“We’re here” the click of the old-fashioned hand brake only emphasized Ash’s clipped tone. She had parked in a dead end alleyway not too far from the bar, “The Raving Tiger”. Eve could scarcely believe that this time last night she was walking into the bar with her socially awkward, but otherwise non-magical roommate of three years. How could something that happened less than 24 hours ago feel like it happened weeks ago? Judy stirred, making another grunt of pain as Eve moved to undo her seatbelt, waiting for the telltale hum of the slowing field to be deactivated, before remembering that this car didn’t have one. Feeling stupid after Ash gave her an amused look, she opened the door and looked around. “I take it your friends are hobo’s then, either that or just wanted to make it easier to hide our bodies. I don’t know what would suprise me more.”
A hard edge entered Ash’s voice. “Its clear you’ve never actually been homeless princess, in future, refrain from being scornful about things you don’t understand, especially when you choose not to understand. And no, this wasn’t just a ploy to dump your bodies somewhere easier, this would be a stupid place to do so. The whole point is getting you to- getting Judy to a discreet healer, preferably one that doesn’t dabble in anything composed of tenebrum.” Tired of the conversation, Ash chose to skip the explanation. “Duck. Strangle. Bob Marley.” At the spoken words the alleyway seemed to darken impossibly, the world suddenly seemed muted. Eve turned on Ash, trying to demand an explanation but no sound came out of her open mouth. Her eyes clouded with fear, then shock. The darkness faded; suddenly they were standing in a well lit, large open space, a courtyard of sandy brick. Eve gasped, partly from awe, partly from an irrational need to take in as much air as possible after the harrowing transport method. Ash smirked darkly. “See, you’re still alive.” She then stalked towards one of the 4 exits. Distrust of Ash warred with concern for Judy, but distrust won. Eve ran to catch up with the killer, rationalizing that her friend was fine sitting, or rather lying, in the car, best to make sure she wasn’t forgotten about by Ash. Eve followed her through the large archway, revealing a long, branching, corridor. A few groups of people loitered around, amicably chatting, but the minute Ash was seen conversations died, replaced by wary side glances. People shuffled closer to the walls. Ash simply ignored them and continued, making a sharp turn down another hallway. Eve followed her through the maze, quickly giving up on trying to remember every turn, before finally coming to a stop in front of a beautiful white door inlaid with gold. A burly, young man with dark hair and an old graphic Star Wars t-shirt stood was standing guard, but upon seeing Ash moved to the side as if to allow her through. This revealed an insignia made of sharp, interlocking lines enclosed in an oval. “Evening Ash, that your target?” The man said with a bored glance at Eve.
“Not saying anything about that Dereck, at least, not to you. I take it Tara’s in?”
“Indeed she is, go right ahead.” He tapped a few keys on the previously unnoticed keypad. Eve tried to see what the code was but in place of the expected 0-9 format, the markings were all strange symbols that shifted after every key press. Dereck raised a hand in mock salute and tipped his head. “All yours, Ice Heart.” He added with a smirk. Ash responded with a cutting glare and the humour quickly fled Derecks features, replaced by something akin to fear. Without looking back at her, Ash addressed Eve. “Wait out here princess, youll be invited in once the adults are done talking.”
“Stop calling me that! And like hell I am, Judy is currently bleeding out in your goddamn car, you promised me a healer.”
With an exasperated sigh, Ash turned on Dereck and told him to take Judy to someone called Ami, explaining that Judy was in the arrivals' courtyard in one of the ‘safe cars’. Before Dereck had even rounded the corner Eve found the door closed in front of her, letting her examine the intricate detail in full, were she so inclined. She wasn’t and instead stood there fuming over Ash’s treatment and disregard of her. Her rage quickly dissipated and exhaustion followed as she started to mull over the days events. Nothing made sense, Judy having magic powers, Ash being a psycho killer and part of some secret society, a weird ass death lift and one of her fathers men trying to kill Judy, and for what? Why was any of this even happening? Fuck she had seen a man die today, and at the hands of someone she thought she knew. As far as she was aware she’d never been wrong about anyone's character, hell she prided herself on being able to tell who people were. People were simple, stereotypical. Judy liked her books more than social interaction, Yggdra was clearly autistic, Hannah was an airhead in love with herself and Leif and Niko were Wiccan hippies. There was little else to it. Stereotypes worked and secrets were all the same, just contextual, except Ash clearly didn’t fit any bill as far as Eve could see, not anymore. How had Ash hidden this from her? Whatever this is. Eve’s thoughts were cut short by the source of her discontent appearing in front of her, a mocking smirk fixed to her pale features. “Well, come on then princess, Her Grace will see you now.” Ash shoved her through the newly made opening to reveal an incredibly opulent room. Veins of gold travelled along pristine, blinding white columns of marble, splitting off into capillaries of glistening light where they supported a massive cathedral-like roof. Banners of royal blue adorned the walls sporting the same intricate glyph as the door with a single addition, a sprawling structure that could only be interpreted as a sanctuary enshrouded the oval. A single column of onyx black spread through the middle of the rooms floor, ending in an imposing desk, at which sat a lone woman. She was the epitome of beauty, a perfect model brought to life. Her skin matched the ebony hue of the desk and her eyes were a dark, enriching hazel that exuded warmth. A grand robe of unadulterated white flowed to her radiance. She offered Eve a smile, raising unbidden feelings of home and love in her chest. The woman spoke, not moving her lips. Eve’s mind quieted, a single, strange but familiar voice blossomed. “Welcome daughter, to Sanctuary. I am so grateful Ash finally brought you here. But ah, you came with a friend. Fear not, she will receive the best medical attention we have to offer.” Tara Evanescent, the presumed dead wife of Jackson Terce and absentee mother of Evelyn Terce rose from her seat, moving to delicately embrace her daughter, her robe barely fluttering as she did so. “M-Mum?” Eve stuttered, then suddenly shocked to her senses, she ripped herself from the embrace. “Are you kidding me! I went to your funeral. You- you left me with HIM! You're alive?” She wheezed, then started laughing uncontrollably. “You cannot be serious.”
Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator.
“I understand that this must come as a shock, and perhaps not a pleasant one at that, but please, you have to understand-”
“Understand? Understand what, that you’ve let me believe you were dead. That you let me be raised by that, that bastard?”
“No. Understand that what I did, I did for your safety. I did it for you my child.”
“Explain”
“In due time, my child but-”
“Stop calling me that! Not until you explain. You owe me that, ‘Mum’.” Eve’s voice was filled with practised malice. “Oh and one more thing, stop talking in my head, its weird and invasive. I literally only discovered magic existed like, yesterday. I swear to god if I hear one more person has goddamned magical powers I am going to murder them. Now, I am done with this, take me to Judy, and once she’s better were leaving.”
“Dont you at least want my explanation, please stay, you will be safe here.”
“Safe from who? The man you left me with? You didn’t protect me before. And i told you to stay out of my head!”
With a sour expression that was quickly smoothed over, Tara moved to speak, her words sounding slightly disjointed, not quite right. Her musical, almost angelic tone fell flat.
“I knew you would be safe from him when your potential test came back negative, even a man like him would not kill his own daughter.”
“What does that even mean? Potential test? And he had a pretty good shot at it not even two hours ago!”
“A potential test is a way of testing magic, and it was your friend that was nearly killed, not you no?”
“So, ignoring your callous disregard for Judy, im just about the only normal person in the world, gotcha.”
“Hardly, this sa-”
“Get Out Of My Head!”
“Evelyn please, your being irrational.”
“Yeah no im done here” Eve turned on her heel and flipped her hair over her shoulder, moving toward the door, before realizing it wasn’t there. Assuming it was more modern she waved a hand, but nothing happened. She spun back round to face her mother. “Let me out. Now” Tara sighed, shaking her head. “If you insist. Ashlyn, take her to her friend, then get her a suite,the best we have, im sure she’s tired.”
“Have you forgotten that’s theres still no door.”
“Check again”
Irritated, Eve spun a third time to be faced with the corridor she had entered from, at least she assumed it was, they all seemed to look the same. “Well, come on then princess, im sure the suites are up to your royal standards.”
“No. You, be quiet! You’ve been working with my mother this entire time? I trusted you, we were friends.”
“Friends? Hah. Now that im free to say it, I find you insufferable. You didn’t ‘trust’ me, frankly im not sure you trust anyone, youre far too self absorbed for it. Hell im shocked by the concern you’ve shown Judy, but even then you cant give that much of a shit considering you followed me, leaving her to, how did you put it? ‘Bleed out’ in my car’. No princess, we were never friends, you were an assignment.”
“You- you” Eve stuttered, wide blue eyes fixed on a stony expression.
“Don’t bother to even try to think of a response, i simply couldn’t care less, just follow me and stay quiet, ive spent too much time listening to you talk about yourself to ever want to hear your voice again.”
Eve lapsed into a miserable silence, a seething anger towards her former friend beginning to brew in her stomach as she followed her through a seemingly random pattern of corridors. Finally, Ash stopped in front a narrower, dead end hallway with a door on either side. Outside of scaling, it didn’t seem different to anywhere else in this blasted maze, still the same dull, sandy, beige like walls with an arching ceiling. Even the doors to the rooms were drab and simple. Clearly she was broadcasting her disdain as Ash couldn’t help another remark. “And you want me to stop calling you princess, hah. I dont think ive seen such snobbery before. Its not like your flat was much to look at, and that was before it had a Judy sized hole in the wall. These are the best suites in Sanctuary, and you’ll see why in a moment. Yours is the one on the left, the other is for Judy when she recovers.”
“That’s not necessary, we’ll be leaving as soon as she is.”
“Regardless, it was what your mother ordered, and her word is law here. Besides, you may not want to stay but once Judy wakes up surrounded by people like her, she may just forget all about the spoilt, judgemental princess that shoehorned her everywhere.”
“Fuck you.” Eve’s words were filled with enough poison to kill an elephant and her gaze was steel, but Ash only smiled saccharine sweetness, letting an incandescent fury surge. Eve had learned one thing from this at least, an unabated hatred towards Ash. But she knew that there was nothing she could do and so she snatched the key card Ash held out in front of her, earning a smug smile, and used it to unlock the door to the suite. She turned to angrily gesture at the door before realizing it wasn’t a fading door. The stumped expression on her face clearly amused Ash even further, who unfortunately hadn't burst into flames and disappeared screaming despite Eve’s best wishes. Ash snorted “It’s manual princess, yknow, you close it by physical exertion. No Terce tech here im afraid, however will her royal highness cope”. This prompted the visceral image of Eve poisoning her tormentor with the sarcasm that dripped from her rough voice, but still nothing happened: she only managed to fumble with the door before finally grabbing the fairly obvious lip and sliding the door closed with as much force as she could muster, which didn’t happen to be much due to the door getting caught. She took in the room, which to be fair was suitably opulent. Unlike her revenant mothers room, the colour scheme was a rich red and gold with splashes of white. It sported a curtained, queen sized bed and a myriad of ornate, gold lined furniture. There was a notable absence of any form of technology, true to Ash’s word, likely the only true words that had ever left the psychos mouth, but Eve didn’t even have the energy to complain and she didn’t even know who she could complain to, with Judy hurt. She collapsed onto the massive bed and sighed in content. A drifting realization that she hadn't actually been taken to Judy slipped through her mind as she succumbed to exhaustion.