They stepped through an archway which led straight ahead or to either side. Devon guided her to the left. Her sense of direction told her she was going further from the entrance into wherever she had come from and that bothered her slightly, but she kept quiet.
He led her down the corridor to a door that opened out onto a small balcony. He stood aside just on the inside of the doorway and let her pass first. She walked through slowly and carefully, her back to the wall as she attempted to look casual in taking the seat closest to her only escape.
“Why are you frightened of me?” he asked.
“What?”
“Why are you frightened of me?” Devon seated himself opposite her, his back to the view. Blue gulped down a little air before trying to say something, but he cut her off, saying, “Don’t bother trying to lie or be polite. I know your scared… more of Agathea than me, but you are scared of. I just want to know why.”
And then… just like that… words just fell from her mouth fueled by a courage that came from nowhere. “Well, how would you feel if you were me in my situation?” Devon sat back in his chair, keeping silent and letting Blue get some things off her chest. “I mean, I get turned around in a place I’ve lived all my life, I go through a door and meet,” she waved her hand in reference to Agathea, “that, and then the door disappears… and we’re not in the castle anymore… and my hand,” she holds up the once wounded hand which showed no scratches or scars of any kind.
Devon looked at her hand intently and waited. Finally, when she didn’t put it down, he said, “Was there something more about the hand that you wished to discuss?”
“Look at it!” she commanded. “Just look.” She leaned forward in her seat, turning her hand in front of him this way and that.
“What am I supposed to be looking-?”
“They’re all gone,” she declared. “All of them.” She twisted her hand this way and that, smoothing her good hand over the other. “What did she do to me?”
He leaned forward, took her hand in both of his, eyeing it carefully. “My darling… it isn’t what she’s done to you. It’s what you’ve done to yourself.”
She took her hand back, hugging it to her chest. “You’re making as much sense as she did.” She got up to leave and stopped herself in time before she crashed into a cement wall. Looking around herself, she saw that they were still on a balcony, but the passageway they had come through was now a solid wall. She turned, staring wide-eyed at Devon. He answered her silence with a sweet, calm tone, saying, “If you would please have a seat, I will explain everything.”
*originally written on April 8, 2008
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