Chapter 27 Hello There, My New Friends. #2
His calm yet annoyed stare seems centuries old. “Because I don’t belong in these timelines. Anywhere I travel, I’m a cancerous parasite that infects anyone close to me. It’s as though the universe is allergic to my presence.”
That’s why I can feel myself aching and wilting the moment we moved closer to him.
I take a step back, and look down at my hands, wondering if I’ve noticed myself infecting anyone too.
Not that I can recall. Although, I almost wish I had that ability when Albatross was on top of me, or when Absinthe was pummeling me with her bony fists.
“But I don’t understand why you haven’t taken ill,” Vrath adds thoughtfully. “I’ve watched you. Those you have interacted with are left in perfect condition.”
“That’s a shame,” Niklaus says, clearly following my train of thought.
“Is there a reason you wear the paint on your face?” I ask.
Vrath instinctually lifts his hand, hovering gloved fingers over his cheekbone.
“Yes, there is a reason.”
We wait for him to explain, but he merely stares at us blankly.
I try again. “You said I left a door open?”
Part of me is cautious of picking this man’s brain. He doesn’t seem mentally stable. His eyes twitch and go empty. His thought process is warped and choppy. But I don’t have a choice. We need to get home, and right now, he’s the only person alive who might be able to help.
Vrath nods so slowly, I wonder if he’s having a stroke. “You leave footprints through time. They scream into the darkness. I heard them from a thousand years away.”
“Can you control where you come and go?”
“And travel on command?” Niklaus adds.
“Somewhat.”
“How do you do it?”
Vrath pinches his lips in frustration. “Did you use your mother’s blood? Yes, or no?”
“I seriously don’t know what you’re talking about,” I say.
“I do not like liars.”
“Use my mother’s blood for what? To travel? I wasn’t even within a three-mile radius of my mother. I just did it!”
“You just did it.” That monotone slithers under my skin.
“We were attacked, and it happened. I don’t know anything other than that.”
“Are you certain that is all you know? Or are you a liar?” he presses.
“Liar?! We’re trying to get your help because all we want is to go home! If you know how I traveled, please tell me! I’m all ears!” My temper flares to the surface, smoldering in my chest like a wildfire.
Vrath adjust his stance, uneasy as he locks eyes with me.
“I made eye contact with your father once. In the Vexamen Prison.”
My temper swims away, though still warm to the touch.
“He was on stage with your mother, being whipped to accept another inmate’s fate. Your father broke free to stop the boy from bludgeoning your mother. And he looked up at me.”
Those wide-set eyes zone out, getting lost through a confusing string of memories that aren’t really his.
“It’s the same look you just gave me. You may have different colored eyes unlike him, but your fury is his. It’s uncanny.”
“How long have you been watching my parents?” I ask.
“Too long to put a number on.”
I sigh. “Look, I don’t care to know your fascination with them. I just want to control this thing so I can return home. Can you please help us?”
Though I know the answer, I still have to try.
“I want to know what else you can do,” Vrath says with that disturbing tone that has no inflection or cadence.
“And then you’ll help us?” Niklaus asks.
Vrath pauses. “I cannot lie.”
The sun unfolds over the clouds, and it begins to rain softly, pattering gentle against the black shingles of the roof.
“Then don’t…” I offer.
“I am not certain you’ll still be alive when I get what I want.” The strange man rubs at the paint along his jaw. “I could start by seeing your blood.”
Well, fuck.
“Hand me your wrist, please,” he requests, holding his gloved palm out to me.
“Bad man! Bad man! Bad man!” Dellilian’s, small, frightened voice shrieks through my mind. And judging based on Niklaus’s slight widening of his eyes, he heard it too.
The sickness isn’t so subtle anymore. It’s as if my body is aging prematurely. It crawls down my throat, melting into my bloodstream, and rots away my white blood cells.
I didn’t need to hear our gentle friend’s warning to feel the dooming strike of fear rattle my bones.
It isn’t exactly what Vrath says, it’s how still he is when he says it.
He’s been dead a long time, yet his body just isn’t aware of it yet.
It’s that the knowledge behind his eyes is centuries old.
He’s the kind of figure in an evil nursery rhyme that was told to children to keep them obedient and terrified of the dark.
But not evil in a traditional sense, the kind that is without shape or pleasure.
The kind that peels the wings off a butterfly out of pure curiosity.
Never have I had this strong of a gut instinct to stay far away from someone.
Because he’s right. His blood, his skin, the air he breathes—it all sings with an incurable plague, infection, ancient disease no one’s heard of.
And as he jerks my hand closer to his chest like an animal getting ready to bite, I am terrified. With the good sense to scream, and Niklaus yanking me away from him…
The night captures us in the middle of the brightening morning sunrise.
And it doesn’t hurt as much this time.