"Room of No Strangers p-03''

By;fernand jiro.............

Ael looked around. They were in a softly lit, yet cheery room. Dark oak finished white walls were decorated with many, many pictures, and a deep cracked leather couch was along one wall, almost inviting her to sink into its depths. A matching chair with an ottoman and a table were on the other. There were standing lamps in each corner.


The first thing Ael noticed was that somehow, there was no door. She glanced around at the many pictures, noticing many people she knew, such as Rob, the Alacon's, a few relatives she wasn’t sure of, and then many, many people she didn’t know. Then, the single picture on the table caught her attention, and held her.


It was of a beautiful woman, with soft, just slightly wispy brown hair, fair skin, and warm loving brown eyes. Her form was slender and slightly short, and wearing a cream sweater. A soft smile played along her rosy lips as she looked down at the small child in her arms. The pair of them leaned into the arms of a tall, broad man – a younger Westly – who had his arms wrapped around both of them, and didn’t seem to ever want to let go. His chin rested on the woman’s head, and his blue eyes had just caught the camera, and were full of love. A barely-there smile ghosted at his features, almost putting the laugh lines into relief.


Ael knew who it was, and because of it, she wanted to cry. Her voice was shaky as she whispered,”Is that my mom?”


Westly nodded, his blue eyes lost in thought as he made his was to the chair, and sat silently in it.


Slowly Ael turned, taking in the pictures on the wall again, now seeing the woman in many of them, usually smiling, or laughing, happy as ever. She even saw herself, usually in the woman’s arms, in a few.


A tear threatened at the corner of her eye and took its plunge, followed by more. Unconsciously she felt Westly’s arms go around her, and she turned to cry into his chest.


“How could...” She tried to speak her words around the choked feeling in the throat, “How could she just…go bad?” The woman in all the pictures was so happy, and her face so full of love and laughter. How could her mother, be a corrupted, insane mad-woman. Judging by the face in the picture, they had gotten that all wrong. What she would give to have seen her, even once. She couldn’t stop the tears as they came for her loss.


Westly led her to the couch, where he held her as if she were no longer sixteen years old, but his little baby he had lost sixteen years ago. He didn’t say anything, just held her, shushing her tears.


It was awhile before she realized that the tears would no longer come, and she sniffed, wiping a hand at her dry eyes. Westly stood up, and produced a tissue out of nowhere and handed it to her, before sitting at the other end of the couch.


She blew her nose, looking around again. “Where are we?”


“In a ‘Room of No Strangers’ if you want the proper name. I call it my Box.” He replied, looking around himself.


She gave him an odd look. “Room of No Strangers? What the heck is that?”


“Everyone has one, everyone’s is different. You’d learn about it in a year at school. Consider it your…sanctuary. The only people who can come here have to be invited, and brought by you. Also, it has anything in it you’d need. Food?” He snapped his fingers, and a small refrigerator appeared on one side of the room. Another snap and it disappeared.” Closets?” Snap. A door appeared in the wall, and another took it away. Westly looked at her.


“So why are we here then?” She asked him, curiously.


Westly sighed. “It’s a long story, but first, you have to trust me that what I tell you is the truth.” His blue eyes were serious as he judged her.


She nodded.


“I’m also going to ask that you don’t interrupt me, it’s kind of a long story, and we don’t have all that much time.” He resettled in his chair, and began to speak.


“Jon Burken is…evil, if you think that way. He is wrong, bad, and even corrupt. As are the Moore's, Jessica, Julie, and Michael. Robert, for some reason, had stayed un-corrupted. Don’t trust them, and don’t talk around them unless you must, and then, never talk about anything important.


“Jon taught you about corruption, correct? And how hard it is to detect the ones who are? Well, that was partly right. Some of them you can’t even tell when they do perform magic. I think Jon is one of these. He’s oh…an evil genius, however stupid that sounds... He’s been able to stay away from the corrupt-catchers for many years, we’re not sure how, but he has been. He even got this school of his started. The real reason behind all of this is to corrupt all of you kids, and us adults, to join ‘his side’.


“And your mother, well, she’s not…corrupted. She was the closest, to ever discovering what Jon was doing, before she was captured. We still aren’t sure how she escaped, she won’t tell anyone.”


Ael nodded, not looking Westly in the eye. She knew, how her mother had done it, but she couldn’t tell either. It was just so abnormal, that she wouldn’t tell. Maybe she wasn’t supposed to know, or maybe it was just a ‘family’ thing. She looked up, to speak, as what Weslty had said hit her. “So you know where she is?”


Westly surprised her again, by nodding and saying, “She’s in her Room, do you want to see her?”


Ael nodded silently, hoping she could trust this ma- her father, she told herself. He wasn’t just a random person anymore he was her father.


Westly stood up and gave a soft snap as Ael followed him, and a door appeared, which he pulled open to reveal a corridor.


It was about twenty yards long and softly lit by the light coming from the partly open door at the far end of the hall.


Westly knocked softly, when they reached the door, but didn’t bother to wait for a reply as he pushed it open, with a quick explanation that the hallway was a “marriage courtesy of sorts.” He stepped inside, and stepped to the side so Ael could walk in next to him.


The room was a pale, soft rose, with a light cream trim. A squishy leather sofa was next to a light oak end table with a cream-shaded gold lamp. The room had a soft, calming quality about it, but Ael’s attention was held by the figure curled up on the couch.


Her silky, slightly wispy hair was a light brown, with a reddish tint. She had a perfectly featured barely tanned face, a straight nose, even, big eyes, and soft lips. Her figure was thin, curled up on the couch as it was, but as she stood up to greet them, she didn’t rise very high. She brushed the hair away from her face with a delicately slim hand, her brown eyes were level and serious, yet warm and so full of love that it was little Ael could do but run to her and wrap her arms around her mother, once more the tears flowing down her cheeks as she heard her mother’s voice in her ears.


“Ael, oh, my baby…” Was repeated over and over by the soft voice, also choked with tears.


Once they had let go, Weslty came over, and gave the woman a hug, and a kiss. He smiled, and Ael could almost forget the lines of pain and suffering on his face. “Ael, meet your mother…” He said needlessly.


Her mother gave her a sad smile, “I missed you so much…I’m sorry I couldn’t be there, but it was better you weren’t with me, or Westly. Jon did our side a favor doing that one thing, though I don’t think he realized it. “


Ael suddenly could see through the small lines, of pain, and of horror, or terrible things on Ramona’s face, and the haunted look in her eyes as she spoke.


“Sixteen years….” Her mother softly said, sinking back on the couch, and snapping up a matching chair for Weslty as Ael sat at the other end of the couch.


As she fell against the soft leather, Ael realized how long they had been gone from the park, and almost got up again but her mother motioned her to sit, with a knowing smile.


“Don’t worry, time can be different here. Everyone is completely in charge of their room. Time goes normal, unless you slow it down, or speed it up, consciously, or unconsciously. But usually, you don’t want to tamper with time, it can have bad consequences.” Ramona looked serious.


“Do I have a room?” Ael asked curiously.


“Yes. Everybody has one; it’s just a matter of knowing how to use it. Did you want to know how to use yours?” Her mother asked, smiling.


Ael nodded. She supposed this was the “other way” in which her mother had been smart in: magic.


“Ok, the first thing you need to do is concentrate on a happy thought.”


That was easy, when she knew she had parents and she actually got to meet her mother.


“Alright, now concentrate on that, and then think of your most favorite place in the world. Somewhere you feel safe.”


It took awhile to decide that, she didn’t really feel safe anywhere. Finally, she decided on the room that she was in: her mother’s Room. Slowly she nodded.


“Ok, now picture a room with both these feelings and qualities in it, and picture Wes and me there with you.”


Ael nodded again, clenching a fist, and staring blankly at nothing. A sense of power made her palm tickle.


“Now, snap.”


Instantly, they were in Ael’s Room. A pale, icy blue room, with an almost white trim. A corner couch was along most of two walls, made of tan, light blue, and light pink material. It looked scratchy, but Ael knew it would be soft. Two light cedar end tables were at the ends of the couch. Each held a bright lamp, and in the far corner was a plain standing lamp. On one table, she noticed, was the same picture that had been in Westly’s room, of her and her mother and father.


Westly chuckled and went to pick it up. “I always liked this one too.” He set it back down, looking around her room. “Nice, you even have carpet.” He commented with raised eyebrows, eyeing the floor.


And she did, a light tan color that sank where you walked on it. Ramona took a seat on the couch, and began to speak. “So, now you know how to get to your Room. There are only a few things I have to tell you about it. First off, don’t bring anybody here unless you’re absolutely sure you can trust them. It makes it easier for them to make themselves be pulled along in if they’re near. And by near, I don’t mean the same room, I mean the same city, or state. Second, never stay in your Room too long. Things might happen outside that you are unaware of. Time is different and until you know how to control the Room time and the outside time, don’t stay very long. So unless you have a wonderful human news resource," She looked to Westly. “Don’t stay more than an hour of Room time. Third, Remember. You make the rules here. If you wanted to turn this into a volcano, you could, and you would die, and no one would be wiser. That also means you can control others within it somewhat. Usually, the creator of the Room is the one in charge, and can do magic in it. Unless the Creator doesn’t care if the others are doing magic, then others would be able to. Anyone who tired to do magic against the Creator’s will, would be hurt, knocked unconscious, or something along those lines.”


Ael nodded, settling herself in a corner of the couch as her mother spoke.


“So will you tell me what happened? Like, why you were convicted, and how you were caught?”


Her mother gave a sad smile, and curled her legs around beside her, and leaned on Westly as he sat beside her, and it was he who spoke.


“Well, I told you most of it, but I think only she can tell you the why behind everything that happened.”


Her mother’s voice was soft, and at times, she looked or leaned into Westly. “It was two years before you were born, that most of this started…


Jon Burken had just become Head of the magic world, government I suppose you would call it. Back then, he was considered the greatest mage. Extremely gifted, and very, very well schooled. I had just become one of the highest corrupt catchers. Seems I had a gift for detecting them. Sure did backfire.


See, I was the first to notice Jon’s turning. I didn’t want to say anything though. Do you know how bad it would look, if I convicted him of being corrupt? Anyway, I told Julie Moore, who back then was one of my best friends. The only other person I trusted as much was Westly. Julie was in a different, undercover type of job, so I thought she wouldn’t tell. Obviously, that was my big mistake. She didn’t tell them, but waited until right after I knew for sure I was pregnant with you.


Once you were born, Jon used my absence to convict me of plotting for power against him. He convicted me of being corrupt, so there was no way anyone would listen to anything I would say, and I would be put away. Out of his way. That’s when I realized that my suspicions had been right. Why else would such a man put away his best cc in a cell?


So he accused me, and no one dared defy him, for fear of being convicted themselves. Anyone who would say something about him, or anybody who was close to him would just be thrown in themselves. And they came and got me. They were horrible. People and friends I had known my whole life knocked me out, with such horrid looks on their face. As if, I don’t know, I was a monster or something.


When I woke, it was in a white box, with no color, no anything. No doors, windows, ventilation, furniture, nothing. And I had been changed into these white clothes, stiff, starched, itchy. There was only a white bucket in one corner. That’s it.”


Her eyes were haunted as she remembered, hollow and bleak. “My first thought was to leave. I tried to transport myself from there. I woke up five days later. That’s what happened anytime I tried to do any magic. And then, they would question me. I can’t…I don’t….” She shivered, drawing in on herself as she closed her eyes. The horror was evident on her face. Westly put an arm around her, as if protecting her. Slowly, she began to speak again.


“They wanted to know how the cells worked. The guards aren’t allowed to tell. They take a vow of silence, and if they try to communicate in anyway, nothing would be seen, or heard, or whatever. They figured that since I was in the department, I would know. I told them what I did know, but it was only the common knowledge. That went on for so long, I started to think about the cells more, and I figured the whole thing out. I don’t even know how much time passed while they left me alone, and then I escaped.” She shrugged. “You know everything that happened once I got out.”


Westly looked to Ael, “After they took your mother, they took you. They told me I wasn’t a ‘fit’ parent. I did some things I probably shouldn’t have, and then after I got out of jail, Jon Burken found me, and offered to help me-“ He was about to continue when Ael stopped him.


“You were in jail?”


He nodded, “Not a mage’s cell, just normal, boring real jail. But anyway, you mother had told me about Jon, and her suspicions at what he was, so I jumped at the chance to get close to Jon, thinking that since he had convicted her and ordered you to be taken, he knew about it, and maybe I could sort it out or something and get you back. He had been released from his position as Head around this time. Then, I learned that what he wanted was you, Ael, he had taken you somewhere, but hadn’t told me, and wouldn’t. He wanted you, so he could maybe torture you into getting your mother to talk. He still thought she knew things that she wasn’t telling. But she escaped before he had a chance. Step quiet around him.”


Ael was quiet for a moment, she couldn’t really think up anything to say. “So why did Jon get fired? You both say that everyone seemed to like him.” She asked.


Her mother’s eyebrows creased, and she looked to Westly. “I couldn’t say, I was still committed at the time…”


“Rumors were going around about corruption. Rumors like, if you caught the corrupted, or accused someone of it, you yourself would become one. Almost disease-like. And Jon had never caught or accused someone before. He was the first Head to do it I think. Also, his time was just over. Nothing spectacular was or had occurred during his time, so people were just looking for something new. Normal course of politics I suppose.” Westly yawned over the last words.


“So do you just stay in your Room all the time then?” Ael asked her mother.


Ramona frowned, “Sometimes I stay in there, other times, I let Wes Illusion me, and I go out, to listen to what people are saying. Maybe stir up a few rumors of my own.” She smiled almost mischievously, and Ael couldn’t help but smile back.


She still couldn’t understand how somebody could think Ramona as a corrupted mage. She was so…full of life. Even after sixteen years of living in a box, she could act normal, as if she had forgotten.


Westly rose, stretching. “I think it’s time we were back. I’ve been judging our time here and the time there in reality. It’s been about a half hour, any longer they’ll start to think that Ael’s been kidnapped or something.”


Ael nodded, and stood up, followed by her mother, whose brown eyes were slightly sad. Her wispy hair hung forgotten around her shoulders, and she reached out to hug Ael tightly. “I’ll be seeing you as soon as we can manage it.” Her mother’s voice told her with promise.


Ael’s words were simple. “I love you.” Her eyes wished to cry again, but she didn’t let them. Ramona said something, but it was lost in a rush of air, that left Ael clutching at the chain-linked swing dizzily.


“I said, ‘are you done yet?’ It’s my turn!” The slight obnoxious tone of the blond boy’s voice made her look up.


“Westly?” She said softly.


“No, I’m Jared. Now get off, it’s my turn!” The boy said, hand on his thin hips, blue eyes glaring.


“Sure…” Ael replied, getting up, but she swore the boy winked to her as he stalked over on his way to the swing, which he promptly set into motion.


She shook her head, setting her feet in the direction of the Moore’s house.


The whole trip had been about an hour of ordinary time, but to Ael, it felt like three, and she was tired.


Her feet carried her unconsciously home, as she tried to remember everything that had happened. She slipped in the front door, and up to her room, intent on taking a nap.


Before walking across her room, she took off her shoes, and then fell on her bed, almost immediately asleep. Little did she see the shadow that crossed her room, nor was anyone witness to the flare of translucent blue flame that encompassed her momentarily, before she, the flame, and the shadowed figure disappeared.


* * * * *




Groggily, she came to, her head pounding. She opened her eyes, and immediately forgot the pain in her head. The reality was much, much worse.


White was everywhere. Six seamless sides fused her prison, a single plastic bucket of the same white in one corner. She wasn’t sure where the light came from, perhaps it was the walls, but she couldn’t be sure; for she cast no shadow anywhere.


Looking down at herself, she found her clothes completely white. Also seamless, and starched to perfection. She started to shake as the reality of where she was hit home. A mage’s cell, the place no one ever left. She fumbled her hands together as if for comfort.


It was the voice however, that made her cower. Her blue eyes were wide as she gazed around, almost expecting to see someone looking in from the ceiling, or somewhere.


The voice was so pleasant, so kind, and yet so deadly poisonous. Like a snake, slithering along, until its split second strike left you bleeding and pale from its bite.


“Ah, Ael, welcome.” The sexless voice purred. There was no way to tell whether it was male of female. “I hope you’re enjoying your new arrangements. Don’t worry, you’re in safe hands here. No more magic. Now, why don’t you answer one simple question for me?” The silky voice spoke.


What to say, what to say…her mind raced, no way was she going to give away anything her parents had told her. Her thoughts went back to the cell. Mage’s cell. Then it hit her. They thought she was one of the corrupt. Just like her mother. Or what was it Westly had said? He wanted you, so he could maybe torture you into getting your mother to talk. She shivered, and didn’t reply to the question, instead, she chose her own words, carefully. Hiding the fact that she was afraid, and keeping her voice calm and emotionless.


“Aren’t you afraid?” She asked it. Maybe she could toy with it long enough for somebody to figure out where she was.


“Me? Afraid of nothing I am.” The voice laughed, and Ael shrank from the horrible sound. It seemed to come from the very air itself.


“Not even of corruption?” She could play this game too. “I heard it was like a disease. You catch one, you catch It.” She spoke the capital letter with emphasis.


The voice was quiet a moment before its sinister laugh was heard again. “You stupid, stupid little girl. Speak not of what you don’t understand. Answer me now, Where is your mother?”


Ael surprised herself by laughing. “You think I don’t know myself?” She still didn’t answer its question. “The little I know of the magical world is small compared to what I know of corruption. And now it’s your turn. The disease is yours.” She stared at a wall, as if she were talking to it. It was really uncomfortable talking to nothing.


“Dammit girl, I don’t care about corruption. Where is your mother? Answer me!”


“My mother is dead.” She answered finally, flat and emotionless.


“You and I both know very well the truth.” It once again purred. It was like velvet as it spoke.


Ael was silent. How much did this thing know? How much didn’t it know, maybe that was the question? And who was the voice?


The sound of the voice gave an agitated noise when she didn’t answer, it was almost a snarl.


Suddenly, pain arched through her body, and her scream of pain quickly died as she fainted into unconsciousness. The words remained in her head however, all through her unremembered dreams. “Answer me, or they’ll be hurting, Oh yes…very badly.” The voice once more was soft and purring, like sugar, gone rotten.