Exciti

Chapter 36 (Adam)

A few steps led them to a mahogany door with a massive golden knocker. It was shaped to look like a Lion's head with a ring in its mouth. Lucy walked to the door with her eyes fixed on the knocker. Adam half expected her to talk to the thing, nothing surprised him anymore.

Instead, Lucy looked at the boys and signed, "When I say so, hold the lion's head. Oh, and be careful, those things bite."

Adam and Liam's heads swiveled at once to the knocker. Adam had only a second to register the lion's wickedly pointy fangs when Lucy yelled, "Now!"

They lunged at it.

It soon proved to be an impossible task, the lion's head started snapping its teeth and stretching its neck this way and that to keep the ring out of Lucy's reach. They tried their best to hold the awkward lump of writhing metal still, but they could not hold it in place long enough for Lucy to grab the ring and knock the door. They finally let go, panting. The knocker roared in their faces and Liam grimaced, "I take it metallic lions can't spit?"

Despite their failure to knock the door, the commotion seemed to alert the residents of the house to the visitors anyway. An angry voice came from inside, "Are you trying to bite the delivery man's hand off again, Pam Pam?!!"

Adam snorted then mouthed to the knocker, "Pam Pam?" The lion made a dejected face and growled weakly, looking embarrassed.

The door swung open. "I told you tip him, not nip him!"

Adam's eyes traveled up a bright orange housecoat, draped over a big round abdomen, until they reached a full gold and enamel mask. The mask showed a chubby face, but behind it was ...thin air?

"An invisible man?!" he said without thinking.

The man laughed, a good-natured sound that wobbled his belly. "Hardly, boy. I'm Marolo, a Venetian Mask Excitus, but most people know me as the toy warden. Do you have a card?"

Lucy handed him the card and he considered it, the mask oddly expressive, "You must be Joseph's pupils, only he would mistreat my cards like that. Come in!" He stepped aside.

They followed after him and the Lion rolled its eyes as if disapproving of his master's trusting nature. "Bye, Pam Pam," Adam teased.

Once they were inside, the Toy warden rushed ahead. "Feel free to look around. I will get us some tea," he announced, his pink feather slippers disappearing behind a corner.

Lucy nodded. "Oh, I will!"

Adam could see what she meant. The hall they stood in reminded him of a museum: the round space was filled with a glass case after a glass case showcasing toys, tools, statues, garments and other items in a beautiful display. He remembered the gondolier's words and felt a spark of hope in his chest, maybe the warden will have a toy for him!

Or maybe he will refuse to give a precious Excitus to the Eclipser.  A little voice in his head told him as it conjured the memory of Berta's face, melting from curious to see who was coming through the door to recognition and then to utter terror. He took a deep breath and touched the brownies in his pocket, Berta's sobs were more hurtful than any of the whispering, pointing or recoiling he had encountered today.

She hates me now. The thought made him sad.

He strode between the displays, trying hard to distract himself with their contents. One case showed a beautiful jewelry box, with a neatly handwritten note stating that the chest's contents would vanish to all but the person who held the key. The next case held a yo-yo that would, upon release, deliver messages between the persons who held pieces of its original string.

He stopped at a case where the glass was enforced with a metallic mesh. It contained a gleaming Exciti spear with a crimson handle. The spear was suspended in the air, slashing and stabbing at the unwavering glass with vigor.

"Beautiful, aren't they?" a whisper gave Adam a start. He hadn't realized Marolo was back.

"It's cool!" Adam turned to look behind him and saw a tray of steaming cups and a heap of cookies that rested on top of a coffee table in the middle of the hall.

Marolo's mask smiled down at him, "Beauty in the Exciti world can be deceiving, sadly." 

"I guess," Adam said, feeling uncomfortable.

Marolo looked up at the spear, "I heard you just found out that you are an Eclipser. Congratulations."

Adam felt  bitter, "You mean my condolences?"

Marolo chuckled. "Come guys, I have something to show you."

He led them to another room. The spacious, softly lit space was free of the cases and lined with paintings that were covered with thick panes of glass. "The glass should protect you from the emotional emissions of Exciti paintings, but we should still stay within the carpeted areas. I hope you don't mind." Said Marolo as he walked straight up to a painting that was kind of small, the size of a page in a book. "I got this from an auction in Tehran, and it has been in my storage for almost forty years. My best estimate is that the artist lived some two to three millennia ago." He smiled down at Adam, "I took it out of storage when I heard the news of your evaluation. I knew you would come here."

"Wow," Lucy breathed.

Adam felt his breath stall. The painting was beautiful. A vibrant portrait of a person, clad in shadow, with a sickle like blade in her right hand.

Adam knew the pattern by now. An Eclipser. Yet the image was different from the one on Uncle Boris's pages. The Eclipser's face was kind, and she held a scale in the other hand. The blade looked like it was pulling a black shadow from a part of the painting that faded over the years, leaving a vague impression of a person.

Marolo stared at the vividly colored image. "The Eclipser's myth wasn't always one of pure evil. Misunderstandings and failing to track the myth to its origin has made it so." He looked back down at Adam, "From the very beginning, an Eclipser wasn't a killer, but a cleanser. You see, the emotional energy an Excitus holds, their very life force, comes from humans. And like humans, it isn't always light and fluffy." He pointed at the shadow in the painting, "Hatred, fear, and jealousy can overtake an Excitus's life, hurting and tormenting them, just like they can do to a human. Think of the beautiful spear you saw, having to be trapped behind a cage for eternity to contain the fear and anger poured into it by its wielders and victims alike." He put his hand on Adam's shoulder, "A gift that allows you to take away such a painful burden can't be all bad now, can it?"

Adam blinked. He really wanted to believe that his gift was actually that... a gift, but he thought of Berta's blue eyes, big and glossy with tears and looked away from the portrait, "I'm not sure about that."

Marolo's hand fell from his shoulder, an indecipherable look clouding his face. "I can only show you a portrait, but I can't make you believe it." He then turned back the way they came, "Shall we go have some tea? I have many questions for you."