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EVERLY
Day 5 in Atlantis
The room Gordon left me in yesterday was not gold. thank fuck. But it is opulent, to say the least. Darcy didn't come last night. A yellow woman did. When she stepped through the door, I tried to push past her. But it didn't work. Selkies with gold tridents pounced on me before I got my foot through the door. I managed to knock one out, but the others pushed me back into the room and locked me in. She wouldn't talk to me as she unloaded plates from her cart. She didn't even look at me when I asked what her name was. When she prepared to leave, several Selkies came into the room and stood guard as she squeezed past them. The poor girl looked so frightened as one grabbed her face and sneered at her. They laughed at me when I told them to leave her alone. I fucking hate Selkies.
The living space in my new room is bigger than the entire downstairs of my house, the bedroom is only a touch smaller, and the bathroom. Holy shit, the tub isn't just a bath, it's a miniature ocean. I stand above it, looking down onto the seabed, small fish and crustaceans mill around under the clear base. The deep sides are also clear, revealing more ocean. Several times I have to blink to make sure this isn't a dream. The gold taps are huge and shiny. The bleached wood floor looks brand new, everything in my new living quarters looks new.
"Everly," Darcy announces her presence as she pushes a wheeled cart into the living room, "It's time to eat, come before it gets cold." She calls to me. Finally, I drag my eyes from the tub and walk through the bedroom, where everything is a light shade of pink, and into the living room. Darcy perches on the edge of a cream, two-seater sofa and pours tea from a white and blue teapot. Her skin is less yellow now, but she still looks tired. "There you are. How was your morning with the Prince yesterday? I couldn't come last night, I had to tend to something. I trust my replacement was sufficient?" She asks as I stroll to the floor to ceiling window.
"Sure." I mumble. Looking out over the city, my heart aches. Rubbing the heel of my hand against my chest, I try to breathe through it. But the pain just grows. My legs buckle under me, and my knees hit the sparkling white floor, hard. "Argh!" I scream out as white-hot pain slices through me.
"My Queen? What is happening?" Darcy yells as she dashes towards me, "Oh, should I call the guard..." Just as she opens her mouth to call out, the pain stops as suddenly as it started.
"No! No, I'm fine. It wasn't the baby, it... it was my heart." I explain through panting breaths. When I look up, Darcy's face is green. "What?" I demand as she stares at me open-mouthed, "What Darcy? Speak!"
"Your Cupid." She mumbles, "He's been away from you too long. He...he. "
"Spit it out, Darcy!" I yell, frustration and anxiety eating at my insides.
"You have been gone too long!" She squeaks, "You have half his soul, and you're gone. He could have... become damned." Her voice gets quieter the more she speaks.
My mouth hangs open and my mind shuts down. Karl. Hunter. Fallen. Irredeemable. Half of Leyland's soul. "Darcy," I look into her eyes, "Call the guards. Pretend you're leaving. Now, Darcy!" I stand and grab the lamp from next to the bed and hide behind the door. I need to get to Leyland, before it's too late. She yells out and the door opens and a figure steps in, rushing forward, I hit him over the head with the lamp and watch as the light orange man slumps to the floor. "Come on Darcy!" I grab her hand and pull her with me. Pinning her against the wall, I peek my head around the door. All clear. I half drag her down the blinding white corridor, hoping like hell no one catches us. Her bare feet slap against the stone floor as we run faster, I wish I'd given her some shoes or at least some socks. Stopping at a crossroads, I turn to the woman-fish I've come to trust, "Which way, Dar?" I ask her as her whole body vibrates with nerves.
"Erm..." her eyes dart in every direction, just waiting for us to be caught any second.
"Focus, Darcy. Which way to the pod things?" I grip her shoulder and shake her a little, we don't have time for her to have a breakdown now.
"Th...th... tha.." She stammers.
"This way?" She nods slightly when I point left, so I yank her arm and jog down the darkest hall.
After what feels like hours, but it definitely wasn't, because I couldn't run that long before I was pregnant, so I can't now, we reach a huge roller door that screams air hanger. Letting go of Darcy, I press my hand over the pad on the wall but all it does is buzz.
"You try," I order Darcy, her expression has yet to change from abject fear, so I grab her wrist and press the palm of her hand against it too. Nothing. Shit a duck up its arse! "Okay, okay. Plan B. There wasn't a plan A, but who the fuck is counting. Dar, where else can we get out?" The pink woman blinks up at me wordlessly. Her huge eyes are glassy. She’s still shaking. I couldn't have befriended a badarse though, could I? Oh, no. The sound of boots pounding towards us makes me freeze. Shit, shit, shit. Turning in a circle, I look for a door. There! Across from us is a tiny door, like waist height door. I dash towards it, running back to grab Darcy, then slamming my shoulder into the door. We both fly through the air and land in a heap. At the last second, I kick my foot out and slam the door closed, just as I spot Selkie jog by. Fuck.
"My Queen?" Darcy looks up at me, her wheezing breath tickling my ear.
"Yes, Darcy?" I push myself off her, grunting when my ribs protest.
"That was close." She breathes. Yeah, no shit.
"Do you know where..." I don't get to finish my question, because the door is pushed open, it's bigger than the one we opened. It catches Darcy's foot and she slides across the floor as Gordon strolls into the room.
"I'm disappointed, sister. Surely you can do better than that?" He asks, an eyebrow raised and a smile playing on his lips.
Son of a nutcracker!
"Keeping you on your toes, Gordy," I say while pulling Darcy up off the floor.
"Come." He orders. As we step out, I notice the hall is packed with Selkie Elite.
"All this, for lil ole me? Talk about an overreaction." I grumble as we follow Gordon back to my pretty prison.
As he lifts his hand up to close the door, Gordon pauses looking down at me.
"Why do you fight against me, sister? You should be thrilled at the prospect of being our Queen." He frowns at me like he simply can't understand my problem.
"Jesus. I was kidnapped, I'm being held prisoner. Something is happening to one of my consorts, Gordon, please, let me go." I beg even though I know it won't do any good. There are two ways I get out of here. One, they kill me. Or two, well, I'm working on that. It's hard to think with this pressure in my chest knowing something is happening to Leyland because I'm not there. It’s killing me.
"I'm well aware," Gordon says before the door slips shut in my face.
"What do you mean?" I bang my fists against the door and scream at the top of my lungs as Darcy flops face-first onto the rug behind me. "Shit!" I spin and rush to her. "Darcy? Honey, please wake-up!" I shake her then turn her onto her back. "Tell me what's wrong, Dar?" She blinks, a second set of eyelids flick across her eyes. Okay, that's freaky. I've never seen her do that before. "Darcy?" I whisper while shaking her shoulder. All she does is stare up at the ceiling. Oh, fuck.