Spoiler
Chapter One - Abduction
Ariana raised her cup to her lips, sipping gently at the steaming liquid. The tea swished and curled rapidly as she set it gently on the mahogany table. A length of chain ran in a straight line alongside the cup, linked to a small and ancient golden watch. She picked it up, running a finger over the scratches that decorated the glass surface. The two hands indicated it was 10.12.
"You're...late."
"I know, I know, it's the end of the world." He clicked his cane on the floor and then looked back at her with that typically impish grin of his. "You wanted to see me?"
"Yes." She turned the watch rapidly in her slim and pale fingers, keeping her dark amber eyes trained on him meanwhile. "I need advice. Father's passed away."
"That old loon?" He peered back at her face intently, as if trying to detect signs of emotion. He found none, of course. "Personally, I always thought him a bit of a cold fish. That turn he did for you was pretty unexpected, though."
"Stop joking." Thump. She dropped the watch on the table recklessly, earning a cold and irritated glance from him. She almost smiled to herself discreetly--he didn't take to people treating his possessions carelessly. Ironic, considering his profession. "I need your help."
He leaned forwards and took the watch out of her reach. "Didn't take long for the old man's protection to wear off, did it? When did he die--yesterday?"
"Last month. I sent you an invitation to his funeral but you never replied."
"Must've been on vacation." He tilted his head. "What did he die of? Did he perhaps go into a building and demolish it with himself in it?"
"Theo." He made a small noise, acknowledging the use of his name. "I beg you, if you have any care for me, stop joking. This is important."
He rolled his eyes and reached into his coat pocket, bringing out a cigar. "Want one?"
"No, thank you."
"Good. The only use I find for these are setting fire to things. In my opinion the old man got himself killed smoking so many of...these. That is, unless he died from something else?" Theo looked curiously at her but received no reply. He put the cigar back in his coat pocket and faced her fully for the first time since he sat down. "They're after you, aren't they?"
She couldn't meet the soft look in his bright eyes. "Yes. You're good at hiding, aren't you? You could help me."
"It's not like I am any good at hiding...it's more like they choose to ignore my existence, Ari." He adjusted the ragged top hat on his head--it was times like this that she could appreciate how young he looked. "One of the good things about being what I am."
"Being what you are..." Ariana stared at him meaningfully. "...you must know something that can help me."
He sighed. "You're right. Come on, I'll show you something."
***
"What is this place?"
Theodore watched her as she looked around with the curiosity of a kitten. The small room was packed with people-- but only a few girls were in here. The room was especially packed in front of the noticeboard. He took Ari's hand and led her towards the crowd.
"Theo?"
"It's a guild. They post jobs on that board there. That's how I get most of mine."
"You mean your vacations?" Ari wryly smiled back. He only shrugged and grinned at her. "There's other places for my vacations, Ari. These, unfortunately, are what they seem to be."
"How awful."
"Indeed. Excuse me, sir, excuse me - thankee." He tipped his bowler to the man who had moved of the way. "You see, Ari, it's the modern way of getting work around this country."
"Modern indeed. Father would have both our heads if he found out you took me to such a dingy place."
"Number one, the old man is dead. Two, he'd take off your head, not mine."
"How compassionate of you," she shot back. He wasn't listening, though; he reached for a note and plucked it off, much to the annoyance of a young lady who was observing it. "Sorry ma'am." He grinned back at her, only to be glared at. He shrugged and turned back to Ariana.
"Here's a good one. Looking for housekeeper, will pay 100 riels a month, no experience necessary."
"Sounds too good to be true."
"Frankly, what isn't?" He tipped his bowler towards the young lady he'd irritated earlier as she passed by him. She simply 'hmphed' and stuck her nose up in the air. "See that? I knew she was too good to be true."
"I thought we were here for me and not her."
"Right, right. Well. You should at least call in and see what's up with that ad. It's got a good pay, no requirements and fairly light work--I hope," he added, earning a sharp glare from her. "I'm just being realistic!"
"Indeed..." She shook her head. "I still don't trust this. Do you honestly think...Theo?"
He was staring apprehensively at a group of people standing near the exit to the guild. There was nothing positively different about them--the same shabby coats and bowlers, moustaches and canes as any other man in this guild. But most notably, perhaps, they kept glancing at Theo--and herself, she realized with slowly growing alarm. "Theo, who are those people?"
"No one you want to be involved with, in particular." His bright green eyes swept the room at a glance. He steered Ari to the back of the room cautiously, trying not to attract attention. "How long has it been that you have a bounty on you, Ari?"
Her tongue darted out and licked her bottom lip, which still felt dry as before. "Since Father died."
"Why didn't you come to me before?" His eyes bore into hers. "An entire month...why...?"
"Isabella kicked me out just the day before yesterday." Ariana smiled wryly at him. "Apparently I was besmirching the family name."
"Kicked you out...of the clan? But you're her sister!"
"Doesn't matter. You might remember the way she treated you the last time you were there."
"Yes, but...with me it's different." They reached a rackety door. He took hold of the handle and wrenched it open. "With me it's...I mean, she's always been close to you."
"You know what happened, and what came of it." They were out in an alleyway now. Ari slightly jumped as a shadow slithered across what light there was, but relaxed when she realized it was only a black cat. Theo shook his head sadly.
"You're so jumpy nowadays."
***
Sigh. "It's so cold."
The wintry night brought in gale after gale of sharp and knive-imitating winds, making Ari wish she had an overcoat on. Theo patted her on the shoulder, then cringed. "Wow, you really are cold."
"Shut it."
"I could make an ice cube with that temperature." Saying so, he took his own jacket off and covered her shoulders with it. "There. You could almost pass for me, you know. I'd give you my hat to complete the look, but I'd have to die first."
"Prefered method of death?" Ari's voice suggested sarcasm, but he didn't seem to get it--he simply put his hands in his pockets and grinned right back at her.
"I think that would be strangulation, preferably by your own hands." He added a little nod at the end of his sentence, as if to confirm that to himself. "After all, your hands are really soft."
Ari rolled her eyes.
"What? It's true." Drip.
Immediately Ari's hands gripped at her shoulders. She looked around. "I hate that sound." Her voice had lowered to a slight whisper. "What is it?"
"Probably the park's well..." He stared at her. "Are you alright?"
"I really hate that sound." Ari shuddered, rubbing her arms with gloved hands. "Reminds me of the old house. Father fell down the stairs, you know." Her rubbing became more insistent. "I remember..."
"Remember what?"
"His blood. It went dripping down the stairs." Drip. "Just...just like that." Her mouth stretched into a grin--a fearsome, almost insane grin. "You know what really happened?"
"Ari, are you honestly alright?" He put his hand to her forehead. "You don't sound good at all."
"Oh, I'll be fine." She laughed slightly. "I'm always fine, Theo. You know it."
He wasn't sure she was.
"I think I'll be alright here."
"What?" Ari had stopped near a rather ancient oak tree. One of the branches creaked uneasily as a sudden wind sliced through the park, taking even himself off guard. Ari simply shivered and said nothing. He shook his head in remonstrance. "Ari, you can't sleep out here. I told you, I know a place--"
"No!" She shook her head vehemently. "I'll be alright here. I'll be fine. Please, Theo."
"You might want to reconsider that, lady."
Someone approached from behind Ari. Even as she turned around, he grabbed her shoulders and kept her back facing to him. "No need to make any sudden moves, Miss Lawrence." He chuckled in a rather rough tone and leaned in; she could smell his cigarette-coated breath. "We're just doing our job."
Theo moved forwards. "I demand that you release her, sir." His voice came out in a hiss. "Right now, before I lose my temper."
"Be quiet, boy!" the older man barked at him. "A child like you should be at home with their parents, not be gallivanting across town with a criminal!"
"Criminals...I've seen enough of criminals. Enough to know that this country's perception of them..." He raised his head, and they saw his eyes--brittle, eerie, an icy green. "Is entirely a facade."
Then, all hell broke loose.
Ariana wasn't sure what had happened--whether she had lurched forwards first, barely avoiding the tree as it fell right where she was just a moment ago--or whether the man had cried out first. She tried to block her ears of the terrible, brutal sound--tried not to realize what had happened.
But her gown's skirts felt heavy and wet, her shoes squished as she walked forwards, and the man was still screaming, and Theo's eyes, his eyes, Lord, why did they look so inhuman? She grabbed at his arms, trying to make sense of it all.
"Theo--"
"Run."
"But--"
"JUST RUN!"
***
She ran. She didn't know how long she had been running. The heels of her feet hurt, her cheek burned with a cut she had sustained from one of the tree's branches; still, she kept running, from them, from what she had done...from Theo. People stared at her as she ran past them--a few young ladies fainted at the sight of her.
But all she could think of was...Theo.
"What have I done?" She kept repeating to herself, again and again. "Lord Vanar, what have I done? What have I done? What have I done?"
The streets grew lonely as she ran. Sometimes a carriage would go by, but wouldn't notice the scarlet-caked girl lurking in the shadows, wondering what she had done; slamming her fists against the wall, again and again, until they bled; staining the walls of the building with the same colour her own gown was sporting vividly. "What...have...I...done?"
"Just what many other young people before you have done. Just what other young people after you will continue to do again."
She started to turn around--her palms throbbed with pain, but she was numb to it. The voice continued. "What you have done, others will do in their own fashion--their own way. You are not the first--nor will you be the last."
"Who are you?" She had come face to face with a young boy in a wheelchair. His silver-blue eyes reminded her of Theo just a while ago--the same disquieting expression glowed in the boy as it did in Theo. "What do you want?" She clasped her hands to her chest--it was burning. "I...only..."
"You will know, soon enough." He leaned forwards, a dangerous glint shimmering in his eyes. "Little researcher, you don't know what you've got yourself into, do you?"
"What have you done to me?" Her chest burned even more--the pain was unbearable. "Stop it, stop it!" But he didn't stop it, and the more she tried to resist it, the more it burned. The world started to swim.
"Beatrice..." He smiled. "I found you."
Everything turned black.
Ariana raised her cup to her lips, sipping gently at the steaming liquid. The tea swished and curled rapidly as she set it gently on the mahogany table. A length of chain ran in a straight line alongside the cup, linked to a small and ancient golden watch. She picked it up, running a finger over the scratches that decorated the glass surface. The two hands indicated it was 10.12.
"You're...late."
"I know, I know, it's the end of the world." He clicked his cane on the floor and then looked back at her with that typically impish grin of his. "You wanted to see me?"
"Yes." She turned the watch rapidly in her slim and pale fingers, keeping her dark amber eyes trained on him meanwhile. "I need advice. Father's passed away."
"That old loon?" He peered back at her face intently, as if trying to detect signs of emotion. He found none, of course. "Personally, I always thought him a bit of a cold fish. That turn he did for you was pretty unexpected, though."
"Stop joking." Thump. She dropped the watch on the table recklessly, earning a cold and irritated glance from him. She almost smiled to herself discreetly--he didn't take to people treating his possessions carelessly. Ironic, considering his profession. "I need your help."
He leaned forwards and took the watch out of her reach. "Didn't take long for the old man's protection to wear off, did it? When did he die--yesterday?"
"Last month. I sent you an invitation to his funeral but you never replied."
"Must've been on vacation." He tilted his head. "What did he die of? Did he perhaps go into a building and demolish it with himself in it?"
"Theo." He made a small noise, acknowledging the use of his name. "I beg you, if you have any care for me, stop joking. This is important."
He rolled his eyes and reached into his coat pocket, bringing out a cigar. "Want one?"
"No, thank you."
"Good. The only use I find for these are setting fire to things. In my opinion the old man got himself killed smoking so many of...these. That is, unless he died from something else?" Theo looked curiously at her but received no reply. He put the cigar back in his coat pocket and faced her fully for the first time since he sat down. "They're after you, aren't they?"
She couldn't meet the soft look in his bright eyes. "Yes. You're good at hiding, aren't you? You could help me."
"It's not like I am any good at hiding...it's more like they choose to ignore my existence, Ari." He adjusted the ragged top hat on his head--it was times like this that she could appreciate how young he looked. "One of the good things about being what I am."
"Being what you are..." Ariana stared at him meaningfully. "...you must know something that can help me."
He sighed. "You're right. Come on, I'll show you something."
***
"What is this place?"
Theodore watched her as she looked around with the curiosity of a kitten. The small room was packed with people-- but only a few girls were in here. The room was especially packed in front of the noticeboard. He took Ari's hand and led her towards the crowd.
"Theo?"
"It's a guild. They post jobs on that board there. That's how I get most of mine."
"You mean your vacations?" Ari wryly smiled back. He only shrugged and grinned at her. "There's other places for my vacations, Ari. These, unfortunately, are what they seem to be."
"How awful."
"Indeed. Excuse me, sir, excuse me - thankee." He tipped his bowler to the man who had moved of the way. "You see, Ari, it's the modern way of getting work around this country."
"Modern indeed. Father would have both our heads if he found out you took me to such a dingy place."
"Number one, the old man is dead. Two, he'd take off your head, not mine."
"How compassionate of you," she shot back. He wasn't listening, though; he reached for a note and plucked it off, much to the annoyance of a young lady who was observing it. "Sorry ma'am." He grinned back at her, only to be glared at. He shrugged and turned back to Ariana.
"Here's a good one. Looking for housekeeper, will pay 100 riels a month, no experience necessary."
"Sounds too good to be true."
"Frankly, what isn't?" He tipped his bowler towards the young lady he'd irritated earlier as she passed by him. She simply 'hmphed' and stuck her nose up in the air. "See that? I knew she was too good to be true."
"I thought we were here for me and not her."
"Right, right. Well. You should at least call in and see what's up with that ad. It's got a good pay, no requirements and fairly light work--I hope," he added, earning a sharp glare from her. "I'm just being realistic!"
"Indeed..." She shook her head. "I still don't trust this. Do you honestly think...Theo?"
He was staring apprehensively at a group of people standing near the exit to the guild. There was nothing positively different about them--the same shabby coats and bowlers, moustaches and canes as any other man in this guild. But most notably, perhaps, they kept glancing at Theo--and herself, she realized with slowly growing alarm. "Theo, who are those people?"
"No one you want to be involved with, in particular." His bright green eyes swept the room at a glance. He steered Ari to the back of the room cautiously, trying not to attract attention. "How long has it been that you have a bounty on you, Ari?"
Her tongue darted out and licked her bottom lip, which still felt dry as before. "Since Father died."
"Why didn't you come to me before?" His eyes bore into hers. "An entire month...why...?"
"Isabella kicked me out just the day before yesterday." Ariana smiled wryly at him. "Apparently I was besmirching the family name."
"Kicked you out...of the clan? But you're her sister!"
"Doesn't matter. You might remember the way she treated you the last time you were there."
"Yes, but...with me it's different." They reached a rackety door. He took hold of the handle and wrenched it open. "With me it's...I mean, she's always been close to you."
"You know what happened, and what came of it." They were out in an alleyway now. Ari slightly jumped as a shadow slithered across what light there was, but relaxed when she realized it was only a black cat. Theo shook his head sadly.
"You're so jumpy nowadays."
***
Sigh. "It's so cold."
The wintry night brought in gale after gale of sharp and knive-imitating winds, making Ari wish she had an overcoat on. Theo patted her on the shoulder, then cringed. "Wow, you really are cold."
"Shut it."
"I could make an ice cube with that temperature." Saying so, he took his own jacket off and covered her shoulders with it. "There. You could almost pass for me, you know. I'd give you my hat to complete the look, but I'd have to die first."
"Prefered method of death?" Ari's voice suggested sarcasm, but he didn't seem to get it--he simply put his hands in his pockets and grinned right back at her.
"I think that would be strangulation, preferably by your own hands." He added a little nod at the end of his sentence, as if to confirm that to himself. "After all, your hands are really soft."
Ari rolled her eyes.
"What? It's true." Drip.
Immediately Ari's hands gripped at her shoulders. She looked around. "I hate that sound." Her voice had lowered to a slight whisper. "What is it?"
"Probably the park's well..." He stared at her. "Are you alright?"
"I really hate that sound." Ari shuddered, rubbing her arms with gloved hands. "Reminds me of the old house. Father fell down the stairs, you know." Her rubbing became more insistent. "I remember..."
"Remember what?"
"His blood. It went dripping down the stairs." Drip. "Just...just like that." Her mouth stretched into a grin--a fearsome, almost insane grin. "You know what really happened?"
"Ari, are you honestly alright?" He put his hand to her forehead. "You don't sound good at all."
"Oh, I'll be fine." She laughed slightly. "I'm always fine, Theo. You know it."
He wasn't sure she was.
"I think I'll be alright here."
"What?" Ari had stopped near a rather ancient oak tree. One of the branches creaked uneasily as a sudden wind sliced through the park, taking even himself off guard. Ari simply shivered and said nothing. He shook his head in remonstrance. "Ari, you can't sleep out here. I told you, I know a place--"
"No!" She shook her head vehemently. "I'll be alright here. I'll be fine. Please, Theo."
"You might want to reconsider that, lady."
Someone approached from behind Ari. Even as she turned around, he grabbed her shoulders and kept her back facing to him. "No need to make any sudden moves, Miss Lawrence." He chuckled in a rather rough tone and leaned in; she could smell his cigarette-coated breath. "We're just doing our job."
Theo moved forwards. "I demand that you release her, sir." His voice came out in a hiss. "Right now, before I lose my temper."
"Be quiet, boy!" the older man barked at him. "A child like you should be at home with their parents, not be gallivanting across town with a criminal!"
"Criminals...I've seen enough of criminals. Enough to know that this country's perception of them..." He raised his head, and they saw his eyes--brittle, eerie, an icy green. "Is entirely a facade."
Then, all hell broke loose.
Ariana wasn't sure what had happened--whether she had lurched forwards first, barely avoiding the tree as it fell right where she was just a moment ago--or whether the man had cried out first. She tried to block her ears of the terrible, brutal sound--tried not to realize what had happened.
But her gown's skirts felt heavy and wet, her shoes squished as she walked forwards, and the man was still screaming, and Theo's eyes, his eyes, Lord, why did they look so inhuman? She grabbed at his arms, trying to make sense of it all.
"Theo--"
"Run."
"But--"
"JUST RUN!"
***
She ran. She didn't know how long she had been running. The heels of her feet hurt, her cheek burned with a cut she had sustained from one of the tree's branches; still, she kept running, from them, from what she had done...from Theo. People stared at her as she ran past them--a few young ladies fainted at the sight of her.
But all she could think of was...Theo.
"What have I done?" She kept repeating to herself, again and again. "Lord Vanar, what have I done? What have I done? What have I done?"
The streets grew lonely as she ran. Sometimes a carriage would go by, but wouldn't notice the scarlet-caked girl lurking in the shadows, wondering what she had done; slamming her fists against the wall, again and again, until they bled; staining the walls of the building with the same colour her own gown was sporting vividly. "What...have...I...done?"
"Just what many other young people before you have done. Just what other young people after you will continue to do again."
She started to turn around--her palms throbbed with pain, but she was numb to it. The voice continued. "What you have done, others will do in their own fashion--their own way. You are not the first--nor will you be the last."
"Who are you?" She had come face to face with a young boy in a wheelchair. His silver-blue eyes reminded her of Theo just a while ago--the same disquieting expression glowed in the boy as it did in Theo. "What do you want?" She clasped her hands to her chest--it was burning. "I...only..."
"You will know, soon enough." He leaned forwards, a dangerous glint shimmering in his eyes. "Little researcher, you don't know what you've got yourself into, do you?"
"What have you done to me?" Her chest burned even more--the pain was unbearable. "Stop it, stop it!" But he didn't stop it, and the more she tried to resist it, the more it burned. The world started to swim.
"Beatrice..." He smiled. "I found you."
Everything turned black.
Revised version:
One - The Abduction
A cold breeze whispered in her ear as she stood against the tree, her gown unable to resist the rough and scratchy surface brushing against it. A dark red stain covered the greater part of her skirt, sticky and wet to the touch. But even so, her hands probed into its folds insistently, seeking for something.
“You are...late.”
Ariana raised her cup to her lips, sipping gently at the steaming liquid that swished and curled rapidly as she set it gently on the mahogany table. A length of chain ran in a straight line alongside the cup, linked to a small and ancient golden watch. She picked it up, running a finger over the scratches that decorated the glass surface. The two hands indicated it was 10.12.
Her companion clicked his cane on the floor, then leaned to one side and rested his head on his left hand, staring at her with a curious sort of look on his face. “Enough about me. How about you? Have you been eating lately? The works?”
Ariana shook her head, smiling a little at the watch as she twirled it about in her long and pale fingers. “You are impossible, you know that?”
“I’ll bet you haven’t seen another specimen like me yet.” He stuck his tongue out at her and then resumed his laid-back position. “So how’s the family? Is the old man still alive and kicking? The Bellhead still walking around with her nose stuck up in the air?”
Ariana paused, her fingers tightening themselves around the smooth golden edges bordering the ticking face of the clock. “Father is not here.” She set down the clock and pushed it towards him--it slid across the table right into his hands, but he didn’t look happy. Probably worried it would get scratches on its surface. “He...has become one of Lord Vanar’s.”
“You mean he’s dead.”
“To put it bluntly, yes.”
“Hn. I’m curious...” He took the watch and glanced at it, leaning back against his chair. “The old man didn’t somehow go into a building and demolish it with himself in it, did he?”
“Stop joking. I’ll take your hat if you keep that up.”
“This is the first time I’m hearing of it, though! Did he die yesterday?”
Ariana glared at him--he was moving a bit too much in his chair for her taste. Now he was staring directly into her face with those wide green eyes of his. “I sent you an invitation last month, idiot. Will you stop trying to observe every single move I make?”
“But watching your eyebrow twitch is so fascinating!”
Ariana pinched the bridge of her nose. “Theo...”
“Don’t say I’m not allowed to admire you!” He winked, again clicking his cane on the floor, ignoring the way she was glaring at him. “But don’t take my hat, I’ll call you ugly and never talk to you again if you do.”
“Blatant, much?” She shook her again and laughed. “You really are impossible.”
“So the old geezer’s dead, huh?” He sat up straight, staring directly at her. Tap. “I vote we go to Bellhead and make her confess to his murder.” Tap tap.
“Theo...!” She checked herself. How had he known? Knowing him, he had probably assumed it.. He was the King of Assumptions, after all. “Do not say such things. It isn’t wise to do so.”
“I am right, though, aren’t I? She pushed him off the stairs. You saw it yourself.”
Drip, drip, drip. Fresh blood on the floor, pooling around her feet, soaking into her slippers. She stepped back, and her slippers squelched. Her finger tensed against the trigger of her gun. The memory slid into her vision, and she blinked in an attempt to seem unaffected. “L - lies. What are you saying, Theo? I never saw any such thing.”
“More like...” He sighed. Another tap from his cane. “Nobody would really believe you if you told them, would they?” She winced, and he nodded at her reaction. “I thought so.”
“How did you...”
“Never mind how I knew.” He frowned. “Rather, mind what you’re going to do now. Bellhead...she’s clan head now, isn’t she?”
“There is more...”
“You need a place to stay. Annnd...hm.” He looked at her--not at her, really, as he seemed to be rather thoughtful. “I think I know something that can help you.”
“Not one of your...’vacations’, I hope.”
“Not...exactly.” He grinned and adjusted his hat, making it straight. “Come on Ari, we’re taking you to a guild.”
“A guild?”
***
"What is this place?"
Theodore watched her as she looked around with the curiosity of a kitten. The small room was packed with people-- but only a few girls were in here. The room was especially crowded in front of the noticeboard. He took Ari's hand and led her towards the crowd.
"Theo?"
"It's a guild. They post jobs on that board there. That's how I get most of mine."
"You mean your vacations?" Ari wryly smiled back. He only shrugged and grinned at her.
"There's other places for my vacations, Ari. These, unfortunately, are what they seem to be."
"How awful."
"Indeed. Excuse me, sir, excuse me - thankee." He tipped his bowler to the man who had moved of the way. "You see, Ari, it's the modern way of getting work around this country."
"Modern indeed. Father would have both our heads if he found out you took me to such a dingy place."
"Number one, the old man is dead. Two, he'd take off your head, not mine."
"How compassionate of you." She shot back. He wasn't listening, though; he reached for a note and plucked it off, much to the annoyance of a young lady who was observing it. "Sorry ma'am."
He grinned back at her, only to be glared at. He shrugged and turned back to Ariana.
"Here's a good one. Looking for housekeeper, will pay 100 riels a month, no experience necessary."
"Sounds too good to be true."
"Frankly, what isn't?" He tipped his bowler towards the young lady he'd irritated earlier as she passed by him. She simply 'hmphed' and stuck her nose up in the air. "See that? I knew she was too good to be true."
"I thought we were here for me and not her."
"Right, right. Well. You should at least call in and see what's up with that ad. It's got a good pay, no requirements and fairly light work--I hope." He added, earning a sharp glare from her. "I'm just being realistic!"
Another note had caught Ari’s eye, however--it had been pinned to the board with a pin or rather gorgeous design, and her eyes couldn’t help but be drawn to it. “Looking for a companion. Pay will be negotiated on contact, advanced knowledge in runes of course necessary,” she murmured, an eyebrow raised. “Looks as though someone has high expectations. This pin, however...” She picked it off the board, her eyes fixed on the accessory rather than the note itself. “I wonder...what do you think, Theo?”
She looked around. “Theo?”
He stood not far off, staring apprehensively at a group of people standing near the exit to the guild. There was nothing positively different about them--the same shabby coats and bowlers, moustaches and canes as any other man in this guild. But most notably, they kept glancing at Theo--and herself, she realized with slowly growing alarm. "Theo, who are those people?"
"No one you want to be involved with, in particular." His bright green eyes swept the room at a glance. He steered Ari to the back of the room cautiously, trying not to attract attention. "How long has it been that you have a bounty on you, Ari?"
Her tongue darted out and licked her bottom lip, which still felt dry as before. "Since Father died."
"Why didn't you come to me before?" His eyes bore into hers. "An entire month...why...?"
"Isabella kicked me out just the day before yesterday." Ariana smiled wryly at him. "Apparently I was besmirching the family name."
“She took her time.” Theo shot back. “If you had come to me earlier, it would’ve been better. At least the hunt wouldn’t have been as serious as it looks right now.” He shook his head. “Bellhead knew what she was doing.”
“What are you saying? Is it really all that...?”
“The newspapers tomorrow will have a story with your face on it, count on that.” He looked around suspiciously, checking for anyone who might’ve noticed them, and reached out for the handle of the door they were standing near. With a wrench it flew open. “Come now, Ari. No need to waste our time anymore here.”
“I found something--” She found herself unable to complete her sentence as he dragged her forwards by the arm. “Theo, listen--”
“Not now, let’s get out of here!”
***
Her hands quaked as she aimed the rust-stained gun at her pursuer, unable to think properly. What happened? I don’t understand. I don’t understand at all! She took a step back, just as he homed in and launched himself at her, making her shriek and fire off a few warning shots in response. He hung back warily and stared at her. Predator and prey, analysing each other’s every move.
Ariana gulped.
Snip.
His head dropped from his shoulders, severed as though by a precise and clean blade, his blood swishing through the air and all over the fabric of her already stained gown. A dark shadow stood behind his carcass, the bright green eyes unusually radiant and piercing. A mad grin framed the rest of his words. “What are you still doing here, Ari,” he whispered, licking his lips, “when this is already the land of the unknown?”
She had been running for a long time, her hands still wrapped around the compact revolver. People shrieked and screamed at the sight of her--a few people had called out to her to stop. She didn’t care, really--considering she had just seen a Hunter having his head sliced off. Not a big occurrence at all. It was just merely your everyday run-of-the mill news.
Those Hunters had chased them clear out of the guild and into the park--she had been running, she knew, even though Theo had stopped. Her skirt felt wet. Had she stepped in water? She couldn’t remember. All she could remember was running... and then that had happened.
“Madwoman!”
“Is that...darling, is that blood on her skirt?!”
“Don’t look, Milly!”
Her eyes were closed, her heart pounded insistently against her chest, demanding to be let out. She could imagine it ripping itself from her bosom, veins and all, and leave her a sodden mess of of clothes and dead body lying on the streets of Bodrem. Her hands shook, the gun still firmly grasped in her hand. Concentrate, Ari, concentrate. There’s a pack of Hunters on your tail now. Don’t think--don’t think about him. What you saw was nothing more than your imagination. Just a nightmare, Ari. You probably went to sleep without realizing. Just a nightmare, really. It couldn’t really be Theo, could it?
Could it?
The gun slid from her sweaty palm onto the ground, and her heart thumped more insistently. For a moment the world became a sea of dim lights and brick roads twisting and coiling into a whirlpool--of the unknown, as he had said. “The unknown...do you want to know what the unknown really is, Ariana Lawrence?”
She turned around, slowly--her gown had by this time become too heavy to allow her to move freely. Shadows lurked in the corner of her vision, attempting to crawl into her consciousness and claim it for their own. She stood steady, but felt as though she could drop below the ground and nobody would notice.
“Who are you, Ariana?” The boy--no, he was older, Ariana realized. Maybe even older than herself. He sat in a wheelchair, staring at her with blue eyes--radiant and eerie, sharp and ghostly, just like the eyes of the shadow. It couldn’t be Theo. “You have some interesting thoughts there. Would you like me to help you?”
Where am I? She stared down at her hands--the gun wasn’t there. It lay a good distance away from her, nearer to the boy rather than herself. She couldn’t help thinking he was a boy. She also couldn’t help thinking that the buildings seemed to be trying to close around her. “Who are you?”
“I believe you were thinking much, much more than that, Miss Lawrence. You were thinking the thoughts of the like that say...‘I wish to faint’, were you not?”
“How would you know...” The strength in her legs faded--it was as if it wasn’t there in the first place. “What’s happening...to...me...?”
“I would watch what you pick up in the future, Miss Lawrence. That artifact in your pocket is so much more than a simple accessory, after all.” He wheeled over to her, looking at her more closely as if she was a lab experiment. “Yes I am...very interested in what you have to say.”
“Stop...”
He smirked and leaned forwards, clasping her face in his hands. Ariana stared bleakly up at him, trying to make out the details of his face. All that swam in her vision, however, was Theo...Isabella...papa...
“You’ll...perfect...” His words became dim to her ears, as the entire world began to shut down. Am I dying? Is this death? Her eyelids flickered in a last moment of rebellion. Theo...I mustn’t die...even if Theo...even if...I must...he must...
“Goodnight...Beatrice.”
