Arrival of the Traveler (Waldgrave Book 1) (16 page)

“Well, you said you two were friends.”

“We are. Were. I don’t know about now. I guess I always felt like he was more of an older brother type…You know, we kind of bully each other.” But really, it had been Griffin doing most of the bullying.

“Sweetie,” Hesper went and sat on the cot. Lena sat up to accommodate her, and Hesper put an arm around her shoulders. “You really don’t get it, do you? This is a patriarchal system. It’s changing, which is for the better in a lot of people’s minds, but it’s a patriarchal system. When someone names an heir, it’s assumed that person is their son or grandson or something. When someone names an heir outside of the family, it’s assumed that person is about to become part of the family…usually by marriage.”

Lena stared at Hesper, who stared back at her. How could she have missed that? It made perfect sense.

The look on Howard’s face after Daray had started talking.

Something David had said to her was ringing in her ears. 
You’ll save me a few dances, right?

Suddenly, a feeling came over her. One she hadn’t experienced but a few times in her life. She stood up and started for the door.

“It won’t do any good!” Hesper stood up, and followed Lena. Lena kept walking. “Hey! Hey, slow down!”

Lena whipped around so fast that Hesper actually ran into her.

“So what? I’m just supposed to sit up here? Hesper, I just got engaged in front of a room full of people without even knowing it!” Then she said some things that made Hesper’s eyebrows rise in shocked surprise. Lena turned around and walked briskly toward the library.

“Lena!”

Lena felt Hesper make a grab for her arm and started into a run, which she maintained until tripping on the last stair. She fell flat on her face, but managed to get back on her feet before Hesper caught up. Her knees and palms stinging, she sprinted to the dining hall and had her hand on the door, ready to barge in and raise hell.

“YOU KILLED THAT BOY, DARAY! EVERYONE KNOWS IT!”

Lena froze. She felt Hesper grab her and push both arms to her sides. The yelling in the dining room continued.

“YOU DID IT! YOU!”

Hesper’s eyes were wide. She seemed unable to move. The dining hall had gone quiet. The door opened, and a red faced Master Mason appeared. Behind him, she could see Master Astley Senior, flushed red with anger, staring down Master Daray. Warren Astley was seated next to him, watching the floor nervously. Around the room, several other Representatives were watching Lena and Hesper through the doorway, or talking silently amongst themselves.

Hesper was shaking; she and Master Mason stared at each other. Lena would have wondered when she would finally be privy to such conversations, but her mind was already busy with what she’d just overheard. Master Mason closed the door behind him, and silently led Lena and Hesper back upstairs. He nodded for Hesper to go back in the room, but kept Lena in the hall. He sighed.

“Lena. I need to get back down there, for your own good. I want you to know, you can’t say anything to help that isn’t already being said. I promise you that, so don’t come back down.” He started walking down the hall.

“Master Mason!” Lena’s breathing was too fast; she thought she might be about to hyperventilate.

He turned around.

“Did he kill my brother?”

Master Mason shook his head, and looked at the carpet. “That’s not something I could tell you.” He walked away.

Lena turned and knocked on the door across the hall. When Ava didn’t answer, she knocked again. Then she opened the door, but her mother wasn’t in her room.

They probably had a special summons.

What?

Your mom. She’s probably down there as a witness. I told you, you really can’t do anything. Can we just go to bed, please?

Lena walked back to her bedroom.

“Who did he kill?” She asked.

Hesper looked shaken. She was tucked under the blankets of the bed, but she appeared to be shivering.

“You’re going to get me in trouble.” Hesper pulled the blankets further up over herself and curled halfway into a ball. She was suddenly childlike; Lena could feel her fear, and she was sure it wasn’t any sort of special ability allowing her to do so.

“Why?” Lena pressed.

Hesper’s words were muffled by the blankets. “We don’t talk about it.”

“I won’t tell…”

“They’ll know, whether you tell or not.”

Lena thought hard. There had to be something she could say to persuade Hesper to tell her. If there was one lesson she’d taken from Turkey, it was that everyone had a price.

“I’m the heir,” Lena reasoned. “Or I would be, if I were a boy. I order you to tell me.”

Hesper remained silent.

“I’ll…extend my protection to you?”

Hesper didn’t turn around. “Only Griffin can do those things now.”

“You promised to tell me about the religions, anyway.” Lena sat down on the cot. It didn’t look as though she’d be getting anything more out of Hesper. She may have even lost her as a friend.

Hesper sighed. “I guess I did.”

Lena looked over. Hesper was sitting up in her bed; she smiled weakly.

“What do you want to know?”

“Start from the start, I suppose.”

Hesper went and retrieved a small box from the closet, and motioned for Lena to join her sitting on the bed. Hesper opened the box.

“Tell me what you see.”

Lena peered in. “Nail polish, nail clippers, nail file, box of cigarettes…”

“Don’t tell my parents about those.” Hesper interjected.

“…Clipped magazine articles, self-photo…” Lena reached in and shifted the articles in the box. “And a necklace.”

Hesper seemed to be anticipating something. Lena moved the objects around in the box again.

“And…the nail polish is pink?” Lena added in frustration.

“Tell me about the necklace.” Hesper hinted.

“Silver chain…Oh,” Lena saw it as she lifted it from the box, “It’s got a pendant on it! It looks kind of like Celtic love knots, with a circle in the middle.”

“Bingo. We’re good. Settle in. Stop me if you need to, but I think you’ll be okay.” Lena and Hesper shifted so that they were facing each other. Hesper took a deep breath, then let it out slowly. “Where to begin. No one really knows the truth. It’s just like any other religion—stories passed on over millennia. But we haven’t always been here. We’re almost sure about that much. The Circle in the Square,” she indicated the pendant in Lena’s hand, “is a religious symbol. It represents the portal, but that’s probably not what it really looks like. We don’t know for sure if anyone’s actually seen it. But, anyway—it’s just a symbol. The portal is how we got here.”

Lena raised her eyebrows in disbelief.

“I know. It’s weird. But it’s true—at some point in time, a long time ago, a sort of doorway was opened. No one knows what’s on the other side, but the scriptures claim we came through it, and ended up here. There’s a long story concerning the history of the portal, but to sum it up, we don’t know where it is now. The religious deal is that half the people here want it to stay closed, and the other half want to open it. They don’t believe we belong here, and that we should return to a world where we don’t have to hide ourselves from humans.”

“Hiding?” Lena almost laughed. “Who’s hiding? Hesper, you could see this house from space. Several hundred people came in from outside the country to stay here for a couple of months. This isn’t exactly inconspicuous behavior.”

Hesper shrugged. “It’s a mansion in the country, and lots of people come here for the skiing and hiking. Besides, the house and most of the rest of it was made by Silenti—it’s doubtful humans would take much notice unless someone carefully pointed it out. And they take a great deal of care in orchestrating the travel so that people have a staggered arrival and departure so it doesn’t look like a gathering. Even if someone did notice, the Council would pay them off or have them die in an accident.”

“That’s a little drastic.” Lena remarked.

Hesper tilted her head back and forth. “It usually doesn’t happen. I guess I should have said that people want to leave here because they don’t want to have to 
deal
 with humans, and not because we’re hiding. Humans are kind of simple-minded compared to Silenti. Not that I’m saying anything personal here, but imagine that you’re stuck in a world where everyone around you has an IQ that’s half of yours. Would you want to stay?”

Lena smiled sardonically. “You think I’m stupid?”

“Not stupid.” Hesper rolled her eyes. “Just slow. And I told you not to take it personally—you’re going to get better. My point is that humans don’t have telepathy. They don’t see the future or talk to each other in their minds, or anything that a typical Silenti would find normal. They’re cumbersome to put up with, so we work around their systems so we don’t have to. Think about it this way: imagine that you’re stuck on an island with a bunch of chimpanzees or something. I mean, they’re smart, and they feel, but they’re really not operating on your level.”

“Because you’re so much more evolved than the rest of us?” Lena jabbed.

Hesper stared her down. “Lena, I’m trying here. My first words were spoken 
in my thoughts to my mother
 before I was even born. Do you really want to challenge me on who’s more evolved? I’m just trying to explain the perspective.”

Lena sat quietly, considering how weird it would be for an infant’s first words to occur before birth. “Fine. Continue.”

“Okay…where was I?” Hesper sighed in relief.

Lena thought. “The part where some people want to go through the portal to another world. That is weird.”

“Only as weird as any other religion. Walking on water, talking flaming shrubbery, boats big enough to hold every animal on the planet, holy cows, dreams of white elephants…and then there’s Scientology. Wow, don’t even get me started on that one…”

“Okay…” Lena handed the pendant back to Hesper, “And who’s who? I don’t mean to be rude, but which are you?”

Hesper took the pendant and put it on. “My family believes in the Old Faith—that the portal will be found, and that it will be opened by the heir, and we will return to a world where we can live in harmony with our own kind.”

“And…Griffin’s the heir?” Lena said, once again in disbelief.

“Oh, you’re kidding me!” Hesper smiled broadly. When Lena returned only a blank stare, she started to look worried. “Good Lord. How long have you been here, and you haven’t figured it out? Lena, this world—our world. It revolves around your family. The Daray Family is royal; we practically worship you, because only a Daray can open the portal.”

“Why?” Lena was trying to seem calm; of all the religions she’d encountered, this was by far the most crazy and stupid. Well, maybe not, but it was certainly up there on the list.

“It’s recorded on the portal. Only members of the royal family can read what’s on the portal—the instructions to open it.” Hesper said, as though this must be obvious.

“So,” Lena sighed, “You believe that I’m royalty.”

“Yes.”

“And this fact is recorded in invisible ink on a portal that no one has ever seen?” Lena tried not to laugh.

“Yes. Well, there are some unverified claims, but yes.”

“And that portal, which only my family members can open, leads to another world?”

“We don’t know where it leads, but that’s basically right. Only a Daray can open it—not Master Collins.”

I’m sure Howard was very sad to hear that.

Hesper rolled her eyes. “He’s against opening it anyway, so I don’t think he really cares.”

“I was being sarcastic.”

“Oh, were you? You’re too quiet when you try to do it.” Hesper yawned, and Lena could tell she was tired.

I’ll have to work on that.

“Yes, you will,” Hesper retorted.

“Well, thank you.”

“’Welcome.”

They settled into their beds. The information about the religions was interesting to Lena, but something was still weighing heavily on her mind…She decided to try one more time.

“Hesper? Just theoretically, why would he have killed my brother? His own grandson? The heir?”

Hesper was quiet for a moment. “Well,” she paused, “
Theoretically
, if you believe the New Faith version of events, it was because Thomas wasn’t a Silenti. He was a human, and it was 
theoretically
 an embarrassment Master Daray just wouldn’t tolerate. With Thomas dead, he had a right under our laws to petition for custody of you. You never wondered why your dad ran? Not that I believe such stories…”

“Of course you don’t…”

They said their goodnights and retired to their beds. In the darkness, Lena was finally at peace with her father. She knew why he had lied now, and was able to forgive him. Thank him, even. For fifteen years, he’d saved her from exposure to a cult of insane religious fanatics—no matter how friendly or likeable some of them were. She was related to a man that could have 
theoretically
 killed a child for not being able to read minds.