Thief

The door opened and the faceless officer pulled Noah in and shoved him into a nearby chair and cuffed Noah’s right hand to it. Noah stared up at the white stretched skin of what was the officer’s face.  There were no eyes, no mouth, and only a small hump that was the man’s nose.  The officer turned and left the room, leaving Noah alone.

The room was dark with a long table and a glass window that he couldn’t see through. The only light in the room hung over the table. It was too bright to look at directly.  Noah couldn’t see anything other than the light’s reflection in the window and he wondered if there were people looking at him from the other side.  This made him oddly self-aware and self-conscious.

He’d seen rooms like this before on cop shows on TV, it was the room where the cops yelled at the suspect to try to get them to confess to something.
The door swung open. The light was so bright that Noah could only see the shadowed outlines of two men coming into the room.  The first was the thick shadowy outline of a tall man, he threw a thick stack of papers on the table.

“Jackson Smith?” he said.  “That’s not your real name is it, Jackson Smith?”

Something about the man’s voice made Noah cringe.  He knew that voice, he couldn’t place it, but he did know that it wasn’t good.

The man leaned forward across the table and the light lit up the man’s face, casting long shadows that made his familiar sneer more twisted and distorted as usual. “There is no record of a Jackson Smith,” he said.

Noah stared at Mr. Caust, feeling he couldn’t hate anyone more than he did at that moment.  The hate not only came from his dislike of Caust but also for the misery of the whole situation.  He was innocent, but handcuffed to a chair in a strange city in which he knew no one or anyone he did know from his former life didn’t know him in this one.  And just as worse was that Caust had the upper hand.  He knew that Jackson Smith wasn’t Noah’s real name and Noah had no idea how he was going to get out of it.  He stared at Mr. Caust and said the only thing he could think of.

“So?”

“The man that came in with Caust came into the edges of the light.  He was a young black man with long dreadlocks tied back in a ponytail.  He wasn’t dressed like the other officers that wore uniforms, or worn out suits.  He wore a long black leather jacket and underneath it looked like there was a sheath with a sword in it.  The young man did not seem intimidating at all but Noah felt like he knew something from his inquisitive stare but if he did know something he wasn’t sharing with Caust as he lingered on the edge of the shadows.

“Where are you from?” Caust asked.

“Christabury Heights,” Noah said mentioning the only part of Desmanorah he knew.

“What street?”

It took Noah aback but he blurted “Main Street” thinking that everything town has a Main Street, but he was wrong.

“There is no Main Street in Christabury Heights, Jackson Smi-”

“It’s Noah.  Noah Finch.”

Caust slowly exhaled through his nose and Noah could see his body relax backwards.  A small smile grew across his face.  At the same time the young man behind him was also taken aback, he shook his head and looked down then back up again.

“Where are you from?” Caust asked. The young cop was still shaking his head at Noah as if saying “don’t say anything.”

“New York City.”

“I’ve never heard of it, you’re making it up.”

“Well, I’m not,” Noah said, determined to stand his ground.

“Fine,” Caust said with a backward glance at the young man.  “It doesn’t really matter anyway.  You’ve been caught, you’re wearing a stolen artifact.  You are as good as guilty.”

“It’s not what you think.  I didn’t steal some stupid artifact!”

“You’re wearing it!”

“It’s not your artifact or whatever it is.  It’s just some stupid Yin Yang I…got in Chinatown!”

Caust leaned forward closer to Noah. “You’re working for him, aren’t you?”

“Who?”

“The darksayer.”

“I don’t know who he is and I’m innocent!”

“Blah! Blah! Blah! Hand it over,”  Caust said holding out his hand.

“I can’t.”

“What do you mean, you can’t?”

“It won’t come off.  I’ve already tried.”

“Liar!  Take it off now!”

“I can’t!” Impulsively Noah tugged on the chain with his free hand and immediately the chain shrank around his neck.

Caust jumped back, his eyes wide with shock.  The young man, too, looked surprised but extremely worried as well.  Noah let go and the chain relaxed back to its normal length.

“This is some kind of trick. An illusion,” Caust said as he walked around the table.  He stood over Noah staring down at him.  “Take it off now!”

“I CAN’T!” Noah screamed and tugged on the chain again.

“STOP!”

Before Noah could comprehend it, Caust grabbed Noah’s arm.  “What is this?” He pushed back the sleeve of Noah’s hoodie.

“What?  My scar?”

Caust’s grip on Noah’s arm tightened so hard that Noah could feel the pressure in the veins of his hand.  “Ow, you’re hurting me.”

“Do you see this?” Caust said to the young man. 

The other cop took a deep breath and calmly said, “yes, I see it.”

“What is the meaning of it then?”

“I have no idea, sir.”

“No idea! Caust yelled holding up Noah’s arm for him to see.

“It’s just a scar, please you’re hurting-”

“You are the one that is supposed to be keeping tabs on them!  Why would HE have their mark?”

“No idea, sir.  It must be some sort of rebellion symbol, perhaps he is just emulating them.”

Caust dropped Noah’s arm and Noah shook it trying to get the feeling back.

“They better not be up to anything,” Caust said.

“I will keep my eyes open, sir, and if I hear of anything I will let you know.”

Caust turned back to Noah.  “Now, hand over the Asren.”

“I told you, I can’t!”

In one swift movement, Caust grabbed the Asren then jerked it away.  “WHAT?  WHAT DID YOU DO TO IT?”

“I didn’t do anything!”

Caust stared at the palm of his hand.  Noah could see the faint mark of the Asren on the palm of his hand.  His eyes shifted back to Noah more sinister looking than usual.  “Sorcery!  GUARDS.”

The door flew open and two faceless guards came in.

“Take him to be examined, then solitary confinement!”

Before Noah could comprehend what was going on, he was uncuffed and dragged from the room.  He struggled and tried to free his arms from the grips of the guards on either side of him.

“I’m innocent!”

They led him into a room that looked something like a dentist’s office with a dental chair in the center.  They shoved him into the chair and before he could get his bearings the guards jerked straps around both of Noah’s wrists.  The chair then fell back and a bright light shined down in his face nearly blinding him. And he was reclined so far back he could feel the blood rushing to his head.

He heard the footsteps of the guards walk out of the room and shut the door.  Noah squirmed and tried to yank his arms free but it was no use. The straps were so tight he felt the circulation being caught off in his fingers. The head rest was so conformed around his head that he was not able to turn his head.  He shifted his eyes as far as he could from side to side.

The door opened again followed by footsteps of more than one person.  Three shadows loomed over him.  Noah blinked in hopes to make out who they were but all he could see were shadows of two men and a woman.

“What do we have here?” said the man in the middle.

“An uncooperative inmate, Doctor,” said the other man.  He flipped through some pages on a clipboard.  “Noah Finch, accused of stealing the Asren, and, ah, yes, it is believed that he bewitched it too.”

“Ooh, fun!” said the female.

“It says here he’s from somewhere else.”

“What do you mean, ‘somewhere else’?” asked the doctor.

They all leaned closer to Noah and Noah could see a wicked smile on the face of the female.

“According to this, he’s not from Desmanorah.”

“Ahhhh, not from Desmanorah!” the female whispered excitedly.

“Hmmmm,” said the doctor.

“Doctor, this can’t be,” said the male.  “He has to be from Desmanorah.  Where else would he be from?”

“He’s an alien!” said the female and she poked Noah’s arm and jerked her hand away quickly.

“Hmmmm,” said the doctor again. He leaned forward, slipped a mask over his mouth, and with latex gloved hands he forced Noah’s mouth opened, looked inside pulling Noah’s lips back.

The doctor had thick glasses on that magnified his eyes five times.  With the mask on he looked like some deranged giant bug.  “Hmmmm,” he said. He let go of Noah’s lips and started to tug on the skin of Noah’s face and pulled back his eyelids, which caused Noah’s eyes to water and immediately blink.

“What is your analysis, Doctor?” asked the man who wrote on his clipboard.  “Is it contaminated? Should we quarantine it?”

“Let’s see how he responds to pain!” said the female as she jumped up and down.

“No!” Noah cried.

“No, Jenkins…that isn’t until later on the list.”

The doctor tugged and pulled on Noah’s ear, studying it intently.  “Subject appears normal. What’s next?”

“Uh,” the man said flipping a page.  “Heat.  How he responds to extreme heat.”

“No!” Noah cried and squirmed.

“Ohhh, he’s fiesty!” the female laughed.

There was the sound of a drawer opening and closing along with a weird buzzing sound.

Noah began to tremble. “No, please don’t…”

The doctor leaned towards him with a long branding iron.  It glowed bright red and grew closer to Noah.

“No, seriously, please don’t, please!”

The iron hit the side of his arm and Noah screamed.  The seering pain brought tears to Noah’s eyes.  He tried to look down at his arm and all he could see was a bright red spot where the iron left its mark.

“Now can we see if he bleeds!” the female said.

“Uh, yes, that is on the list next.”

“Can I do it? Please!” she pleaded. 

“That is not procedure!” the other man said.

“Very well,” the doctor said and handed her a long needle.

“No, please don’t,” Noah said unable to take his eyes off of the long shiny instrument.  “I bleed, trust me I bleed.  I fall and hurt myself all of the time.  Owwww!”

She poked his arm quick and pulled the needle away.  Noah could feel blood running down his arm.  “Wow!” she said.  The man was scribbling notes and the doctor leaned in to study the blood. He scooped up a tiny bit of blood with a swab and dropped it carefully into a glass vial.

“Hand me the dripper,” he said.  The female picked up a small object from the tray and carefully placed in the palm of the doctor’s hand.  The doctor held it up and it looked like a small plastic dripper for eye drops.  Noah kept his eye on the dropper as the doctor held it over his forehead.  “Start the time,” he said.

A ticking noise started, repetitive.  Tick, tock, tick, tock.  The doctor squeezed the end of the dropper and a single drop of liquid fell and landed on Noah’s forehead.  It felt like nothing more than warm water as it ran down the side of his head and across his ear.  The doctor squeezed it again, the drop fell on the same spot on his forehead.  No one said anything and all Noah heard was tick, tock, tick, tock.
Another drop.  This time the water slid down his nose and sprinkled into one of his eyes.  His reflex was to wipe it away, he jerked his hand in the shackle.  His eye blinked furiously.  Tick, tock, tick, tock.  Another drop.  Noah couldn’t help but to keep anticipating it to run into his eyes, but it ran down the side of his forehead.  Tick, tock, tick, tock.  Drop.  The water ran down the side of his nose and into his other eye.  Tick, tock, tick, tock.  Noah began to feel more anxious, he wasn’t sure why, he just knew he couldn’t stand it.  He waited for the next drop.  Tick, tock, tick, tock.  The doctor held the dripper over Noah.  Noah waited for the next drop to fall.  He was still blinking furiously and going slightly cross eyed from staring up at the dripper.  He’s breathing was short, he felt he could pass out.  Tick, tock, tick, tock. 

That was the last thing he remember before all went black.

It was black and all Noah was aware of was the weight of his body on a hard cold floor.  Gritty dirt scraped his face and stuck to his lips.  He fluttered his eyes opened and looked across the dirty stone floor of a small dim room.  He pushed his body up, stood, and stared around.

It was something like a tower in a dungeon or something. Round stone walls climbed high as they reached the sky.  A sliver of the moon could be seen through the small narrow opening at the top.  The moon was the only source of light as it cast a bluish glow. 

Noah wiped the dirt from his face. He could feel anger building in his chest. He wanted to scream, he wanted to cry.  He kicked the wall.  Pain shot through his foot and up his leg.  He slid down the wall and sat down on the bare floor.
He hated the situation, but more than anything he hated himself. It was all of his fault.  If he had stayed at the hotel, if he wouldn’t have gone to the festival, if he wouldn’t have stolen the Yin Yang from that store in Chinatown, if he would have had the accident that led him to this place.  If he would have behaved in school, if he wouldn’t have let Jake Underhill get to him, he wouldn’t have reacted and stolen the Yin Yang, he wouldn’t have run, he wouldn’t have been in the accident…if, if, if…

He watched a spider crawl on the floor towards him as he thought of how stupid and careless he was, like always.  This is what he deserved, it was his own fault.  All of this finding himself in this strange city and not being able to find his way home.  He deserved it, he deserved whatever he had coming.  He wasn’t meant for much, he was a bad kid.  The spider crawled closer and in one fell swoop Noah lifted his leg and stomped on it.

There was a caw from above that echoed down the walls.  A shiny black raven sat on the edge of the opening above as it stared down at Noah.  It cawed again and the caw echoed down the walls.  The raven flew down through the opening, the beating of its wings made a haunting howl in the narrow tower walls.  It landed on a rock that stuck out from the wall.  It stared at Noah and flexed it wings before cawing again, “Coward, coward, coward…” It looked at Noah as if it knew and understood everything. The raven took off and flew up and out into the darkness.
Noah’s body felt heavy and he found himself resting his shoulders and head on the cold floor.  A cool breeze blew in.  Noah pulled his hoodie over his head and curled his arms close to his body.

There was no piercing pain in his body this time as he fell asleep.  His limbs felt numb.  He saw nothing past blackness, but could hear the faint sound of people talking and he could hear his mother’s.  “It’s gonna be okay baby.  Mommie’s here.”  His hand felt warm and something intangible tightened around as if someone holding his hand.

Quiet footsteps echoed across the stone floor.  Noah’s eyes opened and he saw a pair of black boots walking towards him. He didn’t want to get up, he wanted to keep his eyes closed and pretend that none of this was happening.  The boots stopped only a few inches from Noah’s face.  Whoever it was kneeled down. 
The young black cop from the interrogation smiled slightly at Noah and held out his hand.

“I’m not going to hurt you,” he whispered.

Noah took it and the man helped him up to a sitting position.

The man sat down in front of Noah and set a couple of brown bags beside of him.  He grabbed a hold of Noah’s arm out and pulled from one of the bags a bottle and proceeded to cleaned the spots where they had poked and burned Noah.

“What was the point of that?” Noah asked.

“To see how much you could take.”.

“Why?”

“That’s a good question. Here,” he said and handed Noah the other brown bag.  “Eat this before it gets cold.”  Noah looked in the bag and saw a large cheeseburger and fries.

“Thanks.”

“You’re welcome.” Noah couldn’t help but stare at the man.  He was trying to determine if he was good or bad and what he was going to do with or to Noah.  “Trust me, Bernie’s cheeseburgers are the best in Mecca.  It’s an insult not to eat one while it’s hot.”

Noah pulled the cheeseburger out and bit into.  He hadn’t had any cheeseburgers in Mecca but was sure that they were the best.  The man shifted, pulled his sword out from under his coat, laid it on the floor, and sat cross legged in front of Noah.  “Everyone calls me Sky.  No one knows I’m in here talking to you, or that I’ve brought you food.  I can’t be here for too long. I will only be able to distract the guard outside of your door for so long.”

“I’m innocent,” Noah said through a mouthful of food.

“I know.”

“You do, how?  I mean, why do you believe me?”

Sky looked at the door, his head slightly turned as if listening for something.  He turned back to Noah.

“You weren’t supposed to leave the hotel, if you never left maybe we could have avoided this mess.”

Noah’s first reaction was that he was the one from the station, but then he remembered that that man was white and Sky seemed more patient with Noah.
“How did you know?”

“Well, let’s just say I’m one of the few who know the truth.  And the truth is that you are linked to an ancient prophecy that is about finding the lightsayer, the one who is the darksayer’s match.”

“I don’t understand.”

“We don’t fully understand ourselves.  But somehow you are to lead us to the lightsayer.  The prophecy speaks of a prophet.  And we think that that is you.”
Noah chewed on a mouthful of salty fries and was feeling like he didn’t want to understand the whole prophecy thing because he was sure that they had it all wrong.

“I tried to wait,” he said as he swallowed.  “But the man from the station wouldn’t tell me anything, and I just wanted to go home.”

“We had a problem.  Something that derailed the entire plan.”

“What?”

“Quan is missing. Will is doing the best he can to find him…”

“The one I was supposed to meet is missing?”

“Yes,” Sky sighed and shook his head.  “He’s the only one that can read the Arcana.”  He saw the puzzled look on Noah’s face.  “The Arcana is an ancient book, that many do not know exists.  Many believe it is some sort of fairy tale, some kind of myth. But it really does exist and it holds secrets about Desmanorah.  And it’s written in ancient texts that are hard to translate.”

“Can you find someone else to translate it?”

“Probably, but we don’t have time and now it is too risky.  Besides to protect it, Quan has it hidden.  Even if we did find someone to translate it, we wouldn’t know where to look for it.”

“Can you help me get home?”

“I will do the best I can, but first we have to find Quan.  He will know how.”

“Now what? I’m in here now. What’s going to happen to me?”

“I’m going to do my best to get you out of here.  But I can’t make any promises.  I’m under close scrutiny.”

“Why?”

Sky smiled, slyly yet proudly, “I guess you could say I had a vigilante past.”

Noah glanced at the sword laying on the floor next to Sky.  “Is that a real sword?”

“Yes,” Sky said picking it up and holding in front of Noah.  “Would you like to hold it?”

“Could I?”

“Stand up,” Sky said pushing himself up to a standing position.  Noah put his food back in the bag and stood.  Sky pulled the sword out of it’s sheath.  It was long, silver, and shiny.  He held it out for Noah to take.  Noah carefully took it and when Sky pulled his hands away Noah was shocked to feel how heavy it was.

He was first drawn to the handle that was elaborate with stones and symbols including the Yin Yang.  The moon moved over the opening, illuminating the sword. Then his eyes were drawn to the blade of the sword.  At a closer glance he could see writing down the blade, but it didn’t look like English. 

Yb teh kresnads fo teh dmin ni teh treha fo Desmanorah cretess fo teh lous delaever nad teh stega fo asrenasew penedo revofre mero.

The inscription seemed familiar then he remember that he had read it at the base of the ceiling in Grand Desmanorah Station.

“It reads: By the darkness of the mind, in the heart of Desmanorah, secrets of the soul revealed and the gates of awareness opened forever more.”

“Wow,” Noah whispered.

“Go ahead, swing it,” Sky took a step back and motioned his arms in a swing to demonstrate.

Noah swung it across, slicing the air.  It felt like the sword had a life of its own and that the weight would take off without him.  It felt like his arms merely followed the sword.

“That’s good, you’re a natural.  I’ll teach you to fight someday.”

“If I ever get out of here.” When Noah stopped swinging the sword, Sky stepped forward.

“Just hang in there, stay calm, and stay out of trouble.  We’ll get you out of here.” Noah handed the sword back to Sky and he slipped it back into the sheath. “Just be strong.  I know you can handle it. After all the Asren chose you.”