Blue at Midnight (8 page)

Chapter 17

Too many things
had gone wrong lately but I was going to make sure that the things I could
control (like my work) didn’t. Therefore I arrived at work half an hour early.
Hugo had been working since 8 a.m. and looked awful. Unfortunately, he’d caught
a nasty cold so I reassured him that the new girl, Leah, and I would look after
the place this evening. As I had closed the coffee house numerous times before,
I offered to stay till the end, 9 p.m., which was an hour after my shift was
supposed to finish. As Leah was new I didn’t expect her to stay any longer than
her normal work hours.
 

There was a bitter
chill in the air, which blew in occasionally instead of the usual flurry of
customers tonight. I busied myself with stocking the shelves and helping Leah
brush up on her knowledge of Coffee Time merchandise. It was evident that Craig
had spent too many shifts flirting as she wasn’t aware of the procedures. Poor
Hugo had managed the best he could in his state but I expected a bit more from
that lazy ladies’ man, Craig. Surprisingly the next time I glanced at the clock
it was 7.30; I couldn’t believe how quick the time had flown by. Leah had been
lovely to work with. I felt as if I’d made a new friend.

After emptying the
dishwasher, cleaning the tables and mopping the floor I was about to walk
towards the front door to turn the open sign over to closed, when a short man
stumbled
in.
I was about to tell him that I could only
sell a coffee to take out but he seemed very unsteady on his feet and his left
hand was pressed onto his head as if he was injured. Slowly, I stepped out from
behind the counter to ask him if he was OK but he staggered over the mop bucket
before raising his left hand as if to stop me from stepping any closer. Next he
mumbled he was OK.

 
Suddenly I saw the door open violently. A
slightly similar looking man with a dark stubbly beard, shaven head, wearing
blue jeans and a short-sleeved white shirt stained in blood, stormed towards
him with rage. Mortified I ran behind the counter only to shout that I was
going to call the police unless they took this brawl outside. Paying no
attention to my threat the short man delivered a punch to the other man’s chin,
causing him to catapult onto one of the tables, snapping its wooden leg clean
off. Panic and horror flooded through me at the sight of the clean parquet
floor now flooded with dirty mop water, mixed with the muddy footprints of
these unwanted customers. Furthermore, the broken chairs and table were now
being used as weapons. Just then I had a vision of one of them throwing
something and hitting the front glass window, smashing it to smithereens. I had
to do something to stop them from ruining the place completely.

“I have called the
police, now GET OUT!” After shouting with all my might I stormed towards them
but out of nowhere a chair
came
flying towards
me.
 
Luckily I ducked letting it continue
to sail over the counter and smash the coffee cups I had recently taken out of
the dishwasher. At that moment I ran out of ideas but I had too much at stake
to give up. Hugo was the only one that had given me a chance and I could not
stand here and do nothing so I went into the storeroom to grab the fire
extinguisher. Suddenly my eardrums exploded with a frightening roar that
vibrated through the walls of the coffee house. It demanded that the men leave
right now. The sheer volume and fury in this voice froze my limbs.

 
Startled by the interruption the men
straightened up their clothes and walked out with frustrated expressions. It
was obvious from their body language that they were planning to continue this
outside. Slowly I peered over the counter to catch a glimpse of the owner of
this alarming voice only to find Christian standing there, radiating animosity.
Face solid, eyes bulging, brow furrowed and hands curled up in iron-fists, he
gave the impression of a mad man. He looked different, unknown, which made me
wonder how could someone you know suddenly appear so alien? Even I felt wary
about his presence. As much as I wanted to shut the front door and start
sorting out the atrocious mess those savages had left, I couldn’t find the
courage to step out from behind the counter. The terror that raged throughout
him created a thick fog of tension which I wouldn’t dare to enter.

“They won’t come back
here, they’re gone.” Shocked that he knew I had been standing there (behind
him) my body stiffened. Suddenly I remembered all those times I’d been impolite
towards him, giving him a piece of my mind yet he never said anything in
defence.
 
If I knew he had a temper like
this I wouldn’t have even looked him in the eye let alone
tell
Sonia he was a creep. He was now staring at me because I hadn’t moved for the
last few minutes. Keeping my eyes on the floor I picked up a dustpan and brush.

“Thank you, I...I need
to,” I found myself lost for words, confused and overwhelmed. I would have
happily stayed there all night if it had resulted in restoring the coffee house
as it was, but tidying alone wasn’t enough. Trying not to think about it I
continued to plough through as fast as I could, so fast that I found myself
continuously dropping shattered pieces of the mugs. Every time I went to reach for
something another thing dropped and every time I walked towards something I
bumped into something else. Yet I couldn’t get myself to stop, my mind was
running on overdrive. I mustn’t stop I thought. I must fix this and every
second was precious. Meanwhile my skin burnt like the sun from Christian’s
endless stare or perhaps it was just my unsettled state of mind. He probably
wasn’t even there now. Yet I wasn’t going to risk looking up in case I lost
complete control of my emotions.

I picked up a broken chair
leg and tried to figure out if it could be screwed back on. Experiencing the
fear of not being able to fix anything, I found myself disorientated,
panic-stricken and exhausted. Desperately I continued with what looked like
hopeless fiddling, when a hand gently took the broken part of the chair from
me. I looked up and saw Christian had knelt before me as I sat on the floor.

“You should go home,
don’t worry about this.” There was an unexpected softness in his voice; it was
as if it was the voice of another. This was the face of someone who could see
right through me, someone who could see how troubled I was. I was overwhelmed
by his gentle aura.

“I can’t. This was my responsibility;
I was supposed to lock up. I promised Hugo everything would be fine!”

“You’re in shock. You
need to go.”

“Shock?
Have you seen this place? I’m sorry I just need to fix this. I can’t, I won’t
let Hugo down! I’m not going anywhere until everything is as it was!” There was
no way I was going to put my needs first when this was my chance to prove that
I was the same reliable Izzie as before, not the failure everyone else seemed
to be making me out to be. This was my mess and I was going to clean it up!

“Listen, I understand
you gave your word but you don’t have to do this all by yourself.”

Chapter 18

Christian could
see she was shaking and on the verge of falling apart. He’d witnessed pieces of
her life since he’d rescued her. He was starting to admire her determination to
fight back every time she faced trouble, which reminded him of the tests the
elders would put the Rourkes through, in Orsa. Every time, no matter how low he
felt he was determined to win. Although Sebastian repeatedly highlighted the
weaknesses of mankind, Christian realised that Izzie’s determination was the
same as his. The root of her strength was the same: a kind soul and a strong
mind. One thing was evident; these were not the qualities of someone who would
give up on life.

Both of them worked
through the night without a sound except the odd smile of reassurance. Swiftly,
Christian managed to clear the wet floor and the shards of glass while I tried
to put everything back as it was and make a list of the broken items. It was
now 2 p.m. and the buses had stopped. I knew getting home would be difficult
but I didn’t care. I would have spent the whole night at Coffee Time if it
meant the place would look the same again.

“I’ve called Sonia. She
said she’d give you a lift home,” he instructed whilst taking a bin bag from
me.

“How did you get her
number?”

With a grin he told me
that she gave it to him in case he got lost or bumped into the ‘wrong kind’. I
should have known really but it was pretty careless of Sonia to just give her
number away so easily. Coffee Time looked as tidy as it could, considering what
had happened, but there were no traces of broken furniture or any kind of mess.
The only
indication that something wasn’t right were
the missing broken items which I had yet to find an excuse for. A part of me
wondered whether I should tell Hugo but then I couldn’t bear the risk of
disappointing him as he was the only person that gave me a chance.

Sonia rushed out of her
car wondering why I was at work and how it came to be that I was with the one
person I had been warning her about. Thankfully both Christian and Sonia
promised not to speak a word of what had happened.
 

Chapter 19

That evening I
didn’t sleep. All the events of the day just kept flashing back in my mind. Yet
I couldn’t forget the anger in his voice when he stopped the
fight,
or the look on his face. How could one face change so
drastically.
Is that what I looked like when I lost my temper with Jenny? The thought of
looking so psychotic in front of Christian mortified me. Sonia suggested that I
tell Hugo that one of the chairs had been faulty and that the new girl had
accidently dropped a tray load of mugs when she was clearing the tables.
However, my conscience wouldn’t let me do such a horrible thing especially to
someone so kind. I’d be no better than Jenny Summers if I did that. I hoped
that a solution would spring to my mind by morning whilst I made my way to see
Hugo.
 

Suddenly I remembered
the list I’d made with all the broken items; it was still on the counter. Somehow
I had been hoping to replace some of those things and put them back, but it was
too late now. Maybe Christian had it? This was the one moment I wished I’d
taken his number. That’s when I thought of Sonia. As I went to grab my mobile
from the bedside table I glanced at the time on my alarm clock and realised it
was 5 a.m. It was unfair to ruin Sonia’s sleep over my carelessness (she’d done
enough for me already). I guess I’ll just have to tell Hugo the truth and deal
with the consequences. It was my responsibility. After that I would find a way
to thank Christian for all his help.

Cale had been
sitting in the almost completed Room of Rituals for a couple of hours, awaiting
Sebastian’s verdict on his alliance with his brother. No matter how hard he
tried to prove he had no part in Christian’s actions Lameer was hell bent on
convincing Sebastian the opposite. Cale had been ordered to stay put, until
Sebastian returned from seeing the mother of the ocean himself. The notorious
elder was seeking the truth about Cale rather than Christian, as he had seen
enough over the past few days to know that Christian was no longer in Orsa.

An irritated Cale found
himself pacing back and forth in the small room. An unfinished doorway tempted
Cale to leave but he knew this would go against Sebastian’s orders, which was
the last thing he wanted to do. He was a prisoner. The unfinished doorway and
the stonework in the centre of the floor kept on reminding him of his brother.
This was a task given to the both of them, something to make the elders proud.
A place that would have been as sacred as a monastery, where those
seeking answers would have visited, in the hope that their thoughts would be
heard by Orsa.
If a Child of Orsa was losing
themself
they would come here to meet with the elders, who would give them access to the
knowledge they seek. The encryptions on the floor were sacred and would allow
the elders to draw strength, knowledge and guidance from Morbidma.

It was through deep
meditation that the elders were able to retrieve knowledge from Morbidma, who
was pleased with their devotion to Orsa.

 
“Could there possibly be more that is
troubling you?” Cale snapped out of his thoughts well aware of what Sebastian
was hinting at. As always the elder stood in front of him even though his voice
seemed to be coming from behind. Cale wondered how Christian was always able to
sense Sebastian’s presence seconds before he would show himself.

“You know everything
there is to know,” replied Cale calmly.

“And true that is. So
here is what you will do.” Before completing his sentence Sebastian stood
still, staring awkwardly at the distraught Rourke, creating a few seconds of
uncomfortable silence. It was clear that even though he knew Cale was innocent
he was still angry with him. It was probably because Christian was his
favourite, the one he had high hopes for, not Cale who was always trying to
prove
himself
. Even though Sebastian saw him as second
to Christian, the fact that he now had to rely on him angered him even more as
well as being betrayed by his own.

“Lameer has offered to
complete what your brother left incomplete. Now that we have this room we, the
elders, will draw strength to right what is wrong.”

“What must I do?”
Knowing that Christian had just been given a death sentence Cale was desperate
to prove
himself
, as he did not want his reputation
tainted by the actions of his brother.

“You will go to the
lands!”

“The lands?”
Cale was not comfortable with this demand as the lands were forbidden, unless
you were redeeming your soul.

“As you were not aware
of your brother’s whereabouts it is your duty to appear upon the lands but only
as a shadow. Under no circumstance must you face him; you will stand as witness
to his crimes when he is sentenced in this very room. Are there any questions?”

“No.”

“Very well, you will be
sent at midnight when the waters of Orsa are the bluest. That is when they are
the most complying.”

Although Christian had
disobeyed the numbers and committed the ultimate crime, he would still be given
what the elders would call ‘a fair trial’. However in reality no such thing
existed. The elders decided the verdict as soon as they were made aware of the
crime. The trial would just give them an opportunity to make an example out of
those who disobeyed the numbers. Everyone knew that there was only one sentence
for Christian. Death!