A War and A Wedding: The Kiss

1

On the other side of the door connecting the Tower Lands with the earthly realm, Ellyce Jensen shivered. The events of the day were still playing on repeat in her head, and all she wanted was for the pain to stop. Benson had betrayed her once again. But this time, there was nothing he or anyone else could do to make things right.

Until today, she had believed there was a reasonable explanation for everything that had been happening to them—a higher purpose or calling that only the two of them could fulfill.

But now? Well, now she didn’t know.

Benson was supposed to be here. With her. And they were supposed to be finding the keys to the realms and working together to unite the lands. Instead, he had chosen Sydney. He had walked right out of Yarah’s protective bubble and straight into her arms. She hated Sydney for making him do it. For making him believe he wanted to be with her and that she was pregnant with his baby.

But what if it was true? What if Benson was the father?

Was he really at fault?

Before all this had begun, he’d not been thinking clearly, and he certainly hadn’t been acting like himself.

Ellyce shivered again as a forming thought rose in her mind. She tried stifling it, but it wouldn’t be dismissed so easily. Benson had made it painfully clear that he wasn’t her bashert, so why was she having such a hard time with this? Was it because she loved him? Or was she upset because he had walked away from her and had chosen Sydney? And what about uniting the realms? Was that even possible now?

She shook the invasive thoughts away. No, she refused to believe that Benson had abandoned her. He was up to something. She didn’t know what he was doing, but there was no way he would do this to her voluntarily. Benson may have been a lot of things, but he wasn’t a traitor or a coward, and he wouldn’t ever leave her alone to fend for herself.

Except, that’s exactly what he had done three months before all this had started.

Ellyce drew in a deep breath of frigid air and coughed. The crisp, metal-tinged air made her lungs hurt; she had no idea it would be so cold here. Thomas’ books made no mention of it being wintertime in the Tower Lands. Nor had his books mentioned the creepy, yet oddly catchy song that was being piped across the land through some above-ground communications system.

Recalling the map in the Underground Hub, she knew it had been snowing in Sart, the Land of the Red Sleepers, but Sart was the fifth realm. Not the third. Perhaps this was part of what Thomas had meant by seasons and worlds being out of time.

But what if Thomas had been wrong about the prophecies? Or what if he had miscalculated or misunderstood the King’s directives? What if she had? Had she been willing to follow along so blindly just because her dad asked her to?

Ellyce rubbed her arms to keep warm. There was no use belaboring all the what ifs and unknowns. She was here, and she couldn’t go back—at least not until morning when the Others realized she was missing. Before crossing over the threshold connecting her world to this one, she had left Penelope in the tunnels outside the door. That raggedy stuffed animal would serve as a marker to indicate where she had gone, but right now, she wished she had her here. Ellyce had long ago stopped playing with her, but when things got stressful, it was comforting to know that Penelope was around and within reach.

The falling snow was heavy and wet, and it had started to clump on the ground and the surrounding shrubs. Ellyce knew that without proper clothing, she wouldn’t survive for long in these elements. But thankfully, her core body temperature ran a little hotter than most, and she had dressed for the cooler nighttime temperatures of the tunnels. The heavy-duty flannel would keep the cold at bay for maybe thirty minutes, so whatever she was going to do, she needed to do it now. If she succumbed to hypothermia, it wouldn’t matter if the Others knew where she was or not.

Ellyce followed the poured concrete slabs that had been fashioned into walkways alongside the linear, hard-lined green shrubs lining the courtyard labyrinth’s concrete walls. The falling snow sizzled and melted on the black and red lava rocks outlining the concrete blocks. The rocks had apparently been heated by a hot day’s sun, and the effect created a heavy fog that covered the lower part of the land and dissipated as it rose toward the sky. In the distance, a sleek black and neon blue lighted monstrosity hung in the center of the land.

Except for the Great Pyramid at Giza, all of earth’s pyramids were built as tombs for the kings of the land. But this one was upside down, and it was evident from its positioning that the inverted structure was the land’s most prized possession. But was it only a monument? Or did this pyramid serve a purpose?

Maybe it was an altar to Rupert’s desire to be king? Maybe it was his headquarters? For all she knew, maybe the pyramid was Rupert’s home. The place where the Howling Man hung his demonic hat when he wasn’t terrorizing the inhabitants of Earth. Whatever the building was designed for, she was mesmerized by the pyramid’s eerie glow that beckoned her forth, begging her to find her way inside. But without knowing its purpose, Ellyce couldn’t chance going there right now. She needed to find shelter before her time ran out.

Making her way down the path, she came across a series of gates that led to several cul-de-sacs of planned housing. Outside the gates of one of these areas, fifteen-foot hooded black figures stood guard, protecting the housing development from the courtyard. Tall, black, waxy succulents stood upright in the pitchers and vases the stony beings carried. Under the right conditions, she might have mistaken the rising mist surrounding their faces as exhaled vapors of breath from living beings. But with the exception of their piercing sapphire blue eyes, these guards were as cold, sterile, and silent as the snow falling on the land around her. Ellyce moved closer to the gate, considering that the upside of the snow was that she probably didn’t need to be concerned about snakes and other furry creatures roaming the land.

On the other side of the rustic wood and black metal gate, the courtyard trail widened as rows of prefab modern concrete and glass houses lined the street. Each house had a neon purple lighted pool in its backyard and the harsh blue glow of a television set in the front window. Ellyce exhaled and picked up the pace. At least the Tower Lands weren’t as primitive as the previous two lands had been.

The chill began to settle in her bones. She didn’t know what the temperature was, but she was beginning to worry that it was much colder than she thought. Crossing over to the opposite side of the street, she could see that the first three houses were all occupied. But there was one house, in the bend of the cul-de-sac road that was set off from the others, where the blue glow of a television was not present. Ellyce quickly made her way along the driveway to the back of the house, stalking her way through the shadows. She needed to make sure the house was empty.

It was. Or, at least, it appeared to be.

She wasn’t thinking clearly at the moment, and her head felt foggy. Her thoughts seemed to be echoing inside her head, though she wasn’t saying anything. Drifting in and out, she realized she shouldn’t have come here on her own. If the Others didn’t dare journey into this land, why did she think she could?

Because she thought she could make a difference here in this wretched, awful land, that’s why.

Ellyce stepped onto the back patio. She needed to take a break. She needed to sit down on one of the concrete chairs around the fire pit and collect her thoughts. But she shouldn’t sit. That would be dangerous. She forced herself to keep standing. Leaning against the only wall that wasn’t concrete, Ellyce jiggled the backdoor handle to see if it would open.

Just her luck, it was locked.

Ellyce slipped her backpack off her shoulders and set it on the ground. She’d have to break in. Blowing on her hands, she tried warming them enough to make them work, but it did little to ease her stiff fingers. As she reached inside to grab the small pocket screwdriver she always carried in her backpack, a loud siren blared from several of the houses on the block.

Ellyce jumped, sending the contents of her pack scattering across the ground. She worked quickly to pick her stuff up, brushing away the snow as she went. She knew she needed to be careful, not only in case someone came around, but because a blast of adrenaline probably wouldn’t help her in the fight against hypothermia. A sudden surge of blood rushing through her veins might even make it worse.

From where she stood in the backyard, she could just barely make out the television screen through the partially curtained window of the house next door. Ellyce inched closer to the other house’s kitchen window as an emergency bulletin flashed its warning across the bare white wall.

All Tower Land citizens were urged to remain inside their houses until further notice. And then her picture and name flashed across the bottom of the screen. Seconds later, the word Dangerous appeared, along with an offer of a reward for information leading to her whereabouts, or for her successful capture. The oddest part of the bulletin was the command to tell a little birdie if anyone in the realm saw something strange.

Tell a birdie? What did that mean? As Ellyce walked back to the empty house, she glanced over her shoulder to the neighbor’s house. Some futuristic comedy was playing. Maybe she was hallucinating? She looked up at the night sky. It was starless and cloudy. And not a bird in sight. Maybe the cold was taking over her body, and she had imagined the whole thing. Or maybe she was slowly dying here in the Tower Lands.

Tell a birdie, she repeated. What did that mean?

Ellyce shook the thought from her mind. Trying to decipher the bulletin wasn’t her biggest problem at the moment. Besides the threat of succumbing to hypothermia, it was clear that Rupert knew she was here, and now, so did the rest of the people in this land. She had to get inside and get warm.

Unzipping the backpack’s inside pocket, Ellyce fumbled around for the bobby pin she had dropped in there before Thomas had disappeared. Securing the pin in her hand, she popped the garage door lock pins and slipped inside. Breaking into houses was a trick she had learned from her dad many years ago, and she was pleasantly surprised to see that she hadn’t lost her touch. She hadn’t learned the art of breaking and entering for just any reason; Thomas had taught her how to pop a lock because she kept forgetting her key, and he was worried that someone would call child protective services if they found her standing outside her house waiting for him to get home.

He said kids whose parents were not home after school had been called Latch Key Kids, but with this generation of parents, those same kids would have been called abused. And that was something Thomas didn’t need in his life. He was right, and standing there in the moderately warm garage, she decided lock picking was a handy skill to possess.

Ellyce looked around the room, but the bare shelving didn’t give her much hope that she’d find anything warm tucked away in the cabinets. Each cabinet was as bare boned as the last, and when she had opened the last of them, she sighed and resigned herself to the fact that she would have to go inside.

Ellyce tugged at the corner of her lip with her teeth. With one more twist of the bobby pin, she popped the lock on the interior door, hoping that in this house she would be safe from Rupert, the Tower Landers, and the elements. And as she slipped inside, she also prayed she didn’t trip a silent alarm.

2

The quiet house amplified the sound of Ellyce’s chattering teeth. She was much colder than she thought, and she needed to get out of her wet clothes. But the house had clearly not been occupied recently, and she was less than hopeful she’d find anything to wear.

Tiptoeing across the cold concrete flooring, she moved through the open kitchen and dining room to the living room, trying to avoid the windows as best she could. Though the house had seemingly been empty for some time, it didn’t have a stale, dusty smell, or feel as though it had been completely abandoned.

Ellyce stood behind the wide, white support pillar in the middle of the room next to the stairs and looked around, trying to get a feel for the people who lived here. Stylized gold decorations sat atop a leather and metal ottoman that doubled as a coffee table in front of a white L-shaped soft leather couch. An area rug under the table provided some warmth and a pop of color to an otherwise sterile room, and overhead, three metal lights shaped like starbursts hung in the space above her.

On the wall leading upstairs, cool-colored abstract art hung against white walls in sharp contrast to the wood and wrought iron staircase. Ellyce grasped the cold metal hand railing and stepped forward, praying the house was truly abandoned. She was so cold and not in a position to fight anyone. And someone being in this house was a surprise she didn’t need or want.

The upstairs landing opened up to a large sitting room that overlooked the living room below. On her left, a row of windows lined the exterior wall, and on the opposite side, a closed door greeted her. As slowly and quietly as she could, Ellyce crept toward the door and turned the handle.

The room was empty and judging by the twin-sized wooden platform bed and small boxy dresser, this room was either a guest room or a child’s bedroom, but she didn’t know which because it was devoid of color and any signs of life. Ellyce opened the closet door, hoping she’d find something to wear, but with the exception of one wire hanger, the closet was empty.

Cold and feeling lethargic, Ellyce rested against the wall for a minute before she gathered the courage to venture into the next room. It was about the same size as the first one, and set up in a similar fashion, but behind the platform bed, someone had painted the wall a cheery, pleasing yellow, and the color gave the room some life.

Ellyce’s gaze focused in on the bedside tables next to the platform bed. On each side were a pair of glass tear-shaped lamps. In front of the one furthest from her was a small silver picture frame. She walked around the bed to get a better look. Grabbing the photo, she studied it. It was her—as a young girl, taken at her grandma’s house the summer she found herself locked in the cellar. Why was there a picture of her in an abandoned house in the Tower Lands? Her eyes shifted to the boy in the background of the picture. Who was he? And why was he so intently studying her? An uneasy feeling washed over her.

Ellyce set the picture back into its place on the table and tried pushing the growing fog from her mind. This was too weird. She’d never been to this place before, yet, it felt strangely familiar, and even, dare she say, comfortable.

With each step she took, her damp pants were chafing against the inside of her thighs. It was an irritating feeling. She wanted nothing more than to be out of these clothes and warm and dry, but there was nothing in the dresser drawers or the closet. Not even a hanger.

Ellyce forced herself to push on. As she made her way into the final room, her eyes quickly spied the gray sweatpants and matching sweatshirt neatly folded on the corner of the bed. Had she not known any better, she would have sworn they’d been set aside just for her. But that couldn’t have been true. This was the Tower Lands, and there was no one here who was interested in being her friend. Not when she was a danger to them all—at least according to what the bulletin had said.

Ellyce pushed the door open and paused, listening for sounds of life. As far as she could tell, she was alone, though this room was more put together and had a more lived-in feel than the other rooms—or the rest of the house for that matter.

Long gray curtains hung from the ceiling and did their best to conceal the floor-to-ceiling windows that ran along the length of the room. In the center of the room, a king-sized boxy bed sat over a plush, blush colored area rug. The rug complemented the curtains and the gray fabric panels lining the wall behind the bed. Two funnel-shaped drop lamps hung from the ceiling on both sides of the bed, pulling the room together.

Ellyce grabbed the clothes from the corner of the bed and shivered as she turned to face the door leading into the master bathroom. Next to the door, a poster-sized, colorized Andy Warhol canvas of her face, complete with piercing hazel eyes, stared back at her.

Whose house had she wandered into?

Ellyce quickly walked past the print, peeling her wet clothes off as she went. In the bathroom, she stripped down to her bra and underwear and tossed her black Converse tennis shoes aside. The shoes stood out against the white marbled flooring. The modern bathroom was larger than her bedroom had been in Hayvenhurst. On the wall opposite of where she stood, another floor-to-ceiling window perfectly framed the inverted pyramid shining in the distance. In front of the window a sleek, white leather fainting couch with a gray and blush knit blanket resting on the corner of the chair sat in silence, waiting to be used.

Ellyce caught her reflection in one of the five oval mirrors in the room. Over the gun-smoke gray mirrored vanity, the mirrors hung from the ceiling like pocket watches suspended in air. Her face was pale and sickly looking, and she couldn’t tell whether her lips were truly blue from the cold that had set in, or if the coloring was a trick of the blue lighting shining into the room from the pyramid outside.

In the mirror’s reflection, she noticed a large teacup-styled bathtub behind her. The tub was secluded by three walls, and Ellyce rushed over and flipped on the handle. Water gushed from the waterfall faucet, and within seconds, the room had begun to fill with warm, humid steam.

Standing next to the tub, Ellyce rubbed her arms and bounced up and down a little, waiting for the water to reach an acceptable level. When she could no longer stand being patient, she leaned forward and dipped her toe into the welcoming water.

Stop, Kasdaye growled, pulling her from the tub.

Startled, she jerked away from him. What are you doing here? she asked through chattering teeth as she wrapped the blanket from the fainting couch around her body.

Kasdaye turned off the water and opened the bathroom door. Saving your life, I suppose. He stepped toward her. Steam and hot water are the worst things you can do to get warm. With his palm upright, Kasdaye moved closer to her as a small flame danced across his skin. Sticking your foot into direct heat can give you a heart-attack. But adrenaline’s not good, either. You need indirect heat. Or skin-to-skin heat.

Ellyce glared at him. That’s not happening.

Kasdaye moved slowly. I figured. So this is the next best thing. His eyes silently pled with her to believe him.

Ellyce turned away and shook her head. "Stop it. You’re