Zinc 01 - Altors, page 7
part #1 of Zinc Series
Once we'd reached the outskirts of Corium Desert, he'd stopped at a fuel station standing alone and secluded with no neighboring buildings. It was a little spooky but I didn't let Ilex know I felt that way. He'd filled up the tank, paying for it by using a card I’d never seen before in my life. Ilex reminded me that only LV did business through trade, but that elsewhere gold was used. In big cities, such as Cobalt and Iodin, places had been created where people could store their money under protection, and they were then given a card to use the way Ilex had at the fuel station. It basically allowed him to travel lightly and was handy in this situation. Because of the low temperature in the desert, nobody could actually work full time in the fuel station without suffering frost bite or going completely bonkers with the lack of human contact; so it worked on electronics only.
Once Ilex decided it was time to go again, he'd ordered me to sit in front, positioning me between his arms. I had been startled and somewhat skeptical about the suggestion and when Ilex noticed this, he'd laughed, explaining I needed to sleep. I realized then that I wouldn't be able to were I to stay behind him, unless he tied me to his back.
Even though I was still numb over Acacia's death, sad because I probably would never see Lithium Village again and of course, Solenum; I fell asleep relatively fast. The last thing running through my mind before I entered slumber land was, why hadn't I just jumped off the bike? "You'll see Solenum again someday." If it was a lie, I wouldn't be able to tell. Die and never find out whether it was the truth, or live in misery till the end of time to make sure it was in fact a lie? I guess I chose the later option in my subconscious as I hadn't jumped.
I woke up much later, not wanting to open my eyes. Maybe it was all a dream. I wasn't unfamiliar to nightmares. Solenum had had a dream where she'd lost me. Maybe now it was my turn.
I patted the softness beneath me. This was definitely not Ilex's bike. Popping my eyes open, I saw the very man sitting at the other side of the room we were in. The space was made completely out of wood, furniture included. I could care less about the decoration though. At this point, all I did was scowl pointedly at my kidnapper. My plan for today was to ignore him. That was until I felt the bed sway gently beneath me. It wasn't flagrant, the motion barely there, but just enough for me to realize it wasn't stable.
"Where are we?" I patted my stomach, feeling queasy.
"Zinc Sea." Ilex answered curtly. An acid taste was making its way up my throat and I felt very light in the head.
"Why-" I was forced to cut myself off when some of my food traveled its way up my throat, leading me to grimace as I swallowed it back down.
Ilex cringed. "Don't tell me you're seasick."
I offered him a look of horror. "We're on a boat?!" I jumped off the bed and then regretted it instantly as the contents of my stomach was threatening to come out again. Grimacing, I placed a hand over my mouth and then darted my eyes over the room to locate a door. I needed a bathroom. When I did find a door, I sprinted to it but was halted shortly by Ilex's hand grabbing my elbow.
"Calycanthus." He said and I turned around, blinking at the bucket he was holding out to me. I had no idea where he'd gotten it from but I didn't care. Grabbing it, I threw up and dry heaved for the next hour.
My stomach never settled, but I felt better after Ilex had taken me outside, allowing me to breathe in the fresh ocean air. I didn't talk to him; he didn't talk to me. I just sat by the front railing of the boat, staring at the endless amount of water until land came into view. I stared some more, pointlessly, like I had at the coffee table hours ago. My mind wandered to the day I'd met Solenum.
Comparing her to then and now, you wouldn't believe they were the same person. What she had gone through had been traumatic to say the least. I had been grateful she had given everything another chance, because without her I didn't see the point in smiling, in caring. Something snapped in me that day I helped Sol. The fact that I couldn't remember anything before the day I had woken up and seen Aram had left me miserable. While it still pestered me today, Sol had often reminded me that if I couldn't remember, it was my brain trying to protect me from information that I couldn't handle. She taught me that it might be for the best.
"We're here." Ilex informed. The boat had indeed finally harbored. Nodding at him, I got up and followed. What else could I do?
It wasn't long before we were off the boat, that I scowled as I saw that horrid bike of his again.
"No." I whined.
"Yes." He ground out.
* * * *
We were driving slowly on a regular cemented road, small houses flashing by. This place was larger than Lithium Village, the architecture less primitive. The roofs had tiles and the buildings were created with smooth, light colored bricks. The gardens were neat, and while the lights were much harsher and less cozy than the yellow street lamps Lithium Village offered, there was something welcoming about this place. The picket fences, lemonade stands, kids playing out on the streets, dogs chasing after cats, teenagers sitting on little brick walls; all that along with the housewives gossiping amongst one another, their husbands coming back from work or starting up a barbecue. It made this town homy. Not a place I felt I could fit in, but it had this family feel to it I would have liked to fit into.
"How much longer?" I asked for the hundredth time.
I heard Ilex huff in exasperation. "Lupinus owes me."
~~~~~~~~
"You owe me, Ilex." Lupinus growled through the device held at his ear, pointing blindly towards the stairs, silently telling me to get the hell out of the kitchen.
~~~~~~~~
I frowned at the memory, but then ignored it. "How long?" I pressed again. Ilex took a turn to the right and we drove through a city center as I could see plenty of shops, cafés, restaurants and unlike Lithium Village, there were plenty of cars here, driving slowly through the streets which Ilex was currently zig zagging through.
"We have to cross Copper Town and then we'll be where we need to be." My grip on his waist tightened at the mention of Copper Town. Of course I didn't recognize it. I didn't remember anything at all.
Over the years of wondering where I came from, I’d expected to at least get an inkling of a feeling when I’d find myself in this place again, even if it only felt like something of a deja-vu.
"I was born here."
Ilex nodded, "Welcome home, then?" Grimacing, I shook my head.
* * * *
When we drove over a bump I was jostled out of my sleep, making me blink in surprise. I'd been dozing back and forth; traveling truly wasn't a blast when you weren't used to it. Letting my gaze take in my current surroundings, I gasped in surprise when I recognized where we were. At least, from descriptions. A place I never thought I'd go.
"The Meadows of Serenium." I murmured in awe. Had I remained in Copper Town, Lithium Village would have been a place I'd never have gone too. Since that wasn't the case, Serenium was a place I thought I'd never see.
"We're almost there. Only about an hour left." Ilex picked up in speed, effectively ending the conversation as we couldn't possibly hear one another over the noise of his bike.
* * * *
Narrator
“What is ‘home’, really?”
* * * *
Is a kidnapping truly a kidnapping if your kidnapper is kind? Is it a kidnapping if you don't feel threatened or out of place? If you feel good and don't consider it a kidnapping, is it still a kidnapping? How to define a kidnapping if you can't possibly categorize it as such? What if the destination felt like you'd been brought back home? Would ‘kidnapping’ still be the right word to describe the situation?
* * * *
Chapter 8: Calycanthus Esquivel
“Are you an intruder, or are you a guest?”
* * * *
Waking slowly, I realized I wasn't on the bike anymore, but instead in Ilex's arms. He carried me into a house and I quickly pretended to still be asleep when I saw a large man walk towards us.
"When I said I’m not clingy, I didn’t mean for you to skip across the country and not make contact! Why do you think the Palliums invented the port phones for us? Decoration?!" Port phones? I suppose I’d be able to find out about that later.
"Calm down, Caltha.” Ilex murmured. “Lupinus needed a favor. I owed him." He reasoned, the air became warmer and the light was brighter against my eyelids telling me he'd taken me inside somewhere.
"The kid?" The man named Caltha asked. Ilex put me down onto something soft and I guessed it was a couch. I remained fake asleep, knowing people talk more when they believe you aren't listening.
"Yes." Ilex confirmed. "Did you hear about Acacia?" It was his tone of voice that had my eyebrows knitting together, a slight ache settling in my heart as he sounded as sad and pained as any of us had in LV.
"I have." How was I supposed to see them as the bad guys, when they had once cared about Acacia?
I stiffened in fright as Caltha shouted, "Dandelion!" Shortly after the exclamation, I could hear the distinct sound of feet thundering down stairs, and then an out of breath sounding person was standing close by.
"What happened to him?" The girl's voice had a high pitch, sounding concerned and I stiffened again as I felt a hand brush the hair out of my face. The gesture carried nothing but sweetness in it though, and I relaxed.
"Take him to your old room." Ilex instructed. "He'll be staying here a while. Try to make him feel at home. I'm not sure I'm the right person to do that right now."
"You weren't kidding?" The girl exclaimed, outraged. "When you said you were going off to kidnap a boy, I didn't think you actually meant it!"
I could hear Ilex grunt in discomfort. "Sorry guys, I owed Lupinus..." He trailed off and I assumed the others weren't happy with him because he continued his explanation quickly. "Don't look at me like that,. I wouldn't have thought twice about it unless Acacia had approved!" He reasoned, nearly making me want to jump up, stop pretending to be asleep and ask him what he meant.
Luckily, Caltha did it for me. "She approved?!" His shout was one of disbelief. I didn't get to hear the explanation though as the girl huffed in frustration, cutting the men off.
"Sort this out in another room or you'll wake him." She brushed the hair out of my face again. "Does he have a name?"
"It's Calycanthus Esquivel." After Ilex had announced this, Caltha and the girl inhaled sharply, but again, before I could decide to stop fake sleeping, the girl shooed them away, the sound of a door slamming shut telling me Ilex and Caltha were now gone.
Then I could hear dialing of a phone. "I'm in the living room, come down please?" The girl whispered, probably hoping not to wake me, which seemed pointless as they'd been standing over me shouting for the last five minutes. Shortly afterward, I could hear someone coming down stairs.
"Dandelion?" The new person was a man, his voice very soft and calm, slightly on the heavy side.
"Over here!" Dandelion whisper shouted.
The new guy chuckled in amusement. "What are you doing?"
"We've got a new recruit." She sounded delighted.
~~~~~~~~
"Lupinus Jacoby. From what I can see, you'll be my new recruit."
~~~~~~~~
"Is he alright?" Concern flooded his voice.
"Just fine, Jaja," Dandelion reassured. "I think he just needs to sleep it off, is all. Can you carry him up to my old room?" I wanted to smile at the pleading tone in her voice as I could practically hear the pout without seeing one, reminding me of Sol. The man named Jaja chuckled and then I felt arms lifting me off the couch. They didn't speak as they carried me up the stairs and brought me into a room. I soon felt the softness of a mattress, and one of them gently settled a blanket over me while the other pulled off my shoes.
"He was brought here against his will, Jatrop. He's from Acacia's boarding house."
Jaja, apparently short for Jatrop, sighed. "Lets hope that sleep will help him work through some things." The mattress shifted and I soon knew it was Dandelion when her hand returned to my cheek.
"I wanted to ask you. I wasn't sure if you'd be okay with it. Can we? I think he needs it. Look at him."
I was confused. Dandelion's obvious worry touched me. Ilex hadn't hurt me, quite the opposite, he'd taken very good care of me throughout the journey. They made it hard for me to dislike them. The fact that Lupinus and Acacia knew them toned my worry down as well. Their sadness over Acacia's death told me that they cared for her. Was this really a kidnapping?
Jatrop grunted, pulling me out of my thoughts. "He needs it." I had no idea what they meant, and while I was trying to figure out whether now was a good time to stop pretending to be asleep, Jatrop had already used whatever he'd planned on using. Soon my pretend sleep became real sleep. Last thing I heard was Dandelion wishing me a good night and the sound of a door closing softly.
* * * *
I'm not sure how long I slept, but setting aside the fact that I'd been kidnapped, manhandled, threatened and had received no explanation whatsoever over all of the above, I felt extremely well rested.
I opened my eyes carefully, hoping no bright light would burn them out of my skull as I felt fragile. There was none, just a small sliver of it passing through the shades at the window. It was daylight, at least. Propping myself up on the bed, I scanned the room I was in. It was bigger than the one I shared with Sol back at the boarding house.
I grimaced at the slight ache I felt prodding my chest as I thought of her. Deciding I couldn't think about that and had to focus on finding out where I was and what I was doing here, I scanned my eyes over the room. It obviously belonged to a girl and I couldn't help but grin at the glow in the dark dandelion shaped stickers covered the ceiling. The pink sheets had me wrinkle my nose, and although the carpet my feet settled on once I moved off the bed was also dandelion shaped, thus girly, I couldn't help but appreciate the softness of it.
I felt like I could trust Dandelion. A gut feeling, I guess. Tilting my head to read the titles off the books stacked up on the nightstand, I murmured them out loud. “The Key to Martial Arts, 101 Dessert Recipes, Volume 13: History and Geography, The Key to Martial Arts: Two."
My stomach grumbled at the dessert one. Scratching my head, I walked over to the door and opened it just wide enough to stick my head out. There was a long hallway with four more doors identical to the one I was shuffling out from. The wall across from me was decorated with many photographs, surrounding the large arch opening that led to a staircase.
Deciding my best bet to find Ilex, Caltha, Dandelion or Jatrop was by venturing down the stairs. I made my way over there slowly. Slowly because I eyed the picture frames as I passed them.
Ilex was in several, usually accompanied by a man. Their coloring was very similar, black hair, tanned skin, grey eyes, yet they looked nothing alike. The other guy had spiked hair, eyebrow piercings and was so intensely tall and broad, he made Ilex and Lupinus look tiny. Which was impressive, because Lupinus and Ilex were huge compared to me. He was Caltha. I knew only because it was written at the bottom right corner on one of the pictures.
The photographs that had me halt in my steps completely were those that featured Acacia and Lupinus. They were smiling in all of them, and my initial fear of Ilex died completely when I saw a picture of him with Acacia, hugging one another.
Shaking my head and hopefully the hint of sadness that tried to threaten its way in when thinking of her, I moved onto the next frame. It was a large group picture and I noticed that they all had black hair, some had bluish streaks in them, some didn't. Most of them had grey eyes, and if they weren't, they were a bright blue. Although all of them had similar physical traits, they weren't related. It just looked like they were a specific type. A race maybe?
Eying the portrait frames surrounding the group photo, I looked at one of a girl. She was smiling broadly, showing off all her teeth. Her eyes weren't grey like the others, but the color of what a sunny day without clouds might look like. Her picture was coupled with that of a man. His eyes were very soft and of course grey. He wore a blue bandana around his head, pushing the black ear-length hair out of his face. While the funny girl was tanned, he was the color of dark chocolate like the Jacoby's. He had huge lips and a wide nose.
Below them was the portrait of a guy with curly black hair, a goatee decorating his chin. He looked serious, yet there was a hint of a smile. Someone else used to be in the picture but it had been ripped out. Shrugging, I continued on to the next.
A woman and she was particularly beautiful. Her hair was cut neatly along the edge of her jaw and it was blond, bordering on ivory while her eyes were jet black. She had a caring look about her.
Sighing, I leaned forward to see the last two photographs. A girl with her head tilted up, looking at me as if she knew who I was and what I'd done. The surprising thing about her was her hair. It was a light blue, and her eyes were gold, not yellow like mine or Sol's. Her skin was tanned, making her hair pop out. She had a piercing in her bottom lip, nose, eyebrows and as her hair was haphazardly pulled back with numerous clips and pins, I could see her ears were decorated all over too.
The last portrait was of a man with very long hair. It was all braided together and it was pitch black. The loose bangs at the front were wavy, framing his face. This guy was smiling, it wasn't a grin. It looked slightly devious, wicked even. But it was genuine nonetheless. Both his arms were covered with tattoos, but that wasn't what had me lean in closer. It was his eyes. I'd assumed they were a dark grey, but as I stared, I saw they were a dark shade of red, reminding me of blood. For some reason, this guy looked familiar.
"Are you an intruder or are you a guest?" Came a melodic voice next to my ear, with a hint of amusement laced through it. I shot backwards and away from the wall, my eyes widening as the man in the picture I'd been staring at, was standing right in front of me.
