Sacrificed: The Permafrost Saga Page 3
She knew what came next, so she pulled out her formal clothes from inside her closet with distaste.
The temple maiden attire resembled the dress she had performed in the night before, except that it was white, more fluid, and had more moving parts. She wasn’t sure why this dress looked the way it did, but she assumed it was what humans thought the gods wore back when they formed the temples.
She removed her clothes and pulled the top of her traditional dress over her head, and then slipped the long blue skirt over her hips and tied it into place with the long wrap to the side so the ribbons flowed in ripples. Then she pulled on the thin, light outer robe. It was white again, but along the edges there was floral embroidery in soft blues, greens, and purples. The long sleeves ghosted over the floor, so she pulled them up to her elbows and angled her arms up so they didn’t drag on the ground. She focused on her hair next by braiding it into three long plaits and then twisted them into an elaborate knot on the crown of her head. She secured it with a long purple pin. Satisfied with her reflection in the mirror, she headed to the living room where she knew her parents were getting antsy for her.
She found them standing when she entered the room, and by the way they were holding their hands in front of their bodies and shifting from foot to foot, she knew they have something important to tell her.
Oh boy, she thought. "What is it? Spit it out."
Her mother took a deep breath, clearly uncomfortable about what she had to say. "Sunshine, we've never told you this before, but there's one tradition we still need to talk about."
Demi's mind suddenly thought about every avenue this conversation could go in. Either she didn’t have the freedom to go to the college she chose, there was some sort of arranged marriage situation she was never informed of, or she had to do something even worse: take a challenge. She physically shook off the thought. "What is it?" she asked, deciding the sooner she knew, the less she would think about what it could be.
"We didn't tell you because we know how you feel about traditions like this, and well, now that it's time. So-"
"Do you remember the forms we practiced a month ago, the ones I told you I found in an old scroll?" her father interjected.
She remembered. They were similar to the forms for the fire festival performance, slow, calculated, but powerful, and then they grow into… what's the right word? Hunger? Yeah. Hunger.
She nodded.
"Well, they're old for a reason. They're intended for the temple maiden to perform for when she's ready to take suiters," he tried to explain.
She gaped at them in shock, and as her anger intensified, she was able to give it words. "Are you telling me that in order to tell the world that I'm 'of age', I have to perform some sexist routine to bring in the man meat?" Her voice raised and she shouted the end with nothing short of pure anger.
"When you put it like that, Sunshine, it sounds worse than it is. It's simply a formality that the temple has to follow. There's a good chance no one will even know what it means. I had to do it after I graduated from high school," her mother tried to explain.
She let out the longest, most exaggerated groan of her life. "I'm not doing it."
Her father gave her a stern, yet sorry, look. "I'm afraid you have no choice."
"Do I get to change at least?" She pleaded, not wanting to perform a set in a formal dress and robe.
They shook their heads no in unison.
Great. Just great, smothering wonderful, she swore in her head.
"They're waiting for you," her mother told her. "You'll perform in place of your father tonight."
Her palms were already sweating, and her heart was skipping beats.
The sun started to sink below the horizon; she didn’t have time to debate this. The temple visitors were expecting a Sunset Ceremony, and she was the one to give it to them. She only had a moment to compose herself before she left the safety of her home with an elaborate, very real, letch in her hands, and headed down the long staircase into the heart of the crowd. They grew silent and parted for her to pass through them. She recognized many faces as she passed the pool of blue glacier water that collected on the west side of the temple and came to a stop in front of the braziers- the ones she fed daily.
She knelt to feed them now, the crowd watching her with interested eyes. Once both had fresh coal, she stood, and took a calming deep breath before settling into her starting pose. The sun was behind her, its reflection of oranges, pinks, and purples bouncing off the still surface of the small pond.
Her leg was extended straight out, crouched low with the letch resting behind her head, her naked toes poking out from under the fabric of her dress.
Was she really doing this? It was such an old-fashioned concept, but it was not like she could stop.
She started set Talon slow, and the fires danced happily with her. Sometimes she thought they know when they were being honored.
Between a transition, a pair of amber eyes caught her attention. She almost lost focus looking into their intense gaze and had to pry her eyes from them as she moved into the next form. The set sped up and her dress rippled and flowed as she moved quicker, more aggressively. The longer she performed, the more she forgot her audience, and her attention went back to the fires.
Their flicks of flames mimicked her, danced with her, with every form. She smiled. It was not the first time this had happened. She thought that maybe as she disturbed the air, the flames were manipulated into the same movement, but her parents always denied that explanation, opting to believe in the fire's life instead.
"They are an extension of the King," they told her. "He's dancing with you."
Whatever the explanation was, she enjoyed pretending that at least something enjoys her performances.
She felt the amber eyes on her, but she refused to look for them, and focused on her task instead.
Did everyone know what this set meant? Or have they forgotten with time?
This is the part of the set that she liked to describe as hungry. Her forms were erratic, and what she didn’t notice before, specific. They accentuated the most feminine parts of her body.
The set finally came to an end moments later, stopping dramatically with her letch pointing between the twin fires. Her eyes followed the edge of it and standing right above the hook, was the man with the amber eyes, the man she saw from the play the night before. She couldn’t decide if he looked impressed or not, but it seemed like his intense emotions from the night before had passed, because now it looked as though his eyes were as aggressive as the end of her set. Maybe it was her routine, her performance, or maybe it was the way the fires had responded to her. Either way, she was glad it was over.
She took a moment to catch her breath in an attempt to still her rapid heartbeat, her chest rising and falling like the tides of the sea. The sun sunk below the horizon and her image was now silhouetted by the light of the twin fires behind her.
She saw her mother and father join the crowd. They let people approach them, and they clasp their hands with care to start the evening prayer requests. Demi watched them in awe. It amazed her that they could talk to people so easily and pray with just the right words. Demi had never mastered that skill. Combat Letchen was one thing, being social was another.
"Wasn't that supposed to be performed by your dad?" a familiar voice asked from her left.
She glanced over, not breaking from her formal posture, to see Thomas and his freckled face. She told him what her parents said her only minutes ago with a hushed voice, not wanting anyone to overhear.
"Okay, that's the most old-school thing I've heard," he said, sticking up for her thoughts.
"Thank you!"
"Are you going to come back down?" he wondered. "I assume you'll want to change into normal clothes."
"I don't think so. That was embarrassing."
"No! That was the coolest set of forms I've ever seen. It was refreshin
g and I think everyone loved it!"
"Would you like to come up? We could binge something on Netflix."
"Sure! Let me grab something out of my car first," he said before tearing off in the opposite direction.
Alone now, she waited awkwardly for her friend to return. As people walked by her on their way to her parents, they complimented her performance. She recognized most of them as either classmates or Letchen students of her father’s. The children that passed her smiled, knowing her as their instructor, so she smiled warmly back at them with a small wave.
"Where are your shoes?" she heard and looked with a start to her right this time to see the man with the amber eyes.
3
"Burning hells! Don't sneak up on people like that!" she scolded the stranger.
He waited for her to recover herself.
"Who are you?" she demanded to know.
"Who are you?" he returned with a deep, rumbling voice.
His voice surprised her, but not unpleasantly. It was a sound that sharpened her attention onto him.
"You're very mouthy for a temple maiden. Aren't they usually respectful and soft spoken?"
She shrugged. "Maybe. I'm Demetria," she introduced herself, remembering to be formal.
He gave her a deep bow. "I'm Reece Osheim. It's a pleasure."
She was taken aback by the bow. She wasn’t royalty- just the daughter of the temple keepers. Who is this guy? Why is he here, and where is he from? She wondered. "Right," she said, wanting this interaction to end.
"So, where are your shoes?" he asked again since all the pleasantries had been exchanged.
Her face heated up with embarrassment. She forgot to put on her formal pair before she came down. The panic from learning she'd have to perform the Sunset Ceremony must have short circuited her thoughts. "I…what's it matter?"
"I just thought it was curious," he said nonchalantly.
"I've never seen you around," she observed, trying to take the focus off of herself. "Not from around here?"
"No. I'm moving more east. I took a job over there and I decided to stop here on my way," he informed her formally. "Maybe I'll see you around."
"Yeah, maybe," she replied, thinking that she'd rather be anywhere but here at the moment.
"It was wonderful to meet you, Demetria," he said, bowing down, taking her hand gently, and then kissing it with full, pillowy lips. It sent a wave of warmth up her arm and when he looked up at her, she got the sense that he knew what that performance really meant. She tried to keep herself composed and narrowly succeeded.
He straightened, turned on his heels, and disappeared into the crowd.
She shook off the exchange.
Thomas stepped up beside her then with his arms full of electronics and snacks. “Who was that?” he wondered.
“Don’t know,” she replied.
~~~
"What questions do you have for me, Ms. Daniels?" Mr. Nagel wondered with his elbows on his desk and his hands folded under his chin.
Demi came to Watercrest prepared. She snuck out in the afternoon while her father was in the mine collecting coal and her mom was speaking with city officials about the fire. Thomas was more than willing to help her out, though he did speak his concerns in the car. Demi ignored them, knowing that she was doing the right thing. Even if Watercrest is the wrong school, she knew she couldn’t stay at home. It would be too hard trying to hide the power she may or may not have, whatever it is. She wouldn’t go home until she had it under control, if it was a power at all. She had to stay away until she knew for sure.
Thomas dropped her and her bags off at the front door of the Dean’s office building since he needed to get home for supper with his family.
So far, the Dean had told her everything about the tutoring program he ran, and it checked out. He appeared to be a professional, kind of man with a genuine offer, as she had expected. That was not what she was worried about. She had planned to relax this summer, not jump into a job right away where she'd have to be around people all day, but her parents not paying for her college education ruined that. She had so many books on her shelf she was going to crack open. Instead, she was going to have to meet new people and adjust to a different environment.
She pulled up a notebook she had written down a few questions in. "How many students will I be teaching?" she wondered.
"Four. Each student will get a two-hour time slot each day," he explained.
That was a full-time schedule. Did she have that much energy to be that social each day? "What ages?"
"What ages are you comfortable with? We try to match personalities and learning styles, so the student has the best chance at retention."
That's good to know. "Not middle school age, then," she told him. "I don't like the attitudes."
"Noted," he said with a raised eyebrow.
"Do I have complete freedom in how I teach?"
"Absolutely. We only assess for success."
Okay, she wasn’t sure what that meant, but she wasn’t worried about it. Those that she helped study throughout her years at school have always retained what she taught them. "And I get my own dorm room?"
"You'll have your own room, but you'll be sharing a suite with four other girls. One of them is here now and will be one of your co-workers for the summer."
She processed that in a moment of panic. First, she didn’t know what a suite was. Was it like an apartment? She wasn't expecting a suitemate, but she will have her own room to retreat to. She supposed that it would still be better than living with her parents, as long as she leaves her alone, whoever she is. It wasn’t like she could go home now since Thomas ditched her. "Fine," she agreed to his terms.
"Wonderful." He smiled wide from his side of the desk. "Will you need time to gather your things?"
"No, I'm always prepared, Mr. Nagel."
He smirked. "That's why I'm paying you well, Ms. Daniels." He pressed a button on his phone and said over it, "Nicole, could you please show Ms. Daniels to her dorm room, and send in Mr. Osheim on your way out?"
Her eyes widened at the name for a split second but kept her composure. There was no way it was him, but he did say that he was moving to the area for a job. Could this be it? Could his new employer be hers as well? Her stomach sunk. Who was this guy and why does it feel like he was following her?
"Yes, Sir," a female voice came through the speaker.
He showed her out of his office and Nicole met her with a smile on the other side of the door. Reece, sure enough, stood next to Nicole, posture laid back, almost arrogant. He gave her a snide smirk.
"Demetria, what a pleasure to see you again," he said in that deep, rumbly voice. He cocked his head slightly, amused by her reaction.
She tried to stay as stoic as she could, but her eyes narrowed in annoyance.
"Do you two know each other?" Mr. Nagel wondered.
"Not really-"
"Met in passing-"
They both said at the same time.
The tension between them did not go unnoticed by Mr. Nagel and Nicole, so Nicole motioned for Demi to follow her and they stepped away together as Reece disappeared behind the Dean's office door. Why did his appearance elicit such a reaction from Demi? She knew nothing about him other than he was curious and intense. Did he intimidate her, or did she just not like his vibe? Perhaps she'd have time to figure it out.
Nicole helped Demi carry her bags by taking one, and she led her outside to a waiting golf cart. They loaded it up and once they were seated, they took off down the road towards the girl’s dormitory.
Inside the dorm, the lobby was home to a seating area with a huge TV that was playing some sort of home improvement show, a long table set up with coffee, a microwave, and a toaster. There was a lobby desk that no one was currently manning, but a cork board behind it was full of rules, emergency phone numbers and procedures, and what looked like local restaurants. They passed through the lobby and went straight for the elevator. They stepped inside and Nic
ole pressed on the fourth-floor button.
"The rooms were assigned a month ago, so we have to put you where the college assigned you. I know the fourth floor can be a hassle, but you'll find it safer," Nicole explained. "You will find another young lady roomed in this dorm that also works for the tutoring business. Her name is Casey; she has many friends, so I'm sure you'll get along."
Nicole's last statement rang in her mind as a red flag. If she had many friends, did that mean she was going to have people over all the time?
"Casey is also a junior here at Watercrest, so she's worked with us for three summers now. If you have any questions, I'm sure she'd be happy to assist you."
Nicole then led her out of the elevator and down the hall to the last door. She placed a plain white card in front of a box to the side of the door frame and a little green light lit up, allowing the door to click open.
Demi’s ears were attacked immediately by music as the door swung open; it reverberated her skull, and she pressed her palms to her ears to protect them.
The room that was revealed on the other side is…underwhelming. Demi had pictured a flat in her mind: an open floor plan with plenty of light and a small kitchen. At least, that was what matched up with the prince she was expected to pay in the fall. Instead, she found a common area decorated with worn, old floral sofas, a small TV, a kitchenette with the cabinet doors hanging open on their hinges, and a dining table with a missing leg and no chairs. She wasn’t sure what expression was plastered on her face, but Nicole seemed to be amused by it. A smile curled up slightly in a corner of her mouth and her eyes were screwed up like she was stifling a laugh.
"Casey!" Nicole shouted over the noise. "Casey!"
The volume was turned down instantly, there was some banging, and then a head full of blond curls came falling out of one of the attached rooms. The curvy girl recovered her footing and then looked up at them with a beaming face.
"Hi, Nicole!" her voice was bubbly, and her smile was all teeth.
"Casey, this is Demi. She has a room in this suite for the year," Nicole explained.