Читать книгу Myth - L.A. Mango - Страница 6

I entered the train and took a seat next to Lexus. She gave me a reassuring smile.

“Cheer up Iris, it’s not that bad...,” she said, all upbeat about the idea. It was easy for her to say, she was Lexus, and despite her older brother’s painful death two years ago, she looked like she was more than excited to enter the Unknown.

“Yeah, you’re right, Lexus, I should cheer up. Yay!! I’m going to enter a maze where really bad things happen, where there’s a high chance that I might get sliced into nuggets. Isn’t it exciting?” I said in a sarcastic tone.

Lexus raised her eyebrows, “It’s because of your brother isn’t it?”

I turned to my brother who sat two seats behind me talking to Mason, who seemed to be trying to cheer him up the same way Lexus was trying to do for me. He hadn’t been feeling well for the past two days. Even though he looked fine, something was still out of character.

I turned back to look at Lexus,

“Nope.” I said in my best ordinary tone. I am such a bad liar.

“Uh huh, I see. Look, Iris, as you said yesterday, he must be nervous about it, no biggie. By the way, did you hear what happened to Professor Wright? She actually dropped out of school. Can you believe that?” Lexus said happily.

An alarm erupted in my body. Professor Wright left? Why does everyone know so much about Professor Wright except for me?

I looked at Lexus, acting surprised, “No way. Really?”

Lexus nodded and then stopped and looked at me skeptically,

“Do you even know who Professor Wright is?”

I nodded, “I met her yesterday. What a cruel woman!” I said, pretending to know. Lexus nodded back, agreeing with me. I didn’t intend to tell Lexus anything about what had happened between Professor Wright and me.

No wonder she left. She had been acting like I was threatening her with a butcher’s knife yesterday. I have never seen anyone acting like that towards me except for that one time when I was eight and some man was watching me while I was just playing around in the city’s only park. I felt like I was being watched and turned around to see the man watching me carefully. He noticed me looking back and suddenly became stiff. He made an uncertain and scared expression on his face. The man left before I got the chance to wonder why he was watching me from afar and acting strangely. I never thought that it would happen again. But it did yesterday, two times. I was pretty sure that that was no coincidence. Something was up.

Lexus turned and rested her head on the seat. I did the same. I stared at the gate outside as the guard let the Undecided pass through the gate. Why was my mother acting so oddly? Not to mention Isaac who had been so quiet the past two days? The odd professor, who I knew nothing about, yet grabbed me abruptly while looking so serious. I had been trying to convince myself that I was imagining, but I couldn’t. It was too real and I remembered it too vividly.

My train of thought was cut short when a boy with deep-set eyes entered the train. He stepped into the aisle and looked around. He saw me and his dark eyes glittered. There was nothing unusual in the way he walked towards me, but I had a bad feeling about this guy. I’d had a bad experience yesterday in the same situation, and I really didn’t want to repeat that awkward encounter again.

As I scrunched down in my seat, I pushed Lexus as well. She looked at me with a perplexed expression. She pushed me away from her and stared at me bitterly, “Iris, what in the world are you doing? Can’t you see I’m calming myself before the train starts moving – Hi...”

She stopped talking and began welcoming the boy who came close. I sat up straight in my seat and looked up at the boy. His eyes were still glittering, and I didn’t like it. His face wore an innocent and friendly look, but his eyes had ‘troublemaker’ written all over them. He noticed my confusion and smiled apologetically.

“I’m sorry if I freaked you out, but can I take the seat in front of you girls? All the other ones are taken,” the boy said. I had a bad feeling about him that I didn’t want him to sit close to me, but I didn’t want to sound rude. Lexus invited him to the seat anyway.

Lexus gestured for the boy to sit down opposite to us. He slumped on the seat like he had been carrying a heavy weight. His dark complexion gained color after he rested on the seat. He must have been waiting in the line for ages.

“Thanks for giving me a seat.” he straightened his back and leaned forward a bit, his elbow on his knee, “Hi, I’m Luther Conrad by the way, and you?” he asked, extending his hand. I hesitated at first, but he seemed so approachable. I had to stop being paranoid.

“Iris Abernorth”, I said in a clear voice, as I extended my hand to return his greeting. Lexus immediately extended her hand, pushing mine aside

“Keats...Lexus, Keats” she said dramatically. I rolled my eyes and glanced at the boy. He didn’t seem to mind Lexus’s behavior.

The train started to move and as soon as it did Lexus’s face turned pale white. “Oh, no” she said, shutting her eyes tightly,

“Ugh, now I’m gonna have to use the disgusting bathroom in the train, I’ll be back.” Lexus stood up and lurched towards the guard to ask where the bathroom was.

Luther slumped hard against the back of the seat. I looked out the window. The train was elevated a hundred feet above ground and the blur of buildings passed below us (I could see buildings passing under us, but it was a little hard to see what was down there since the train was moving so fast). I clutched the edges of my seat. I had a fear of riding things that were too fast.

Luther noticed,

“You okay?” he asked, sounding little worried. I nodded, as I held onto my seat even tighter.

“I have a fear of fast moving vehicles. That’s why I never board trains, but buses are an exception since they’re sometimes slow.” I stammered a bit as I hung on to the edge of my seat. Luther gave me a sympathetic look and then looked away. His eyes suddenly glittered again, and that made me feel uncomfortable. He sat up straight,

“Hey, I know you” he said pointing at me. Oh great. They all start that way.

“I’ve seen you before, at school I mean. You live next door to our house,” he said smiling at the realization. I looked at him a bit confused. I tried to search my mind for a boy named Luther.

Luther.

I remembered a girl named Anya who lived next door. She was a talented cook at a very young age. I suddenly smiled too. My paranoia eased and I became more comfortable.

“Oh, you’re the one who lives with his sister, Anya Conrad; your sister’s a Pegasus affiliate, right?” I asked.

He replied with a nod,

“Actually, I live alone. My parents died of an unknown disease when I was a baby. My sister, Anya, raised me. Later she became a Pegasus affiliate and came to visit me every week on Saturdays”, Luther said in a regular tone. I could see pain in his eyes.

I looked at him, feeling sympathy for him in spite of myself.

“I’m sorry,” I said, wishing I hadn’t asked.

Luther shrugged “Nah, it’s okay, I’m over it now. Besides, I never even knew my parents...” he told me mater-of-factly. I nodded. I knew how he felt.

“My mother never told me about my father either. She always kept it to herself. She never tells me anything. She just puts on her fake smile and pretends like nothing ever happened,” I said in a low voice. Luther nodded, “I know how you feel. Anya never tells me about our parents either.”

I suddenly heard someone approaching. I turned around to see Isaac standing next to my seat

“You okay, Iris? The train’s pretty fast and I wanted to…” He glanced at Luther. “Oh, hey dude,” Isaac said with a weak smile. Luther smiled back, weakly as well. They seemed to act oddly with each other.

“Um, yeah, I’m okay…” I said absent mindedly, trying to analyze their unusual greeting. Isaac nodded and walked back to his seat next to Mason.

Luther tilted his head to look behind me, and then at Isaac.

“That’s your brother right? You two look a lot alike. I suspect you’re twins.” He kept looking at Isaac and then smiled at me. “Hey, it’s Isaac isn’t it?” he asked. I nodded.

“I’d like to talk to him. It’s been a while since we’ve talked. Nice talking to you, Iris.” He stood up and left. I didn’t remember Luther ever hanging out with Isaac, but then again, he was our neighbor.

Lexus came back with a brown bag in one hand. Her face gained more color than when the train started moving. She looked outside and then at me,

“Oh right, that’s why you’re clutching onto your seat. I almost forgot. You want this?” She handed the brown bag over to me, but I shook my head.

“I don’t throw up Lexus. I just get scared” Lexus shrugged and put the paper bag next to her.

Couldn’t whoever was driving the train slow down a bit?

++++++++++

After a half-hour of total silence, Lexus fell asleep. Apparently, she had stayed up all night trying to decide whether to wear her striped black and white tank top or her black T-shirt.

I did not sleep; instead I kept thinking about the Unknown and when we were going to stop at the Plaza. I just wanted to get it over with as soon as possible. Every year there were more obstacles, challenges and deaths.

I felt like resting my head and sleeping, but every time I tried, thoughts came in and I thought about the Unknown again. I kept getting nervous every time the Unknown popped into my head. I wished I was like Lexus: unafraid of what might happen and able to accept it.

As I stared out of the window, I heard footsteps. I turned around and saw one, actually, two girls. They looked exactly alike. They sat on the seats in front of Lexus and me. I squeezed my eyes and opened them again to make sure that I wasn’t just seeing double. Both girls had strawberry blonde hair and very light green eyes and both looked very pretty. One of them saw me looking and smiled at me.

“Hi...” she said while the other was on her cell phone texting. Wait a minute; I thought we weren’t allowed to bring anything on the train from home. The girl looked at her sister, waiting for her to say something to me.

“Winter, say something, don’t be rude!!” the girl said, while elbowing her sister’s shoulder. The girl with the cell phone stopped texting and looked at her sister impatiently, but then noticed me and said hi. They both smiled at me simultaneously. It was creepy. I smiled weakly in return.

“Hey...” I said gently. This was awkward. The girl next to the texter broke the silence.

“I’m Summer Odette, by the way, and this is my sister Winter Odette. I know you, you’re Iris Abernorth, Isaac’s twin sister.” What was with everyone knowing my name all of a sudden? I actually wished I were a nobody rather than having strange people knowing my name.

“How do you know my brother?” I asked, surprised since she not only knew my name, but my brother’s as well. The girl, Summer, giggled at the question.

“School of course! He’s like the smartest kid in class! I wouldn’t be surprised if he was a Sphinx. That dude is a genius!” Summer said in an excited tone. She seemed upbeat about everything, made her seem a bit cartoonish, unlike her sister who didn’t utter a single word. I looked at the two of them. The texter looked like a gothic version of her bubbly sister.

“He’s acting a bit strange though; he’s usually more talkative,” she said, lowering her voice to a whisper so Isaac wouldn’t hear. I looked back to make sure Isaac wasn’t looking and then turned back to them.

“No, he’s just, uh, feeling a bit sick” I said lying through my teeth, “I mean we had lumpy oatmeal for breakfast. My mom’s not that much of a cook,” I continued, “Did your mother cook you anything disgusting for you this morning like ours did?” I asked jokingly.

“No, our mother was killed by werewolves before they banned the Werewolf Sector”, she replied.

I was going to scold myself for being so nosy today, but I forgot about that for a moment and focused on what she said, Werewolf Sector? Wait, what?

“The Werewolf sector? I never knew we even had a Werewolf sector,” I told Summer. Even the books we were taught at school never mentioned anything about a sixth sector. I learned that we only had five.

Winter quickly snapped out of her texting trance and smirked, “You never heard of the banned sector before? The Werewolf sector was the most dangerous of all sectors with the strangest power of all. They told us stories about it when we were kids…”

“What is it?” I asked feeling extremely curious now. The leaders hated anything that was abnormal. That was the reason why they banned Cygnus.

“They change into werewolves every night when the sun sets, not only when there is a full moon but rather every…single…night. The problem with that is every time they turn into their werewolf forms, they lose sight of reality, and only one thing enters their evil minds - killing everyone on sight. Strangely, only one werewolf was able to control his thoughts, and not just his thoughts, but every other werewolf’s thoughts as well. He was actually one of the leaders, and also the leader of the Werewolf sector. His name was-”

“Cygnus” I said, cutting her off. Cygnus is a werewolf. That’s why they banned him. For his powers and strength. How did they know about this?

She nodded in agreement and continued, “The leaders of the sectors were afraid of his unusual powers and that he might take over the city. So they banished Cygnus and sent him to the Shadow Lands and every other werewolf with him along with the sector they were in. That’s why they threw him behind that high barrier: only to keep the most powerful werewolf in Purlieu away from the city: Cygnus,” she said in a serious tone. I could not keep myself from believing her. She was telling the truth. I mean, what other reason did the leaders have to keep a barrier between us and what was outside - The Shadow Lands?

I forgot about Lexus who was dozing off next to me. She slowly opened her eyes and woke up with a yawn.

“Hi, Iris” she said, while she yawned. She sighed when she looked out of the window,

“Oh Come on! We’re still not there yet? Worst… ride…of… my... life” Lexus buried her face in her hands but then slowly raised her head and noticed the Odette twins. She quickly gave them a tour guide smile, “Hi I’m-”

“Lexus Keats, we know you” the girl, Summer, said.

Lexus jerked her head a bit backward, obviously creeped out. I don’t blame her. I had the same reaction.

Summer giggled, “You’re the one who got detention for punching a boy who cut in line in front of you,” she said, amused by the accomplishment. Lexus gave her a proud smile.

“Yup, serves him right for taking my spot in line,” she said triumphantly. I looked at her and raised my eyebrow,

“You know you could’ve just as easily told him to go to the back of the line, right?” I said.

“That was the only day they made burgers in the cafeteria and you know I like burgers!” she told me using an angry tone. I shook my head.

“It’s been nice talking to you guys, but we need to get back to our seats. The guards are going to give us those immunizer drugs when we enter the Unknown… Bye!” Summer said, waving. Lexus and I waved back. Summer pulled her sister by the elbow, and they left.

I turned to Lexus “Immunizer drug?” I exclaimed. She just shrugged and changed the subject.

“Who are these twins?” she asked.

I shook my head. “They must have attended some classes with Isaac, because they knew him and that’s how they knew me.” Silence filled the air in the train. I suddenly heard a groan from the back. I wanted to look back, but they were already here.

A guard came over, pulling over a cart with clear rectangular devices containing a purple liquid inside. A physician in a white lab coat and blue medical gloves marched right behind him. A surgical mask covered half his face,

“Make sure the Ethos Immunizer serum is occupying the container,” the physician said in a muffled voice as the guard handed him a small, rectangular container. Before I could even react, the guard quickly held up my arm and grasped it. I struggled, but the guard gave me a threatening look,

“One more move and it’ll be the last one you’ll ever make!” he snapped. The physician pulled out a rectangular container that had my name on it and placed the small sized rectangular device on my upper arm. Suddenly, a searing pain shot into my arm like needles sinking into my skin. I watched with my mouth gaped open struggling to scream as the clear rectangular device was emptied from the purple liquid that filled it and replaced with crimson red blood that filled half of the box-like device. The pain eased, but the device was still on my arm. The physician waited for three seconds and placed the blood filled rectangular container back into its slot inside the long cart as the guard let go of me. The physician took out another one of those purple filled rectangular devices from its slot and moved on to Lexus. I breathed out, finally getting the struggled breath out of my system.

Lexus had a look of horror on her face, but before she could do anything about it, the device bore its tiny needles and sunk inside Lexus’s upper arm. Lexus yelped and held onto the seat with her other hand, her eyes squeezed tight. As soon as the blood stopped filling up the container, her face relaxed and the physician waited another three seconds and went on to the next Undecided.

Lexus started to pant from the sudden shock of pain and then looked at me with scared eyes, “That’s probably the serum they told us about. You know, the one that clears our mentality and protects it from being harmed. Landon told me that that’s what the leaders use to analyze how we think,” she told me. I looked at my upper arm, expecting to see a million punctured holes forming a rectangle on my skin, blood seeping down from them. But there was nothing, not even one hole. Strange.

“Why would they want to take our blood samples?” I asked, as I looked down the aisle to see the physician moving on to the next Undecided even faster than I thought.

Lexus rubbed her arm, “I think I remember what those are for. Mom told me that they usually check for any traces of steroids or drugs in your blood just in case anyone decided to cheat, in other words, clear out anything harmful or what might affect our mentality” she said, looking down at her arm where there should have been a wound.

The train suddenly sped up. The sudden force made my head fall back into the seat. The speed of the train was making me feel like I was about to fly backwards through my seat. My head suddenly felt light, like I was on the verge of blacking-out, as if I was at the brink of consciousness. The train slowed just as suddenly as it had increased speed. I hit the seat in front of me causing a jolt of pain in my neck.

I rubbed my neck as I readjusted myself in the seat. Lexus sniggered and pointed at the belt wrapped around her waist. I ignored her and I grudgingly put the seat belt on. I looked out of the window and my jaw dropped automatically.

There was a huge field under us, about the size of ten football fields stuck together. I turned to see my brother to find that he was as awestricken as I was. There were tall, huge walls in straight zigzag lines. I immediately knew where we were. My heart skipped a beat. We were here. This was it.

The Unknown Courtyard.