Follow: Book 1 The Rose Tree Chronicles

Chapter Nine: Prophetic Overload

That same morning, Rein awoke to a beam of light shooting through the keyhole, just like she had the day before. No one entered the storage room yesterday, and judging from the stillness on the other side of the door it seemed as though no one would come in today either. Rein took a moment to allow her mind to focus and then verified the emptiness in the office beyond the door. Then she stood up and continued to practice flying with the ball and chain locked to her ankles.

Rein had come to the conclusion that Jed and Mazyr planned to starve her to death. Luckily for her, she had discovered a small leak in the roof that allowed for water to trickle down the wall and form a small puddle on the ground. There wasn't much as it hadn't rained in the last two days, but the collection of morning dew and melted frost allowed her to suppress her hunger and remain hydrated.

Minutes into her workout, Rein was taken by surprise when the weight actually lifted off the floor this time. She stopped fluttering her wings out of shock, and the ball bounced and clanked when she hit the stony floor. Rein immediately looked toward the door hoping that nobody had heard the racket. After a while of waiting, Rein concluded with great relief that she was in the clear. Then realization sunk in: she had just lifted the weight off of the floor! She had finally made progress!

Rein practiced hovering with the metal ball for hours before deciding that she wanted to fly up to the keyhole. She convinced herself that it wouldn't be smart to try this while the shop was still open and figured that she would give her wings a rest. However, Rein was a very impatient pixie and she didn't rest for long before she opted to fly to the keyhole anyway. Elevating so high was a struggle, but Rein succeeded and grabbed the inside of the keyhole so that she could hang there and peer through it. The office was faintly lit by a single candlelight, which was just enough to confirm that no one occupied the room. It felt so good to actually see the other side of the door where freedom awaited her.

Suddenly, the door to Mazyr's office opened, allowing additional light to spill in with a long shadow that quickly stretched across the room. It startled Rein so that she tumbled back to the cold stone floor with another clank and a few bounces. This time it knocked her out.

~~

Another nightmare followed where Rein was still locked inside the storage room. It seemed as though she was never going to escape this place, even in her dreams. Rein proceeded to scan the collection of dead pixies and for some reason she couldn't bring herself to look away this time. Their bodies were just as mutilated and their faces just as horrifying as they were in real life. Their wide, bloodshot eyes stared at Rein with fear and sorrow, or with no expression at all, and they followed her wherever she moved. It sent numerous chills down her spine and she half expected one of them to attack her. If only she was able to look away!

Rein helplessly strolled beside a particular shelf until she came to three lifeless figures that were locked up in the same glass case. They appeared as though they were merely sleeping rather than dead, with their heads slumped to their sides and their chests rising and falling. She didn't recognize two of the figures due to their blurry faces, but the third she knew to be Gerardo. Rein watched as each of these figures opened their eyes one by one with Gerardo being the last one to open his. They raised their heads to look directly at her, and suddenly they pounced at her, roaring. Rein lifted her arms to protect herself, but she was grateful to find that the case shielded her from their fury. As if on cue, their attitudes changed from psycho-killer to pleading innocent.

"Free us! Free us, please!" they pleaded. Rein was quickly reaching her limit of terror and confusion.

"Why do you look at me like that?" Gerardo asked. "What's wrong?"