The Maiden of Air

Chapter 3

The rest of the flight was silent, with the occasional gasp from Layla, as she saw something “cool” outside her window. Sure, the sights were pretty. But I was too mad to admit it out loud. Every now and them, I’d catch Michael glaring at me. Whenever I’d look at him, he’d turn his gaze to the window.

What a child!

I rolled my eyes at him, but didn’t say anything, to avoid a lecture from my mom.

I didn’t understand him though. Even before we spoke to each other, I sensed that he didn’t like me. Maybe he was just expecting someone better than me to be the Twelfth Maiden. Someone who cared what their hair looked like. Someone who didn’t dress like a boy. Someone who wanted to be the Maiden.

I was pulled out of my thoughts as Layla was calling my name. “Erin! Erin, look! It’s the Moon Palace!” She said excitedly. I looked to where she was pointing, and sure enough, there was the Moon Palace. Standing in all its glory. I had only ever saw it in pictures, but seeing it in person, was breathtaking.

I don’t normally show much emotion, and I don’t normally act so girly, but before I knew it, I squeezed in next to Layla, and was oohing and awing alongside her.

The Palace was built on the side of a mountain. Its halls reaching far inside the mountain, so it was much bigger on the inside that on the outside. It had three towers, stretching almost as high as the mountain itself. From the books that I was forced to study, I knew that the two shorter ones were watch towers, and the tallest one was for Maiden rituals. Over the years, ivy had snaked its way up the white stone walls, enhancing the beauty of the Moon Palace.

“We’ll be landing shortly. Please sit back in your seats.” The Pilot informed us.

I cleared my throat and sat back in my seat, reminding myself of the reason why I ran away in the first place. Maybe there was a chance I could escape once we landed.

I stole one last glance at Michael before landing. This time, he didn’t look away. He just stared at me with a confused look on his face. Again, I rolled my eyes and looked away. But I was curious as to why he looked at me with confusion.

The helicopter shook a little when the landing pads touched down to the roof of the Palace. William slid the door open and jumped out, followed my Michael. Again, William offered his hand for my mother and sister, while Michael offered his to me. We both made a face before our hands touched. It was clear that neither one of us wanted to touch each other.

The wind from the helicopter’s propellers, picked up as it started to take off again. I suppressed a laugh as my mom struggled to keep her skirt down while holding onto her belongings.

Once it finally died down, as the helicopter flew farther and farther away, two women approached us with four men standing behind them. They wore the same uniforms that William did, but with different marks on their breast pockets.

The first woman wore a plain white dress that flowed all the way down to her feet, which I noticed were bare. She had brown silky hair, and emerald eyes. Her face looked very kind with faint laugh lines.

The other woman wore a dress like the one the first woman wore, except the sleeves tied around her neck, and it was white with gold threaded throughout the dress. Her hair was a pale blonde, and eyes an even paler blue. In fact, they were completely glazed over. She was blind! She had high arched eyebrows and her mouth was set in a firm frown. She too, was barefoot.

“Welcome to the Moon Palace, young Maiden Erin. And you too, Mrs. Holt and Miss Layla. I am Valery Collins. The tenth Maiden of the eleventh cycle. This is the eighth Maiden of the eleventh Cycle, Olivia Patch.” The first woman, Valery, said. The other woman, Olivia, nodded a greeting towards us. Valery continued. “We are here to greet you and give you a tour of the Moon Palace, before the ceremony and banquette we’ll have this evening.”

I was barely listening to her. I was looking around me, taking in the environment, and searching for a way to escape. So far, the only way was to jump off the roof and hope that there is a ledge or a balcony I could land on and find my way to the ground.

“Erin.”

Someone’s voice brought my attention away from the edge of the roof. Olivia held the palm of her hand upward, and there was a faint glow of golden light. She seemed to stare at me like she wasn't blind.

The four Guardians behind her were tense. As if ready to pounce on me if I moved an inch. I could feel someone’s burning gaze on the back of my head. Most likely, it was Michael.

“What? Just admiring the view.” I said with an innocent smile on my face. I heard Michael smirk behind me.

It wasn’t a complete lie. The view was beautiful.

“I have a question, though. Isn’t my mentor supposed to greet us?” I asked. I only knew that my mentor was supposed to greet us because my tutors had me read anything and everything that had to deal with Maidens of the Moon and the Maidens of the Stars.

“Yes, she was supposed to. But she is currently busy sorting through things, after the mess you caused by running away.” Olivia said. Her expression unchanging as she relaxed and let her hand fall back to her side. The gold light she had manifested disappeared.

“Oh, I’m very sorry for running away. I will never do it again.” I said, with a sarcastic tone and a puppy dog face.

“You little, ungrateful-.” Olivia was about to say when Valery cut in.

“Now, Olivia. There is no need to raise your voice.”

Olivia set her jaw and stared at Valery for a moment, then said, “Fine. I’ll take my leave then. You can handle the tour on your own, right?” She asked with her back turned and already heading for the roof’s exit.

“Yes, but Elizabeth said…”

“I know what Elisabeth said. But I have things I need to finish myself.”

Once she left, Valery turned back to us. “I’m sorry about that. She is known for her angry outbursts. But once you get to know her, she’s really nice.” She said nervously.

“Sure, she is…” I mumbled to myself.

“What was that?” Valery asked, tilting her head to the side.

“Nothing. Nothing. Let’s just get this tour over with.” I said, with a bored tone.

“Right. The tour. But first, if you will give your luggage to my Guardians, they will take it to your rooms.” She gestured to the two men behind her. They took a step forward, and my sister and mother handed them their carry-on suitcases. I handed them my backpack. “Now, if you’ll follow me.” Valery turned towards the roof’s exit and started walking.

She led us down hallway after hallway. They all had different paintings of the first Cycle of Maidens in all their brilliance and beauty.

We stopped in front of two large grand doors. They were beautifully carved wooden doors painted in white and gold. They had two large golden rings on either door, to pull them open.

“This is the Banquette hall, where tonight’s feast will take place, after the ceremony, of course. The ceremony itself will take place in the Maidens tower. And what a spectacular ceremony it will be. This will be the twelfth, Twelfth Cycle since the very first Cycle of Maidens.” Valery’s face was lit up with pure joy.

All the talk of the cycles was making my head spin. I was taught all about the history of the cycles that were recorded. Even then my head was spinning.

The history books available to the public only date back the eighth Twelfth Cycle. I assume that any of the history written before then was just lost over the years. The story of the very first Cycle is told more like a legend or folk tale rather than history. Everyone living in this world knows that the story is true. I'm living proof.

Tales have been told of how the Moon Goddess sent twelve gifts to this chaos ridden world. And of how the Twelve Maidens were called to this mountain by the Goddess. They trained to fight a mighty battle against evil. But, as for the details behind what evil they had to face, they were lost. We know what the Maidens were. But not 'who' they were.

“You’re pretty excited, aren’t you?” I said, holding back my laughter. Even though she was supposed to be in her thirties, her excitement reminded me of a child anxiously waiting for morning to come on Christmas Eve.

She looked back at us, and blushed. “I am sorry. Most Maidens with the element of Life have been known to be a little childish. I am afraid I’m no exception.”

‘It’s perfectly fine. We understand.” My mother said, with a wave of her hand.

“No wonder you throw tantrums all the time.” Layla whispered, jokingly in my ear. I elbowed her on the ribs.

“Alright then. Let’s continue.” Valery said.

We passed through more grand hallways, and other rooms. Valery was telling us all about what these rooms were used for, but I was already bored, and wasn’t really paying attention to her commentary. I was looking around for possible escape routes to get out of this place.

“Ow! Can you pay attention when you walk?” Layla asked. I was so lost in thought that I didn’t realize we had come to a stop and wound up running into Layla.

“Sorry…” I mumbled.

“And this is the training hall.” Valery gestured to the room we had stopped in front of.

The doors were propped wide open, allowing us to see groups of men and women fighting each other. Most of them were fighting one on one, but there were some groups of three and four. Some were fighting with wooden weapons, like swords and staffs, while other fought hand-to-hand combat. Along the back wall, a row of people was throwing knives at targets. A boy who looked maybe eighteen years old, turned a very bright red as he missed the target for the fifth time, which grabbed the attention of the instructor. It didn’t look like he was yelling at the trainee, but the boy looked very intimidated by the very noticeably taller man. A girl who was throwing knives next to him started to snicker.

“We are currently training a new group of Palace guards. We will need the more guards because we now have twelve new Maidens living in the Palace, plus their families.” Valery said. Somehow, the tone in her voice made it sound like what she said wasn't the whole truth. I dismissed it though.

Valery's eyes scanned the room as if she were looking for someone. When she finally spotted that person, she waved him over.

A boy, who also looked my age, rushed over. He had shaggy, slightly curly, brown hair that fell over his beautiful sea green eyes. His whole face lit up with a wide, almost goofy grin, when he saw me. He wore black cargo pant, a white t-shirt and plain sneakers. At closer inspection, with his cute face, he looked younger than I had first assumed. But if he was who I thought he was, He should be my age.

“Hello, Maiden Valery!” He said, bowing to her with his arm crossed over his heart.

“Hello, Luke.” She nodded her head in greeting. “Erin, this is your other Guardian, Luke Grey. Luke, this your Maiden, Erin Holt, and her mother and sister, Mrs. Dawn Holt and Miss Layla Holt.” Valery introduced us.

Luke walked up to me and bowed. “It is a pleasure to finally meet you, Maiden Erin.” He said.

“Like wise.” I said, a little on edge. He didn’t seem to have the same attitude towards me that Michael did, but I only just met him. Who knows what kind of character he was.

He straightened up, then took my hand in both of his and started violently shaking it up and down. “I’m so happy you chose to come to the Palace. I’m sure the years ahead with us three together will be great!” He said enthusiastically.

“Yeah, sure.” I said. I guess they hadn’t told him yet that I was forced to come her

He greeted my mother and sister with a normal handshake. “Michael!” He said, as he and Michael gave each other a man hug. Michael didn’t seem to be too bothered by Luke’s giddiness at all. Not that I was bothered by it either. In fact, I thought it was kind of cute how his eyes sparkled, and how he bounded all over the place. It was like watching a little kid run around at a theme park.

“Now, there is still more of the Palace that we have not explored yet, but that would take a long while to show you everything. So, for now, we’ll show you to your rooms. William.” Valery said. William took a step forward as she called his name. “Would you show Mrs. Holt and Miss Layla to their rooms?” William nodded as a response.

“Wait. Erin won’t be staying in our room?” My mother asked.

“That is correct. She will be staying in a room connected to her Guardians rooms. So, they can rush to her aid, in case of an emergency.” Valery explained.

“I’m sorry. I don’t think that is a good idea. I’m sure that Michael and Luke are good boys, but it’s just not right for two boys and a girl to have connected bedrooms.” My mother protested.

“I understand your concern Mrs. Holt. But I assure you, they will do nothing to harm your daughter.” William tried to reassure my mother, but by the look on her face said it wasn’t working. “Now, if you’ll follow me, your rooms are this way.” He started walking down the opposite hallway, my mother and Layla following him. Layla walked backwards as she waved to me. I returned the gesture.

“Alright, Miss Erin. Luke and Michael will take you to your room.” Valery said as she clapped her hands.

“What about you?” I asked.

“Well, there is much to do before tonight’s ceremony. I must help prepare. Michael, Luke, I leave her in your hands.” She said, and turned to leave, her dress dragging on the floor behind her.

Luke whirled around to face Me and Michael. “Right! Follow me.”