The Katapies Experiment; Part 10

Novis 

   Augur was good at distracting people. She was a mind Mage, able to burrow and dig into peoples’ brains and mess around in there to her heart’s content. She could completely brainwash a person, stealing their memories or erasing them entirely from existence. Her favorite form of irritating people was with sound; she could make peoples’ ears ring, either gently or painfully. If it was too painful and went on for too long, she could drive someone insane. Truly the best power to have. 

   Too bad she wasn’t on our side. 

   It felt like fire, a hellish screech of a feedback noise, going on and on and on, never stopping. Augur was wearing an ivory mask that hid all of her features, but I knew it was her just by her hair. By the way she was scratching her skin and looking down, I knew she was scared. Really scared. I didn’t have more time to look up, as the screaming in my head grew louder and louder. I clutched my ears (like that would stop it) and closed my eyes as the noise roared louder and louder. I didn’t even notice the shackles around my wrist or the guards dragging me to the carriage. 

   Hydran was cowering against the corner of the carriage, rocking back and forth in terror. Clode was sniggering at Tsuni, who was literally bawling her eyes out. To be fair, I did notice that Eclipe ran away and Tsuni had, like, the biggest crush on him, but I didn’t think it was that bad. I think she noticed Clode laughing at her, so she shut her mouth for the rest of the ride, giving all of us peace and quiet.  

   I turned my head to Lychnus, who was sitting next to me. He smiled, then shook his head and frowned, with a weird look to his face. He seemed like he wanted to tell me something, but I didn’t know if he wanted to with people around. It didn’t seem like anything personal, just Lychnus being Lychnus; scared to talk.  

   I didn’t want to say anything either, as the silence was soothing after Augur’s extraordinary ear-wrenching performance. The carriage ride passed stiffly, with Clode falling asleep and snoring loudly. We finally jerked to a halt and I had to shake her awake. She nearly jumped and hit her head as she woke up, slapping me in the face and giving me a painful static shock. 

   We were led calmly to a small clearing with small piles of leaves on the ground. I supposed they were just swept up until one of the guards pushed Tsuni in and her screams echoed throughout a chamber below the ground. Clode’s eyes widened and she gave a cheerful grin to her guard. 

   “Is it a slide?” The guard nodded, confused, as Clode winked and jumped in. Her guard gave out a shriek and clawed at the leaves, then looked sheepishly back at the other guards, face bright red.  

   “I... think she might be a little too enthusiastic about all this death and murdery stuff.” The other guards laughed and continued pushing everyone down the leaf pile.  

   Death and murder? My eyes blurred for a second as I contemplated dying here, in this dead-looking forest with gnarled trees and dry, brown grass. Nothing like my dreams of dying in battle. I had those dreams a lot.  

   I was the last to go down the chute. It wasn’t as terrifying as some screams led me to believe, and it was actually fun. I was sad when it ended, and doubly scared when people kept saying that Tsuni was bleeding buckets. 

   I believed them because of the trail of blood on the ground, and Tsuni’s whimpers in the front. After what seemed like hours of waiting, a small lady walked in, smiling and fluffing up her short pink hair with her fingers. Right as she walked in, Lychnus started tugging on my sleeve and trying to get me to look at him. I didn’t realize what was wrong until the pink-haired lady spoke. 

   Isabelline. The Messenger who was seen escaping from the Mage’s dead body was named Isabelline and had pink hair. This Messenger was named Isabelline and had pink hair. How could she survive for so long? Lychnus kept pulling my sleeve and I finally turned around to look at him. 

   “Novis. Look at me. She’s Isa-” Lychnus spoke in frantic, rapid whispers, just quiet enough so nobody else could hear him. 

   “I know, I figured it out. How did she stay so young?”  

   “Remember the poem we learned when we were nine or something? The one about Isabelline?” 

   “Well, yeah, but I can’t remember it word for word, if that’s what you’re saying-” 

   “I memorized it.” 

   “How?”

   “Just good memory, I guess.” Lychnus smiled, and I noticed the color of his eyes, a honey-brown sort of shade. It was neat-looking, and I hadn’t seen how flecks of gold were strewn across his eyes before. I spent a couple of seconds just looking at his eyes, then snapped out of it and remembered the poem. 

   “Uh, sorry- well, what about the poem? Can you recite it?” 

   “Oh, sure.” 

   “Pink hair, hazel eyes 

   She looks at you 

   Under a guise 

   Alone and with nothing 

   She resolved to take 

   The lives of those 

   With a foreseen fate 

   She doesn’t spare 

   She doesn’t save 

   Cruel, unfair 

   Her personal slave 

   Isabelline lives forever 

   Under rain and sun and weather 

   She stays young ‘till the end of time 

   Repeating the same vicious crime.” 

   “Woah, okay. That’s kind of long for a poem. Lots to analyze.” 

   “You’re still stuck in that language-analyzing trance that our teacher taught us, right? Snap out of it, Novis.” 

   “I know. I just liked that teacher a lot.” 

   “Me too. I wonder how he’s doing. Hopefully he’s okay. What was that Mage’s name -- the one who took all the adults away?” 

   “Abrin, I think. I’m still confused about why they left. I want to go back home. Do you think everything’ll go back to normal someday?” 

   Lychnus looked at me with a wistful look in his eyes and glanced back at Isabelline. “Shh. She’s coming.” 

   We watched as Isabelline strolled over and smiled at me, highlighting her dull-ish hazel eyes. The first thing I noticed was the sickly sweet smell of her perfume. I really wanted to cough, but I was terrified to think of what she would do to me then. She held out a hand and gently moved it forward, then sent a blast of fire towards my head.  

   I ducked out of the way as she laughed and the smell of burning hair filled the room. Lychnus helped me put out the smoldering bits of my hair and we looked at Isabelline as she strolled around the room, terrorizing everyone with their own power. 

   I frowned as Isabelline electrocuted Clode and nearly drowned Hydran, then went on to give a show of how many animals she could Shift to. Then, she Summoned a whole bunch of dead things and spirits to freak out the Summoners, then she showed off her wings in front of the Messengers, you get the picture.  

   I was confused as to why she hadn’t gotten to Lychnus yet until she trotted back toward him and gave a crazed grin. “Lychnus, I’ve saved you for last! Remember to keep your eyes open for this, or I’ll make sure your death is the most painful.” Lychnus looked anxiously up and looked at Isabelline as she stretched her hand out toward his face and smirked. 

   Apparently I forgot that light can burn your eyes. Isabelline lit up his face for a couple minutes before giggling and turning back to her horrified audience. Lychnus was crying, tears streaming down his cheeks and hands covering his eyes. After a few minutes, he looked up at me and asked if his eyes looked any different. 

   “Well, uh, they’re certainly... unique?” 

   “They look terrible, don't they?” 

   “I mean, they’re red and bloodshot, but they look like they should get better in a couple minutes. That’s not really the problem, though. Can you see okay?” 

   “Yeah, I can see fine. I didn’t know light could do that, though. Looks like I’m not completely useless after all, ha.” He beamed and leaned against the cold stone wall, locking his eyes on Isabelline. 

   Lychnus watched her go around and flaunt herself for a couple more minutes before turning his gaze to me and laughing a bit. “I hope someday I can do that to her. It really hurt.” 

   I smirked at the idea of Isabelline being blinded by Lychnus and watched as a guard poked their head in and called for her. She strolled over, fluffing up her hair and giving a psychotic grin. “It’s time, dearies. It was nice meeting you. Goodbye!” 

   She shut the door with a flourish and left everyone fearful for their lives, illuminated only by the torches strewn sparsely between the room and a small window outside. Everyone subconsciously shrank together, huddling together like we were cold, even though it was boiling hot in the room.  

   It was silent for a while, then we heard the metallic picking of a lock. The noise was coming from the door, and it was barely audible. Suddenly, the door burst open and Augur came rushing through, panting and carrying her ivory mask in one hand. Her brown hair was tangled and frazzled, but she looked otherwise fine. 

   She caught her breath and hit the wall with her fist, which glowed and unlocked all of our handcuffs. Footsteps rang out in the empty hall behind her and she looked behind her in terror.  

   “They’re coming. Hurry!”