Through the Windshield Glass (22 page)

“I guess it is
good that I stayed if you look at it that way,” Michael said humorlessly.

Michael went
back to applying the salve to my face and I went back to trying not to cry
which didn’t last long. As soon as Michael finished with the first cut and
moved to the second I slapped his hand away again.

“Sorry,” I
muttered, “Rebecca really got me good on that one.”

For the first
time Michael cracked a smile.

“So you’ll
smile at me being in pain, but you don’t laugh when I said that thing about
Leigh?” I asked.

“I’m not
smiling at you being in pain, I was smiling because you rolled your eyes like
you were embarrassed you got hurt,” Michael said, “Which I guess is almost like
smiling at your pain, except emotional not physical.”

“I’m not
embarrassed that she hurt me,” I said angrily, “I’m not embarrassed at all. I’m
upset that she doesn’t know what really happened to her and that I ended up
getting smacked for trying to tell her the truth. It was pretty much all in
defense of your name, so really these cuts are your fault.”

Michael
actually full on laughed this time, “Why are you so angry at me? I didn’t
actually do what Rebecca said I did and I’m helping you out now which should be
payback for defending me.”

I thought about
it for a minute, and I realized the only reason I was upset was because Rebecca
hadn’t listened to me. I was just projecting my anger for her and for Daman
onto Michael.

“Sorry,” I said
again, “I’m just overloaded with everything right now. My emotions are high,
I’m hungry, and I’m angry that there is no ‘rest in peace’ now that I’m dead.
That’s a lot to handle.”

I yelled the
last word as I smacked Michael’s hand away again.

“If you keep
doing that I’m never going to finish and you’re going to have to go get food
with a half healed cheek. I’d be willing to bet that chewing isn’t going to
feel too great.” Michael said.

I rolled my
eyes and growled in frustration, “Fine, just hurry up, I’ll try not to hit you
again.”

“You want me to
hurry?” Michael asked.

I glared at
him, sure he was teasing me, “Yes, I want you to hurry, just get this done
with!”

“If you’re
sure,” Michael mumbled.

“What is tha—“
I began.

I quickly found
out why Michael had asked if I was sure. He didn’t continue dabbing my cut,
instead he took a giant glob of the medicine on the three middle fingers of his
right hand and smeared all of it across my cheek.

Pain exploded
over my whole head, I screamed and kicked out at Michael with both feet. I
missed and both my heels slammed back into the floor, adding to the immense
agony I was already experiencing.

After nearly a
minute of torment, the pain finally ceased. I glowered at Michael who was
leaning against the wall across from me, arms folded, with a slight smirk on
his face.

“Now I really
am angry with you!” I shouted, “Why would you do that?”

“You said you
were hungry, and you said you wanted me to hurry; so I took the necessary steps
to remedy both situations.”

I jumped down
off the sink and squinted up at Michael’s face. I was considerably shorter than
him, but I didn’t care. I stuck out my finger and wagged it at his face, “Never
do something like that again or I will kill you.”

Michael laughed
again, “For someone so small you are very convincing. How about you grab Maria
and we’ll go find some food for you both. She’s probably hungry too, am I
right?”

I took a deep
breath and stepped away from Michael, but I didn’t break eye contact, “Yes, she
probably is hungry.”

I stalked into
the other room and grabbed Maria’s hand, she stood up immediately and motioned
to her mouth with her free hand, “I know, Maria,” I said exasperatedly, “We’re
going to go get food right now, just be patient.”

As if his whole
purpose was to frustrate me, Michael was standing at attention, holding the
door open for Maria and I took walk through, “Ladies,” he said with a slight
inclination of his head.

I rolled my
eyes and pulled Maria forcefully through the door. I was walking so fast Maria
was having trouble keeping up, but I didn’t let up on my speed. I focused on
the door at the end of the hall I knew led to the kitchen and I was determined
not to stop until I reached it. When I did, I looked back to see where Michael
was.

He was still
standing right outside the door to my bedroom, “Where are you going?” he called
down the hall.

“To the
kitchen!” I shouted back. Maria flinched slightly at the sound, but I hardly
noticed.

“Then why are
you going all the way down there?”

“This is the
door to the kitchen isn’t it?” I asked, “It’s the door I went through to get
there the first time, and it’s been the door I’ve used to get there ever
since.”

Michael bit his
bottom lip, “Well,” he said shrugging his shoulders, “If you want to take the
long way I guess I shouldn’t try to stop you.”

I had been
about to open the door when Michael’s words finally processed, “The long way?”
I called over my shoulder.

“If you ask
them nicely all of these doors will take you where you want to go as long as no
one else is using them for something else at the time. The one you’re trying to
go through is already in use.”

Michael had
been slowly walking towards me the whole time and he was finally standing right
next to me.

“How can you
tell?” I asked. All the doors looked exactly the same to me. There was nothing
to distinguish the door in front of me from any of the other doors in the hall.

In response,
Michael pointed to the ground, “There’s light coming from the crack under the
door, which means someone is using it. Of all the doors in this whole hallway you
picked the one door that is in use.”

I bit back my
retort and swallowed my pride, “Would you mind opening a door for me then, oh
wise leader?” Okay, so some of my retort survived the swallowing process.

Thankfully,
Michael didn’t take offense. He turned the door nearest his left hand, said,
“Kitchen, please,” and opened the door.

Chapter Twenty-nine

It wasn’t the
same kitchen I remembered. This place looked more like a dining room, except
there were dozens of tables all filled with people. There was an open buffet
table lining one wall and everyone seemed to be in a happy, jovial mood.

“This is not
the kitchen,” I said to Michael.

“Sure it is,”
Michael responded, “There’s food, and tables, and chairs. Although, I don’t
know if kitchen is really the right word, dining hall seems like a more apt
description.”

“Okay, fine.
How did you get to this dining hall then? I’ve only been to the one kitchen the
whole time I’ve been here.”

Michael inhaled
the smells of the food around him, “The one thing I like about this place is
that you see what you create when you open a new door. If you notice, there are
people just sitting there by themselves eating quietly. They’re in another
kitchen they created which obviously is less exciting than this one.”

I added that
bit of information to the mental list I had started to keep. I also made a
mental note to ask for a pen and a notebook or something of that nature so I
could start writing some of the things I learned down. My brain was starting to
become too crowded to handle all the new, mind boggling data it was trying to
process.

　
Michael and I joined the queue
of people taking food from the buffet table. I helped Maria load her tray with
food and we found a table that was unoccupied except for one of the quiet
eaters Michael had pointed out earlier.

Something was
bothering me and I wanted to ask Michael about it, I opened and closed my mouth
a few times, but eventually I decided to leave it alone. Unfortunately, Michael
noticed my indecision and prodded at me until I finally blurted it out.

"Is Kinga
still married to Daman?" I asked.

Michael nearly
choked on his food; he obviously hadn't been prepared for that kind of
question. It took a few seconds after he finally swallowed for him to answer.

"Yes,"
Michael said. When I drew a breath to ask another question Michael held up his
hand, "I know what you're going to say. And no, there's no way she's
working with Daman. She is totally invested in beating him."

"Are you
sure?" I asked, "From what Gregor said she really loved him. I
would've had a hard time choosing."

"Maybe it
would've been harder if she hadn't come back into the room to find her new
husband murdering her mother."

"Why
didn't you stop that? You were right there, you could've done something!"
I protested. I didn't look at Michael while I said it. Instead I wiped a bit of
pudding off of Maria's dress and listened apprehensively for Michael's answer.

"I was in
shock. I'd just watched my brother marry a woman for power and I couldn't quite
believe he'd actually gone through with it. At first I thought everything I was
seeing was just a very vivid figment of my own imagination. But as soon as I
saw Kinga's face when she came running back in and saw Daman already using that
power I knew it was true."

"Oh,"
I said. I felt like a jerk for bringing up the memory.

"It's
okay, It's something you needed to know. You'd be less likely to trust me if
you thought I had just stood by and watched my brother do what he did."

Michael was
right I wouldn't have trusted him at all without knowing that, or that he was
ashamed for having done nothing.

We ate the rest
of the meal without saying anything, Michael walked Maria and I back to my
room.

"Good
night, Alice," Michael said as I started to close the door.

"Night,"
I replied. Michael nodded and walked away. I closed the door and resisted
touching my newly healed cheek as I helped Maria change into pajamas and
finally get into bed. I barely slept that night; my brain was going a million
miles an hour and not just about all the information that had been thrown at me
that day.

Chapter Thirty

Before I knew
it, I'd been in Beyond for a month. Leigh came to my room every day and ate
almost every meal with Maria and me. Sometimes she'd even drag Michael along.
It was easy to keep up conversation when Leigh was around, but if she left for
any reason, or got distracted helping Maria learn words, Michael and I would
fall into uncomfortable silence.

There were no
more formal meetings with Michael's 'rebel' group. Occasionally, I'd see one of
the members in the hall or at a meal but they always clammed up when I asked
them if there had been any more progress in their planning. I finally got so
fed up I decided to ask Michael about it the next time I had a chance.

It just so
happened that the day I confronted Michael was the day I estimated to be my
birthday, not that it mattered in Beyond, but I felt like more of an adult for
being officially eighteen. The feeling gave me courage to confront Michael.

Leigh had to
use the bathroom, and since she had to use the door in my room to get there,
Michael had no route for escape.

"Are you
ever going to tell me what's going on in your meetings?" I asked.

Michael looked
at me in surprise, his expression quickly turned to bashfulness, but just as
quickly he schooled his emotions and delivered a very convincing lie, "We haven't
had any meetings since the one you attended."

"Liar!"
I shrieked. Maria jumped and grunted, "Loud!"

"I'm not
lying," Michael protested unconvincingly.

"Why
aren't you telling me?" I asked.

"It's not
important."

"Obviously
it is or you'd tell me."

I had Michael
on that one. He ran his hand through his hair again and sighed heavily,
"Daman made contact. He knows you're here and he wants us to take you to
him. He insists there be no traps, and he insists that you go
unconscious."

"I think
that's extremely important! Why didn't you tell me earlier? We could have sent
me off already and this whole thing would already be over with!"

Michael shook
his head, "You don't understand. I don't think he intends for you to wake
up, he may even already know what we were planning to do."

"What do
you mean he doesn't want me to wake up? He told me he wanted to make me his
queen; don't I kind of need to be conscious to do that?" I asked.

"I've
spoken with Max, Avery, and Gregor, we think he may be planning to possess you
the way he did Rebecca. In a sense, you'll never wake upp, you'll just be a
puppet."

"But he's
already married to Kinga! Wouldn't she be the better prize?"

"Daman
never was one for monogamy. Kinga didn't work out well for him, and he must
have gotten bored with her mother. Max feels that to Daman, you are just
another trophy to be collected, it may be even another way to get back at Kinga
because she left him before he was done with her." Michael finished.

That certainly
made me feel good, I was just a prize, an object Daman wanted to possess,
nothing more.
　

"So when
do we leave? Let's end this guy." I felt the insensitivity of my words as
I spoke them. I knew Michael loved his brother despite everything he had done,
and I seriously doubted he wanted to see him die again. However, as much as he
hated it, Michael was willing to do what he had to do to make things right
again.

"We have
to find a way to get you back safely. We're not going to let you just go in to
this without a way out." Michael replied. He finally looked me in the eye
and I realized how scared he was.

"Don't be
afraid for me," I said quickly, "What's the worst that could
happen?"

Once again, it
was the wrong thing to say. Michael answered so seriously it was incredible the
room didn't go dark with the mood, "I--we don't even want to think about
that. That's the reason we haven't acted yet, we need your help but we also
need you safe."