IGNATIUS The Colors of Rage

Chapter b Reflex

She planted her knuckles into the grooves of her waist and drew her eyebrows in. “I approached you. And now, I am ordering you. Help me with Iggy.” She stomped her way back to Iggy’s room arrogantly and he actually followed her. “You see? I found him on his bed, tried to move him, and now… well, look for yourself.” From the doorway, she held out her arms as if she were delivering the picture to him.  

Amare ducked through the door and meekly glanced down at Iggy. He looked back over his shoulder. “He needs to drink. You should already have known this, though… You are educated, aren’t you? Baine and Nansen don’t give you much credit in that area, misogynists, but I know the Silgrias and I know that you-”

Impatient and frustrated, Emi’s cheeks filled with air. Her hands lashed down near her sides as if she were tearing down the sky. “Of course I do! And of course I am! But, he won’t get up! What am I supposed to do? Bring someone up from the basement?!”

A deep chuckle rolled out of Amare’s mouth and he shook his head. “Let me see his eyes.” Emi came to Iggy’s head and slid the hair away from his face. “Mhmmm…” Amare hummed, “he won’t get up. He’s too starved. Do you see the shadow around his eyes? Do you see how dark it is? This is what we call stage two starvation. It can only go one shade darker before death happens. He’s gone far too long without nourishment, and he won’t be able to do anything until he gets it. As his companion, you should take him to the feeding rooms.” 

“Wait!” She held out her hand as if she were going to fly across the room and catch him. “Help me! He’s a full grown person-”

“Have you tried to lift him, yet?”

A hissing heat blistered through the back of Iggy’s throat. “No… Don’t. Touch. Me.”

“He’s only about one hundred and eighty pounds,” Amare nodded. “You can lift him with one arm if you want to. So, pick him up and take him downstairs. Or else, he’ll be here until Baine or Nansen finally find him, or until he dies.” He chuckled under his breath and strode out of the room. “My bet is that he’ll die first.” 

Emi huffed. “Fine then.” She bent down. “Even though I’m a lady, and I shouldn’t be forced to do the dirty work while in the home…” She lifted him upwards and flipped him over her shoulder. Over the background noise of Iggy’s cursing, she amused herself, “ha! It only feels like you’re about ten or twenty pounds. This is unnervingly easy.” 

She carried him into the empty hallway where they crossed paths with Amare once again, but this time he was in front of Nansen’s bedroom door. He tapped his hilly knuckles fast against the door until the doorknob twisted and it creaked open. 

A quick ruffle of clothing and a minute later, Nansen glared at them through the opening with a dazed look in his eyes. Creases engraved a suspiciously impatient expression on his face, until he saw Iggy dangling over Emi’s shoulder. That’s when a laugh burst out of him. It traveled the short distance down the hall, echoed in the lobby, and returned milliseconds later with even more mock. He whipped his door ajar. “You found him!” he hollered, holding his hands up. He rounded Emi and bent down close to the floor where he peered up into Iggy’s grimacing dark face. “Ha!” he laughed, again and again. “I knew that you’d end up learning this lesson the hard way! I knew it! I warned you! Oh, I warned you!”

“I hate you…” Iggy hissed. “You’re. Dead.”

“I’ll have Emi hold you back!” Nansen stood up and then all Iggy could see was the top of his feet. “He was missing for just a little bit too long. So, who has the details for me?”

Emi’s unfatigued body turned to face him and she said smugly, “I found him.”

Nansen lifted his eyebrows. “Well, where? In an unknown closet? Under the stairs? In the garden?”

“He was on his bed the whole time,” she giggled, revealing her truly innocent age.   

“He wasn’t on his bed.” Nansen’s eyes narrowed. “I checked there no longer than an hour ago. Tell me-” he folded his arms and stood square toward her “-where’d you really find him?”

“I find your disbelief in me amusing rather than offensive. I did find him there. Perhaps, he was just a bit too difficult for you to see. A shadow amongst the night?” Again, her wisdom returned in riddles and a tone similar to a clever fox’s. What a paradoxical young lady she was.

“Don’t give me that,” he objected. “It’s impossible.”

Her muscles tensed. “No, it’s not impossible,” she continued. “My father was difficult to see. He blended in with white backgrounds and bright lights without even trying. We lost him all the time. Maybe Iggy has the same thing, but with dark things? When I found him, he was lying on his bed with the black blanket. Even I walked past him once without knowing he was there.”

Still, Nansen wasn’t sold, and his hard expression showed it. Frankly, he didn’t even want to consider such possibilities. “I don’t agree with you. I think you're playing games and using him as a tool. It isn’t good to treat people as entertainment, now is it? Especially when their health is at stake. If you’ve known where he’s been this whole time without saying a word, then you will face punishment.”

Lingering at a distance, Amare couldn’t help but smile. He saw the beauty and bravery in her. An irresistible button pusher. Already, the rules were being bent because no one would’ve disrespected either Baine or Nansen, for their reputation of being a rash pair in justice wasn’t a rumor, but there she was putting up her own argument. He couldn’t help but wonder how much they were going to let her get away with. The only immediate Fenderson female. He found himself desperate to see how she would blend into the Fenderson family and how they’d blend into her. All ill will aside.