Open World (6 page)

Cassandra pulled a slim footlocker from beneath the breakfast bar
that separated the great room from the kitchen, produced a key from a chain
around her neck, unlocked the container and removed a book and bag. She
loosened the string of the bag, opened it and dumped rocks with bizarre markings
on the floor.

“Mom and Dad would be so pissed if they saw this stuff. Tarot
cards… Astrology books… Wiccan instruction manuals…” Faith remarked as she
poked through the box. She held up a plastic bag with pale green leaves on
twigs in it. “Is this…”

“No. It’s not pot.” Cassandra snatched the bag from her cousin and
put it back in the box. “It’s sage. I like to burn it to purify the areas I’m
living in when no one’s around.”

“You’ve used it in the house?” Hope took the bag out of the chest
and sniffed it. “So that’s the smell. It’s been driving Father
nuts
,” Hope commented. She put the bag back and then picked
up one of the rocks and studied it. “You know Mother and Father would be upset
if they ever caught what you’re doing.”

Cassandra opened and closed her hand. “Give it here. I’m not doing
anything wrong,” she said when she got the rock back and placed it amongst the
others. “I’m not dabbling in the black arts. I’m learning how to become one
with the universe, to understand the truth present in all ways of life, to
honor the earth. Did God not create the heavens and the earth and all that’s in
between including the seen and unseen? Since he has, then what we do here is
not bad because God created this form of honoring him and his creations as well
as all else.”

Faith shrugged.

“Makes sense to me,” Hope offered. “But I still think Mom and Dad would
have a fit.” She crossed her lower legs with her heels near her crotch and put
her elbows on her inner thighs. “So tell us, how did you manage to transport us
here?”

“Yeah.
Plus I want to know where’s
here? Where’s everyone else? What the hell happened?” Faith included.

“Well, I don’t know about the two of you, but I woke up here,
dressed in my ritual garb. It took me a few minutes until I realized I was in the
game I don’t know how we got into the game.
Maybe something
with the crystals.
Something with the storm?
Your guesses are as good as mine. Once I determined where I was, which is in my
special spot in the game near Lone Mountain, I knew I had some special
capabilities due to the nature of my character.

“I changed into the pair of skinny jeans and purple tee that you
now see on me. Then I pictured you two in my mind, and zip, I was with Hope. You
guys should have the power to transport. It’s inherent in every character.”

“That makes sense.” Faith leaned back on her forearms. The forest
green t-shirt she wore stretched against her chest. “I came to in the
intersection of Fifteen and Sahara. Thank God there’s no vehicular traffic, or
I’d have been flattened. To tell the truth, cars or not, the location scared
me. Without even knowing what I was about to do, I closed my eyes, imagined
being with the two of you, and then there I was. What about you, Hope?”

The growls of the CWU, and an image in her mind of where she’d
been, sent goosebumps traveling up and down her arms. She rubbed her skin. If
it hadn’t been for that guy, Buzz, she didn’t know what would have become of
her. “I had help getting downtown.”

“Help?”
Cassandra lifted a
brow over one of her green eyes.

A shiver racked her body, but she pressed on, “I ended up across
from The Circus in the not so nice section of town. One of those urchin
creatures decided I might make a tasty treat, but then this guy…he said his
name is Buzz…came and saved me. Once the creature was gone, he asked where I
needed to go. I told him ‘The Experience.’ He flashed me. I was there in front
of the Horseshoe.”

“Interesting.”
From her box,
Cassandra removed a book about runes and the deck of tarot cards. She shuffled
the colorful cards and spread five out in a cross pattern. For several long
moments she sat silent, staring at the spread.
“Seems that
there’s going to be a truce between two clans, a celebration and a family
dinner.
Father’s bringing a new friend. Let’s see what the stones can
tell us about the upcoming events and Father’s new friend.” Cassandra picked up
the runes and placed them back in the bag. “Let us cast.”

She closed her eyes, breathing in and out
,
long,
slow, and deep. The bag moved in her hand as she worked each stone through the
cloth. Cassandra removed the first rune and placed it on the ground. Moments
passed as she repeated the process, creating another cross on the floor. More
minutes ticked away as she consulted her book.

Finally, she rose from her spot and opened a drawer in an end
table. She produced a red votive candle, a glass plate, which she put on the
top of the piece of furniture, and a pen. With the pen, she drew on the candle.
After she put the candle on its holder and lit it, she returned to the floor.

 
“I see here peace. One’s
talents and skills will be recognized. I’ve lit a special candle to assist all this
to come to pass,” Cassandra began, waving a hand over the stones and closing
her eyes, “Father’s new friend…he’ll come with a purpose. He will pick one of
the two of you. I don’t sense myself as part of his plans. He will be charming
and loving
,
but I get the impression this is a front. He needs to
overcome a situation from his past, and a relationship is a means to his end.
There will be domination, submission.
Sadism.”
She
opened her eyes and pointed at the top stone. “But don’t be disheartened. The
last rune here is Gebo, the rune of love and forgiveness. Its gemstone is opal.
If the challenges of this relationship are overcom
e,
then there will be a loving partnership.”

Hope didn’t believe all the mumbo jumbo her cousin was into, but
there was one word which reverberated through her and repeated in her head…
Domination.
A rough, harsh word, it didn’t make her all warm
and fuzzy inside. She squeezed her legs together and smiled wanly. All this
game weirdness was getting to her. She wanted to stop playing, return to the
clubhouse,
feel
the safety of Den’s arms. But try as
she might to picture that scenario, even going as far as clicking her heels
together and wishing for home, traveling back to her reality didn’t happen.

Chapter
Five

“Oh my God.
That was so
awesome,” Faith exclaimed backstage after the last round of bows to a standing
ovation in the ‘The Experience’s’ outdoor theater was complete.

“Yes, it was wonderful.” Hope swept her arm out to
ward
the stage. “I love dancing.” She did a pirouette.

“And I love the theater,” Faith responded, affecting a
Shakespearean accent and pose.

“Do you think that man Cassandra divined will ever come over to
dinner?” Hope headed to
ward
the changing room with her sister.

“Yeah, he’ll be there,” Faith answered. “Have you noticed how
Father has been raving about a new clan member the past week?”

Hope nodded then pulled the muslin dress over her head.

“I’ve actually met him and then run into him a couple of times as
I’ve been out and about helping with the peace activities. There’s a cold and
wicked gleam to his stare. I feel some kind of malevolence emanating from him.
Cassandra says it’s his persona, his aura. Whatever it is, I don’t like it. The
guy gives me the creeps. Father’s been acting like the guy is his long lost
son, or to put it how he puts it ‘The son I never had.’”

Pulling on her jeans, Hope stared at her sister. “Why didn’t you
tell me this sooner? According to the game clock we’ve been here for over two
weeks. And I know we’ve been preoccupied with the peace treaty and then the
talent show, but still. I haven’t seen or heard from Den. Mom and Dad
don’t
know what happened to him. Now you’re keeping secrets
from me?”

“Great jobs, ladies,” a man said to the two of them as he passed
by. He winked at Faith.

“Poor guy,” Faith said quietly to her sister. “Big T told me he
has terrible scarring from a bad accident and has to put on twice as much
makeup as everyone else. Even when he’s not on stage, he’s in makeup. He
reminds me of those Cirque performers with their artistically painted faces. I
don’t think I’d recognize him without his masks.”

“That’s interesting, Faith, but don’t change the subject. Why didn’t
you mention Father’s friend to me? Do you know his name? Where he’s from? What
does he look like?”

Faith pulled a t-shirt over her head, tucked the hem into her
jeans and zipped them up. “I didn’t say anything because I didn’t want to freak
you out. I don’t know where he’s from. But he looks like a military biker dude,
and his name is Buzz.”

An image of the man who’d saved her sprang to the forefront of Hope’s
mind. Beneath his black colored garb there was a promise of a body made of hard
lean muscle. A rush of anticipation swept through her. She rubbed her sweaty
palms on her jeans, chastising herself for even thinking of another man in a
sexual bent. “We don’t have time to dawdle here. I want to get home and get
this dinner over with.”

“What’s the rush? I didn’t think you wanted to see the man
Cassandra warned us about.”

“Of course I don’t want to see
him
,
it’s
Alden
who I’m focused on. Before all this occurred, us getting
sucked into the game and all, Den was going to ask Dad for my hand in marriage.
After my performance.
After dinner…”
Just like today
. “I can’t believe he hasn’t
found me yet. He’s supposed to know this game inside out.”

Faith hugged her. “I know. This whole situation sucks the big one.
I miss Tavis, too. I’m sure they’re doing what they can to get to us. Let’s get
to Mom and Dad’s place, and get this night over with.”

Back at the house her parents had commandeered and she and Faith
had settled into for the time being, Hope absentmindedly assisted her sister
and cousin in setting the dining room table. She laid down each fork, knife and
spoon by rote next to metal plates that had seen better days. It pained her
that she hadn’t heard from Alden nor seen him after the play, which she thought
was odd since he had been outside waiting for her after all her other
performances.

At least in the real world
.
The real world.
Oh no
. She was supposed to perform in
a play. Then Den planned to come over and ask permission from her father for
her hand. Had the play gone on without her? Was Den stuck in the real world
while she dealt with the craziness of being in the game? Was time even passing
the same where she was compared to out there?

Too many questions for situations she had no control over and
shouldn’t worry about. She took a deep breath. The aroma of the pot roast her
mother had pulled out of the oven and placed in the center of the table
tantalized her. Praying Den was all right and would show up soon, Hope sighed.
She loved him more than she wanted to admit and wouldn’t be able to bear life
if he were no longer around.

A knock sounded at the door. Hope’s heart lifted hoping it was
Alden. After her father answered, she heard Buzz’s deep, rumbling voice
greeting him.

“Good. He’s here,” Grace said, coming into the dining room. She
finished putting the food out. “Now we can sit down to eat and get this ordeal
over with.”

“Mom?”
Hope questioned her
reaction with the one word.

“Don’t let your father know, but I don’t like that man, Buzz. He’s
too full of himself.”

“Don’t you think that’s very unchristian-like Aunt Grace?”
Cassandra challenged.

“You know I am religiously devout,” she said
sotto
voce
. “But that man irks me and is evil, pure and simple.”

“Good afternoon
,
ladies,” Buzz announced as he strolled into the room.
“For the meal.”
He held up a clear bottle with an amber
liquid in it. “Hello, dear,” he said to Hope and gave her a peck on the cheek.

She jerked at his touch. “A little forward, don’t you think?”

“Oh. Sorry, dear.” Buzz smiled and looked at her family members.
“We’ve met once before.”

“Good to know,” James said and motioned everyone to their chairs.
“Seems you know everybody but Cassandra.”
He pointed at her.

She bobbed her head once. Buzz matched her action.

Confused, Hope sat and quirked an eyebrow at Cassandra who
shrugged. She’d learned, along with her sister and cousin, that her mother and
father had no affiliation with any clans in the devastated city. They’d found
themselves in the position of ambassadors. It’s one of the reasons her clan and
Faith’s clan had drawn up a treaty. But what did Buzz have to do with them?
Why, if her mother was in a position of helping others, did she have such
strong feelings against the man?