Secret of The Night

“Vivi, I have something to tell you,” Yoru tells me, a strangely serious look on his face. I force myself to take deep breaths, quelling the disorder in my mind.

“Yeah?”

“Your friend, Darren, as he calls himself now, isn’t who you think he is.” Yoru pauses, taking a moment to gauge my reaction.

“What do you mean? Darren’s my classmate. We have math together and we both go to Mica High.” My tone of voice takes on a defensive stance.

“That’s who he was trying to be. In truth, though, he’s a demon. And not just any demon,” Yoru looks into my disbelieving eyes. “He’s my half-brother, Vivi. Next in line after me for the throne.”

I look at him. “No. No way. He’s Darren. Then why would he have helped me all this way? Why didn’t he take my life-blood before you?”

“To be honest, Vivi, I don’t know. His real name is Loki. His mother is Queen Josephine. She’s the legitimate queen, the one that bore this kingdom two princes. He ran away from home 5 years ago after a fight with my father. The King told everyone who remained not to mention him anymore, that he would never be welcome in the palace again. I guess no one’s recognized him yet.”

I shiver unconsciously then laugh in derision. “Nice story you made up there. You have quite the imagination, Yoru. I’ll be leaving now. Thanks for the trip!” I turn around quickly and walk back speedily to my room, the image of Yoru’s regretful eyes staring at me burned into my visual encoding.

I spend another month hiding out in my room, not doing much of anything. Darren’s still avoiding me, which I guess is alright because after what Yoru said, I’m not sure how I feel about him. I’m not wasting my days down here, tho. In my nightstand I found a little green journal that must have belonged to whoever occupied this room before me. It was largely empty, except for a few scribbles on the first three pages. I had torn those out after scrutinizing each scribble to make sure it wasn’t a secret code, then laid them back in the drawer I found them in. I found Agatha again and borrowed a pen from her large assortment. Strange that a baker would possess such a large quantity of writing utensils but I’m in hell; I should be expecting all sorts of strange things. She told me that she, like the Sibyl, was a half-demon. The ruling king had taken her life-blood as well, and when she came to get it back, she ran out of time and they made her a half-demon and had her serve them in the kitchen.

“It’s not too bad a life, really. I’d always wanted to be a cook. Up there, I was an accountant. Never had the courage to give up a safe life and start a restaurant or bakery or something,” Agatha confided in me. Then she laughed. “Don’t look so astounded, honey. They can’t kill me. It’s not like living down here is the worse thing in existence.” She returned to her work, rolling out some pie dough with an aggression that made me question the truth of her last words.

With my pen, I wrote down what happened to me in my travels underground. I wrote about how I felt when I arrived, and how I fell in love with Darren, and how we reached the palace together. I wrote about my daily life here, about Yoru, about how he pissed me off and made me laugh at the same time.

I thought a lot about what Yoru said about Darren.

It makes sense. That’s why he’s so willing to kill the demon prince. If he’s second in line and we kill Yoru, then he would get the throne after the King died.

These thoughts haunted my everyday life, little voices speaking out from the back of my mind. It took a lot of effort to suppress them time and time again.

After the second month, Yoru came knocking at my door, probably figuring he had given me enough alone time after the bomb he dropped on me last time we talked.

I opened it cautiously, unsure of who it was. Yoru was sitting cross-legged on the floor, swaying gently. When I opened the door, he looked up at me and grinned wide. “Wanna get out of here?”

Uncertain but my curiosity peaked, I nod slowly. “Where are we going?”

“You’ll see.” Yoru gets up and dusts off his hands on his jeans. Then he guides me down two flights of stairs to the main floor. He waves at Erik and calls out a greeting.

Erik returns the wave and smiles. “Where are you youngsters headed?”

Yoru grins at him. “Somewhere.”

I blink. That sounds rather foreboding. Maybe I should stop walking.

It’s ok, another voice reassures me. He can’t kill you or do harm to you. And besides, getting out after a month is nice.

So I keep following him, clutching the spray mist in my pocket. Yoru goes into a room, the door unadorned, a rarity in this jewel-encrusted palace. Green stares back at me. Green! Vibrant, lush, green!

Short trees and bushes sport brilliant hues of that naturally beautiful color. The dirt is actual dirt, brown and black and dirty. The air has an agreeable crispness to it, compared to the stuffiness of the palace. I flit from bush to bush, admiring the natural beauty of the world I used to live in.

Yoru watches me with a steady eye. “Do you like it?”

I turn back to him, masking my joy. “Where is this place?”

Yoru cups a purple peony in his hands. “It’s my hide-out. When I want to get away from it all. These are all real. All the trees and flowers come from seeds that my servants brought me from the upper realm. With a lot of care, I made those seeds into this.” He spreads his arms wide.

I absorb the sight of the flowers, blooming freely without any idea of what kind of place they were blooming in. Hyacinths, lilacs, peonies, and hundreds of unidentifiable species fill the small greenhouse. The muscles at the corner of my mouth tug upwards, but I refuse to let Yoru see my smile.

“Vivi, remember when I said my mom died?”

I turned around to see Yoru looking at me, that strangely serious look on his face. The cadence of his voice changed dramatically. “Yeah?”

“She didn’t die. Actually, she’s here right now. But I can’t see her.” He looks down, a sudden interest in how artistically his sneakers blended in with the dirt carpet.

“Why not?” My query brought his eyes back up to mine.

“My father’s prohibited it. If I see her, I’m giving up my right to the throne. And then Torikku will get what he wants.”

“Why are you giving up your right to the throne? You’re just seeing her? What harm could that do?”

“I’m not the Queen’s son, Vivi. My mother was never made a Queen. She doesn’t even know I exist. In her mind, I died when I was three months old.” He hesitated. “Ok, what I’m about to tell you is something that only a few select people in the palace know. Just the King, the Queen, my half-brothers Loki and Chikau, my head eunuch, and of course myself.”

Ok.... so why is he telling me this in the first place if it’s so top-secret.

“If we find out that you told someone else other than the people who already know, we will,” He paused in the middle of his threat, thinking deeply.

What? I already know you can’t kill me.

“We’ll let Loki go back to the Upper Realm. I’m sure you don’t want that.” Yoru smirked at me, but his eyes told me otherwise. They didn’t look at me directly, and his pale cheeks tinted ever so slightly, indicating he was bluffing.

“Okay,” I say.

“My mother’s the Sibyl. She’s been here a long time, and she still doesn’t know that I’m her son.” Yoru enunciates the last phrase breathily.

Oh. Okay. Um.

My mind isn’t really saying anything right now. At least now I understand why he doesn’t want me to tell anyone. The whole royal family would probably be faced with ignominy and then the people demons would stop trusting them.

The Tomorokashis are a weird family. Lots of secrets.

“Well, yeah, that’s all there is to it. I’ll see you back to your room.” Yoru holds a hand behind his head, abashed. I smile softly. He doesn’t see me.

We walk back to my room in silence. Yoru’s lost in his own little world, and every time I look at him, he’s staring off into the distance, probably thinking about his mommy issues. We get to my door.

“Alright, well, see you around. I’ll come back to bother you.” The teasing factor inches its way into Yoru’s voice.

“Thanks, but no thanks.” I say my usual flippant remark half-heartedly.

I close the door and count to twenty, then I crack it open again and peer out with one eye at the slit. I can still see Yoru walking down the stairs, grinning wide and laughing to himself every now and then. Happiness glowed on his face.

He looks like a boy. Like a real boy.

I shake my head vigorously. I wait until he’s completely out of sight, and then I silently draw my body out of my room, without opening the door any wider. I have to suck in my stomach and turn my head sideways, but I do it. I walk down the first flight of stairs gently, the person I was seeking on my mind.

Where is he? Where is he?

Finally, I arrive at the Sibyl’s doorstep. I pry apart the curtain, but neither the Sibyl nor my boyfriend are inside. I sigh, and turn back.

My lowered head hits a solid surface and I look up, a fervent apology on my tongue. The eunuch chuckles at my frightened features.

“Come now, Vivi. We are old friends, are we not?” He smiled lecherously at me. I grimaced.

“Not really, you did try to kill me and Darren.”

“My sweet child, heavens no. I was merely doing my job. I steered you to the palace gates. Although I must say, I’m a little worse for wear because of it.” He rubbed his arm. “Your mist is very strong. Where did you find such a valuable weapon?”

I clutched my ‘very valuable weapon’ tightly in my pocket. “I found it.”

He nods, but I could see he didn’t believe me. “No matter. I have something I must say. Come with me.” He leads me to an empty room that looked like it was used for important conferences, except the chairs had plush velvet cushions, colored a deep crimson.

The eunuch sat down on a chair and beckoned me to sit on the one next to him. I ignored his waving hand and plopped down on a cushion two chairs away. He smiled and retracted his hand.

“Is it true?” I ask. “Is his mom the manager lady?”

Old man looks at me. “Yes. She does like to masquerade as a cafe owner. I’m not sure why. But how did you find out? That information is top-secret.”

“So I’ve heard. Yoru told me.”

“His Highness did? Really?” Old man was aghast when I nodded.

“Yup.”

We sat in silence for a time, until my curiosity spiked. “So what did you want to tell me?”

“Oh. Almost forgot. It’s about His Highness. Why he’s like that.”

I sit up, fully captivated by the subject matter. I knew Yoru was hiding something.

“When he was really little, His Highness had a best friend. A little mortal girl, a little older than him. Her name was Poppy, I believe. Feisty little girl. He used to sneak out the palace every night and meet her in the Upper Realm. And then, one day, he killed her. He said it was by accident. He said he drank her blood like his father told him to, and she just dropped away. He was heartbroken. And you know about his mother. Sibyl doesn’t even know her son is alive. It’s all very sad.”

I get a strange feeling from this man. He’s trying to tell me something.

“Don’t get too close to His Highness, is all I mean. His ties to this world are too great. We need a ruler like him. His anger and sadness would make him a useful puppet.”

Now it was my turn to stare, aghast. This eunuch didn’t just want power, he wanted the throne.

“Now don’t go flapping that little mouth. Just because Yoru won’t kill you, doesn’t mean I won’t.” With that eerie statement, he got up and left the conference room. I remained seated, eyes burning a hole into the chair where Old Man had sat.

He wanted to make Yoru into a puppet ruler. And he wanted to be the one pulling the strings. I winced. This world did not have it looking good the next couple of generations.

What business is it of yours, Vivi? You don’t care. You just want your life back. And to get out of here.

What he said about the girl. Yoru most likely loved her.

Love.

Darren!

I got up as well, and sprinted out of the room. I went back to Sibyl’s cave, in search of Darren. No luck. I hurried upstairs to his room and started banging furiously on the front door. Knocking with etiquette.

“Darren!” I called out with each bang. “Come out!”

After a while my fist started to hurt. I dropped it slowly, admitting my defeat, when my hand fell on the doorknob. I turned it. Unlocked!

I walked inside, and Darren sat there cross-legged on the floor, various potions in front of him. I wondered what they were for, then I remembered he was trying to leave without me.

“Darren?” I prodded him with a finger. His eyes were closed. “Are you dead?” I prodded him a little more.

His eyes flew open. I started back, surprised at the sudden consciousness. He relaxed when he saw me. “Hi, Vivi.”

“Don’t hi me, jerk. I know you want to leave without me.” I crossed my arms and glared at him.

His eyes flitted from side to side. I could see the engine of his brain working as he struggled to come up with a decent enough excuse. He then settled his eyes on my shoes.

“Yeah, forget it. I don’t want your excuses. Yoru told me something. And I want to know if it’s true.”

“Ok,” He nodded, relieved by the subject change.

“He told me he had a brother who ran away after a fight with the King 5 years ago. Afterwards, the King banned his return to the palace. Said he would be killed if the King ever spotted him. What an interesting story that was. Don’t you think so, Loki?”