Conform or Suffer: The Darkness of Beauty

Chapter 5 In Reflection

Yoleta's elite guards stood outside the bathroom while she visited the hospital's intensive care unit on the third floor.

A flat-screen TV played in the beige-colored lobby.

Three of her five guards watched a weekly beauty contest, where the top twenty winners punched and scratched at each other. Female contestants were dressed in black or muted green. The men wore suits in every color of the rainbow except the contestants, with an R sewn into muted-green uniforms.

An assistant changed Vex's ascot tie live on air.

More guards watched and waited for him to speak again.

"These contests are like game shows, and Vex shoots five episodes a day. Most of his time is spent touring his workhouses or at parties," a purple-haired guard said.

"I hate him, but he's got swagger," another guard said.

Vex started going over the rules of the contest. "A contestant who maims or kills enough of their competitors wins by default, but it can be foolish." He combed through his slick black and purple hair and placed his top hat back on. "Three unacceptable citizens have saved themselves from the workhouse, and their badges will be removed from their arms. I, for one, can't wait to see their plastic surgery makeovers. Sadly, ten unlucky losers are being tossed back inside one of my workhouses." His face morphed partially into a dragon, and another year vanished from his face. Everything appeared to be special effects, but he possessed some sort of ability or forgotten magic that kept him young.

"Turn that off. I'm stuck in here," Yoleta shouted from the other side of the bathroom door. Her pink uniform's black and gold buttons glistened. She appeared every bit the muscular elf warrior, and her once-long hair was cut short and bleached.

Harsh overhead lights faded into near darkness. Rhythmic sounds of boots echoed around her.

Her guards slammed into the steel door. Their lean bodies struggled to break into the bathroom.

"Madd-Ox, help me." Yoleta jostled the handle, but an invisible hand yanked her back. She swung her fist and hit the air, and the tapping footsteps stopped. "Who is there?"

A phantom glow lit the room.

"Protect Grew-Ella," Quig's oldest sister said from behind the mirror.

Yoleta's features morphed into Ida's face. Her features resembled her brother's, but her nose appeared as if it had hit a stone wall, or rather, a drunk plastic surgeon's fist. Gray patches of skin spread.

Wavy black hair fell over her shoulders as she touched the mirror on the opposite side. "I used borrowed magic to be reborn and save my family." Whatever creature Ida became pounded against the glass. Her white wings expanded. Cracks developed, distorting her image.

"Are you dead?"

Ida stepped out of the mirror. "No, I've become a reborn elemental. I need sleep, food, and water, and I can die again, just not by drowning. I have new powers and travel by reflection, crawl up walls, and do parlor tricks like invading dreams." Moths flew out of the cracked mirror. "Don't tell Prime Minister Sean-Mack. He must think I'm dead. My visions are gone, but I know I lived in the future and that I'm supposed to be here."

Footsteps became audible again, stomping toward Yoleta. The lights flickered on.

A voice mimicking Yoleta's filled the room. "Turn around."

Yoleta jerked her head, and a version of herself stared at her with bloodshot eyes. Sand stuck to the woman's uniform, and an electronic watch glowed on her wrist. A quarter-sized metal stopwatch was attached to the digital display screen.

"Honey, ban Grew-Ella's sister from entering the hospital," her copy said.

"Why would Zill hurt her?" Yoleta asked.

"We'll tell you later, not that you'll fully remember." Her doppelgänger vanished into nothingness.

Yoleta's guards broke through the door and tumbled onto the floor.

"I'm fine. Race you to Quig's room." The politician leaped over a gurney, and she rushed towards the near-empty nurse's station.

Medics and a nurse dressed in yellow cartoon cat scrubs sat down. The nurse's red hair was in a bun. Pale elf ears exposed. The reflection of her square jaw was distorted by a metal lamp on the station.

Yoleta stopped running to straighten Nurse Ruby's name tag and hugged her.

Ruby brushed her hand away and took three deep breaths. "Stop touching me, unless I invite you to. I have to touch patients as part of my job, but only Dot and my mother are allowed to mess with my tag or give me hugs."

"I forgot." Yoleta ran, almost colliding with a medic.

Guards followed Yoleta and mimicked her frantic steps. Their eyes peered down the hall, scanning for Grew-Ella's sister, and they spotted her floating near Quig's hospital room.

"Sis, I'll try to convince Chase to leave you alone. You might not believe me, but I'm on your side." Zill towered over Grew-Ella even when her feet touched the ground. She gave her a smoothie in a translucent cup.

Grew-Ella took the cup and pretended to sip it. Her mouth puckered to sell the lie. "Would you sign a document that allowed me to have my own life?"

"Of course not. You can't think for yourself." Zill's blue curls bounced. Feathered wings with gold tips stuck through the slits in her dress. "Grew-Ella, I need to go." She stared with dead eyes until she raced to the nearest elevator.

Yoleta addressed her guards. "Place teams at every entrance. Don't tell Grew-Ella, but keep her sister from visiting the hospital and trail her. I love Zill, but I think men manipulate her."

Yoleta, Madd-Ox, and Grew-Ella entered Quig's hospital room while the others waited outside.

Nurse Ruby entered the room and positioned a tube in Quig's mouth to aid him in breathing. Ruby waved at Dot. "I'm sorry about your brother. And it's weird that I am his nurse." 

Grew-Ella tossed her drink in the trash.

Dot wore her dark hair in a bun, and her tail wagged. "I hate for you to see me like this, but there are so few nurses that we were bound to run into each other here."

Ruby nodded in agreement and continued her duties.

Grew-Ella's brother, Madd-Ox, hugged her.

She brushed his red hair out of his face. His small wings were hidden under his uniform.

Madd-Ox shook. "I hate my life. Quig is in a coma, and I still can't get my status lowered from elite prince, so I can marry my unacceptable girlfriend. If I was a broken elite or a village prince like Chase, I'd have more freedom."

Yoleta grunted and huffed. "My guards need to bypass status laws."

"Quig will be okay, at least." Grew-Ella raised her brows and mirrored her brother's expression. They were officially cousins and were raised by their adopted mother, Karen. Genetically half-siblings due to Grew-Ella's father being the twin of Madd-Ox's late birth father. Multiples were not a rare event, but a norm in the small kingdom.

Grew-Ella grabbed Quig's hand, and her lip quivered. "Quig squeezed my hand!"

Madd-Ox pushed a button and ran to find Nurse Ruby. "I'll tell Junior, too."

Quig gripped Grew-Ella's fingers and tried to speak. For the first time in weeks, he could move, and he motioned for a pen and paper on a nightstand and wrote. Where is my sister? Where is Ida?

They didn't answer.

He wrote the note a second time.

Grew-Ella remained quiet for a moment and then spoke. "They dragged Ida to the workhouse. Vex is using doctored photos and paintings of her to promote the failing government."