After our encounter with Elizabeth and her mother in the hallway, Adam led me to my temporary room, and to the closest bathroom two doors down.
He’d told me to take this day to rest, knowing it had been a long journey to get here. I had agreed with him and decided to take the afternoon to relax.
He said he’d come back in a few hours to take me on a tour around the castle and the grounds.
For now, though, I just sat down on the edge of the bed and set my bag next to me. I rifled through it, pulling out some of the clothes I’d stuffed in there, laying them neatly in the top drawer next to the bed. It wasn’t much, so I spread them out in the drawer.
I’d eaten all of the snacks on the way up here, so there were only a few other things in the bag.
A phone.
And its charger.
And a book I hadn’t gotten a chance to read… not that I’d find a moment outside of my own thoughts while I was here in order to pick it up.
I was already wearing the watch that I’d brought with.
Gee, I didn’t really have much, did I?
I wasn’t really the type to get attached to things anymore, it seemed. I didn’t necessarily hate having things, it was just easier. A life in hiding meant you needed to pack up only what was necessary. A long time ago, that was engraved into my mind. And a life behind bars meant there wasn’t anything you could keep.
All of the things that had sentimental value to me once were left behind in a cabin by a lake. I was never to see them again. It was a sad reality, but I got over it.
And when I got over it, my thoughts remained the same as they were before. Extra was unnecessary for me, even if I never had to be chased or contained to a small room again. Of course, I understood those who kept things, and those who wanted to keep things. I wanted to keep things… I just couldn’t. I kept intangible things, not material ones.
I thought back to my room back home, to the empty walls and simple furniture, and a few pictures set up as decorations on the dresser and the nightstand. In the nightstand was a journal that I’d kept when I first met Henry and James, perhaps one of the only things I’d hold onto, even if it was from a distance. I’d written it as if I was talking to my brother. Eventually, the pages took longer to be filled… and then as time passed, the words just stopped coming, so I’d put it away, out of sight. It was better that way.
I set the items on the dresser and the bag on the floor next to it.
Falling back on the bed, I stared up at the ceiling. It was unfamiliar. Older looking.
I was tired. I was really tired…
And it didn’t take long before I closed my eyes to the new space and slept, leaving a timer on my phone for a few short hours.
By the time I awoke, Adam was just arriving at my door to show me around the place. The nap I’d taken was uneventful, dreamless and comfortable. He pointed out rooms and exits as we went along, bathrooms and storage rooms with cleaning supplies if I were, on the off-chance, to ever need to know the location of them.
It was a lot to take in, and a lot of ground to cover.
“Within the first year we started living in here, we put up these signs.”
Adam gestured to a sign that pointed out the locations of a laundry room and bathrooms. The storage rooms had nameplates on the wall next to them. It was likely that those were put in by Bay and Adam as well.
I nodded my approval.
If there weren’t any signs anywhere, there probably would have been a lot of confusion for new residents, as well as people such as myself, coming here for work, but not necessarily to stay.
The people we passed in the hallways, some carrying laundry, some cleaning, others busily hurrying along… all of them gave a nodded greeting or a smile to Adam. It was clear that they were happy here. Seeing it, I couldn’t even imagine what it must’ve been like before they took over, back when the previous leader was in charge of everything…
It must’ve been like hell, I guessed.
“And the kitchen is right down this hall.” He opened his mouth to speak again, taking a glance at me. He pursed his lips and faced forward again as he led me closer.
Hm?
I didn’t get his actions until we got there.
There was laughter coming from the open door as we arrived.
“Lizzie, what are you doing?”
“I was thinking…” Elizabeth replied, looking bashful and embarrassed, her forehead covered in the bit of flour that remained on the countertop in front of her.
“Here, let me.”
Her mother grabbed a towel and began to wipe it off, chuckling a bit as she did.
Adam and I stayed silent as we passed the doorway, but I felt his gaze on me as we moved along.
He was going to tell me that Elizabeth would probably be in there, wasn’t he?
Whether it was a complete surprise or a spoiled one, it didn’t erase the small smile playing on my lips. Elizabeth… was adorable.
I kept seeing her small embarrassed smile in my mind and I let out a small laugh, shaking my head a bit.
There was nobody quite like her in my life, was there?
Too precious.
I was lost a bit in my thoughts about what I’d just seen as my tour continued. The only thing to cause my mind to stall was another location.
He looked tense as we passed the next set of doors, barred metals ones. The lock on it was silver, which seemed an entirely odd choice, considering silver burnt wolf shifters.
Adam?
He sighed heavily and gave a weak gesture with his head toward the doors.
“You likely won’t need to go down there, but just so you know… that’s where we keep prisoners.”
The dungeons.
We didn’t go down, we just stayed where we were at the top of the steps, on the better side of those doors.
Where they keep prisoners, huh?
It was a bit of a leap, but would he also be there? That shifter–
“Alein Norcell is down there, but I wouldn’t recommend going to see him.”
Ah.
It was almost like he read my mind.
I nodded.
I guess it helped to know which places to avoid.
And we moved on quickly, trying to dispel the grim feelings both of us had developed as we tossed those words around in our heads.
Most twins would feel the same if they were my age or older than me. Memories were harder as we aged. The knowledge that a man so twisted was down that path of stone steps, living and breathing, while others had died, was almost sickening for me to think about.
I understood the reason for keeping him alive, I did.
But, maybe I just wished he, on his own, would die faster…
Adam continued with the tour, taking us up a set of stairs and down a hallway on the left before coming to a stop at another set of doors.
“You might end up coming here though,” he stated with a grin before opening the doors wide. “I know someone who frequents this place.”
He meant Elizabeth.
I couldn’t help but smile as I looked around at all of the books.
A library.
This was a place that suited her.
I could even imagine her, leaning her chin on her hand, elbow planted on the desk, as she poured over thousands upon thousands of words.
I wonder what she’d look like doing that. What expression would she be making? Her thinking face, concentrated and focused face… I wanted to see it.
“There are other libraries, but this one has the records she was put in charge of, so this is kind of like her office, too.”
“I’m guessing she’s not here enough for it to be that easy to find her, though.”
“Of course not.” Adam grinned. “She wanders a lot.”
“Probably got it from her father,” I joked.
“Hey now. You’re probably right.”
We laughed and continued walking, like kindred spirits finding each other again after a great absence.
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