Chapter 13

“I’m―”

The chimera interjects by shouting. “Leave! Before I order my servant to kill you!”

I look in front of me to see the man shaking his head in disbelief. He mouths ‘I knew it’ before walking away.

“Come back here, Teal! I’m not letting this human wander my castle!” The chimera shouts to the man but the snake disappears down the hallway, leaving me with the chimera. “You―!”

I flinch and look behind me again before standing up to back up for the door. “I ― uh ― was sent here…”

“By who?” He steps down one step and I back away one step also.

“F-Felix.”

“Felix?” He stops walking and sucks his teeth. “That piece of crap―”

“Felix isn’t like that!” I shout but back away again when I see him glaring at me. “I didn’t mean ― I just―”

“Do you even know who Felix is?”

“An old man that knows fairies and messengers.”

The chimera scoffs. “Of course, you see him as that.” He rolls his eyes, his elliptical pupils gradually narrow into slits like a reptile, a natural reaction of a chimera due to annoyance or emotional disturbance. “But regardless of who sent you, I’m not letting you stay here.”

“Why not?”

“Don’t question me. Just leave or else.”

I look down at my feet and press my lips together. “Weeks…”

“What? Speak up.”

“I’ve been traveling here for weeks!” I snap my head up to glare at him, venom dripping in my tone. “I’ve been enduring pain, riddles, and exhaustion to reach this place! This one place that Felix told me to go to while not specifying any instructions at all! Do you know it felt to labor my strength to reach this place! Huh! I get it that it’s your home but if you know Felix then just let me stay here until the storm has passed in my world! I’m begging you!”

I was shouting so much that I didn’t realize the chimera made it off the stairs and is now standing in front of me. “I mean―”

“So because a man that has no business with me tells you where to go, I’m supposed to, what? Let you into my home?”

“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to put it like that. I’m just tired. I don’t know where else to go. I don’t have a home, I don’t have a name, I don’t have a family, and although I don’t need to eat or drink anything to live, I’m not able to survive out there on my own like this. I’m in trouble and in distress, please let me stay here for a few days. I’ll do anything.”

“I hate people that beg.” He grumbles, turning away from me. “You can stay here if Teal agrees to watch over you and you agree to clean every inch of the lower east wing, which you’ll be staying in for those few days.”

“Teal who?” The man returns, wearing a frown on his lips. “Sir, I’m not a babysitter. Teal is not an option.”

The chimera ignores him. “If Teal agrees, I’ll allow your stay as I said. But only if you promise to keep away from these stairs or else I’m kicking you out, understand?”

I nod.

“Again, I’m not an option―” Teal is cut off by a growl from the chimera.

“Do you want to be locked in a room with your friend?”

Teal scrunches his nose and rolls his eyes. “Fine, I’ll babysit the poor thing, but don’t make me suffer like that. Anything but that.”

“Don’t make their stay traumatizing. I already feel annoyed letting them stay here.” The chimera walks to the stairs, leaving Teal and me alone.

“You say you don’t have a name but I can’t go around calling you ‘Miss’ all the time, that’s tiring, so I’ll just give you a nickname till you remember who you are.” He looks at me up and down and snaps his fingers. “I know! I’ll call you ‘Grace’. Get it? Because ballerinas are suppose to dance with grace?” He crosses his arms over his chest. “I read the books so I know how they dance, right?”

“I never seen a ballerina before but I accept the nickname.”

“You never seen one before? What kind of human are you? Usually, one human will see a ballerina sometime during their lives. Especially ones that decide to dress like one.”

“I lost my memories so I don’t know if I have or not, honestly. And I’m not a ballerina, I’m just wearing this temporarily.”

“Oh.” He says, staring at me for a moment, most likely feeling pity for me, before continuing; “I read a book that memory loss comes from trauma, head injury, or lack of sleep. Does any of those relate to you?”

“Um―” I feel a slight sting in the back of my head so I place there to try to subside the pain. “―ugh, sorry. I can’t think right now. I haven’t had any decent sleep in a while, not counting Felix’s spell to put me to sleep.”

“I still don’t know who this Felix guy is, but if you’re exhausted then let me take you to the guest room. We can talk more tomorrow.” Teal guides me to the lower east wing hallway and takes me to another part of the castle, where a lot of doors are seen. “That hallway right there,” he points to the hallway a bit far from us. “It leads to a door to the study, try not to disrupt that guy I told you about. He’s a real nuisance once he’s unable to focus.”

He opens one of the doors to an open bedroom. “This’ll be your room. It’s close by mine so if you need something, just come knock. My name is on the door so you won’t have trouble finding it.”

“Thank you.” I flash him a weary smile before he leaves me alone in the room. “Ah, wait, where’s the restroom?”

“Across the hallway, down the hall. You can’t miss it. It’s a different door from all of the others.” Teal calls from down the hallway before a door sounds like it’s been closed.

I close my door as well and sigh. “I can’t believe Felix didn’t tell me who was living here. Great, now I have to figure where I can live after I leave here in a few days.”

I walk to the bed and flop on it with a heavy sigh. “After I sleep.”

It didn’t take me long to drift into a deep sleep.

It also didn’t take long for another dream to make me feel… weird inside. As if I was really there.

“Are you lost?” A young maiden asks me, tilting her head to the side in concern as she watches me slowly stand to the soles of my feet, gasping as she notices where I was sitting previously. In the lake. “Oh goodness, have you been in there long?”

“I have no idea.” I look down to see myself wearing men's garments. “And I don’t know if I’m lost. I don’t remember why I’m here.”

“If you’re here that means you’re here on a important mission. No one comes here unless they were sent directly by the king. This is a promise land, I guess to say the least.” She says, sighing as she looks down at the lake. “This lake has mysterious properties in it, even I don’t know what’s in it since I don’t dare go near it. I think it might’ve removed your memories since you were in it for so long.”

“Yeah, that might be it.” I agree, nodding while looking around the lavish area. A beautiful meadow. So much green, so much ― of beauty. “This place… The promised land… Is it a good place to be in?”

The woman looks surprised before smiling and says in a soft voice, “That’s up to you to know.”

I grab my stuff that is scattered throughout the gravel and before I can take my leave, the woman gently places her hand on my forearm and whispers. “Don’t fall in love, miss.”

I jolt awake and gasp for air as I look around me. I’m in the castle again.

“Good, you’re awake.” A voice says and I flinch, turning my head to see Teal standing there with his arms crossed. “I thought you were dead. I kept shaking you to wake up for like five minutes.”

“Is there something going on?” I ask.

“Is there something going on?” He mocks me and scoffs. “Grace, you’re here thanks to my master’s kindness. You have to pay your debt for living here by cleaning our wing in the morning and night time.”

“I don’t want to clean in this dress.” I say, secretly clenching the medal under the comforter. “Is there something else I can wear?”

“No.”

I purse my lips at the idea of ruining this dress but I sigh in defeat.

I slip the medal under the pillow to not lose it and climb out of bed. “Where are the―” Teal cuts me off by shoving a broom in my hands then leaves the room without another word. “―thanks…”

I clean the lower east wing the best I can without disturbing the guy in the study, who I heard moving around a couple of times during the ten-minute duration of me sweeping by the door.

I put the broom back where Teal instructed me to put it a while ago and went to go find him to figure out the plans for the day but he turned himself into a snake and hid himself in his other room. I bite back a groan at his attitude towards me and decide to go outside to get some fresh air.

I go to the garden and admire the little flowers that weren’t dead before leaving out of the garden to go through the front door, ready to pass the gate when I hear Teal come up behind me.

“Where are you going?” He asks.

I continue to walk to the gate and shrug. “To the meadow.”

“You need to ask me for permission before wandering off, you know?”

“You never told me that I did.”

“Well, you do, so stop walking and ask me.”

I obey and stop walking towards the gate to turn around to look at him. “Can I go to the meadow, Teal?”

“Yes, you can, just be back before the sun goes down.”

“What are you? My mother?”

He purses his lips. “Very funny, I’m just making sure you don’t do anything while you’re here.”

“I won’t do anything.”

“I’ll be the judge of that.”

I roll my eyes and turn away from him. “Okay.”

“Don’t roll your eyes at me, Grace.” Teal walks in front of me and leans down with the same smirk as yesterday. “I’m not someone you want to treat with disrespect. I told you, didn’t I?”

You told me, but you seem like the type that’s too stuck-up to take anything seriously. And from the way you dismissed the chimera so casually, you seem like the playful type too, so it doesn’t seem possible that you feel disrespected by a simple eye roll.

“I’m sorry, your majesty.” I say dryly, stretching my lips into a small grin. “I shall not do the crime again.”

Teal looks like he’s trying hard not to smile and looks away, pressing his lips together before looking at me again. “I have a feeling me and you will get along.”

He walks back inside the castle and I take one last glance at him before I walk to the gate feeling confused.

Why didn’t he let himself laugh if he wanted to? Does the chimera not allow humor in his castle or something?

I open the gate properly this time and as expected, it creaks annoyingly loud as I did. I didn’t open it all the way, primarily because of the loud sound making my ears ring, but since there is no point in opening it all the way in case someone comes.

“Why did Felix tell me to come here?” I sigh, making my way to the meadow. “I could’ve hid in the ocean until the storm passed over. It wouldn’t have been a big deal, but at the same time he didn’t know at the time, so in his defense, I looked like a helpless female with no place to go, and he decides to send me to another world to hide from the storm where a chimera lives.”

I walk towards the meadow, entering it from the dull path as before, and once my eyes land on the green scenery, I stop walking.

Looking around the meadow, I see that the grass stretches for miles and miles, seemingly impossible to run away in either direction without exerting my stamina trying to attempt the obvious challenge of finding another exit out of this world.

In enervation, I sit down on the ground and hold my head in my hands. I don’t know why I feel so drained of energy suddenly, and more importantly, why is my mood all over the place? First, I’m in good spirits, afterward I’m exhausted, thereupon I’m frustrated, then I’m somewhat close to being in good spirits again. What is this place anyway?

“Maybe it’s because I haven’t fully adjusted to being in a new world so my body is still adapting.” I mutter, looking up at the grass again. “I should try not to be rash with my actions while I stay here. I need the energy to go back.”

But… where will I go? The ocean? I won’t feel comfortable there despite the nice creatures and beautiful views. I want to be on land so I can sleep on a dry surface and have oxygen to breathe.

“It’s beautiful out here. I feel like I can breathe again.” I graze my fingertips along the soft grass. “The castle is so stuffy that I can barely think straight in there. It makes me feel oppressive but at the same time, lenient, which is strange since I have no reason to fully trust that castle besides for shelter.” I lay down on the grass, resting my head on my arm as I continue to feel the grass in between my fingers. “I wonder… if…” I feel my eyes go heavy as I start to drift off to sleep. “...I have a ...home too.”

My world goes dark once I fall asleep, feeling the light wind against my skin, but my nap is soon interrupted a few hours later by something slithering against my stomach. I jolt awake and I look down to see the same black cobra as before and I loll my head back as I sigh.

“Is it that late already?” I ask, feeling the snake turn human again, shamelessly not bothering to get off of me as he chuckles in response.

“No, I just wanted to come see if you were really out here sunbathing and decided to join you. Master has been confined in his room so why not spend time with the toddler, right?”

“I obviously look older than a toddler, sir.” I say, looking up at the sky.

“Ah, you don’t have any humor either, got it.”

“I have humor, sir. I’m just too tired to laugh.”

“Why are you so tired? You slept well in the bed and you slept well out here too. Do you have a disorder or something?”

“I think my body is trying to adapt or the journey took a toll on me physically.”

“Then I give you my condolences so you can return to good health to make it back home again, whereever that is.”

“Probably with a serpent or an entity if I’m lucky that they don’t kill me immediately.”

“That’s nothing to joke about, Grace.”

“I almost died, so passing away doesn’t seem scary to me. There’s pain for a slight second then relief as my body succumbs to the death that’s desperately awaiting me, but I’m alive thanks to luck and luck brought me here.”

“Did you tell Felix you almost died?”

I scoff. “I was so upset that he sent me on this journey that I forgot to mention it. He was there for one minute and gone the next with his obedient dog that refuses to look at me.”

“You seem like the polite, quiet type, but here you are, getting upset and honestly, I like that you act human. I mean, like, less like Master, with no disrespect towards him or anyone else. Well, except one, but they’re irrelevant.”

“I might bump into them one of these days. It’d be nice to know.”

“I doubt it. That person comes and goes like the castle is his hotel suite or something. I’ve read about hotels in books and they seem interesting.”

“I haven’t seen any.” I cover my eyes with my forearm. “But you mention you like me acting human. What does that mean exactly? Being human?”

“You’re not emotionless, perfect, or apathetic. I like it when someone shows how they feel or reacts instead of bottling it up inside of them.”

“I don’t have a halo so I’m not perfect, I’ve done things.”

“Like what? Run away from home?”

I can feel the words ‘Yes, I am,’ about to roll off my tongue, but my unsureness of that response prevents me from saying it.

Why did I automatically think of that response?

Am I runaway? If so, what did I run away from?

“I let a man die, and although he wished to die, I still feel guilty.”

“Did you kill him?”

“No, but―”

“Then don’t feel guilty, feel proud that he got his wish.”

“I felt happy for him at first but guilt crept up to me.”

“That’s normal to feel, Grace, and although that doesn’t mean you’re innocent, that means you’ve done no wrong, not like I have.”

“You said you don’t kill so what did you do?”

“That stays a secret, but just know it was bad enough that my dignity as a member of my kind has been demolished the moment I did it.”

“So you’re all alone?”

“Alone?” Teal laughs. “No, no, I’m not alone. I have master.”

“You continually call him master but why not call him by his real name? Does he not have one?”

“He didn’t tell me and told me to never call him by his name if I ever found out what it is, which is strange because he is just a chimera, again with no disrespect towards him, so how can I find out who he is?”

“Lots of people leave their stories behind for others to tell so maybe he told someone and they know?”

“Impossible. Master has been withdrawn from the world for his whole life. He doesn’t tolerate society like you do. He distances himself from everyone, sometimes he completely shuts himself in his wing and doesn’t come out unless he needs something from me.”

“Does he talk to the others here?”

“Not at all. They saw him once and never again.”

“He didn’t seem too distant with me, he seemed bothered that I was in the castle. Was it like that with the others?”

“Weirdly, he never talks much to outsiders and just tosses them out or orders me to do it, but with you, not saying you’re important or anything, he spoke more than he usually does. Maybe he was in a good mood yesterday? Who knows?”

“Yeah… maybe…” To me, I didn’t see a distant chimera that stays away from society, I saw something else. It’s hard to tell what it was but in his eyes and on his facial expression, I saw something. I read him during that moment and didn’t realize that I did. He said all of those things about making Teal kill me but he didn’t look like a murderer, at least not to me. But, strangely, I don’t feel scared that he’ll kill me, I mean, other than the intimidating glares that make me feel fearful of him. I feel confident that he won’t kill me.

Though, that’s my own opinion of the chimera. He could be a creature completely different than my observation and I wouldn’t know so it’s better to keep my thoughts to myself.

“What are you thinking?” Teal asks, looking at me.

“I’m thinking of two things. One, that the castle looks pretty old for a residence that can still be lived in, and two, I would appreciate if you got off of me. It’s hard to breathe.”

Teal laughs and rolls off of me to lay beside me on the grass. “Sorry, I guess I forgot to get off after turning back to my human form.”

“It’s okay.”

“For the castle, I don’t know much about its history, just that it’s been here for a while.”

“Does the chimera know?”

“He should but he rather not tell it himself. You’ll have to go to the library to find information on the castle.”

“I’m guessing you spend a lot of time there.”

“I do. The world is full of mysterious things. I have to understand it all.”

“I haven’t seen much of the world, just little things. Like the top of the mountain. Did you know that it’s Winter all year around up there?”

“Really?” He looks interested.

I grin and nod. “Yeah, and there’s these white flowers that cover the ground and trees too. It’s very beautiful. I wish I can show you but I have no way of doing so.”

“Do you know how to paint?”

“I don’t know if I do.”

“You might’ve forgotten your memories but your body will remember.”

“You think so?”

“Yeah, just try, and if you can’t do it, you can stop.”

“Sure, I’ll try. It sounds like fun.”