Page 58 of A Requiem of Fire and Ice

Let’s put two and two together ourselves.

The castle knows it’s not suicide. So, they gave the royal families from Oria, Cloud, and Storm a hint of information that whatever happened, it was murder. This new and private information causes them to keep it to themselves.

She doesn’t know who, though. If the mutt or the new King had given them a description of me, Rose wouldn’t have mentioned the worry her dad had for her over the ordeal. She would have kept that information to herself and lured me somewhere instead of giving me ammunition to flee at the earliest opportunity.

No.

The castle withheld that information but gave them a hint that it was murder.

It’s weird. Wouldn’t they want to find me as soon as possible?

A strange funk swirls inside me about what’s going on. I hate being surprised since my life is full of sudden blows from a sledgehammer. Over and over a-fucking-gain.

I take a deep breath before spitting out the water that slaughters my soul. Sopping wet hair sticks to my flesh, and my clothes become an uncomfortable second layer of skin. A burn shudders across my calves with every step up these unforgiving fucking stairs until, finally, I take the last step up.

As bad as it sounds, the ache flees, and it feels like I’m walking on clouds. It’s like I’m floating.

“We’re here! Tempest Hall entrance!” Rose slumps her shoulders, and her chest rises erratically.

The Tempest Hall entrance looks nothing like the entrance to the Kingdom of Flesh. They don’t use broad and tall stone walls. Instead, I’m looking at an electric fence covering stone boulders that waver with static in the air and overlap with the sound of clapping thunder.

Not only that, but there’s only one entrance instead of four. However, that doesn’t mean it’s not well-guarded. Twenty guards or more are posted around the entrance, armed with guns in case of any trouble.

Aside from that, elemny can walk through the gate without signing in, which seems strange to me. Maya gave me what I needed, but it seems I don’t need it anymore, as I stand here, soaking wet, and stare with utter confusion.

“The sign-in sheet is inside the cave,” Rose tells me. “It’s easier to see a fake passport when you’re not standing in the rain to do it.”

I bob my head up and down and say, “Ah. That makes sense now.”

She eyes the crowd. “Are you alright finding your way? I’m going to find the parents.”

I glance at the edge of the stairs behind her and then at Rose. My clenched hands relax, and my shoulders slump when I say, “I’m fine. Thanks for the company.”

“No problem! Enjoy your visit! I may see you around!”

Please, fucking don’t try to find me. I won’t be as sympathetic a second time.

I wait until she departs. My focus never leaves her sight until she weaves through the crowd forming around the Tempest Hall entrance. When she’s encased among them, I grip the strap of my bag and head towards the line of elemny waiting to enter.

The line dwindles quickly, even though there’s only one entrance. Out of the slaughtering rain and the chaos of deep rumbles of thunder, the hollow sound of droplets showering down onto the top of the cave echoes through the dimly lit space. A blue hue of light encases the interior, and water drips, glistening across the walls and flowing through the cracks in the stone floor.

There are four stone oval archways inside the cave. Two guards are posted on either side of the archway, but unlike the Kingdom of Flesh, where I had to hand Toma multiple forms of identification and jump through more hoops, the guards here don’t care. The two guards eye the passport the man shows them, and once cleared by them, he’s good to go.

Murmured conversations encase me, vibrating against my irritated eardrums. It forms a pulsing headache that thumps at my temples. As much as I want to ignore them, I need to listen to the conversations in case there’s a sliver of a sentence about the Kingdom of Flesh and what’s happening within the thickened smoke.

I want to know how much time I have here until they’re on me and trying to cage me like a mouse around prowling cats.

By the time I step before the two earth elemny staring down at me, I hand them my passport. After the dark-skinned elemny scans the passport, he passes it to the other. With a swift glance, he hands my phone back to me and nudges his head for me to enter. A cruel and conniving smile spreads across my face after I pass them. Danger and excitement stir inside me, knowing I’m getting away with something I shouldn’t, like an adrenaline rush.

The rain greets me when I exit the other side of the cave. Even though it was difficult to see, with a thick layer of rain muffling my vision, Nancy taught me to memorise the way to the orphanage from the Tempest Hall entrance. It was hard to do in the beginning, and whenever I got a street address wrong or made a misstep in how the scenery looked—even the layout of Sweethearts Orphanage—it would earn me a dagger look.

But being here now, it’s like this is my second home. Easy as breathing in the stuffy, thick, rainy air.

I navigate through the streets, down alleyways, and across footpaths without second-guessing where I need to go. Soon, I’ll be in a dry home with a bed and women’s hygiene products.

A tingling sensation works across my waist. My skin will dry out when I’m out of the rain, and when it does, I need to find moisturiser to prevent the itch of a burn that hasn’t gone away after two years.

Chapter 27