My Brother's Keeper

I retreat to my room the moment we get home. I cover the small mirror on the filing cabinet and sit on my bed to open the fat envelope and see its contents. I find the pages blank and confusing until a folded letter lands on my bed. I pick it up and read.

Dearest Odette,

If you are reading this, I can only assume you covered the mirror in your room. Odile is not one to mess with, and the longer you keep her sedated, the more time you have to heal from the trauma I put you through five years ago.

The paper within this packet is special. If you ask the pages a question, an answer that only you can read will appear. It took some time to work out the spell, but I did it in the hopes of it helping you cope with everything you have done and will do.

Open the portal. Get rid of your sister. Then move on.

Seek the man in the white suit. He will answer everything these enchanted pages cannot. Stay safe, Odette. - Lenny

“You, okay?” Pax’s voice sears through the darkness and pulls me back to reality.

I look up at him and rub my eyes. “Yeah, I’m fine,” I reply with a fake smile.

Lenny’s words were far from comforting, but the fact he knew I existed was. Lenny knew even if I wasn’t dominant, even if my mother thought I was lost.

“You don’t look fine. You want to go for a walk and talk about it?”

I love my brother. Of all the people in my life, he’s the only one who seems to understand me. Our connection is genuine.

I want to take him up on the offer and let all the anguish come out about Lenny, Odile, my mother, our father, and even Karen. I want to let every bit of pain out. Then again, I can’t. Pax doesn’t know who he is or how he’s connected to this other realm. I must protect him from the truth, especially if I go through the whole “royal blood to open the portal” bit. He can never know about the blood on my hands.

“Yeah, we can take a walk. My birthday’s coming. Want to talk about a party.” I wink at him.

He knows I’m joking. Yes, my birthday is a few days away, but he knows I don’t want a party. The only person who even speaks to me is Pax.

I pack the white paper back into the envelope and stuff it under the futon padding. I know it’ll only work for me, but I don’t want to risk it falling into the wrong hands.

Pax and I skip down the stairs together. He has this huge grin on his face, and even though my whole body feels heavy, his smile is contagious. We sit down on the bottom step and put on our shoes. I notice a new crack in the marble and trace it with my index finger. Then I see another two light bulbs have gone out in the chandelier. It’s not like my father would forget to patch the signs of wear and tear on the house. I stand up, offer my hand to Pax, and we both laugh.

“Odette,” my father calls after me as I open the front door.

I roll my eyes and motion for Pax to wait for me outside. I turn around to face my father.

He had been part of the lies. I was angry with him for hiding who I was.

“Yes?” I grumble.

“I’ll take you to the hospital tomorrow. Nurse Patterson said she would speak to you about the incident.” He steps through the archway connecting the dining room to the pantry and runs his hands down the length of his pants.

I should have won a battle, but I only feel worse for him getting me a meeting. That place had been my home for years. The few memories I have are nothing like the stories I’ve heard. I don’t remember anyone dying or being attacked. I remember warm tea and crafts.

I try to smile but know I’ve fallen short. “Thank you.”

I want to walk with my brother and pretend things are normal in my house for twenty minutes. The only thing I dread is Odile eavesdropping. From what I can gather from the silence in my head, she’s still resting.

I race out the front door and wrap my arms around my brother’s waist. He laughs and hugs me in return.

“How are things at school? I haven’t asked you recently.”

My suspension was still in effect. I wasn’t allowed on school property. Plus, I had been wrapped up in everything going on. I had neglected Pax.

“Not good, Odette. Not good at all.” A shadow passes across Pax’s face.

“What do you mean?” I gulp down the lump in my throat.

“It’s getting worse.” He throws his head back and groans.

“What do you mean, worse?” His reaction concerns me as his big sister. I thought confronting Preston in his front yard would stop the harassment.

“Preston has gone off the deep end.” Pax shakes his head.

“How so?” I ask.

Pax appears shaken by the conversation, and part of me wants to console him, but I’m unsure how. I tried to fix the issue with Preston, but I had only made things worse with my attempt.

“I don’t want to talk about it. Can we talk about something else?” He looked at me with his sad brown eyes, and I nodded.

If he didn’t want to talk about what was happening between him and Preston, I would not pressure him into telling me. That’s what big sisters do, right? They allow their little brother privacy even when the rage grows inside her gut.

My walk with Pax was rejuvenating, and I felt more in control of my future. We didn’t talk about Preston or what was happening at school, but we talked about music and books. Things I never knew my brother enjoyed.

When we returned home, I escaped to my room and grabbed the envelope again. Whatever spell Lenny had put onto the pages must have been potent if it could answer any of my questions. One last check to ensure the mirror on the filing cabinet was covered, and I sat on my bed.

I had stolen a pen from the dining room table when Pax and I had returned home. I knew if they caught me with it, I would be questioned. I may have some freedom in the real world but still live in prison. Just not one like Lenny was in. Mine had restrictions. No sharp objects because they can be used as a weapon or as a tool of mortal destruction. I was to be watched with a pen, but I didn’t need them thinking I was crazy for writing on blank paper.

I’m gripping the pen, and my hand shakes as I write my first question.

Who am I?

I hold my breath and wait for the response.

You are Odette Sloan (aka the key), the daughter of Donald Stephenson and Laura Sloan.

Fair enough, the paper was obviously in tune with who I was. Time to ask a more challenging question.

Who is Paxton Stephenson?

I wait a moment as the paper bleeds the letters onto the page. I’m holding my breath, knowing the only questions it can answer are ones Lenny knew about.

Paxton Stephenson is the son of Donald Stephenson and Karen Merganser. He is the only living heir of Prince Siegfried and the rightful ruler of Coscoroba.

I’m impressed with the knowledge Lenny put on the paper. Then, as I wrote my next question, more words bled onto the page.

Laura was jealous of Pax and his mother. She cursed the town and the people living there. Nobody could ever leave, never enter, and little by little, the town would fall into ruin. The roads would crack, the buildings would topple, and her daughters would be in chaos. One solid and one concealed in reflective glass.

My heart is pounding.

Part of me prayed this wasn’t the case. I didn’t want to think my mother was so jealous of Karen that she put the lives of her entire kingdom on the line. I hated admitting it, but I slowly saw why the five were less important than the hundred.

I took a deep breath and asked my next question.

Who is my mother?

I knew she was a witch. Beyond that was unknown. People were not happy to hear her name, and it made sense why I was an outcast. I was the daughter of the woman who trapped them. They had left the kingdom through a portal my mother had created, and when she didn’t get her way, she shut the door on them. Demanding the blood of their children to reopen it. They had every right to hate me.

Laura Swan was the magical companion of the Swan Queen. While not royal by title, she is by blood. When she came to this world, she changed her name from Swan to Sloan, hoping to keep her anonymity. She was held at Eider Asylum for several years following the birth of twin daughters. She then returned to the kingdom as it fell into ruin. When the castle darkened, she returned to the town with only one daughter, the other hidden in a mirror world.

I wasted no time with my next question, jumping into the event that started it. I was no longer the hidden daughter tied to this one incident.

Who killed my mother?

As I have done with the last questions, I wait for the words to bleed onto the paper. I’m expecting pages and pages of explanation, but all I receive is a paragraph.

Odile Sloan, daughter of Laura Sloan and the twin sister of Odette Sloan, committed matricide. Odile poisoned her mother and then bewitched her mother’s boyfriend, Lenny, to dispose of the body. When Laura Sloan died, she hexed Odile and released Odette from the mirror. Odette would inhabit Odile’s body forcing Odile to live within the mirror until the gates were open.

No pressure.

I lean back on my bed and close my eyes. It takes only seconds before I’m standing on the shoreline of the Rive Rem. My heart is already pounding, and my body feels rigid. I can feel her, but she’s keeping her distance. Had I learned enough about my life to keep her at bay?

“Having fun, my dear?” Soren asks with a smile.

“Why would I be having fun?” I ask as my eyes focus on his face. He looks different, but I’m unsure where to pinpoint the differences.

“The questions you’re asking are quite interesting. When Lenny asked for the spell, I thought he was joking. The joke is on me. Even he found a loophole by creating the paper of truth.” Soren laughs and holds out his arm.

I wasn’t sure if I was supposed to run into them or pretend they weren’t there. Was he expecting me to find justification in this unfamiliar gesture?

“Why is it I meet people here? For so long, when I came to the river’s edge, my mother’s torso would greet me, and now it’s you and Odile. I don’t understand.”

Days earlier, things had been different. The trauma and torment fueled me, and then suddenly, it was my mother’s death, Odile’s absorption, and the truth of my time in the hospital.

“You are asking some good questions, Odette. It’s the same reason your mother used to meet you here when Odile would sleep. That was until the day she showed, and you didn’t.” Soren shakes his head. “She thought you were finally gone.”

“Why would she think that?” I ask.

I have no memory of my mother meeting me at the shoreline. For as long as I can remember, the water was a murky brown, and the sky was this tar color with no stars or moon. The only light ever came from the water. If I was truly the girl from the mirror, I should remember her meeting me here, but it is another blank memory.

“Odile may have been more dominant, but your mother was drawn to your good heart. When she died, she cursed Odile, allowing her only a short time before you would take over. Now she’s getting stronger and will retaliate if you don’t open the portal. She wants the same thing you do, and five royals must pay for it in blood. However, it’s not just your life, but your brother’s. Odile will get control, whether it’s in this world or the next. Your gifts are not as powerful as hers.” Soren is speaking, but only half of what he says makes sense.

“Why are you telling me all of this? What’s so important about this realm?”

Again, murky waters and black skies. If this were the dead kingdom, it would take over five royals dying to bring it back to a prosperous state. Maybe that was why she never let me into the woods. Perhaps she was keeping me on the shoreline to shield me from what the kingdom had become.

Soren smiles. “There are five kingdoms in the land of Coscoroba. You have Graylag, Gadwall, Mallard, Eider, and Merganser. Each kingdom requires royal blood to open. Once all five kingdoms are open, Pax can take his throne with his loving sister. Odile will become whole again, and everyone can live peacefully.”

“But five heirs must die to do this,” I reiterate.

“Yes, it’s not like it’s the first time.” Soren looks at me with his deadened black eyes, and I know this isn’t Soren. It was as if someone had mimicked his appearance. I couldn’t let on I knew anything, and the last thing I wanted was for it to be him, and I misread his entire response.

“Precisely. How can I live in peace knowing I killed my mother? Then, to top that off, what about the others? Do you think they will just stand there while I stab them with a knife?” I challenge.

Soren rolls his eyes and points across the River Rem. “You didn’t kill your mother. Odile did. One of the most unfortunate casualties of this prophecy.” He bows his head as if in prayer.

“I wish someone would tell me what caused all of this and explain why it’s on my shoulders to fix.” I pout.

Soren’s eyes light up, and a strange smile forms on his lips. “You will learn everything soon enough.” He glances across the river again. “I must take my leave. Your mother is restless, and you need to sleep.”

I have no time to respond before Soren leaves me to the torments of my mother and no protection against her terror.