I didn’t know how long I stood at the same spot, just beside the entrance door, staring at the wall where Queen Aliana had just passed through, but when a resounding knock on the door reverberated through my ears, I was brought to attention to my environment again.
“My Queen, can I come in?” I heard from the other side, and half expected the Queen to appear again through the wall, but my hopes were dashed; she didn’t appear.
As the entrance door was opened, the former girl that had ushered us in, peeped into the room, a bit stunned-when her nose almost touched my cloth-at how close I was to the door. Behind her were Laura and Peter. They had been waiting all this while.
How long had I stood staring at that wall? I didn’t know. I didn’t know either when I opened my mouth and asked the girl the first thing that rang in my mind.
“How did she do that?” I asked, pointing at the wall. Now, Peter and Laura had stepped into the room.
“Who is the she?” The clerk asked, her eyes furrowed, her forehead besieged with frowning lines.
Was she annoyed that I had referred to the queen as she?
I don’t understand? Is ‘she’ not the appropriate pronoun for the Queen? Or had the girl been expecting that I use queen for every sentence? Then what was the use for the pronoun invention?
So, I ignored her and looked at Peter and Laura.
“Could magic do that? She just disappeared into the wall.” I said, my voice cloaked with amazement.
Disappearing through the walls? Wow! Was I able to do that? If I trained myself properly, could I do that?
Don’t get ahead of yourself. My mind taunted me, but I was way past caring. My thoughts were filled with how I would have escaped from the holding cell if I had been able to do this, how I would have escaped from the boys if I had been able to do this, how I wouldn’t be traumatized if I had known of my magic.
You hadn’t known of your magic. My mind mentioned, a weak attempt to comfort me.
“Maya, let’s go. I will explain things better to you.” I heard Laura say, before I took awareness of the fact that she was grabbing my arm.
Peter and Laura walked out of the room with me sandwiched between them, ignoring the clerk who just stood there looking at us, wondering at our impetus, wondering who I was-the girl who had addressed the queen as a she, like she was some other person.
“I told you she was the queen. It means that she has more power than us.” Peter started, immediately the door shut behind us.
“Does that mean that you both can’t do it? That she is the only one that can?” I asked, the aweness leaving my voice bit by bit, probably at the knowledge that I could never do that with my magic.
“We can actually do it, but in dire situations. If we keep on like she does, we might die before our time. Magic drains us, the commoners, if you will call us that. But for people as that, people blessed with the white hair, they have no real limits, and that’s why I have been working on a drug that can restrict our limits and help us, the commoners, to hold onto our magic and use it more regularly.” Laura answered this time round, letting her hands fall from my arm to my hand.
“You will be fine, Maya.” She continued. “What else did she show you in there? What did she tell you? You were in there for quite some time.”
I shrugged my shoulders, indicating that there was nothing much, but Peter’s persistent stare had me saying things, lying again, just to give them something to hold onto.
“She had talked about the rules of the community, and had tried to gauge where I was from. She mentioned that she will ask you which exact location you had picked me. A heads up so you wouldn’t be taken by surprise. She seems intent on finding who I am.” I answered, looking at Peter.
“Well, I found you at the borderlines with the lycans’ territory. But anyone could have dropped you there, Right? I don’t think the lycan king would be so daft to have left a body there; he knows what that would cause.” Peter stated, and again I heard the hate in his voice. Although it was not as strong as Aliana’s.
Laura was surprised, but I wasn’t. I knew who had dropped me there. This would have been a good time to tell my saviors about myself, seeing that we were out of earshot- we were outside the halls now, moving in the direction of.. well I was not sure…probably to the shopping site-but I said nothing.
I left them to sink into their thoughts, and ponder, while I stew in mine. I knew this might backfire. I have read about the irony so many times, I had cussed the characters, and vowed that if I had been in their shoes, I would have told the truth earlier on, but now in those shoes, I found out that I couldn’t speak. For some reason that I couldn’t pinpoint, I just couldn’t speak.
“Peter, I have a question, and I need the truth.” I said, deciding to change the topic, another irony if you ask me.
I never said the truth to them, and here I was yearning for truth.
“Sure, go ahead, Maya.” Peter answered, stopping in his movements. Laura too.
“The lycan’s kingdom. Why do you hate them?” I inquired, breath at ease.
“Because they are ruthless. They had killed Queen Aliana’s twin, the wife to their king.”