Mated to Morpheus

MTM.47

the awaited meeting

Vakerie snatched my wrist as she jumped up from her seat. The words that I had to say were lost against the look of worry that seized the features of her face. Into my ear, she spoke in a panicked whisper, "Be quiet, and follow me closely."

Vince patted my other arm, but I was barely able to catch a single glimpse of him. It was mere seconds before I felt his presence completely vanish.

My hand shook as my fingers fumbled to interlock with hers. Vakerie led me away from the room we were just drinking tea in, dragging me into the hallway and meeting a hurried Rhosyn at the staircase. Rhosyn's dark cinnamon eyes lit up at the sight of us as she scampered down the final steps, "Va-".

Vakerie held up her hand. She then grabbed onto my shoulders and lightly pushed me towards Rhosyn, who quickly grasped both of my hands. Vakerie breathed a command, "Take her to Lyonechka's bedroom. Now."

Rhosyn nodded and pulled me up onto the first step, supporting not only her weight but my own, before turning to face the same direction. "Come," she said quietly, "the others will distract them."

My feet moved on their own as I latched onto Rhosyn's side—so tight together that the ends of her coils tickled my jaw.

The next few minutes had faded into a blur. Rhosyn and I held onto one another as she tore through the second floor of the manor, the two of us disregarding the heels of our feet and sneaking across the wooden boards with the tips of our toes. The air around us felt decades old, but the reality of it was that we had only been racing to Lyonechka's room for roughly a minute. She had hurriedly maneuvered to keep a tense grasp on my back while she opened the French doors that would hopefully guide us towards refuge.

Once the double doors were successfully shut and locked behind us, the breath that I was holding had finally been released. Rhosyn wasted no time in taking us towards a hidden chamber and unlatching the entrance by deciphering a series of memorized codes. As she swiftly reacted to each puzzle that was made available, it was then quite eminent that she was faking being bad at chess.

The correct answers, the correct sequences—they were nothing but a jumble to me.

She let out a sigh of relief as the last code was completed and the cloaked door unfurled with a silent swing. She reached out her hand towards me, with an encouraging smile, and I gladly took it.

Rhosyn spun me into the room, securing the door with a strained seal. "It's okay, Emery, it's okay."

"What was that?" I asked.

"Do you know that feeling of when you realize that you're being watched or followed? That feeling of having someone, or something, staring at your back or standing too close?" Rhosyn took a step closer to me. "For those like me, that feeling is amplified. There has never been a time when I couldn't hear hikers wandering throughout the neighbouring trees, or hear the cars of Lyonechka's connections drive over the road as they deliver bags of blood, or hear the steps of every animal that passes through this property. The motion of someone getting up from bed, walking through the halls, scattering throughout the kitchen, sitting down in a chair, opening a door—everything that you do, I can hear it."

"Who-" I tried to swallow the growing lump that had lodged itself firmly in the back of my throat, but to no avail, "-Who is out there? Are they here?"