Re: The Mind Thief ~ By Nightowl ~ [Unfinished] *Ch. 11 added!*

by **Nightowl** 10/1/2009, 7:20 pm

Chapter Eleven
The Scorpio Family

A woman opened the door roughly and entered, a gown over her thick arm. She half-snarled at me to get up and wash in the basin of cold, cold water that I now noticed was in the far corner of the room. I did as I was told, and when finished, she told me to put the dress on. She dragged a brush through my damp hair until it was almost dry and sort of wavy. Then, she grabbed my arm in an iron grip as she led me out of the room.
I fingered the silky substance that comprised the dress as we walked. I hadn’t worn anything so nice for quite a while. It was a jade green color, and sort of velvety. Plain, but very beautiful. I wondered why I’d been told to put it on, and then remembered the Inspector.
I was mostly likely being taken to see him, I decided unhappily. At one point, I remember resisting the woman, but she only dragged me forwards. The walls of the castle gave off a chill that seemed worse than winter in some ways.
We came to a set of huge oaken doors that were flanked by a pair of armed guards. They swung the doors open, and we entered. The woman pushed me roughly forwards and left the room quickly. The doors shut heavily behind her.
The Inspector, and a man I had never seen before stood at the far end of the massive room looking at me coldly. They had the exact same yellow eyes, and looked like they could be father and son.
“Ah. So here you are,” the Inspector said softly. He paced towards me, but I couldn’t move, remembering my dream about the knife and the cliff. “Little miss runaway.”
The boy followed him, a smile touching the corners of his mouth.
“This is Airrys, my son. And me? Yes, you should know who I am as well. I’m Damien Scorpio, the king’s first advisor.”
I barely heard his next sentence, as I remembered the scene in the alley.
“He thinks there’s another one of them Gifteds ‘round here some’ere. The daughter of that man that escaped –“
“When was zat?”
“Coupl ‘a’ years ago.”
“Right. We gotta find her ‘course. He wants ‘er for Airrys, ya knoow.”
“I know, you dolt!”
I started to tremble with shock. “You…” I began, but stopped and didn’t continue.
“Yes… me,” Airrys spoke for the first time, stepping away from his father and closer to me. The smile still whispered at the corner of his lips, except up close it looked more devious and nasty.
I backed away slightly from him, still shaking. But he followed.
“Now, now, don’t be scared of me,” he said in a low voice. “Didn’t they tell you? Once you’ve discovered what you really are, you’re to marry me and become queen of the world.”
“No,” I hissed, too horrified by that to really notice what he’d said in the first part of his sentence. “You… never.” I shook my head defiantly.
I leaned back against the wall. The solidness of it comforted me. The man advanced closer. I didn’t know why I hated him so much already, but he gave off a nasty aura, like he was some sort of creepy, slimy monster. Impulsively, I raked my fingers across his left cheek, as hard as I possibly could. He stumbled back, falling to the ground with a painful thud.
My fingers clenched and unclenched restlessly as I watched both father and son. They glanced at one another, almost cheerfully, and then Damien spoke.
“You will do as I say,” the man said quietly, his tone dangerously soft. “Or your friends will be executed, one by one. And the only way you can stop that from happening is to surrender completely.”
My mind whirled. Ruby. Luke. Toby. Mer. Lilly. They’ll kill them all, but should I give in? These people are evil. Crazy and utterly evil. I can’t let them gain complete power.
“Why don’t you return to your room to think about that?” Airrys snarled at me, catching hold of my arm before I could blink. “Or better yet, why not think about it now?”
I felt an intense pressure build up in my mind, as if someone was trying to shatter it with pure force. It was not a physical force however, for it pressed viciously on my emotions, trying to bend them towards its will. The maker of the force had a distinctly nasty quality to it, whatever it was. I swayed dizzily as I tried to resist it. The pressure stopped after a few moments. I saw a quick glance pass between the two men for a second, and then Airrys smiled at me.
“That was only an example, dearest. I can do much more than that to you, so don’t push your luck.”
The same woman who had brought me the dress earlier entered and half dragged me back to my little room. She shoved me inside and locked the door, leaving me to ponder in silence.