"I just thought that maybe ... since -the office is a far ways, I-"
Sena. Hendrix needn"t to bother to listen to the rest of his sentence. Her mind was firmly settled while standing under the archway of the large wooden door. "My office, at eight o"clock, or there will be h.e.l.l to pay. For you, and you alone," she said with a disdainfully c.o.c.ky att.i.tude.
"What about Corinth! Will he pay the price of h.e.l.l too, because you"re too stubborn to be sensitive to my situation. For goodness sake I can barely breathe, better yet walk! I thought you had a high level of respect for that unnamed idol of yours!" Criston"s emotions began to bubble over as he nervously fidgeted in the bed.
Sena. Hendrix walked on, then willfully stopped herself just outside the doorway, but didn"t bother to turn back. She just stood there for a second in thought. She was affected by those words. The expression on her face noticeably changed to something more compa.s.sionate, but also fearful. Though her surface hard sh.e.l.l was cracked momentarily, she quickly regained control. She blocked out her affections for Corinth, and dug her claws deep into his father.
"You"d play your own son as a card in this ill witted game. You"re a disgraceful father." Cris" head dropped low in defeat. "And, for the record, I"m not disrespecting my "idol"- I"m disrespecting you!" And with that, she disappeared into the dank halls of the tower. While her black high heels clopped away on the cobblestone ground, you could hear a faint echo of her saying... "Eight o"clock, Sen. Gambit, eight o"clock..."
Now,Corinth and Criston were finally alone, and safe all at once. It"s remarkable considering what"s transpired over the last two years. Though you"d expect a lengthy conversation to ensue, neither of them had much to say. Corinth now knew it was indeed his father who stole him away from the comforts of his bedroom that fateful night. Before then, Cory had no recognition of me, the Nexus. I was awakened, in a sense, by the jarring psychologically toll it took on him when he was kidnapped. Any child would have been scared out of their mind, but in a way, Corinth was scared deep within his own. For almost two years the boy"s been in a hyperbolic coma. He didn"t know much of anything about how the Worlds were steadily changing around him. He slept free of that, and now he needs a refresher course. But it seems his father is stunned into a new wave of silence. And this one he can"t break as easily as he did with Sena. Hendrix. He knew how fragile their relationship was at the moment.
He decided to start slow and work his way toward a more fatherly position. "Corinth, I want you to know that-"
He was cut off by a simple action. There was no need for all that chatter, Corinth decided. Instead of waiting to hear what his father had to say, he jumped down from the rocky windowsill and ran into him head on. His disregard for his own safety bit him on the b.u.t.t when he slammed into the metal railings on the hospital bed, but he didn"t care about the pain. He just wanted to be with his dad. Cris used what little strength he had to help Cory into the bed with his one stable hand. They hugged with teary eyes and no words for quite some time.
It was about seven-thirty pm when Corinth finally broke the loving silence. He was lying in his father lap, atop the hospital bed, like a little kid, when he asked. "You"re going to leave me here, aren"t you?"
Criston replied stealthily. "I"m not sure yet if that"s even possible."
Corinth was relieved. He didn"t want to be separated from his parents ever again. But he was curiously concerned about his mom, and what Sena. Hendrix had said. And for that matter, he still didn"t completely understand how we all made it out the Chancellor"s office. So, I whispered in his mind, "the spell," and he unnecessarily nodded his head in conformation.
"What"s up, kid?" Cris chirped at his boy while he was wrapped up in his arms.
"Huh?" Corinth said with a sly bit of surprise.
"Why are you nodding?" His dad pressed on willfully. He was genuinely interested in what was going on inside his son"s brain.
"It"s nothing, I"m just thinking," Corinth evasively informed him. He didn"t want to put any more weight on his father"s mind. Though Corinth felt like he had a lot of heavy lifting to do in his own head. He simply didn"t want to remind his dad that he was psychic and the many great deal of responsibilities that all entails. But somehow, I"m certain that Criston hasn"t forgotten that "minor" detail.
"Who taught you that spell, Dad?" Corinth sort of shouted as he jumped up and turned around. He looked his dad dead in the eyes with a priceless innocence.
"An old friend from my childhood."
"What friend... was it granddad?"
"Granddad"s my father, not a friend," Cris said with a slight smile that hurt his jaw just to make. His pain was still as effervescent as when his ash hand drifted away with the winds.
"That"s a stupid thing to say," Corinth replied boldly. "Are you saying that just because granddad was your dad that you guys weren"t friends. So you don"t think of me and mom as friends?"
Criston was perplexed. Corinth seemed like he was just being honest, but his choice of words didn"t suit Cris" style of parenting. He"s a police officer after all. Always trying to keep a lid on everything and everyone, except himself in most cases. He wanted to scold Corinth, but those big turquoise eyes always made him flow as easy as water. He didn"t bother with it.
"No, Cory. I love you, mom and even granddad, on a higher level than friendship. You"re family, and that is an everlasting bond. No matter what, I will always be at your side when you need for something. My love for you carries our relationship through all time and s.p.a.ce-forever!" Cris insisted with a broad smile that nearly broke his fragile jaw.
Those words made Corinth feel a lot better about his dad. He had been uneasy, but he knew now. He knew there would always be someone in his corner. "Is mom going to be all right?"
"Honestly, buddy," Cris was entirely too tired for more excuses, "I don"t know the answer to that question. But I do know your mom. I"m sure she has the strength to overcome her ego and all the strain this new power"s placed on her."
Corinth liked that his dad trusted him with that information. He felt like a big kid, like a grown up. Instead of the little kid he saw every time he pa.s.sed a mirror. He was too small for sports in his age group. Well, at least Julia thought so. Though she took him to the roof for encouragement to wield magik, or fall trying, she never seemed to like the thought of him playing the most popular sport around, Levanta.r.s.e. He always felt small and insignificant because of things like that. Not to mention the fact that he could barely manage a spell in English. Better yet, trying to wield in the cursed language. Corinth wanted to turn over a new leaf. One that revealed him as a force to be reckoned with, or at least a force to be respected by his peers as an equal.
Corinth used his new power to sneakily peek inside of his father"s mind. In Criston"s mind, Corinth found the real answer to his earlier question. His dad was definitely leaving him at the school. He could feel that the uneasy relationship between Sena. Hendrix and his dad was going to have a major impact on how his stay at Aurora Boreal would go. He didn"t know how exactly, but he knew it in his head. Still, he was glad that his dad seemed stable and ready to face all the hardships the Grand Ministrant, the dreadful Hendrix, mentioned earlier. He felt the fear while in his father"s mind, but also the confidence that spurred him to do all he"s done in the past few days.
He decided not to probe his dad"s mind too deep. He respected him too much to just go digging around like some mind-thief. It was just in time that he collected that information too, because it"s now six minutes to eight o"clock.
"Dad, the time ... Sena. Hendrix ... She"s going to flip!" Corinth was shouting out phrase after phrase. He"d only known her for two days, and he"s already afraid of the old bat. She does have that kind of heavy affect on people. A bit of a charmless-charm.
"Relax," said his dad easily. "She talks a big game, but she doesn"t always follow through."
"But what if today is that lucky day!" Corinth was still shouting. "Look dad-" Corinth pulled his father"s arm, and brought him in close. "I know you think she likes you underneath that tough exterior, but I"m thinking something more like..." Corinth paused a moment. "More like, she completely hates you. When she looks at you, she has this foulness in her eyes that says that she thinks you really suck! If you don"t make it, then you might die, or something worse! I don"t want that to happen, we"ve got to go now!" Corinth pulled on his arm, but Cris couldn"t be moved.
"Wait a second," the peacefully tall, lying down man in the hospital gown said, while watching his son tugging on his arm like a monkey grabbing a tree branch. "I agree with that last statement. My life may still be in danger. I owe a huge debt to somebody in the stars now. And it seems they want me to pay it back. That"s exactly why I"m certain Sena. Hendrix will be there. She couldn"t live with herself if something happened to either one of us. Always remember that," Cris concluded, with a wink.
He tried to a.s.sure Corinth, but Corinth wasn"t so sure. He thought maybe his dad took too many knocks to the head to keep up with the likes of Sena. Hendrix. The Grand Ministrant of this huge prestigious school was definitely a no-prisoners kind of lady, Corinth thought. "Dad, if this is going to be a Sebastian Wilc.o.x type situation, then I"m betting on Sena. Hendrix to win," Corinth blurted it out with absolutely no filter in mind. He was pushing the envelope, and Criston didn"t like it.
"See now!" he shouted without restraint, "I let -a few of the other spites go by without a word, but you"re coming way too far out of your sh.e.l.l for my comfort!"
Corinth started to push away from his father to jump down from the hospital -bed. That slight bit of disapproval made him turn into an instant,insecure little monster. Instead of letting him go, Criston placed a patient, yet forceful hand on his shoulder to stop him. The boy was now immobilized by his dad"s willfulness. He took Cory"s chin in that same hand, and turned the feeble bodied boy toward him. Corinth didn"t enjoy confrontation as much as his parents, so he looked down, and tried not to cry. Just like the sheltered brat they raised him to be.
"I understand that where you"re coming from is a good hearted place, but you"ve got to stop blurring the lines between talking to a parent, or any authority, and to a friend. That"s why I say I"m not your friend. You"re so much more than that to me. I have a responsibility toward you, and I won"t fail to carry it out. Let me be a dad, and you be a son. A boy, young and scared about all the new and crazy things happening around him. But know in your heart, not your head for a change," he gently tapped on the boy"s soft skull as he spoke. "Know that I"m going to make all of this right for you."
Corinth shook his head vertically, up then down. He looked up, and smiled. Criston said all the right things to make him feel safe and at ease. Criston got up out of the bed, after Corinth jumped down. He looked around for something more appropriate to wear. His search came up empty.
"Where are my clothes?" Cris asked.
"They"re in the closet," Corinth said with a new pep in his step.
Cris, looked around again, and like before he came up empty. All he saw were stonewalls. He noticed, by way of the window, that the sun was setting. He knew Sena. Hendrix would wait, but only so long.
"Uh, are you sure about this closet thing?" he inquired with his son again.
"Yes," Corinth snapped, "I know what I"m talking about. I"m not lying!" he said with a less than playful tone.
"I"m not calling you a liar!" Cris said, already agitated again by Corinth"s tone. "It"s just that I don"t see any closets. There are just walls of stone around us. You"d notice that, if you bothered to look, kid."
Corinth looked around, "Oh yeah, I forgot." He walked over to the right side of the wall that surrounded the wooden door. He pressed three stones. "First, press one on the top. Then you cross diagonally one stone down. Then finally, you just move one stone up above and ... voila!" Closets all around the room started opening up. The walls seemed to unfold and slide over. Opening a vast series of hidden compartments that held lots of different costumes, and more average type clothing as well. "Sena. Hendrix says it doesn"t matter what stone you press first, as long as you press the next two in the right order," Corinth excitedly informed.
Cris had forgotten the enchanting nature of the school. The way Draconian"s have lived always devalued the use of magik in daily life. And now that Sebastian has rewritten history with his Restriction Conviction law, Criston"s not used to seeing things like this at all anymore. "That-is-something!" the man said with a strong sense of brilliance and wonder.
Corinth seemed proud of himself as he listened, watching his dad stroll over to the closet nearest him with wide eyes. Corinth noticed that he wasn"t moving toward his own set of clothes hanging up in there, but decided to let his dad do what he wanted to. Cris looked at the costumes and other clothes in the closet. A few runaway tears streamed down his face as he touched bright green fabrics and many more.
"Dad, what"s wrong?" the impatient boy questioned.
"These are mine. All these clothes were mine when I went to school here. My Day of Curses -costumes, my Levanta.r.s.e uniform, some leftover everyday clothes, and even gym wear. Hopefully, it"s clean!" Cris said, with a chuckle in his voice that was all too familiar to Corinth. Cris was feeling happy, even youthful again. He muttered under his breath, "I can"t believe she kept them."
Corinth looked on bewildered as his father fondly reminisced. He decided to walk over to window where he was initially sitting when his dad came to from his coma. He looked outside at the sunset on the horizon, and couldn"t believe that there was a dome around the entire school grounds. It was impossible to see with the naked eye. However, while he watched the twilight, something moving on the grounds below was visible and it firmly gripped his attention.
Dressed in all black, skirt flowing in the breeze, and high heels that he could hear clopping down on the marble walkway from all the way up there in the watchtower. "Sena. Hendrix," he shouted, "Sena. Hendrix don"t leave, please!!"
Criston turned quickly. He tried to walk over toward the window, but tripped as he was still in the process of putting on some tight pants from his days at the school. He wasn"t much bigger than then. He always had an athletic body, as do many mainstream Draconia meat-heads. Still, seventeen years can be absolute h.e.l.l on hips. He just barely squeezed the jeans above his hipbone with his better hand. Then, he walked over to the stone out craving in the tower"s wall that they all called a window.
"You walked that way on purpose, Silvia!" Cris shouted down to the woman he and his son were both in pursuit of. His voice was a lot cheerier this time around with the school"s director. Corinth noticed it and looked back and forth at both of them. Sena. Hendrix"s back was to them as she continued to drift away, but Corinth could see right into his dad"s eyes. He was trying to gauge the new sense of camaraderie stemming from his dad"s tone. "Don"t make this hard now-" Criston shouted again to her.
But she kept walking, briskly, as the path came across an incline. Her paced slowed, but her determination didn"t. She kept her stride, walking her way out of there. And for a fifty-nine year old, she moved with a hyper sense of grace. It spoke volumes for her health and vitality in her later years. She is a woman of certainty, and she is certainly intent on leaving these insolent boys behind.
"I found my school things!" Cris shouted, with a slightly more conservative tone.
That revelation got Sena. Hendrix attention when nothing else could. She suddenly stopped in the middle of climbing the hill, between two large oaks. She looked back with an intense fire in her blaring sapphire blue eyes. "I"ll wait no more than five minutes for you two to get your silly behinds down here to meet me!" Though she shouted, there was a m.u.f.fled sound to it. This conveyed that she had no intention on straining her voice for the likes of them.
"Come on, kid, we have to get down there quick. You were right, she means business today." This was the first time in as long as Criston could remember that he was excited to see Hendrix.
He ran to the door and grabbed a shirt as he pa.s.sed. He wiggled into it as he kept straight for the archway and charged through. He turned the corner into the dankly smelling halls, and realized his son wasn"t by his side or behind him. He turned, then went back and poked his head into the door. Corinth appeared to be in deep thought, at least to his father.
"What are you doing, Cory?"
He didn"t respond, just a grave look on his boyish face. His dark hair shined with the light behind him, as he gently pushed the front bit of it out of his face. Not a handsome kid at all. Too precious looking with those turquoise eyes. Too sensitive looking with those dense eyelashes he inherited from his mother. Too childlike with that blemish free, near tan, but more olive tone of skin. Too short and too immature to be a budding reflection of the rugged handsomeness his dad possessed. He was perfectly cute at twelve... going on ten years old. Almost too cute to handle, as his softness always made those around him feel instant affection toward him. It bothered him sometimes, but he used it at other times to his advantage. He simply walked into the halls of terror, pa.s.sing through the doorway way and by his father, without a word of response.
During his stay at Aurora Boreal, Corinth had been afraid of these spa.r.s.ely lit, by electronic torch lights, hallways in the tower. He didn"t like the humid feel of them. He didn"t like the musty smell of them. But most of all, he didn"t like the way they presented themselves. There was an eerie shadow that seemed to follow him wherever he went. That would be okay, had it been hisown shadow-but it definitely wasn"t. It had a mind of its own and didn"t always move with you. Sometimes it moved around you, just the way it did right now, as Corinth quickly traversed the halls. He held tight to his dad"s hand on the left. He jumped as they turned every corner. They were working their way down to the vestibule of the tower. They were situated in the middle of its height, so they had a bit of a ways down before they reached the exit.
"Why do you keep spooking every time we round a corner?" Criston asked.
"It"s the shadow. It"s following us," he spoke with a whisper. He didn"t want to alert the mysterious figure that he was aware of it.
"Is that what"s bothering you?" Cris seemed relieved. He thought Cory was having some kind of psychic episode. He was glad that his boy just had a case of the frights. "Corinth, that shadow is the Keeper of the tower.
"The keeper?" Corinth questioned with a frown.
"Yeah, his shadow can be anywhere at any time... within the tower. That"s why they call it the Watchtower. The Keeper is the one who"s been keeping watch for ... I don"t know, centuries."
"Try several millennia, old friend!" came a haunting voice that sent Corinth running behind his dad"s back for cover.
"What is that thing?" Corinth yelled like a mini-madman.
The Keeper retracted himself. He was hurt that he was considered a "thing" in the dilated turquoise eyes of this unique,strange little boy. Many of the students never visited the tower for that same reason. They thought the Keeper to be an ugly monster. He pushed back up the stairs slowly, gliding backward away from Corinth and Criston while staring Cory in the eyes. Corinth tried to hide his face behind Criston again, but his curiosity got the best of him. He"d look out after every few seconds, while Criston allowed the boy adequate time to absorb the foul image of the Keeper.
"Why is it staring at me, dad?" Corinth was looking back at what he considered to be a monster.
"He"s afraid of you, Corinth. That"s why he won"t stop looking at you. It"s his duty to give an all seeing eye to what he believes to be threats inside of Aurora Boreal school and the entire town surrounding it.
"You"ve got to be kidding me!" Corinth shouted. "This ghostly looking thing is afraid of me. I"m just a boy, but he"s a monster."
"That"s enough!" Cris didn"t like that Corinth looked at the Keeper that way. For a long time, Cris was the only one brave enough to enter the tower. He befriended the ghostly looking shadow-man named, Gavin.
The Keeper was tall, thin, and translucently pale. He wore a black velvet hooded cloak that covered his entire body. Though you saw little open skin, you could tell that he had no other clothing on underneath the cloak. He only had one eye. This eye focused his sight with hyper sensitivity. He didn"t like to tell many people, but he could see far behind Aurora Boreal. He could even see into other dimensions with no problem. His sight transcending the different realms the Worlds were built within. He could see nearly as much as the Nexus. But one thing he couldn"t do was touch anything or anyone he saw. He truly was a ghost in that regard. It left him lonely when Cris was expelled, never to return. Until today, that is.
"Comeback down the staircase, Gavin. I want to properly introduce you to someone. Cris grabbed Corinth from behind him and pulled him out in front. He whispered, "be polite, he"s a good friend of mine."
Corinth didn"t know if he could, but he figured he"d give it a try anyways. Gavin pulled himself off the top stair, just before the landing, and began to slink back down. His movement crept Corinth out. He looked like a deer that just got hit by a car, and was now making the long journey back to its herd with a signature limp. He moved slow and purposeful. Corinth thought that Gavin didn"t look like he had legs underneath that cloak. He just waft his way over the cobblestones like a taut gas form of a one-eyed man. Corinth was too impatient to wait for him to reach that next stone landing where they stood, so he left his father, and walked up a few steps himself. At first, Gavin recoiled. But he quickly understood Corinth"s intent.
"h.e.l.lo, Sen. Gambit," the slinky shadow-man, who had no feet, said while lifting his rigid looking hand to shake Corinth"s. Criston looked on with a knowing smirk, but didn"t say a word. Corinth hesitated but figured, what"s the worst that could happen? He knew his dad was there to protect him. Corinth extended his hand, and as it met with the Keeper"s, it fell straight through. Like it wasn"t even there. Corinth fell onto the steps because he leaned inward to shake. He lost his footing when he wasn"t met with any counterweight from another hand there to hold him in position. Both the Keeper and Criston burst out laughing as Corinth jumped up and ran back to his father"s side.
He watched the shadow-man share in a joke with his dad, and thought it was the weirdest thing. So, to help him understand, the Nexus, whispered in his mind. "Ghost have senses of humor too." Corinth frowned for my statement at first, then gently smiled, looking on at Gavin with an entirely new perspective. His first two days at Aurora Boreal he thought Gavin was a monster. But today, maybe a friend.
The sloth like sleuth worried now as he noticed something he hadn"t seen before. "Your hand, old friend ... it is missing?"
Cris looked down at the spot that used to hold his right hand. He had forgotten, because of the severe lack of pain. It was almost like it never happened, that is until Gavin reminded him.
"I"m sorry, friend, I didn"t mean to cause you any form of grief," he said with a guilty tone.
"No, it"s no fault to ask a question," Criston informed him."You"re concerned, I get it. It"s just that I don"t know what to say about it."
"Then say nothing, my friend. Not at least until you"re ready," Gavin smiled, and Corinth thought he looked even uglier when he was happy.
Criston smiled at Gavin and came over to give him an air hug. That was the best he could do, considering the Keeper is destined to forever live in the tower as a shadow of a man, for the sake of sight. No other senses existed much in this reality for him. He couldn"t smell, taste, hear well, or feel another"s touch. The only thing he was good at was seeing things far and wide. But it wholly satisfied him to know that at least one person thought about him in a good way. Criston was good at making others feel good.
Corinth looked at their relationship and thought that it"d be a good idea to get close to Gavin at some point. If not only to hear past stories about his dad. Naturally... so he could use them against his father. But Corinth figured it would take some time before he could warm up to the Keeper of the Watchtower. If only he wasn"t so frighteningly ugly looking. And it didn"t help, his living alone in a creepy, sinister looking high-rising tower.
"Now go, Sena. Hendrix has already started to waiver in her patience," Gavin"s words were so very true. He could see her turning to walk her way up the rest the hill she stood on, formerly waiting for the two of them. So they left the tower, they left Gavin alone again, as usual. But he at least felt something, for the first time in a long while, knowing his friend, Criston, was back in the game.
Chapter 8:.
Getting Hands On With Fate
March 31, 1002 ~ Nightfall "Why"s she walking away from us?" Corinth asked his dad.
Cris told him, "it"s because she"s used to being in control. The minute someone tries to turn the tables on her she gets ... uneasy." Corinth couldn"t help but wonder how his dad knew so much about his teacher. A teacher that hasn"t taught him in over a decade and a half. "She"ll come around eventually, trust me." Cris looked down into Corinth"s turquoise eyes, and smiled as he put his left arm around his shoulder.
They walked onward, trying to catch up with Sena. Hendrix without having to jog up right next to her. She was too fast paced for that to work out, so they started to move faster. They were just a few s.p.a.cious yards behind her, when Corinth noticed another person on the grounds.
"Who"s that?" he asked, looking eagerly over the varied distance of gra.s.s and a.s.sorted trees.
Cris looked over to the direction he pointed in. He recognized the figure strolling through the fields in a carefree manner. He vaguely remembered this person had a crush on Julia that never set well with him, among other awkward things the guy was known for when they were schooled together. "His famed family name is; The Well Read Walker."
"What"s he doing?" Cory spat out without thinking near a thought prior to opening that unnerving mouth of his.
Cris thought that was a weird question. He looked over to Walker in the open fields against the sunset, and then back to Corinth. "After I just told you his full name and t.i.tle, you don"t know what he"s doing," he said to the boy with a fatherly frown.