! Yes!" Iona scurried closer, flapping her hands. Beth jolted back. "You need escape, Beth. I am giving you that. Look!"

She conjured a fully formed cottage from the ground without any fancy gestures. It emerged like a creature with a bright red roof and round windows lit up from within. Beth nearly shrieked in shock but didn't want to give Iona the satisfaction.

Still, the woman beamed with pride. "I can give you the home you've always wanted, Beth. The life you've always dreamed of."

Beth scowled. "Except it isn't real."

With the same nonchalant air, Iona pulled an enormous, noisy something out like a strange vegetable. A fountain, its angels blithely spouting water from their eroded mouths.

Now, Beth did gasp. "How do you -? I know that fountain."

"I do, too," Iona said. "So tacky. The Volturi are trapped in the past. They do not change."

"That hardly justifies why you're waging this – this war! None of us change!" Beth snapped. She was aware of Benjamin and Tia coming over. "From what I gather, the Romanians won't be any better than the Volturi. Worse, actually."

"My father told me they enslaved humans," Benjamin said. "Is that true?"

Iona's forehead creased guiltily. Beth snorted, laughing through her fury. "Right. Yeah. Nah. I'm not going to let that happen."

"What can you do?" Iona asked, her head cocking like a curious bird. "You are here because of me."

"There were others," Tia whispered. "Here with us. Now gone. Soon, we will be also."

Iona's lip raised in a half-smile. "So sure. But where are your bodies, hm?" When no one could answer, the other half of her mouth turned up. "Make yourselves comfy, yes. Here is a gift."

Iona raised a peach-coloured structure with domed arches and expansive windows. Tia gasped in restrained delight, and Iona smiled.

"Good. You're going to be here a long time."

"Oh, fuck you!" Beth groaned, throwing her sticky apple core. Iona vanished before it could land squarely in her face.

To be continued...