10. KATIE
Chapter ten
KATIE
M y sisters and I gather in the shared sitting room attached to our suites. There are three overstuffed couches all drawn in a wide arc before a fireplace, big enough to easily swallow one of those very couches. Instead, two wingback chairs have been pulled up in front of the empty hearth, as though waiting for a PTA meeting to start. An armchair sits between two of the couches, and throw blankets and decorative pillows cover everything.
I scowl at one of the throw pillows. It has tiny decorative stitching in the pattern of wolves running through a thick forest.
“This place is trying way too hard to be normal,” Maddie says, sinking down on the couch next to me. She glares at a throw pillow with a pattern of snow leopards and tosses it to the floor.
“This is infinitely better than the cramped hospital.” Layla breezes past me, taking her third circle around the living room. She pauses at the baby grand piano tucked into a far corner and runs her fingers over the glossy surface. When she catches me watching, she snatches her hand away. She hasn’t played since mom died.
“It is brighter,” Molly Beth says, and sits on my other side. I reflectively grab my sister’s slim fingers. She’s chilled again. I start rubbing them between my palms.
This is something I can do. I couldn’t stop them from shepherding us into the sleek black van and moving us to the Conservatory. I couldn’t stop them from continuing to spout the nonsense about Omegas and Alphas and heats.
But I can help prevent Molly Beth from getting sick. I can take care of her, at least in this little way.
“Have you noticed that the windows don’t open?” Norah says, as casually as if she was commenting on the color of the walls.
“Yes,” I say, before switching to Molly Beth’s other hand.
“Do you think they’re worried about Alphas trying to kidnap us?”
“Norah, don’t believe a word of this nonsense,” I say, shaking my head. “I don’t think this ‘Conservatory’ was built to keep people out so much as to keep us in.” I shiver, and the memory of other prisons replays behind my eyelids. I shrug it away.
“But, it makes sense. Something with that tree must have transported us-” Norah continues.
“No.” I say more sharply than I mean to. “This is not a fairy story and there is not going to be a hunky highlander to sweep us off our feet. We are in some kind of cult compound and we have to escape.”
Molly Beth squeezes my hand and I realize that I’m still gripping her trembling fingers. I let go and brush stray hairs from my face.
“You can’t prove that they’re lying,” Norah says, jutting out her lower jaw the way she always does when she’s being bull-headed.
“It’s a ridiculous premise,” Maddie snaps back. “Alphas and Omegas–it sounds like dogs.”
“Wolves, actually.” A new voice interrupts us, and a tall woman stands in the doorway, a tray in her hand. “Tea?”
She wears an alarmingly pink pantsuit–the kind a politician might wear, but the color is turned up to eleven. Her black hair is pulled back in an intricate twist, and her dark skin shimmers with a hint of gold. She is striking; beautiful, yes, but confident too.
I stand and cross in front of all my sisters, making my shoulders as broad as possible. “Who are you?”
“You must be Katherine. The eldest, yes? I’m Aurelia Conswellos, one of the Administrators of the Conservatory, and your family’s particular Case Manager.”
Case Manager ? Like we are some foster care orphans? I scowl at her. She doesn’t have any visible weapons, but does have one of those slim smart wristlets like Nurse Angela.
“We can talk about all of that once we get everyone a cup of tea and a bite to eat, yes?” She hesitates at the threshold.
“Yes, please!” Layla jumps up. “I know they gave us some pastries at the hospital, but we really need more proteins.”
I roll my eyes and hear Maddie scoff behind me.
“Ah, then I shall disappoint you at the outset, I’m afraid.” Aurelia flashes a brilliant smile. She enters and sets the tray on the central coffee table. There’s a teapot, the shape is tall with a bulbous bottom instead of short and round like back home. The cups are more spherical than what our grandma used to use, but the set up is unmistakable.
So close, but not quite the same.
A plate stacked high with what looks like a cross between a scone and a giant cookie waits for us. I hesitate. It would be so easy to drug us again. But lack of calories will diminish our ability to fight back. I scowl. Neither choice is a good one.
“These are made with the harpple berries–my favorites,” Aurelia says, picking up one of the scones.
“Harpple berries?” Norah asks, reaching for one.
Every instinct in me wants to reach out and snatch the confection away. But we needed to eat. I sigh.
“Yes, are you familiar?”
My sisters shake their heads. I cross my arms over my chest.
“This is all very amusing. The details are quite extraordinary. But you really can drop the acting,” I say.
Aurelia’s smile softens, but she remains placid. “I was told that it might be challenging for you to accept your changed circumstances. My specialty is late-blooming Omegas. Those who perfume after the usual adolescent window.”
“We are not Omegas,” I growl, anger spiking. My patience was long past worn out.
“You weren’t ,” she corrects. “But you are no longer in your Beta-only world. I can’t imagine going to a world without my Alphas and my Omega. So, I can’t imagine your own discomfort at arriving in a world with them.”
“You’re not an Omega?” Norah asks. She’s taking all of this way too seriously. She might need deprogramming once we get out.
Aurelia nods, handing out cups of tea to everyone –except me. My arms are still crossed.
“I’m a Beta. My Omega’s name is Roslyn. She’s wonderful. Perhaps you’ll meet her in one of your classes. My Alphas are Michiko, Tarren, and Ari. We’ve been together as a Pack for…” she closes her eyes for a moment. “Ah, I joined them eleven years ago – right before they found Roz.”
“And you’re not jealous?” Layla asks, before taking a delicate bite of one of the pastries.
“No, why would I be? We all have a place, all love one another.”
“So you’re all lovers?” Molly Beth asks with wide eyes and a full mouth.
Aurelia laughs. “No, well, I suppose we could, but no. I’m bonded to Michiko and Ari. Tarren and I are good friends. Roz is bonded with all three Alphas. We’re a Pack.” She pauses. “Family that you find and make together.”
A murmur rolls through my sisters. Even Maddie seems to be drinking this up.
I roll my eyes. My skin itches; it’s too tight on my bones. I want to lie down and sleep for a week, but I know that the moment I lose vigilance, they’ll start manipulating my sisters. Hell, it’s already working.
“We are not in— an alien world where people live in Packs!” I snap. I can’t stop my anger–all my emotions are stirred up like clothes tumbling around a supercharged drier. I’m prickly and frustrated. Inspector Murphy’s touch still lingers on my skin–the intrusion that I both resent and miss. The familiarity and foreignness that doesn’t make sense.
And if I want to be honest with myself, which I don’t at this particular moment, I am afraid. Because this is top shelf lunacy. Or, it’s true. Either way, we’re trapped.
Aurelia just offers me a sympathetic smile, holding out the neglected cup of tea.
“I’ve spoken with Professor Bellrose, from the Royal University. He’s agreed to come and answer questions tonight––he’s the resident expert on all things Traveler lore and legend. Well, any lore or legend, I guess. But he did point out one thing that may help prove to you that you are no longer in your home world.”
“There’s nothing to prove!” I shout back at her. Her unflappable calm grates against my nerves.
“It is my understanding that many other homelands only have one sun.” Her eyes slice into mine. “Solas Major, and Solas Minor—or Maj and Min. We have twin moons as well.”
She takes a sip from her teacup, one eyebrow raised.
Anger whips through me, so white hot it clouds my vision. But behind that scorching heat is an icy dread.
How can you fake two suns?
You can’t.
“Liar,” I hiss. All my protocol and decorum melt under the pressure of fire and ice.
“You’re free to go check. The courtyards are guarded. You’ll be safe.”
I don’t hesitate. I march past Aurelia and her pink suit.
Two suns. It’s impossible, and I can put this fantasy nonsense to bed.
Except what if it isn’t? The hallway stretches out toward an arched doorway. I remembered the way the guards trooped us in, like we were celebrities–or political prisoners. Not jostling us, they barely touched us. But they moved us quickly, wanting to get us in. Could they have been staging something?
But we’d driven through a city. I’d heard the sound of traffic and seen the passing buildings, even under the drugged haze. If this was all a compound it would have to be massive. A domed complex that large would absolutely be on the FBI’s radar.
My knee throbs, but I ignore it, pushing through the double doors and striding out into the courtyard. I’d tried so hard to memorize the path in so we could use it to get back out that I hadn't looked up.
Pausing where the stone pathway meets trimmed green grass, I close my eyes. My heart thumps wildly. I hear other footsteps shuffling behind me, and catch a whiff of mint and sage. I don’t know how I know it’s Norah, but I’m sure it’s her who shuffles her feet beside me.
I tip my face toward the sky. With my eyes closed I can feel the heat of the sun on my face. Heat like that would be hard to fake. I blink. The sky is bright blue, a few lazy clouds drifting slowly across the azure expanse.
“Holy fucking shit,” I whisper, my heart dropping out of my stomach to fall somewhere around my knees.
Two suns, one bright like back home. But a second, weaker sun, trailing behind it like a little sister. Two suns. Major and Minor.
We are not home, but somewhere else. Somewhere unescapable.