She stretched out her arms, when she rose from the couch, chuffed with the bit of glee she brought
Angel-boy.
Peaking at Kalbreal, his neck extended as he stared at her, “But since you offered to take me
sightseeing twice, how can I not.” She walked away, smiling at his stunned reaction.
“Nathan, Nathan.” Yelling, she neared the kitchen door, she was exhausted, the sleep kicking in,
The kitchen doors burst open, Nathan emerged through it, like the place was on fire, “What’s
happening?”
She smirked at him, he looked so dishevelled, “Let’s go I’m tired, I’m sure the Suns rose,”
“Clare, shit, sister, I thought somebody was strangling you, patience, it’s not even two yet.”
She turned to look at Kalbreal, his voice soft, and husky, “Come on let's go stand downstairs,”
She hesitated for a second, then Kalbreal said to Nathan, “Relax, I can’t even touch her remember?”
before she followed him downstairs.
Waiting in the middle of the steps, Kalbreal offered, “Lemme get you a drink while you wait for him.”
He gave her a slight smirk, which she appreciated, considering their prior discussion. The guy was
clearly hitting on her, and he was an Angel, she should’ve been happy and excited, but she wasn’t, she
could see herself becoming friends with Kalbreal, but anything more than that, No.
William had already left his mark, faceless or not, even if he was a beast, there was just something
about him that called to her, and until she figured it out, she was off-limits, “I guess it’ll depend on the
drink?”
Kalbreal laughed, “Are you flirting with me?”
She dismissed his ignorance, “I never know with you, whether its kindness or something else, but with
me, you’d know if I’m flirting.”
Nathan chuckled, behind her, “I have the same problem.” Putting his arm over her shoulder as he
spoke. Her gaze wavered to Kalbreal, searching his expression, but all she saw was his blazing eyes
as he stared at her face in clear confusion and uncertainty pinned perfectly together.
Nathan gestured with his head to Kalbreal, “I’ll take the bin out for Adam if I were you.”
“Oh, yeah, I forgot, maybe I should take out the trash, I am an Angel after ALL,” Kalbreal responded in
a rehearsed tone.
Clare tried hard to stifle a giggle, Nathan just smiled wide-mouthed, showing his teeth, which was
perfectly straight, “Really, you going to go there NOW, that was four years ago, I was young.”
Clare burst out laughing by her brother’s exasperated look, “What’s that about,”
He noticed her and said almost faintly, “A private joke, but let’s just say it didn’t end well.”
Clare knew when somebody was lying or hiding something, and Nathan was definitely holding
something back and so was Angel-boy.
“Nathan, the door is that way,” She said, pointing her finger towards the left.
“Nah, there’s a quicker way,”
“Ok.”
Clare was too tired to argue or ask any more questions, she needed a hot bath and some rest.
Following him to the bar area, she watched as he moved a silver handle on the wooden counter and
the bar shelves started to separate. The alcohol bottles didn’t fall off the shelves but rattled as they
touched on each other.
It revealed a tunnel, a dark, pitch-black one. She blinked and failed to readjust her eyes, she was that
tired, “Wow, cool, what’s this, a tunnel or secret passageway?”
Nathan amused her, “You're correct to both, it’s a tunnel that leads to a secret passageway.”
She followed Nathan into the tunnel. He said something, and a light burning on the tunnel walls,
visioning the way. Walking through, they turned left. The walls made of dried clay, ancient, not much
decorated the walls, besides a few flowers, she saw drawn on the clay, in what looked like a crayon.
The tunnel smelt like desert sand, the temperature cool, it was clean and well maintained, “What does
this writing mean?”
Nathan turned, and curled the corner of his mouth, as if she'd asked a question of utter importance,
“Where one sin has entered, Legions will force their way through the same breach.”
He paused before continuing, “It was written by a very extraordinary Lightwatcher, his name was John
Rogers, early 1700’s.”
“Is there something to it?”
He faced her, hesitated, “Maybe another time, let’s get moving.” He turned and kept a steadier pace a
little ahead of her. They didn’t walk much further from the second left before they came to a wooden
door with bolts decorating its frame.
Nathan knocked a few times, the door unlatched itself and opened fully. Clare followed him closely,
snapping his fingers, small freckles of light twinkled brightly in the room bringing light to the darkness.
“Where are we?” She asked as he rushed towards another door, on the other side of the room. She
followed quickly behind him giving one last peek at the lights, “We‘re at the castle, right?”
“Yup, that was my room, in case you ever need a quick escape,” He walked a few rooms down and
opened the double door, which opened into a larger room.
Nathan clapped his hands twice, and lanterns lit the expanse, with white and blue lights mirroring the
walls in tiny circles, “Lightwatcher generally needs to sleep one cycle every month, depending on how
strong you are, unless you’ve been injured critically, then your body might go into Shakara, a healing
state where you could be out for months.”
“How long’s a cycle?”
“Twenty four hours.”
“So you can stay up for weeks without sleeping at all, WOW..”
He nodded, “Yes, but there’s more to it.”
Clare lifted her chin towards the ceiling, which was almost thirty feet high. The floor was white stoned
with small crystals embedded in it forming spirals of red and navy blue colour, “WHAT? No, that’s crazy,
Mom uses to sleep every night, you’re clearly messing with me.”
“No, she wouldn’t have been able to. A Lightwatcher’s body tells us when to sleep, it’s not something
you can force, it’s like peeing, you can’t just do it can you?”
“So what happens if the Garde need to sleep in the middle of a battle?”
“Don’t know, it’s never happened, how’s the room?”
“It’s amazing, this whole place is incredible.”
“Well good you like it. It’s your new room, for now.” The door closed behind Nathan when he left,
almost instantly.
She spun herself around the room, visioning her mother smiling happily at her. She spun until her
knees collapsed. Time passed, and the drug-induced feeling faded, overwhelmed by the sudden
downward spiral she burst out crying, “What am I going to do without you mom.”
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