The sun had long since dipped below the horizon and with night, came a chill wind that pierced my rumpled dress. Although the woman on my right side was someone I didn’t know, a woman who smelled oddly unpleasant, I didn’t nudge her away when she pressed close to me for warmth. Besides, she came from the compound where they’d left Tom, and for some reason being close to her made me feel closer to Tom in a strange way.
Tom, whom I couldn’t stop thinking about. Couldn’t stop seeing him walking toward that compound, those gates closing. Tom, whom I had a feeling I would never see again.
The new ones had been excited when they’d first climbed into the wagon. But now, an hour later, everyone’s excitement had slowly turned into exhaustion and nervousness. Except for Thanatos; he was all ease as he stretched his legs out in front of him, his hood hiding his features. He might have even slept. His lack of interest angered me. It didn’t matter to them that they separated us from our family and friends. It didn’t matter that they kept us caged, not knowing what would come next.
I had refused to cry when we’d left Tom, even knowing I would most likely never see him again. After all, Tom hadn’t even glanced back when he’d left, so eager to do his part and feel important. So why should I care? But I did care. Deep down, in some hollowed place in my chest, I felt heavy and cold, alone.
The woman next to me nudged my arm. “Look,” she whispered.
I glanced back. A stone fence had sprung up alongside the road, so unlike our tall iron fences that I knew we were somewhere completely new. This was no compound. My exhaustion gave way to wariness. I barely noticed the discomfort of the wheels hitting the cobbled road as we swept over a bridge and through a wide opening in the stone fence. Even Tom was momentarily forgotten. Around me, excited murmurs rose as curiosity took hold.
And for a long moment I was just as stunned. It was a large town bordered by a river. Tall lamps lined a street that wove its way up a hill, sending a warm candlelit glow across the glistening stone. Buildings made of rock followed the lane, the windows lit cozily from within. I straightened, gripping the edge of the wagon, wondering if perhaps I dreamt.
This was a kingdom from the books I’d read, a city of cottages and castles. We swept up the cobbled road, the thump of the wheels sending us bouncing up off our seats and making us cling to each other like children at play. I’d never seen so much stone. Our homes were all low, wooden structures of dull brown and beige. These were massive, beautiful, elegant. Had Sally been right all along, were we here to become part of a magical kingdom, rewarded for years of drudgery?
Ignoring the excited whispers of the others, I glanced at Thanatos. His shoulders were slightly hunched, his face still hidden within that hood so I couldn’t read his expression. It was obvious he wasn’t impressed. But why should he? The beautiful ones were used to this life.
“I can’t believe it,” Sally said next to me. “I knew it. I dreamt of it.”
I tore my attention from Thanatos. “What?”
“This!” She glanced pointedly toward the city lit by softly glowing lanterns. As the wagon thumped over the road, people stepped from their doors, studying us curiously. Even though they were hard to see in the candlelight, I knew they were the beautiful ones. Their clothing shimmered with riches, their pale faces were pure, but it was more…something more that identified them...
Their very essence.
“This magnificence!” Sally exclaimed. “I knew it had to be all for something.”
But as I glanced around me, I wondered what, exactly, it had been for? Why would we live in squalor only to come into riches now? It made no sense.
“Mamma!” A small child darted from a door, running alongside our wagon. She looked up at me with pale green eyes in a pale pure face surrounded by golden hair that caught the lamplight and glimmered. I’d never seen a young beautiful one and I was stunned by her appearence.
But as she gazed longingly up at me, there was something eerily unsettling about her stare. Something I didn’t understand. “Mamma, I want one! Can I have one?”
A woman hustled forward, as the other beautiful ones laughed. I didn’t understand the child’s question nor their response, but they made me uneasy.
“Of course not,” the woman muttered. “Don’t be silly.”
She took her child’s hand and pulled her back toward the house where they apparently lived.
Sally laughed, delighted. “How funny!”
I didn’t find it funny, I found it strange. But I didn’t have time to dwell upon the situation. The wagon slowed in a massive round courtyard, lined with more stone homes. At the center, a large building that could only be called a castle, loomed above us.
Men stood alongside the entrance, almost like guards, although they held no weapons. Their fierce scowls and those scars slashed across their faces were enough to dissuade even me from asking questions.
A guard dressed in dark clothing stepped forward as our wagon came to a stop. “Hurry now, get down.”
There was no welcome or pleasantries, and although we were dusty and thirsty no one offered us water. One by one we jumped from the bed. When my feet hit the street, my numb legs almost gave out. I had to cling momentarily to the side of the wagon until my body regained control of its limbs. But with a nudge from the guard, all too soon I forced myself to follow Sally through the throng of beautiful ones gathered around the courtyard.
They offered no greeting as we swept by in a procession of common, bedraggled people. They merely watched us with detachment, once in a while turning toward their neighbor as if to discuss something mundane. Although to us the beautiful ones were as rare and stunning as a rainbow, apparently to them we were more along the lines of a mud puddle, something one notices but avoids.
“You will follow me,” yet another nameless guard with a telling scar ordered.
We walked woodenly across the stone courtyard to a large arched doorway. Everything was so incredibly different from our compound that I felt as if I’d actually entered another world. Back home we walked on dirt and the sparse patch of grass, while the cobbled stone now at our feet was unfamiliar and uneven. But my lack of balance was forgotten as I glanced around the strange place. The riches didn’t make me feel better; in fact, they made me feel worse.
The guards shouted out orders, but I barely paid attention.
A group of beautiful ones stood in a half circle watching us. Just watching. I tried to ignore my nervousness, but it wouldn’t go away, merely pulsed at me beneath a calm veneer. And I certainly couldn’t ignore the unsettling stares of the beautiful ones. We moved past a set of closed doors, turned right and marched down a narrow, dark hall. It was as we started down that hall that I suddenly found myself beside Thanatos.
He didn’t say a word, that stunning face still half-hidden. But I had a chance, and it could be my only chance. “Where are they taking us?” I blurted out before my nerves got the better of me.
He jerked his head my way, seemingly startled by my question, or maybe the mere sound of my voice. Why I’d thought I had the right to ask him anything, I hadn’t a clue. Maybe because out of all the beautiful ones, he was the only one who showed emotion, who offered us commentary and attention of any sort.
“You don’t need to worry about it,” he muttered. “Not yet.”
Without further comment, he quickened his steps and turned left, merging into the shadows down the hall. I actually paused, so startled by his response and sudden disappearance. What did he mean by not yet? Someone ran into me with a grunt.
“Sorry,” I muttered, and started forward once more.
“Women this way,” the guard called out, pointing at the left side of a split staircase. “Men that way.”
Sally sidled up next to me and clasped my hand, a telling sign she was nervous. She wasn’t one for physical contact. I glanced back, but Thanatos was gone, and only a sea of weary faces met my gaze.
“Up the stairs, ladies. Your maids wi
ll be waiting for you.”
“Maids?” Sally said, dropping my hand in annoyance and quirking a knowing brow. “I told you we wouldn’t be servants.”
I frowned as I followed her quick steps up a narrow, dark stairway. The idea of having servants caused an excited twitter to form that rolled down the line of girls in a wave. They might all think we were honored guests, but instinct told me we were here for an entirely different reason. If not as servants, then what?
We passed a second floor and continued up to a third. At the top of the steps, five women wearing plain black gowns and white aprons stood waiting. They were not beautiful ones, but were older, with graying hair and sagging skin, looking very much the female version of our wagon driver. But it wasn’t just the wrinkles and graying hair that made them all so similar, it was the empty look in their eyes.
“You two over here.” A woman nodded toward me and Sally, then started for the nearest door.
Sally bounded into the room as if she owned the place, as if she fully expected and accepted the riches that stood before us. I followed a little more hesitantly. I wasn’t sure who was more surprised, as we both froze in the middle of the beautiful space, stunned. Two large beds lay against the far wall, covered with thick, shimmering blankets of pale blue. Above, what I could only assume was a chandelier shone and sparkled with glass beads and silver sconces, while the walls glimmered with some sort of white wallpapering. It was a fairy land, something I didn’t even know could exist. Something that didn’t seem real.
“Dinner is on the cart. The bathing room is through there.” The maid pointed to a door on the far wall. “You turn the knobs to get the water into the tub. Pull the bell cord near the fireplace if you need assistance. But only as a last resort.”
“Excuse me, I was wondering…”
She didn’t wait for the rest of my question, but scurried from the room, closing the door behind her as if she couldn’t wait to leave. Was it jealousy that had her so unhelpfully fleeing? I frowned. Nothing made sense.
“Oh my,” Sally whispered, completely unconcerned with the fact that the woman had abandoned us. The riches had blinded her to the truth. And the truth was that something odd was happening here. She rushed across the room, trailing her fingers over the fireplace mantel, before heading to one of the two beds. “The covers are so soft! Do you think everyone has a room as elegant as ours? Surely not!”
“Sally,” I whispered, feeling much too dirty to touch anything. “Don’t you wonder why we’re here?”
“Huh?” She moved to the cart between our beds, and lifted a silver dome, releasing the aroma of soup and steamed vegetables. The candlelight glowing from the chandelier above made everything look soft and inviting, but it didn’t put me at ease. Something was wrong.
“I’m so hungry.” She took a plate and settled on the edge of her bed, popping a cooked carrot into her mouth. It didn’t bother her that she was getting dust and dirt all over her bedcover. “I could eat the entire tray.”
“Sally.” I moved toward her. “Do you not have any questions at all about why we’re here?”
With her mouth full, she shook her head. “We were good.” She swallowed the bite. “This is the gift for our years of obedience.”
Sure, it was a nice thought, but it didn’t seem to fit. But nothing did. Still, what was the alternative? I sighed, sinking gingerly upon the edge of the bed. Perhaps she was right. After all, nothing else made sense. I smoothed my hands over the soft blanket. It was pure heaven. I’d read about material as fine in my books, but I’d never truly understood the richness.
“Cakes!” she cried out.
I glanced toward the tray where two pink frosted cakes were resting like little delicious presents. My stomach tightened with nerves, revolted by the idea of eating. “You’re welcome to mine as well.”
“I certainly won’t let it go to waste.” She snatched the cake and sank her teeth into the pastry, groaning. She seemed more interested in eating than in uncovering what our purpose was for being here.
“Delicious,” she muttered, crumbs falling from her mouth and to the carpet below. “I’ve never tasted anything so delicious.”
I admit my stomach grumbled and I regretted giving up the delicacy, but the cakes were gone before I had a chance to take back my decision. Besides, I had more important things to worry about.
“I think I’ll wash.”
Sally yawned, nodding. Reluctantly, I headed toward the bathing room. But my unease wouldn’t release its tight grip. At the door, I paused and glanced back. “Sally?”
“Hmm?” she asked dreamily, the smile on her face making me falter. Perhaps I was wrong, and if I was, I didn’t want to ruin this for her. As annoying as she could be at times, she still deserved to enjoy what little luxury we might receive tonight. Tomorrow would be soon enough to worry.
I smiled back. “Sweet dreams.”
She giggled, a pure, delighted sound I’d never heard coming from her lips before. “I don’t need my dreams anymore.” Her lashes drifted down; she was already half asleep. “For they’re coming true.”
My smile faltered. I only wished I could be so sure.