Eyes of White

Chapter 17: Knowledge is Power

Persephone cried and cried. Zania couldn't make her forget with her iced drink, nor her soothing and consoling words.

Penelope was gone. Zania had tried to lift the manhole cover, Persephone had looked for another open sewer, they'd both gone to the police - who were all missing in action - but Penelope was nowhere.

At about 10:30pm, Zania called Persephone into the lounge room. Persephone went and saw Zania staring at the empty fireplace.

"Do you want me to... start a fire or something?" Persephone asked.

"No, no, it's fine." Zania held out her hand and fire shot into the fireplace. Wood suddenly appeared, fuelling the flames, which hissed and crackled.

"That's... not..." Persephone searched for the right word. Normal? No, it seemed that nothing was, or ever would be, normal. Real? But it most certainly was, for Persephone could feel the heat emanating from the hungry fire. "...right."

Zania smiled. "You may be correct, but for me, your mum, and Wardens everywhere, it's completely normal and utterly real."

Persephone was slightly shocked. Normal and real were the two words she thought of saying to describe the sudden fire in the fireplace. Did Zania see her thinking that?

"Yes. I did. Now, to more important matters."

"Penelope."

"Whilst she is important, at the moment there is something more crucial for you to know."

Persephone was astounded. "Okay then," she said in a wobbly voice. "You mentioned Wardens. What..."

"That's exactly what I'm going to tell you about, alongside your powers and our enemy."

Penelope settled into a velvet-suede lounge chair, knowing a long story was coming.

"I'll start with our enemy. The Evil."

"Original name for a bad guy," Persephone smirked.

"It's not just a bad guy!" Zania shouted. "It is literally the worst thing you could imagine. It has no soul at all. It possesses anything, working its way up the ranks of minds - as in insect, dog, bird, human, everything - unti it takes over the world. And if it possesses you, you will lose your memories one by one until you and it are one. We'd better hope she doesn't give in. We'd better hope she's strong."

"Wait, what?" Persephone jumped up. "It's got Penelope?"

"Yes, along with your aunt Coco, my comrades Regina and Tammy, and other non-Wardens such as Cassia and Iris. All good people, corrupted by the power The Evil offers."

"Oh, no," Persephone breathed, sinking back into her chair slowly. "They say the eyes are windows to the soul, right?"

"Correct. And, being soulless, The Evil's eyes are pure white. No pupils and no irises."

Persephone had stopped hearing after Zania had said 'pure white'. The two words rang in her head over and over, accompanied with a horrible, scratchy picture of two unblinking white eyes surrounded by a howling wind. Two hands were slowly reaching out to them, not Persephone's, but Penelope's.

Persephone shook her head. "She... she is strong, but she will give in. Not even that. She'll willingly hand herself over to it. I... know it. We've already lost her."

Zania shook her head. "Don't be so pessimistic. You never know, maybe she-"

"You don't understand!" Persephone shouted. "Penelope almost handed herself over to it the first time, when the tornado struck, and she had no clue of what it was then. I don't think she'll change her mind now that she knows things are weird here in Queenstown."

Zania slowly nodded. "I didn't know she'd already... tried to. Your mother told me the gist of what had happened, but that didn't come up. I didn't ask, she didn't tell."

Persephone's muscles, which were clenched tight, slowly loosened themselves.

"Now, onto something else. Wardens. I am a Warden, as is your mother, my father, his mother, her mother, and so on. Wardens - can you guess what that word means?"

Persephone thought for a while. "'Ward' - as in 'gate' or 'shield', and 'ens' - a suffix usually meaning 'people of' or 'keepers of'. So, that would mean either 'Keepers of the Gate', 'People of the Gate', 'Keepers of the Shield' or 'People of the Shield'."

"You're a very smart girl, Persephone. Yes, it means 'Keepers of the Gate'. Although we are humanoid in appearance and metabolism, we have many powers that exceed any human abilities. We call them Gifts."

"We... you mean you and me?"

"And many others."

"So I have powers?"

"Oh yes, as do I, your mother, your sister and you."

"What are yours?"

"Technology - with a special addition of mind-reading - and Fire."

"My mother's?"

"Water and Storm."

"What about mine?"

"Well, early on I could see you had Water, but, as an extension to that Gift, you have Seabreeze. That is only an extension, known as a Tributary, so it is still one Gift. The maximum for natural Gifts is two, although those who are tempted by The Evil can receive gifts from it. Anyway, Seabreeze is the ability to summon wave sounds, and from that you can control troubletwisters, non-Wardens and animals. To some extent."

"What's my other Gift?"

"From what I see, Communication. The ability to speak to animals other than Companion Cats and speak any language in the world."

"Companion Cats? You mean like..."

Mel and Ara both slunk into the room. "Like us," Mel said.

"Wow." Persephone looked up at a large grandfather clock, saw it was ten-thirty, and yawned. "Is that all? Suddenly I'm really tired..." Persephone slumped to the floor, her eyes closing, her legs and arms limp as her mind instantly shut off, leaving only her subconscious awake to dream.

"Leave her," Zania snapped at Mel and Ara. The two cats slunk off, leaving Zania standing over Persephone's sleeping form. "She's better off in her dreams, where no harm can come to her."

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