Ezzie watched Ava walk into the spinning world and disappear and stood in shock for a few moments. You couldn’t run in the fog lands. It was too dangerous. How stupid of that strange mortal girl, but then a faint relief filled her—Ava and the book wore gone now, lost forever in a spinning world, and everyone knew that no one escaped a spinning world, but then that relief was washed over with guilt and even a sense of fear. Ezzie didn’t know what Ava was capable of. She was capable of violence, and she had saved them from the bad men. Who knew if Ava would maybe be able to get out on her own, and she had the book, and if her sisters ever found out…
Ezzie had no choice but to go in there after her.
The thought made her shiver. No one in recorded history had ever escaped a spinning world, and she would know—Rosalie, who constantly read books from their library, had told them all such, but Ezzie had to try.
She circled the lightly glowing gray archway. There was a large boulder nearby. What she needed was a rope—a rope to connect her to the fog lands when she went through, a rope to pull them out once she found Ava. She had no choice but to go back to her oasis, get a rope, and come back, but doing such a thing would cause questions from her sisters. She sighed. She’d just have to deal with it.
Ezzie knew this archway well. She’d avoided it many times before. She knew her way back. She walked, cautiously and slowly, avoiding rock and boulder. Her stomach told her it was time for her one vial of blood anyway and the temptation of the fountain of blood. She walked slowly over the damp gray earth, until she came to the way back into her oasis and saw the multitudes of bright stars above, as the fog cleared.
She walked the brick hallway back inside her dwelling and passed her pool of water, ice now melted in it and flowers sunk to the very bottom. Oh how she longed to lay in the warmth of her pool, to let the hotness of the water seep into her frigid bones, but she couldn’t. Not now. She grabbed her empty vial of blood off a shelf and left her dwelling, heading towards her sisters and the ever flowing, splashing fountain of blood. All brick roads led to it, and she passed half broken buildings as she walked, her sandaled feet silent over the broken bricks and random, sprouting purple flowers she liked to pick and add to her pool when she could.
Her sisters sat at the fountain, all chubby and faces rosy—Amelia on a bench, looking at herself in her hand mirror, her hair the color of green leaves and streaked with silvery gray and always neatly combed, wearing a long, flowing purple gown. Rosalie—hair the color of the purple flowers and wearing a long, flowing golden gown—sat at the very edge of the fountain of blood, on the broken stone, reading a book, a cup of sweet blood next to her, and Luna sat near her, drinking blood, her hair bright orange and in two braids, wearing a flowing pink and yellow gown. She smiled and laughed as she drank.
“Would you stop laughing. I’m trying to read,” Rosalie admonished, looking up from her book. She was always reading. Oh how she would love that book about the mortal world, where the rivers flowed with sweet blood. Oh how her sisters would love to go there, and leave her alone, alone in their oasis and wanting.
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Luna’s face lit up when she saw Ezzie.
Ezzie clutched her empty vial of blood, though every part of her wanted to completely gorge herself. Why could her sisters not see that there was something deeply wrong inside of her mind, something that even she didn’t understand?
“Ezzie!” Luna said.
Amelia barely looked up from her hand mirror, but Rosalie shut her book and set it down beside her. She frowned when she saw the empty vial Ezzie carried.
“Let me guess. You’re only going to drink that much,” said Rosalie.
“Drink more!” Luna urged, taking huge gulps of blood from her cup.
“No,” said Ezzie to Luna, and then to Rosalie, “Yes.”
Ezzie approached the fountain and suddenly felt faint, like she was going to fall over at any second. These faint spells were happening to her more and more often, but she knew if she drank just a little bit of blood she’d be fine. Just a little bit.
“I only need a little bit,” she said. She dipped her vial in the warm blood of the fountain, filling it up, getting bright red blood all over her hand, and drank greedily, the blood warm and sweet as it went down her throat and barely filled her empty stomach, and the fainting spell passed.
She resisted the urge to lick the blood off her fingers, and instead she wiped the blood off on her holey jeans. “I need a rope,” she said.
“Why do you need a rope?” Luna asked, standing up and dancing in front of her, long gown twisting around her waist. She laughed. Luna was always cheerful.
“That’s a strange thing to ask for,” said Rosalie, who was always serious.
“I just need one, okay,” said Ezzie quietly. Obviously she couldn’t tell them why. They’d freak the hell out.
“Well, I don’t have one,” said Rosalie.
“Neither do I! Come on, drink some of this blood.” And Luna grabbed her half full cup and held it out to Ezzie, tempting her, and Ezzie recoiled. She couldn’t drink anymore. Her now empty vial was warm in her hand.
“I have a rope,” Amelia suddenly said, looking up from her hand mirror. “I don’t know why you’d need one, but whatever I guess.”
She put her hand mirror to her side, sighed, and stood up. “Come on.”
Relief filled Ezzie—one of her sisters had a rope.
She followed Amelia down the broken, brick street, careful not to step on any of the purple flowers. She followed Amelia to Amelia’s dwelling, but Ezzie didn’t want to go inside. Amelia’s dwelling was full of mirrors, on the walls and standing long mirrors in her main room. Amelia was constantly looking at herself in mirrors, and Ezzie didn’t want to see her reflection. She was already self-conscious of her gaunt and bony frame. She did not want to look at it. Hell no.
When Amelia came out with the rope relief filled her. She could do this. She could save Ava from the spinning world, though terror filled her at the thought of willingly going into one.
“Thanks,” she said to Amelia.
“Whatever,” said Amelia, looking at herself in her hand mirror.
Ezzie left their oasis, back through her own dwelling, and walked the fog lands, cautiously and slowly, back to the spinning world arch Ava had stupidly gone through. She held the rope, white and coiled around her hand.
She tied the rope securely around the boulder and the other end securely around her waist. She paused before entering the spinning world. Did she really want to do this? What were the odds of Ava being able to escape on her own? Ezzie decided she didn’t want to risk it. She knew this was a crazy thing to do, but she had to save Ava, she had to at least return the favor.
Ezzie entered the spinning world.