The Ninth Door

Chapter 10- Dreams

Emmerich

The door opened easily. Sienna and I gawked at it. It was a like a beautiful dream in the middle of the nightmare that was the Junction.

Beyond the door was a garden, a beautiful one drenched in sunlight. It wasn’t what either of us expected. Who would expect rays streaming out of the door to touch the darkness of the Junction’s hidden corner?

“It’s beautiful,” Sienna said, emotion evident in her voice.

“Yes, it is. Look closely, though. What do you see?” I asked, acting as if I’d known it all along but it stunned me to realize what we were looking at.

“It’s like the Junction, only brighter. Newer,” she said, confirming what I was seeing. Truth be told, I wanted her to put those into words because I knew how illusion could mingle with reality in places like this.

During my time, I saw ruins. In Sienna’s time – today – the Junction had been renovated and made more modern. Yet, it still held a sense of foreboding. Of sadness. The Junction in front of us looked the same but different. Smaller. But somehow, it looked like it could hold more light. More dreams.

“The house has welcomed you. You’ve opened the first door,” I said in wonder.

Just as I was done uttering the words, the door slammed shut on its own. The door knob seemed to have disappeared, and the outline fused to the rest of the brick wall. It was gone. It was simply there to leave a message.

“Now what? I’m supposed to accept my duality. You’ve been calling me Sienna all the while. Why can’t that be enough?”

“Who is Sienna Kelley to you?”

Her forehead furrowed and her lips thinned as they pressed together. She realized that it would take more from her than she thought it would.

“I’m Sienna Kelley. But Sienna has had the worst luck in life.”

“That’s not true.”

“I’m not ready, Emmerich.” She sounded sad, not weak.

“Then, you don’t have to push yourself, Sienna. Whenever you’re ready, I’ll be here. B-but -.”

I thought of her that first night, tired after a long day at work. I frightened her by waiting for her in my leopard form, which was easier to take when magic was involved. She was carrying leather books that smelled familiar. Funny. The books were presumably from the library where she worked, but they smelled like the Junction.

“But what?”

“You may want to take a look at the books you brought home from the library.”

“Oh. You remember them? Do you think they’re important?”

“Of course, they are. They’re from here. The smell.”

A shadow crossed Sienna’s face. This time, she tried her best to keep her expression neutral. The way she seemed to be looking at something over my shoulder spooked me a little. Then, she started wrinkling her nose. At first, I thought she smelled something peculiar. I was even tempted to smell my armpits, which smelled like women’s powder and something more natural, like mint, after she had me using a strange little thing called a deodorant.

But no, she didn’t smell anything. Her nose flared, as if she was sniffing something. Actively.

“Sienna – ,” I began.

“Oh. You’re right. This place has an odd but distinctive odor. It’s pleasant, but somehow, reeks of melancholy like lavender doused in drowned lilies. For some reason, my sense of smell seems stronger.”

Was it possible her cat was rising before she could even accept her duality? Would that affect the opening of the nine doors?

“That’s strangely detailed, even for cats,” I laughed. I couldn’t help it. She was wearing a smile, so strangely detached from the sad girl she was not too long ago when she admitted that she wasn’t ready to face her duality yet.

“Yes,” she agreed. “Let’s go out.”

“Out where?” I asked, knowing that “out” in this world was different from “out” in mine. When we set out into the world, we were ready to fight villains and monsters. Here, it meant entertainment. We faced monsters whenever we had to stay inside Junction and the area surrounding it. “Isn’t this place surrounded by forests? Do you want to ride, I mean drive, to the next town?”

“Exactly that. This place feels stuffy.”

“Mm. If you want to open the second door soon, you may wan to visit places you used to frequent as a child.”

Her eyes narrowed, and I could swear that gold glimmered from behind her eyelids. She blinked and they were green again.

“W-we can do that.”

“When is your family coming?”

Her thumb drew circles on the black device she was holding. She said it was called a mobile phone, and she could send and receive messages through it. Magic did come in many forms.

“There’s a little delay, but they should be here by tomorrow.”

That was why she wanted to go “out.” She didn’t want to be stuck in this stuffy place full of her worst nightmares.

“I’ll look at the books. We’ll look at them together tonight,” she said, nodding her head as if trying to convince herself.

“We will have to,” I said firmly. “But I’d love to go “out” with you today, Sienna.”

**

After lunch prepared by the talented Miss Edwards, Sienna surprised me with her true intentions. We weren’t going to a town after all. I almost imagined a trip to the shops, with her choosing clothes for me and herself, but as soon as the stable hands approached us with two horses, I knew that we were going to explore the forests.

Sienna wasn’t hiding at all. She knew that the a large area surrounding the house itself was part of the horrors that still remained here.

We mounted the horses. I was given a large black stallion and Sienna took a brown mare. She must have not have ridden a horse in a long time, but it still look natural to her. The mare neighed a little as if surprised by Sienna’s weight and scent, but it calmed down quickly after her rider cooed and caressed.

“Lead the way,” I said, my voice sounding a little strained. I thought it was impossible not to be more attracted to this woman, but seeing her riding the horse with ease and the gentle way in which she had made it obey her commands was unraveling something I thought I had tightly wounded.

Sienna and her mare started with gentle trots. Then, they went on full gallop, and I had no choice but to chase after her.

**

I didn’t like when I said that the main reason I liked Lady Mary of Briar Hill was that my mother liked her for me. It didn’t mean that she was unlikable. We had struck a friendship, and for me, that was an important factor in choosing a wife.

Despite the fact she was prim and proper, she loved taking horse rides. It was the only time she ever abandoned her chaperones for adventures that could potentially ruin her reputation for life. She knew I was an honorable man, and if marriage was required, I would be willing to give it. I was still willing the last time I saw her, being led away by my brother.

“Race me, Emmerich!” she cried.

I squeezed my horse with my legs to urge in forward. So, we did. She was a good rider, though. Lady Mary might have been mostly sheltered but her father never prohibited riding lessons. I could tell he was proud of her, but it wasn’t something that he would openly promote to her suitors.

We rarely talked about anything else – just the horses. I didn’t really know if she would have me as her husband if she had options, but she seemed to prefer me over everyone else. After all, there must be some trust involved if an honorable lady allowed you to accompany you on a horseback exploration of the forest without a chaperone.

“Go home safely,” I said, after we were done.

Strands of her hair would cling to her sweaty forehead. Some were even plastered on her face. Her face would turn red whenever she realized she was disheveled after a ride, and she would carefully fix herself before going home.

**

Thinking of her now, Lady Mary felt like a dream. I didn’t think I have fallen in love with her, but there was enough friendship to make a marriage a happy one. At the moment, though, in that sliver of time where she lived, she was no longer happy. I dreaded stopping to think about what was going on with her in my brother’s hands. Fury burst within me and the stallion I was riding sped up as if feeling my anger.

“Emmerich! I know you’re fast, but not this fast!” Sienna complained.

Growls were rising in my throat when I thought of how people saw me. They thought I was the villain. The shifter. The murderer. Many of them would hunt me down for the handsome bounty my brother had on my head.

Yes, I needed to open the ninth door, get my revenge. Get my punishment. This whole arrangement couldn’t be perfect. Could it? No. When two people were both on the road to their own revenge, it couldn’t end well.

“The stallion is fast, Sienna,” I reasoned, panting a little not from speeding up but from trying to slow down without pulling too much on the reins. I felt some kinship with animals now. I knew better than to command by angering horses – or men, for that matter. Man and animal alike wanted to be led, not enslaved.

Tell that to the people my brother had fooled.

“He likes you,” Sienna breathed in wonder. Her face was flushed red like Mary’s was. Her eyes were dancing, too, but she was unapologetic with the state of her hair. The blond strands cling to her forehead and temples, like frames to a lovely portrait.

“Isn’t she beautiful?” the girlish voice asked, and I almost fell over the horse. The stallion felt my panic and reared, neighing as if it saw a ghost. I wouldn’t discount that at all. We had been riding for some time. The sun told me that we were in the ninth hour, somewhere between noontime and sunset. Something evil was afoot.

“He must have changed his mind,” I joked, after the stallion calmed down and I was able to gently lead him next to Sienna’s mare.

“No. That wasn’t it all. I – I smelled sulfur. Something else spooked him. It felt too close to us.”

I could only nod, my heart was still thundering in my chest. I realized then that Sienna had reached out to me, placing a reassuring hand on my shoulder. There was no chainmail to shield me from the heat of her touch.

Was this all a dream?

Sienna certainly looked like one, with the sunlight falling on her golden hair. Her green eyes sparkled with so many emotions I could drown in them. I was afraid to blink, lest I woke up in the dungeon I last remembered I was in. The stench. The darkness. Even my leopard had to retreat a little so that I wouldn’t be burned at the stake for sorcery.

“I heard a voice, Sienna,” I confessed. “A young girl’s voice.”

“We need to read the books I brought home,” she concluded. “You were right. We need to know everything that can help us through the quest. I-I know y-you want to go back home as soon as you can.”

This time, she dipped her gaze to the forest floor. Was that embarrassment? I wanted to reassure her that it didn’t matter how long we go through the quest. After all, I couldn’t imagine leaving her. It surprised me to think that way. Despite her calling me for help when she was still a child, Sienna was little more than a stranger. But was she, really? The problem was that I couldn’t give her false promises. Going back to my brother might mean I wouldn’t be able to come back here alive – that is, if the ninth door didn’t kill me.