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The Collection
When I was eight years old, my mother died.
When I was eight years old, my father was murdered.
I don’t know why or how this pattern came about. I don’t know why unlike most children my age who had a loving and caring family, I didn’t. Most people don’t know much about Kiznitch, and the old tales that come with this sacred land. Most humans walk this earth thinking that what you see, is what you get. That’s not the case if you have Kiznitch blood. Sometimes I wish I died with Papa that day. I wish that the same man who emptied that cartridge into Papa also emptied one into me.
I wasn’t so lucky.
“Saski?” my godmother, Hope, called out from down the hall. Hope took me in once everything went down. The first day I met her was when I was eight years old and the circumstances around that day are still a little hazy,
Our life was going fine, until it wasn’t. Until today. But I was somewhat prepared. I knew. Kiznitch was powerful. I learned that at a young age. Eight, to be exact.
“Coming!” I called out, tightening the belt around my waist. I had been attending Florida State University and driving home whenever needed since I graduated Siesta High. But recently, I’ve been coming home less often, especially since Hope has found a husband.
I enter through to the sitting room, tucking my hair behind my ear with a smile on my face, when I freeze. There’s a woman and another man sitting in the lounge, and I don’t need them to address me to know who they are. People from Kiznitch have a way of commanding the room without speaking a single word.
“Hello, Saskia, I’m Delila Patrova…”
My eyes flew around the room, falling to the other man who is with her. “Yes?”
“Do you know who I am?” she asked, tilting her head. Her razor sharp hair skimmed her slim shoulder when she tilted it.
“No,” I lied. “I don’t know who you are.”
She paused, her focus flicking up to the man who was with her before coming back to me. She leaned forward, resting her elbows on her knees. “I need you to come with me. Did your father tell you much about Kiznitch?”
Instantly, I looked to Hope. She nodded at me, her eyes falling somber. We knew this day would come. I only wished that I had finished college before it happened. I look back to Delila. “Yes. He did.”
She smiled. “Good, I don’t have to kidnap you.” She wasn’t kidding. “Pack a bag, only your essentials, and be ready in one hour.”
My heart sank, though I should have been better prepared. I guessed over the years I had become somewhat numb to the fact that they would be here, ready to collect me.
Ready for me to take on what my parents had failed.
“Okay.” I simply spun around and made my way back to my bedroom, pulling out a small suitcase and dumping it on my bed. As I was pulling down clothes from my closet, Hope walked into my room, taking a seat on my bed. “You can still run, Sass.”
My hand froze briefly before I unhooked some jeans off the hanger. “No.” I shook my head, sucking in a deep breath. “I won’t run like Papa did. I don’t mind paying their dues.”
Hope seemed to shuffle uncomfortably as I continued to toss items into my suitcase. “I don’t think that’s why they’re taking you, Sass. I think it’s for something else.” I never asked what Hope was to Kiznitch or how she knew so much. It was very strange for a civilian to know so much about Kiznitch and live to tell about it. I never asked, though.
“What do you mean?” I zipped up my bag.
Hope’s hand came to mine, pausing the movement. There was something in her fist, and when I opened my hand, a heavy ancient style pendant fell in it.
I lifted it up by the string to inspect it. “What’s this?”
She pushed my hand down and unzipped my bag. “Please don’t show anyone that, but Saskia, it is imperative that you hold on to this now, do you understand? You must guard it with your life.”
I examined it quickly. The blood red oval stone was held together by a metal dragon that was woven around it.
It was ugly.
I’d never wear it, let alone guard it.
I laughed, but Hope’s hand came to my face and she forced it toward her. “This is not a joke, Sass. We don’t have much time. Damnit,” she exhaled, shooting off the bed and rubbing the palm of her hand over her tummy. She seemed off. Weird. And not in a way that made me comfortable. “I thought I’d have more time.”
“Hope?” I asked, suddenly heavy with regret. I should have known better than to laugh. I know this life. This world. “What is it?” Our family, the Royals, were anything but royalty in Kiznitch. We were the mundane, never special enough to become Midnight Mayhem. My father watched security cameras and my mother was a nurse—that’s all we would have ever been and what I would have ever been.
My door opened and the man who was with Delila stepped inside. I squeezed the pendant in my hand instantly to hide it. “It’s time, Saskia. Let’s go.”
I nodded, my eyes going to Hope. I quickly shoved the pendant into my side pocket and made my way to her. “I love you. I will text you, okay?”
Hope turned to face me, her hands coming to my face. Hope was beautiful. She had long blonde hair that had a natural curl, and dark brown eyes. Her skin was so soft and flawless it made me envious at the best of times. At thirty-eight, she looked twenty-eight. Her eyes searched mine, pulling me in for a hug. Her lips came to the shell of my ear. “Do not trust anyone, Saskia, and when you must, you run.”
I never thought much on how this would happen. How I would come about as being a part of Kiznitch. A part of something that essentially ripped my family apart. Only, Hope was right. The reason to why they took me wasn’t at all what I was expecting.
Not even close.
There’s a knock on my door, pulling me out of my thoughts from the past. I swing it open and find Perse leaning against the frame. Perse is with King, and the story to how she got here is contrastingly different to mine.
“Hey! I was thinking since we are set to disembark tomorrow, we could swim some laps tonight?”
Perse and I have been swimming laps since we boarded this ship as a way to keep fit. There is a gym, but ru
“Sure,” I say, clutching the door handle. “What time?”
My room is nicer than what I would expect from a cruise ship, but not entirely, because this is Midnight Mayhem. The whole crew is on the same level, too, which is convenient. I’ve been with Midnight Mayhem for almost three months now, which means it has been three months since I last saw Hope. We keep in contact through texts, but I haven’t seen her in the flesh. I’ve somewhat noticed the distance that I’ve started to feel from her, and I don’t know if that’s because of my current predicament or something else. I’m hoping for the former.
“Now?” Perse answers, her eyebrows raised. I instantly felt a co