Your guys’ comments on my last post helped break the spell, and I’m grateful. I don’t know what they did to me, but when I read my last post, I cringed. They made me say stuff, believe stuff, I never would have. I don’t want to help my kidnappers. And I hate this room. It has no windows and they’ve locked me in. And the phone, while new, isn’t my favorite and it’s chained to the wall. I also know there are mutilated bodies in the hospital gardens. I saw them.
And those promises Cassiopeia made me give? I don’t know how, but I can’t break them. I called my parents and my friends, but I couldn’t seem to tell them anything that happened. I also tried to call the police, but my fingers refused to dial anything. Your comments broke the haze they had me in and made me realize how strange that was.
Maybe it’s for the better that I can’t let anyone know. Mika said they have people in the force. What if they tell on me and kill me? They also know my address. What if they go after my family?
I’m just glad the promise didn’t forbid me from letting complete strangers know of my situation, because you guys gave me advice that both terrified me yet prepared me. I don’t know how they can do what they do, but I should avoid eye contact and avoid making promises with them until I’m safe. I know I already promised to help find Cassiopeia’s brother, but maybe I can weasel my way out of that. I’ve already gotten dressed and I’m hyping myself up.
Hang on, someone is unlocking the door. It’s very early morning now, I’ll continue writing this later … If I’m still alive.
…
I’m back, it’s late, and I’m a shaking mess. I don’t know how to even explain what happened today or all the crazy things I learned. You guys were right. These people aren’t human, and there are other non-humans out there too, and it’s terrifying.
Today started when a guy around my age unlocked the door and brought me breakfast. My pulse raced as I prepared to fight for my rights, but his appearance made me forget all that for a second. I couldn’t look away. He was cuter than any boy I’d ever seen, his canines prominent, eyes just as green as Mika’s, hair a tousled mess of the deepest red.
“Good morning, I hope you slept well!” He said, walking in with a bright smile.
“I … I …”
“It’s nice to meet you! There’s been a lot of talk since Mika brought you in last night.“ He nodded at the tray in his hands. “I made you breakfast. I’m Desmod. Cassiopeia thought you’d be more comfortable dealing with someone closer to your age.”
The smell of fried eggs snapped me out of my trance, and my cheeks heated up as I crossed my arms and looked away. “I’m n-not comfortable dealing with any of you,” I said, tension hitching my voice. “I want to go home … after I help Cassiopeia find her brother.”
I blinked in shock. “No, wait. I didn’t mean to say that!”
He chuckled. “I know, Cassiopeia persuaded you.”
I blinked again, not expecting him to admit anything.
“She was talking about how you barely had a barrier,” he said, placing the tray on the desk. “Most people put one up, but she said you were very innocent and so eager to learn about your gift that it was a piece of cake.”
I frowned in uneasy offense. “I didn’t know she was going to hypnotize me, or I’d have put one up.”
“It wasn’t hypnosis, it was persuasion.”
“No, it was more than that. She hypnotized me to make promises I never would have made, and now I can’t break them.”
“Yeah, all us folk here can use promises to our advantage, but Cassiopeia and Mika have it easier because they can persuade you to do it. Um … is there a reason you’re not looking at me?”
I tensed up and stepped back. “I don’t want to be hypnotized.”
He chuckled. “And here I thought you’re intimidated because I’m really really really ridiculously good-looking.”
I stared at the ground in silent bewilderment, not expecting a playful movie quote or self-aware vanity.
“Don’t worry,” he continued, “only Cassiopeia and Mika can persuade, and they do it with touch, not looks.”
I shook my head. “That’s a lie. Her eyes were practically glowing.”
“I mean, the eyes do help people relax a bit, we all have it, but persuasion is all in the touch. Or else Mika could have persuaded you to spill your secret without threatening you. But he’s a germaphobe and hates physical contact unless it’s absolutely necessary.”
I frowned, my pulse racing faster as I took in his words.
“Will you please look at me?” Desmod said. “It feels weird having a conversation when the other person is staring at the floor. I promise I won’t bite.”
After a few hesitant seconds, I turned my gaze towards him, and he smiled. “You’ve got really pretty eyes. Are they black or are your pupils super dilated or something?”
“Um … th-they’re black,” I reply, wary as I prepared myself to look away the moment I felt my mind invaded.
“Never seen black eyes before! I mean, on a human. I know other creatures have them.” He looked around. “Are you comfortable here? Do you need anything? More pillows?”
“Nothing can make a prison cell comfortable.”
“This isn’t a cell, it’s a guest room! Cassiopeia just wanted to keep the door locked because she didn’t want you getting lost or going to places you shouldn’t be. This place is pretty big. And all rooms here lack windows, not just yours, because we’re underground.”
I stared at him, startled. “Underground?”
“Yeah, safer.”
I gulped. “From … from who?”
“The packs, flocks, and pods.”
My stomach growled, half from hunger, half from tension, and he raised his eyebrows in concern before he quickly gestured to the tray. “You’re hungry. Here, I made you some scrambled eggs with toast and orange juice. Would you like anything else?”
I shook my head, his relative harmlessness not quite erasing my discomfort. “I d-don’t want anything from you guys. I want to go home …. After I help find Cassiopeia’s brother.”
Damn it!
“And you will,” Desmod said.
I scoured my mind for a way to bypass the promise, and I ended up blurting out, “I don’t want to help murderers.”
I blanched as my stomach knotted, afraid of provoking my captors, but Desmod didn’t seem offended as he shrugged. “It’s kind of hard to avoid deaths when you’re at war.”
“War?” I asked with a nervous frown. “What war?”
“The one between us and the packs, flocks, and pods.”
“What are those?”
“Don’t worry, it doesn’t really affect you.”
“How doesn’t it affect me?” I asked, my nerves cropping up in my tone. “You … you guys buried hundreds of mutilated bodies in my city. If there’s a war, it’s literally in my backyard!”
He smiled and lifted a hip to perch on the desk. “We didn’t bury anything in your city.”
I narrowed my eyes at him. “You and Cassiopeia can’t gaslight me. I saw them.”
“That’s the cool part! It’s why Mika brought you over. You literally saw across spheres.”
I did a double take in confusion. “What?”
He cupped his hands one atop the other, creating a ball. “This is your sphere, the world you know. Overlapping it is our sphere. We can’t see you and you can’t see us, but we can shift to your sphere whenever we want. Well, I can’t, yet. But in a few months I’ll be able to!”
He chuckled and put his hands down. “We just have to be careful, because the spheres aren’t identical. For example, here, we’re in your room in our underground fortress. In your sphere, this exact location is half a mile in the earth beneath Mercy Care Hospital. And your bustling city and the surrounding woods, towns, and bay? Here, it’s a sprawling, lifeless desert. That explains why you never saw weird glows before now!”
My face twitched as bafflement and shock toyed with my expression.
“So, the bodies you saw, they’re buried here, on our sphere,” Desmod continued. “But somehow, you saw their glow from yours! That’s pretty awesome.”
I felt dizzy and stumbled back onto the bed, staring at the ground in disbelief. “So … I’m not in my … sphere now?”
“No.”
“How do I get back?”
“You need one of us to transport you. Well, not me, not yet.”
“How … how was I able to talk to my parents and friends and go online?”
“Our tech lets us connect easily with your sphere.”
I looked up at him with apprehension. “Wh-What are you guys?”
“It doesn’t matter right now. What does matter is your energy.” He stood up and nodded at my breakfast. “Eat, and I’ll drop by in fifty minutes to escort you to the car,” he said as he walked backwards to the door. “Can’t wait to see what you can do!”
He closed and locked the door, but I didn’t move, his words twirling through my stunned mind. Was everything he said true, or was he messing with me? Or did he persuade me? No, it couldn’t be, because my mind is clear. When Cassiopeia did it, it felt like a haze was keeping me docile and stupid.
Desmod seemed genuine, but what he said was utterly outside the realm of reality. Was there really a whole other sphere overlapping ours? What was he? What were they? Why could they travel between spheres but we didn’t even know spheres existed?
I didn’t know fifty minutes had passed until Desmod returned, and he frowned at the untouched tray. “You didn’t eat.”
“I’m not hungry,” I muttered, still sitting on the bed. “I don’t feel good.”
“It’s because you didn’t eat.” He pulled a protein bar out of his pocket. “Here, maybe you’ll like this better.”
“Oh, um … thanks,” I said, hesitating before I reached for it.
“Sure thing! But you better eat it quick on the way to the car, Mika hates crumbs all over his seats. Come, follow me!”
My body stood up and followed him, even though my mind was protesting. Flooded with unease at the power a promise had, I tried to find another way to ensure my safety as Desmod led me through a drab, gray hall.
“Desmond?”
He looked back. “Yeah? And it’s Desmod, by the way.”
“Oh. Never heard that name before.”
“I know, I picked it out myself,” he said with a proud smile as he slowed down to walk beside me.
I frowned. “You picked your own name?”
“We all do, at a certain stage. Better than ending up with one you hate. Do you like your name?”
I nodded. “Yeah, it works with me, and I like what it means. Does yours mean anything?”
He shot me a mischievous smirk. “It does, I’ll wait for you to figure it out.”
His good-natured attitude and courtesy continued dulling my discomfort, but they weren’t enough to distract me from my looming task, my subservience against my will, and my imprisonment, despite Desmod’s insistence otherwise.
After an anxious second, I asked, “You guys will take me back home after all this, right?”
“Of course!”
“Even after everything you told me?”
He shrugged. “Not like anyone would believe you.”
“Where are we going now?”
“We’re going to where we’re most likely to find Cassiopeia’s brother.”
“And where is that?”
He hesitated before he said, “Enemy territory.”
I tensed up. “What! Isn’t that dangerous?”
“Don’t worry, we won’t let anything happen to you.” Desmod opened a door at the far end of the hall and gestured inside. “Mika and his team will protect you.”
My tension didn’t ebb as I found myself facing Mika and seven of his thugs. They were dressed in strange black suits that made them look like goth astronauts, their helmets like iridescent, upsidedown fishbowls. They were piling weapons into the back of two black, tank-like vehicles, and I gulped as I took a step back.
“Put your armor on and get in the car,” Mika said. “We’ll join you shortly.”
“Wh-Why can’t I see the glowmains from my sphere?” I asked Mika before I turned to Desmod. “You said I could see them from there. Isn’t that safer?”
Mika sighed. “This location is a valley on our sphere, but Mount Kilimanjaro in yours. You mentioned that you only see death glows in air, and that the deeper the bodies, the smaller the death glow. Hence, they will be too deep for you to detect on your sphere.”
“Wait, wait.” I stared at him in confused shock. “Kilimanjaro? Isn’t … isn’t that in Africa or something?”
“Yes, Tanzania,” Desmod replied.
I turned to him, stunned. “We’re going to Tanzania?”
“Well, it’s not called that here.”
“We’re going that distance in these …” I gestured to the cars. “… these tanks?”
“Yes. They’re multipurpose. They can be subs and planes if they need to. They can even hover!”
I studied the vehicles in disbelief. “What?”
“Come, check it out!” Desmod said, opening a car door for me.
“Wait.” Mika studied what was in my hand. “No food in my car.”
Desmod rolled his eyes before he turned to me. “Just eat it quick.”
“I … I’m not hungry.”
“No problem, just toss it there,” he said, pointing to a shelf.
“And wear your armor,” Mika said.
I shelved my breakfast, and I hugged myself when Desmod dragged over a bulky heap, my pulse accelerating.
“I’ll help you get into yours,” he said, snapping open buckles before kneeling. “Just put your legs through here, and I’ll slide it up and strap you in.”
“Will w-we be going into a war zone?” I asked.
“No, this is just a precaution. It’s bulletproof, piercing proof, fireproof, poisonous gas proof. You’ll be completely safe in case anything happens.”
“Hurry up,” Mika said, slamming the trunk.
With a nervous breath, I slipped into the flexible and surprisingly comfortable armor, and I stood in anxious silence while Desmod secured me inside. I then watched him get into his armor while one of Mika’s men secured him. Once we were both protected, Desmod smiled and gestured towards the back seat of the first car.
“After you!”
Taking a deep breath, I slipped inside, and I scooted all the way to the other end when he sat beside me.
“Nice, isn’t it?” he asked, opening an overhead light. “My dad probably doesn’t care about anything as much as he cares about this car.”
“Wait, Mika is your dad?” I asked, turning to him in surprise.
“Yeah.”
“Are you adopted too?”
He gave me a funny smile. “I guess you can say that.”
I jumped when the back door opened, and I cringed when one of the men entered and sandwiched me between himself and Desmod. A second later, two other men sat on the seats across from us, all three of them excessively brawny.
“Why does Callan have to sit with us?” Desmod asked as Mika sat in the front passenger seat.
“Safety,” Mika replied.
“Can’t Hawk sit with us instead? Callan’s the size of three men, we’re squashed like sardines back here.”
I recoiled into Desmod as the man beside me glared at him, his green eyes flashing.
Mika sighed. “Callan, switch places with Hawk.”
Callan exited the car with a final sharp look at Desmod, and I let out a tense breath as I sat up straight. A second later, a woman entered, and I was relieved to see she wasn’t as robust as Callan.
“This is much better, right Serena?” Desmod asked. “Hawk smells better too.”
I didn’t know if it would be rude to agree or not, so I just shrugged.
“Alright, let’s go,” Mika said. “Desmod …”
Desmod sighed and took off his armored glove before he took off mine, and I gasped when he held my hand.
“Don’t touch me!” I yelled as I pulled away, afraid of getting persuaded.
“Sorry, I had to!” he said, cringing in apology as he handed me my glove back.
I opened my mouth to retort, but my words disappeared when I looked through the window. We weren’t in a drab, gray garage anymore. We were in a forest.
“What … what happened?” I asked, my voice shaking as I looked through the rear windshield. “Did y-you mess with my mind?”
“No, I can’t do that,” Desmod said. “None of us can.”
“Please exit the vehicle,” Mika said, opening his door. “We don’t have time to waste.”
Mika, Hawk, Desmod and the three other men got out, but I was still utterly discombobulated. “W-wait … then how? We … we just sat down …”
“You’ll get used to it,” Desmod said with a kind smile. “Come out, we need to do this before anyone knows we’re here.”
After a second of wary hesitation, I got out of the car and stood beside Desmod, my heart racing as I looked around. We really were in a forest, a lilac sky filled with turquoise clouds above our heads.
A breeze swept through the strange, dark trees, and I spied the glowmains of a variety of weird creatures littering the ground. A high pitched garble echoed through the leaves, and I gasped as a winged creature swooped to the ground, pouncing on a horned rabbit.
“Wh-where are we?” I asked, my lost eyes searching for answers in Desmod’s.
“We’re overlapping Tanzania,” he said, seeming wary as he nodded to my glove. “You better put that on.”
“How d-did we get here so fast?” I asked, slipping it back on. “What … what did you do to me when you took this off?”
“This way,” Mika said, before Desmod could answer. “Hawk, Callan, Everest, Liche, Slad, keep an eye out. Claude, Jin, bring her.”
Claude and Jin came on either side of me, and I shied away as they held my arms. “Ow!”
“Hey, you don’t need to do that!” Desmod said as they dragged me after Mika.
“We don’t have time,” Mika said.
They dragged me towards a rocky cliff at the edge of the forest, and I stopped struggling as I gawked at the sprawling black, barren valley below. I’d never seen so many glowmains in one place before. Not even in a graveyard.
“Do you see the spikes below?” Mika asked. “There’s a body buried beneath each one. Do you see their glow?”
“Y-yes,” I replied.
“Do you see one that’s human-shaped with one leg and no head?”
I winced, then squinted as I scanned the valley. “I … I can’t tell from this height, there’s so many. And at this angle, they’re overlapping. Wh-what is this place?”
“It’s a trophy site,” Desmod replied. “For one of the most vicious packs th—”
“There’s no time for explanations,” Mika interrupted. “If we take you closer, will you be able to differentiate between the glows?”
“Closer?” I asked as I turned to him in fear. “Is that safe with a war going on?”
Mika cast an irritated look at Desmod before replying, “We’ll keep you safe. Now answer my question.”
“I … I don’t know. They’re so densely packed I’d need a birdseye’s view so they don’t overlap. Wh-Why can’t we stay in the car and just hover over them?”
“Because we’d be easy to spot. In your armor, you’ll be less obvious.” Mika turned to Claude and Jin. “Take her down. Stop when she tells you to.”
I looked at Desmod with apprehension as the two men dragged me down into the valley, and he shot me an encouraging look back as he gave me two thumbs up. Gulping, I turned my gaze back to the glowmains, attempting to tell them apart. Some had split legs and tattered skin, just like the ones I saw when I was at the abandoned hospital.
The closer we got, the easier it was for me to make individual ones out. Some looked like unusually slender women, many looked like tiny dolls with four wings, a few looked like gorillas with rabbit ears, and some looked human, minus the heads.
“That area, there,” I said, pointing. “Those are all missing h-heads.”
Jin and Claude hustled me down and walked me across the far half of the massive grave site, and I strained my eyes as I studied all the decapitated glowmains below us, each vibrant against the black sand. Every once in a while, I’d glance up at the cliff, spying Desmod and Mika camouflaged between the dark trees.
Once we covered the decapitated section, I looked up at Jin and Claude. “N-none are missing a leg.”
I’d barely finished my sentence before they began dragging me back up to the cliff. I didn’t know how their feet were keeping hold over the hillside’s loose rocks and steep angles, but they didn’t even break a sweat as they hurried to the top.
When we were only a few feet away from Mika and Desmod, three spears the size of two-by-fours shot out from between the trees, hitting Jin, Claude, and me directly in the chest. I grunted in shock as my ribs exploded with pain, and a tremulous scream flew from my throat as we began falling backwards.
My terrified eyes darted around as I clawed helplessly at the air, and I gasped as an arm wrapped around me. Jin had grabbed me, and he was now pressing me to his chest as we slid headfirst towards the valley, the chaos of war cries echoing around us.
I flinched as gunshots pierced the air, and rocks and dust flew as Jin pivoted and jumped upright. Claude ran over to us, and they shoved me down into a crouch as they stood on either side of me, protecting me as they pulled out their guns. Ducking low, I patted my chest with trembling hands. No blood. Not even a rip. The pain was immense but without this armor I’d have been dead.
Figures in dark gray fatigues, thick black vests, crossbows, and helmets descended upon us, and I cowered into myself as they let out chilling roars. Three zooming, dark blurs knocked them down, and my eyes nearly popped out of their sockets when they slowed down and I realized they were Callan, Hawk, and another of Mika’s goons.
Bullets ricocheted and arrows flew, and I ducked my head and squeezed my eyes shut, my manic heart thudding in my chest. A second later, I no longer felt Claude to my right, and I gasped as something grabbed my ankles and pulled me away. I clawed at the black dirt as I screamed for help, but that did nothing as I was flipped over to face my attacker.
She straddled me and bared her sharpened teeth as she ripped off my helmet and gripped my head, and I stared in horror at the yellow eyes peering at me beneath the wolf insignia on the helmet. The eyes, at first wide with rage, now narrowed in confusion as they stared back at me, and I shrieked as blood exploded all over my face.
My hyperventilating breaths came out in spasming squeaks as I trembled beneath my attacker’s weight, her fresh glowmains hovering above her as blood seeped from where those yellow eyes had been only seconds before. Another figure in a wolf helmet shoved the body off me, and a quivering moan of fright trembled through my lips as he aimed a crossbow right between my eyes.
I ducked beneath my trembling arms, certain this was my death, but a grunt and a crash made me peek between my fingers. My eyes grew wide as I realized Mika had tackled my attempted murderer, the arrow meant for me now sticking out of the dirt an inch from my head. After some violent wrestling and growling, Mika gained the upper hand and shoved his gun beneath the other’s jaw, and I turned away in horror as gunfire jolted my soul.
“Desmod!” Mika yelled.
I turned back to him, shaking, tears in my eyes as I took in his blood-splattered helmet and the fresh glowmains beneath him. Someone materialized right beside me, and I jerked away screaming before I realized it was Desmod. Mika spoke to him in a language I didn’t understand, barely flinching as an arrow cracked his helmet, and Desmod nodded and replied, his voice shaking as he touched my face.
I blinked, and I blinked again in confusion when I found myself in the bedroom, lying down on the bed. I sat up in a panic, my pulse revving as I stared at Desmod standing in front of me.
“Serena, I have to go back and help,” he said, the fear obvious in his green eyes as he backed away towards the door. “You’re safe. I’ll tell Cassiopeia you’re back.”
“No, wait!” I yelled as he closed the door and locked it.
I looked around, my mind racing my heart as I struggled to accept what just happened. We were attacked. Mika saved my life … and killed a man point-blank. I shuddered, hugging myself. I saw two people die today, in the span of a minute. This was war, just like Desmod said, but it was terrifying how cold and methodical Mika was. At least Desmod seemed conflicted. And how did he take me there, and bring me back, without me even realizing it? I looked down. I wasn’t even wearing the armor anymore. I didn’t like this. I didn’t want to be here anymore. I wanted to go home.
I jumped as the door opened. “Serena. Oh, dear, oh, dear,” Cassiopeia tutted as she walked in, another beautiful, green-eyed lady behind her. “I’m sorry this happened. Let Mallory look you over.”
“I w-want to go home,” I said, my voice cracking. “After I help you find your brother.”
I squeezed my eyes shut, tears trickling down my cheeks.
“I know, I know.” She sat beside me and reached for my hands. “And you—”
“No!” I jerked away and jumped off the bed, my pulse stuttering. “Don’t touch me! Don’t even look at me. I don’t want you to persuade me!”
“Serena, please calm down, dear. I only want to help you relax.”
“No, you make me make promises I don’t want to. Make me think things … feel things … I shouldn’t,” I said, a sob catching in my throat.
“There’s no harm in that, is there?” She stood up and walked over to me. “Imagine it’s a light sedative to help ease your stress.”
“I want my stress!” I yelled, backing away. “It keeps me alert! You … you make me feel like I’m stupid!”
“You’re anything but. You’re an exceptional young woman and we all want to keep you safe.”
“No, you want me to be a compliant prisoner. Like … like a drugged pet or something!”
“Serena, that’s no way to talk about our hospitality. You’re remaining here until you help us locate my brother and you’ll find it a lot more comfortable if you let me help you relax and relieve your trauma.”
“No!”
I pushed past her and ran out of the room, darting down the drab, gray hall towards the garage. I glanced behind me to see if I was being followed, and I felt a mixture of confusion and relief when I saw no one. I turned back to face the front, and I screamed as I crashed right into Cassiopeia.
She didn’t even flinch or stumble, and my panic piqued as she hugged me close, caressing my neck. I already had a barrier up, and I fought to reinforce it as I struggled to escape her embrace, but it was to no avail as that horrible haze fogged my logic and autonomy.
“There, there,” she soothed. “Just relax. You’ll be alright.”
“Wh-what are you?” I asked, sobbing as my struggles waned.
“That’s not something you need to worry about, dear.”
I nodded, sniffling. “Okay …”
“That’s a good girl. You did incredibly today, we’re very proud of you. You’ll feel no trauma after what happened today. Tomorrow should hopefully be less intense. Now we’re going to go back to your room so Mallory can look you over, and then you’re going to eat all of your dinner. You’re very hungry, aren’t you?”
“Yes …”
“Good, because we ordered a pizza for you from your sphere. Your favorite is all-dressed, isn’t it?”
I licked my lips. “Yes …”
“Wonderful. And after dinner, you’re going to wash up and have a sound sleep. You need it, you’re exhausted!”
I nodded, breathing in her musky perfume.
“And tomorrow, do you promise to do all you can to help us find my brother?”
“I promise,” I whispered.
“Wonderful. Now come, dear, let’s go back to your room.”
Cassiopeia led me back, and I let Mallory tend to my wounds. The armor helped dissipate the force of the spear, resulting in a dark bruise but no broken ribs. They brought me a piping hot all-dressed pizza, which I blissfully devoured, and they left me to shower, slip into a fresh nightgown, and slide into bed.
But before I closed my eyes, I reached for my phone, and rereading my previous post and the comments brought everything back. I sat up, tears of fretful anger welling in my eyes. I hated all-dressed pizzas. I only liked plain cheese. And how did she materialize in front of me so fast when I left her in the room? Just as fast as Mika’s men in the field. And how did they transport me in the blink of an eye? What were they? What on Earth did I get wrapped up in?
I called my parents and friends, but yet again I couldn’t tell them anything. I was trapped. I was helpless.
Part 1 - Part 2 - Part 3 - Part 4 - Part 5
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