House of Bone

Chapter 11

 Morning is early. Sleep has never been one of my strong suits, the couple times I ever get good sleep it's plagued by dreams.

I get up, get dressed, and knock on the door of Tia's room.

"Tia?" I ask quietly. "Are you awake?"

I hear a muffled noise from inside, and then the door is unlocked and opened.

"What are you doing up this early?" Tia yawns."And did you have to wake me up as well?"

"I'm sorry," I say earnestly. "But... there's something I need to tell you. And it can't wait too much longer."

"Alright, alright. Come on in," She waves me inside. "But I need a coffee this early if my brain is to function properly. Just a sec."

Tia goes and grabs a cup of coffee and sips while looking at me expectantly.

"Go on," She says, "Don't leave me waiting in suspense."

I sigh, not knowing where to start.

"Tia... by telling you this, I'm breaking one of the rules."

"What one?" She asks casually. "I'm sure it doesn't matter."

"It's the one about testing..." I wander off

She freezes up at that, "Kyra..."

"I know... but this is important. I have to tell you. I swear on my House."

She gives me a look. "You know that it loses a lot of its meaning when you're adopted. But I trust you, so go on."

So I begin to tell her all I found last night.

"Kyra...." Tia scratches her head, once I've finished telling her. "This is... we need to tell Shade."

I shake my head, "I don't know Shade all that well..."

"And you know me better?" She retorts

"Well... you've been more welcoming and all... but I think I've met you before I came here."

Tia moves her jaw up and down as if trying to say something, but nothing's coming out.

"I think I'd remember if I met someone like you... your personality is one that sticks, and not to mention your hair..." She says when her voice starts to function again.

"Either I have met you, or I'm having bizarre dreams. Actually, scratch that, I am having surreal dreams, I'm just not sure whether they're real or not."

"How old were we? Roughly?"

"Small, I think. 5 or 6?"

Tia shrugs. "It's entirely possible that I would've forgotten it's so long ago."

I shake my head, "This wasn't an event meant for forgetting..." I pause as something comes to mind.

"Hey, Tia? Is it possible to erase memories? Of an entire populace?"

Tia frowns, "I don't think so... but if the soul.... holy shit... Kyra, I think we're on to something. The Soul is a fragile thing, no? If a little tampering with some Shadows, the help of Tears, a little Bone and Blood... you'd need something... something that could deal with the mind but who knows what the Soul is capable of? But all those components combined.." She gestures with her hands.

"Boom. A whole day forgotten, a whole place forgotten, they could erase a House, Kyra. An entire House, all its beliefs, just gone. What happened on this day when you met me?"

"I... it was a House meeting," I say, struggling to remember. "We were waiting for... someone. I think it was for a peace treaty or something. Either way, I was bored. You came up to me and said hi, introduced yourself and your house... then... I did too?" I frown.

"That can't be right... I saw Bone, Blood, Shadows and Tears there... I can't be Soul House, can I? No... people were complaining about them showing up late... then... what am I?"

Tia quickly looks me in the eyes, "Kyra. You know how I said that an entire House could be erased? What if.... what if you were from some House that got erased? From memory and rea? The only survivor."

I think about it. "It's plausible... but don't you think someone would've figured this out by now? This sham of a life we have? The fact that we are living while someone has killed off an entire House without anyone knowing a damn thing? And the fact that just us two... some random kids no offence–figured it out by ourselves? Seems too easy. I feel like there's something more. But about your memory wipe theory, I think we should test it out."

"How? We don't have someone from Soul or Blood or Bone."

"Well, we are in a Soul facility, there's bound to be some fragments somewhere, and you forget I've lived most of my life in the Bone House, so I have a couple of trinkets, and finally my best friend from back there is Blood, so we can easily get something from there as well."

Tia quirks up an eyebrow. "Do you have any infused bone?"

I smile "I do indeed. First thing when you're packing and have an overprotective guardian, you're sure to get some bone wards. Will those do?"

Tia nods. "Should do. We just need to get Shade in on this."

I sigh. "We do. Can you do most of the talking? I still don't know them that well."

Tia nods.

We head out to the main area to see Shade scoffing today's breakfast.

"Took you two long enough. I wasn't planning to save any." they say.

Tia rolls her eyes. "Shade, there's something we need to tell you."

We go through the story again, telling them what I told Tia.

"Huh," they remark, oddly bored for something this big, "I knew something was up."

We finish up breakfast and get ready for the day.

The rest of the day goes as usual, and we plan what we need to do to get out of here. I'm exhausted by the end of it, so I retire to my room early and get ready for bed.

As I go to sleep I swear I hear a quiet beeping noise.