I didn’t understand what Papa was saying. Why would he call me out of the garden to tell me that I was going on a trip? I wasn’t going anywhere, I had to clean the house and make sure my brother got to school. He couldn’t send me away, he needed me. I let out a nervous laugh.
“Papa, I’m not going on a trip. You need me here to help with Aston and-”
“Ettaline!” He shouted. I shut my mouth. Papa rubbed his head, his hand fingering the glass bottle. He stared at it with longing. I hated those brown glass bottles. “You’re going.”
“What about Aston?” I asked quickly. I stood up and gestured to the backyard where my brother was running around trying to catch a squirrel. “Who will-”
“I WILL!” My father shouted. He slammed his fist on the table and cursed. “It is what’s best for the family and for you.” He looked up with me with a glare. I slowly sat down. “You will not fight me on this, girl. I’m your guardian. You will do as I say.”
I crossed my arms and glared at him. “Mom wouldn’t want me to go. She would say that staying here is safer for-”
“FOR YOU! I KNOW!” He shouted. He gripped the glass and took a drink out of it. How could he stand that disgusting beverage? He looked up at me with a scowl. “Your mother isn’t here anymore, that means I make the calls for you. You’re going on this trip and you’re not going to let anyone know our little secret. As far as you and everyone else are concerned you are from this kingdom. You’re going on this trip!”
He swirled the bottle and looked into it. “Besides, it was you or my son.”
“What do you mean?” I asked.
Someone pounded on the door. Papa looked up at it. He nodded towards it before going back to his drink. I rolled my eyes as I stood to open it. I peered out the window and froze. The debt collector stood outside the door with two guards behind him. I turned quickly to Papa. He shrugged. I unlocked the door and threw it open.
The debt collector pushed his glasses up his nose and stared at his paper. He looked up at me. He offered a crooked smile. The debt collector looked cruel.
“I’m here to collect.” He said. He looked up over his glasses and scanned me from head to toe. “You must be the girl he sold to the king. Come along no-” I slammed the door in his face quickly. I locked both of the locks. I turned to Papa. He didn’t look concerned at all.
“You’re selling me? To pay your debts?” I shrieked. He didn’t look up from his glass bottle. He grinned.
“Not selling, already sold.” He looked up. “I loved your mother, not you.”
I felt numb. There was no feeling in my feet or hands, my heart didn’t seem like it was beating, and I didn’t have any thoughts running through my head. He didn’t care what happened to me. That’s why they were here for me. He was selling me. He just didn’t care as long as they didn’t know that he housed immigrants for years.
BANG! BANG!
I glanced at the door. The guards were trying to break down the door. Papa didn’t make a move. My eyes started to water. I backed away from the door, shaking my head. He put down his empty bottle and looked up at me. It had to be a mistake.
I searched his eyes for some sort of sadness or fear. I saw nothing from my father. It was only a sense of duty, one he tried to pound into me so many times over years. I looked back again wanting it to be a mistake, I wanted to see fear and pain and regret. He had none of those. Only emptiness.
CRACK! BOOM!
Panic swept through me as the guards barged through the door, making way for the debt collector. Papa looked more concerned for his door. I took several careful steps back, placing me closer to the back door. I had a life here! He couldn’t sell me like this! I couldn’t leave! I had my brother here, Aston-his son and my mom’s.
He gestured to me. “That’s my daughter. Take her as payment, it’s the best I can offer.”
Something inside me tore. I could hear it tear in my head. It sounded like fabric being ripped apart. That was only the beginning of how I could describe it. I couldn’t believe I called that man father before. My eyes darted to the guards stepping past the debt collector. One of them tapped the gun on their belt.
“Come peacefully, you wouldn’t want to embarrass yourself.” The debt collector said. He chuckled. “You should be happy. You get to go to the palace.”
“I can’t leave, I won’t! You can’t make me!” I shouted.
Papa stood up, slamming his hand on the table, but I knew they only caught the sight of my skirts as I fled around the corner. I wasn’t going to leave. I ran down the hall hearing the shouts from the guards for me to stop. I ignored them and pushed the back door open. I nearly tripped, but I couldn’t. I couldn’t let my clumsiness catch up to me. Then I saw him.
My little brother’s head popped up from behind the bushes filled with forget-me-not flowers. I didn’t care about proper etiquette anymore. I couldn’t leave him. I could care less about Papa now, I couldn’t leave my brother with him. Even if he was only my half brother. He was still my brother.
I jumped over the bush, my skirts flying up, no doubting going way past my knees. My feet landed and my brother squeaked. I didn’t hesitate to hug him.
“Aston,” He hugged me back knowing something was wrong. I felt him shaking. His small dirt covered hands wiped the tears away from my face. I held him tighter. His voice was hoarse when he spoke,
”They’re taking you away aren’t they?” I nodded into his shoulder.
“I don’t want to leave you. Not with Papa. He-he’s not going to take care of you. I’m sorry. I don’t want to leave you. I-”
The bushes rustled behind me. I hadn’t been this scared before. I turned, holding my brother tighter. One of the guards stared at me. His brown eyes seemed confused. I instinctively pushed my brother behind me, still hugging him. I shook my head at him. For a moment I thought I saw him frown, something other than his emotionless face.
“Miss, it’s time to go.” At first my voice didn’t come in response, I could only hug Aston tighter. Finally the words came out as the guard took another step towards us.
“No,” I whispered. I shook my head and buried my head into Aston’s shoulder, shaking my head. “No! Stay away! No!”
I felt the guard grab my arms and try to pull me away. I screamed and held on as tight as I could to my brother. I crushed some forget-me-nots as I fought. He began shouting for someone to let me go, I realized that the other guard was pulling my brother away. We tried to hold onto each other. The guard wrapped his arms around my waist and pulled. I scrambled to get a better hold on Aston as he tried to hold onto me.
“No! You can’t take me away! I won’t leave him! Aston! Aston! No! Stop! Aston! Stop! I won’t leave my brother!”
“Etta!”
I watched as with one final yank the guards pulled us apart. I screamed and clawed at the guard pulling me away. I watched my brother being held just far enough so that he was out of my reach. I tried to reach for him as I was carried away.
“Aston! Aston!” I turned and hit the guard who was ripping me apart from the one person I had left to love. “Stop! You can’t take me away! I can’t leave my brother! Please! I can’t leave him! Please! Stop! Aston!”
The guard didn’t care. He just dragged me away and pulled me into the car. I shoved and hit and clawed at the guard, trying so many times to escape and go back to my brother. Couldn’t they see? They were taking everything from me! I made another lunge for the door. The guard wrapped his arm around my waist and tossed me back into my seat.
“Aston! I can’t leave him! I won’t leave my brother! Please! Aston!” Tears were still streaming down my face. I-I couldn’t leave him. I couldn’t leave my brother. I couldn’t lose him too. The guard held my arms as I tried to hit him again.
“Miss, stop. You are property of the King now, there is nothing you can do.” I couldn’t do anything? Anger flowed through me, probably fueled by my heartache.
“Screw the King! He can be murdered by his advisors for all I care! He is no king! He’s a child in a costume!” A calloused hand flew across my face. A burn filled the left side of my face. The guard glared at me. What I said was treason, but I didn’t care. “He’s no King of mine.” I spat.
“Hold your tongue.”
The car started moving forward and the heavy painful realization settled in. I was never going to see Aston again. I would be haunted by the nightmare of being ripped from him. I heard once that my mother was Papa’s whole world. Aston was mine and they just took that away from me. They took everything. I didn’t cry after that. I could only stare forward feeling the burn in my cheek and the most painful feeling I had ever experienced.
I glared at the guards and the debt collector that sat across from me. I glared at him, refusing to do anything else. He caught me a few different times, rolling his eyes each time as we drove away. The fourth time he glared back with annoyance.
“Stop it.” He ordered. “It’s rude.”
“You’re one to speak.” I mumbled.
His face turned red. I kept glaring. He straightened himself and fixed his glasses. The debt collector motioned to the guards. One of them grabbed my arms and forced them in front of me. The other handcuffed me. I looked at the guards, confused. Why were they handcuffing me? I didn’t have anywhere to go!
The debt collector scooted to the edge of his seat and leaned forward. “You will know your place, girl.” He stood up, having to hunch under the short roof. I didn’t remove my glare from him.
“I know my place.” I snapped. He looked at me with disgust.
“Obviously not.”
His fist shot out quickly, smashing into my eye. I cried out before he threw another one to my lip. He grabbed my hair and jerked my head towards him. He glared at me.
“You are nothing. People like you cower and bow to me. Learn your place girl.”
I learned it then and there. Nobody cared for me. I had no other reason to keep glaring at the man. I decided sleeping was a good way to escape it all.
Aston sat with me in our garden of Forget-Me-Nots with his usual big smile. He picked at the mud, piling it up. I helped him shape it into a mountain. He patted it carefully at the base before picking leaves off the bushes and adding it to the mud mountain. He placed a flower at the top of it.
“What do you think my Aatma’s going to be?” He asked.
I pushed a leaf too far into the mud mountain, making it topple over. I hesitated. Usually that wasn’t something people talked about. I looked at my brother. His black hair was covered with flakes of mud. I didn’t have an answer for it, nobody did. He wouldn’t know until Aatma testing, but that wouldn’t be until he was eleven. He still had another year to go. At least he didn’t ask me about soulmarks, those were harder to explain. I picked up the top and pressed it down again, patting around the edge.
“Well, it’s hereditary so-”
“What does here-hered-hare-what does that mean?” He asked. His brown eyes were focused on me. I picked up more mud and added it to the mountain.
“Hereditary means that you’ll get either mom or Papa’s Aatma.” I explained. I rubbed the back of my head. “Like me and mom. She was a Seeper and-”
“And you are too! Do you think I’ll be like you and mom?” He asked. He stood up and flexed his tiny muscles. “Aston Mortgure! The Seeper! Preventer of nightmares and taker of bad memories!”
I laughed as he put his hand out towards me and placed it on my forehead, mimicking me using my Aatma. He stepped forward, crushing the mud mountain. He looked down and grabbed his head.
“Oh no! It’s broken Etta! We broke it!”
I woke up from the dream when one of the guards jabbed me with their gun. I rubbed my eyes. They forced me out of the car roughly, ordering me to move faster.