The Book of Time

Chapter 3

Well, this was embarrassing. Months stuck inside the castle and Thomas finally got to leave but he couldn't find anything to do. His mind kept going back to Shay, and after about an hour of wandering about, he decided to go back to the castle. He removed the shades and leather gloves almost immediately. He didn't have to hide his eyes or his arm once he was in the tunnels.

He bumped into her in the tunnels. She was humming to herself and carrying a box.

"Let me carry it," he said. He took it from her and they continued to her room.

Shay's head, like most women's, only reach his chin. Thomas had always found it the perfect height to hug. Taller and hair got in his nose, shorter and he felt like he was hugging a child and should be arrested. If he hugged Shay, he wouldn't even have to worry about getting burnt. He might be able to actually enjoy it. He couldn't remember the last time he enjoyed physical contact with someone before he came to work for Shay. He looked away. He shouldn't be thinking thoughts like that.

"Why are you back so quickly?" she asked.

"There was nothing interesting for me to do."

Her mouth formed a straight line. She tried to take the box from him. "Leave."

He held on tightly. "I told you, there's nothing for me to do."

"Don't squander your free time. I might not give you another chance for a while. Don't you like to see the sun and get fresh air?" she asked. There was sadness in her voice.

Thomas stopped and turned to face her. "You looked outside again, didn't you?"

Shay took the box from him. "I'm going to my room," she said. She walked off and left him standing there.

He took his time going back. Every time she looked outside she got depressed. He didn't blame her. He knew what it felt like to be confined, though he'd never felt this kind of isolation before. She'd been confined to the tunnels underneath the castle since she was about five or six, or so Nina had told him. She'd been the one looking after Shay since then. He hoped the reward for the last assignment was good. It might cheer her up a bit.

She was already emptying the box on the table by the time he reached. She looked up at him and smiled. She held up two Blu-ray cases.

"Two more Dillon Kelly movies," she said. He was her favorite actor. She took out a CD case. "This is the Black Roses' new album." She held it out to him. "You like them more than I do so you can have this."

Most of her rewards for completing a job were movies or music. The TV in her room didn't have cable and her computer couldn't connect to the internet. It was only used for Samuel to send information to her and Shay to send back reports. She wasn't allowed any contact with the outside world. There was only one reason Thomas could see for doing that to a person: information control. Shay mainly got old movies and music so she had no idea what was happening outside the castle in the city, country or rest of the world.

Thomas took the CD from her. Somehow half of her music collection had migrated into his room even though he knew how much she loved them. Once in a while, he would overhear her singing. She always stopped when she saw him. He hated that. He would prefer to hear her sing than those people on the CDs.

"Don't you want to listen to it first?" he asked.

She shook her head and took out two more CDs. "A Sleeping Robin album just came out and Rebel Princess just came out with one as well. I think Samuel's being generous because I went missing. He even put in another jacket." Shay pulled out a purple jacket. "Look, he bought some anime as well." She took out some boxes with the names Sailor Moon, Fullmetal Alchemist and Samurai X written on them. Junaid didn't watch TV often when he was younger but Thomas knew that those were old. "I haven't watched these yet but look at how many episodes there are."