The Ninth Door

Chapter 5 - Homebound

Annette

Going back to work with a leopard shifter waiting for me at home was the strangest thing I’d ever experienced in my life. Emmerich felt like a friend that I had for a long time. It wasn’t surprising. He had been with me since I was a child – as a character in a book. There was the excitement of finding someone like him – someone who understood me and my heritage. On the other hand, there was also the fear that when I went back home to my apartment later, he would be gone.

“Why are you smiling like that, Annette?” Jessica asked, planting her butt on my desk.

“What if I am?” I asked innocently.

“Mm. Is it possible that you got laid, Annette Fairley?”

“What? No! I’m just feeling good today. Do you want me to sulk, Jessica?”

I wouldn’t be here for days or even weeks, and it was enough for me to feel good – the kind of feeling that even Jessica wouldn’t be able to squash. My uncle said I didn’t have to be here. Because I was over twenty-one, I could access my inheritance anytime. I just hadn’t done so yet. Working at the library was merely a means to show my independence and to take up my time so that I didn’t have to keep on thinking, but I liked earning my own money, too. With an adventure coming my way, I wouldn’t have to worry about free time and I also wouldn’t be alone.

“No. Of course not. It’s just that I’m not used to you looking like you have some sort of secret.”

I did have a secret, and a journey I was about to embark on. I couldn’t help but feel the thrill of being on something different. Something new. My life had been so predictable and boring, all because everyone believed I had to keep my mood a certain way and that I shouldn’t have any triggers.

“I don’t have a secret, but -.”

What was the harm in having a little bit of fun with Jessica? Let her think that I was confiding in her.

“But what?” she asked, jumping down from my desk in excitement. She wasn’t wearing a scarf today, and there was barely any bruise left around her neck. I wished I could help her with the Kane situation, but she wouldn’t even admit that there was a problem, even to herself.

“I may have to go on a short vacation.”

An indefinite one. I didn’t say that, of course.

“You’re going on a trip?”

“Yes,” I replied honestly, meeting her eyes.

“That’s exciting, Annette. You deserve it.”

There was sincerity there, coupled with sadness. It was unexpected, and made my chest tighten. Would I be able to return to my calm, predictable life? This life? I got up and went past my desk to hug her. She gasped her surprise. I wasn’t a touchy-feely person.

“Whoa, Annette. It’s only a vacation, right? I know I can be annoying, but I’m hoping you’ll come back. Right?”

“Yeah. I just need this, Jess.”

“I understand,” she said, rubbing my back.

The rest of the week was spent preparing and submitting my requirements at school. I also already applied for my leave. Jessica and Erin would be able to handle the rest of December, and Mrs. Spencer would be back on duty by the middle of January.

At home, Emmerich and I spent the days getting to know each other – not through words, but through actions. I found it funny that I ended up living with someone who was even quieter than I was.

I had not lived with anyone else other than family. It was good that Silas and Joy sometimes visited. So, I had some men’s clothes on the ready here all the time. It helped that the knight and my cousin were about the same size. That meant Emmerich was larger than most men of his time. No wonder he was often described as fierce in the book.

“Emmerich, we are the quietest pair of housemates I’ve ever heard of,” I remarked one night, as we ate a supper of bread and cheese with each a glass of wine, which he preferred. He was amazed with all the other meals that I ordered or cooked. I imagined almost everything was new to him.

“I can be loud and rowdy, with my men,” he admitted, with a slight shrug. There was some humor in his eyes that made me believe him despite the placidness I had seen from him so far.

“Was there ever conversation?” I asked, smiling at how he was trying to keep his expression even.

“Of course, but it’s the sort of conversation young, unmarried ladies shouldn’t be able to hear.”

I laughed through my embarrassment, my cheeks burning at the thought of what kinds of conversations they were engaged in. I supposed I thought they were just talking about fighting for their kingdom and people’s honor. Thinking back to the Canterbury Tales, I thought about how the knight’s tale was honorable. It spoke of true love. Then again, those tales as any tale spoken among people passing the time, could go any way. The knights would have chosen to distract themselves with bawdy stories, knowing they could die in the next battle.

“Would you tell me these stories now that we will be going on a mission together? I asked, feeling bold.

He chortled at that. Then, he started laughing in earnest. The sides of his eyes crinkled when he did, and he looked almost illuminated.

“I apologize, Sienna,” he said. I didn’t bother correct him this time. One of the doors would require me to accept my duality, anyway. It was time to be strong, because I knew I wouldn’t be able to exact my revenge if I couldn’t even face what Pete and his men did to my mother, and what their actions did to my childhood.

**

My bag was packed. I would be driving us to the Junction. It would be a long drive, necessary because Emmerich had no ID. Even if we managed to get one for him, I didn’t know how he would act on a plane.

We probably needed one stop or two, just so we could rest. Other than that, it would be a straightforward journey, but one I rarely had to take because a plane would take me home so much faster. It would have been approximately five hours by plane and two days on the road, plus the resting time. It really was feeling more like a quest. I smiled. I was doing more of it lately.

“You seem happier, Sienna,” he noted, after I instructed him how to buckle up for the ride. We had to pack Silas’s clothes for him to wear. Most of them hadn’t been worn yet, and I explained it to him. He seemed curious that people would have extra, unworn clothes lying about, but he said that it was something he wouldn’t complain about. “A quest can do that to you.”

“Was that why you had been on several missions?” I asked, putting the car to drive. My mind traced my things, while I did. My bag had the most important things I owned: passport, wallet with cards, and my medication. My phone had Dr. Rhodes, Uncle Stefan, and my cousins on speed dial.

“In a way, yes. It was also a means to do something that my father used to do.” His voice broke a little. Knights were human, too. “Yet it was cowardly, too, because it meant not seeing my brother mess up as the new monarch.”

“Are you going to challenge him?” I asked.

He looked surprised at that question, as if he never even thought he could be king.

“I – I haven’t really given it much thought. I always thought I would be his conscience while he ruled.”

“You can’t do that by running away from the castle all the time,” I simply said, as I started driving leisurely. I lived in a small town. Everything here moved slowly, and it was why everyone thought I should be here. But I was now willing to move at a faster pace, to discover who I really was and what I could do.

“You’re right, Sienna. I have been running away for too long. This might be my final mission,” he said. There was a melancholy to his words, this man who had seen so much. He would rather see the horrors of war than the horrors inside his own home. On the other hand, my pain was rooted in what I had seen happen to my mother. It was time to branch out, see the world as it was meant to be seen.

“It might not be your last mission at all, Emmerich. You just have to balance. Juggle your priorities.”

Who was this person talking? Was I suddenly the one giving him advice, a man who was older and more experienced? He didn’t disagree, but he was silent. I glanced at him. He was lost in thought, eyes straight ahead. If it was hard for me, what did it feel like to leave your time and kingdom just to help a virtual stranger? He had his own trials waiting for him at home, but he was here.

“I’m not saying no to help, Emmerich, because I need it. The revenge part may just be what I badly needed all along. But is there a way for you to leave my world for yours if you have to? Your mother needs you there.”

“It’s not that easy, Sienna. Your fate and mine are intertwined. If I successfully go through all nine doors with you, I will also get my reward. I made a deal.”

A deal.

I felt a chill. I had heard Uncle Stefan and even my own mother when I was younger talking about deals in our family. They often go badly wrong before they were righted. But what have I got to lose? How about Emmerich?

The knight was a stranger, but I felt this urge to protect him just as he wanted to protect me. Even days after I first met him, there was still bruises on his face. A few scratches.

“Then, I hope we will get what we both wanted.”

When he looked at me again, I saw a deep sadness. The expression on his face was reminiscent of people who knew they were going to die. I saw that on my mother’s eyes just before Pete slit her throat.

**

The rest of the trip was tiring but uneventful. We had made two motel stops. There was no fear in me, even with my traumatic history, and we were lucky to get a room with a double bed the first night.

Emmerich was an honorable man. During the first night, he let me sleep first. Then, he slept for maybe a couple of hours, and by daybreak, he woke me up with just his voice.

On the second night, we shared a bed. We didn’t have a choice, and I could swear that Emmerich was more flustered than I was. It was unthinkable in his time, and I believed he would have been forced into marriage if caught in a woman like this. But we had been living together for days, and that should no longer be a concern. I just knew he wouldn’t touch me. He even placed a pillow between us. It made me laugh hysterically, which broke the tension.

“It’s not proper,” he said.

“Our journey isn’t going to be,” I replied soberly.

“It wouldn’t be at all.”

In my mind, I heard shrieking and saw bloodshed. I blinked faster and shook my head to get rid of the image. As if knowing what was going on inside of me, Emmerich stretched his arm across our pillow border and touched my cheek. I didn’t push him away. I fell asleep like that, with his hand on my face.

By the third day, we were closer to the Junction. I didn’t have to know the streets. I didn’t have to look at a map. The air was crisper and the atmosphere gloomier. When we finally saw the turrets, my heart was breaking into pieces.

“We’re here,” Emmerich said softly as if he also lived in the Junction all along.