Prisoners of Eden

-Chapter 13- Eden's lies

(I will no longer do the switch between 1st person POV and 3rd person POV. I'm keeping it as 3rd because I write better like that. BTW listen to the video above, it is the best thing ever.)

Rowan tightened her grip on Ash's school jacket. "Ash," she cried, "it's Lachlan!" Ash gave her a sympathetic smile and pulled her to the corner of the stage. "That man said there are four of them. Now that we know Lachlan is apart of that group, we need to find the rest. We can get Lachlan later." Rowan bit back a protest, letting her brother pull her through a metal door. It lead to the back of the stage which was crowded with props and acts that were yet to be preformed. People were dancing, laughing as they practiced their routines. The music from the Globe Of Death could be heard from behind the curtains. The floor drummed to the beat and the room shook with it. Ash continued to pull Rowan with him, ducking just out of sight. To their left- props and to their right- dressing rooms. One after the other, Rowan read each room aloud;

'Anaklusmos'

'Mad Max'

'Sephora' 

'Pluto'. That's the one. It didn't have a door. Instead, a curtain fell from the white door frame. Rowan pushed past Ash and pulled the curtain aside. Pluto's room was as dark as midnight with nothing but light from Eden's moon to illuminate the space. The twins split up. Rowan wandered towards a wooden shelf with psychic materials like cards and crystal balls displayed on it. She picked up a scroll that was identical to the one Ash had shown her. "Ash, give me the scroll you found." She held out her hand. Ash reached deep into his bag and pulled out the scroll. He placed it in Rowans hand and watched carefully as she opened it. Written on the scroll were names. Some of the names Rowan recognized. She gasped and opened the other scrolls. "Ash," Rowan called in a hushed tone, "these are the names of all the kids who have gone missing." Ash tore the scroll from Rowan's grasp and read it to himself. The more he read, the more his face scrunched up in a disgusted glare. Ash stared at the scrolls as if he wanted to burn them. And to be frank, he was debating it. In a swift movement, the scrolls tumbled off the shelves and fell into Ash's school bag with the help of his arm. When Rowan turned towards the door, the light from the hallway had been blocked. A person stood in their way. "Eris will be glad. One down, four to go." the person then turned to Ash, "oh, and one first child. Almost forgot about you." The person came closer. it was the man from the hallway. Ash pulled Rowan behind him protectively and held his bag with his free hand. 

"Go."

"What? i'm not leaving you, Ash."

"I said go, find Pluto." 

The man charged. Ash grabbed their arm and swung them around in a circle. He punched the man in the gut but instead of the man howling in pain, it was Ash who held his aching hand. Ash's knuckles were red raw and pulsing. The skin where Ash punched the man had pealed back to reveal mechanical insides. Gears turned in the man's stomach as he growled and punched Ash in the same place he had been punched. When his fist connected to the first child's stomach, Ash stumbled and coughed. Blood fell from his mouth and he spat it onto the floor. Rowan felt powerless. She was stuck like a video game. Either ignore Ash and help him or run and find Pluto. No, this was her brother. Rowan grabbed a nearby shelf and pushed it over. It fell on it's side and crashed into the man. Pieces of wood scattered around the person underneath and the objects that once sat on the self were broken and shards of crystal balls cluttered around the man's head. There was a faint ticking sound coming from the mechanical parts and gears inside the man's stomach, almost like a clock. The once red carpet underneath the man was covered in fine coffee grounds and it looked like a textured shadow was sitting above it. Underneath the broken shelf, the man twitched and began to sit up. "The scrolls! Get the scrolls!" Rowan shouted. Ash picked up the scrolls one by one and shoved them back into his bag. Once he did so, he took Rowan my the arm and ran out of the room through the back entrance. Behind them the man rose from the ground. Wood fell from his exposed back and crashed to the floor with an echoing thud. The man growled and followed them through the back entrance. Rowan risked a glance behind her to see the man. His shirt was stained with coffee grounds and torn in different corners. Rust covered the golden gears that turned inside his exposed rib cage and the ticking sound in his chest grew louder the closer he got. His expression held such heavy odium that it poured out of his glass eyes and down his cheeks. What was he? He obviously was far from human, he must be an invention of sorts. Maybe he belonged to the Eris lady who wanted Rowan and the other group taken out. 

The crowd could be heard chanting from the other side of the walls. Each time a beat sounded from the music, it shook the ground like an earthquake and made Rowan and Ash stumble. Finally, they made it back to the front of the stage. The man scanned the crowded area to no avail. What he didn't know was that hidden among the dancing bodies and hungry chants, was Rowan with her brother by her side. The two were stuck between a large middle aged man who was heavily intoxicated and a teenage girl dressed in barely anything on the shoulders of another half-naked girl. On the stage, four long silk sheets hung from the ceiling and two people stood under them. One had sandy blonde hair that curled in impossible directions. Harry Potter-like glasses sat on the bridge of his nose and he was so tiny that Rowan couldn't tell if he was shaking from being so small or from fear. Next to him stood a tall boy with short black hair and rich brown skin. Instead of looking towards the crowd, he stared at the blonde boy as if he wanted to wrap him into a hug. When the music started, Ash pulled Rowan through the crowd once again. She never got the chance to watch the two boys on the silks. "I know where Pluto went." Rowan pulled Ash in the opposite direction. "She went outside. Near the East entrance." 

Rowan was correct. Pluto stood at the gate surrounding the circus with a smoke in her hand and her silk dress blowing in the wind. Her crimson red dress closely resembled a blood moon. Around her waist was a corset and from under it, her dress expanded and grazed the grass beneath her, almost like a picnic blanket. The peace was silenced like a guillotine when two boys stalked out from the shadows. They were both Rowan and Ash's age. "Pluto," the one on the left called. "We did what you asked, now for the information. Where do you find the second children?" Pluto scoffed at the boy's demand and walked towards him with a frown. Rowan began to walk out of her hiding spot but Ash grabbed her arm. His hand was cold against her skin and it sent a chill down her spine. "No, Rowan. If Lachlan sees us, it will ruin the plan. Besides, Rook isn't here." He was right. She couldn't step in. But she didn't like the sinister look in Pluto's eyes or the way the woman stared at Lachlan and his unnamed friend. "Fine." Rowan sat down on a crate next to Ash and watched from a distance. Pluto continued to dismiss their questions before she finally decided on an answer, "I collect them from a place you have forgotten." Lachlan squinted at her and scoffed, "bikking hell woman, enough with the metaphors." Pluto said nothing to him, only continued. "My team and I take the children before sunrise and they are sold by midday-" "but why sell second children?" the boy beside Lachlan asked, losing his short patience. 

"Second children have marvelous eyes." Pluto hummed.

"what?" Lachlan asked, clearly unimpressed.

"Did you know that Aaron Al-Baz created a machine that allows you to see someone's memories?" Pluto put out her cigarette.

"But why second children?" The boy next to Lachlan asked.

"Because, dear. They know too much. So many memories are so many truths. Eden thrives on the lies of a first born. And besides, you need an eye to see the memories, and what better way to find a second child eye than to steal it yourself."

Pluto pointed to Lachlan and stroked the cut that she had created when they were in her dressing room. "Your eyes are special." She breathed an exaggerated sigh. "You are Eden's lies."