BANE: avenge

Chapter 10

BeAwesomeForLife Here you go, love. 😉

I was standing outside the house, beside a float. I hesitated. There was still time to change my IEMP & stay hence. I could hide from the law hence. Surely Pippin's parents would be gracious enough to continue hiding my sister & I, would they not? I was dragging Pippin into this too. I looked in the float & saw Pippin smiling, waiting for me to make my decision. I turned with the intention of going back inside the house & forgetting the whole thing.

Then, I heard a maiden's voice.

" Leave this place!" she proclaimed.

I turned to see who it was, but saw nothing but an illusion. Just the slightest bit of a steam-bow wisp floating around in the air. I turned back towards the house.

" Olesya!"

I  turned towards the voice, but it was not to be found. The voice surrounded me, engulfed me.

I looked around, & the world swirled in different colours all around me.

The float! It was gone!

Pippin! Not to be seen.

The house? Vanished.

I reached my hand out & touched the colours & a shiver went through me.

It was not wispy in the least. I could not describe how it felt, but it was warm, alive, not human, not animal or plant. Simply alive.

It laughed, & the tinkling was heard all around me.

" Olesya, you must leave. Remember..." The last word echoed in my head, & then..

I woke up in the morning with the dagger clutched in my hand. How it got there, I had no idea. I could have cut myself with it. I vaguely recalled having had some sort of dream, but could not remember what it was about. Somehow I felt I had forgotten something rather important.

I looked at my trunk, all ready to go, & sighed.

This could be the last time I saw this house. No, home. It truly had become a proper home to me in the years I had stayed in it. Pippin's parents had become like parents to me, after I had never really bonded with my biological parents. Elle was my sweet sister after all, & she was not to blame for aught & having become slightly bitter towards the world. She had quite enough reason to do so. Matilda was somewhat like the grandmother I had never chanced to meet. She always gave me advice & fed me. That's what a grandmother is  supposed to do, right? Make me nice & plump while giving advice out of her IEMP made wise by the years of life. I remembered Margaret & how she had been disassembled. Margaret, my poor nanny robot. I had never found out how to rebuild her. She would have to stay here. I should have spent more time working on her.

I walked around my dormitory, brushing my hands over the furniture & taking in everything.

Running to the lab, I fumbled about with Margaret's parts, trying to assemble her. Maybe, just maybe, I still had time. Maybe in my panic, the solution would arise. Surely it must!

Pippin walked in & stilled my arms.

Pippin, my best friend. He had always been there. Now, I was not too sure if he should be there. I would ruin his reputation, his standing in society. I was worse than the lowest. He would never recover from that ruin. I should have never told him he could come.

" Ollie, it is too late, already we must leave. It is too late. We will come back & you will repair her."

I knew in my heart that he said it to comfort me, but it did not comfort me in the least.

I knew we were never coming back. Margaret would never talk to me again. Cheer me up again. Clumsily attempt to wipe my tears with her hard metal fingers. Wake me, help me dress. Tuck me in to bed. I had forgotten her, & now it was all my fault that I would have to leave her.

Pippin dragged me out of the lab as we had already done a check on me the night before after he carried Elle to bed & I clumsily attempted to help him when he really didn't need any help.

I grinned a bit at the memory, & followed Pippin without resistance.

He was walking towards the exit.

" Pippin? My trunk? Your trunk? What about all the things we were supposed to pack?"

" Already taken care of. They are inside the float."

" Are you sure? Is everything in the float? All of it? Did you pack some food?"

" All taken care of, Ollie. Trust me."

" I want to, but I am not sure that you would pack it all correctly."

" It has all been packed, Ara."

" If you say so."

I gasped. I could stay another day & try to fix Margaret. Surely one more day of delay would not hurt. It had been years, after all. Years since that dreadful note was supposed to arrive. Years since it had been sent by Elle's tutor.

We walked outside & Pippin climbed in the float, waiting for me to get on.

" Pippin. One more day. It's all I shall need to fix Margaret. We can leave tomorrow, can't we? It would be immensely better & prudent to leave tomorrow, wouldn't it?"

I turned to look at the house & had a sense of deja-vu.

Then, I remembered my dream.

The steam-bow.

The maiden's voice.

Me turning back.

Pippin in the float.

" Leave this place!" I heard the maiden's voice & turned, looking for it, knowing that I would find nothing.

I turned towards the float & took a few steps.

Then, I had second thoughts.

Only one day. Nothing more.

I would leave tomorrow. I would still leave.

I turned back towards the house.

" Olesya!"

I tuned & caught the slightest wisp of the colours of a steam-bow.

Gasping, I looked around again.

I did not want to be inside of the colours like in my dream. Not that part. It felt like my IEMP was turning itself inside out during the dream. It felt like I was suffocating in plasma. I made up my IEMP.

I turned once more.

To the float I went.