Total pages in book: 209
Estimated words: 196141 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 981(@200wpm)___ 785(@250wpm)___ 654(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 196141 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 981(@200wpm)___ 785(@250wpm)___ 654(@300wpm)
Kaleb glances into the brightness again. He takes a breath. It’s now that he finally realizes he’s certain of his conviction. “I can’t,” he decides, then turns to her again. “I want to stay.”
Her eyes burn like blue fire, showing her satisfaction. She smirks, says, “Good boy.”
Then snaps her fingers.
At once, the entire room shatters.
10.
Are You Afraid?
—∙—
From the mirrored ceiling to its mirrored pillars to its floor, everything cracks apart in a mad cacophony of screaming glass, the dark blue walls raining down in sharp, twirling splinters and shimmering shards all around Kaleb.
He ducks and shields his head, terrified.
The next second, it’s over, perfectly silent. He lifts his head to find himself transported to a warm, stone room, the cellar of a castle perhaps, torches lining the walls, just a stack of crates in one corner, a dusty table, nothing else. He sees a staircase in front of him where light pours down from an upper floor. Standing in the light is the shape of the nurse, gazing down upon Kaleb.
With a start, Kaleb realizes she, too, has transformed. She’s a beautiful woman in an emerald green dress, long locks of dark hair draped against flawless copper skin, eyes burning with satisfaction, two flickering flames. Kaleb steps back, stumbling, frightened at first, then awed the longer he stares at her.
She seems amused. “Don’t worry. You are safe now. 1025, is it? No more,” she states grandly, lifting her chin, making her appear even twice as tall as she was a moment ago. “You shall be acknowledged by your true name. Kaleb, I believe I heard.”
He tries to agree, tries to say his name, fails at both.
“Come with me,” she says, tone friendly. A twinkle of delight lives in her eyes as she turns, the splendor of her green dress shimmering in the torchlight, the low-plunging back showing the whole length of her supple back as she calmly ascends the stairs.
Kaleb makes an immediate choice not to hesitate and test her patience. He quickly follows, ignoring—or entirely forgetting—the twinge in his right knee, as well as the dread pressing heavily upon his chest. The top of the stairs opens to a curving stone hallway, also lined with torches, beams of thick wood overhead. He follows the woman silently, only the sound of their mismatched footsteps filling the hall, hers hard, his soft. He swallows countless questions that fill his mind as he presses on, suppressing sudden urges to cry, to faint, to throw up.
Then they arrive at an entirely out-of-place elevator in the wall, a piece of advanced technology embedded in a medieval castle basement. Perhaps she really is taking him back to the cells, just as he had requested.
When they step inside, however, her fingers slide up to the higher buttons, where she presses the fourth from the top. She glances at him sidelong, smiles at his clueless face. “I suppose you are wondering where we are headed.” Kaleb finds himself still incapable of speech. He nods. “You also must be wondering about your friends.” She lets out a flighty sigh. “They’re safe. No harm will come to them at all. As you said, we treat you nicely, yes?”
We.
That word erases every last doubt from his mind.
And then he lets the words slip: “This was a test.”
“Yes,” she answers simply, “and you passed. Are you proud?”
Kaleb stares ahead, unable to blink. If he passed the test, what happened to those who didn’t? Will they be punished? But why did she say they were safe?
Nico, his brother Matteo, and their bakery … His dream was never possible. He will be so crushed. Kaleb’s heart collapses.
“Your friends are all fine,” she says again, as if reading his mind. Can she read his mind? Are his thoughts no longer safe? “Do you think this was the first escape attempted? We barely bat an eye now when one occurs. It neither offends nor annoys us anymore. We have a responsibility to keep you unharmed, a responsibility we do not take lightly. And just as well, we must keep ourselves unharmed, too. Understand? It’s but a mutual assurance of each other’s safety.” She smiles upon him like a caring mother, though Kaleb wouldn’t guess by her appearance that her age is much different than his own.
The door opens. She steps off, and Kaleb follows.
The environment now is quite changed, as they walk down a wide, regal hallway reminiscent of a Victorian mansion, with fancy side tables, neatly-preened plants with lively blooms set in oversized decorative pots, and artful wall sconces glowing with warm amber light. Red velvet carpeting runs down the center of the hardwood floors, softening their footsteps. Each door is surprisingly wide and tall, everything open, welcoming. They pass a grand banister with a curved staircase leading down, then a cheery sitting area with tea tables and ornate cushioned chairs, then another sitting area nestled into a wide bay window with thick red curtains pulled closed. “Here,” says the woman as they arrive at a door, which itself is tucked away into a very short hall all by itself, like it has its own foyer complete with a rug set before it. “Are you afraid?” She seems to have noticed Kaleb standing in place. “Don’t be. Come.”