My Brother's Keeper

She spoke to you, didn’t she? Odile’s tone is overly enthusiastic. I glance toward the water where she stands with a giant grin.

“You can say that,” I answer with a grunt.

According to the side notes of our mother’s journal, once the fifth gate was opened, the royals’ hearts would be placed in separate caskets as a sacrificial offering. This is supposed to restore the balance of the kingdoms. I scanned the journal and caught the second name, Matilda Graylag. She graduated one year before me and now works at the asylum’s food pantry.

I already see the pattern. Tristan Mueller was a resident doctor at Eider. Now Matilda Graylag works at the pantry? This entire ordeal seems more like a revenge plot than anything else. I’m questioning what I’ve gotten myself into, but my father had even mentioned it being a prophecy.

Is it because Preston had figured out Pax was the heir to the throne? Had something in my path put this plan in motion? I’m never going to get the answers, but if doing these deeds means my sister is out of my head and my mother will pass on to another world, then so be it.

I’m not as gifted as Odile. I must move physically through the city while she travels from surface to surface through an array of different reflections. Watching her travel after Tristan’s death was less glitchy, only confirming the deaths strengthened her. Several more stops away from Eider, and I need to tread lightly. She can’t know, I know, even if she can see inside my head. There must be a part of me in here she can’t read.

Matilda was always friendly to us when we were at Eider. You may not remember, but she often gave us extra treats when we were good. Odile says this with sincere satisfaction.

“So, you’re okay with this?” I ask aloud as I trudge toward the shopping center.

She was nice, but it didn’t make her bloodline any less damaged. I’m sad, but we must have her blood to open the gate. Odile almost sounds empathetic to the idea, but I can still sense her bloodlust.

I choose to walk the next few yards in silence. I’m bothered by the fact these murders should bother me, but they aren’t. Not like I thought they would.

“How do you do it? Move from one reflective surface to the next?” I ask, out of interest.

Your thoughts are all over the place today. We turn eighteen, and you ask about the mirror world. I thought you would remember by now. I used to be you, and you used to be me. Let’s not forget that.

“I didn’t wake up this morning thinking today is the day I kill five people,” I mutter.

You and I are nothing alike. I woke up this morning and threw myself a me-party. Happy birthday, let’s celebrate with mutilation and sacrifice.

“This only proves how different the two of us are.” I shrug.

The whole time I’m walking, not a single person passes me, not a car comes down the street, and shockingly, not a single shop is open. The road is void of any movement. Did I miss something?

Mrs. Perkins’ sweet shop was always open, with a crowd of kids hanging outside. However, her blue door was shut, and the shades pulled over the windows. I run my fingers up the body of an older black sedan. It is cold, but a thin layer of dust appears on my fingers. The air seems sour, similar to the scent I had smelled the night before when I traveled with Odile to the lake.

Could it have gotten out, and everyone was at home safeguarding themselves against the Sloan girls and their deadly rampage?

Your heart rate has increased. What are you thinking? Odile asks, and I look at her reflection of worry.

“Do you find it odd that there’s nobody on the street? “I ask.

It’s still early. Odile says with a sigh.

Matilda Graylag’s form appears ahead of me. She’s standing beside her mother’s car, digging through her bag. Her mother, Martha Graylag, owns the Tailor Shop, and according to the side notes, Matilda always starts her day by helping her mother set up before she heads over to Eider to begin her day in the pantry.

With Tristan, I had played on his weakness for the broken. With Matilda, it’s her weakness for the helpless. Why does it have to be those with big hearts? What does my mother have against these children? Is there a reason her name was in the journal?

Get cracking, sis. I’ll wait here. Odile’s face is smiling wickedly from the back window of another car.

My heart sinks. The first three murders were by Odile. All I had to do was make sure the victim was close enough. I take a deep breath, mess up my hair again, and take off at a trot. I had to look disheveled.

“Ma’am?” I call out, and she looks up at me. Her purse falls to the ground, and her eyes bug out of her head.

“Odette?” she squeaks out.

I stop dead in my tracks. She knows my name!

“Matilda?” I breathe.

I do not know what to do. Luring her to a vehicle under the disguise of a flat tire will not work, and it no longer feels right. I could find another Graylag to sacrifice.

Damn it, Odette. No! She’s the one our mother chose. It has to be her blood.

“Is everything okay?” she asks.

She’s looking over my shoulder, which makes me highly uncomfortable. I do not know who could see Odile in the mirror or any reflection. What if she’s looking into the predator’s eyes?

“Yeah, sorry.” I take a deep breath. “My car has a flat.”

I’m going to choke.

I can feel Odile’s eyes on me. Matilda is fidgeting, her eyes shooting in all different directions.

“Would you like to use the phone? I’m sure your father would be here in no time.” She points toward her mother’s shop and gives me a sympathetic smile. She’s making her death so much harder to accomplish.

“You sure your mother won’t mind?” I question.

“No, she’s in the back. Anyway, I can take you there.” Matilda motions over her shoulder, and I follow her into the store.

Martha Graylag’s shop smells like incense and sugar cookies. It feels warm and inviting. I wanted to turn around and leave, walk away from the whole mess, and pretend Odile was not an active part of my brain function. Suddenly, I hear a gurgle behind me as soon as I touch the keypad. I put the phone back on the hook and turned around just before Odile disappeared into the mirror on the far wall.

What happened? She demands angrily.

“She knew who I was,” I reply with a groan.

And that means you leave me hanging? You’re lucky I came when I did; she was about to pull a gun on you. Odile points to a small pistol lying next to Matilda’s body.

Maybe my reputation precedes me. What if they’ve already found Tristan’s body? Will the gate even open?

Get her body in the alley, Odile demands.

Matilda Graylag’s body is much lighter than Tristan Mueller’s. I somehow get it out the door, down the walkway, and into the alley.

From there, I opened the journal and got to work.

I fill the thermos with her blood, break her chest bone to steal her heart, and then consult the pages to find out where I need to bury the body.

“What is with her obsession with blood and hearts?” I ask as I glance toward the fountain. The instructions were to bury her body at the fountain’s base, open the basin within the fountain itself, and pour the blood into the reservoir.

That’s the fun part of blood magic. Odile smiles from her reflection in the mirror as she reaches out and mends the broken chest bone.

Matilda would look at peace, even if she had aimed to kill me before I could get to her. I feel she read into everything a little too quickly.

“Why did she do it in the first place?” I ask as I grab a discarded shovel from the back of the alley.

There are a lot of conveniences tied to the murders. I’m beginning to believe there are three of us in this scheme of events.

Why did she split the city from its realm and the kingdom from ours? Odile asks.

“Yeah. Something had to piss Mom off to the where she sealed Dad away from his world.” I look across the street at the fountain. I do not know how I will hide a body in broad daylight.

Revenge. Odile smiles at me from her reflection.

“Fair enough,” I say with a shrug. “I’m going to dig the hole now. Can you use magic to move the body once the hole is big enough?”

Pour the blood into the basin first, and I will have no problems bringing the body to you.

The knot in my stomach twists as I stare into my sister’s dark eyes. I choose not to show any emotion to her statement. Instead, I grab my bag with the thermos and go to the fountain.

Finding the basin that leads to the underground reservoir took longer than expected. While Tristan’s had been under a rock, Matilda’s was neatly hidden within the fountain, which required me to find a knob to open the basin. I pour the blood and wait for something to happen.

Again, no magical lightning bolts or trumpeters are playing a song of achievement. Only my mother emerged from the dark and replayed the gruesome death for me. If I must re-watch how each person is killed, I’ll be insane by the night’s end.

Three more left, my dear. You are doing so well.

Her voice is just as menacing as before, and once she lets me leave the episode, I grab the shovel and dig. Hopefully, nobody is watching, and I’ll be able to complete my task before the police arrive to take me back to Eider and sentence me to prison.

Thankfully, the ground around the fountain is soft enough that the shovel cuts through the soil with little resistance. Once complete, Odile does just as she said she would magically teleport the body from the alleyway into the grave near the fountain. I place the coins in Matilda’s eyes and apologize before covering her with the soil and returning to the alleyway.

Did you see her again? Odile’s eyes are staring wickedly at me, her lips turning into a sneer.

“Yes,” I reply, tossing the shovel into the dumpster.

What did she say? Odile asks.

“Three left,” I reply truthfully.

Odile does not seem pleased by my response and instead walks out of the mirror to grab me. Thankfully, her magic isn’t strong enough to touch me. Her hand passes right through my shoulder, and she growls. Again, I know she’s getting stronger, but I fear how strong she will be.

Who’s next? She asks, retreating to the reflective surface.

“I haven’t looked. Is something supposed to be happening when I put the blood in the basins?” I question suddenly. It’s part nerves and part curiosity.

You’ve only given two of the five, and I doubt it would do anything if we stopped now, she answers in an annoyed tone.

I sigh. “I feel like something should be happening. I’ve drained and mutilated two good people, and all I get is a countdown from our stub of a mother.”

What did you expect? The wards fall just because you poured a little liquid into a hole. I’m the one who is doing the killing. All you’re doing is cleaning up the mess. Odile disappears from my view. I assume she’s wandered off to sulk.

I grab my mother’s journal and open the page to gate two. I’ve completed the task as the entry instructed. Everything is there, from the sacrifice to the heart in a jar. I had done everything as it was written.

Why does it seem like everything’s been far too easy? Is there a bigger fight coming? Is that why Preston was saved for the end? Is it because there’s a better chance of him killing me? I wanted to skip to the last gate, but she had used magic to seal the entrances until each task was done.

Therefore, I turned the page and read about my third victim. Paul Gadwall, Principal Gadwall’s son.

My body shakes at the thought of hurting Paul. Why hadn’t she chosen the malicious members of the houses? Why did it always have to be the good ones? The ones you would least expect to try to take a throne from a fifteen-year-old boy who just found out who and what he is.

I say farewell to Matilda’s body and begin the next three-mile walk to Gadwall Hall, which sits at the edge of the river close to the school.

“Happy birthday, Odette,” I say to myself as I stuff my hands into the pockets of my jeans and walk. Odile is nowhere in sight, and I can’t feel her probing around me. The deal was that she did the first three, and I must do the last two. Not that I could do it. None of this feels right, but if it means my freedom and Pax’s safety, that’s all that matters to me.