Chapter 08

Lying in my bed I remember the events that happened earlier today, I already felt my head throbbing and no matter how hard I tried to sleep I just couldn't, and if it wasn't enough I didn't know what the hell had happened to me or what I can do, I couldn't forget what the queen said and what could happen if we were not prepared, even though we have been in this place for a short time I realized that things are quite intense around here, the queen said that we would receive training just like the rest of the young people in the kingdom, the classes start the day after tomorrow and I still don't know what to expect or what this training is really like. It has been a few minutes since Carrie left my room and I am still trying to get used to the fact that she is no longer around at night and this makes my head hurt even more, I roll over in bed and feel so strange, that bed was too big as well as that room, the sheets too expensive, even the air smelled different, everything was exaggeratedly perfect and I felt that it was not for me, I try to put my head between the pillows to ease my headache but this makes it even worse.

I remember what I felt when I was taking the test, the pain, the despair, the anguish, but at the same time power and strength, and as strange as it seems I was enjoying it, I remember what the queen said about my grandfather and it was hard for me to believe that there is a person so evil as to kill his own son to get power, still thinking of him, I roll over once more in bed, now looking at the ceiling I let out a long exaggerated sigh, thinking what it would be like if I had been here all this time, if I had not been sent to earth, what my grandfather would have done with me, I feel a twinge of pain in my chest even without knowing him I think that maybe we could have been happy, thinking about it was making me nauseous, realizing that the pain will not go away I sit up in bed and lean my head against the soft and comfortable cushioned headboard and stay there for a few moments with my eyes closed, suddenly the atmosphere in the room gets colder and I feel my body shiver, I open my eyes startled and see that the bedroom window is open, which strange I am sure was closed just now, I quickly run to it and close it quickly when I feel a cold air on my back something like a breath that stiffens my whole body and makes the hair on the back of my neck shiver. I am afraid to turn around and find something I don't want to see, but if I don't turn around I might not be able to defend myself.

Feeling that my heart is about to burst out of my mouth and that my brain is still pounding in my head I turn slowly leaning on the window and to my surprise I find myself, near my bed, on the other side of the room, with an older man marked by expression lines and already wrinkled skin, I see desperation in his eyes and something else, something like I don't know, sadness maybe? But why was he here? And how did he get in? In the middle of my temporary rambling, the man tries to approach me making a move too fast, scaring me like hell, I quickly approach a small table near the window and grab a jar of flowers using it as a weapon to defend myself. I point the jar with some flowers still in it at the man and watch him get scared and raise his hands to stop advancing.

- Don't take another step.

The man slowly kneels with his hands still raised, and opens his mouth to speak, but I don't hear any sound, he breathes and tries again, but again I hear absolutely nothing, the man closes his eyes and grimaces leaving me even more frightened, he takes a pocket knife from his pockets and I feel that all the blood has been drained from my body and I feel a shiver of fear run through my body, I squeeze the jar even tighter in my hand still pointing at the man who seemed immersed putting the knife in his hand, I take advantage of his distraction and move away from the table taking slow steps to get closer to the door that was on the other side of the room, I had two chances or attack him with the pitcher and try to hit him in the head, well at least in the novels it works, or I could run at full speed and spin the bed passing behind him and out the door to call for help, but the man doesn't look like he wanted to attack me or anything.

The man looks at me walk away and quickly cuts the palm of his hand causing thick, thick drops of blood to fall to the floor, I put my hands to my mouth to stifle the scream I let out, and like an idiot I approach the man, not least because he was an old man, and he was bleeding in my room. I keep a safe distance of about two meters.

- Are you crazy because you did that? - He doesn't answer me, he has his head down writing something in his own blood on the floor, I look at him scared and something comes to my mind that maybe explains that weirdness, maybe he is one of the prisoners that escaped from the cells, a prisoner with some mental problem. - Are you okay?

What a stupid question, he was clearly not okay, the man suddenly stands up and moves towards me holding my arm tightly, I am scared and end up dropping the jar on the floor and have no weapon left to defend myself. My heart speeds up and I feel his beats in my ears I try to free myself from his hand but the man despite his weak and impotent appearance will prove to be very strong dragging me to where he had written strange symbols on the floor, a type of language that I could not understand, realizing my lack of understanding the man is even more desperate releasing me, I take that cue and run as fast as I can behind the table, since he blocked my escape to aporta and now what will happen? Is he going to kill me? He still has the knife, right? The man just calms down again and looks at me with deep, sad eyes, he kneels down and puts his hands together, closing them, as well as his eyes and when he opens them again I see a small gray flower with black smoky details in the middle, it wasn't a very pretty flower, but it seemed to mean something to him. He looks at me with his eyes full of tears and looks at the floor at the place where he wrote those strange and far-fetched symbols, he then puts the flower on the floor still with his bleeding hand and closes his eyes.

I wake up with a jump with my head still resting on the soft headboard, what the hell happened? I breathe with difficulty and take long breaths of air, calm down Lauren it was only a dream, I put my hand on my heart and feel the uncompensated and fast beats in my palm, I make sure I am alone doing an inspection of the room and see that the bedroom window is open, I stand up still suspicious looking around me and finally close the window, I look at the clock on the wall that read three o'clock in the morning, I approach the place where the man had been and I see nothing written on the floor and no trace of blood, I take a deep breath and shake my head, what did I expect to find? It was just a dream, but it seemed so real. I go to bed and put on my slippers, I already know I won't be able to sleep at night so I better take a walk.

I come out of my room wearing pink pajamas with little blue flowers, and a long yellow cardigan, how cute, but it's comfortable and I found it in the closet, also because I don't think anyone will be awake so I won't wear a better outfit, making excuses in your head doesn't make things better Lauren, yeah, yeah, I'm in the habit of talking to myself a lot. I pass Carrie's room and see that she is sound asleep, yesterday was a really exhausting day I recognize that she must be pretty tired and won't be waking up anytime soon, that's what I should be doing too, but my fantastic nightmares and my horrible headache won't let me sleep in peace, sighing I close the door carefully so as not to wake her up, although I guess I could put a tractor near Carrie and she wouldn't wake up. I pass through the corridor towards the garden we saw yesterday to get to our room, I open the door and see guards at the door looking at me suspiciously, I tighten the cardigan more over my breasts and nod my head, it is true I did not think of the night guards of course they are awake, well now I can not go back I follow down the stairs and past the courtyard, I see the place where the pools were and where we did the test, Carrie told me that when she got up from the pool and said her name she looked at my pool and saw that I had not yet gotten up, she tried to go to me but was blocked by the guards, she said she saw dark shadows in the water that spread quickly through it, then quickly as she arrived, the shadows were fading and replaced by the reddish color of the water again, now I understand why everyone was looking at me scared, and understand why the guards did not look at each other and me as if I were demon personalization.

Now passing through the corridor and after walking some more I reach the garden a relief invades me when I feel the scent of the flowers invading my interior, in the orphanage the only place that Carrie and I were safe and away from everything was in a forest in the back, where we built a small hut, we went every day and the smell of the place calmed us and inspired us to be strong, but one day we reached the hut as usual and we found it totally destroyed and the only thing we could smell was anger and hate. I pick a small yellow flower and sit down on a bench at the bottom of the garden, sighing and closing my eyes, my head is about to explode and this pain doesn't seem to be going away any time soon.

- Are you planning our death?

I am startled when I raise my eyes and see a wall of very well sculpted muscles in front of me, Caleb was looking at me with arched eyebrows, gee, he looks so sexy doing that, in fact he would look sexy even with these ridiculous pajamas I'm wearing, damn the pajamas, I put the flower aside and close my cardigan over my chest, I get up still embarrassed and decide to go back to my room, it is already too humiliating for him to see me like this, I can't even imagine how my hair is, or if there is something in my eyes, damn it, I pass by him so he doesn't see me in front again, I give a sarcastic laugh.

- Only yours, what are you doing already awake at this hour?

Caleb moves forward and stops me from moving forward by standing in front of me, I try to pass him but almost bump into his breasts, not that I would complain if that happened, well since there was no way and seeing that he clearly wasn't going to let me go, I sit on the bench again and roll my eyes crossing my arms over my chest and tightening my cardigan more, Caleb watches me silently and this makes me even more uncomfortable.

- And then he just stands there watching me, you know I was leaving.

He strokes his tongue across his lip and sits down beside me, my heart races and my hands start to sweat.

- What are you doing here at this hour?

I arch my eyebrows and look at him, tilting my head, this closeness was not good.

- I'm sure I asked you that question first.

He gives a small sarcastic smile, he raises his hand and I follow it with my eyes, I see it land on his lips and lick mine, what are you thinking Lauren, that's it, when he's around I can't even think straight.

- Oh yeah, I don't remember.

He knows he's affecting me and he's doing it on purpose, but I won't let him affect me anymore.

- You don't need to know my reasons.

He looks at me with a disdainful frown, tilting his face and looking at me with those big brown eyes and those thick, thick lashes.

- It's up to you, but tomorrow you have to be willing.

What? Did I mishear what the queen said and classes start tomorrow? Damn it, I didn't even prepare, I didn't even know how to prepare, but I'm pretty sure the queen said the day after tomorrow, so what is he talking about?

- Why?

He sighs and puts his head on the bench and looks up at the sky.

- We're going out, you and I.

I almost choke on my saliva, and look surprised and immediately stare at him wide-eyed, no way, it was bad enough having a liaison or whatever with him, the last thing I need now is to feed my fantasies about him, not that I have any, at least not many, okay maybe I have had many fantasies about him, not that I'm going to tell him. Maybe he expressed himself wrong or I misunderstood.

- Come on.

Caleb gives me a small, bored smile, putting his elbow on his thigh and resting his head on his hand.

- I'm not taking you to a slaughterhouse, I'm just introducing you to the town.

I roll my eyes and sigh, looking at him and thinking about earlier today and the anger he was looking at me in, I wonder what has changed.

- I don't know, less than twenty-four hours ago you were pressing a sword to my neck, I'm sorry, but I don't trust you very much.

Caleb shrugged his shoulders and sighed, as if he was really bored with the whole conversation, so why did he bother to come here?

- I was just a little irritated, that's all, you're not going to take this seriously, are you?

Is he really asking me that? Caleb had a huge self-confidence problem, does he think that just by coming here to play his charm and I'll forget everything and go off with him to God knows where? He realizes that I'm looking at him incredulously, he leans his back against the bench again and bites his lips.

- All right, the queen made me promise to take you out to see the city and everything, if I don't do it I'm sure she'll bug the hell out of me until she does, so I'm moving things along and ridding my ears of Ms. Cleo's chirping, so what do you say?

I can't believe he's calling me out because he's being forced to do so, where does he think my dignity is, I'm not that desperate.

- Wait, let me get this straight, you're asking me out because your mother made you do it, and why don't you want her to give you a hard time because you didn't do it?

Caleb looks at me and opens the most beautiful and charming smile and I realize that he has two beautiful dimples and deep, the guy is already perfect and still has dimples, I almost forget what we're talking about and let myself go by his charm.

- Yes that's right, I'll pick you up at eight?

Wake up Lauren, I blink several times to break the spell, this guy is dangerous, I half-closed my eyes, and raised my eyebrows he almost managed to convince me, but this cheap trick of the beautiful, and wonderful, and sexy smile, Lauren focus, didn't shake me, not even a little. I shake my head to push my thoughts away.

- No, you won't catch me anytime because I won't, I don't know how things work around here, but where I come from two people don't leave because they were forced to, even more people who don't want to be with each other and don't like each other.

- You are funny when you are arguing with yourself in your head, I think I will change your nickname to little dreamer what do you think?

Did he even hear what I said or does his ego block any rejections? And what is this nickname shit, my mental discussions occur quickly and you don't even notice.

- You're not going to nickname me, we're not going anywhere, this really isn't my problem Caleb, I came here to reassure myself and you just made me angrier.

I stand up and feel like I could kill anyone in front of me, Caleb holds me by the arm preventing me from advancing

- Wait, I won't give up even if I spend all night at your bedroom door, you'll do it.

I let go of his arm with a tug and start walking.

- Good luck friend.

I say in a debauched voice and head for my room, it was a bad idea to come to the garden after all, my head is still hurting and I realize that Caleb is following me, was he really serious? From the little I know this guy, yes he was serious, I sigh going up the stairs and into the hallway, it's his problem if he wants to do this, he will do it forever because I will never go out with him. Arriving at the double doors leading to the corridor of rooms the guards look at me and Caleb and look at each other apprehensively, one of the guards looks at Caleb and curtsies.

- Sir I'm sorry, but you shouldn't ...

Caleb looks at the guard and raises an eyebrow giving him a small smile and touching his shoulder.

- Hey, relax, I'm not going to do anything.

The guard looks at me and nod, I think he was more concerned about what I would do with Caleb and not the other way around, I roll my eyes and pass the guards going straight to my room with Caleb on my heels, he has no way, but I'm too tired to argue with him, I open the door to my room and am about to close without even looking back, when Caleb puts his foot on the door at the last He reaches out and takes my hand, placing a pill in my palm.

- Here you go"-I look confused at him, and pull my hand back. - For your headache.

I look even more startled at him, I wonder if he can read my thoughts, because if so... my God.

- How did you know, I didn't tell you.

He smiles and looks at me sarcastically, putting his hands in his pockets.

- We're connected now, did you forget?

Damn he can read my mind, that's why he said it was funny, this guy.

- Ham... can you tell when I'm not well or can you read my mind?

He gives a loud laugh and I am startled to see if anyone has woken up, even his laugh was beautiful, hoarse and guttural this guy really had no flaws, except for the terribly annoying personality.

- No, when they take the test some people don't feel well, I assume that's why you were in the garden, we can't take the risk that tomorrow you'll be indisposed so we can go out, right dreamer?

He says this and pinches my nose, I immediately take his hand away from my face and close the door with a thud, going to my bed still listening to Caleb's sexy and totally smug laugh, I grab a bottle of water from the little table by the bedside and take the pill the idiot gave me, my head is throbbing and I don't have the luxury of thinking that it could be a poison or something, even because my heart won't let me think that he could do something like that, stupid heart.

- Idiot...

Mental note, kill Caleb.

X

I'm so light and comfortable, lying on a cloud so soft and pure, I hear my name being sung from afar, with a soft and beautiful voice, that kept getting closer and closer and closer and...

- Lauren... Lauren...LAUREN

I wake up being shaken violently by Carrie who was looking at me with impatience and anger.

- What are you doing you are still lying there, get up quickly.

Did I miss something? I get out of bed quickly and see that Carrie is tidy and perfumed, madly hunting for something in my dresser. I didn't have a headache anymore, whatever Caleb gave me last night really took effect and I felt great and alive again, but maybe this medicine erased my memories because I don't remember scheduling anything with Carrie, which makes me wonder what the hell she was doing in my room, dressed like that and almost making me get ready too. Carrie was wearing white jeans that emphasized her buttocks even more, not that she needed them, and a light, loose red blouse that matched her sandals of the same color, she looked ridiculously pretty, while I had my hair up, pajamas two sizes too big, and I'm pretty sure I had dried drool on my face.

- Lauren, why are you still standing there? Are you doing that thinking again thing? I told you this is weird, go get ready or else you're going to leave the way you are, which would not make a good impression, since? - she pauses and looks me up and down, and I decide to look at myself too - this thing you're wearing, and well, all of you.

I roll my eyes and cross my arms and close my face at her, what's wrong with me?

- Well of course I am thinking about why you are in my room like this and where we are going because I don't know, but mostly I am thinking about what is wrong with thinking before acting.

I look at her with a winning and debauched face, she sighs and puts the hair that was in front of her face behind her ear giving you the same look back.

- There wouldn't be anything wrong if you didn't travel in your own thoughts and didn't stop paying attention to what others were saying. - She brushes her hair back from her already impatient face, turning her attention back to the dresser. - Where the hell did you put that red necklace I saw the other day on your dresser?

She's nervous, and when Carrie is nervous, it can mean something, either she's about to do something bad or she's going out with some boy she likes, I hope it's not the second one because, I mean, it's not even been a week since we've been here, I see the necklace right in front of her on top of the dresser next to the lamp, seriously it was right in front of her.

- It's right there in front of you, saying hello idiot, I'm here!

Carrie stops going through her drawers and looks at the pendant for a few seconds I believe having a little internal discussion about how she didn't see it right there, which reinforces my suspicion that she is totally nervous. Carrie looks at me and rolls her eyes as I am lying on the bed, she is like crazy wanting to button the necklace and I decide to crawl over and help her, she takes her hands off the necklace and sighs.

- Logan said that Caleb was going to let you know last night that they were going to show us around town.

What's it like? I stop what I am doing and look at her startled, is she really saying she is going out with Logan and wants me to go out with Caleb?

- You've gone crazy Carrie, don't tell me you're into Logan, because if your memory is faulty he wanted to kill me along with the guy you want me to hang around town with, what more do you want me to pick flowers for my grave while we're going to my supposedly obvious death. Or did you believe all that talk about how everything was fine between us? Because who knows what I didn't believe, my grandfather killed their family Carrie, FUCKING killed their family, who knows what they plan to do to me, from this day forward I will be far away from them.

I pull in the air to catch my breath and Carrie finishes buttoning up the necklace, she pulls me onto the bed and I am still holding my breath.

- Lauren, calm down, it's okay to breathe. Of course I don't like Logan and I remember very well what happened, but I don't think they are going to do any I realize that they have immense respect for her and would do nothing to hurt her, if they wanted to or didn't care about her do you think they would do what she asks? I thought this was the perfect way for us to understand this place and what we can face it, I would never put your life at risk if I wasn't sure you would be okay.

I look at Carrie and realize that she is serious and reassure myself a little more, damn, and I gave my word that I would not go out with that arrogant jerk, sighing I lower my head already thinking about her provocations. But Carrie is right, we need to get to know this place because, well, we were born here, gee, it is so weird to think about, I push my thoughts away and raise my head looking at Carrie and sighing some more.

- All right, I guess I have no other way out, do I?

Carrie cheers up and stands up holding my hands and pulling me into the bathroom, I on the other hand am dragging my feet like a zombie.

- No, and we're late now so get in that bathroom and take a shower, you stink.

She gives me a wry little smile and I return the same smile with a bit more debauchery by closing the door right in her face.

- Mind your manners, young lady, mind your manners.

I gave myself patience and courage to face this day, I look in the mirror and don't get scared to see what I really thought I would see, maybe even worse, you see, I'm used to it because I've been living with the same image for eighteen years. I drag myself to the bathtub and turn on the faucet that begins to fill immediately, already undressed I sit down in the tub to pee, running my hands through my hair messing it up even more if it's possible, I sit there thinking about absolutely nothing until I realize that the tub is with a reasonable amount of water, I get into the tub and start to feel like a madam in that totally gorgeous bathroom, a madam who doesn't have the slightest idea what the piles of francs next to the tub are for, the end result is that I end up spritzing my hair with perfume, finally I finish getting ready and comb my hair leaving it wet, then brush my teeth and wrap myself in a towel.

When I come out of the bathroom Carrie is already waiting for me sitting on the bed, gorging herself on the food that the maids possibly left there, my food, that stingy girl.

- Hey, leave something for me too.

She doesn't even move a muscle, totally focused on her, I mean my, food.

- Relax, there's enough for your dragon stomach.

I show tongue to her and head towards the closet to hunt for something fresh and light to wear, today especially was warmer and I planned to wear a cute little yellow dress I saw last night and brown low heeled boots that I always wanted to have. feeling excited I walk past Carrie not caring about the exaggerated cough she and gave me and not caring about the comment she had made from my full something like "okay I told you you were stinky but you weren't supposed to take a perfume bath either." I wasn't that strong, I get dressed quickly and have my coffee with Carrie almost dragging me by the arm to go right away I end up not even eating properly.

- Lauren we are thirty minutes late, come on hurry up if they give up we might not get someone to walk us later.

I put the tray aside and grab an apple to eat on the way, this will also keep my mind busy so I don't think about spending the afternoon with the person I'm slightly itching to kill. Carrie told me that they would be waiting for us in the courtyard so we make our way all the way down to it, by the time we were coming down the stairs I could see the two waiting for us leaning on a wall near another staircase that would surely lead us to the exit of the castle, I hold my breath when I realize that Caleb is wearing casual clothes and I am a suspect to say that he was even hotter with them, his white shirt highlighted his chest and muscles and I swear I could without any effort could count the protrusions of his tank that were almost jumping out of the blouse, at the bottom wore a pair of half black pants that highlighted his thighs and Logan next to him was just as tempting, in a dark blue tank top with white shorts and black sandals, these guys didn't even look real, they were so

- It looks like someone took a perfume bath, those clothes look so much better than those pajamas from last night.

And Caleb had to open his mouth, how could such a beautiful person have to be such an idiot, it is true when they say that everything in life has to have balance and Caleb was living proof of that, I shake my head and sigh closing my eyes and thinking of a sarcastic response to his comment but nothing comes to mind, damn I am so bad at this, I decide to change the subject ignoring him, I look at Logan who looks intently at Carrie who looks embarrassed, these two are still going to be trouble, I was about to tell them to be less obvious but I decide to ask a more important question.

- Why do they want to take us to see the city separately?

Logan doesn't take his eyes off Carrie for a moment, but then blinks a few times and sighs looking at me, I swear I saw disappointment in his eyes, hypocrite?

- You two are very easily distracted together and wouldn't pay attention to what we say, there are places and things here that we need your full attention to, otherwise I don't want to be blamed for any... accidents.

I close my eyes and take a step back, what kind of place was this? I wonder what he was talking about? Did it have monsters or something? Caleb laughs and puts his arm on my shoulders pulling me close to him, that scares me and I immediately feel alert and can feel every inch of his skin on mine.

- Logan doesn't scare them like that, no... - Still, you see there are some places that would be dangerous for you, especially with those pretty little faces.

He says this holding my face and lifting it up, if they knew what Carrie and I have faced before we could move into our house they wouldn't underestimate us, I mean we have had to deal with drunks, perverts, drug dealers, thieves, and even a stupid doctor who was groping me during our appointment, it's not easy being a woman even more so in a society where men think that women are only good for satisfying their personal pleasures, it's disgusting and sickening. I shake my head and turn away from Caleb brutally, Carrie crosses her arms and raises her eyebrows.

- You'd be surprised what these little guys have had to face, and how many asses we've had to kick.

Logan sighs and looks at Carrie smiling, Logan is so closed off that seeing him smile is truly a miracle.

- I would be very disappointed if they didn't, well since we are being forced to take them for a walk how about we do it soon?

Carrie uncrosses her arms and starts walking towards the stairs.

- How kind, maybe you're the one who needs a kick in the butt.

Logan follows her and is right behind her, no Carrie he is the one you need to keep your distance from, I shake my head and look at Caleb who is right beside me with an incredibly sexy smile and arched eyebrow re-watching for me to head for the stairs, my heart lets out a thud that feels like it is going to come out of my mouth, I forbid myself to like this guy I huff angrily and roll my eyes walking in a hurry up the stairs, I am afraid it is already too late.

We left the castle five minutes ago saying goodbye to Carrie and Logan who went the opposite direction from us, I still wasn't sure with the situation, but I couldn't argue with Carrie, when she put something in her head there was no one to take it away. We followed a winding road until we reached a bridge, I wondered how much further we would have to walk to the city, I thought that as soon as we left the castle walls there would already be the city, but according to my partner here beside me the castle was a little separated from the city for protection reasons, since some groups had formed against the attitudes of the kingdom that could not afford to strike back and lose more soldiers and decided to retreat, so we would have to walk a little to get there. I look down the bridge and see a small river flowing quietly through the stones that are scattered about it, I don't know if it's because I made the move too fast but I feel a little dizzy as I look down and put my hand on my forehead as if to stabilize myself again.

- Don't tell me I need to carry you in my arms to the other side.

I take my hand off my forehead and hold onto the railing of the bridge still feeling a little dizzy, not that I would admit anything to him. The sarcastic look on Caleb's face irritates me so much that I feel like beating him to death, he looks at me like he's making a giant effort to have to put up with me and that he's in no mood to do that, and yet he treats me like I'm an easy, fragile, weak rush. I breathe in the air and reassure myself by regaining my balance, and begin to move forward across the bridge taking care not to look down again.

- No, I don't need you to carry me, I can do it myself, thank you.

I reply sarcastically in the same tone, Caleb raises his arms and his eyebrows in a sign of surrender as I pass him, rolling my eyes and walking briskly. I cross the bridge without any more problems and go ahead without even waiting for Caleb, I am totally annoyed with him, one minute he is being kind and giving me medicine for my headache and the next he is being a sarcastic jerk, I keep going forward without looking back.

- Hey, where are you going?

I slowly turn back and see that he has the same sarcastic look on his face as before, what the fuck, why did I have to run ahead like that? he won again for a change, he looks at me and tilts his head raising an eyebrow.

- The city is that way.

I growl, baring my teeth, bite down hard and clench my hands into fists, try to reassure myself and walk past him as if nothing had happened, and of course he wouldn't just let it go and lets out a loud, annoying laugh as I pass by his side and even has the audacity to bow to me, pissing me off even more. Soon Caleb is by my side again and we continue our way again without talking, Caleb shuts up and gets serious putting his hands in his pockets, I remember the purpose of that ride and leaving the anger aside I decide to focus on getting more information about things, anything he says would help us somehow, I look at him sideways that seems lost in his thoughts.

- And then, well, um - what the hell, because I am stuttering, I am terrible at making conversation, I decide to say what first comes to mind. - So, are there more places like this?

Caleb continues to stare straight ahead and for a moment I thought he wasn't going to answer me, but then he sighs looking at me.

- In a world as big as this one you think that life only exists in the world where you lived? it's typical of humans to think that they are the center of everything, they are so ignorant that they have no idea that there are many other places like this scattered around the world.

So you mean there are other places like this, well this is not very useful information for us, but it is very interesting, unlike what he thinks I have always believed that there is life on other planets, wait, are we on another planet? I widen my eyes and turn to him.

- Wait, you said there are other places, so we are on another planet?

Caleb giggles and looks at me with an arched eyebrow.

- No, we are not on another planet, we are just in a parallel world.

Parallel world? So there are different parallel worlds to ours? I don't understand anything anymore. I draw my eyebrows together and bite my lips involuntarily, and when I look at Caleb he is looking directly at them.

- Yes, there are many other planets with life, but there are only three parallel worlds, heaven, this world," he pauses and smiles sideways, "and the demon world.

I feel a gust of wind hit my face and some hair spread across it, I feel a small chill in my body and rub my hands on my arms, feeling a little cold now. Caleb takes the hair from my face and puts it behind my ear as if it were a reflex, I look at him arching my eyebrow and he immediately takes his hands out of my hair taking his hand to his neck and scratching the spot, I look a little embarrassed and fix my hair rolling my eyes.

- Do you want to hear a story?

I immediately look at him who is now looking at me with raised eyebrows, nodding my head, Caleb sighs and looks forward.

- There's a story I used to hear as a child about how Baruel came to be. -He helps me across a rather slippery road caused by the rains there, while telling the story. - Right after the fall of the angels expelled from heaven to earth, God thought that they would not bring any more problems, but just the opposite happened, the angels started having monstrous children, giants, who destroyed everything in their path without even blinking. I guess you already know about this, yes?

Yes, I already knew about this story, we lived in a Christian orphanage, so we had bible classes every day, and I already knew this story by heart, but I didn't understand how this story would be related to this place. I nod my head and he holds my hand pulling me close to him when I almost face the ground for slipping on a puddle of lava I had not seen while I drifted in my thoughts, I accept his help half-unhappy and finally we get through the damn road, I could already see some houses and shops, and we entered the movement of the city, I look at Caleb who still keeps my hand in his, I turn away from him and thank him with a simple, thank you.

- No problem.

Looking at the city, I see that it seems an ordinary town, the streets are very well cleaned, and the houses have a structure that reminds me a lot of the medieval houses, but since I was in a castle just now was the least I could expect, I see people riding bicycles, horse drawn carts, vendors shouting their products competing with each other to see who shouted louder, children running, women and men walking, in short everything seemed fine. I remember that Caleb has not finished his story and I turn to him.

- So what does this story have to do with this place?

He turns his attention away from a woman smiling at him from a women's underwear store, and turns his attention back to me, as much as I believe he didn't mean to do that, this idiot.

- Ah yes, well, God, seeing all these things, decided to create a place where these evil angels and their followers would be imprisoned until the final judgment, this place is the world of demons. God realized that the earth was quite corrupted by the ravages created by the angels, and decided to spread life to other planets, in order to have other alternatives in case the earth did not work out again.

We arrive at a huge square with many stores and stalls scattered around it, we advance through it and more and more people stare at us, I don't know if it's because they've never seen me or if they know Caleb, after all he is the prince and from what I remember there are some people who don't like the kingdom, and well knowing a little of Caleb's personality I can even understand why.

- Don't worry, this part of town is safe, and even if it wasn't, I wouldn't let them do anything to you, nor would they be able to. - Caleb smiles at me as if he has total confidence in this, I on the other hand - Well, the other planets were progressing and expanding, acquiring specific abilities and blah blah blah. Answering your question, Baruel didn't exist and wasn't supposed to exist, but one of the sons of these angels was not arrested and remained living hidden on earth, until he found a way to release the demons and control them, with the release God realized that the earth was too weak to be strong, but he could not extinguish all life from it and build anew, so he created this parallel world with the earth and placed in it a superior race, stronger, smarter, and endowed with many gifts, finally this new race was able to hold the demons back, restoring peace again. That is until...

He pauses and we go to a small alley which leads to what I believe is the poorest area of the city, the houses are more cramped together, it looked like a small slum, but still it did not look as bad as the slums of Rio and São Paulo for example, some people were in front of their house, others were talking to their neighbors, others were hanging clothes on the clotheslines, and there were many children playing along the street that remained clean and the houses were very neat and tidy despite being tucked in one another were well organized, but from what the queen said everyone in the kingdom is going through an economic crisis so I can not judge only by the appearances of the place, because I do not know what goes on inside the houses and in what situation they are, but it seems that the kingdom does everything so that people do not lack food, this is admirable.

At that moment a group of children come running and form a circle around Caleb hugging and kissing him and I am put on the sidelines for a few minutes. I see how happy Caleb is and I've never seen him so attentive and cheerful before, he takes some children by the lap and kisses them on the face, giving them some candy that he took out of his pocket, without realizing I'm smiling like an idiot looking at him when he disperses all those children.

Caleb fixes his hair and walks to my side again looking at me still smiling.

- I'm charming, aren't I? Are you in love yet?

I abandon the smile I was wearing and replace it with sarcasm, shaking my head and rolling my eyes.

- I don't give a shit.

He bites his lip and looks at me intensely with a gallant smile on his face.

- Is that an invitation?

I almost choke on my saliva and my sarcasm turns to embarrassment and discomfort, I look at him and see that he is amused by my change of attitude, especially when our gazes meet and I look away immediately, damn this guy is good. I decide to change the subject, and try to go back to the story he was telling me dodging his question. Scratching the back of my neck, I swallow my saliva and stare straight ahead, "Why am I acting like this? I clear my throat and cross my arms over my chest.

- And then back to the point, you haven't finished telling the story.

Caleb looks at me and gives a small smile, realizing that he was trying to change the subject for sure.

- All right, but know that I will charge you. - I look at him with anger foaming out of my mouth, he raises his arms in surrender-it's okay, I stopped, well, some damage had already been done to some people on earth and there was no way to get them back, but as long as the demons remained trapped it was okay, as far as possible, that is until-he gets serious and bites his teeth hard looking forward. - Until your grandfather somehow manages to free and control them again, I don't know what he intends to do but I will stop him no matter what it takes and I don't care what or who I have to sacrifice if it gets in my way.

I bite my lips and look down, I didn't know what to say so I said nothing, I was afraid I would say something and he would be even more upset than he seemed to be.

- See that alley over there? - Caleb points across the street to the middle of two tall buildings, one looked like a party club or something, and the other looked like a bath house, to a dark, dank alley where, even in daylight, you couldn't see much beyond a few houses, and a few people walking around. - There is where some opponents of the kingdom are, and you can never go in there, especially since you are... well, who you are.

Yes I know, granddaughter of the man who destroyed their lives, I still can't get used to it maybe I never will, but why wouldn't they go there and try to do something, I mean they have all those guards in the kingdom. I put the I look at him as I cover my eyes that are becoming irritated by the sun.

- Why don't you try something, I mean maybe you can put a little fear in them with the soldiers from the kingdom.

Caleb laughs and looks at me, shaking his head negatively, pulling me back to the path we had just taken, back to the square and sitting down on a bench farther away, near a marketplace. I sit on the bench and swing my legs over looking at him waiting for my answer, Caleb looks at me and raises his eyebrows, then rests his back on the bench and crosses his arms.

- We've tried talking to them, but it didn't work, and we can't go in there and attack them either, it would leave a bad impression on the kingdom, and people would fear us and not feel safe with us.

Well it really seems that people here like the kingdom, everyone greets Caleb in a very warm and intimate way, there's none of that movie stuff where people bow their heads and curtsy, but I suspect that's only with Caleb, he has this thing that attracts people and they are enchanted by him, that is until they get to know him better. Caleb points to the side in the direction of a long street that seemed endless, standing up suddenly and giving me his hand to get up as well.

- And well, at the end of the street, walking another two blocks, there's a pier with the sea that borders the Elemental kingdom, but that's for another day, it's time to go, you have to pack your things for class tomorrow, and it's almost lunchtime, if we delay a little longer, the queen might come here thinking I killed her.

That's funny, but I really didn't even see the time go by, even though I was starving because I hadn't had breakfast properly, which was Carrie's fault, and I didn't even have time to fix my hair. Speaking of things to be arranged I remember that I don't even know what to wear or how these classes will be, I refuse Caleb's hand and get up by myself passing him.

- All right, I'm really looking forward to these classes.

I say rolling my eyes and making a face of bored, but deep down I was really a little nervous for this, Caleb collects his hand and puts it behind his back turning to me and was about to say something when we hear a loud noise and noisy, and I stare wide my eyes when I see that torn scream of death came from my belly. I put my hands on it immediately and look over at Caleb, who is standing with all his teeth bared looking at where my hands were resting.

- Yeah, I guess we should eat first, shouldn't we?