Fifty ◑ The Trial

Indeed, they had the next days to themselves, but their accommodations at Mars' temple made them reluctant to find a way to leave.

Dimitri especially seemed reluctant.

He'd been distant, staying in his room for hours, only showing up at mealtimes, and refusing to be alone with Lucille.

When she'd confronted him once about this, he'd said, "Being turned into godly kebab made me ponder my life."

She could tell it was partly true, but it wasn't the real reason either.

On top of that, Keiran had been doing everything he could to breeze by the topic of leaving.

"We're going to plan first," he kept saying, but he made no moves to plan.

As if that wasn't enough, she'd also seen them arguing in the gardens last night. Their voices had been to low for her to hear, but she could tell that it had been something serious. As though to prove that, they'd basically jumped away from each other when they'd realized she was right there.

So, yes, between the overheard argument, Dimitri's silence, and Keiran's avoidance, Lucille was able to conclude that there was something going on. She couldn't keep mum about it either.

After dinner, just as Keiran and Dimitri were getting up from their seats, she decided to spring it at them before they could avoid it.

"How long do you plan to stay here?" she asked.

The twins glanced at each other, turned to her, and reluctantly settled back on their seats.

"I don't know, to be honest." Keiran gestured around. "We're being treated exceptionally well, and we don't know how we'd gotten here, much less where we're going next."

"Okay." Lucille nodded and faced Dimitri. "How about you?"

He looked at the table and shrugged. She waited for him to elaborate, but he didn't. Her frustration rose nearly to the peak, but she just sighed and forced it down.

"How about we test your theory tonight?" she told Keiran. "Danger makes me create the portals, right?"

"Actually," he began, casting a very noticeable meaningful glance at his brother, "I don't think it's the danger. You see, I've been tossing this over in my head for the past days. The first portal was caused by danger, yes. Might just be your subconscious trying its best to take you to a safe place. The second portal that propelled us a few centuries into the future was caused by something else."

"And that was?"

"The memory. Now hear me out." He cleared his throat and held his palm up. "Something about those visions in the lake made you uncover another part of the mystery and unlock another thing about yourself. This allowed your subconscious to perform something you're intending to do, which is to take us back into the future."

It took Lucille a moment to digest on that. "So you mean knowing more about my past through flashbacks is the key to getting back?"

"Exactly," he confirmed. When she frowned, he quickly added, "Look, like I said, I don't make up these rules. I just analyzed the situation, and I think it fits. The more you remember, the faster you'll take us back—"

"Excuse me." Dimitri rose from his seat and began to head towards the hallway. "I have to go now."

"To where?" Lucille demanded, unable to keep her frustration at bay. "We just started to . . . and you're gone."

Dimitri disappeared into the hallway without as much as a look back.

"What's up with him, right?" Keiran said, in a tone that heavily suggested he knew exactly what was up with his twin. "Anyway, moving on."

She was on the verge of either crying or pulling all her hair out. Maybe even both. Still, she reined it all in. "So what do you say? We have to try, right?"

"Yes, of course!" He nodded fervently, but everything about his face said no. But he still stood and led her out of the dining hall. "I found a perfect place outside. The gardens."

"I know about the gardens," she muttered, shooting him a sideways glance as they walked. "I saw you two in there."

He pretended not to see or hear her. "Like I said, perfect place."

After that they navigated the temple in silence, walking side by side. While the quiet air between them was not necessarily awkward, it still gave off a tensed vibe. She didn't know if it was because of the task at hand or just his general reluctance, but either way, she decided to push through with it.

The garden was quiet, closed off from the rest of the place by a thick fence of bushes and towering trees. Flowers she couldn't name bloomed in the ground or in the vines hanging on the rafters. The sky was dark and littered with clouds, which passed by the moon from time to time and submerged the landscape in darkness.

Keiran led her to an empty field in the middle, where a marble fountain stood. The sound of the water trickling from its basins gave off a calm, almost sleepy atmosphere.

"Here," he said in a low voice, gesturing at the spot behind the fountain. Once she was there, he took out a strip of fabric from the inside of his robes. "I'll just . . . do this."

He came up behind her and gently brushed her hair back, his fingertips skimming the back of her neck. She opened her mouth what he was doing, but before she could do so, he placed the strip in front of her eyes.

"I will cover your eyes." His breath was warm against her scalp. "You must concentrate. Perhaps continue where you left off from that last flashback. At the forest."

She nodded, and with that he tied the fabric around her head. It was pitch black now, and the trickle of the fountain was making her relax. With a sigh, she tried to conjure the last image from her flashback.

At first, it seemed to be working. Colors began to break from the pitch black, shifting and reforming until she was back in the forest. Cade resumed his place in front of her, menacing and crazy, still holding that knife threateningly in her direction.

This memory had been vivid in her head for the past days, but now it was as though a filter had been placed over it.

The scene kept flicking from clear to disjointed. Lucille willed herself to push through despite the thrum of fear in her chest, but for some reason she couldn't make the thing progress. She was stuck with just a picture.

It was like she was stuck between fantasy and reality, except that the majority of her consciousness was desperate to cling onto reality.

"Focus," Keiran said, seemingly aware of her struggle.

Lucille felt his hands on her shoulders, his chest against the back of her head. She stepped back just to feel him more as every cell in her body screamed to be let out of the memory.

On top of that, the bracelet was also starting to tighten around her wrist.

With a gasp, Lucille snapped out of it and yanked the fabric off her head. "I can't do it."

Keiran took the blindfold from her. "I knew it. You're not ready yet. You're bothered by something."

"Dimitri," she said before she could stop herself.

He nodded and stared at the sky. "You should go talk to him then. We'll try again tomorrow. For real this time."

◑≡◑≡◑≡◑

Dimitri, as it turned out, was in the bathhouse and not his bedroom.

It took Lucille about ten minutes to search the temple, looking at the rooms one by one since she had no idea where he might be. When she found him submerged in the rectangular pool at the basement of the place, she basically melted with relief.

She descended the marble steps, her bare feet silent against the tiled floor. His dark hair stood out in all the white surfaces of the place, his tanned torso just as stark of a contrast. He had his back turned to her, and she could tell that only his lower half was submerged in the water.

For some reason, the thought of him fully undressed made her heart race.

"Hey," she called out from the bottom of the steps.

Dimitri flinched, causing some of the water to splash around. He turned around, and when he saw her there, his whole body went stiff. For a second he seemed to debate whether or not to reach for the towels at the side of the pool, but he just said, "Er, hey."

"You mind if I stay here and talk with you?"

"Not at all."

Well, he sounded like he did mind a lot, but she walked to the other side of the pool anyway, so that they could face each other. All the while she willed herself not to look at his lower body as he swam into the corner.

Lucille leaned against a column, pink-faced and determined. "So how are you feeling?"

"Pretty okay." Dimitri seemed more relaxed now that he's in the corner of the pool. "My wound's nearly healed."

"That's great," she said, and she meant it with all her heart. She would like to express just how much of a relief it was that he's okay, but in the end she decided to jump to the point. "I noticed that you've been kind of avoiding me."

He went all rigid again. "I wasn't."

"You were. You still are."

For a while they just stared at each other. He was regarding her with uncertainty, while she was trying her best not to let her gaze dip underwater.

Finally, Dimitri admitted, "Okay, maybe I was. I'm scared of what would happen when you regain all your memories."

"Why?" Lucille took one step forward. "You didn't do anything wrong."

"Perhaps." He bit his lip briefly but didn't look away. "Let's just say I'm not supposed to be your friend, much less feel what I feel for you right now."

"And what do you feel?"

His eyes narrowed. "A lot of things."

Her pulse quickened. "Is this about what you said to me?"

Dimitri didn't answer. He just stared at her.

"That night, when you were sleeping on my lap," she prompted, taking another step closer to the pool. "You said something, and I know you know what it is."

Again, he remained quiet.

Lucille cocked her chin up. "Did you change your mind about that?"

"Nothing could make me change my mind about that," Dimitri answered in a low voice. "About you. Now if you'll excuse me. I need to go."

He reached for a towel, and that's when her patience snapped.

*Fuck it,* Lucille thought. Seeing him like that stirred her long-lost defiance. It also awakened something else in her, something almost scary in its intensity.

In one fluid motion, she unraveled her robe and let it fall by her feet, leaving her with no stitch of clothing.

And just as his expression went slack, she stepped into the water.