Through the Windshield Glass (19 page)

It was not
hard to get into Jamila's good graces with his charms and good looks; the hard
part was refusing food at each meal. Leif had worked out through various failed
experiments that starving yourself of the food of Beyond gave you some degree
of power no one else seemed to possess.
　
Within
a week Daman had Jamila, the King, queen, and the kingdom in love with him.

Daman made
Michael his best man, Jamila was given away by the King and the ceremony
proceeded as most earthly ceremonies did. However, there were no rings to
exchange, instead as a new tradition, the bride and groom gave each other new
names.

"I, and
the people of Beyond, will call you Alecsander," Jamila said. Then she
crinkled her nose and said, "Alecs for short."

"And I
will call you Rose, because you are my flower," the new prince said. But
he wasn't finished either, he took her left hand in his and traced a circle in
her palm with his nail. At first nothing seemed to happen, but slowly a black
circle appeared on Rose's hand, "This is my own version of a ring, it means
you are mine, and I will always find you."

It seemed an
incredibly romantic moment, until Leif appeared from nothing. He was standing
behind the King one moment, the next second he and the King were both gone. No
one but the newly named Rose, and Alec saw Leif, but everyone immediately felt
the loss of their beloved ruler. No one showed more heartbreak than the queen;
she fell sobbing into Alec's arms while Rose ran from the room with the rest of
the wedding guests in a vain attempt to find her father.

Michael was
the only one left to see Daman seize the queen’s face in his hands and breathe
the soul out of her.

Rose came
running back into the room. Her chest was heaving and her white dress was torn
at the bottom where she had stepped on it, she had come to get her new husband
to help her with the search. Instead, she saw him already with another woman.
Her horror only grew when she realized her mother was slowly wilting under
Alec's touch, within seconds she was lying dead on the floor, just an emptied
poisoned shell of a once beautiful woman.

Then slowly,
the queen rose from the floor, her skin pale and ghostly; she looked alive, but
she wasn't living.

"Get
out," Rose whispered angrily, when Alec did not respond she raised her
voice, "Get out, now!"

Alec smiled
congenially at his little wife, he approached her and reached out to touch her
face, but Rose slapped his hand away. Alecs’ smile did not waver, if anything
it grew stronger.

"I will
not be leaving," Alecs said, "I am the new king, now you can either choose
to be my queen, or you can leave."

Rose did not
say another word, she turned her back on the man she loved and began walking
away.

"I will
find you," Alec reminded her, "One day you will realize your mistake
and you will want to come back. When that happens, I will find you, you are
mine."

Only when
Rose was gone did Alec turn to his brother, "Are you with me or her?"

"I have
been with you since birth," Michael began. The new king seemed to take
this as a good sign until Michael finished, "But I cannot ignore what you
have done. I'm sorry."

Alecsander
let him follow Rose, but he made one last attempt to trick his brother into
staying, "You were always afraid of getting what you wanted, Mikey."

"You
and I do not want the same things," Michael said. He stared into his
brother's eyes, but they were not the eyes he knew. They were totally black,
like a beetle's, and all evidence of human life was gone from them; Daman had
become what his
　
christened
name
　
suggested.

Chapter Twenty-six

"Rose was
renamed Kinga by her people while Michael kept his name and refused to follow
the last law the king had passed." Gregor finished. He sat down to much
applause from the audience. I assume the clapping was for his story telling
skills. His words had made the story sound so vivid it was like I was standing
there watching the whole thing take place.

"So the
problem between you and Kinga is because you wouldn't change your name?" I
asked Michael. It seemed like a pretty stupid reason to be estranged from
someone to me.

"She was
angry because it was the last thing her father did, and even though it was all
Daman's idea, she was determined to follow through on it. Apparently it would
keep Beyond from going into complete anarchy if we still abided by the old
King's rules." Michael said. His voice was calm but defensive.

“What happened
to the King?” I asked of Gregor.

“No one truly
knows,” the old man replied, “those of us not loyal to Alecsander are still loyal
to his predecessor. We all believe he took Leif with him and is simply waiting
for us behind the door.”

“Where is the
door?” I questioned further.

“No one knows
any longer, it has either been moved or destroyed. For all of our sakes, we
hope it is the former,” Gregor said finally. I knew my questioning him was at
an end.

I turned to
Michael instead, "So how did Alec get the hallways put into place?"

"That is
another unknown," Michael said. He wasn't going to let anyone say anything
else that might put him in a bad light now, "He spoke to me shortly before
the change happened. He said he knew a way to make it so no one would feel
shorted of life's experiences when they got here. He neglected to mention how
horrific the experiences he had in mind were."

I nodded,
"So why is Maria like this?"

Michael
shrugged his shoulders, "She is only the third we've seen like this. Leigh
also went through all twelve doors, but we don't know how she still seems
completely normal while the other three are in the same catatonic state as your
friend."

"Okay, I
guess that answers all but one of my questions," I said; "Now you
just need to tell me what your plans to beat Ale--, I mean Daman are."

Michael again
spoke before anyone else, "Our plan is to use you to lure Daman from
wherever he is, but first we need to find out who his followers are. We need to
learn their true names and as much about their pasts as we can. It's difficult,
but we've done it before. It seems like memories and names are the key to
beating him."

I stared at
Michael blankly, "Memories? So what, we tell him about his past and hope
it makes him suddenly go melancholy and see things our way?"

Max spoke from
where she was sitting, "Of course not! Don't you remember it was all
Daman's idea to give people new identities so they could forget their old
lives? There's something to that, Michael thinks that we can use their memories
against them. We open a memory in front of him and he'll lose the power he has
so it's an even fight."

It was still
too much to wrap my brain around, "Open a memory in front of him?"

Max sighed in
exasperation and Michael took over again, "Do you remember what happened
in that first door you went through? When you touched Daman you saw his life,
or how he wanted you to see it, and he saw yours. He saw your entire life just
by touching you; people that have a strong connection here can do that. That's
what Gregor did just now, he was there when everything happened and because of
that we were all able to share in his memory.

“We think if you
can get near enough to
　
Alecs
to touch him you'll be able to draw him into one of your own memories, he'll be
most vulnerable there because you already know how the memory should go. You'll
have to draw him in and kill him at his weakest."

"What? Why
do I have to kill him? Why don't you, you're his twin brother, wouldn't you
have the stronger connection with him?" I asked. I was growing desperate.
I was completely fine to be bait, but no one had told me I'd actually be the
one to end Daman's life for the second, and most likely final, time.

Michael laughed
bitterly, "Do you honestly think my brother is going to let me anywhere
near him? He knows I have been plotting to end his rule all these years and
he's not about to let me near enough to do that. It has to be you, he wants
you, and you were in love with him at one point.
　
Which
means you've got a better shot and
　
a
stronger
　
emotional
connection with him
　
than
any of us."

“What about
Kinga?” I asked weakly.

The whole room
laughed at this, “She does not believe in our ideas, I’ve tried discussing them
with her. Besides, I don’t think she’d wait for Daman to be at his weakest
before she tried to murder him. She underestimates his power.”

I hated that
what Michael said made so much sense. I also hated that I had already told
Leigh I would help without knowing exactly what I'd have to do, but I had
promised and I would follow through.

"Fine,"
I said, "You win. I'll help you, but you have to promise me one
thing."

Michael looked
relieved; he obviously hadn't been expecting me to concede so easily,
"Anything."

"You have
to find a way to make Maria better."

Michael looked
uneasy, "We're looking for ways, but so far we've been unsuccessful."

"Well I
want to be there when you try new things with these other people from now on so
I know you're trying. Otherwise, I won't help you and you'll have to find some
other girl to be bait for your psychopathic king." I stated with
authority. Maria looked at me and I could almost see some emotion behind her
eyes, gratefulness?

Michael nodded,
"I'll take you to where we keep the others now if you want."

"I think
that would be the best idea for your cause at this point."

I'd gone back
to being upset with Michael; I didn't like it when people beat me so easily at
arguments.

An hour later,
Maria and I were standing with Michael and Leigh outside another door that
looked like the wooden one leading to my bedroom.

"This is
the infirmary," Michael said, "It might be a little appalling when
you see the people inside. Most are insane, it didn't take all twelve doors to
drive them crazy; some have been there since before the hallways were put into
place because of what killed them."

I gestured for
Michael to open the door, "I think I can handle it."

"Just
giving you fair warning," Michael said, "I thought I could handle it
the first time too."

I was done
waiting for Michael to open the door so I reached in front of him and did it
myself, "After you," I said with a flourish of my hand.

Michael glared
at me as he walked past, he obviously didn't like me much either, that was just
fine with me. It would be better for all involved if we didn't grow to be
friends because friends don't send each other out to lure a demonic sibling
into death. That's for business associate's and partners in crime.

Inside the
infirmary was much as I imagined it to be. Twenty or so beds were lined up a
few feet apart along two walls with a path leading down the middle, there was
also a curtain as wide as the room hiding something behind it at the far end of
the beds. I could just make out shadowy shapes seemingly moving from bed to bed
behind the barrier. The part of the room I could see was clean, most of the
beds were absent and made, but that didn't make the scene before me any less
horrifying.

It wasn't
horrifying in the physical sense, their were no bleeding injuries and there
were no cries of pain issuing from the patients; instead, it was just the
opposite. There were only seven people in the room, all were lying in their
beds with the same hapless expression on their faces, all were pale nearly to
transparency, and all were deathly quiet. There were four men and three women
ranging in age from about twenty to seventy, but each appeared to have mental
capacity far below that of even Maria’s at this point.

"I told
you that you weren't going to like it," Michael whispered in my ear. He
made me start so badly I almost hit him, but I decided violent reactions in a
place like this were inappropriate and unproductive.

"So, all
these people survived all twelve doors?" I asked Michael.

Michael shook his
head, "No, only two of them did that, the other five, well, the only thing
we were able to get out of them before the shock took over was that each of
their deaths were so horrifying that the doors drove them completely insane.
None of them seem to remember how they escaped. We think there are still a lot
more who never will until Daman is dethroned."

I suddenly felt
extreme sympathy for each of the people in the beds. I had been so busy
mourning my own tragic death that I had forgotten I wasn't the only one who had
been unfairly ripped from life.

"Who are
the two?" I was hesitant to know, but I was also full of anticipation to
see if there was anything to be done for them.

"They're
at the end, I'll introduce you to each patient on the way," Michael said.
The patients were all spread out so that there was plenty of space between each
of them; I also noticed heavy-duty belts on each of the beds. I hoped I would
not have to witness an event in which those would be necessary.

The first
occupied bed we came to was on my right, Michael motioned to the person,
"That is Jessica Carrie. Her husband drowned her in the bathroom sink
after she found him having an affair, we think there was a door that dealt with
it further and that's what sent her into this state."

Even though
Jessica was dry her skin still seemed heavy with the water that killed her and
her hair floated listlessly around her head as though it were still suspended
in liquid. Her eyes were so pale blue she could have easily been mistaken for
being blind, the effect was made more prominent when she continued staring
straight ahead as Michael and I passed. I could almost feel the pain and
betrayal emanating from her.