If you want to read part 1 first, click here.
Trying to shake the fuzziness in her head, Lenore blinked furiously. Her brain could not make sense of what she was seeing. A giant manta ray was swimming over her, on the ceiling. No, in the ceiling? Yet she was in bed. But not her bed. And she had no idea how she had come to be in that amazing comfy bed.
Luckily, the more she blinked, the more her memories filled in the blanks. The Adonis guy, no. He said his name was Vince? Van? Maybe Vaughn? He told her where she was.
But where was she, really? And she didn’t mean the city they were in. She didn’t even want to think about that yet. This was not the room she had been in before. No gateway or guards or views of a crazy awesome underwater city. And Vaughn was gone. He had ditched her in solitary confinement as soon as she had answered his questions and now he had no further interest or use for her. Though she had to admit, it was rather plush for confinement.
But had she answered him? She couldn’t remember.
If she hadn’t still been laying in bed, she probably would have jumped out of her skin when the door slammed open and in walked a very officious looking woman, not a hair out of place.
“Staisse? Spell it.”
Lenore gaped at her. “Who are you?”
The woman’s eyes speared her. “Spell your name, girl. I can’t believe they sent me in to deal with the outsider. Me. I have far too much to do today to pamper a spoiled little nobody.”
“S-t-a-i-s-s-e.” Lenore gulped. “Am I a prisoner?”
With a groan, the woman finished typing in the translucent tablet she was holding and clasped it behind her back. Suddenly she looked like the stereotype ‘school marm’ ready to chastise her students a.k.a Lenore.
“Don’t be foolish, child. “ She gestured around the room. “Does this look like a cell? You are in a guest holding room until you can be confirmed and vetted.”
“And if I’m not?”
Another spear-tipped gaze was tossed her way. “Then you will forget any of this happened and no longer be my concern.”
Lenore exhaled. “That works for me. I’d rather be back to blissfully unaware.”
“Ms Staisse, you are the first to naturally see our doorway in over 400 years. The likelihood that the king will simply let you leave with no memories of what happened is next to none. Most likely you will be vetted merely so he can hand you over to the science division to determine what went wrong so that we can prevent any more spill over.”
“I vote no.” Lenore plopped back on her bed.
“You lost your ‘vote’ when you crossed that doorway.” The woman crossed her arms.
“I didn’t cross the doorway.” Lenore tried to not screech hysterically. “The gorgeous, muscly guy pulled me through.”
“What do you mean?”
Before she blurted it all out, her eyes narrowed at the suddenly attentive tone. “You never told me who you are.”
“No. I did not.” The woman’s smile remained fixed. “I do not like to waste my time. Now you will tell me what happened or I will send you down to the interview room for a more thorough discussion.”
“Where’s Vaughn? That’s his name, right?”
Again the woman’s attention slammed into her. “Did Vaughn bring you here?”
Lenore was nodding as the door once again burst open. Vaughn came striding in with an easy smile.
“There you are, Ms Perkins. Are you still harassing the girl? I thought you just needed to confirm her name.”
Ms Perkins turned on him. “I was just about to hear an interesting story from the staisse girl. She claims that you pulled her through.”
Vaughn sighed. “Of course she did. She doesn’t understand how the doorways work. Her hand was already through the doorway. She was coming through whether she wanted to or not. I only finished the process faster so that she wouldn’t be spotted by anyone else as she was slowly disappearing into a cliff.”
“No! You…”
Vaughn cut her off with a glare before switching back to his utterly charming smile.
Ms Perkins humphed. “I’ll see that the king receives my report now.”
Lenore watched her leave. She quickly slammed her mouth shut as Vaughn faced her again. The door closed and she jumped just a little.
“Are you trying to get me in trouble?”
“Not knowingly.” With a bright smile she rose up. Standing with her arms crossed she cocked her head to the side. “If you weren’t so abrupt before and took some time to explain things I wouldn’t be talking to anyone who would listen.”
“Do you have a great great grandparent or further back that mysteriously disappeared without a trace and reappeared years later?”
“What?”
He shrugged. “I’m trying to figure out how you saw the doorway.”
“No disappearing relatives. Though every woman in my mother’s line goes on a year long trip with no phone or anything when they reach 20. Does that count as disappearing? That probably doesn’t count. Unless you are looking for women who are adventurous and have wandering spirits. Now I’m rambling.” Lenore clamped her mouth shut.
“How old are you?”
“Twenty one.”
“Did you go on this family trip?
“No.” Her arms crossed tightly across her middle.
“Why did you not go on your trip?”
Lenore shrugged. “I was busy with school. My mom has been trying to convince me to go but by the time I was done with school I had a fiancé. I couldn’t leave.”
“We must meet your mom.”
She laughed. “Your scary guard dog/secretary…”
“Ms Perkins?”
“Yes. She told me that I would either be heading to be experimented on or returning home minus the memories.”
“New development.” Vaughn slipped an arm around her waist and propelled her to the door. “And it looks like we get to spend some quality time together.”
Lenore glared up at him. “No kissing.”
“Let us meet your mother, then we can talk about kissing.”
“No, not kissing. We will talk about not kissing.”
Vaughn continued to escort her out. “We surely will have time to talk of both. Though I agree. No kissing in front of your mother yet.”
Come back next week to read part 3 of Lenore’s story!
One thought on “Lenore ~Part 2~”
Comments are closed.