The Misfortune of Distorted Truth

Danger Lurks

The sun was what woke M up the following day. Her eyes, heavy with exhaustion, blatantly protested to open to the blinding light, but she forced them to with a sigh of dismay. Tully was curled up soundly at her feet, his chest moving up and down steadily. His little paws twitched in his dreams.
M rolled off her bed and threw an outfit together to wear. She felt odd, as if something was amiss.
"Good morning," she greeted Isaac as she tramped downstairs.
Thinking of Kasa, she approached him.
"Morning, sunshine," Isaac said. He jumped slightly when two waffles popped from the toaster. "Oh, yeah, I made waffles. And by made I mean I bought them from Market frozen and put them in the freaking toaster." He flashed a devilish grin at her and she giggled.
"Thanks, Isaac," she replied. "Um, I was wondering if you could meet someone?"
He turned to her, slowly. "What?"
"It's my friend's mom! I mean, well, Asagwara's mom," M blurted. The words didn't gracefully dance off her tongue as Asagwara's frequently did.
Isaac nodded. "Okay, sure then."
"Her name is Kasarachukwu Nenge. Kasa for short."
M grabbed his hand and pulled him towards the door without any further explanation.
"Wait, my waffles!" Isaac wailed. But he laughed.
The two dashed outside, the door slamming loudly behind them and rattling in its frame. To M's reassurance, Kasa was already waiting at the gate. She stood out plain as a unicorn among a herd of horses in her brightly colored ensemble.
"Ah, you must be Isaac!" Kasa called out. She waved cheerily.
"Yup, that's me." Once he had come within a few feet or less of her, Isaac stuck out his hand to shake. She shook it.
M nodded her head at Kasa to get her attention.
"Oh." She departed from Isaac and kneeled down before M. "Remember to watch out for my son today, please. If he's in school...tell him to come home. I'll make Creighton leave if that's what it takes." M could see the bags under the poor woman's eyes, and the way her smile just barely concealed the sadness that lurked inside her. Sadness, she knew, was not an easy thing to hide.
M mouthed a silent, 'Of course.'
"Hold on, huh? Is Asagwara missing?" Isaac looked at Kasa with concern.
The corners of Kasa's mouth turned down slightly, and her expression was downcast. "I'm afraid so. But I can't call the police. It's...well, it's complicated."
"Why didn't you tell me, M?"
"I don't want to bother you with unnecessary worrisome details," M told him plainly. "I'm afraid for Asagwara but I don't think there's anything much you can do. I believe I could do something, however meaningless my search attempts might be."
Isaac sat on the patch of dewy grass that was beneath him, rubbing at his face as if he was trying to rid himself of a headache. "Oh, M, you're too sweet. Too modest."
"Modesty is my middle name," she joked halfheartedly. The pair exchanged knowing looks.
Kasa intervened with the words, "Perhaps I ought to be leaving. Or if it'd be all right, I could walk you to school, M."
"No, that's not needed. Thank you for your offer. Could you two just give each other your telephone numbers, if you will?" M gave them a two-fingered salute, swung her bag over her shoulder, and headed out the gate past Kasa. The woman and teenage boy bid her farewell from where they stood.
That would be the last time M would see either of them for a long while.
.........
M went on her way at a leisurely pace, almost mirroring how Asagwara Nenge had come to her the night before. She felt a sense of peace. The typically chilling autumn air was warmed by the morning sun, which was still creeping its way up the horizon in the east. The days were dwindling, but the nighttime moonlight was welcome to M. That eerie sensation some often felt alone in the dark rarely affected her, with, naturally, the exception of the events that had most recently occurred. How else was she supposed to feel when meeting a boy, practically a stranger, all by herself? M resented the conversation they had shared, for it had only left her more confused than ever.
The bus she usually caught to school passed by, and M stared at the sidewalk to avoid any uncomfortable contact, being with the driver or immature middle schooler. She wasn't sure why she chose to walk that day, but something told her to avoid the children on the bus.
The something did not have good intentions for her.
The small dark hairs on M's neck stood on end, alerting her to the presence of a certain person following her. She knew without turning around.
"Asagwara," M said, trying to sound confident. "Your mum's looking for you." She tugged on the ends of her black locks, not allowing the quiver to enter her voice. But she was too scared. Too weak. Too worried. That was what she told herself.
"I apologize for abandoning you the other night," the boy called. His own voice was like silk. "Pray tell my mother is in no unfortunate condition. I cannot help what is going on. 'Life is a conundrum of esoterica', wouldn't you agree? Lemony Snicket said that. You would know if you were well-read."
M glowered at the contrasting pleasant view ahead of her. Her grip on her hair tightened; she was an easy victim to both Anger and Sorrow. "I see you have no trouble mocking my intelligence. For your information, I've read 'A Series of Unfortunate Events' and they're children's books, anyway. My parents would -" She gulped.
Unbeknownst to the girl, Asagwara's eyes watered involuntarily. "Read them to you, yes," he finished. There was no interruption or sign of emotion, though his expression would have failed him if M were to see.
"What's happened to you, Asagwara? The way your mother spoke, you haven't always been like this. What did those...those Eyes do to you?"
M finally spun to face him and nearly choked.
In front of her, the boy was not the same. His unique silver had expanded from his irises to cover the whole areas of his eyes, giving him a blank and menacing appearance, one that made him seem like he was slowly transforming into a statue. The angel M often sighted on its pedestal in the park came to mind, but...this was more terrifying. This was a human child, succumbed to unimaginable pain. Small patches of skin by his corneas, too, had surrendered to the silvery stone. Asagwara wore no disdain or smirk upon his lips, but an air of solemnity that brought no solace to M.
"I've been taken," he told her briskly. "They decided I was acceptable. They told me to come collect you next, missus."
"What?" M took a wary step back. "I'm not going anywhere with you. I only want to bring you home."
Asagwara folded his arms across his chest. "I think you shall. I am not blind, neither literally or figuratively.
"Danger lurks, Miss M. Tick tock, tick tock... The clock shan't stop. Come with me willingly or I'll take you by force."
M found herself reminiscing about how she had run from him before. She thought she could do it again. As much as she lacked the ability to swallow her fear, she was not, certainly, going to freeze.
So, she ran.
"An unwise decision!" M heard Asagwara call after her. She only cared to reach school, where she would be safe from him. The teachers would not allow him anywhere near her, surely - human contact was strongly discouraged. Well, it was prohibited.
"Ha!" M guffawed. "The one time I look forward to school." Despite the recent evils that had transpired, she found herself feeling humorous. Circumstances did not apply to M Desjardins, oftentimes.
The sound of her black boots hitting against the sidewalk became rhythmic in her ears, and she relaxed. Sooner, rather than later, M reached the welcoming doors of her middle school. And just in time.
The bell rang, signaling the large group of Populars to move to the wall. More often than not, they would wait until the last second to deposit their cellular devices in their pockets before heading inside to begin their educational classes for the day.
"Hey, M!" Mateo said, waving to her. M's eyes widened at being acknowledged by him. How did he even know her name? She waved shyly back, allowing a smile to grace her lips. The moment was gone as Delu tugged on her boyfriend's sleeve to get his attention.
"Mind your own business, runt," Caoimhe, the vicious ninth-grader, snarled at her.
M darted off like a scolded dog at the words that dripped with menace. She slowed her pace upon entering the school, not wanting to get in trouble for running. She then realized that everything was...quiet.
Where were the students?
M clutched her arms, rubbing away the goosebumps. There was no way that the children, never failing to go to their friends' lockers to chat first, had already dispersed. Her vision was a little fuzzy at the edges.
M's steps echoed along the empty halls as she made her way to Mr. Patel's room. Her eyelids, without warning, were being weighed down by the sheer force of something that felt like tiredness. A splitting headache attacked her with no indication of mercy and, understandably panic-stricken, M dropped to her knees at the blaze of fire that whipped through her skull. No. No, it can't be. He can't be doing this. Not now, not so fast.
Unable to withstand her suffering, M's world grew blurry and she crumpled, unconscious, to the floor for the second time in the past two days.
.........
M was prompted awake, to her displeasure, by something other than the sun warming her skin through the slightly cracked open window of her bedroom. In fact, she could not feel the sun at all. It was cold, abnormally cold, the kind of cold that raced up her spine and sent more goosebumps to take over her flesh. This, she admitted to herself reluctantly, was not school.
She sat up. M's senses came to and alerted her to a cloth object blocking her field of vision. Did someone blindfold me? she thought, her heart pounding in her chest. Had she been kidnapped? Where, even, was she now?
In the black void, which was like pressing M's face as close as possible to a staticky television, distant colors of red, orange, green, and blue flashed through her closed eyes as she squeezed them firmly shut. Panic rose in M's throat and nearly induced her gag reflex. She tore anxiously at the fabric that bound her, to no avail. It was like...it was stuck to her head, somehow.
M crept on her hands and knees, feeling the surface. It was stone. A cave, perhaps? She had never noticed any sort of mountains in La Cuvette. Her town was mostly flat, save for a few rogue hills scattered about.
"Apologies I've kept you waiting," a voice said. Asagwara. "The Eyes insisted you be blinded, temporarily. I will be allowed to remove the cloth once I bring you to them. We cannot risk revealing this location."
M forced the lump in her throat to recede and put on what she hoped was a brave face. "What do they want with me? Why can't...why can't I just be left alone?" Her voice broke upon the dreaded word "alone".
She heard Asagwara come closer, the clump of his shoes echoing through the large enclosed space. M reached for the assuring touch of the wall, but clearly one was no one near her. The cave must have been quite giant, anyway, the way that the sound bounced all around and seemed unbearably loud.
"It's you. Your eyes. They're special, didn't you know? You must be aware of the fact that purple eyes are already very rare, but yours...the Eyes know you have the Gift. As do I. As do a few others that have already been summoned here, or were and have now left. Though many centuries have passed, only a handful of chosen ones have been born over the long stretches of time. Duygu, our Fortune, is always cautious in their selections despite the circumstances. The Teahdeean will train you themselves."
Asagwara's hand touched M's arm and she shivered at his cold, stone-like flesh making contact with hers. "Teahdeean?" she gulped, trying to shrug him off. A curious name.
But he clutched her arm and pulled her, surprisingly gently, to her feet. "Yes. You'll see them in time. Keep your hand on the wall, if you will." He led her to an exit, which of course also served as an entrance, and used his free upper limb to guide M's to the rough surface of a cave wall.
"Must I do this?" she asked. She dreaded the answer that was sure to come. M wanted to return to Isaac, to her dog, to Kasa, and...even her parents. She was desperate. What would they think when - if - they came home after so many months only to find their daughter missing? Was she missing at all? Perhaps time moved faster here, or Asagwara had somehow created a clone of her to take her place.
"What is your real name? Margaret? Margerie? Margarine? Maleficent? Magnificent?" Asagwara paused. "Muppet? Mananabread."
M wrinkled her nose at him, annoyed that he had avoided her question. "Yeah, um, no. My first name doesn't even start with M. My middle name does."
"How about...Molasses?"
"It doesn't seem appropriate to be making casual conversation with my captor," M hurried on, wanting to change the subject. She didn't understand why he was making such futile attempts at humor, either. Did he really think this was funny?
"I only attempt to lighten the mood, missus." Asagwara smiled at her, but of course, it didn't reach her eyes behind the blindfold.
M shook her head dismissively and pressed her palm firmly against the stone, her fingers dancing absentmindedly as they went along. The tap-tap of her nails was an idle distraction from the truth of what was happening. The cloth wrapped around her head was slightly moistened by fresh tears.
No, you must stop crying, she demanded of herself. Your foibles help nothing.
"Miss M, you are not weak," Asagwara insisted. M gasped with the shock of it.
"You did! I was right! You read my mind! Wait, hey, get out of there!" She tore her arm away from him. A blob of green flashed in the darkness of her world.
"Calm yourself." The boy yawned. "If you do wish to continue along the wall without my assistance, then that is alright. Just don't attempt to run."
M edged ahead of him until she was certain they were no longer within reach of each other. He was quite patient with her. "Don't read my mind. What I'm thinking is none of your business."
"As long as I'm not touching you, I can't," explained Asagwara. "Besides, it's not that I'm reading your mind, Miss M. I'm reading your feelings. I observe. I feel. You are capable of this too. It's part of your Gift."
"Like...like an empath?"
"In a way," he continued, "but it's more significant than that." M heard his shoes squeak as he came to a halt, so she did the same. "I will tell you more, once you have met with your Teahdee. After that..." His voice grew soft as silk once more. "After that, you may go home."
M smiled at the prospect of returning to her family. "Truly?"
"Yes."
She relaxed. With Asagwara's promise in mind, she decided then to be cooperative so as not to motivate him to keep her longer.
"In case you wondered, though I have an inkling of a doubt you did, I was able to tell you hadn't yet thought of Justice merely from observation. Your eyes ne'er once crossed over her. I could've been wrong."
M honestly had forgotten of that day on the bus, where she first suspected Asagwara's "mind-reading" capabilities. It assured her that the boy wasn't quite omniscient after all. A guess. That was all it was.
Really?
"May I try to...read your mind?" M questioned him.
"No," Asagwara said crisply. "It is time you meet your Teahdee. She has spoken with great enthusiasm of your arrival since the Eyes first noticed you, shortly after your birth. Our Wedhn stationed in Greece is still proud of his discovery."
"What is a Wedhn?"
"Us; we are the Wedhn," said Asagwara. "W - E - D -H - N. Like 'Wednesday' with an 'h' and without the 'esday'. Simply pronounced, 'when'. Now come."
M pursed her lips at being commanded as if she were no more than a cowering pup, but she followed his instruction. She held out her arm for Asagwara, not wanting to become lost in the dark confusion swirling in front of her eyes, and his cold fingers made contact with it. She twitched.
The boy and girl made their way down a new tunnel - as a guide dog might lead his sightless master.
"Is my Teahdee nice?" M asked hopefully.
"If nice is what you like," Asagwara scoffed.
"Well, there's no need to be snippy. You're the one who kidnapped me. I think I'm the one with the right to be snippy."
She was certain the boy would've rolled his eyes if they were normal and if she could see anything.
The scuffing of boots and sneakers on the cave ground was the only noise for another significant period of time. M turned her attention to the smells and to what she could feel as her left hand slid along the wall. She thought she could scent something cooking - an unmistakable smoky whiff of charred meat roasting over an open fire. It was mouth-watering and yet mildly alarming. Who knew what the creatures down here ate? The only condolence was it couldn't be human. No. The choking smell of burning flesh was an entirely different matter.
As for what she touched, M felt even the tiniest indents and holes in the cave wall, as well as the protruding points that might have served fair as stable outcroppings for a tiny bug or, perhaps, a baby mouse. She could at least be positive that they were nowhere near the crust or center of Terra, as no sizzling heat of lava or magma or whatever dangerous substance resided down there threatened to boil her to death.
"Are we there yet?" M complained, taking her mind off her silent observations.
"Nearly," said Asagwara vaguely. "Actually - here we are now." M felt his cold hand move off her arm and touch her head. He untied her blindfold with barely more than a flick of his wrist, and it fell, unnaturally slowly, with some dramatics, to the cave floor.
M gasped, covering her mouth. "Wow," she breathed, for the hidden place tucked away somewhere in her little town that she found herself in was even more beautiful than she'd thought Market to be.
"Madam Dehllah?" Asagwara called out. M saw him and was relieved to see that the stone had not spread much, the only change being that it reached across the wide bridge of his nose. "That's the name of your Teahdee," he added, probably looking in the direction of M's person. "D - E - H - L - L - A - H, just so you know. 'Day-uh'. There are odd names down here, I thought you ought to know."
M tucked her anxiety into her pocket. As some people know, this is an expression of figurative speech. While there was, in fact, someone, or rather, something that went by the peculiar name of Anxiety, in this situation it was not literal. It would have been strange, after all, for M to be putting somebody in her pocket. One may put their cellular device, or a rock, or some loose change in their pocket, but not usually a sentient being. That sort of behavior is not particularly becoming. Asagwara, certainly, did not desire to witness M putting a dirty mouse or bug from the cave into her pocket. He then might have been led to believe she associated herself with the Mouse people.
Asagwara's lip twitched briefly, conveniently on cue. One should agree that being associated with the Mouse people of Fortunia (this land being named after the title of its leader, naturally) is not anything to be proud of. No, this was frowned upon.
Meanwhile, back in M's head, the girl's brain could scarcely comprehend the sight her eyes were withholding. It was not that it was of such extravagant beauty, though it was of reasonable grandeur, but that she had never seen anywhere like it.
She saw the twinkling of fairy lights that hung around the vast territory of the cave, and the tunnels that strange creatures of various shapes and sizes entered it through or exited it from. The walls of this section of the cave had been scrubbed and smoothened, giving the appearance of a glistening dome. Perhaps the effect may have been supported by the tiny gemstones that nestled in the rock, of sparkling scarlets and magentas and fuschias and other colors spread wide across the magnificent color spectrum.
"This is Azuhre, my Teahdee, my guide," Asagwara introduced, brushing M's shoulder. Her attention was not easily grabbed back, so he took her wrist roughly and pulled her to them.
"Oy!" she squealed, shoving him off and rubbing her wrist. M looked up and smiled shyly at Azuhre. She hoped her Teahdee would look like this. Azuhre was appropriately blue, like a cloudless sky, with a long, sleek body and folded up wings that were patterned with deep purple splotches and shaped like the wings of dragons, with rounded tips like butterflies'. The creature's eyes were large, and kind, and of a bright sort of indigo. She had black eyelashes that flipped upwards and made her gentle face look even softer, and a snout like that of a wolf that was covered in grey-blue fur. Azuhre even had a small lavender, turquoise-spotted horn that protruded from where a wolf's shiny black nose would normally be. She had the nostrils and the thick mane of a horse, and both still made her impossibly more fantastical.
"Madam Dehllah," Asagwara said, relieved, making M finally take her eyes off the first Teahdee she had ever seen.
She was safe, was she not? Danger seemed to have left her side, where it had been creeping for some time. M was too fascinated with this new world to see the dark corners of that cave. But it was too late for her.
Much too late.
And M saw the second Teahdee, her very own guide, and marveled at what she beheld - for this was one even more beautiful than the last.