*The Chronicles of F.R.E.E. Atania's Knight - Raquel Festow* Part 1

Chapter 5 - Perkins

I've been awake in this 'hospital' for almost five days now. This morning, Chelsea told me that Clara and Xavier had woken up but they were very tired still and needed rest before I went to visit them. Every time her or Audrey came into my room, I asked for any news on them and it was always the same thing.
"They're fine, they're just resting for now."
"You'll be able to see them soon, as soon as they're a little more awake."
"We will take you to them as soon as we think they're ready."
I had been given food, and three jugs of water. It was strange that I didn't feel the need to get up and going to the lavatory every few minutes with the amount of clear, delicious water I was drinking, but there seemed to be a little stomach at the bottom of my bed that Chelsea and Audrey kept changing that appeared to be the reason why. They called it a 'cathitor'?
They had now removed my cathitor, telling me to use the lavatory through a curtain on the other side of my bed and also removed the snakes from my arms. I was left alone wondering what I could do to keep the boredom away.
Suddenly, Chelsea came back into my room.
"Raquel, honey, the policeman is here and he want's to speak to you." Chelsea said, kindly. "Did you want to speak to him or shall I tell him we will call him when you're ready?"
"No, I-I can speak with him..." I nodded slowly.
Chelsea beamed at me and both her and Audrey, who was looking a little worried, went back to the curtain and opened it widely.
"You can come in, but please remember, she's very fragile." Chelsea said.
"Thank you." Came a low, gruff voice and in walked a tall, broad man.
He was dressed in black and white with an odd flat hat on his head, a black box that seemed to be attached to his shoulder and a belt with lots of little bags on it. His shoes were shiny, and looked very well made. His face had a large bushy beard with green eyes, that were twinkling at Chelsea and Audrey as they left the room. His aura was a hazy, bright gold and I felt at ease knowing I could trust him.
Once the curtain had closed again, he finally turned to me but froze with his eyes wide and mouth gaping open. His Aura was pulsing in uncertainty.
"R-Relxa..." I stammered, feeling uncomfortable with the way he was looking at me.
"W-Watson?" He whispered, his voice light, like he was far away.
I furrowed my brow. Didn't Clemency Moreno call me that when she first saw me? It was like the suns had risen in my head all at once as it struck me, he might be able to help me! He seemed to think I was that person too so that means he knew more of what had happened than anyone else here on Earth. I decided I would tell him the truth.
"I am not Watson, but I have been called that before. I have also been mistaken for Rebecca." I said.
"Rebecca?" He blinked for a moment to think but then seemed to shake himself slightly. His demeanour changed to a professional attitude. "My name is Officer Perkins, I have my colleague waiting for me outside because I thought you may not be ready for more than one of us to come in just yet." He gave me a warm smile and walked towards the side of the bed.
He sat in a chair beside the bed, took off his hat and placed it on the side then took out a little book and a very weird looking glass tube with a black line inside it. He played with the black box on his shoulder and appeared to be twisting at something, before finally he had settled himself. "What's your name?"
"Raquel Festow." I replied, keeping my eyes on his movement. I somehow felt like I could trust him and that he was going to believe everything I was going to say.
His eyes looked into mine and I could see sadness and longing in them. He shut them for a moment before turning back to his little book and the glass tube turned out to be a quill because he started writing with it, scribbling things down.
"Where are you from?" He spoke slowly and carefully just like that Gaz had done when I woke up, but his tone was more understanding than Gaz's had been. Like we had our own secret language and we were just finding out the both of us knew what the other was saying.
"Wacchica, Atania." I gave him a small smile.
He reflected a smile back at me before shifting in his seat, and bringing out a black box out of one of his pockets. One much like the one Clemency Moreno had been talking to that day my parents went missing. I stared at it as he laid it down next to his hat.
"Can you let me know what happened?" He looked directly into my eyes with such intense worry, I felt an overwhelming urge to hug him and comfort him.
"M-My parents went missing from our hut in Wacchica and my fazeeb, Clara, and I were taken to the Moreno's hut while the villiagers searched for them..." I felt my throat tighten at the memory.
Officer reached out and covered my hand in his, his eyes wide again. "Moreno? As in, Clemency Moreno?"
I sat bolt upright, nodding vehemently at him. "Yes! Yes, that's right! Do you know her? Are her and Penelope alright?"
Officer Perkins gave me a sad smile and shook his head. "I don't know her personally, I'm afraid. But my friend's did. It was a long time ago, now." He breathed a heavy sigh, before turning back to his book. "So, you stayed with them while everyone was looking for your parents?"
I sank back into the pillows and nodded, my face falling. I felt my heart sink. "They couldn't find them and we couldn't track nor trace them. Then, Clemency came and gave me and my fazeeb's Portal Bracelets, telling us to run for the mountains and put them on when we were at a safe distance to be taken somewhere safe-"
"And she sent you here?" Officer said, raising his eyes to meet mine.
I nodded. "We didn't get to the mountains though. We were stopped by some soldiers of the Order and a cruel lady thought my name was Rebecca..." I winced as I remembered her telling her soldiers to 'make it slow and painful' after they had knocked us to the ground.
"Tiana..." Officer Perkins whispered. I looked up at him and he looked like he had made a decision.
He picked up the black box beside his hat and walked to the curtain.
"Wait! Where are you going?" I called out to him.
"I need to make a few calls. We need to keep you safe." He reached out to open the curtain, but stopped when he saw me starting to get out of the bed. "What are you doing?" He frowned at me, confused.
"Coming with you." I said, simply.
"Er... I think it's best you wait in here." He hesitated with his hand on the lever.
"You're the only one on this blasted Realm who seems to understand what's happened to us, so I'm staying with you." I stood up but wavered slightly after not using my legs for so long.
Officer dashed to my side as I fell, catching me before I hit the ground. "You need to stay in bed, Watson." He said.
I stared at him. "Who is she? This Watson?"
His face changed to an awkward, very nervous expression and he closed his eyes. "J-Just someone I knew."
"Did she look like me?" I watched him carefully as he made me sit back down on the bed.
"Y-Yes... Well, she looked a lot like you. She didn't have such long hair like yours but it's been so long since I've seen her, her and Hodgson have probably changed beyond recognition." His lips curved into a smirk as he thought of her.
"Where is she?" I asked as he lifted my legs back into the bed and covered me with the sheets.
"Err... We-We don't know." He lied.
"I can tell you're lying. Your Aura is glowing." I warned him.
He blinked at me. "My Aura?"
I cocked my eyebrow. "Yes, your Aura. Can't you see them?"
He shook his head, staring at me with concern. He looked at the black box in his hand and looked back up to me. "I-I need to call my wife. She will contact the others and we will help find somewhere safe for you all."
I grabbed his wrist. "Don't leave." I begged, scared that he was going to leave and I would never see him again.
He looked at my hand, a sad smile stretching across his face, hoisting his bushy beard up to meet his eyes. "I'll call her here if you want."
I nodded, and braced myself by covering my ears with my hands, ready for him to call for her. I could hear his muffled, booming laugh. I looked back up at him, confused.
"Aren't you going to call her?" I asked.
He chuckled. "I use my phone." He lifted the black box to show me.
I reached up and took it out of his hand to look at it closely. I pushed my finger along the side of it and a light appeared on one side of the box. I screamed and threw it away from me before it could hurt me.
"Hey!" Officer cried out, watching his phone land at the bottom of my bed. He reached over and picked it up. He scrutinised it closely before sighing. "Phew, no cracks. Don't throw it like that. You'll break it!"
"What does it do?" I whispered, leaning closer to look at it in his hands.
"You use it to speak to people that aren't with you." He explained, making an amused smile. "Don't you have these on your Realm?"
I shook my head. "Only one person used a box like that, and it was Clemency."
"She was probably talking to Natalia again." He chuckled.
I looked at his face, frowning as he said Natalia. Did he mean Natalia Donton? "How do you use it?"
"Here," He said, pressing the side of the box and making the light come on again. I flinched away, but it didn't hurt me. I leaned forward and saw his face with a woman who had long brown hair and grey eyes. My heart started leaping around in my chest in panic.
"How did you get in there?" I cried out, reaching over to look at the other side of the box.
Officer laughed. "It's called a picture," he managed to say between his laughing.
"A pick a ture..." I repeated slowly, poking the 'phone' with my finger, timidly.
"A picture." Officer said more clearly. "It's a picture of me and my fiancee, Robin." He pressed the side again with his thumb and the 'picture' came up on the phone.
I looked at her face. "She's very pretty. It seem's I can't tell her Aura from a 'picture' though. Is she nice?"
He laughed again and nodded. "Very nice. Her and Watson were best friends."
"You should be calling her, shouldn't you?" I asked him, slowly, then had an idea. "Can I try?"
Officer hesitated. "If you promise not to throw it..." He lifted an eyebrow at me, and I nodded.
"I promise, Officer." I agreed.
He smirked again. "Don't call me Officer, call me Perkins."
"Oh, ok, Perkins." I said, wondering why he didn't want me to use his first name.
He tapped at the box for a minute then held it up for me. "Put your ear to the phone," he instructed, gently.
I leant over and placed my ear against the warm 'phone'. A shrill bell was ringing very fast. I moved away and looked at it, wondering where the noise was coming from. Perkins grinned and nodded for me to put my ear to it again.
Suddenly, a voice came from the phone.
"Hey, baby."
I stared, there was a person in there. "RELXA?" I yelled at the phone, hoping she could hear me.
Perkins howled with laughter, but the woman in the box phone was shouting something back. Perkins took the phone back and placed it to his ear.
"Sorry, she wanted to have a go at calling you. That was totally worth it." He chuckled, wiping a tear from his eye.
I stared at him, wanting to try again. How can she hear him without him shouting?
"...Well, let's just say I have the fifth here with me now, it seems." He smirked at me, knowingly.
I cocked an eyebrow. "No. Atania is the seventh Realm. The fifth is Astrovia." I narrowed my eyes at him as he seemed to freeze.
"Did you hear what she just said?" He said to his fiancée in the phone. He grinned widely, his eyes twinkling. "She's just like her, baby. Just more... odd."
I frowned. "You realise that is discriminating, don't you?" I narrowed my eyes at him.
He gazed back at me, looking worried that he had offended me. "Call the others and tell them. I think she and her friends are going to need as much help as we can give them." He nodded. "Love you, and I'll call you later."
"Qaabxie!" I shouted at the phone before she went back into darkness.
Perkins took the phone away from his ear. "Robin is going to call the others and we will help you out as much as we can. I think the first thing is to sort out somewhere for you and your friends to stay. What are their names?"
"Clara and Xavier. Have you seen them yet?" I asked, eagerly.
He shook his head. "They're still recovering. You've been awake for longer than they have, so the nurses allowed me to come and see you."
A shrill jingling filled the room. I gasped and gripped hold of Perkins, looking around, terrified. Perkins patted my arm and picked up his phone again.
"It's Dean. I knew she would call me after Robin told her. It's a facetime call this time, so you'll be able to see her." He explained to me.
I stared at him. He had faces in the box too? Like the 'picture'?
He tapped the phone and held it up so he was looking at it ahead of him. "Morning, Dean." He grinned widely.
"Oh my god! Is it true?!" Came a squeal and I leaned round the phone to see what was happening.
A woman's face was moving on the box, grinning back at Perkins as if she was right in front of him. Behind her, another woman was leaning over to look too, just like I was. Again, I couldn't see their Aura's because they were in the box. Dean, who I assumed was the lady that was closer to us in the box, appeared jolly and friendly, with curly auburn hair and she had oblong orbs in front of her eyes. Her blue eyes were kind and her rosy cheeks glowed from happiness. I liked her already. The lady behind her had white blonde hair and green eyes. She was beaming through the box too.
Perkins looked at me, and hesitated. "Do you want to meet them?" He asked me.
I furrowed my brow. How can I meet people if they live in a box? I gave a small shy nod.
Perkins smiled and moved the phone slightly so my face came up in the top corner of the box. I stared at my tiny reflection. My eyes were heavily hooded and purple, my face covered in black and blue bruises, and my lip had a small remnants of a scab still visible. I gasped.
"How did I get in there?" I cried out, backing away.
Perkins jumped, looking very concerned at my reaction and placed an encouraging hand on my back. "It's ok. You're safe. Maybe you're not ready to say hello to them just yet. Might be better if you meet them in person."
I shook my head. "Don't put me in there!" I begged, terrified he was going to put me in the box with them. Were the Aura's wrong? Was he not as kind as his Aura was telling me?
"Hold on, girls!" He said to the phone and put it down on the side. I could hear the two ladies murmuring to each other, their voices laced with worry.
"Listen, they don't live in the phone. We all have a phone and they're connected to each other so we can see and speak to each other whenever we want. They're real people just like you and me. Don't be scared." He put his arms around me, and I breathed heavily into his shoulder, trying to calm myself down and rid myself of the panic that had spread through me.
"I'll tell them to go." Perkins told me as he reached for his phone.
"No, don't!" I grabbed his wrist. "I-I just... It's all new..." I tried to explain.
He nodded and picked up his black phone. "Girls, be gentle. She doesn't have phones on her Realm so she isn't used to this." He said to the ladies.
"We understand, P!" Came Dean's voice.
"We'll be careful." Came the other ladies voice.
Perkins held the phone for me and I was again appeared in the top corner. Avoiding looking at my wretched appearance, I smiled timidly at the ladies. "Relxa, my name's Raquel."
They both gasped. "You're Raquel?"
I nodded, creasing my eyebrows together. "Have you already been told about me?"
They looked at each other. "We had a friend." Dean said, slowly. "She was just like you. She mentioned your name once. She's now a knight of FREE..." They trailed off, looking concerned at me.
I burst out laughing. What nonsense! FREE didn't really exist. They were just stories to make us feel safer like Xavier said... Right?
"FREE? Really?" I scoffed. "That's just a myth."
"N-No, it's not. Ruth Watson is a part of it. And Rebecca and Ruby and Rhianna..." The lady behind Dean said.
My eyes widened. "They're real?" My mind reflected on the night we had used the Portal Barcelets. The four knights, with glowing red swords, the latches I have with them. "IEZ!" I squealed.
I started to bounce around on my bed in excitement. They were real! They were there before we used the Bracelets! They had come to save my Realm and keep them safe. They were going to find my parents!
Perkins was staring at me with a look of bewilderment on his face. I couldn't see what the ladies were doing in the phone.
"Oh, Perkins! Do you realise what this means?! It's all true! It all makes sense! Rebecca and Natalia Donton are real, they did come from Atania to save and protect the Realms. I thought it was just bedtime tales that my mother told me to help me sleep, but they are REAL!" I leapt off the bed. I forgot I was still healing. My legs buckled underneath me when I landed and I collapsed in a heap on the floor.
"Shit!" I heard Perkins curse, and he quickly ran to me from the bed and helped me get up.
"Is she ok?" Came Dean's worried voice.
"Oh my god, she's like Moreno..." I heard the other lady say.
"I'm fine!" I called out to them. Perkins helped me to the bed and I picked up the box, grinning from ear to ear. "Rac iai! You've made my day! My Realm will be safe! They saved us, they will save the others!" I cried out, confidently. Tears of happiness streaming down my face.
"You saw them?" Dean said in awe.
I nodded, vehemently. "They saved us when we got attacked. All four of them with glowing red swords, all running towards us. I didn't realise at the time. I thought they were more of the Order, but-" I started thrashing around, pretending I was taking an imaginary foe down. "-they slammed them to the ground, away from us. One of them screamed. 'TIANA! I AM HERE FOR YOU!' or something like that, then they ran after the soldiers of the Order, who fled with their tails between their legs."
I jumped of the bed again, ignoring my shaking knees, pretending to run away scared and putting on a whiny, pitchy voice. "Help us, Tiana. Rebecca is going to kill us. Save us!"
Perkins was chuckling nervously at me, watching me dance around. I suddenly stopped and stared at him, my eyes wide in realisation.
"I need to tell the others!" I squealed and ran to the curtain, but it didn't open when I tried to swipe it out of the way. I ran straight into it, falling flat onto my back, groaning in pain. It was hard and solid, I hadn't expected it. Audrey, Chelsea and the people they called Dock Tours used it easily enough. Why couldn't I?
"I'll call you back." Perkins said and threw the phone down on the bed before rushing to my side. "Fucking hell, girl! Are you ok?"
I leant up on my elbows, shaking my head to try and rid myself of the fuzzy feeling. "Yeah, I'm ok. Why didn't it open for me? Does it not like me?" I frowned looking at Perkins who looked like he was biting his lip to stop himself from laughing.
"It's a door, Raquel. You have to pull it open. Don't you have doors in Atania?"
I shook my head. "We have curtains." I explained. "I don't like doors." I decided, glaring at the 'door' angrily.
Perkins couldn't hold himself back anymore and started howling with laughter. "This is the best day of my life!" He exclaimed, clutching at his stomach and falling back onto his rear end from laughing so much.
The door then swung open and Chelsea stood there, looking down at me in shock. Her Aura flashed angrily as she looked at Perkins before looking back at me.
"What on Earth happened?! You're not meant to be out of bed yet, you're still not well!" She glared at Perkins, who quickly got himself up off the floor and hoisted me up so I could stand too. "I told you she is still fragile! What sort of Officer are you?!"
"Erm, well." Perkins rubbed the back of his neck, looking ashamed.
"He's my fazeeb!" I said to Chelsea.
Both Chelsea and Perkins stared at me. "We were just talking about the old stories that we know. Didn't recognise each other at first." I lied, feeling extremely bad about it.
"R-Really?" Chelsea looked at Perkins who nodded, catching on to my lie.
"I knew her back when I was a teenager. It's been over ten years since I last saw her face." He was keeping close to the truth, and I felt an overwhelming sense of pride for him.
"I-I'm shocked. I thought you didn't know anyone from England?" Chelsea looked at me, her brow furrowed.
I shrugged. "I forgot?" I sheepishly smiled back.
"O-Ok. Just, get back into bed. You need to rest." She then turned to Perkins who shifted ashamedly from side to side. "And you. Are you done yet?"
"I still have more questions. She just got excited when she recognised me and wanted to tell her... fazeeb's." Perkins lied, faking an innocent smile.
Chelsea didn't look convinced and folded her arms at him. "You'll get one more chance, otherwise I'll be reporting you." With that, she spun on her heel and stormed out of the room.
Perkins and I stared at the closed door in shocked silence for a moment, before I looked at him and smiled, sweetly.
"Don't worry. She has a gold Aura, she won't do anything but good." I assured him.
He looked back at me, slightly bewildered. "Yeah... Sure."
I crawled back onto the bed and tucked my legs under the sheets.
"Who else are we going to call?" I asked, eagerly.
"Well, I think all that's left is to email Watson and let her know that you're with us..." He said, grinning as he walked to his phone and picked it up.
"What's an eem ale?"
"An email is like a virtual letter."
"What's vurt you all?"
"You know what, never mind." He chuckled and started tapping the phone with his thumbs, his face full of concentration. After a couple of minutes he give a final tap with a flourish and grins at me, putting his phone back on the side.
"If you know about other Realms, would you know if I can find a Health and Energy potion here?" I asked him.
Perkins face gaped. "You know, I think Dean brought some back with her after we left Astrovia."
"You were in Astrovia?!" I blanched. "How did you survive? There's monsters there!"
Perkins picked up his phone again. "Yes, there was monsters. Coffinhounds, Duskwings, Smokelings, Vexwraiths. You name it, they had it. But we managed to stay safe." He was tapping at his phone again. "I'm going to call Dean and Hewitt again, did you want to speak to them?"
I nodded eagerly. I was enjoying this new way of speaking to someone through a phone. It was highly entertaining and exciting.
He handed me the phone and I held it in front of me, seeing my face in the top corner again.
Dean's face came onto the phone again and beamed when she saw me. "Hi Raquel. What happened?"
I shrugged. "Doors don't like me." I explained and she snorted. "Perkins mentioned you had possibly brought back some Health and Energy potions with you from Astrovia. Do you still have them?"
Dean's head nodded. "I do. Would you like me to bring them to you? We can meet in person then. I know Hewitt would love that."
I gave her a toothy grin. "I would very much like that, too. My friends will need it more than me. Is there enough?"
She looked behind her for a second. "Let me check for you. I'll hand you to Hewitt for a moment."
I looked at Perkins excitedly and his eyes twinkled back.
"Well, hello, Raquel. My name's Hewitt. It's lovely to meet you." The blonde, pretty lady's head filled the box.
"Relxa, Hewitt. It's nice to meet you too. It's so wonderful having some fazeeb's already in this Realm. It's already starting to feel like home."
"Listen, Dean and I were talking after you disappeared and we decided you and your friends can come and stay with us when you come out of hospital. Would you like that?"
"Rac iai! That would be AMAZING!" I bounced on the bed, letting out a high pitched shriek of delight at the chance of staying with these lovely ladies who were beyond kind enough to invite us to stay with them.
Hewitt chuckled. "You remind me so much of someone I knew." She said.
"She knows her, Hewitt. She knows Moreno." Perkins said, leaning over so his face was beside mine in the box.
"No!" Hewitt gasped. "You know Moreno?!"
I nodded. "I do. She sent us here. We were under attack and she gave us Portal Bracelets to get away from the Order." I explained. I mentally reminded myself to thank Clemency with everything I had in me for sending me to such a lovely Realm for safety. I was growing more and more attached to Earth with every second that passed.
"Is she ok?" Hewitt asked.
I frowned. Was she ok? "I-I don't know..." I trailed off. I really hoped she was. My mind turned to Atania again. I checked the latches to my parents again. Still alive. Thank goodness.
Dean's voice came back. "There's enough there. I had filled the bottles before we left and packed them. Don't know why, just felt I needed to. I have put them in our sacks and we will leave now."
"What about the Caf?" Perkins said.
"Caf?" I asked, curiously.
"We own a cafe, Raquel. It's like a pub. A bar. A restaurant. A tavern. Whatever you call it on your Realm." Dean explained.
"You have wine here?" I asked.
All three of them laughed. "We do."
"Oh, how EXCITING!" I squealed, bouncing on the bed again. "I've never tried wine before!"
"Don't you have wine in Atania?" Hewitt chuckled.
I shook my head. "No. It's not needed. We're happy all the time. We only drink natural fluids that come from the land. Apart from the potions of course."
"I can't wait to hear more." Dean said, grinning. "We will head out now, P. Will you be there when we get there?"
Perkins shook his head. "I am supposed to be interviewing Raquel right now. I'm still on duty. I'll be finished soon though. I'm on a four til three today."
"Alright, hun. We will speak to you later. Raquel, we will be there in a few hours." Dean said before the box went black again.
"Does that mean you have to go?" I asked him sadly.
He nodded. "I'm working right now, but I promise, I'll be back later, ok?"