Chapter 1. The Last Escape
It felt like late evening had enveloped everything around me like a thick cocoon on the other side of the window. And a park alley starting from the large metal gates and going all the way to the porch of this creepy castle with peaked towers; and a fountain with a stone gargoyle, which seemed to mock me, moving subtly as soon as I started to turn away from the window; and rare benches, unoccupied by anyone at this either late or early hour.
But all this simply could not happen!
Exactly twenty minutes ago, in the light of day, my mother and I entered the Ashwool city library, but it was as if we left it in the dead of night. The irritating light of the tall wrought-iron lamps made it possible to see a completely different long street with ancient Victorian houses instead of modern, barely rebuilt townhouses.
These buildings seem to have ended up here by accident. They seemed to come from another era. However, after just a few minutes of walking to the gates of the Midnight Academy, I realized that it was my mother and I who came from another era. Even, probably, from another world. Because in our world, carriages trimmed with carved wood have not been used for their intended purpose for a long time. Yes, I only saw these in photos on the Internet when I was writing another boring history report at school.
The clothes of the passers-by we met were also notable. A kind of nuclear mixture between modernity and the Middle Ages. I, in my denim overalls and white sneakers that matched the color of my T-shirt, looked at least strange against the background of women in baggy floor-length dresses or ladies who chose tight leather pants, high boots, a black corset and a simple raincoat with a deep hood for a late walk.
It seemed to me that I was simply dreaming! But I definitely didn't sleep. She stood in the gloomy darkened corridor of the academy on the second floor. Opposite me was a window, and to the left was one of the massive doors. Behind it was the office of the head of this educational institution.
Trying to isolate something important, she brazenly eavesdropped on her conversation with her mother. I honestly tried to get information in another way, but my mother always avoided uncomfortable questions, and more often she simply remained silent or angry, instantly turning the topic to something pressing: the mess in my room, bad grades at school, or my crappy diet.
Actually, school ended last year. I learned to clean the rooms I lived in myself. And I switched to proper nutrition, with an abundance of vegetables, berries, herbs and fruits. But she still didn’t answer my questions.
More precisely, to the same question.
– Madame Pelisey, I ask you. “Be lenient,” said my mother. It was the first time I heard such a soft tone from her. “I ask you to enroll Sally in the Midnighter Academy.”
“Aletra, are you completely crazy?” It's the middle of the year, where will I enroll her?!
The second voice seemed heavy, strong, stern to me. I had not yet seen what the director of this educational institution looked like, but I already imagined a kind of iron lady with a constant hint of a slap in the head in her gaze. Such people could equally manage either some large university or an entire army corps.
“Madame Pelisey, but you know everything,” stubbornness was now clearly evident in the mother’s voice.
By the way, I inherited it from her, although she most often denied this fact.
Silence reigned in the office. For a moment I even thought that it was my hearing problems that had begun, but in addition to the office of the head of the educational institution, there was also a small secretarial room behind the door. I heard the secretary frantically hammering on the keys, as if she were typing right under my ear.
There was a heavy sigh. It clearly didn't belong to my mother.
“I warned you, Aletra.” I tried to dissuade you in this very office, but you didn’t want to hear me.
– I remember.
Mom’s voice was now barely audible, and I just wanted to rush into them and shout: “What did they warn about? What were you dissuaded from? – but I continued to stand in the same place, practically sticking my back to the wall.
The gaze kept returning to the window. It was semicircular, slightly elongated, with a frame made of ebony. At the very top there was a gloomy stained glass window: the full-sided moon cast an ominous shadow, and in the foreground, with inky wings outstretched, a bat seemed to be hovering in flight.
I caught my reflection in the glass. Dark brown hair, partially pinned at the back of her head, flowed down her shoulders to her chest. The blue eyes seemed unusually frightened, open so wide that the expressive lines of thick eyelashes were visible in the shadows.
She bit her lips nervously, hiding her hands behind her back. Having joined her fingers in a lock, she slightly pushed this structure away from the wall and again joined it, trying to hear something else.
And the conversation in the office continued. My heart sank as soon as my mother’s confession sounded:
– Eighteen years ago it seemed to me that I could cope with anything, with any adversity. But now, having matured, I understand how naive I was then. The older Sally got, the more persistently we were pursued. He…
The heart was beating fast and fast. The pulse was like a drumbeat in my ears. I wanted mom to continue. Finally, I dropped at least a few words about who exactly had been pursuing her all my life; because of whom we had to move twice a year, or even more often, leaving behind almost everything that we were just starting to have.
Your lips are dry, your fingers are clenched into fists…
“I just can’t do it anymore, Madame Pelisay.” “I’m very tired,” my mother complained, and I exhaled in disappointment.
But the next second she pulled herself up again with her whole body.
– Can we speak frankly? – the director of the academy suddenly asked.
I was on the verge of ungracefully placing my ear directly against the massive, heavy door of blackened wood. Still, no one appeared in the corridor – it was empty and quiet, like in a morgue, but I was afraid that the secretary would decide to go out into the corridor on some very important matter, and here I stood, my ears open.
“We can,” the parent answered confidently and suddenly added: “Sally has no abilities.”
– How can he not? Nothing at all? – Madame Pelisey said dumbfounded, as if this fact surprised her much more than our appearance on the threshold of her academy.
“No,” my mother answered clearly.
But Madame didn’t seem to believe her. And that's right actually.
– No sensitive hearing? No sharp vision? No speed? Dexterity? Strength? – she listed, pronouncing each next word louder. – Nothing at all?
– At all.
The director of the Midnighter Academy, judging by her tone, was taken aback:
“Then how do you want your daughter to study here?” What will she learn if she has no even a hint of ability?
There's nothing worse than waiting. During the expressive pause, my heart managed to beat against my chest three times.
“Madame Pelisay, I am not asking you to teach her to be a Midnighter.” Knowing that the Dark Side exists will be enough for her. In our case, forewarned means forearmed. “I understand that my request may seem arrogant to you, but I really have no other options,” my mother chaotically and hastily made excuses, as if she was afraid that they would interrupt her and throw her out, which I personally would be very happy about. “I ask that you hide Sally in your academy.”
Silence reigned again in the office behind the wall.
I lived all my eighteen years in an absolutely normal, ordinary world. But the first sign that all was not well with me appeared four years ago. Then I was terribly afraid of the changes that came to me overnight.
I was a late bloomer. While my next new classmates were busy dating guys, going on dates in the evenings, I was poring over textbooks, because they were the only ones who were my constant friends on all our trips.
And the guys didn’t really notice me. Childishly angular, without outstanding forms, thin and silent. They only needed me if they needed to copy homework, and then they quickly forgot about me.
My transformation happened right on the road. Having rented a new car using fake documents, we had already been driving to the other side of the continent for several weeks when I began to notice the first minor changes in myself. The look became different. The shape of the face seemed different, and then the body slowly but surely underwent tangible metamorphoses.
I could boast of a figure no worse than my mother’s, and, probably, it was for this reason that I suddenly gained popularity at the new school. Now every second person wanted to make friends with me, and the guys kept asking me to go out after class.
But it was impossible. My mother watched like a hawk to ensure that I strictly followed her stupid rules. For example, we had a strict ban on creating accounts on social networks and accessing the Internet not in Incognito mode. I shouldn’t have invited any of my classmates to visit us, even if it was required for a joint project and threatened with failure for the assignment. I couldn’t have friends at all and every time we moved, I cut off absolutely all contacts. I was prohibited from personal communication with anyone, much less meeting outside of school hours.
However, my mother could not keep an eye on me at school.
It was there that I first felt that my hearing had changed. When concentrating on one thing – for example, a raven flying in the sky – I could hear the flapping of its wings. Or the conversation of classmates on the other side of the street when they were discussing someone too frivolously. Or…
In fact, I could clearly hear anything within a radius of about thirty meters, but this required real concentration, without being distracted by anything else for a split second. It was impossible to eat and listen at the same time, or walk and listen, but I rejoiced even at this advantage. It kept me from doing something stupid in high school, when I briefly became rebellious.
Pretending that I diligently went to bed, I ran out of the house through the window to go to the next party thrown by one of my classmates. Crazy dancing, loud music, nasty colorful cocktails and secluded corners where guys took their girls to kiss for a long time.
And not just kissing. Out of curiosity, having overheard the intentions of my “boyfriend” in his conversation with a friend, I left that last party for me before everyone else. Because she couldn't afford to fall so low. Yes, I didn’t want to – it’s not like that and not with him. I hoped that one day I would meet the one worthy, but with our nomadic life, even casual acquaintances were not possible.
When someone spoke to me on the street or in a shopping center, I silently turned around and walked in the opposite direction, even if the guy turned out to be handsome as God and had a damn incredible voice.
Any of the random passers-by could turn out to be the wolf from Little Red Riding Hood, who at all costs wanted to devour both the grandmother and granddaughter.
I discovered my second change in myself. I became curious if I had any other powers along with the superheroes from movies and comics. I tried to fly, I tried to jump far, run fast and even turn into a werewolf, which scared the neighbor’s ginger cat, who came for a walk on our balcony in another rented apartment.
So, through trial and error, I realized that my vision is still much better than that of completely healthy people. Where others only saw the big picture, I could see the smallest details. I looked at the number of the approaching bus about a hundred meters before it stopped, and if in the house opposite there was a woman reading in a chair by the window, then I confidently saw the text on the pages.
But this also required narrow concentration, which was not at all easy. I got tired too quickly and could fall asleep for several hours right in broad daylight. At the same time, my periodic slipping into a coma was not at all surprising to my mother. She was often busy working, staying at her laptop until late at night, or creating yet another escape plan.
Moreover, she always had several options in case something unexpected happened.
Until about ten years old, I sincerely believed that she was a former spy from some sophisticated intelligence agency, who cut off all ties with the birth of her daughter. But time passed, and we just ran away, never meeting our pursuer face to face.
It was precisely because my mother already had enough reasons to be nervous that I did not talk about my discoveries. I didn’t want to worry her even more, seeing how difficult it was already for her. And now she was even glad that she managed to keep everything a secret.
Because I didn't like this place at all. I didn't like it as soon as I saw it.
Outside the gates a gloomy, dark façade awaited us. Stone gargoyles on the sloping roofs precisely followed our every step, and cobwebs and dust wafted from the stained glass windows. A wide porch with a dozen steps was greeted with a black carpet, and the spacious hall of the educational institution was greeted with mirrored walls from the middle to the ceiling.
The lower part was covered with dark wood, which only added to the creepiness. The staircase to the second floor seemed to be intertwined with steps into the wall, as if the tree was alive and was trying to crawl with roots and branches to the floor and ceiling.
The corridor in which I stood did not have a friendly interior either. On one side along its entire length there were semicircular windows, letting in yellow light from street lamps into the twilight. On the other side there were identical doors and several metal benches of bizarre curved shapes. The light from the lamps seemed dim, muffled, and the ceiling and wall lamps themselves looked like antique candelabra.
All this designer rebellion sent herds of goosebumps down my spine. I didn't want to stay here. Everything inside me was against this and… parting with my mother. We lived for eighteen years side by side, without being separated even for a day. I always knew where she was and what she was doing, but now how?
I prayed that Madame Pelisay would refuse us. No, no and NO!
Yes, I still couldn’t believe my eyes. I didn’t believe my hands, my legs, or even my head. The chance that I had simply lost my mind was extremely high, but I would rather have preferred a strong nightmare, where everything that surrounded me was the delirium of my fevered imagination.
Because that doesn't happen. Not in real life!
As if having overheard my thoughts, the gargoyle guarding the fountain working at that hour slowly turned its terrible fanged muzzle towards me, looked at the very window next to which I was standing, and winked. Apparently, me too.
Well, I winked at her in response, apparently for the first time in my life, earning myself a nervous tic.
Due to zeal, the lens slipped off my eye. I miraculously managed to catch it at the chin, but I couldn’t put it on now after touching it with my hands. It was necessary to rinse with a special solution and leave for at least two hours, which I simply could not do in this corridor, and therefore I removed the second one to put both in a napkin. All our belongings, including our lens case, were still in the rental car on the other side of the city library.
At the entrance that existed in the normal world.
In the ordinary world, in which, apparently, there was no longer a place for me.
I didn’t know who had been stalking my mother so manically for many years. I didn’t know what he needed from us. But three days ago he showed up again, although we lived happily without his presence for the last six months. In a wonderful town called Shepwell, where all the neighbors on the street knew each other.
We rented a small two-bedroom apartment on the second floor of an old five-story building. At night, through the thin ceilings, the steps of the neighbor who lived on the floor above could be heard, and behind the wall at night the water was constantly turned on. But there was a certain amount of comfort in all of this. It was as if we were not alone in the whole world, which was only confirmed as soon as one of us left the apartment.
In Shepwell it was customary to greet neighbors and always find out how they were doing. An elderly woman living across the street would ask me to go to the store, and the neighbor downstairs would always treat me to candy, which I would throw into the trash bin two houses away every time.
I loved sweets, but I couldn’t afford to accept anything from strangers.
Actually, I was just about to leave the house when I saw, through the gap between the thick curtains and the window, a black jeep pulling up at our entrance. It was not parked, the engine was running, as were the headlights, but it would not have been possible to see who was hiding inside even if one wanted to.
The car turned out to be tightly tinted all around.
“Mom…” I called quietly, first turning up the volume on the TV almost to maximum.
Having taken my place, she also did not move the curtains, but as soon as she saw the jeep, she quickly pulled me by the hand, dragging me away from the window. I knew the next steps in advance, having lived through each stage many, many times.
Whatever we were doing at that moment, as soon as a threat appeared, we dropped absolutely everything. The parent only took the laptop and bag in case of escape, and I took the e-reader and backpack. Things, food, water – the minimum set was available in each pre-prepared car. Well, my mother carried money and documents with her, preferring to keep them closer to her hands.
Pull on cloaks, put on hoods. We didn't even take the time to lock the door. They either climbed out through the window or went down the stairs if there was a second exit at the entrance.
There were usually pre-rented cars parked on each side of the house. Of course, in financial terms, such reinsurance cost a large sum, but more than once it came to the rescue and saved us from an immediate meeting with the pursuer.
– Mom, maybe it’s just someone else’s car? Did any of the neighbors or guests come to someone? – I asked, sitting down in the front seat and buckling up. – Maybe this maniac has long forgotten about us, huh? And he lives his quiet maniacal life somewhere in a quiet place.
– Don't be stupid, Sally! – she said sternly, sharply backing up and turning the steering wheel.
I had thought before that my parent was simply sick. The older I got, the less I believed in the invisible pursuer who never caught up with us. Moreover, my mother said almost nothing about her childhood and youth.
What if she spent them in some asylum? Maybe all these years she needed special medicine, the help of qualified specialists, and year after year I mindlessly continued to support her illness?
“Mom, maybe we should just stop and find out what he or she needs from us?” At the same time, we’ll understand if someone is following us…” I suggested carefully, trying to track her emotions.
Focused, confident, gloomy. She didn't look like she was mentally ill.
– Never! – she hissed, no worse than a snake, clutching the steering wheel with incredible strength until it creaked. – Do you hear? Never dare to even think about it!
I wanted to say something else, but in the rearview mirror I noticed that same black jeep. Exactly the same one, because I had a good look at the numbers, first trying to concentrate and at least see something through the tint. The car confidently increased speed and threatened to catch up with our car, but my mother did not give up. She pressed the gas pedal to the floor, driving out onto a suburban highway, mired on both sides in green fields, electrical towers and tall trees.
There the car was rushing at great speed along a flat road, almost imperceptibly. But the road was easier for the jeep too. He was practically breathing into our trunk.
– Mom, train! – I shouted, hearing the growing roar of the express rushing along the railway.
Ahead at the crossing, a barrier was slowly lowering, serving as a barrier device. The traffic light was blinking hysterically with a prohibitory light. The train driver sounded a sound signal using a typhon.
– Mother!
She didn't respond, didn't say anything. At some point, for a split second, I even thought that this was the end. That I spent all eighteen years in prohibitions in order to die like this stupidly, running away from a monster that I had never seen with my own eyes…
I didn't even have the courage to close my eyes.
Our car managed to fly through the rails just a few seconds before colliding with the train, completely demolishing the barrier on both sides. At that moment I wasn’t breathing at all. And my heart seemed to stop.
I desperately wanted to cling to my mother’s hand, but I perfectly understood that I could only hinder her. After what I had experienced, the last thing I wanted was to kill us.
Looking in the rearview mirror, between the rushing carriages of the train, I saw only the shadow of a black jeep forced to stop. When we turned at the intersection, he was no longer following us, but I still didn’t dare say anything.
The mother stopped only when we pulled off the road into a forest straight towards the lake, disappearing with the car behind the dense greenery of the trees. And that’s where her nerves gave way. Covering her face with her hands, she almost lay there for several minutes, leaning on the steering wheel.
“Mom…” I wanted to apologize for the mistrust.
But she exhaled sharply, straightened up and interrupted me:
“Sally, this can’t go on any longer.” We need to hide you so that he can't get to you. I swear I didn't mean to bring you into this. I didn't think you'd spend your first eighteen years on the run. I wanted an ordinary life for you, like I once had. – Stroking my cheek with her palm, she smiled through her tears. “As long as you’re around, I can’t deal with him, because I’ll never forgive myself if I put you in danger.”
– Mom, you speak in riddles. “I don’t understand anything,” I admitted, but tears stood as a veil in my eyes.
Exhaling loudly again, as if she had gained determination, she started the car.
– Go. I'll tell you something on the way. For starters…” she taxied back onto the highway leading to Ashwool. – You should know that our world has another – the Dark Side.