Tower of Memories

Russel was finally back. It was almost curfew. So late Hope had already returned and Jarec updated the map with the smidge of progress it'd made. Whatever he was doing, I was staying out of it.

Celica, however, wasn't.

"It's been all day, did you at least get a second date this time?" She was asking as we waited.

"Nah. He wasn't really my type anyway," Russel responded as a small orange ram skull pushed the boxes towards where he was sitting.

"Have you had a single second date since you got here?" Jarec asked.

"Not yet, but maybe someday." Russel didn't sound that bothered by it. Like maybe this amount of romantic luck wasn't new.

I think Fethris was judging a tiny bit. He wasn't saying anything about it, but there was an eyebrow raise that spoke volumes. Russel's love life was his own problem. Not that he seemed to think it was a problem. Despite getting in two duels about it.

But if this was what it took for him to find what he wanted, I was staying out of it. If true love was in the cards for him, he needed to find his own way there.

Russel opened the first box. The brown one. He looked inside and started to laugh. "I feel like all of you except Serafina are about to be very confused."

Oh boy, a reference only I was going to get. I liked that far better than the other way around.

Then he pulled it out of the box.

I started to laugh as soon as I saw it.

It was a notebook. With a familiar face on the front that looked like it was screaming in pain. The gross brown color of fake tanned human skin. The back had boils and veins and the whole thing was covered in wrinkles and ridges. The pages inside looked yellow from an attempt to make it far, far older.

Yeah. I knew what this was.

"That's…not real, right?" Jarec asked. He sounded so genuinely grossed out it just made me laugh harder.

Russel chuckled as he turned the notebook in his hands to inspect it. "No of course not. It's from a movie," he said with a grin on his face.

"When do you think one of them will tell the rest of us what a movie is?" Celica complained to Fethris.

"I don't know. I keep hoping one of them will get tired of us being lost," he mumbled back to her.

Was today a good day for mercy? I didn't think so.

"My mom's got a great sense of humor about all of this," Russel said with a smile.

"That's sweet of her," I commented.

"Dad still seems to think she's going to run scared. Even though she treats his summon like an over-sized puppy," Russel rolled his eyes as he spoke.

I couldn't recall seeing Mom's summon or what Dad's reaction to it was. Regardless of its shape though, I could probably guess his reaction.

We'd never had pets, but people took their dogs for walks on some of our favorite trails and the dogs always wanted Dad to pet them.

If you're going to knowingly marry someone with magical powers you'd have to be at least okay with some stuff. If not fully embrace it. Dad would probably embrace it, but Mom's general lack of magic use was never about him.

Russel put the notebook aside then grabbed the smallest box. He weighed it in his hands for a moment before opening it. A small amount of orange light tore through the tape without any issue.

Russel froze when he saw what was inside. Reaching inside with a strange nervous energy.

"What's wrong?" Jarec asked.

"An old Kinglesy tradition," Russel explained. He said it so flatly, like the shock had drained all emotion from him. He pulled out a small box, cardboard covered in what looked like velvet. The outside was a deep blue with intricate gold decorations. He opened it slowly, like he was worried about what was inside.

He picked up what was in the box and held it between his thumb and forefinger. It was a ring. With a thick gold metal band and a large deep blue opaque stone with golden yellow veins running through it. Lapis Lazuli?

If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

Russel's hand was shaking as he held it up.

He stared at it for a moment before putting it back in the box and slamming the lid shut and pushing the box away. He was treating it like a snake that had just bit him. Or maybe a nightmare come true.

Jarec spoke first, "Russel, was that-"

"Yep. Don't know what Dad's thinking. Not dealing with that right now." Russel was thoroughly spooked by that simple ring. But clearly it meant far more to him than me.

"Okay," Jarec said as he raised his hands.

So it was something far more meaningful than just a ring. Whatever its meaning, Jarec recognized it right away.

The box was the same color. Colors were almost more important than names. The blue and gold were important. Russel must have seen that ring before, if he knew what it was right away.

Older ring that was very significant. A tradition other covens would see and understand.

Was it something to do with heirs? Was Russel the heir to the Kingsley coven? But that didn't make complete sense either. If it was something he knew, he wouldn't have looked so surprised to see the ring.

So he didn't know, and he didn't look happy to see it.

His mother was human. He was living in California. While his situation may not be as extreme as mine, there was probably enough in common for me to make a guess or two.

Maybe he was worried about the reaction of the rest of the coven.

Perhaps we should talk one-on-one. If he wanted to.

He grabbed the last box with all the energy of someone desperate to not talk about what just happened.

He ripped the box open without the use of magic. His hands were still shaking a bit. He relaxed as soon as he saw it. He lifted it up for everyone to see. It was a wooden puppet of a human skeleton. Tied up with strings attached to two pieces of wood in an X shape.

An orange skeletal hand with elongated fingers lifted the X and the puppet stood.

It was far from elegant, but Russel seemed to like it. Maybe he just needed a bit more practice.

(*********)

When I woke the next morning, there was a warm liquid on my face.

I touched it and when I pulled my fingers away I saw dark liquid.

A bloody nose. It was something that just kind of happened to me sometimes. It wasn't the most common, but it was nothing to worry about.

It was still a mess though.

It wasn't the first time I had to quickly move down the stairs from my room, through the main room, and down below to where the bathroom was. It wasn't even the first time I did it while trying to not get blood everywhere.

They never lasted long, but if I came downstairs to greet everyone with blood on my face I would never hear the end of it. They were already too worried about me as it was. I didn't want to traumatize them forever.

And getting blood everywhere in the tower would just be gross and rude.

I didn't bother closing the bathroom door all the way. I was just here to wash my face and hands.

I didn't think much about it when I heard footsteps. This was Dragon Tower. Footsteps was the least concerning thing. Even if they were getting louder.

Then someone knocked on the door.

"Give me a few more seconds," I told whoever it was. Could have been M or an Echo or one of the others. It was too late, or maybe early, for an emergency.

"You okay?"

It was Russel.

"I'm fine," I told him. I wiped the water off my face and opened the door wider.

I didn't see Russel at first, then I realized he was leaning with his back on the wall next to the door. Facing away from me entirely.

"I heard you stomping around up in my room," he said.

"Sorry, just trying to not get blood everywhere," I explained as I stepped out of the girl's bathroom. Russel was there next to the door.

"Blood?" Russel asked, concerned enough to justify me not telling anyone. But not giving him an explanation would just make it worse.

"I get nosebleeds, nothing to worry about."

"In middle of the night. While sleeping." He sounded so skeptical.

"It's always been something. They never last long and they aren't usually a big deal. It's already stopped, just washing up."

"I appreciate you not giving us a heart attack in the morning."

"But seriously, it's nothing to worry about."

"You say that, but your eyes are glowing again. And this time, so is your blood."

They were? I hadn't bothered looking in the mirror. It wouldn't be surprising, that was all too common with me. The blood thing wasn't even new. I looked down to see faint bits of pink on my hands where blood had been.

"They do that though. Nothing to worry about."

"The more you try to say that, the less it sounds true."

"My script needs updating and I don't know what else to say," I admitted. That was probably too honest of a response, but it was still dark and so I could be forgiven.

"Script," Russel repeated. I hated the way he enunciated it. Like he was pondering a puzzle. "So I was right."

"I have no idea what you're talking about." I was lying, I had a really good idea what he meant. But I wasn't going to say it first. I wanted him to admit it first.

"Are you mad at me? For telling them?"

"Depends on what you told them."

"Oof," he said it like I'd hit him. I wasn't even that upset, I mostly just wanted details.

"Just tell me what happened, I'm sure I'm imagining something far worse than whatever conversation you all had."

"I didn't tell them, I was talking to Jarec and asked. I wasn't sure, so I talked about the possibility with him. I realized it was too late when he asked me what neurodivergent meant."

"Does it change anything, if you're right?"

"No. You're still our leader and friend. All it tells me is how to make this easier for you."

"Dragon Tower has been a lot easier on me than Pixie was. It was so oppressively loud. I can breathe here."

"None of us want to leave, but letting something happen to you would be just as bad."

"No one's 'letting' anyone do anything to me. You're all doing everything you can and so am I. I don't think 'letting' is the right word if we're fighting tooth and nail for it."

"But if something still happens, does it make a difference?"

"I think so. Fighting your hardest and losing is better than not fighting at all. And we don't know that we're going to lose yet."

"Sacrificing yourself so we can fight another day is not something I want to see."

"I have no intention of doing that. If I have to fight I'm taking the other guy with me, at the minimum."

"Don't go anywhere to take someone with you, undead or not."

"I'll do my best. I've been working on it and will keep working on it. I'll be stronger, maybe even strong enough that you don't need to worry about me."

"I don't think we can avoid worrying about you. No offense but…" he stopped as he tried to figure out how to word it.

"I'm the weakest one here, I know."

"Not weak, just…"

"It's okay Russel. I know the truth. I'm probably never going to be as capable as the rest of you, and that's okay. I don't need to beat you. I need to beat a wraith, that's a lot easier."

"It is, especially when separated from its master. But that doesn't make it easy."

"I'm aware. But let's not talk about this like it's set in stone. For all we know there's still ways out of this. And maybe we'll find them."

"Assuming there's time."

"There's always time, it's about how you use it."