Page 23 of Castian

A 16-year-old Oye, sat on the hospital bed staring out the window. The tray of food uneaten on the counter next to her, she’d not eaten since she’d awakened to the news of her mother’s death. Her hands were still discolored from where they clutched the blanket, her eyes still weren’t completely right yet.

“I reckon there are plenty a kid’s who’d love to live.”

She wanted this old woman to shut up. She narrowed her eyes on the window, trying to blank everything out.

“You know, your mother…She wouldn’t want you to—” “How do you know that?”

Oye angrily demanded, “How do you know what my mother would want? She’s dead, so it’s not like you could ask her.” She wanted to hit the old woman with something. How dare she tell her what her mother would want, her mom would want to be alive. “I’m not some kid, don’t lie to me. My mom’s dead, because of me and that’s a fact.”

“Oye—”

“Oye.”

She blinked, moving her gaze from the cooking cabbage to the doorway where Mama D stood. Mama D’s hand rested on Quill’s shoulder. Tears rolled down his cheeks. She looked down at his hand and gasped. His hand was bleeding, so she quickly set a spatula aside to go get the med kit.

“What happened?” she asked.

Mama D clicked her tongue. “He tried to flip those decorative blades, and failed.”

Oye groaned, as she waited for Mama D to lead the little boy over to the sink. “I told them not to play with them.”

Mama D shook her head. “Babies always try to experience things themselves, no matter how adults tell them otherwise.”

Kneeling so that she could see the thin slice on the poor boy’s hand better. Oye couldn’t help but lecture the little elfin boy. “Quill, what were you thinking?”

He winced as she tilted his hand back and forth in her grip.

He released a sniffle, and flinched when she squeezed his hand lightly. “I—” Sniff. “—wanted to see if I could do it the same way as you—” Sniff. “—but I failed.”

Oye stared at him for a long moment before she asked softly. “When did you ever see me flipping blades?” She motioned to the first aid kit, the top popped open with a clicking sound.

“In my dreams,” he answered innocently. “You were in the dark, but I could see you. You looked angry, but then whatever was annoying you disappeared when you threw a knife, and it went whoosh.” He made the whooshing sound, no longer crying.

Oye pulled a vial out of the first aid kit and releasing his hand she unscrewed the top. Pressing her pointer finger against the top she tipped it upside down, and gently pressed the liquid to the cut. Her mind was already drifting back to when she’d first met the Triplets.

Originally it should have been a simple mission; someone was rumored to be kidnapping rare children along with young girls and selling them to prostitute rings. She’d been expecting it to be a routine shake down, she would go in with guns blazing and kill who needed to be killed, and save who needed saving but that place had been far more twisted then she had expected.

Flash back

The sound of music playing from a recorder filled the ransacked dilapidated building. What once had appeared as a fancy bar, its interior decorated in soft greys and harsh reds, and velvet furniture had proven to be nothing more than an illusion.

Once Lanias had broken the centering stone, they had come to see the broken tables and rotting wood of the shelves. The stench had been what really turned Oye’s stomach, though she didn’t dare show it.

“You and the others can go upstairs,” Lanias directed her, and the other witches, her eyes focused on what once had been a wall, but now was a door that probably led down to the cellar below.. As she moved towards it, Oye felt something tell her to go with her.

“Wait, I’ll go with you.”

Lanias paused before the door, her right hand held out towards the doorknob. “Are you sure?” she asked, with her back to Oye. “I don’t think anyone should come with me.” She half turned, her eyes solemn, “Some parts of humanity and Beings should remain hidden.”

Hardening her resolve, Oye just nodded and repeated that she would go with her.

Together they opened the door. The first thing that hit them was the smell. It was a mixture of iron and cold. Oye tensed immediately, letting two short swords fall into her hands, and as they descended the steps she tightened her grip on them more and more.

The steps creaked as she descended, a rustling sound could be heard as they drew closer to the bottom. Lanias reached the landing first, she clicked her tongue and a wave of magic slammed through the corridor, knocking down every hidden trap and cloaking.

Lights flickered on just as Oye arrived at the bottom step only for her heart to give a hard thump. The walls were covered with cages. And inside the cages were beings, but not grown beings…Children.

Their wide gazes were stark within their skulls as it was clear they hadn’t been fed properly. As they moved forward, the heavy chains that were lashed around their necks scraped along the ground of the cages they were held in.

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