My Brother's Keeper

“Do you know who that was?” My father has his foot on the gas, and we’re speeding down the dirt road from Eider.

I sniff. “No, I’ve never seen them before in my life.”

“Was it Odile?” He switches gears and spins out onto the concrete, heading back toward home.

I hesitate, looking at my hands. “I don’t think so.”

“Let’s hope nobody knows that it was you who did that. Otherwise, those nurses will be at our door demanding your return. I told you they took your magic, but I don’t think they took it all after what you did in there today.” He’s breathing heavily, with beads of sweat gleaming on his temple.

We drive in silence the rest of the way to the high school. We are shaken up from the day’s events, and neither of us knows what to say. Something erupted out of me. We both saw it, and I was certain Odile was not at fault this time.

My father pulls into one of the parking spots and waits for me to get out of the truck.

“Do you want some help?” he asks.

He does not know what I’m planning on doing.

I do not know what I’m planning on doing either.

“I don’t know if it’s going to work, but something tells me I’ll get my answers here.” I give him a shy smile and shut the door before he can talk me into letting him tag along. I need to protect Pax. I had learned a lot, and his safety was my number one priority.

I follow the overgrown path at the back end of the school. I can tell it has been some time since anyone has walked to the shore, as no footprints are on the way there. I push through the brush and weeds until I stop at the edge of a sandy beach. The lake is large but quiet, with no marinas or boats near the back of the school’s property. There are no fishermen nearby, and the banks are free of debris.

The water laps at my feet, drenching my shoes and socks. I take a step back and look around. There’s a pull to the water, but I’m not sure where it’s trying to pull me. So, I do what any warm-blooded teenage girl would do. I strip off my clothing and shoes, fold them neatly, and place them near the trunk of a tall tree.

Minutes later, I’m standing at the shoreline again. I fill my lungs and walk into the water. At first, it’s cold, and my body shakes, but after a few minutes, the water warms, and I can push further away from safety. When the water is about hip level, I feel odd. Like a piece of me is trying to get out. This isn’t tied to Odile but something else.

I’m just about to lean forward and swim when the water sparkles. For a moment, I think I’m hallucinating. Then my body glows, and not how you would think. I can almost swear I morph into — a swan. Only I’m not white. I’m black. Then, as I paddle toward a small island in the middle of the lake, my body breaks in two. Swimming alongside me is a white swan. I think I’ve drowned, and everything is a delusion as I slowly die. It doesn’t feel wrong, but it doesn’t feel right. I’m trapped inside this feathery body but with my human consciousness. It makes little sense, any of it.

Just as quickly as the transition happens, I’m sitting on the bank of a small island staring at the white swan. She turns her head from side to side and exits the water herself until my sister stands in front of me. A living visual of Odile with her long brown hair and piercing eyes. It’s uncanny how she can replicate every inch of my flesh.

“How?” I stammer in shock.

“The force field never let me get this far. I assume the water can temporarily separate the two of us, which could be beneficial to get the portal open.” She laughs and reaches out to touch my shoulder.

“I have to be dreaming,” I groan. The last person I want standing anywhere near me is Odile.

Is it bad I wish I could open the gateway, shove her through, and close it? Just to have a normal life, if my mother will let me? Now that my image of her is even further tainted by learning she lacks a tongue, I wonder if she’s trying to give me a warning. Or directions. Those would be nice as well.

“If you were dreaming, I couldn’t do this.” Odile pinches me hard on the shoulder.

I squealed in pain and glared at her as I rubbed the tender spot. “Do you have to be so damned mean?”

She shrugs. “It’s in my nature. I fell asleep at the hospital. Did you learn anything we can use?”

My sister bats her eyes and pretends she has any ounce of innocence inside her. I know of at least three deaths since our birth, and I don’t want to be part of the next five, but it’ll become an all-out war if I don’t.

I shake my head and blink. I don’t want her to know I know what she’s been through. I don’t like to mention Nurse Patterson and the memories or the file I skimmed with the lists of medications and treatments. Odile had been conscious through most of it, and it pains me to know her life was made harder. No wonder she’s bloodthirsty.

She looks at the water and her bare feet. “At least you tried. They probably cleaned up our files to make them appear normal. Either way, we were there, and I wasn’t forgotten.”

With a few little flaps of her hands, Odile is fully clothed and dry. I stand in my underwear, shivering and rubbing at the skin on my arms. The water only stays warm for a short time.

“How?” I ask, gesturing toward her new outfit.

“Magic, sweet Odette. Something you would know about if you had any.” She has a way of coming across as both condescending and caring simultaneously.

“I must have something if I got us through the barrier,” I retort with a smile.

“Touche,” Odile replies. “Why are we here?”

The island is decent, with some sandy mounds, a few hundred sticks, and a patch of trees. The shaded area seems ominous, hiding even more secrets of who we were. Odile doesn’t seem to care about our surroundings. She keeps looking out over the water.

“I wanted to see where the portal was. If we’re doing this, I figured I needed to understand the magic around this doorway.” I look around. I half expect to see a door leading into the water or a whirlpool. Something that suggests the magical entrance to the kingdom is close by.

Odile muffles a laugh. “When you drop the first body into their grave, it leads you to the next. There are fail-safes in place to open the door.” She rolls her eyes.

“None of this would have happened if you hadn’t killed Mom,” I growled at her.

“None of this would have happened if Dad had learned to keep it in his pants,” Odile replied with a huff.

“You are just as jealous as her.” I laugh softly.

Leave it to my sister to be driven by our mother’s disgust. It wasn’t our fault she failed to tell him she was pregnant.

“Forgive me for wanting to go home! She bound me. Do you know what it feels like to be bound?” Her eyes go wild, her lips quivering.

I stare at her. I may not remember, but there was a time I was in her shoes. “So, you kill her and start this whole royal conundrum? Pax was safe as long as Mom was alive!” I could feel my blood boil.

How can my sister be so selfish and cruel? Part of me wanted to escape into the woods to evade her negative energy. Another part wanted to turn around and connect my fist with her face. Then again, what would violence solve?

She can touch me, and I know I’m playing with fire, but she needs me, and as much as it pains me to admit it, I need her too.

Odile sneers, “Pax has always been a target.”

I glare at her. How could she be so heartless? Pax was our brother. It didn’t matter what lies our mother had fed her. That would not change.

“He will not die for your selfish desires.” I bit at her. Someone had to stand up for him when he wasn’t around.

“He will not die at all. You and I will take out the other five heirs and make sure Pax gets his throne.” She shrugs.

I’m a bit confused by the passive-aggressive responses. She is jealous of our brother but wants him to take the throne.

“What do you get out of this?” I demand.

Odile gives me another one of her grins and bats her eyes.

“I get to go home. I get to use my given magic. I can leave the kingdom of Coscoroba and move to the Red Wolf Wood or the Sleeping River Village. I could go even further to the Black Magic Fellowship in Sherwood. Anything is better than living here where I can’t be me.” She throws her hands in the air and spins in a slow circle.

The surrounding atmosphere darkens, and the sky above us goes gray. I’m not sure how she’s doing it, but she’s controlling the weather on the island.

“Or I can leave you here, and maybe Preston won’t want to kill my brother,” I retort.

“You can’t leave me here, Odette.” My sister gives me a wicked smile. “No matter how hard you try, the only way I will be fully out of your head is once the gates open, and we can go home.”

I’m pouting now. Probably not the best time to feel sorry for myself. I kick at the sand and stuff my hands behind my back. It’s not as cold now, and I’ve forgotten how exposed I am to the elements.

“What if I don’t want to go home?”

I had no memory of the kingdom or the mirror. The few foggy memories I had were not connected to anything substantial.

“You don’t have to. You can stay here in the lovely town of Coscoroba, visiting Eider Institution and trying to figure out how it all happened. I don’t care. No matter what you try to do to slow the progression of the heirs, it won’t work.” Odile pulls me away from the water and spins me to face her. Where we stand is slightly warmer, and I realize she has fabricated a blanket and put it over my shoulders.

“Your magic seems to work fine here,” I snap as I pull the blanket around my body.

As much as it pained me to think about it, she had done something nice for me.

“I’m not on consecrated land. Mother’s magic does not touch this island. She must have blessed you with the ability to break the barrier should you ever need to escape. Maybe she thought it was okay to let every whiney royal fight it out for Siegfried’s throne.” Odile sits on the sand and stares at the calm water.

We were miles from the shoreline and my clothes. She has a lost look on her face, or she could have been trying to figure out how to keep me on the island for good. We were separated, and it was quieter inside my head without her.

“What happened to him?” I ask. I know some stories, but I never learned what the story’s outcome was. I’d always thought it was a romance.

Odile laughs. “Mom never told you?”

I shake my head. “Mom didn’t exactly tell me things,” I say flatly.

“They all died. Our virtuous Aunt Odette and her love, Prince Siegfried, both dove into the lake and ascended to the heavens.” Odile rolls her eyes. “They committed suicide and were martyred.”

So, the story isn’t a romance. It’s a tragedy. It made more sense now with the twisted turn of events unfolding in front of me.

“That’s why our spirit animals are swans. At least you had enough magic to trigger it. I thought it was a lie our mother told me to force me into being nice to animals.” She lets out a snort and then looks up at me, mortified.

“Nothing wrong with swans, I suppose. It would match the story, right?” I ask, making it look like her outburst had never happened.

She accepted my avoidance of the topic and instantly jumped into another subject concerning said swans.

“What I find odd is the color of your swan. Maybe because that was my body first, and you were kept in the background.” Odile picks at the sand.

“Maybe,” I mutter before forcing a frown.

We both stay on the beach for a few minutes in silence. I sniff the air and touch the water with my toes. I amble along the sandy beach and continue looking for my kingdom entrance. Maybe Odile is correct, and it’s set up in stages. I won’t say I like the idea of killing anyone, but another point my sister made seems better. Pax is to take Siegfreid’s throne.

Then other thoughts invade my mind. Did the kingdom vacate when my aunt and the prince committed suicide? What happened to the royal family? How is Karen tied into this?

“You ask a lot of questions,” Odile mentions, breaking the quiet.

“Are you inside my head?” I growl at her.

“You think loudly,” she replies with a smirk.

I stick my tongue out at her and kick at one of the small sticks on the shore.

“How long do we have?” I ask, knowing her answer will not be long enough.

“We only have tomorrow. It’s our eighteenth birthday and when we’re supposed to be our strongest. That’s what everyone says, at least.” Odile shrugs and pushes herself to her feet.

“We need a plan,” I remark, and she nods.

Odile presses her right fist into her left palm, scowling. “I say we bring that ass Preston here first. I have a few bones to pick with him for what he did to you.”

I try not to laugh at the idea Odile cares about me. I was pretty sure she didn’t want to get even with him. She wanted to get even for herself. As she had already pointed out, the body I was in had belonged to her.

“I agree. He’s the ringleader. If we get him first, we might use him to bring the others in.” I avert my gaze briefly, my cheeks flushing. Soren was correct; there was a bit of bloodlust in me.

“Too bad the heirs are already pre-chosen. I’m about a hundred and twenty percent sure Preston is on that list.” Odile mentions with a laugh.

“It’s predetermined? You never said that.” My heart is racing. I was hoping to knock all five deaths out at once, but if there were varying people, my mother had planted other steps to this already over-the-top scheme.

I look up at the sky and growl. Nothing ever happens, as it seems. This was supposed to be a simple task. WAM! BAM! Done for lunch.

“We better get home.” Odile looks at me and takes a few steps forward.

I don’t know what she’s doing, but she grabs my face, kisses my forehead, and I wake up on the beach outside the barrier. I almost believe it was all a dream, except my clothes are still folded by the tree, and I’m wet from the water. Maybe I had washed up on shore, and the ordeal was a dream. Then again, if it were a dream, I wouldn’t have the bruise on my shoulder from when Odile had pinched me.

I dress quickly and make my way back toward the high school.