The Keeper's Curse (12 page)

His attention turned back to Breckin and he smiled, the way
paper ribbon curled as it burned. “Why is any teenager in
Methelwood here,
Breckin
? The schooling. They say the
best education in all the orbs is here, right? I want to get into
any university of my choosing.”

Breckin
tried controlling his temper, but he was shaking so badly he
couldn’t see clearly in front of him. “Circlet would never let you
live here. Never. You don’t think I don’t know where you’ve been
the past four years?”

“
I already have citizenship. I’ve already started school.
Don’t you know my mother lives on the outskirts of the
complexes?”

“
Yes, but –”

“
She’s thrilled we’re back.”

“
We?”

“
Brynn and myself.”

Brynn. He
hadn’t heard that name in such a long time. “Circlet knows where
you’ve been. As do I. Don’t get too comfortable here.”

“
Really? Well, Circlet is having a rather hard time tracking
my whereabouts, as I’ve been traveling so much the past few years.
Although, strangely enough, she was able to find a wealthy family
in Delvynmore that vouches we’ve been living there ever since my
father died. Isn’t that wonderful? They have my records, my school
progress reports – everything. Brynn as well. They’re a reserved
lot, they don’t like the public too much, which is why they’ve kept
us hidden.”

The
insincere joy hiding his relish in Breckin’s fury was too much. He
let go of Rozelyn’s hand, grabbed Cyrus’s black collar on either
side and pushed him up against the wall. He became even angrier
when he saw Cyrus’s expression was as composed as ever.

“
You can’t kill me,” Breckin growled. “You know you
can’t.”

“
I never suggested I wanted to.”

“
I will find where you’ve been,” Breckin promised. “I will get
you thrown in prison, you
liar
. I swear I will. I know where
you’ve been.”

Cyrus’s
expression didn’t change, but he leaned in, his face so close to
Breckin’s they were only a couple inches apart. The smells of mint,
metal and spice emanated from him, just as they had when they had
been children. Memories came flooding back into Breckin’s mind,
making him nauseous. Memories of blood and fear and pain and
confinement.

“
Prove it,” Cyrus challenged him.

He felt
Rozelyn’s warm hand on his shoulder. “Just let go of him. We’ll
deal with this later.”

He
obeyed, prying his fingers off of Cyrus’s suede coat. Cyrus
adjusted it as if nothing had happened. “I just wanted to drop by
and say hello. I’ll see you at school.”

Breckin
could hear his shoes clacking down the hallway even after he was
out of sight, the sound resonating in his head. Panic, fury and
misery flowed through him, fresh in his mind like he hadn’t felt in
years. Cyrus had represented everything he hated, and now he was
here, perhaps forever.

Rozelyn
squeezed his shoulder. “Hey, don’t worry. He’ll do something stupid
sooner or later and he’ll be gone. He can’t kill you,
Breckin.”

He shook
his head and turned to face her. “Just because he can’t kill me
doesn’t mean he can’t torture me, or kill someone else. What if he
goes after Gabe, or Noah? Or you? Rozelyn, I –”

She
pulled him near her into a tight embrace. “Don’t worry yet, okay?
We don’t know why he’s here.”

He
returned her hug, but his thoughts were drifting farther from her
by the second. He was in shock, but that didn’t stop his mind from
racing, planning all the ways he could get Cyrus out of Methelwood,
away from everyone he loved. He didn’t care what a piece of paper
said, or what a family from Delvynmore had told Circlet – he had to
go talk to the governor himself.

Cyrus had
been with James Thoreoux the past four years. He knew it. Four
years of his already cruel mind being twisted, contorted and told
flat out lies of propaganda against him. Thoreoux had not attempted
anything in four years, so Breckin knew there had to be a reason to
send Cyrus, such a precious ally to him, into a warzone. He was
going to find out why.

Chapter 9

The
Dream Downloader

Before
school the next morning, Emmy made her way through the darkened
forest by herself to the place she had first arrived in Methelwood
where her suitcase supposedly was. Alex had informed her that the
place was an apartment complex, one of many in Methelwood scattered
throughout the forest which contained the majority of the
population. Her blood pressure lowered significantly when she
noticed the guards in the lobby were not the same ones her mother
had attacked, which would have made the following conversation
quite awkward.

She asked
as politely as possible (the whole orb now knew what happened with
her mother) if she could have her suitcase back, and the guard,
with suspicious derision, said “no”. She couldn’t entirely blame
him, but even after assuring him she wasn’t an accomplice of her
mother, he didn’t budge. The guards informed her that her suitcase
would not be released without a note of permission from a superior
with a good reason to do so.

After
several minutes of wheedling, Emmy stomped off, hating Annalise
with even more vigour than before. She was starting to wonder if
there would ever be an end to the list of reasons she was angry
with her mother.

Noah, we need to talk. Something happened
yesterday.

Emmy came
to a halt right in the middle of the woods.

“
Stop it,” she whispered. “Please, I’m begging you, leave me
alone.”

An
emotion flared up inside her, the sensation so fervent it took her
a moment to recognize what it was. Anger. Fiery, panicky anger. Not
like a flame, but like the white sparks bursting from the edges of
the fire. More disturbing than that was that she knew they weren’t
her own feelings. Were they his?

“
I figured. Why did you come home so late last
night?”

This was
not the regular voice she had become used to hearing in her head.
She sank deeper and deeper into the anger of The Voice, closing her
eyes. Bright, flashing colors like fireworks shifted behind her
eyelids, and when they cleared, she was somewhere else. A tattered
living room filled her vision. In the center of it a man with an
eye patch rested, staring at her, sitting in an old brown
chair.

I went to go visit Circlet in Ministrial. Sorry, I should’ve
told you. I sort of forgot.

“
I was worried. You can’t just go off gallivanting through the
orbs without letting me know! It would’ve taken you ten seconds to
tell me where you were going.”

The man
sitting in the chair was saying the words that had just been
spoken, and Emmy realized, with horror, what had happened. She was
in The Voice’s head. The eyes she was seeing the world through were
almond-shaped with copper lashes that blurred above and below her
vision, instead of her regular cornsilk-blonde ones. She felt her
body lightening, even though she knew she was planted in the soft
earth.

I know, but listen to this, you’re never going to guess who I
ran into today – Cyrus.

The man sitting across from The Voice raised his eyebrow.
“Cyrus? You mean - ?”

Yes! I couldn’t believe it. He told me he’s going to school at
Urquhart now, and apparently Brynn is enrolled in Bernadette’s
Primary School.

“
Is Circlet going to let them stay?”

Yes! And I don’t understand why. She said he has every right
to be here, like anyone else. Is she out of her mind? Any idiot
knows where he’s been the past few years.

“
You and Circlet haven’t always been on the same page about
certain issues, but this is incredibly serious. I can’t imagine
Circlet risking Methelwoodians’ lives over a
technicality.”

I don’t get it. I’m going to prove he’s been with Thoreoux,
somehow. I know Circlet doesn’t like me very much, but she can’t
seriously want Thoreoux’s little prodigy to kill me.

“
He can’t kill you, you know that.”

Maybe he’s found a way, I dunno. Anyways, be on alert, okay?
Don’t let him in the apartment. I said the same thing to Gabe and
Rozelyn.

“
What are you going to do?”

I’m going to do everything in my power to get him out of
Methelwood. If Circlet isn’t going to be reasonable, I’ll have to
do this on my own.

He had
calmed down enough for Emmy to gain control of herself and push him
out of her head. She gasped as she fell back into herself, as if
she had been under water.

She stood
still for a few moments, staring at the maple tree in front of her.
And then she punched it.

Hot tears
prickled in her eyes but she didn’t wipe them away; she would not
break over this boy. What sort of monster was he, taking over her
mind like this? He must know who she was by now, so why bother
making her adjustment even harder than it already was?

Emmy
began her heavy tread back over towards Urquhart, her tears drying
before they could fall. If this sadistic boy was going to hurt her
like this, risk ruining her life, then she would fight back. She
wouldn’t react, she wouldn’t go after him, and she wouldn’t lose
herself in his head again. She would go back to Willow, and demand
a note to prove to those horrible guards that she needed her
suitcase back. She would not let him ruin her life.

***

Sticking
to her new plan of being the perfect model student, she took long,
detailed notes in her morning classes, and performed in her
afternoon classes with all the vitality she could
muster.

After
school she headed straight over to the main office, demanding to
see Willow. Ms. Spillet didn’t take her grave demeanour seriously
at all, telling her she wouldn’t be done with her current client
until five. Emmy waited.

When
Willow at last departed her office with a tiny, simpering girl, she
was nothing less than surprised to see Emmy standing
there.

“
I need a note.”

“
Sorry?”

“
The complex guards have my journals and they won’t give them
to me. Please, can you just write me a letter?”

Emmy knew
she sounded rude and demanding, but Willow was sympathetic and
promptly hurried back to her office. She returned with a piece of
parchment, and signed her name at the bottom.

Emmy
could have kissed her.

***

The
guards, when presented with the note the following morning, looked
like dogs with their bones yanked away. Emmy was taken inside the
living complex, through the marvellous staircase in the lobby to
where a wooden door was hidden. This led into a stone corridor
filled with confiscated bags and boxes. Emmy stood back smugly
while the men searched through the mountains of bags, finally
finding an ugly green suitcase Emmy announced as hers.

All the
way to school Emmy had a smile on her face; not only did she have
her precious memories, but some tokens of home. Pictures of her
friends and family were in there, and her textbooks of Freud, Jung,
Rogers, and Horney – her own personal gods.

The only
thing that ruined her mood was –

“
You can’t get in to see Willow for two weeks?” Jade said,
giving her a sympathetic pat on the shoulder at lunch.

“
It’s fine, I can hold out for two weeks.”

“
So what exactly
is
the matter with you?” Persephone
asked.

“
She hears voices,” Jade said, and Persephone’s eyes lit
up.

“
Thanks, Jade.”

Instead
of looking disgusted however, Persephone merely appeared curious.
It was the first time Emmy had said something to pique her
interest. “That’s a good reason for seeing a shrink.”

“
It isn’t like that! It’s only
one
voice.”

Persephone chuckled, drawing her fork into her mouth. “That’s
promising. Does this voice tell you to do anything? You know,
steal, lie ... kill the villagers with pitchforks and
torches?”

“
Cause paranoia into thinking someone is watching you?” Jade
added.

Emmy
raised her head and glowered at Jade. If only she knew that her
precious friend was the awful person doing this to her.

“
No, he doesn’t tell me to do any of that.”

“
I’m serious,” Jade said. Emmy noticed that her attention was
no longer on her or Persephone, but on a far-off subject at the
corner of the cafeteria. “Someone’s watching you, Emmy.”

Emmy
followed her eyes to the corner where she was staring and was
surprised with what she saw. It was a dark-haired boy reading a
book who most certainly was not staring at her. Emmy recognized him
as the boy from the hospital, Cyrus Crow.

“
No he isn’t.”

“
He was! I swear Emmy, he was just looking at you.”