Book 1: Sancta Labyrinthus

Chapter 5

(A huge thank you to Infinity_XI and lexizimmers for your sweet comments!)

“Vic?”

Victoria turned to her forlorn brother standing half a metre away from her. They had maintained their pretense of unfamiliarity until they had reached their destination, and even now, Alistair was keeping his distance from her as she continued to clasp the erotica in her hands.

“Yes?” she inquired curtly.

“It’s not too late to turn back,” he said quietly. It was then she realised how rattled he truly looked. His brown hair had started to frizz at the edges, partially due to the cold, and his clothes had slight creases on it.

Wanting to distract him, Victoria pointed at a wall of reflective glass not far from them. He looked, then doubled over and started straightening himself.

She sighed. For now, there was nothing else she could do but distract him and wait until the mysterious man arrived. It was already a minute past six.

They were currently standing at a taxi stand right outside the Downtown train station. The night air was freezing, and she pulled her dark blue jacket closer towards herself, her red hair fluttering in the glacial breeze. Beside her, Alistair had his bright pink jacket on and was busy smoothing out the wrinkles in it.

They stilled in their movements, however, when out of nowhere, a white van pulled up in front of them.

A white van? Victoria cringed. That just screamed paedophile. No one would ever catch her driving one in the future.

The backdoor of the van pulled open, and the same man she had seen at the funeral stepped out. He wore a black jacket and long dress pants.

“Victoria, Alistair,” he greeted them, in the same urbane manner as before. “So I see you've made up your mind. I'm glad you made the right choice.”

“That remains to be seen,” Alistair snapped, folding his arms. “Is that van even clean?”

“Just get in already,” Victoria snarled, giving a brother an irritated shove. She clambered into the van, assisted by the man, and Alistair hesitated, his aqua eyes dull from worry.

“Hurry up, or I'm leaving without you,” Victoria warned. It was bad enough that these men were driving a white van. They didn't need to stick around and attract even more attention.

Alistair pursed his lips, then set his suitcase down on the inside of the van with a loud thump, and climbed in after Victoria. He took out another one of his baby wipes and cleaned the seat before plonking himself down. The man hopped out from the back, and shut the door, plunging the cabin into total darkness.

Victoria looked around. From where she sat, she couldn't see much of the outside world. The steel walls of the van effectively concealed everything – both from prying eyes outside the van, as well as curious eyes inside. Even the front of the van had been cut off from the back by a wooden partition. She heard shuffling sounds as Alistair continued to clean their surroundings despite the pitch-darkness.

“This is weird,” she heard Alistair mutter, as he compulsively rubbed at something with his baby wipe.

Victoria tried to reply, but the air smelled funny, and the more she inhaled, the stronger the smell was. It was sickening.

“What… is that… revolting…” Alistair slurred, indignance colouring his voice.

Victoria tried to speak, but she felt just as disoriented as he sounded. She couldn't see, but she had a vivid sensation of feeling like she was trapped in a spinning room.