✽✽✽

7/4/3028

I flailed my arms frantically only to meet the resistance of tightly tucked bedsheets. I took a few deep breaths to calm my racing heart. I was safe.

I craned my neck to get a better look at my surroundings. The walls of the small, windowless room were a drab beige and looked like it would be rough and uninviting to the touch. In the corner of the room sat a metallic chair and table. Or, rather, hovered a chair and table. The bed I lay on was oval-shaped and the framing was made of a similar metallic material as the chair and table.

I shifted my arm out of the woolen covers and realized that I was fully clothed wearing a loose, off-white gown. Hadn’t my clothes disintegrated? Someone must have dressed me. And then what happened? How long had I been unconscious for?

I cleared my throat with a dry cough. My throat still felt sore from whatever it was that I’d been forced to swallow.

Voices grew closer by the door, and I pretended that I was still asleep. I heard the door slide open and I peeked with one eye to see Keiran and Ilta enter. Keiran was dressed in odd-looking imperial clothes, as was Ilta. I shut my eyes again, just in case they looked my way.

“Are you sure it’s her?” Ilta asked.

“I’m positive,” Keiran replied.

“She looks quite different from our Sye-Liene Anmyn.”

“She is Sye-Liene.” Keiran sounded annoyed. “If you look at her closely, you’ll find many similarities.”

“If I may speak freely… I can’t see the resemblance. I fear that you may be allowing your emotions to influence your judgment.”

“My judgment is not clouded, Ilta. She was trapped in the Ora for six years—how could she possibly look the same? It’s a wonder she even slightly resembles Sye-Liene. Furthermore, we don’t have any idea as to what truly happens to a person who enters a vortex without a map. None have survived to tell the tale. Logically speaking, she should still be trapped in there.”

There’s that word again. Ora. Ilta had used it when we were at Hemley Park.

“We can’t prove that she was in there for six years. As you’ve said, the Ora is unpredictable. It may have been merely minutes for her; that is, of course, if she is Sye-Liene.”

“We spent months gathering information and monitoring her. I know it’s her.”

A knock at the door interrupted them.

I opened my eyes again, keeping them slightly squinted.

“Enter,” Keiran said tersely.

A black sensor by the door flashed blue, and the door slid open horizontally.

A woman wearing a brown cloth cap came in with a girl following after her. Both had their heads bowed. The woman carried with her a tray of food and set it on the metallic table while the girl carried some clothes which she set down next to the tray. The woman bowed again, then backed away a few feet before turning to step out the doorway.

“How is the condition of Sye-Liene’s friend?” Keiran asked the girl.

“He was conscious and aggressively demanding information. He has inquired extensively about Sye-Liene Anmyn’s whereabouts,” said the girl.

Martin!

I jerked straight up, sitting upright in bed.

The girl’s mouth fell open. “She’s awake!”

“How are you feeling?” Keiran came over to my bedside.

“My throat hurts,” I croaked.

“I’m sorry about that, Ellis. It was a necessary measure.”

“Necessary measure?”

“Yes. The tablet, Nai, had to be administered immediately upon arrival. You see, the tablet has made it possible for you to understand and communicate in our language. We brought a modified version of Nai for when we arrived on Earth.”

“Quite the gamble,” Ilta added. “It was only partially effective.”

“The side-effects of consuming Nai are a sore throat and temporary incapacitation.” Keiran spoke of it like it was no big deal, like a tetanus shot or something.

I scowled. “How many days have I been out for?”

“Four days.”

“What? Where’s Martin—” I went into a coughing fit, unable to continue questioning.

“Martin’s fine. He’s being taken care of.” Keiran rubbed my back, soothing me. “Your throat should start feeling better soon. Tell me, do you remember everything?”

“I believe so.”

“Good. That means you didn’t open your eyes.”

“I really wanted to open my eyes in the vortex,” I said.

“We call the vortex Ora,” Ilta said. “You cannot trust what you see in the Ora. We believe that is how memories are torn from someone—through their eyes.”

I turned to Keiran. “How does she know so much about the vor… about Oras?”

“Ilta is an expert Orae map reader and huntress. Anything that is related to reading of maps, locating items, and finding locations is her specialty,” Keiran explained.

I thought for a moment about what Ilta said—about memories being torn from someone. “You think my memories were torn from me?”

Ilta remained stoic in expression, her feelings betrayed only by the subtlest twitch under her left eye. “Keiran believes so.”

“We think more than that happened to you, my dear,” said a woman standing by the doorway. She was dressed in a long royal blue v-neck dress with see-through mesh sleeves. She was middle-aged, tall and toned, and her black hair was slicked back into a neat bun. I wouldn’t say she was beautiful, but she definitely had a certain charm about her.

“Stanjah.” Keiran appeared less relaxed. “Ellis, this is Stanjah. She is my father’s sorceress.”

“Sorceress?” I raised my eyebrows.

“I am En-Stanjah, trusted advisor and sorceress of our great leader, Dunek Anmus,” said the woman in the royal blue dress.

Ah, that’s what the charm was. Self-confidence.

I looked at Keiran blankly. “I thought you said I can understand your language now?”

“That you do, but it doesn’t mean you can understand context. You’ll get used to these names and titles in time,” Keiran replied.

“We will have to run a mandatory physical examination to confirm your identity,” Stanjah interjected. She eyed me—already scrutinizing my appearance. Her striking sapphire-colored eyes narrowed as they looked me over. When her eyes met mine, her pupils dilated. “How unfortunate. You have heterochromia.” Before I could respond, she continued. “Your eyes. They’re different colors.”

“I know what heterochromia is,” I said. “The doctors explained it to me, and I looked it up on the internet.”

Stanjah paused for a moment. “I see,” she said stiffly, then turned to the girl. “Not to worry, dear. The Elos will examine your health first.”

“What’s an Elos?” I asked.

Stanjah pointed to the girl. “She’s an Elos.”

The girl looked to be around twelve years old. How a child was supposed to examine my health was beyond me. Was she already a nurse at such a young age?

The girl made her way over to me, standing on the side of the bed opposite to Keiran. Her hair was so blond it was nearly white. It was tied into a French braid, and the length of the braid draped down to her thigh. It didn’t take long for me to notice the tears that streamed down her beautiful, doll-like face. The poor girl must be frightened.

I frowned at Stanjah. “You scared her!”

I wouldn’t consider myself maternal by any means, but the sight of her tears pulled at my heartstrings. I got out of bed and stood next to the girl. I bent over and used my sleeve to wipe her eyes.

She looked up at me with bright, emerald green eyes—her lips still quivering. That’s when I caught sight of the yellow gemstone embedded in her forehead.

Then, it hit me.

She was the girl in the vision right before I went to Hemley Park.