The Thought Keepers: Ability

Chapter 24: Zekara of Nowhere

I didn't die. Instead I fell smack onto a cool, hard surface that crackled with sparks of silver and gold. The impact didn't hurt half as much as it should have, and yet I just knew that a fresh bruise was forming on my cheek. Grimacing, I shifted onto my back.

I was lying on a black marble floor, staring up at vaulted gold ceilings. Like the inside of a cathedral, the arches met in triangles of gilded stars and iridescent diamond. It was like the brightness of constellations had been captured in perfect formation, rendered attainable for all who wanted to view them up close. I'd never seen anything like it.

Other than the brilliant ceiling, it was dark in the building; completely devoid of all light. But because of my Shade eyesight, I could see the entire room perfectly. There were tall, golden statues that wrapped around the room in one long spiral, depictions of women wrapped in celestial robes and hardened armor, fiercely gazing at whoever dared to stand by. Some wore grins while others scowled, baring sharpened claws at their hips instead of swords. They were all different and yet somehow the same, except one in the center of everything, standing higher than the rest like a goddess of chaos on a pedestal.

Her cheekbones were sharp, eyes alight with a wicked amusement. She wore a turban in place of a crown, and a billowing gown that flowed down to her ankles. Watching the grand entrance with mischievousness etched into the set of her lips, she seemed to challenge all who entered to a game of influence, one that she would almost certainly win.

It was the same image depicted on the every street corner of Tenebris, the Queen of Darkness herself. I wondered briefly how I had ended up in her domain, and whether my prayers to her for help were finally being answered.

"Get up, Unnormal leech," a strident voice ordered, causing me to turn my head to the left, where a pair of sharply pointed boots now stood.

I blinked up at the figure above me. She had long black hair pulled back into a sleek ponytail, tanned skin that rivaled the gold of the towering ceiling, and hard cerulean eyes that peered down at me with utter disgust. Her eyebrows pinched together as if my very presence was an abomination.

"I said get up, scum," she repeated, her voice loud and echoing through the grand hall.

I didn't move. Frustrated, the woman reached down and yanked me up with a single arm. I stared at her, paralyzed by her raw strength. My toes just barely brushed the ground as she held me by the collar, fisting my shirt with ease.

"State your business here," Blue Eyes demanded.

I raised my eyebrows. "Uh, first of all, where is here?"

"This is Palace Valore, home of the penumbral majesty Queen Zara. State your business," Blue Eyes said, punctuating each word slowly, in case I didn't understand her the first time.

My mind was whirling. So, not only had I ended up back in Tenebris, but I was in the Queen's palace? The mock statues I had seen in the Penumbra were nothing compared to the real ones, which glittered like captured starlight. I couldn't believe the magnificence of this place, and how it could be so bright and purely dark all at once.

"Your silence is incriminating," the hulking woman informed. "Unnormals are not welcome in the Palace, so maybe I should kill you where you stand." Her grip on my neck tightened, as if she were contemplating doing just that.

I couldn't defend myself, because I wasn't sure how to do so. Also, I could hardly breathe with how hard she was gripping my neck.

"Behari, release her. She is the Queen's guest." I looked over to the cavernous opening of the grand hall, where a short, dark-skinned woman stood wearing a golden suit of armor that clung to her skin like a high-necked swimsuit.