It’s just.... I don’t see you much anymore, and when I do you’re distant. What’s been going on?”
“I don’t know. It’s just a phase I guess.”
Her mum still looked suspicious. “Have you met someone, a boy?”
“No, God no.” Not a boy... and not like that. Ew.
“Well then, what is it?” she said, “you’ve been acting very strangely lately. I miss you, even when you’re sat right next to me. That’s not normal, you just always seem distant, like your mind is set on other things.”
“Mum,” Patience said sternly, “this is just some kind of growing up phase, but not just for me, for you as well. You’re getting older and feeling that you’re getting on in years.”
“....Charming....”
“And you feel like I’m getting older and that the whole world is going to end.” Which it could. “But please just stop worrying, I am still your little girl.” As though to prove it, she wrapped her arms around her and tightened. Her mum gave her a big smile, the sadness more–or-less gone, before getting up and going back to bed.
Patience didn’t get back to sleep, but sat there feeling a little better until the sun came up and invaded her bedroom blinds. She got up before everyone else and made herself a few pieces of jam on toast. Her dad came down in his pyjamas half way through eating them.
“You’re up early,” he said, wiping the sleep from his eyes, “I heard about your adventure last night.”
“It was more like this morning,” said Patience, “and if a nightmare counts as an adventure, then yes. It was thrilling.”
“Well it’s more eventful than what you normally do.” She had to disagree there. He sat down beside her and stole a slice of her toast, she didn’t protest but was just happy to have his company.
As the day went on, the time loomed for her to leave for the Schism Complex. From what Grim had told her, it was incredibly dangerous, and she half expected not to make it out alive. It was a very pessimistic way of looking at it. Yet she couldn’t get rid of the feeling that time was running out. Normally, she would be sat with her family wishing to be back in the magical world, wanting to return to the excitement and adventure. But not then. She savoured every moment, a tight knot forming in the pit of her stomach as though each word they spoke could be the last. Very different from last night when she had been rearing to go.
“Are you feeling alright?” her mum said, stepping into the kitchen, “you look terribly pale.”
“I’m fine,” she said, “might have just caught a bug or something. It’ll pass.” Something was eating at her insides, and it wasn’t a bug. It was nerves, mainly after what her mum said last night. She had been sad because Patience was getting more and more distant. It killed her to think she was hurting her own mum like that, and it was selfish risking her life in this way. What would happen if they both died down there?
Their bodies would never be found. From her mum’s perspective, her daughter would just disappear, she would just be left not knowing what happened to her. She might blame herself, thinking that Patience had run away, or been driven away. Her parents would be damaged for life.
Then there was the alternative option, which involved not going to the Schism Complex. Yes, she would be given some extra time with her family. But how long would it delay, eventually Mr Big would get his hands on the Lamina and kill them all anyway. That is if he didn’t hunt down Patience and her family looking for the key. No, her best bet was to take the risk. Her parents would never understand, hell, she would probably never understand it herself. It was just something that had to be done. She was doing it for them after all.
Her parents looked at her suspiciously as she hugged them good bye. She just prayed they couldn’t see the tears that were beginning to fester in the roots of her eyes. Her only worry was her mum, mother’s intuition was a powerful thing. She just knew things, even before Patience knew them herself. Somehow she had the feeling that her mum could sense something was wrong without even looking at her.
“I’ll see you later,” she said, her voice coming out as a whisper, which she managed to play off as intentional. Her parents gave her a nervous chuckle, and she turned her back on them.
She waited for Grim to arrive, he was late as always. She was silent as she got in the car, not gifting him with the knowledge that she was on the verge of tears.
21
THE SCHISM COMPLEX
The graveyard was completely empty, stretching out before them like a wide open plain - with graves dotted between the rough patches of dead grass. Shadows had weaved their way amongst the stones, festering in every corner apart from where it was broken up by the full moon that floated high in the sky.
Patience felt the grass crunch beneath her boot as she stepped across it. Her movements were slow and delicate as though she feared she might step on a grave, which seemed inevitable as it wasn't a neat alignment like she had seen in the movies. This was a scattered graveyard, as though loads of dead relatives had been let loose to fight in a free-for-all for space.
“Are any of the graves here for sorcerers?” asked Patience, trying to squint at the names that were covered in blackness.
Grim pushed ahead of her. “Well, the one we're looking for is, but the rest are hidden away in the Schism Complex itself.”
“Who was he?”
“Oh, a charming fellow. He was a kindly man who donated to charities, used his magic to help old ladies cross the road, and even healed a homeless man who was suffering from the plague.”
“Really?”
Grim chuckled. “Of course not. No, he was a kleptomaniac and a common serial killer who murdered his victims in the most horrible of ways. Later, he went on to lead a war to kill all mortals and any sorcerers who stood in his way.”
“So, he's not a very nice person?”
“Not really.” As they spoke, Patience hadn't realised that Grim had come to an abrupt halt. She hopped a glance over his shoulder to find a tall grave stone which was almost as tall as her. It had two spikes in the corner and a curved top, reminding her of a shield that knights might have used in medieval times.
Grim started to run his hands along its surface. “I know it's around here somewhere.”
Patience read the name. Diabolus. She recognised his name.
“Was he an old one?”
“Yeah, one of - if not - the last.” Grim kept running his hands along the edge until he reached the point, he hovered over it, fingers meeting in the middle, and then he pushed. The grave toppled with ease as it crumbled into little pieces, leaving a hole in the ground. At first Patience thought Grim had just accidentally broken someone's grave, she didn't care how evil they were, that's just disrespectful.
Although, as she looked over into the hole, she realised that there was steps leading downwards. “Here we go, the entrance to the Schism Complex.”
“Great.... what is it with sorcerers and your underground hideaways?”
“Harder for mortals to stumble on, I guess, and we just like being dramatic and scary.”
“I thought so.”
Grim stepped in first, and Patience followed closely behind. It was clear that none of this was naturally made. The stairs were carved out of the rock so neatly and intricately that it must have been man-made, and the passage stayed at the exact same height for the entire way through.
Ahead of her, Grim lit a fire in his hand to light the way, now the stairs had levelled out into a flat corridor. But Patience didn't like what she saw. Skulls. Everywhere. Oh God, what the hell. She tucked her hands in as they were at both side.
There was a dip - almost like a shelf - etched into the rocks to their side, and on them were rows upon rows of old human skulls.
Patience held back a scream, though Grim still seemed to notice because he looked over his shoulder, shook his head and turned back around. “They're just skulls,” he said, putting extra emphasis on his sigh.
“Yeah,” she said
, “human skulls. Like, what the hell, who are they?”
Grim held the flame closer to them as though that would help to explain things to her. “As I said, the Schism Complex holds a good majority of the casualties from The Great War. But the war was so big, on a bigger scale than you can possibly imagine. They can't possibly hold every single body down here.”
“So, instead they decided to only store their head?”
“Exactly, many people believe that the soul, a person's essence, is housed inside the head. So they didn't mind detaching it. I know that my head is the best part of my body. Just from my incredible good looks. I would make a good head.”
“That can be arranged.”
They carried on walking for what seemed like hours. Patience was starting to think that the description of it's in the Schism Complex was a little too vague. Couldn't they have been given co-ordinates or something. They passed a few turns but Grim didn't change their course.
“Remember,” he said, “this is a labyrinth, in all senses of the word. Not just the noun, but also the adjective.”
Patience groaned. “Enough of the English lesson, you and Bernard always go on about this stuff. I struggle enough in school.”
“I mean adjective as in a describing word. Oh my God. Okay. If you call something a labyrinth then it means that it is massive, with lots of twisting paths that are easy to get lost in. That's why I am putting down a mental bread crumb trail.”
“So, you're imagining bread