My Brother's Keeper



My brother is standing behind me, his eyes connected with mine. He appears unharmed, which is a plus. Had Odiel known he was behind us and failed to tell me?

“Pax!” I shriek.

“Odette!” he shouts back at me with no enthusiasm.

“Does your mother know you’re here?”

He narrows his eyes and centers his stance. “Does yours?”

“Karen is going to kill me,” I groan, placing both hands in my hair and pulling.

“Why? She said you were the one who was supposed to keep me safe. You put your head on the line for me yesterday.” Pax’s eyes are penetrating mine.

I bite my lip. “What if I said go home?”

“What if I called the cops and told them everything I’ve seen my big sister do today?” He raises an eyebrow.

I let a growl rumble through my chest. He had me.

“Well played,” I huff, rolling my eyes.

Pax smiles triumphantly as I turn and walk toward Eider Asylum. The concrete is broken, the grass is dying, and that sour smell in the air is getting more potent.

“Where are we going?” he asks, falling into step with me. He seems to ignore our surroundings, and he’s breathing normally, which says he doesn’t smell the same thing I do.

“Eider,” I reply with a sigh.

“Didn’t you spend several years there?”

I trip on a crack and nearly fall on my face. After bouncing back from my embarrassing misstep, I push my hands on my jeans and look at him. I knew he was aware of that chapter of my life, but I didn’t know how aware.

“Yes, and remember little about it at all.”

Pax shrugs his shoulders and offers me his arm.

“Why have we never talked about it?” Pax’s stride is longer than mine, and I pick up my pace to keep up with his steps.

“Talk about what?” I answer with a huff.

“Your time at Eider. Or even your mother’s death.” Pax’s voice trails off to almost a whisper.

I don’t know how to tell him my mother isn’t who I thought she was. I don’t know how to tell him I’m an apparition inhabiting my sister’s body. I don’t know how to explain the reason for the murders.

“I didn’t know my mother,” I say instead.

My tone may be harsh, but I’m still unsure what to say. Am I supposed to look at him and tell him she was a witch enamored with the dark arts after finding out the father of her children had shacked up with a member of the royal family? I mean, not to put a wrench in our relationship, but Pax is ninety-nine percent of the reason my mother fell off her rocker.

“Honestly, I don’t think I know mine other. She’s kind of a bitch,” Pax says with a chuckle.

I nod. It doesn’t feel right to come out and tell him I agree. I had spent all those years thinking she was unsure how to handle me when she wanted to drown me in the lake and call it a day.

“Why do you let them get to you?” I ask after a few moments of quiet.

“What do you mean?” Pax asks, looking at me with a confused expression.

“Preston and his friends. What about them makes you want to end your life?” I’m breathing heavier from all the movement. At the rate we’re going, I’ll need a nap once we reach Eider.

“He’s never liked me. People around here always treated my mom and me like we were cancer. Now I find out it’s because of who we are. As if someone said we weren’t good people, nobody suddenly wanted to be our friend. I have only ever known Coscoroba, the city. I know nothing about a kingdom.” I can hear the shake of his voice. It bothers him. He wants to be accepted by Preston but never is.

“Then I come along, and suddenly you find out you’re this last heir to the throne. I sure made a mess of your life,” I tease him and press forward.

“I would say quite the opposite.” Pax reaches out and grabs my arm. “If it weren’t for you that night, I would have done it.”

I watch Pax place two fingers on his temple and move as if pulling the trigger. My heart leaps into my throat. I must keep both of us alive. Otherwise, all this death is for nothing.

I puff out my chest and hold his hand. “I don’t want to think about it,” I say, squeezing his fingers.

We returned to walking and killing time by discussing the various lineages I learned from my mother’s notes. I choose to leave Karen’s name out of it. The last thing I want is for him to think my mother has it out for him. She does, but she knows sacrificing Pax’s mother would lead to the gates never opening.

“What happens if we fail?” Pax asks as we stop in front of the enormous doors of Eider Asylum.

“We all wind up here under the care of Doctor Stuart. Then we will all die of starvation.” I reach for the door handle and hold my breath.

We stepped through the door, and I found the front desk deserted.

“Starvation?” Pax asks.

He’s still focusing on the conversation and not so much on the lack of people in the reception room.

“Yes, when she sealed the borders, she had rations on a timeline,” I answer to keep him blind to what I’m seeing.

Pax has never set foot in Eider before. He doesn’t know what to expect. I see a button under the desk that will open the doors to the psyche ward. If I were in Nurse Patterson’s shoes, I would have told everyone on the first floor that Odile Sloan was coming back to slay them all.

“Is that why people never leave?” Pax presses. He’s still oblivious to what’s happening, and I’m grateful for his innocence.

I climb onto the desk and feel around for the button. I’m about to give up when my finger hits the smooth surface and pushes it in.

“Yes. She disconnected the city from our father’s realm and connected it with the kingdom. Only when she shut the borders inside our world did she shut the borders on the outside. Hence why Dad can’t leave.” I instantly bite my lip. I’ve said too much.

“What do you mean?” Pax raises his eyebrows as I race to the door and fling it open.

I’m ready for the first wave of crazies but find the hallway empty.

“Yeah, my mom had some issues with your birth,” I reply, trying to shrug it off as nothing, but I know full well it’s going to spark an interest.

He gapes at me. “She knew?”

“A handful of people know who you are,” I reply as we walk down the hallway and peek into every room as we pass.

They have patched the wall from my previous visit, which makes me wonder if it was recent and whether the patients were moved so the repairs could be completed.

Pax asks, “And you?”

I stop walking and look at him. “Everyone knows who I am. They knew before I did.“ I don’t like my answer, but it’s as close to the truth as possible.

“Odette, I want to understand. Why was I never told?” Pax questions as I look around the corner.

I can feel the tension in the air, and I know something’s waiting for me, wanting me to come around a turn so they can ambush me. The more Pax talks, the more I know they’ll hear me before seeing me. How can he be clueless? Was his great-uncle this blind to how horrible the world is?

“Karen kept her mouth shut,” I reply.

“But everyone knew who you were?”

“I’m the witch’s daughter. The only thing they didn’t know is we shared a dad.” I place my index finger to my lips, hoping he’ll get the hint to stay quiet. I need the element of surprise; the more he talks, the less likely I will get it.

I have a strange case of déjà vu as I stand in front of a wooden door. I open the door and find a chair with a square box mounted on a cart. On the wall is a flat metal station with an odd-looking pair of headphones and a hydrotherapy tub in the other corner.

Memories should not play out like episodes on a television screen. However, that is precisely what happens.

My vision goes blurry, and suddenly, I’m standing outside watching Doctor Lawrence and Nurse Patterson hook me up to every machine in the room. They laughed when I cried and tortured me with high voltages and sadistic water therapy.

They thought they were tormenting my twin sister.

“Where’s the key, Odile?” Nurse Paterson had asked me.

“Who’s Odile?” I cried as they upped the voltage and gave me another zap.

“Where did Mommy hide the key?” Doctor Lawrence demanded as he zapped me one more time.

I stood there, watching as they interrogated me until my memory went blank. I must have blacked out after the last charge.

“Odette?” Pax asks as he places a hand on my shoulder. “You, okay?”

“Yeah,” I lie, swallowing the lump in my throat.

I do not know who I am. Had I known I was the key, would I have blurted it out to save whatever was left of my humanity? Had Doctor Stuart released me out of guilt? Was the sour Nurse Paterson waiting for the day she could avenge her accomplice’s death?

“You don’t seem like it.”

I look at my brother and his worried expression.

It’s no wonder Odile killed Doctor Lawrence. One, because he had tortured me, and two, she wanted to keep the key a secret. What do my mother and sister have planned?

As I’m about to leave the room and its disgusting memory, an arrow whizzes by my head, sticking into the far wall. Pax acts quickly and pushes me out of the way. I hear childlike giggles, followed by the pounding of tennis shoes against the hard floor.

I knew that by coming to Eider, I would face a stronger, more adept enemy. Nurse Patterson isn’t Tristan Mueller or Matilda Graylag, nor is she a Paul Gadwall; she’s meaner, tougher, older, and already royal. I do not know how to tell Pax the next heart we need is his aunt.

I stand there, stunned, before collecting my wits and running out of the room. I follow the echoes until I look up and see creatures I’ve never seen before. Blue in color, wild orange eyes, each holding a bow with a quiver of arrows strapped to their backs. Clothing is minimal to allow for movement, and they’re the size of children.

“If we get the key, we can open the borders.” Nurse Patterson had whispered harshly in my presence.

“If we get the key, we can go home!” Doctor Lawrence replied with force.

I shouldn’t have stopped and looked at the creatures. The longer I stare, the more time I give them to pull back their bows and shoot dozens of arrows at my head. I should have died, I could have died, but something happened.

Pax grabs me and wraps his arms around my torso. Then, this shimmering protective orb covered us, and the arrows rattled, off the exterior and hit the ground. I’m in shock when I look into my brother’s eyes. Nobody ever said Pax had magic.

We have a split second to run after the orb dissolves. Pax grabs my hand and pulls me down another hospital corridor and into an empty room. An old metal bed is in the corner; the mattress is torn, and bits of stuffing are showing. On the far wall was a set of cabinets and a sink. The toilet was in the opposite corner, and a faded green curtain was pulled around it,.

“What was that?” I scream.

“I don’t know.” He stumbles with his words as he paces around. “What are we doing here?”

“We need the heart of a Merganser heir,” I stated calmly.

My heart is racing. We could have died back there, and then everything would have been for nothing. There’s a reason Odile did not come to Eider, and I feel it’s something to do with my magic.

“A heart?” Pax’s face twists in disgust.

“Yes, the blood feeds the reservoir that opens the gates. The hearts are then placed in front of the door, which opens the kingdom and restores Coscoroba to its original state.” I look around the room for a weapon, but not even a needle hides in the cracks of the walls.

“Original state?” I know he’s trying to calm himself with the questions.

“When your great-uncle died with the Swan Queen, the borders around the kingdom closed. My mother’s spells and enchantments caused the same to happen to the city. Then, when all the borders were sealed, we became an hourglass. Time was marked.” I sit down on the bed and rub my hands against my knees.

“What do you mean?”

“It’s all fake, Pax. When you were born, she sealed everyone in and waited for them to die.” I know it’s all speculation. I read my mother’s journal and saw the unlocked chapters as I completed her stupid quests. She’s vile and has used my father in many ways.

He narrows his eyes. “The people here are living lives that aren’t theirs?”

“I don’t know the specifics. All I know is it started with my mother and father meeting on the bank of the lake. Then it led to an uprising between the people of the kingdom and those that lived here in the city.” I sigh and wait for the backlash.

“Is that why you killed her?” he asks, and the blood drains from my body.