The Family Lokison (Part 4)

A Book for Father (Vali)

Modi was pushy. Even more than me. Wherever we went, it was his idea. Whatever we did, it had to go his way. Narvi didn't mind following him around, but I did. I wanted to explore on my own.

Still, Mum was clear—if I was alone, I might get into trouble. And getting into trouble here meant I wouldn't just answer to her or to Father; I might have to answer to Modi's father, too. Or maybe the old man who sat on the throne our first day here. Or even the tall gatekeeper with the golden sword. None of it was worth the risk, so if Narvi said we should stay close to Modi, we did.

I just wished it wasn't so boring.

Modi's life in the palace was more exciting than he made it sound when we met him by our portal. Every day, he had horse riding lessons, and archery, and wrestling, and even had an hour with an old woman who taught him how to sit at a table and eat without making a mess—something Modi called "etiquette", which took me five tries to say correctly. That's why I was so frustrated; we were forced to sit in a corner or against a wall to watch him finish his routines. Even more annoying was the fact he wasn't very good at the things he spent so much time with. His form on the horse was all wrong. He wasn't a strong aim with a bow, either; Father taught me well, even if Narvi hated it. Once, Modi lost a wrestling match and threw a screaming tantrum, beating his feet and fists against the floor.

As for how well he sat up straight, Narvi and I seemed to have him beat with that, too. It was like his shoulders were pulled forward and down to the floor unless he thought about keeping his head up. For all that Modi was older than us, richer than us, and called a prince, I would've thought he was lying about all of it if we hadn't seen how everyone else treated him.

I liked him less and less. Yet even though Modi annoyed me, Narvi and I didn't have anything better to do than spend time with him. Every day, once Mum finished breakfast with us and Father left for his meetings upstairs, we went to the training field behind the palace to find Modi like we promised we would any time we said goodnight.

After eight days of following the same routine, Modi surprised us one morning by intercepting our path outside. "Hey—wait for me!" He sprinted toward us through the palace hall, squeaking his shoes on the smooth floor. "I want to show you something."

I looked to Narvi, who was always able to seem interested. He ignored me to keep Modi's attention. "Show us what?"

"Shh...follow me." Modi ran past while waving behind him, turning the far corner to the left.

I raised a brow and opened my arm in Modi's direction.

"At least it's not the same thing as yesterday," Narvi said. He shrugged, then raced to catch up.

The archery field called to me. I grumbled and jogged behind them, wanting nothing more than to sprint through the forest behind the big city and find my way home, but my promise to Narvi was more important. I'd never leave him behind, bored or not.

Modi took us in circles, then changed his direction, slipping through a small doorway and up spiral stairs. It wouldn't have surprised me if he was trying to stay hidden or confuse us on purpose so we wouldn't find our way back on our own. Wherever we were going, it was precious and supposed to be a secret.

Amateur. With Father's help, I'd mapped most of the palace by now. This was just another room to write down.

When Modi finally slowed at the top of the stairs, he turned to look us both in the eye. "You've never seen anything like this."

"Where are we?" I asked, staring at the tall doors ahead of us. The black wood breathed somehow, like each side was half of a lung. I heard them lurch back and forth.