Cumin: Book 1

Within Walls

Somewhere, a baby was wailing.

My body moved sluggishly, almost after the thought, and my vision was clouded by the darkness. I could just make out the walls of the mansion's second floor. But the compassionate aching of my heart tugged me forward relentlessly. I couldn't take it anymore. Someone had to do something—someone had to help.

"I'm coming, baby." The walls wobbled. The outline of a door pressed through the black. "It's okay, I'm coming."

The baby's crying rose to a pleading pitch. It couldn't have been little more than a newborn. I had heard such when helping my kind teacher with her own child while I lived with her. It still had that warbling sound that came when crying took the effort of one's entire body.

A hand wrapped tight around my wrist. I had to swing my heavy head around to see who it was, and at first I thought I saw Naru.

But then I blinked, and my vision abruptly cleared. His lips moved.

'Don't.'

Gene. His eyes were younger, less sharp, and the lines of his face were less pronounced since he didn't frown nearly as much as his brother.

I shook my head. "I can't let this go on. Please, I can't stand it, my heart is breaking."

His own expression melted into one I knew would never grace Naru's face: pitying and empathetic. And I knew then that Gene felt every bit the same way I did.

Still, he shook his head.

'There's nothing you can do. Look this way.'

He tugged me forward, and as though a rug had been tugged out from beneath me, I tipped forward. My heavy arms wouldn't make it in time to catch me, and I thought for sure I was about to faceplant into Gene's shoes.

But then, in a mind bending switch, the fall stopped and I was on my feet once more in a much brighter, clearer mansion. The twelve little boxes still stood in their rows, and the patch of Ayako's blood gleamed such a bright red, I could have mistook it for a mess of ketchup or melted crayon.

Gene kept his grip on my wrist as he pointed towards the base, and as I followed his finger the walls cleared. Instead of the usual furniture and monitors, my view was blocked by the brilliant shine of symbols I couldn't quite make out.

'There's a barrier against the dead set within those walls. That's why you and Noll didn't hear the cries the night you slept there.'

"I guess that means you haven't been able to go in there either, huh?"

He gave me a soft, somewhat wan smile that faded far quicker than normal. His arm swept before my view once more, this time pointing to the opposite end of the mansion. Once more the walls faded before my seeking eyes till they stopped at a utilities closet, larger than any I had seen. It housed an extra large water heater, a fuse box, what could have been an electric heater, and a sink.

But, unlike the rest of the brightened, almost cartoon colored house, this room appeared dark, solemnly colored, and blurred. I rubbed my eyes hard and looked again, but it made no difference.

More of the same symbols were here as well, but smaller, and such a dark red I could barely make them out. An especially large one, something like Sanskrit, took up the majority of the floor.

'Do you see the foxfire?'

At first I didn't. All I could see was the dingy, dark closet. But then, against the ugly bland turquoise of the heater, I could see the wavering edges of what looked to be a violet-blue fire simmering in the corner next to the sink. It burned as thought through a slow mo film.

'Best you stay away from that unless you have protection. Oh, and Mai?'

I turned to his gaze. In that moment a Naru-like smirk spread across his features and he became completely identical to his twin.

'Remember Karma is a bitch.'