Arroba: The Awakening - Chapter Seventeen.
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This chapter is a little bit of a monster, which probably will end up becoming two chapters but for now its this, so I thank my usual readers/comments in advance for taking the time to read this. This chapter is the heart of the story and one I particularly enjoyed writing and where things really start to fall into place, hence the length. As always, I really hope you enjoy it and look forward to your comments.
Freedom of Sorts
Two more days flitter by easily whilst wrapped in the quiet humming of the doctor's world but on the second day I begin to get a little restless. Yes, the doctor's clinic is so much more bearable than the prison cell but still I'm not free or in my own space. I so desperately want to know where Ali is or if he is okay but do I really want to know? Because if the answer is that the doctor has no idea then I am back to square one but if there is word that he is haled up in one of the prison cells like I have been then I don't really want to know that either, because I would almost certainly do something very stupid and that will not help my cause one little bit.
So I slowly wake on the second day to quiet whispering and my mood is instantly a bad one. One voice is the doctors and another which is unfamiliar. I must have made some small movement because the whispering stops and the doctor addresses me.
"Dione, are you awake?"
I nod.
"Good. I have used a favor I was owed to get this for you. It is a mixture of different herbs mainly but tethered together with a spell it should restore your sight and speech. I need you to drink it and then Dominic here will cast the spell."
I nod at him again.
This little piece of news raises my heart rate and excitement courses through my veins but is this a good idea? Is the doctor going to get into a lot of trouble? Can I live with myself if something terrible does happen to him because of me? No, probably not, but is it horrible of me to admit that I want to see and speak more than I want the doctor safe? Yes, but unfortunately I'm not the better person in the room so I keep very still as the doctor presses a glass to my lips.
The liquid is bitter and very fragrance but I make myself swallow it down. Once I have drained the cup I hear what must be Dominic, start to whisper an incantation. I feel a little power slide over my skin moments later and it doesn't alarm me - if anything I feel suddenly, very relaxed. So as this once gentle power reaches my throat and crashes through me, like a freight train, I whither on the bed and would have shouted with surprise if I had been able.
It doesn't last long; the power retreats and my body quietens. I feel the moment the binding falls away, the lump or barrier shatters and I cough from the sensation. Then comes bright flashing in my eyes; it shocks me after being without any kind of sight or light for the past two weeks but soon, that stops too and then my vision begins to clear in shade of powder puff blue and violets. I start to get out lines of shapes and I blink furiously trying to see what's in front of me.
"Give it time, Dione. The spell is good but it will still take a couple of hours to restore your speech and vision completely."
If I was able I would have sighed, What's a few more hours when I have been like this for weeks now? I lie back onto the soft pillow and try to resist the real urge I have to fold my arms across my chest and scowl at the both of them.
"It is 8am. Would you like some breakfast? Dominic and I will accompany you."
I nod at them, curtly.
"Good, eggs and bacon alright?"
Oh good goddess more eggs. When I get out of this hell hole I will never look at another egg again, ever! But the only thing I can do is nod. The doctor would never understand my reservations about the food because he hasn't been through what has happened to me. How can he understand?
"Dominic will stay with you whilst I fetch it from the kitchen. Do not be alarmed, he's a good guy too."
His voice holds a tilt of amusement and I can't help but smile at him. The doctor and I would have gotten on brilliantly if our meeting had been surrounded by different circumstances - this thought makes me happy and wistful all at the same time.
I hear the familiar footsteps of the doctor fade as he leaves the room and then even though the doctors earlier words feel like truth I'm still instantly anxious being left alone with this stranger.
"Well this whole 'binding you' thing, really puts a big bucket of ice into our conversation doesn't it."
His voice is deep, pretty and heavily accented. I say pretty because very rarely can men sound cute when talking and so often, once you do meet someone like that they usually scream 'charisma and confidence'. Dominic does not disappoint on that assumption. I smile towards him and he takes that as his queue to carry on.
"Doctor Devero is a good man. You were lucky to acquire his services rather than some of the other doctors we have here. Let's just say they are 'lot less sympathetic' and a 'hell of a lot more monster'. Anyway as the doctor said I'm Dominic, the half sorcerer, half contact psychic... well to be precise I am a quarter psychic, quarter Telekinetic and half Sorcerer. It's a long story but all the same I'm at your service Madame." He chuckles and it's a good, deep sound.
His voice is also the most relaxed I've heard of the Amarians. All the Amarians have Arrobian accents but because most either speak English or Latin - the outcome is that most sound very foreign. They over punctuate and over pronounce so their speech is usually anything but casual. Dominic on the other hand, even though his voice has heavy inflection, he still somehow manages to sound so relaxed and playful. It's refreshing to hear.
I'm mid thought, speculating over Dominic's mixed ancestry when my vision goes from blurry black lines to instantly clear. I jump and the now visible Dominic jumps to his feet and leans into me, his face only inches away.
"Can you see me?"
I try to talk and at first my voice only vibrates but I try again and again and then finally..."Yes." It sounds low and choked but it's a start.
"Wow, you must be much more powerful than I had anticipated. You shouldn't be able to see or speak yet. What are you?"
He says the last like he doesn't really want a truthful answer but he's compelled to ask anyway. I have known that dilemma all too often lately.
"I... I." I cough and then try again. "Marcusees." I manage to whisper.
His deep brown eyes widen and then he steps away from me and dumps himself back into his chair. He's lovely to look at. Around 5ft 11inch tall, bronzed skin with black, straight hair cropped close to his head. His body is lean but developed, his face sharp yet handsome. He looks nothing like what I had pictured to go with that teasing, relaxed voice of his.
"The last? You're her?" He whispers a little breathlessly.
I nod and he slumps further back into his chair. This is the moment the doctor chooses to return; his footsteps are so familiar to me now after having nothing else to listen to or concentrate on for the past two days that I just simply know that this handsome man in his early thirties is doctor Devero.
What I say is, "Do you guys not come in any other type? You know balding, middle age spread, that kind of thing?"
I smile as I say it and the doctor returns it with one of his own. His skin is darker than I had imagined in my head; olive in tone but still lighter than he would be if he had sunbathed at all. His eyes are round and huge, they are almost feminine looking but thankfully his face is far too male for him to look anything like a girl. They are deep Sapphire blue, so deep in fact that unless I squint I can't see where the colour finishes and his pupil starts, yet, strangely, they are still very blue and not black.
His nose is all sharp lines as if it had been stolen from a beautiful porcelain, roman statue - perfect - and his face doesn't distract from that analogy either. His hair is a rich strawberry blond, short but lush and thick. The type of hair that stops you in the street and makes you almost reach up and stroke your fingers through it. In fact, as I let my eyes wonder over the shining gold of his hair, my fingers begin to tingle from the urge. He is awesomely handsome... severely close to being as beautiful as Ali, like he's the light equivalent to Ali's darkness.
He sets the tray of food down on the bottom of the bed, walks right up to me without hesitating and wraps me in his arms. I stay stiff for a couple of seconds from the spontaneous embrace but then I relax into his arms and still, he continues to hold me.
"Oh, I'm so glad you are back, Dione."
I smile against his shoulder and whisper, "Me too."
He gives me one last squeeze and then steps away from me.
"This is good news. This means you are as powerful as I hoped you would be. One thing you must remember Dione, if anyone is to come for you or come into this room you must act as if you are still without speech and sight."
"Alright, I will try."
"Good, Good. Now let's eat before it gets cold."
He collects one of the plates bursting with steaming eggs and brings it to me. I grab his hand as he starts to walk away from the gurney.
"Doctor?"
He turns around and looks at me, his beautiful, sapphire eyes sparking in the over head lights.
"Yes, Dione?"
"Thank you."
He smiles but it is a sad wistful one and so choked with regret and sorrow my face instantly softens, causing him to turn away from Dominic and I. My hand slips from his as he walks away from me. He collects his plate and begins to eat without another word. Dominic echo's him but I have to ask, I just cannot wait any longer.
"Dr Devero. Do you know what has happened to Alistair Cassell? When I was, uh... taken, he was with me. Do you know if he's okay?"
The doctor's eyes had flicked up to mine the second I had mentioned Ali's name. He frowns at me for a few moments and then he puts his folk down onto his plate.
"I assumed they would have told you whilst you were in one of the cells. How funny that they have not."
His eyes wonder away from mine and lose so much focus I know he's thinking of other, much heavier things.
"Doctor, do you know if he's alright?"
He comes back to me with a mixed look of something between compassion and anger, but I don't know him well enough to guess, accurately.
"He was locked up for around a week in the same way you were but I believe he has been let out and has continued on with his duties... as he must."
I drop my eyes away from him and try to distinguish the fire in my heart. See I shouldn't have asked but in reality, I may think I could have quite happily carried on without knowing if he is okay but I'm just kidding myself; of course I had to know - it's just not the answer I had wished for.
Why didn't he try to free me once he had been let out? I would have broken down doors, cast spells on them all and caused destruction everywhere until I had reached him... I don't understand. That feeling right there; a newly discovered sense of betrayal and confusion, is the worst thing I have felt in weeks. In that instant, it even feels harder to bare than my captivity. He should have come.
The doctor reaches forward and puts his hand on my shoulder making me jump.
Comments
Vermithrax
Very clever.
kt6550
DesertRat
Four stars and a quarter overall, out of five.