Prisoners of Prophecy

Chapter 22

Calypso - Monday, July 22nd, 2019; 5:12pm

The classes dragged by slowly. I had not been able to get much sleep the night before. After watching Illisha go into her room, I had gone into my own and took a long, scalding shower. Then, I lay in my bed and stared at the stained ceiling for hours - more hours than I thought one night could hold. I had been restless with both excitement and fear of what could happen the day after - who I'd meet, what I'd learn, what we'd talk about.
     But there was also that voice, that stranger that had yelled at me and Illisha. His words echoed constantly in my mind, sounding like he was calling from the other end of a long, long hallway. "Hey!" He had screamed angrily. "What were you doing over there, at that house?" The question had immediately struck me as odd for multiple reasons. First, if a guard had seen a student - especially one that wore a bracelet with a glowing green light on it - he would ask no questions. He would order us to tell him what we had been doing. And, another thing was, despite the strict rules we had been given when we first arrived here, nothing about the house had been mentioned at all. And we had never been asked about it before, even though those bracelets supposedly tracked our every move. So why now? Why had it bothered him?
     But, the strangest thing had been the feeling that had washed over me before I knew anyone else had been around Illisha and I. And, as I lay wide awake in bed, I realized that I had sensed him before he had even made himself known. It had been similar to that energy that flooded the basement before Achiq had appeared. But, it had been different, too. This energy was dark and sticky and diseased. If it had had a color, it would have been a sickly green. It was a malevolent energy. An evil one. I had scrubbed my body under the hot water for almost an hour, trying to get rid of the lingering feeling of it on my skin.
I stayed up wondering if that man - Or whatever it was, I thought, shivering - was someone we had to fight, like Kai had said Rapa had mentioned. I thought and I waited. Waited for the moment I would meet a God, and get some answers.
I had finally managed to doze off into a fitful sleep, but less than two hours later my morning alarm had shocked me awake. I got up feeling exhausted and overwhelmed, the memory of last night distant compared to what I would have to do today.
I had seen Melany on my way to my first class. She had seemed distant, almost lost, in a rush to get anywhere but in front of me. I had mentioned that I would be going to the basement tonight. Her hardened expression only changed when I had told her I was afraid there was something following us, something that might be very bad - and even then, the fear in her eyes had been dull, as if she were distracted with her own disturbing thoughts.
As the day passed on, seemingly endless, the little excitement that I had had to see a God, an actual God - my mind had dwindled on that almost deliriously- had been replaced with dread. A million possibilities began to plague my thoughts - a million ways that this could go. It was almost maddening. I didn't know how much more I could take. I didn't know if I had the strength to go into that basement by myself and confront whatever would be waiting for me there.
I had not seen Kai the whole day, and it had begun to unsettle me. Kai had told me that he would once frequently skip school to practice his "talent" - he would always say that with a cocky shit-eating grin that would often make my blood boil - but it was different here at ShadowWood. You couldn't miss a class unless you had a reason and they knew what it was. So, after my last class - which I shared with Kai - I had asked the instructor where he was.
Ms. Kersh - who looked frail and timid but was actually stern and surprisingly tough - had eyed me suspiciously through glasses that looked almost as old as her. "Kai wasn't feeling good this morning. A nurse went to his room to check him out. Says he has a pretty bad fever." She pointed a long finger accusingly at me. "Don't you go in there and catch whatever it is. We don't need it spreading any further."
I dipped my head in respectful agreement, hoping that my question wouldn't alarm her to the point where she might notify a guard who may begin to watch us more closely. "Yes ma'am. I'll stay away."
I turned, floating on that lie all the way to Kai's room.
Now, I was knocking on his door, that cloud of doom that had been hanging over me doubling in weight and intensity. I was beginning to fear what I might find on the other side.
     "Who is it?" Kai called from somewhere inside. His voice was barely audible, rough with pain and terribly weak. "Won't you just let me rest?" He groaned, and I felt a pang of sympathy for him.
     "It's Calypso. I wanted to come see how you were feeling."
     "I don't know," he yelled, and I could tell he was straining to be heard. He was so quiet now that I had to press the side of my face against the door to be able to understand him. "The nurse said-"
     "Oh, screw the nurse," I cursed to myself as I tried the door and found it unlocked, and pushed it open. I walked inside, closing it behind me, locking it unconsciously.
     There were no lights on, only the muted television bolted to the wall, and there were many shadows in the room; shadows that for a moment seemed to reach for me. It was terribly silent in here, the sound of my slow footsteps and heavy breathing almost deafening. I walked down the hall with my hands held out in front of me. The closer I got to the bedroom, the higher the temperature seemed to rise.
     Once I was standing in the doorway, looking at Kai's barely discernible shape in the dark, feeling that heat coming at me in waves, I realized that it was Kai's sickness that I was sensing. And despite the sweat that was already beginning to leak from my pores, I shivered.
     "What are we gonna do when we all get sick?" Kai mumbled thickly. I could only hear a hint of the usual arrogance in his tone, and that sent off a bright flare of alarm in my mind.
     "I won't get any closer. And I won't stay long. I can't. I just hadn't seen you, and I was worried."
     He chuckled, but it ended in a nasty fit of coughing. "Aren't you sweet," he croaked after he caught his breath. "I guess you're going tonight? Going to see what God chose the most beautiful girl anyone's ever seen? I bet it's that one... That Aphrodite one..." The more he spoke, the more he slurred his words.
"You alright, Kai?" I asked worriedly. God, he's so sick he's having delusions! I thought briefly. "Can you turn a light on? I can't see you." I added. The puddle of shadows on the bed not looking like Kai but sounding like him was unsettling.
A shadow arm extended from the shapeless mass and flicked on the old lamp on his bedside table. Dim light flooded the room, but it was enough for me to see Kai's condition. He winced at first, shielding his eyes from the weak light until he was used to it. Then, he lowered his hand slowly and studied me curiously. I gasped, unable to stifle my shock. Kai either didn't notice it, or didn't care enough to acknowledge it.
He appeared to be half the man he usually was. He looked small, huddled in a pile of blankets even though his face was covered in a sheen of sweat. His skin had a yellow tint to it. His eyes had this strange, sunken look about them. And they were not bright and confident, as they usually were, but the dull color of a murky swamp. With the light throwing shadows across his features, it seemed he had both lost ten pounds and gained ten years in the span of only two days.
"You look terrible, Kai," I blurted, immediately regretting speaking at all. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean it like-"
He shook his head - a small, exhausted movement. It silenced me. "Don't worry. I feel terrible."
"Ms. Kersh told me you're not the only sick one. Did the nurse tell you anything?"
"Just a cold, she says." His voice was barely above a whisper now. "It doesn't feel like one, though. Feels like I'm dying."
"Oh, don't say that," I replied lightly, but the empty way he was regarding me was eerie. "Is there anything I can do?"
"Yeah." I could hear his breathing coming in rapid, whistling gasps. "It's a pleasure, really." He coughed harshly, took a sip of water from the glass on his bedside table. "But I need to rest. And you've got something to do."
"Right. I'm sorry," I apologized, turning around. "I hope you feel better. Goodnight, Kai."
"Calypso?"
I faced Kai again. "Yeah?"
He studied me for a moment before speaking. I was relieved to see that his gaze had cleared a little, and I could see a glint of his usual cynicism. "Be careful. They're strong. I don't know if I'd rather be close enough to enjoy what's about to happen or be far enough away to avoid the damn explosion." He smiled. It was more like the ghost of one, but it was a smile. And that was good, regardless of how little sense he was making right now.
"I will," I promised, chuckling. "Goodnight."
I walked out of his room. Halfway down the short hallway, he cut the lamp off. Silence and darkness flooded Kai's living space once again. For a moment, I thought I could smell Kai's sickness, and it did smell like death. Or, at least close enough to it to send a deep chill through my bloodstream. That smell was gone fast enough that it was possible to blame it on my imagination, but I still hurried out and shut the door behind me as softly as I could.
I almost slipped in the hall. I looked down to see a set of muddy footprints trailing from outside. They stopped at Kai's door and then disappeared.
My heart thumped heavily in my chest; my throat was suddenly dry. I wanted to turn around and run back to Kai, away from whoever - Whatever, the thought popped up momentarily - had visited us.
But I knew that would do no good. It was time I went to the house, no matter how little I wanted to. I just had to go, and hope Kai would be alright. The God would know what to do, I tried to comfort myself. Out of anyone, a God would know.
I wanted to take my time, to avoid what I had to do next. But, I could feel the house, could feel that it was impatient. It would be soon - much too soon - that it would be filling my vision with its somehow both ugly and glorious form. I wondered when it had stopped being so inviting, to being so unsettling. But that was when we had still been excited, I thought distantly. When we wanted to go down there. To see what was next.
     Suddenly dreadfully afraid to go outside, in fear that that thing may be waiting, I went to Xantara's room.