Acanthio got settled into his room. It was huge, the captain’s cabin on the Vol Mortem was smaller than this room. There was a little water closet off to the side with actual running water. Then the room itself opened up with a desk, a few chairs, a dresser, an enormous bed, and a padded spare bed at the foot of the other bed. The smaller bed confused him as to why he would have two beds. He pondered if it was for a child or a servant. As he examined it, the hinges on the back intrigued him, so he tried lifting the top, and it opened up. A padded chest, why would anyone need such a thing?
He closed the chest and bent down to take off his shoes. All the excitement and events didn’t help and he ended up off balance and falling. However, instead of falling to the floor, he fell on his bottom, which stopped once it hit the padded chest. The brilliance of this piece of furniture amazed him. The realization that objects like this were commonplace just made the gulf between him and Ele seem that much larger.
Thio wondered how Ele was doing. He could understand not being able to stay at their house. He wished he would have been able to talk to her before they had departed. Did she tell them everything? Did she ever figure out that in order for him to wake her up as they were falling he had to hit her? All in all, he thought her family did seem nice. Her father was genuinely pleased that his daughter returned; Sal was both nice and helpful, and even her mother seemed willing to do anything for her daughter. Though he still got shivers when he thought about Ventus. Everyone had seemed really nice, so why had Sal told him they were all vipers? He couldn’t remember any of the other cousins and people that were at the meeting as most of them were just there in the background.
This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.
He got up and started walking around the room. The immense amount of space that he had to walk still boggled his mind. He could take 10 paces and not run into a wall or furniture. He tried remembering the people in the background and people who didn’t do much more than shake a hand and wish him good luck. He still couldn’t come up with anyone that seemed suspicious. Could Ele’s family be false, he wondered. Could Sal be playing some joke on him? It would be funny and he could see the humor in it by inspiring suspicion and caution in someone when they are meeting a bunch of new people.
After a couple of loops, he went back to the bed and laid down on it. Tomorrow as he is introduced and interacts with people, he would still be cautious. There was no reason not to and while at worst he would be sent back to the ship, he did not want to embarrass Ele. The thought of being sent back to the ship and staying away from Ele actually caused more sadness within him than he expected. Laying on the bed he shook his head as if trying to get her out of his mind. He reached over and shut off the oil to the lamp by the bed and went to sleep.
Thio was asleep when a knock at his door woke him. For a moment, he thought he imagined it, but then he heard a second knock. He got out of bed and promptly ran into the nightstand near the bed. The room was almost pitch black. Only a bit of light coming in from outside between the curtains lit up a single line on the floor to the door.
“Who is it?” Thio asked as he carefully made his way over to the door. His shoes were somewhere around here and he did not want to trip over them. He luckily got to the white line of light that pointed the way to the door. Still no word from the other side. “Who is there?” he asked again.
“Thio?” Ele’s voice came from the other side of the door. At least it sounded like her voice. The thickness of the door made sound travel through it difficult. Thio went to the door and opened it. The light from the hallway briefly blinded him.
Thio felt a bag thrown over him, and the last thing he saw before darkness was the heavy boots of the person in front of him. The world went dark; as he struggled, pain exploded within him as he was punched, or his head smacked something hard like a door as he was being carried out. Thio started to understand Sal’s warning.