The Seal of Oblivion (2 page)

“You’re Laqiya, right?” Laqiya
nodded and the woman nodded as she stepped back in. A few minutes later Adria
stepped outside and closed the door behind her.

“Hey Laqiya,” she greeted and then
her eyes landed on Isis. “You are…”

“Isis,” Isis replied.

“She’s my cousin.”

“I’ll be staying with them—”

“In my room,” Laqiya said to
herself but loud enough for Isis and Adria to hear her.

“—for a while,” Isis continued
ignoring Laqiya’s input

Adria looked between Laqiya and
Isis, then shook her head and walked past then.

“I don’t even want to know,” she
muttered heading down the path with the cousins behind her.

Laqiya stayed silent as she followed
Adria to Sakura’s house. It was too far to walk-Sakura’s home was ten miles
south or so from where they stayed-and as much as Laqiya hated it, she took the
bus with Adria and a quiet Isis followed.

Laqiya had forgotten the whole time
that Nightshield was still with them. She looked down at the cat in wonder. It
hadn’t wandered off. That was strange for a cat, no matter how trained. The
front of Sakura’s house, a mansion really, had black gates in front of them.
They went through them and followed a brick pathway surrounded by cut green
grass, beautiful flower beds and bushes. There was even a fountain in the yard
and the faint aroma of flowers gave away the presence of a garden somewhere on
the property.

Adria rang the doorbell and a
cheery Sakura answered the door. They were about to step in when Sakura pushed
them back out.

“Let’s not go in there,” she said
closing the door behind her. “My parents are preparing for a little dinner
party, and we don’t want to get in their way. Trust me,” Sakura finished as her
limo pulled around to the front to get them.

Laqiya got in the seat first
followed by Sakura, Adria, and last Isis. At that moment Sakura noticed Isis
with a startled squeak and then turned to Laqiya.

“Who is she?”

“My cousin,
Isis.”

“I didn’t even see her,” Sakura
said looking over the girl.

Adria rolled her eyes. “You really
need to improve your observational skills Sakura.”

“No,” Laqiya said. “Isis just knows
how to make
herself
invisible.”

“Thanks to
Katherine.
She showed me how to do that one,” Isis said to Laqiya.

Laqiya rolled her eyes and said,
“Is that supposed to make me jealous?”

“Who’s Katherine?” Sakura asked.

“A friend,” the cousins said
simultaneously.

“Is she that woman you were talking
to in the mall?
The one that walks like a cat?”
Adria
asked.

“You saw her?” Laqiya asked trying
to loosen the sudden tension in her shoulders.

“Yeah.
You
were arguing with her. I wouldn’t have forgotten her. She walks like a cat.
Speaking of cats…” Adria trailed off as she looked at Nightshield.

“She’s my cat,” Isis muttered
glancing at Nightshield and if Laqiya didn’t know any better, she’d say Isis
was warning the feline.

Adria continued to stare at
Nightshield and then said, “Can I hold her? There’s something… something about
her…”

Adria reached over to grab the cat
before Isis or Laqiya could answer. Laqiya didn’t see the big deal, but she had
a feeling in the back of her mind.

Adria held the cat up to her and
for a long time the two stared at each other. Then something happened, a spark,
like an exchange of energy and subconscious realization as the tension spiked.
Nightshield’s movements were so swift no one could even try to stop it, if they
saw it at all. But three scratches on Adria’s face said enough.

Adria snapped her head to the side
as though she had been slapped and dropped Nightshield on the floor of the car,
wincing as she touched her cheek.

Sakura hummed a little before
stating the obvious. “She must not like you.”

“So I gathered,” Adria growled
kicking the cat away gently with her feet.

Nightshield snapped her head back
towards Adria and gave a hostile meow.

“Stop it Nightshield,” Isis
whispered glaring at the cat.

Laqiya didn’t miss what seemed to
be a silent exchange between the two as Nightshield glared back, before
breaking the stare. She chose to curl up in a seat by herself and ignored them
the rest of the ride.

“That cat has a lot of
personality,” said Adria still glaring at it.

“You don’t even know the half of
it,” Isis mumbled still giving the cat a reprimanding look.

Laqiya looked at Isis, and Isis met
her gaze. They were going to be talking about this later.

******

“Who is she?” Laqiya demanded from
Isis when they were back in their room.

“Who?”

“That’s not just a cat,” Laqiya
said pointing to Nightshield. “Who is she and why are both of you here?”

Isis pointedly ignored Laqiya as
she started to unpack her things, while Nightshield curled in the nook of the
window.

Figuring she wasn’t going to get an
answer out of Isis, Laqiya wracked her brain trying to figure out what was so
familiar about Nightshield before snapping her finger.

“Katherine,” she said dryly turning
to look at where the cat had been only to find Katherine curled there, lazily
swishing her tail…?

Laqiya jumped in surprise.

“I always knew you were smart, much
smarter than your cousin gives you credit for that is,” the woman said in her
usual monotone.

“And I always thought you acted
like a cat sometimes,” Laqiya muttered before scowling and saying, “Get out!”

“I told you Nightshield,” Isis said
sighing.

“Katherine,” Laqiya said in a
warning tone.

“Actually, it’s Nightshield.
Katherine’s an alias… then again so is Nightshield. But I prefer Nightshield.
And I can’t leave. I’m your guardian. I’ll do anything you ask except leave.”

“Why?” Laqiya whined. “I don’t want
this destiny. I want to be normal.”

“You’ve never been normal,” both
Isis and Nightshield said.

“That’s the point!” Laqiya
exclaimed. “I used to get called Rapunzel because I could get the birds to come
to me. I was called Storm because it stormed when I lost my temper. Need I go
on?”

“Good thing you don’t want to be a
lawyer,” Nightshield said. “You’re helping my case more than yours.”

Laqiya groaned and got under the
comforters of her bed. Isis rolled her eyes, and Nightshield raised an eyebrow
seeming amused.

“You can’t hide,” the feline woman
said bluntly. “The seal of oblivion is shattering. The Tyrant’s mistresses are
going to come after you to get you out the way. You’re in danger. You may as
well fight.”

Laqiya shook her head under the
cover and said, “The seal of what?
Who?”

Nightshield sighed. “This is what
happens when the world’s greatest warrior is born into the age of technology,
and as a teenager no less. They end up spoiled and soft…”

“I’m not soft,” Laqiya muttered and
then removed the cover from over her head. “I just rather deal with not having
anything to wear to school and life and peer pressure, not these powers. I
don’t want them, and I don’t want this mission or whatever that comes with
them.”

“Too late for that,” Nightshield
said. “It’s a done deal.”

“Besides, you won’t have a future
at this rate,” Isis said.

That seemed to get Laqiya’s
attention, and she asked, “What are you talking about?”

“I thought you didn’t want to
know,” Nightshield said smugly.

“I might feel better about it if
you all told me everything instead of dancing around the topic.”

“You wouldn’t let me.”

“No. You said I was too young, and
after a while, a creepy cat lady following you over the course of six years
gets unnerving,” Laqiya deadpanned and then she sighed. “Start explaining.”

“Not here,” Nightshield said
looking out the window. “Not tonight.
Tomorrow.”

“That gives me time to change my
mind,” said Laqiya.

“You better not,” Isis snapped.

“Both of you just be ready after
school tomorrow. I have somewhere to show you,” and with that said, Nightshield
sat back in her nook and appeared to suddenly doze off though Laqiya was
positive she was awake.

“Is she always this weird?” Laqiya
asked Isis.

“I’ve stopped trying when it comes
to figuring out Nightshield,” Isis replied.

Rain… Red eyes… Shadows… Something,
a beast maybe, roared angrily and something reached out of the shadows to
attack her. The shadows pulled it back, but something else got out. It chased
her…

“Daydreaming?”

Laqiya squeaked in surprise, even
though she was well aware who was there. Katherine… Nightshield had been
scaring her by appearing out of nowhere since they met.

Laqiya still scowled.
“Nightshield…”

“You should be used to this by
now.”

“Probably, but you really should
stop. If I didn’t know any better, I’d think you the pedophilic stalker type.”

Nightshield made a sound that was
mixture been a laugh and a scoff. “I was a grown woman when you were in
diapers.”

“It’s your fault for coming across
that way.”

“Besides, age doesn’t matter to a
pedophile,” Isis said coming out the school from behind Laqiya.

“Relax. I’m not a pedophile and for
the record, I’m interested in men,” said Nightshield leading them off school
property.

“Good to know,” Isis said as she
followed Nightshield.

“Where do you think I go at night
sometimes Isis?”

Now that Laqiya knew the woman was
part feline, she could attribute her feline traits somewhere, but she would
rather not know what Nightshield did at night and so said, “Don’t give us any
ideas.”

Nightshield shrugged and took the
two to the park near their home. She then led them to the edge of the park
where the woods began. The few trees, strategically placed to border them, were
in bloom, the last blossoms until the first frost came. Around the perimeter of
that were rose bushes of nine different colors. Laqiya had been there before.
It was where she met Adria after the girl’s dog had knocked her into the only
white rose bush. She rolled her eyes at the caution sign near them. Apparently
these bushes were deadly to anyone who touched them and had been the source of
many accidents over the years. Their infamy got the city named after them,
Roselyn.

“Come on,” Nightshield said wincing
from a thorn pricking her as she walked past the white rose bush and into the
woods.

“Why?” Laqiya asked and even Isis
looked skeptical.

“Just come on,” Nightshield said to
her.

“But the roses!”

“It’s a failsafe for anyone who’s
not supposed to be in here. As long as she just comes through, it won’t hurt
you. But they’ll never hurt the White Rose. Now come on,” Nightshield demanded.

Laqiya exchanged a look with Isis,
who shrugged, and then followed Nightshield into the thick brush.

“Nightshield,” Laqiya said trying
to knock vines out her way as she followed the woman.

She chuckled. “I’m right here. Come
on.”

Laqiya groaned regretting wearing
her nice boots. She’d have to get her mother to fix them later. Pushing the
thought aside, she continued to follow Nightshield but when she thought she
caught up, the woman disappeared through a thick briar patch. Laqiya stopped.

“Is she nuts?” Isis whispered.
“That’s thing will kill us. It’s so thick and thorny.”

Laqiya bit her lip, her instinct
telling her to go. Besides, Nightshield didn’t seem hurt by it. So before Isis
could protest she ducked into the briar patch which wasn’t as thick as she
thought. Actually it wasn’t thick at all, for she came through on the other
side of it and stopped in her tracks.

“Wow,” was all she could say.

And what else was there to say? It
wasn’t everyday that Laqiya laid eyes on a landscape like this. It was
something she only saw on television; the tall green grass, beautiful flowers,
and a small lake with a bridge. But the thing that stood out the most was the
creamy white palace, a good walking distance away. Even more amazing was the
fact that Laqiya knew this place and had been drawing it for years, yearning to
see it as though it were real, like it had been home at some point, but had
been lost to her. This had to be a dream. Isis bumping into her snapped her out
her thoughts.

“You really could have moved out
of…” Isis caught sight of where they were, opening and closing her mouth. “This
must be a dream.”

“Where are we?” Laqiya asked as
both she and Isis crossed the bridge over the small lake to get to Nightshield.

“This is Al-Rana Lake,” Nightshield
said to both Laqiya and Isis.

“How…? I’ve seen this place. I
dreamt of this place,” Laqiya muttered in awe as she walked toward the palace
farther back.

“You weren’t dreaming.
It’s
home.”

Laqiya blinked.

“Home?” she asked. “I’ve never even
been here in my life.”

“This life,” Isis said in about as
much awe as Laqiya.

“Let’s go back a few years, shall
we?” Nightshield asked crossing her arms. “Six years ago you almost died and
when you woke up, you had a new identity, an alter identity really.”

“That woman,” Laqiya said and then
muttered as if in a daze, “If I ever found myself in trouble or despair,
remember my name. Remember I am
The White
Rose
.”

Laqiya blinked out her daze. “Who
was she?”

“You remember Sheera then,”
Nightshield said with a smile.

“No. It wasn’t her. I remember her.
She was the nurse… She was a nurse, wasn’t she?” Laqiya asked.

Nightshield shook her head and then
said, “Do you remember what happened?”