Ghost in the Roses

Ah! Ah! That’s freezing!! Brutally, I’m brought back. Something wet and icy rains from my hair and into my face. The shock moves through me like an earthquake and my skin turns into mountainous terrain of goosebumps. The only thing I can make out in this black hollow is a pear shining down on me. It takes me a moment to realize that this fruit is actually a lightbulb dangling on a chain. This place is cold and my eyes burn from the brightness. It feels like I’ve been reborn again, but unlike a babe, sadly I have the mental comprehension of this terror.

Much like a pesky arthropod, the simple bulb hovers over me on its silver web. I want to get away from it, but can’t: I’m trapped in its network of rope.

“Hello,” a laugh.

I’m not alone in the dark. How comforting.

"This is how you say ‘hello’?” I pretend to be unimpressed. “Didn’t your mother teach you any manners?”

My insult works and my captor’s temper reveals himself.

“Why you, spoiled piece of shit! I’m going to rip you open!” a hunk who looks like he should be patrolling a dance club puffs up at me.

“Well, I bet at least she tried,” I do my best to smile.

“Don’t fall for his old tricks,” someone new let us know of her existence in this damp hole.

“I hope your manners are better,” I say.

She smirks, “Don’t you think we passed all sense of propriety?”

“It’s never too late to turn this situation around.”

“And how do you suppose we do that?”

“I know you’re keeping my friends somewhere here too. Let them go.”

“What about you?”

“We can talk all night if you want. Tea, cake, the whole shebang. No more ice though please.”

“Oh, Adrien. You are so naive,” she laughs again. “We’re tired of talking. We want something more. We want change.”

“You know my name?”

“Of course, I do. We first met at the Academy’s Receiving Ball, remember?”

“You’ve got to be kidding me! Anita?” I call her out.

“You don’t have to call me that anymore,” indeed it's her, there's no denying it as she comes out of the shadows.

“What do you mean? And what are you doing here?” millions of questions flood my mind but start with just the first two.

“I’m not who I made you believe I am.”

“What do you mean?”

“I lied to you. I learned your name and all about your family but yet, you know nothing about me.”

That’s when the weight of the truth began to crush my heart. I’m such a dumbass. She used me, right from the start. This ‘Anita’ that I thought I knew, all of a sudden turns into a complete stranger. Not even that, just a dream, a wonderful performance, an illusion. Anything, but real.

“There is no Anita Gables, is there?” I fight to keep calm.

“Oh, she is a real person and she is the daughter of a high knight, but she’s not here. She’s not me. That little princess is at Ladies’ School on the warm Southern shores.”

“What do you want, Ani...Whoever you are,” I close my eyes.

“Adrien...”

But I don’t let her finish. There is a boundary I feel necessary to set, “Please, don’t say my name.”

It bothers me that she knows my name, and I haven’t got the slightest clue about her true self.

“Join us. Join our movement. We can always use another one with your kind of connections,” with her hand on the top rail of my chair, she leans in.

I wonder if exposing the intel about already having agents roaming in Academy is an accident, or if she said it to make the option sound less lonely.

“Why would I do that?”

“Don’t you want this world to be a good place for everyone? Isn’t is why you came to the Academy? Don’t you want to make a difference?” her face gets even closer to mine.

“Of course, but not like this. I'm not getting involved in this tug-of-war,” I don’t dare to break our eye contact.

“What is wrong with having a system where everyone shares? What is wrong with everyone having each other’s back?”

“There's nothing wrong with that idea, except it never seems to stay on track. Our neighboring nation tried that over fifty years ago and you know how that turned out.”

"They failed the system, not the other way around. And you know what they say, if you fail, try and try again.”

“You know what else they say? The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different outcome.”

“We can fix this. We can learn from other nations’ mistakes.”

“You can’t fix this. The system you want is broken.”

“And so is this one,” she looks all around.

“Yes, it is, but that’s no reason to exchange your old shackles for a new shiny pair.”

“That’s the beauty that you can’t see. There will be no shackles.”

“All men’s system has shackles.”

“My dear, we can argue this all night and still get nowhere. It will take time for you to understand that shackles and men can be broken.”

“How do you suggest we go from here, then?”

“Tell you what. I’ll let you and your friends go this time. Don’t worry, we didn’t hurt them.”

“Ma’am! Are you sure that’s wise? He and his friends could be spies for the kings! That’s why they sneaked into the protest!” the nameless muscle bag turns uneasy about her command.

I don’t know much, but she clearly has a big say in this movement.

“It’s okay. They’re not spies. They’re knight cadets, curious and looking for a good show.”

“Yes, Ma’am,” he approaches me with a knife and as much as he would want to cut me up, he’s only allowed to do that to my ropes.

“Your friends are already free and waiting for you in the alley. Think about what I said, Adrien. I think in time you'll understand what I mean,” she blindfolds me and lets her gofer see me out back to the surface.

As I try not to stumble, it feels like I’m going through a maze. There’s no way I could remember all the turns and keep track of every distance between them. Then, the hunk’s hand lets go of my shoulder. This is my stop. Quickly, I take off my blind hoping to catch a sense of which direction he fled, but there’s nothing. He’s long gone.

I’m all alone in the alley where I left off with my escape.

“Adrien! Adrien!” I’m relieved to hear Nina and Kai.

“Nina! Kai! Did they hurt you? Are you okay?” my eyes inspect them as fast as they can, in case there is a wound that needs immediate attention.

“We’re fine. We’re fine,” and they are okay. I thank my lucky stars they’re okay!

“Who were they?” Kai asks.

“The revolutionaries. They thought that we might be spies. I told them that we are cadets and that we were just curious,” I explain.

“I guess chameleon’s ink couldn’t fool everybody, but we are okay. That’s what matters,” Nina tries to comfort herself.

Kai squeezes her shoulders and smiles, “Yes, we are okay. Talk about excitement, huh?”

“I’m never doing this again,” Nina shakes her head and our trembling hands grab for the fire escape’s rails.

At last, we make it to the rooftops and signal to our dragons. They grumbled at us all the way back to the stables, probably complaining about what kept us so long.

“I’m sorry it took us so long,” this is my apology to September as I tuck her back into her warm straw and cover her up with a wool blanket. “But there was a strange girl who captured my attention,” my hand pets her to sleep.