Chapter Twenty-One

Viktoriya blinked, snapping out of the trance-like state. That was typical of her flash-outs. No matter how hard she tried to hold on to them, they would snap away from her in an instant.

She didn’t know why that happened—it was something she’d been trying to figure out for the past year. It was always a shock when it happened—the snap back to reality.

She was thankful to be in Choe’s room for her return. It was quiet, but not too soft; very similar to the place she went to in her flash-outs, which hummed a calm melody.

She recalled long ago when she reawakened in a mall with her father yelling for help and a crowd surrounding her.

They’d all thought she fainted—it was early in her encounters, after all. However, all the noise was so overwhelming, and Viktoriya had gone from her peaceful state to a full-on meltdown.

She cringed at the memory.

A gentle tug on her hair brought her back to the present. It was their routine—she would flash-out, and Choe, to soothe her until she awoke, stroked her hair with a soft brush or played the violin for her.

“Thank you,” she croaked as if she hadn’t used her voice in days.

“You’re back!” Choe burst with excitement.

Viktoriya heard the clatter of the brush on the craft table as the soft massage on her scalp stopped, and she immediately regretted speaking.

Choe was so gentle, and the hair brushing was so soothing. It would have been nice to have it for just a while longer.

“How was your flash-out?” she asked softly, taking her seat back at her clay model.

When Viktoriya first told her friend about her flash-outs, she was hesitant, fearful that Choe may believe she had some sort of divergent medical issue and tell her parents.

But being her best friend, when she asked that Choe keep the experience a secret, she obliged.

She was thankful to have a friend like Choe.

“Relaxing,” she replied. “Extraordinary. I was floating close to a large planet, with hundreds of moons orbiting around it, leaving trails of light. How long was I—”

“Good, I’m glad. Only five minutes. You know, it sounds like an atom, a really big atom!” Choe remarked and smiled. Then she smiled, picked up a tube of yellow paint, and launched it across the table at her.

Yellow pigment exploded on Viktoriya’s shoulder, marking up her light-blue top. “Hey! What was that for?”

“Cause I’m so jealous of this extraordinary experience you get to have,” she said jokingly as Viktoriya tried to rub the pastel from her shirt.

Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

“Oh gosh, sorry, Vik,” she added. “I didn’t mean for it to mess up your shirt! It was just for fun.”

Viktoriya stood from her stool and walked across the room toward the door. “Don’t worry,” she said. “It’s just a shirt. I’ll try to get it out before it stains.”

“There’s instant detergent in the laundry room! Aunt Aura can help you get it. I’ll clean this yellow mess up,” she called while Viktoriya rounded the corner of the doorway and into the regal hallway.

She walked toward the living room, reciting the rooms and who they belonged to as she passed by. She paused for a moment to look at the diorama of the Mars colony positioned on the hall table, encased in a clear display case.

“Aura is simply brilliant. She did all this,” she remarked, gazing in wonder at the detail of the model.

The living room was empty when she entered, with Aura nowhere in sight.

Viktoriya continued past the leather couches and back toward the elevator through which she arrived—the washroom being near the entranceway.

As she approached the entrance to the laundry room, she heard a hushed voice on the other side.

“No! We do it now,” she heard Aura say through the door.

Again, though, it didn’t quite sound like her; she sounded angry, an emotion that wasn’t typical of her.

It struck her as odd that she was taking a call closed inside the laundry room, and though she knew she shouldn’t, curiosity got the best of her. She pressed her ear to the door.

“Screw waiting five years,” she said, her tone laced with even more anger.

“You should have heard them. Not a single person in that room could think straight. Everyone’s scared, too paralyzed to do anything. All they did was argue again. It’s the same year after year.”

There was a gap in her speech, and the only thing Viktoriya heard was the subtle sound of pacing.

“No. We’ve waited long enough. This isn’t a question; I’m telling you; we have to do it. We take it now. We have to take it over to save everyone, or we’re all going to freeze to death. If we don’t act now, the Frost is going to end us all.”

The monotone beep of the cellphone hanging up blipped, and Viktoriya scrambled backward. The door slid open, and a very grumpy-looking Aura appeared.

Her icy eyes bore down on Viktoriya.

“What are you doing?”

Viktoriya immediately pointed to her shirt. “Choe got paint on me. I was just coming to clean up.”

Aura sighed and rolled her eyes, stepping out from the doorway and motioning her to come in.

She stood stalk still, unsure whether to accept the request.

“Well, come on!” she exclaimed, a bubbly brightness trickling its way back into her tone. “Don’t you want help?”

Viktoriya nodded and walked into the laundry room. Aura followed and immediately reached into the cupboard above the stainless-steel machines. She pulled down a wicker basket and fumbled through the contents.

“Aha!” she announced, pulling a purple stick from the bin and holding it out for her. “This solves everything.”

“Thanks!” Viktoriya took the stick, uncapped it, and pressed it until the purple gel oozed onto her shirt.

“We’ll need to wash it after, so go borrow a shirt from Choe and come back with that one.”

“So, you can start it with the other load?”

“Other load?”

“Isn’t that why you were in here?”

Viktoriya pushed, testing her.

If she was willing to lie about what she was doing, perhaps she was hiding something.

“To do the laundry.”

“Oh, yes, of course!” she replied. Aura turned away and put the basket back on the shelf.

“I’ll throw it in with the other clothes.”

Viktoriya produced a feigned smile.

“Thanks!”

“Right. Now keep rubbing that into your shirt and come right back, little miss!”

She nodded and headed back to Choe’s room, all the time wondering what Aura was really up to.

She thought it didn’t sound good, not good at all, whatever it was.

I better not say anything to Choe, I’m not even sure what that was all about.

She pressed her thumbs into the side of her index fingers as her wrists twisted, fighting back the mist of tears making their way into her eyes.

I’m not sure at all what that was about, and I’m… I’m not sure that I really want to know this time.