It’s been two days since June has heard the news about her father and Pierce and I have no idea how she is doing. We have all tried to see how she is but the only one who has easy access to her is Cheleste. Sometimes we ask her how she is doing but it is the same answer every time.

“I’m not sure, all she do is sleep and cry. She won’t even talk to me when I ask her a direct question,” Cheleste keeps saying.

I can see the toll Pierce is taking with having his girlfriend grieving and he can’t do anything to comfort her. Sometimes he would beg a guard for hours asking if he can go into the girls’ room just so he can see her, but the guards have said no. Apparently there are orders from Queen Amelia herself, saying that we are no longer allowed to go into each other’s rooms just in case we plan on getting revenge.

I don’t think revenge is on any of our minds at the moment, we just want to see how June is doing. We are all so worried about her and we just want to be goof friends and help her get through this, but there is nothing else we can do to go see her except try and sneak out but that could get us killed and I don’t think that would help June out at all.

I have been constantly hearing how much Pierce hates this place now that they won’t let him see June. I have always hated this place but Pierce having to grow up in a dirt pile explains why he would love this place when they didn’t torture us. But I can’t stop hating this place. I am away from my family and there is nothing I can do to let them know how I am doing. I’m sure my mother is angry with me for not attending all the Throng sermons. She’s had to go all by herself and I am hoping father is taking good care of her and my sisters.

Currently, Pierce is walking back and forth on the carpet talking about how much he hates this place again. Right now, I can’t take it. I’ve had enough with the complaints and I really need to get out of here.

I walk over to the door and knock on it. It doesn’t even open when someone answers, “For the last time, we are not letting you see June. It is not our decision but the decision of Queen Amelia. Now go sit down and do something else other than trying to persuade us.”

“It’s not Pierce. It’s Xavier. I have a question,” I say.

The door opens to a very annoyed young guard. “Is the question, can you see June?”

I shake my head.

The guard sighs before he says, “What do you want?”

“I was wondering if I could get a break from Pierce and go find something to read.”

The guard who opened the door looks at the one next to him. “Do we have orders to keep them in their rooms or to just keep them away from each other?”

“Just to keep them away from each other,” the older guard says.

The younger guard groans and opens the door a little bit more, enough for me to get out of the room when he steps aside. “Fine, but if I see you trying to get to June or escape, I am calling someone over and getting arrested and put in the prison cell where you should have been in the first place. Got it?”

I nod, turn around, and roll my eyes. What got up his bottom that he is acting like a teenager who hates everything in his life?

We take a detour to about 50 feet down the hallway to pick up another guard. Once the two guards are on the same page, one follows closley behind me as the other one leads the way to these massive doors. The doors are carved like all the other doors but there is something different about the carvings on this particular door. This one tells a different story than all the rest of the doors. This one tell it in the point of view of the supposed immortal triplets while the other ones tell it in the point of view of the civilians. This one shows the devastation the triplets felt when their parents were fighting about the balance. It seems like the red, blue, and purple orbs keep alternating from a paler version of themselves to a duller versions of themselves, showing that they are torn between choosing sides and aren’t sure how to balance out their parents again.

The guard who is leading me to these doors, doesn’t let me stop and observe it anymore. He opens the doors and inside the room is a whole other world. I have never seen a room so magical before and it makes me feel like I am experiencing an out of body experience.

I step in the room a little to get a better point of view of the room that is before me. In front of me is thousands of book on wooden shelves and to my left and right there are massive brown and green trees. Around the trunks are spiral stair cases leading to the second floor where there are even more books. To the right on the second floor is another set of stairs but this one leads up to a balcony where there are glowing plants and chairs for the reader to sit on. Everything I have ever imagined would never compare to the beauty this library gives.

As I walk across the brown and blue marbled floor I notice the lanterns hanging off the branches of the trees giving the illusion of an even more magical place. I climb up one of the stair cases and look out of the arched window where I see a massive river in the middle of where the hills meet. The blue sky shows how beautiful the day is and the floating clouds give the much needed shade I am sure all of the villagers in this kingdom needs as today is another market day. The sun shines bright and I just know that the followers of Light are thanking her for shining especially bright today. Even though I have no belief in any of that, I think science and just the sun for making it a beautiful day, hoping that my sisters will be able to have fun playing outside today. Knowing them, they would want to run around the streets and play tag or hide and seek and get lost in the day where there is nothing to worry about.

A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

Because Light and Darkness do not exist.

I walk around on the second floor where there are hundreds of book about anything and everything. Books about history and art are the ones that don’t catch my eyes but the ones that are about tales and fantasy do.

I look at all the books in the fantasy shelf and try to choose one. I can’t decide so I just close my eyes and grab a random one. Canine are most ladies the book title says.

I turn it over to read the back, but a male voice interrupts my reading. “That’s a good book,” the male voice says.

I look in the direction where the voice is coming from. I see the man with the white hair who is always with Orien, sitting on one of the chairs on the balcony.

“Sorry, I didn’t see you there. I was just grabbing a book and then heading back to my room to read,” I say to him.

“Don’t be sorry. Why don’t you come join me up here. We can read together.”

I hesitate a little before I will my foot to take a step to the staircase that leads to the balcony. The stairs creak underneath my feet as I make my way up to the man with the white hair. I make it to the top but stop in my tracks. He as about twenty books with him, how can he possibly have all this time to read them in one sitting?

The man with the white hair notices that I am staring at his book. He looks down at the one in his hands and then says, “Oh, this, I am doing some research to help my sister out. Please, come sit.” He gestures over to the chair across from him.

I take a seat and then proceed to ask, “Who is your sister? Does she not have access to books where she is from?”

The man’s eyebrows furrow and then realizes what he has said. “Oh, no, my sister is Orien. She should have told you.” He sees that my face is in shock. “She told you that I am her brother right?”

I shake my head in response and he curses under his breath. “She is going to kill me for tell you first.”

I still stare at him, not sure how to respond. He looks a little scared but then clears his throat and leans back into his chair.

“She told you my name at least, right?”

I shake my head.

“Of course she didn’t. My sister can be very narrow minded sometimes. Whenever there is something that she feels the need to get done at that very moment, nothing else goes through her mind until that task is done.” He leans forward with his hand out this time. “I’m Theon, Orien’s younger brother.”

I shake his hand and respond with, “Xavier.”

“Believe me, I know who you are. My sister has not been able to get her mind straight ever since you guys kissed the other night.”

Orien told her brother? I mean, I guess it makes sense. I told my friends after so why wouldn’t she be allowed to tell someone. But… her brother?

“So, Xavier, you have a taste for fantasy I see. I like the way you choose your books. Very…mysterious.” Theon smiles while looking me in the eyes.

Theon is nothing like his sister. He seems like the man who doesn’t seem to take anything serious, but I guess he doesn’t have to if all the decision making for the kingdom lies upon his sister. He probably gets to roam the castle and do whatever when the ladies aren’t swooning over him just to get some gold back to their families.

“There are so many good books in here, I couldn’t just choose one. So, I decided to go in it the best I knew how. Blindly.”

Theon chuckles and gives me a nod of approval. Then he puts his nose back into his book as if he is done talking. I lean over on my chair now, looking at the different books he is reading.

Religion and medicine. Those are the only two genres I can see in the stacks he has all around him.

“You said you are doing research?” I ask.

Theon doesn’t look up from his book but he nods slightly.

“What are you researching?”

“To see if there is anything I can do to save the people who have turned to Darkness.”

To Darkness?

“And your helping your sister do this?”

He nods again.

“Why doesn’t she do this herself?”

“She’s busy,” he states. His nose is still in the book in his hands.

“So, you actually believe in Light and Darkness?”

This questions gets his eyes to make contact with mine. “Of course I do. Don’t you?”

I shake my head, “I think it is just a stupid excuse for people to get praise when they do good deeds and to avoid punishment when they do bad deeds.”

“Huh, I don’t think I have ever heard someone say it out loud with such confidence. Didn’t your parents raise you on the Scripture of Light?”

“Yeah, so?”

“Huh, well, it was nice chatting with you but I have found what my sister needs. I will see you around.” Theon gets up from his chair and only grabs two books off of the piles. Before he descends on the steps, he turns around and looks are me. “Xavior, please promise me you will be careful who you talk to when it comes to your beliefs. You may never know what kind of people you are talking to.”

Before I have time to respond, he turns around and heads down the stairs. What could he have possibly meant when he said you never know what kind of people you are talking to. Does he mean that I would be in some sort of danger?

I think Theon is a little crazy.