A Hero in the Dark: 2nd Edition

Chapter 67: Queen of Pain

I crawl into bed, exhausted after pushing my Legacies so hard today, and snuggle up under the cozy sheets. In no time, the low, monotonous ringing in my ears quiets and slows to a soft buzz of white noise, and I'm drifting back to the poisoning of one Oliver Brown...

He's not strapped to a chair this time. He's coughing, wheezing for breath at my feet, holding his throat as if that'll help him breathe. "Please..." he begs, fixated on me, and a small inkling of me wants to rush forward and help, but then I remember what he did: He poisoned me by poisoning Beloved Leader. He deserves this. "Please."

"Emily! Stop!" Ella shouts, though she's nowhere to be seen. "This isn't right! He has a family! He has a wife and three kids! You can't do this to him!" I can't get her voice out of my head.

"He deserves this," I whisper, again and again. "He did this to himself."

"No, he didn't!" she screams. "Please, Emily! Is this what your family would've wanted? Is this what John would do?" How dare she.

"You have no idea what it's like to be poisoned, Ella!" I shout to the room. "You don't know what it's like to feel like you're dying, to think you are!"

"I can make a guess," is all she says before a vicious knot tightens my stomach like a cramp, an aching cramp that I might get when it's that time of the month, but it's not—and it's worse! The room starts to swim... and then, "If you can't see how bad this is, then maybe you should be poisoned. Maybe you should just die." Surely, she doesn't believe that.

I cough until a splat of green shoots out through my teeth. "I didn't mean to..."

"Stop lying! You did!" I've never heard her so furious before. "You wanted him to die! You don't care about other people anymore."

"That—That's not true." But even as I say it, I know it's a lie. Ella's right. I did want him to die. I wanted him to feel the way I did. I liked knowing he died the way I could've. But how can she blame me for that?! Surely, if it was her, she would feel the same!

"You deserve to die, so die." And as if she had some sort of remote control over the poison churning in my stomach, it worsens. My throat itches and I can't breathe! I grasp at it like Mr. Brown did, but it does nothing to give me air. "You deserve to die, Emily, so die!"

I wake with an abyss sunken into my belly, hot and sweaty. I can breathe, but it hurts, at least until I take a sip of water. I'm relieved to know it swallows easy. What was that all about?

I slip out of my room and let the doors woosh closed behind me, dragging myself along the halls. For a while, I'm blind to my surroundings, until I realize I'm outside his door. I push it open.

Setrákus Ra is rolled over in his bed, his back to me. I near his side quietly, feeling like I'm intruding on a sleeping lion. I do nothing until he bristles. "Beloved Leader?" He turns at my voice, looking a bit like a frightened kitty, and I sink down to my knees. "Sorry to wake you."

"What is it, Emily? What's happened?"

"Nothing's happened. I just, I couldn't sleep," I say. "Sorry. I can leave."

"Nonsense," he says as I turn to make for the door, but he grabs my hand before I make it far. "Whatever it is must be important. Come. Sit. What's on your mind?"

"It'll sound pathetic." Suddenly, I want more than anything to retreat to my room.

"I will decide what's pathetic or not," he notes. "Sit. Tell me."

He pats a spot beside him, so I sit, keeping my thumbs twiddling on my thighs, and I utter, "I had a nightmare."

"That's it?"

I nod. What am I supposed to tell him now? What can I say that he'll understand? "I haven't had many since before New York, but this one... it was Brown, and Ella..."

"The poison," he says, like it's an epiphany.

"I felt it again," I say, nodding, feeling close to tears.

"I see. Well, it's over now. No need to worry."

"I know, but I was thinking... this charm..." It feels heavier now, like a weight.

"What about it?"

I turn to him then, and with a blink, I'm unable to hold back the tears. "Please take it off! I don't want to be the one that suffers if you do. It's not that I wouldn't take the pain for you, but I..."

He nods like he understands. "You're scared."

"More than anything. I don't like knowing that anything that happens to you, happens to me instead. I don't like knowing that I can die at any time like this. You promised me safety..."

"I'm afraid there's nothing I can do, Emily," he says, which only seems to sink me further. "The charm is set in stone. I cannot reverse it."

"But why?!"

"It's my insurance."

I stand then. "Please, Beloved Leader. I know it's only there to protect yourself, but there must be something you can do! Cast another charm or something!"

"Another charm may jeopardize us both," he states, "and then where would we be?"

"Then Ella. Use Ella!"

"I highly doubt that will solve anything, Emily."

"Please," I try again, falling to my hands and knees. "It must be worth a try!"

He pinches the bridge of his nose, but I think he's really considering it, pajamas and all. I worry he'll say no. I wait at his feet, watching him, hoping he'll say yes. "Very well. Come with me."

***

We're walking down the southeastern corridor towards Ella's chambers, when he receives a transmission on his wristwatch. "Commander Deltoch," he barks. "What is it?"

The Mog hesitates. "Apologies, Sir, but there's been a breach."

Setrákus stops, and at once, I see the features in his face shift. "What?! Where?"

Before I can ask what's going on, he turns and rushes through a door, leaving me out in the hall. I follow him into the room but don't walk as far in as he did. He stands by a panel of sorts. "Yes. I see," he says, seemingly forgetting about me. "I will send reinforcements their way. Put the building on lockdown until they arrive."

Commander Deltoch responds with a meaty, "Yes, Sir," and Setrákus ends the transmission, beginning to tinker at the console. I wonder if this is the Anubis's command room.

I take a step forward. "Beloved Leader?"

He continues to ignore me, refusing to turn and rather, keeps on doing whatever he is. "Yes, Emily?"

I try not to think of the charm's weight on me. "Um, about the... the charm..."

That makes him pause, and any regret I may have been feeling is instantly gone as he turns to me. He leans against an empty section. "Of course," he says. "Come." I do, way until I'm close enough for him to rest his hands on my shoulders. For a while, he merely stares at me, then smiles. "I have a solution," he finally says, making my chest giddy with excitement. "If you really want to be free of this charm, take Skimmer-27 to Raleigh, North Carolina. There will be agents waiting for you upon arrival. You are to assist them with securing their military compound."

"Military compound? But what does that have to do with being free of this charm?"

"I'm afraid we don't have much time," he says, "but believe me, you will be free of it if you complete this mission successfully. Go now so I can inform them of your departure."

"Are you not coming?"

"Unfortunately not," he says, pressing a button on the control panel. "I have business to attend to here with our new collaborator, Albanese. Not to mention Ella, who's still honing her own craft. I assure you; I'll be monitoring your mission carefully. I trust you will be just fine." He gives me a patient smile, but all I feel are nerves. "Here. Take this," he adds, handing me his wristwatch; I've never seen him go anywhere without it. "If you need anything, just ping."