Page 31 of Above
For some reason, I didn’t fear the snakes. No, something else lingered that was far more terrifying.
Above the hiss, my mother’s voice rang out, the sound of my childhood lullaby feeling less soothing than it once had.
“Sleep tight my little one. Now you’ve had all your fun,” she cooed. “Lay down, close your eyes. Before the eadi swarm like flies.”
I continued walking, light flickering with each step.
“In the morning when you wake. To the dawn of a brand new day.” She sounded both near and far, her voice everywhere and no where. “The beasts will roam the halls. So be careful not to fall.”
A snake reached my abdomen, twirling around it until it was difficult to breathe.
“For unworthy haunt the shadows when. The pure walk ahead of them. Just know you’ll be safe and sound. As their bodies swing above the ground.” The end of the song neared, the words painting the air in death and gore. “I ask of you one thing. Their heads in hand you bring.”
The hallway darkened ahead, for a moment all lights fading. I felt both horribly alone and uncomfortably surrounded. The snakes tightened around me further.
“Quiet now magical little one.” Light returned. “The eadi are gone, our job is done.”
When her song was over, the hallway finally ended, and there was my father, standing tall and proud, his pale hair shorter than mine but just as perfectly styled. He wore all black, the many layers and added silver accents he usually adorned gone.
“Hello, my son.” As always, his voice held a threatening edge. Was he angry with me? What had I done this time?
“Hello, Father,” I offered in return, squaring my shoulders to seem brave as the snakes began to climb further up my body. He didn’t seem to buy it. A scowl overcame his face, twisting thepale skin and making him look somehow more menacing than normal.
“You will either be better and bring honor to this family, or you will die protecting its legacy.” And then a snake bit into my neck, my blood squirting out in heavy spurts as my dad laughed and my mother continued to sing somewhere in the distance.
Gasping, I opened my eyes, rocking on my feet but managing to stay upright as I came out of the dream.
Where was I? This wasn’t my room at the academy. Had I been sleepwalking?
Blinking, I realized I was standing in a barracks room much smaller than mine, three beds taking up almost all of the pitiful space. And there, right in front of me, was a sleeping Nova Tershetta. She wore the same outfit we had all been assigned. Standard black long sleeve tops and thick, loose pants. Her curls were a disaster that fanned out around her. She had her lips parted slightly, making it more obvious that the bottom was a bit smaller than the top.
For a split second of time, I wasn’t sure why I hated her so much. She looked harmless, if not uninteresting. Plain even, without the hair. Not a beast or a monster like my mother’s nursery rhyme suggested in my haunting dream.
Reality quickly settled in, and I felt the grip I had on something. Looking down, I realized it was a knife. Not the dagger that had been forged and designed after my birth, but a plain piece of cutlery I had never seen before.
Two lines of the nursery rhyme came to mind.
I ask of you one thing. Their heads in hand you bring.
Inching closer to the akhata, I prepared myself to cut open her throat.
Please the stars, that was what I needed to do. Clearly they were leading me here, pushing me to rectify their mistake. Andwhat was she other than a waste of space anyways? Better off dead.
Involuntarily, the words slipped from between my lips, “The eadi are gone, our job is done.”
Tershetta’s eyes shot open, catching mine before flicking down to the knife at her throat. Rustling came from behind me, one of the others gasping at the sight of me there. All I could do in my panic and daze was shadow walk away. My breaths were labored as I landed in my room, the immaculate area cold and void of the wretched emotions that swarmed my mind.
“Why didn’t you kill the creature?” I asked myself in a hushed and violent whisper. But, of course, I knew the answer already. I let fear win.
With a scream of frustration, I turned and threw the knife, watching as it dug into the wall.
Chapter Sixteen
Nova
“Celeste got in a fight with a girl at school today. The girl had kicked over my pile of herbs I had been collecting to bring home to Mama. Celeste hit her so hard in the nose that it bent sideways. I wish I was as brave as she is.”
-From the journal of Nova Tershetta, 9243 AS
