Chapter 13: 13. Alicia: Exploring the Maze

Alicia sprinted through the building’s corridors until she ran out of breath. She was so exhausted from her trials and whatever Ventus had done to her left her feeling completely drained. Alicia leaned against the stucco wall trying to catch her breath. She was lost in that maze of a building.

The sun hadn’t quite risen yet, it was still early in the morning, but the moon cast a cool light through the leaded windows that lined the other side of the hall she paused in. It was early enough that most people should still be asleep and was possibly the best time for her to do some snooping.

Out of the window she could see a green lawn that stretched out to a dark pine forest. It looked like the other side of the building she was being kept in, decorated similarly but instead of a garden a driveway was laid out in a large circle in front of the building lined with crystal lights. The horizon slowly began to turn grey as the sun began the slow journey to the horizon.

After closing her eyes to center herself Alicia looked down at her feet and saw, with shock, that her shadow had been taken from her. Where there should’ve been one on the wall behind her, with the light streaming into the hallway, there was none. That was worrying. What could the shadow of herself be getting up to?

It was best to get something out of being out of her prison without a supervisor. Alicia pulled off the wall and made her way back down the way she’d been running.

Alicia might’ve not known the exact building she was in but from experience with similar buildings she knew what was happening; why it was so confusing to navigate. The layout of buildings like these were only stable to those who were invited. The outside might look to be only five stories tall but through a complex series of spells woven into the stone and foundations any amount of hidden rooms could be there and no clear way out would present itself to the uninvited.

Alicia kept her eyes on the wall lined with doors. Most of them had numbers or names on them. A few doors had plaques that indicated these were libraries or research institutes. She continued onwards, turning left and right down quiet hallways at random. She had now idea what exactly she was looking for.

About ten minutes had passed of wandering before Alicia noticed her clothes and hands were dirty. Covered in a mix of her own and Ventus’ blood. She grimaced. There wasn’t much she could do but figured if she wanted to keep from drawing unwanted attention when people started getting up she needed to find other clothes. Another turn took her to another row of rooms that had numbers in place of words written on the doors. She figured these would perhaps be living quarters.

Trying the first door she came across she frowned when the door handle wouldn’t budge. With a quick look down either side of the hall she decided to try a trick she had picked up as a kid.

Alicia concentrated on the metal and with a burst of heat Alicia rapidly infused it with destructive energy. Pulling her hand away and inhaling she took all of that magic away dropping the temperature almost instantly. Another pulse of destruction directed to the compromised lock disintegrated it and with a smug smile Alicia pushed on the door. It easily swung open. It was a destructive way about going at it but no one would know until she was already gone.

The room inside was warm with an inviting fire crackling off to the side. Three large, nearly ceiling height, windows looked out into a small courtyard that had a few flowering shrubs and an old oak tree. The moon trailed overhead in front of a cloudless star filled sky. Off in the distance a small trickle of water could be heard. It was oddly calming.

Alicia crept in, shutting the door soundlessly behind her. The apartment was large, two floors with the first being dedicated to a large library and working space. Items of magical significance littered the shelves along with thick, dusty tomes that were haphazardly stacked in the old wooden bookcases. There was a spiral staircase that led up to a small wrought iron walkway. Two doors were on either side of that second floor. No other lights but the fire were on so Alicia felt like she was safe enough to freely walk around.

As she walked around she found a door on the lower floor that led to a small kitchen with a sitting room. The place looked like it was mostly disused. Someone lived here but they weren’t the kind of person to do much outside of work. There wasn’t even anything but a kettle on the kitchen counters. A glass door in the sitting room opened to a private yard within the enclosed courtyard, separated by tall hedges. A single bench sat in front of a blooming rose bush, and the source of the trickling sound in the form of a spherical stone fountain sat between them. It was picturesque, like something you’d find in a magazine, a set rather than a place someone would sit.

Alicia returned inside and went to the sink to wash her exposed skin off to get rid of the blood with scalding water and a flowery scented soap. It reminded Alicia of years passed, of smiles and sun shining through leafy trees as she walked through narrow, uneven cobbled streets. She’d loved roses back then, probably because it was her namesake, and the smell of that bush lingered in her nose.

She took a second to let the warmth of the water wash over her, it was rare that her memories were pleasant. She dried her hands and moved on. It was time to find some clothes.

It was surprising to Alicia: though there were many objects cluttered around the main room there wasn’t anything personal. No photos or plants spruced up the space.

Alicia climbed the stairs, it creaked very slightly which she winced at. Upstairs was every bit the same as the main room, except that there were some plants that were perched by the windows. First Alicia went to the door on the left. She took a deep breath and listened at it for a minute to listen for anyone shifting inside. There was nothing, not even a hint of someone turning in their bed. Maybe she’d been lucky and the occupant had already gone out or maybe they spent the night somewhere else.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

Still, she was careful as she twisted the handle and snuck in. This room was completely different from the rest of the apartment. Clothes and sheets were strewn about with no care for organization. Perhaps this was the person’s real state of mind, the rest of the apartment was a mask they put up to the world. It was something Alicia could empathize with. She too wore her own mask.

A deep burgundy patterned wallpaper replaced the wood panelling and stucco of the rest of the building. Another fireplace with a thick mantle, sitting cold and dark at the moment, took up the far side of the room and a surprisingly small bed was tucked against the wall. A wardrobe, bedside table, chair, and a standing mirror took up the rest of the space. A few frames with photos and paintings hung on the walls but Alicia couldn’t make out what they portrayed in the darkness of the predawn light. Most seemed to be old in round mattes that had been worn with age.

She didn’t want to take too long in the room so she didn’t investigate further. Leaving the door open to hear if anyone entered the apartment she crossed the room to the wardrobe. It seemed most of the clothes on the floor were actually clean as the wardrobe was mostly empty except for a few fancy shirts and slacks. At random she picked up a few shirts, a cardigan and a pair of pants and went to the bed to lay it out.

It was a nice surprise that the clothes were about the right size for her to wear. It was all male clothing so ill fitting but not so bad that at a glance she would be picked out of a crowd. Something about the style of the clothes was familiar and tugged at an old memory she’d tucked away deep in her mind. It made her uneasy but she continued either way, stripping off her own dirty outfit and putting on the new one.

Alicia was slipping on the dark cardigan as she heard a stair creak. Someone had walked into the apartment without her noticing. Stopping dead she gave an internal curse. Without moving Alicia looked for another exit from the room. There was a door that could lead to a bathroom but it was across the room which would mean she’d need to cross the open door.

In a bout of panic she grabbed her rags of clothes and ran to the nearby window, maybe there was a porch she could climb on. Or she could just drop from that height figuring she could recover from a two story drop.

Midway through opening the window the room was bathed in the yellow light of the crystals that hovered from the ceiling like a chandelier. Alicia kept scrambling to climb out when she was caught off guard by the voice that rang in her ears.

“Excuse me, but I do believe you have the wrong apartment.” Liam sounded tired, his voice rougher than Alicia remembered. “Would you turn around slowly? No need for any violence.”

Alicia froze despite wanting to get out of there more than anything in the world at that moment. How could the fates be so cruel to her that it was his apartment that she ended up in?

The disposition of his voice was different despite being so animated in their youth. Alicia could tell that it was more than just the exhaustion of being awake in the early morning hours. Yet it was still his voice. It still reached down to her heart and made it flutter.

The air in the room changed, drying and the hairs on Alicia’s neck rose warning her of an imminent attack. Liam was an Earth Adept, most of his magic lying mostly in the defensive use of rocks, he wouldn’t want to fight here. Despite her nerves setting her on edge Alicia was running on fumes, she’d not been careful to preserve anything in her fight with Ventus.

Not wanting a fight as well Alicia slowly turned to face the man she’d left behind without warning fifteen years prior.

“Good, now—” Liam’s face went slack, stunned by seeing the impossible. “Rosanna? What are you…”

Shaking his head Liam dropped the arm he’d been holding aloft, ready to cast. He blinked a few times, trying to somehow make sense of what stood before him. Alicia remained silent, not even knowing how she had found herself in this situation.

“How’d…Rosanna, what are you doing here?” He croaked.

Liam’s hand nervously shot to his chin and his eyes glanced everywhere but where Alicia stood.

“It’s Alicia,” her face was a statue, not wanting to show how distraught she felt in this situation. “It’s just a coincidence. I would’ve rather been thrown to a pack of ravenous dogs than be talking to you by choice.”

“Right. I shouldn’t be surprised,” Liam said, his expression darkening as he finally looked over and stared at her feet. “Wait Ventus was going to… where are they? Rosanna… I mean, Alicia, what did you do?”

“What did I do?” Alicia lost her mask and her calm was replaced with anger. A recurring emotion as of late. “What did I do? Ventus was tearing me apart to try and continue hunting down my family. I did what I had to.”

There was a long pause. Alicia tugged the cardigan further closed and crossed her arms trying to prevent herself from bursting out again. She could feel the dregs of energy in her chest coil with her emotion.

“Where are they?” Liam pushed further, taking a step closer.

“This is a beautiful reunion, Liam,” Alicia retorted. “I’m going to go now before this goes any further.”

Alicia made to walk out the bedroom’s door but Liam caught her by the arm. She glared up at him, a dare to keep holding on. He kept her gaze, eyes filled with concern. They stood there locked in an intense moment.

“If you’ve killed them—”

“I’m not a murderer, Liam. Unlike the people you surround yourself with.”

“—the shade they pulled from your connection with your family will be out there wild and uncontrolled. It won’t be tethered,” Liam continued ignoring the interruption, holding a steady but firm tone. “That thing is not going to stop at anything to do what its last command was.”

“Don’t, don’t put that on me.” Alicia yanked her arm free. “Ventus said it wouldn’t harm my family.”

“You know how Runebinding works, Alicia, if the tether is broken, the caster will lose control of the bound spirit,” Liam explained looking around in thought. “Ventus developed this spell based on those summoning and binding spells. They likely called on the desire you have to reunite with your family and attached it to your shadow. It’ll follow through until it’s destroyed without care for their safety.”

He cursed under his breath and Alicia paled, finally understanding the situation. Anger and fear. Had all that been absorbed by her shadow? All those emotions had bubbled up and now—her heart beat heavy in her chest. She had only managed to put her children in more danger.

Alicia staggered back as her hand shot up to cover her mouth. Liam grabbed her shoulders to steady her.