Elements of Glory: The Princess of Nothing

’You expect me to go back there… I was lucky to get out of there, and you want me to come back! I have a life… What do I owe you, old man?’

-Reggie, one of Thaddeus’s Orphans, in response to a request that he return to the Orphanage for an important gathering

When John and Samantha got back to the mansion, the sun was fully up. To their surprise, a number of cars were parked in front of the old orphanage. It took John a moment to recognize most of the cars, they belonged to kids who’d used to live at the mansion, who’d moved on with their lives – either going to University, finding jobs, or starting families. A few of the oldest kids were parents now, with children and everything! There were almost as many cars here now as there had been on John and Samantha’s last birthday, when they’d turned fourteen, only two weeks ago.

‘What’s going on?’ Samantha wondered, as she and John rounded the side of the house, heading toward the front porch.

A group of former wards of Thaddeus and Eleanor’s orphanage were standing on the porch, talking animatedly to one another – in the same manner friends might, who’d not seen one another in a long time. One in the group – a man of average height, with blonde hair and blue eyes, dressed in a black T-shirt and jeans – spotted John and Samantha on approach and he called out to them, waving.

‘Johnny! Sammy!’ the man cried, and broke away from the group he’d been talking to, racing over to join the younger peers.

‘Billy!’ Samantha cheered, grinning from ear to ear, and then hurrying over to the man and hugging him.

Billy was nineteen, with only one cycle of separation from the mansion. He’d been one of John and Samantha’s friends, and had always looked out for them, like a big brother. That’s what he was, a big brother. So why, John wondered, did his fists clench so tightly when Samantha hugged Billy so tightly? Why were his ears feeling so hot?

Calm down, calm down, calm down… he told himself

He hated his temper. He wished he could control it better.

‘What are you doing here?’ Samantha asked, pulling away from Billy, still grinning at him, making her all the more pretty.

’We’re all back,’ Billy responded. ’Thaddeus called last night… late last night,’ he said making a face, ’and so we’re all showing up.’ Billy looked to John and cocked an eyebrow as if a little concerned. ‘All right, Johnny?’ he wondered.

‘Fine,’ John said, smiling, loosening his clenched fists.

Get it under control, John told himself.

‘What’s up?’ Samantha asked, glancing toward the house. ‘Why’d Thaddeus call everyone back?’

Billy shrugged his shoulders. ‘Beats me,’ he said. ‘So, what have you two been up to?’

‘Finished school for the yehv,’ John said, smiling broadly.

‘Yeah, bet you’re happy, Johnny,’ Billy said smirking. ‘Where’d you come from?’ he wondered, looking back at Samantha.

‘Out in the woods, there was an old cabin,’ she said, ‘John and I were going to fix it up, but when we got out there it was toothpicks!’

‘Eh?’ Billy asked, cocking an eyebrow.

‘Someone had smashed it into kindling,’ John explained. ‘Samantha thinks it was trespassers.’

Billy narrowed his eyes and looked thoughtful.

’What?’ Samantha asked, frowning.

Billy seemed to know more than he was saying. When he noticed John and Samantha were frowning at him, he smiled one of those smiles that adults smile at kids when they know things, but are unwilling to tell them. ‘Nothing,’ he assured in a very un-assuring voice, ‘nothing at all.’

What happened to you, Billy, you used to be so cool? John thought, frowning more deeply.

Billy glanced over to the house. John and Samantha looked with him, and noticed that Thaddeus, and the robed man from earlier, were on the front porch, ushering people inside.

‘Come on,’ Billy urged, ‘let’s go find out what’s happening here-abouts.’ He hurried off, with John and Samantha on his heels.

‘Thaddeus, what’s going on?’ John asked the old, bi-speckled, man, who, as usual, wore a fine suit and his black velvet top hat on his head.

‘Go into the library,’ Thaddeus prodded, ‘I’ll explain everything there.’

Billy led the way through the tall, wide, hallways of the mansion, toward a huge library. It had three floors of books, and a wide area in the centre that was usually filled with study tables, but today it was filled with fold up chairs, lined up in perfect rows. The hundred or so orphans that had passed through the walls of Thaddeus and Eleanor’s home over the last twenty-two yehvs, were all taking seats. There was a din of voices, which echoed against the vaulted ceiling of the enormous library, and reverberated back off large windows that looked out over the secluded, green, grounds and forest about the mansion.

As Billy, Samantha, and John found seats. John noticed some of the boys who still attended the orphanage were climbing up onto the top of tall bookshelves, seating themselves there for a better view.

’Even Reggie is here,’ Billy exclaimed in a whisper, pointing, drawing Samantha and John’s attention to an upright man in a very fine black suit. He had slicked back, brown, hair and hard brown eyes. His face had a pinched sort of look too, as if he were perpetually sucking on a lemon. Reggie was the oldest of the orphans, and, according to stories that John and Samantha had heard over the cycles, he’d left the orphanage on pretty bad terms.

’This must be really big,’ Billy said, thoughtfully, rubbing his chin and turning to look toward the library doors as the last of the orphans filtered in, followed by Thaddeus, Eleanor, and the robed man with the long greasy black hair.

I don’t like that guy. Not one bit.

‘Have you two met Thulinon yet?’ Billy asked, looking at John and Samantha.

’Who?’ John asked.

Billy pointed at the robed man.

Oh, great, Billy knows him! Why doesn’t that fill me with reassurance?

‘Yeah,’ Samantha said, distaste in her voice, ’he’s… creepy.’

Billy smiled. ’He’s not that bad. He’s a powerful Wasgician you know.’

John and Samantha laughed.

Billy grinned at them and tapped his nose.

John’s laugh died quickly and his smile faded.

Wasgicians are myths. They’re not real. What in the blazes is Billy playing at? John wondered, feeling uneasy.

Nothing was making sense right now. A Wasgician was as real as a Trafip, a Well Traveller, or an Olden Soul. These things were from story books, they weren’t real.

Moving to the head of the seated orphans, Thaddeus raised his gnarled old hands above his head and asked everyone to quiet down. Eleanor, dressed in a plain blue dress, with her grey hair in a tight bun, smiled out at the kids, looking over the rims of her half-moon spectacles. She was actually quite pretty, John thought, despite the fact that she was an older woman.

‘Please, please!’ Thaddeus said in his soft, kind, voice. ‘Children, might I have your attention?’

The library quieted.

Thaddeus looked over the group and smiled. ’Thank you all for coming,’ he said. ‘I know some couldn’t make it, and we’ll excuse them. I’ll talk with them when I can.’

’Why are we here?’ Reggie asked, contemptuously.

John instantly didn’t like the man. He didn’t like anyone who was rude to Thaddeus.

’I went to see the… creature,’ Thaddeus replied, not wasting any time, ’it said that the protection is lifted. Other-realm is opened again. You all should know… every single one of you could be in danger from this point forward.’

John narrowed his eyes, wholly confused, as the other orphans murmured to one another.

’What’s he talking about?’ Samantha whispered, voicing John’s own thoughts.

Billy looked at the two. ‘You met Thulinon, didn’t you?’ he asked, as if they should know more than they did.

‘This morning,’ Samantha said, ‘and he didn’t think we should be going out into the woods that early, but that’s all.’

‘Oh,’ Billy said, his face falling, ’then you don’t know.’

’Know what?’ John hissed, feeling a bit of frustration creeping into his voice.

’What do you mean, we’re in danger?’ Reggie growled, standing up, drawing everyone’s attention to him. He looked down at his suit after he’d stood, straightened it, and then picked a bit of lint away from his shoulder. He turned his attention back to Thaddeus. ’I thought these pests were supposed to be taking care of that.’ He pointed down at his knees. John stood up to see what he was pointing at, but there was nothing there.

Oh great, he’s a jerk and a complete nutter!

‘What’d you see?’ Samantha asked as John sat down.

‘Nothing,’ John replied, beginning to wonder if everyone here had suddenly lost their minds.

’They do,’ Thaddeus defended, ’but you were all sent here twenty-two cycles ago, to keep you out of the hands of evil in Other-realm. Your enemies could not reach you here. I’m not even sure anyone from there knew where you’d gone. But now… with the porthole open, all that may change. All of you, as you well know, hold great power within you. Power that is magnified tenfold in Other-realm. There are many dark forces who will want to use your power to their own ends; as they did before.’

Samantha stood up. ‘Thaddeus,’ she said boldly, ’not everyone knows what you’re talking about!’

All eyes turned to her. John, who was shy by nature, didn’t care for so many eyes pointed in his direction. He folded his arms across his chest and slid down in his chair. Despite his slumped posture, he saw the looks on Thaddeus and Eleanor’s faces. Both of them looked like they were beside themselves. They looked shocked, horrified, and frustrated.

‘I’m sorry, my dear,’ Thaddeus said, after a moment. He looked out over the others. ‘If you could all just bare with me, I’ll explain-’

’No!’ Reggie snarled. ’I want to know what you plan to do now. What are you going to do to fix this? I’ve got a life, and a good job, Thaddeus! I’m not going to give that up! Tell me now, how you intend to fix this!’

‘Reginald, I-’

’No excuses!’ Reggie shouted, and he sounded so angry that it actually scared John a little. ’Tell me now, Thaddeus! I didn’t ask for all this, I don’t want any of it!’

‘You can’t hide from it,’ Eleanor said softly. ’Reggie, we all knew this day would come, we tried to prepare you and the others for it. This is not something Thaddeus, I, or even Thulinon can fix… this is life.’

’Not my life,’ Reggie sneered. He stormed out of the library, leaving an uncomfortable silence in his wake.

After a long moment, Thaddeus glanced at Eleanor. She nodded. With a sigh, Thaddeus turned back to the children and said, ’For the present, I suggest we all stay here at the mansion... until we can plan our next steps.’

There were murmurs of agreement through the library.

‘Samantha, John, with me!’ Thulinon said, his voice stern, cutting through all the noise.

‘What?’ Samantha asked.

’Now!’ Thulinon reiterated firmly.

John and Samantha glanced at Billy.

‘It’s okay,’ he assured them, ‘his bark is worse than his bite.’

Why doesn’t that make me feel loads better?

John and Samantha exchanged worried looks, but then Samantha led the way over to Thulinon, and together the friends followed the so-called, Wasgician, out of the library, even more confused now than when they’d entered.