Page 53 of Curse of Immortality
“How did you know I was coming?” Maeve asked.
“Give me.” Edith’s voice was old and weak and yet she spat her words out aggressively. Unable to meet Maeve’s eyes, Edith stared at the shiny necklace while pacing on top of the garbage she viewed as gold.
“I saw you coming. You give me your treasure. Now it’s my treasure.”
“How did you see me coming?” Maeve again asked persistently.
Edith stopped pacing and stared at Maeve’s necklace with her head tilted. In moments like these, Edith became the worst side of herself. Much like humans that suffered from addiction, all she saw was her drug. She needed the necklace; everything in her body longed for it. The venom in her body urged her to get it because without it she couldn’t find peace. Seeing it around Maeve’s neck felt torturous. In those moments when she gave in, there was nothing of Edith left but only a Gleaner addicted to hoarding.
The addiction and need for such a rare treasure overtook Edith and made her launch herself toward Maeve again, half-running, half-crawling, ready to bite Maeve’s head off to get the necklace.
Although an old woman running to attack Maeve with crazy red eyes and drool dripping from her mouth was a terrifying sight, Maeve didn’t flinch. Instead, she lifted her hand and forced all air from Edith’s body, making her feel like every organ was shrinking in size.
“This is the last time I’ll ask you, Gleaner. How did you see me coming?” Maeve spoke slowly, in no rush to end Edith’s agony. “Are you ready to answer now?”
With her instinct to survive Edith nodded her head as much as her pained body allowed before Maeve dropped her to the ground where she lay in a pile of dead rats and their droppings. When enough air had returned to Edith’s lungs and she could breathe again, she looked up to Maeve, who was waiting for an answer. Rising to her feet she dug her hand into her pockets, which were stuffed with all sorts of objects, and pulled out a hand mirror. The glass was scratched in places and the handle only had spots left of the original green color.
“It shows me where to get my treasures and the story behind them,” Edith said while poking the mirror much too hard. “I saw how a man gave the necklace to a lady who later yelled at him and threw it away. Then he put it around your neck, only to take it off again. And now you have it once again. It’s a pretty treasure, and I-I-I want it.”
“Let me see that,” Maeve demanded as she charged toward Edith until she was standing just before the smelly old Gleaner, who held the mirror to her chest.
“Others have tried to steal it, but it only works for me you see,” Edith said with a cruelly proud smile. “But I can ask it a question for youifyou give me your treasure.” She put up her finger, which had several scars from rodents biting her.
“Deal,” Maeve agreed.
There was one question Maeve asked and the answer she received left her speechless. Her eyes were wide as she and Edith looked at the small mirror seeing both what had passed and what was yet to come.
The pictures hadn’t finished when Edith suddenly threw the mirror away from herself and fell to the ground before crawling backward to escape the images it had shown.
With her heart drumming, Maeve dove to her knees to retrieve the mirror. Luckily, the glass hadn’t shattered, and with her hands clasped tightly around the handle, Maeve shot Edith a death glare.
“It wasn’t done. Make it finish!” Maeve demanded.
Edith looked up at her with frightened and angry eyes and screamed, “NO!” while spit flew from her mouth.
“Does anyone else know?” Maeve asked in a stern tone as she got to her feet.
Edith shook her head violently “No, this is the only mirror of its kind, and it has never shown me anything like that before.”
“No one can ever know about this,” Maeve stated out loud as she put the mirror into her pocket.
“I won’t tell,” Edith swore, but in reality, something like that was out of her control. She often yelled all types of things, mostly messages from her dreams that she couldn’t understand, and surely this was something she would mumble on about. Not that anyone other than the rats would listen to her. But even if Edith could keep her mouth shut, Maeve had never intended to spare her life. She had promised to deliver her head to Charles.
Taking off her necklace, Maeve bent down and placed it over Edith’s head.
Like a small child, Edith forgot all about the worries and confusion that had clouded her head only a moment before and lit up in a smile as her hands clasped the pretty necklace.
Maeve now understood Charles’ words about Edith being the most innocent and helpless type of creature on earth. Looking at her now, she was like a small child, tired from a major tantrum, and confused about how the world worked. Even if Charles hadn’t asked for Edith’s head, Maeve knew she would have killed her anyway. It was what she would have wanted others to do to her if she had been in Edith’s shoes.
“You’ve been cursed with this life because of Zosia’s indifference to Earthens and your own naïveté. I won’t make the same mistake.”
Maeve was just about to end Edith’s life when she remembered the compass. With Edith distracted by the necklace, she took the compass from her pocket and used it the way Charles had instructed. It transported both her and Edith to one of the most tranquil spots she knew.
“Look, Edith,” she whispered and saw the Gleaner gape as she took in the nature that surrounded them. Trees stood tall, birds were singing, and the air was fresh and unpolluted.
Edith’s eyes filled with tears as she reached out and picked a tall flower that she brought to her nose. Closing her eyes, she inhaled the scent and sighed with delight.
“Isn’t it lovely?” Maeve asked but Edith didn’t answer. Instead, she began picking as many flowers she could get her hands on in a new fit of need to collect. That’s when Maeve lifted her hand and slowly squeezed it until all the air had left Edith’s frail little body. She kicked and wobbled until her body had no more to give and she lay on her back looking up at the blue sky. Her red eyes were large and blank and with two fingers, Maeve gently closed them.
