Читать книгу Myth - L.A. Mango - Страница 10

I couldn’t believe what I saw. Isaac was rejected? No, no, no, that’s not possible. This is not happening. This can’t be happening.

I froze and kept staring at his name with his fate written right there. Rejected, like all the other people who died in the Unknown, like all the other people who didn’t impress our leaders. Rejected.

Lexus lightly pushed me forward, but I didn’t realize that everyone had gone to the bleachers except Lexus and I. Mason went, too, revealing the same expressionless face as mine. Lexus kept pushing me forward as we made our way onto the stepped benches.

“I know it’s not easy, Iris,” she consoled me. I could feel someone’s presence near me. It was Mason; he seemed to be shaking. His grief seemed very palpable to me. I knew how he felt. I lost my brother and he had lost his best friend who was like a brother to him.

“Come on, let’s go sit on the benches, that’ll calm you down,” Lexus said. Both she and Mason led me to the top bench away from the others.

I sat down and buried my face in my hands. I felt so numb from shock that I couldn’t form tears. I had never thought I would actually lose my twin brother in the Unknown. I had always thought about us getting out of there alive, both of us. He told me that we would both make it. I did, but he didn’t and that made me feel guilty.

A guard came by and distributed some water. Mason came up to me and handed me a bottle of water. “Here, you need this, you look pale.” I took a sip.

“Thanks…” I said grimly, still frowning.

Lexus came up into the stands with her bottle of water in one hand; she sat next to me and placed her arm around my neck. I somehow remembered Isaac hugging me before we entered the Unknown; I felt my eyes welling up.

Some physicians came towards the ones who had completed the round. One of them came over. Lexus pulled her arm away when he came towards her.

“Any injuries?” he asked hastily. I was about to shake my head when I realized the thorns in my back, the scratches on my cheek and so on.

“Um, yes, my back…” I said.

“A creature with a sphere- like ball that represented a flower bud?” he asked. I nodded. He rested his hand on my back when I flinched. The physician nodded knowingly, “The creature that was responsible for your leg and cheek?” he asked.

“A hydra injured my leg, and the flower was also responsible for my cheek,” I said.

He opened what seemed like a medical case and took out two clear cylindrical containers, both with colored napkins. The containers were so small that the physician was able to close his hand over them. The man pointed at both of them.

“The container with the brown napkin will help your scratched cheek and the one with the blue napkin will help your injured leg. Congratulations,” he said with a smile as he started to check my back.

I turned my head to see the physician had finished with Lexus. She opened a container with a green napkin and wiped her neck with a cringe.

She noticed me, “It smells like rotten fish, but it works like a charm. Be careful, it burns at first.”

When the physician was done treating my back, I opened the container with the folded wet blue napkin inside. I took it out and wiped my thigh first with the napkin and felt a burning sensation. It irritated my skin at first but quickly wore off. I actually felt a lot better despite the burning sensation and the horrible smell that made me gag. Lexus was right; it did work like a charm.

“So, Phoenix, huh?” she said, her voice revealing some exhaustion.

I looked at her and laughed.

“What?” she asked me, laughing a bit too.

“And you’re a Dragon?” I told her as I wiped my cheeks with the brown napkin. She remembered her sector, and rested her elbows on her leg.

“To tell you the truth, I sort of saw that coming since both my parents were Dragon affiliates. I was bound to be a Dragon affiliate somehow, but I didn’t really think my theory would actually work…” she said frustratingly.

My happiness quickly turned into grief. I couldn’t stop thinking about my brother.

Lexus noticed, “Look Iris, things happen, I know it’s not easy. But the nice thing about life’s challenges is that they make you stronger. Don’t let Isaac’s death get the best of you. You have the right to mourn him, but you won’t mourn him forever. I’m pretty sure Isaac wouldn’t want that,” she said in a firm voice.

I understood what she was trying to tell me. Hearing it from her comforted me because I knew she was speaking from experience. Losing Landon had been hard on her, too. Letting go doesn’t mean that I don’t care about Isaac anymore; it means that I will have to turn a new page and move on. I will never forget my brother Isaac; I will remember him as the boy who was brave enough to enter the Unknown without backing out.

I swallowed a huge gulp of water. “Wow, you’re really thirsty, looks like I don’t know the full story. What happened to you in there?” Lexus asked, as she took a sip from her own bottle.

“I made a mirror angry and it started making clouds of smoke everywhere,” I told her as if it were the most common thing that could happen to a person. “What happened to you in there?” I asked.

“Well, a chimera came charging at me when I first entered the Unknown. That was where I got this,” she pointed at the scratch on her waist, “Then I saw a huge hole with rattle snakes coming out of it. Then I found you,” she said, using the same tone of voice as mine.

And I thought I went through the hardest parts of the Unknown. Rattle snakes? Chimera? The mirror and plant incidents were nothing compared to those dangers.

“So, what now?” I asked.

Lexus shook her head and shrugged.

We waited.

++++++++++

After about three hours of chatting about the details of what happened to both of us, the last wave of Undecided came out of the Unknown. We all clapped for their return.

The leaders came out from an entrance behind the Unknown to greet the Accepted. All five of them lined up in the middle of the field with the swarm of guards clustered around them, some scattered around near the bleachers we were sitting on.

The Phoenix leader spoke. He seemed to be the one who usually makes the announcements since he has such a thunderous voice.

“Welcome, Survivors. You have successfully completed the challenge of the Unknown, and we are very proud to see a lot of Accepted this year. Congratulations.” He gave everyone on the benches a warm smile.

“The trains to your sectors are ready for you in the station.” The man paused as the leaders stood there conversing with each other, the guards keeping an eye out for any trouble as a few of them surrounded the leaders to watch their backs.

I was able to identify each of those leaders since I had studied about them, but I didn’t really learn everything related to them in full detail. The leaders weren’t very open about their personal lives.

The woman who was wearing very elegant clothes and had a tight bun was Iva Sparks. She was the leader of the Sphinx sector. I knew from my previous studies that she was a very bright Sphinx affiliate back in the days when she was a soldier for the leaders.

The man with a perfect face and blonde hair – who looked like a very good example of what a devious person would look like – was the leader Jason Edge. He was the leader of the Mermaid Sector.

The man with bouffant, dark brown hair – and the one who gave me a challenging look – was the most intriguing out of all of them. He wore a long sleeved shirt and had his sleeves rolled up to reveal his gargantuan arms. He was Chase Stalwart, the leader of Lexus’s sector, the Dragon Sector. I knew how much Lexus hated the Dragon Sector; once she even drew mustaches on the Dragon leader’s face on one of our books.

A friendly and innocent-looking young woman with long silky black hair stood next to the strong Dragon Sector leader. Her dark complexion looked incredibly smooth. She was the leader of the Pegasus Sector, Raven Hartley. She was the wisest out of all of them, but I already knew that Iva didn’t really have a good relationship with her since Iva used logic to make decisions while Raven used her emotions.

The man with the strong voice was the one that I had to look up to and show more respect for from now on. He wore a nice suit for the Sector Commemoration. His dark green eyes were full of warmth, even more than the warmth my mother’s eyes usually had. His jet-black hair was shaggy despite his obvious efforts to keep it swept back. He was Demetrius Hail, the leader of the Phoenix Sector.

Demetrius spoke again, “Now, we will all enter the trains, sector by sector, to the Valley of the Myths. That is where your chosen sectors will be”

Demetrius ended his speech.

The Sphinx leader, Iva accompanied by guards, led her affiliates to the hill. The Mermaid leader, Jason also accompanied by guards, went second with his affiliates. Now it was the Dragon sector’s turn, Chase Stalwart waited near the exit with his own guards surrounding him.

“Well, I guess this is my turn,” Lexus said, echoing discouragement. She stood up.

“You’re going to fit in easily trust me; you’re brave, and proud. Just be careful, some people in the Dragon sector have a big ego,” I warned her.

She nodded, agreeing. Lexus, Luther and the other affiliates, including Winter, followed their leader through the exit.

The Pegasus leader, Raven, led her affiliates out to the exit with a few guards and all that remained now was the Phoenix Sector.

Demetrius smiled at us and waved his hand for us to follow. Mason, the affiliates and I walked behind the guards with Demetrius in front of them as we entered the exit and away from this nightmare.

++++++++++

We boarded the train to our sector. It was obviously ours since it had the symbol of the Phoenix on it – A Phoenix with its tail encircling itself alongside small flames trailing behind its tail –. I sat on a seat next to Mason.

“Hey…” he said flatly. Despite his faint smile I could still see sadness in his eyes. I tried to avoid his eyes as much as possible without making it seem obvious.

“Hey…” I said back.

“Losing someone like Isaac isn’t easy… not just for you, but for me too” he choked slightly. “He was also my brother…”

I nodded. I felt my stomach flop again after my brother’s name was mentioned. Mason frowned and apologized.

“It’s okay, it’s not you. It’s just the Unknown was extremely tiring, not just for me, but for all of us really.”

“It was...” he agreed.

“So what happened to you in the Unknown, rattle snakes? Chimeras? Evil stallions?” I asked, hoping that I would be able to change the mood.

“Actually, I saw Isaac around three minutes after I entered the Unknown,” he said.

“You did?” I asked, a little surprised.

“Yeah, he was really brave. We went through every obstacle together. We were so close to the exit.” Mason suddenly turned his head looking outside the window at the Unknown.

“But then Isaac told me he’d take another route so the leaders wouldn’t think that we helped each other. Looks like he didn’t make it,” he said with a frown.

“The hardest obstacle we went through was the siren. It kept taking shapes of people we care about so it was hard to get away completely. Isaac manipulated it by hating it and it worked,” Mason added with a mournful sigh.

I nodded slowly, “Yeah, he was really smart”.

I felt like crying and mourning my brother. Why did he have to mention Isaac? Especially that I now knew he had almost made it, but got lost. Then again, I am Isaac’s sister; of course he’d want to tell me. I was also practically like a sister him, too.

Mason noticed my glum expression. “Iris, I’m sorry about your brother. He was a really great friend.” My lower lip started to quiver slightly.

“You okay?” Mason asked me.

I shook my head, “Yeah, I’m fine. I just need to use the bathroom.” I got up, and instead of going to the bathroom, I went to the back of the train.

I really felt that I needed some alone time. I went to the last seat, and saw a group of four new Accepted sitting there, each two facing each other. I recognized one of them. His hair was a light shade of brown, and he looked very thin. I saw him when we were at the train station.

He looked at me but I didn’t reciprocate. I just sat down on the seat at the corner near them. They were muttering and laughing simultaneously. It didn’t make me feel comfortable, especially since the train had started to move. I needed to clutch on to something without anyone noticing, otherwise I’d start screaming like a maniac. I went back to sit next to Mason.

“That fast?” he asked skeptically.

I shrugged, “I didn’t really want to go after all,” I replied as I tightly clutched the windowsill, trying to breathe slowly.

The leader of the group, who was sitting near me at the back of the train, stood up and walked towards me. I remembered him now; his name was Brook Wright. He used to pick on my brother when he was in third grade. I recalled my brother and I coming back from school the other day in third grade, my brother’s hand was over his eye, trying to cover the bruise Brook gave him at school.

I also recalled Isaac giving me hints as to who Professor Wright was. He had asked me if her last name rang a bell. And it did now. Professor Wright was Brook’s mother. That was why everyone hated her. Her son was the biggest bully in school and she had homeschooled him herself after too many complaints about her son’s violent behavior. Everyone was relieved to know that Brook was gone, but that did not last long since his mother decided to teach at our school.

I boiled inside when I remembered him. He had bullied my brother. I also felt pained at the same time. I wished that I could go back in time to tell Isaac that I remembered. I tried not to remember Isaac, but it was too hard. Memories of him seem to haunt me everywhere.

Brook came up to me.

“Hey, you’re Iris Abernorth. You’re the twin sister of that wimp I used to bully, right?” he snickered.

“And you’re the son of that witch who used to teach me,” I gritted my teeth, still clutching the windowsill.

“Whoa, take it easy Abernorth. I was just stating a fact. I didn’t even think your brother would last a minute in the Unknown, and I was right.” Brook said with a smirk.

I felt like wiping that smirk off his face with a good punch. I rarely felt that way, but I wanted to avenge Isaac. Now that he was dead, I had to fulfill one of his wishes.

Mason stood up.

“Hey, lay off her…” he said in a low threatening tone. Mason and Brook were almost the same height, with Mason being only a couple of centimeters taller. Brook laughed as if he had heard a joke.

“Stay out of this Westfield. Do you know who I am?”

“Well, do you know who this is?” Mason balled his fist in front of Brook.

“Hey, hey, boys break it up.” The Phoenix leader came up to them and separated them. The guards tried to convince the leader that they would take care of the fight instead, but Demetrius just ignored them.

“I don’t want anyone fighting on this train, agreed?” Demetrius said sternly.

Mason backed away obediently, giving Brook a disgusted look. The leader walked away slowly making sure they would not break into a fistfight.

Brook’s eyes shifted to me and back to Mason.

“I suggest you both watch your backs from now on, ‘cause it ain’t gonna be pretty when you let your guard down for one second.” He walked away with a snarl.

Mason sat back down, his face red with anger. I had never seen him so angry. Mason and I grew up together for a period time until we were eight, but I knew him as a very humble and calm person.

I watched Brook walk away as I clutched onto my seat tightly.

++++++++++

I stared out the window for a long time. Mason and I didn’t talk after the fight ended. I saw the enormous expanse of farmlands under us. What should have been a green field was all covered with dirt. I saw some farmers picking fruits or vegetables, and others planting more seeds. There were some small barns lying around far beyond the gardens of fruits and vegetables where they kept the animals. One of the most accessible jobs was farming, but the problem was that farmers didn’t receive a lot of money. The same applied to working in factories, which were way too far away from the Land of the Undecided, and near the edge of the island, close to the ocean.

The hills suddenly turned from yellow to green fields. I stopped daydreaming and looked outside the window in awe. Mason did the same.

The field was so huge that it seemed endless. I saw a huge mountain, a rectangular tall tower and a big castle beyond the fields. I also saw some woods that lay between the mountain and the castle and a beach in the far distance.

The place looked amazing, nothing at all like the Land of the Undecided. No paper bags flying around, no glass, cans, or anything harmful on the ground. It was all so clean. I couldn’t believe I was so scared to enter the Unknown. I was more than grateful to have survived and entered the Unknown now.

There was no place that looked like this in the Island of Purlieu, except for The Valley of the Myths.