Chapter 1
My family lives in a small village in the middle of nowhere, filled with more sheep than there are people.
My mother, my father, my older brother and then, last but not least, me. I am, as my mother always says, a rather petite girl. My overall small built and my big brown doe eyes prove mother’s words right.
My brother, on the other hand, is the complete opposite; he’s built like a bear. Large, slow movements, but can dish out punches like nobody else. Don’t get me wrong, he isn’t the violent type at all, but in a village as small as this one, with loads of elderly people and farmers, theft and burglary aren’t too rare an occurrence. Who’s usually called to help? Not those four old guys waltzing about playing dress up as policemen, that’s for sure, but rather my brother, who catches those scumbags and immobilizes them. In exchange, our family gets fresh vegetables, eggs and all sorts of things one could find on a farm.
I, on the other hand, am stuck taking care of the village’s sheep.
Not only do I have to look after those pillows on four legs, I also have to constantly take someone along, this someone being my brother. Just because I fell asleep once and didn’t notice some sheep making a run for it. It’s not my fault that it’s such a boring task to fulfill.
Well, to be honest, it doesn’t actually bother me all that much that he tags along, I do like spending time with him.
“Get your lazy ass over here, Brutus! Any slower and you’ll have to dig my grave once you get here!” I can hear his wheezing from here. Sadly, the pasture on which the sheep graze lies on the other side of a hill.
“Stop yelling, Molly!” he complains. I roll my eyes and sit down on a big stone, the herd spread out before me. The sun is shining, the sky is blue, the sheep are calm, I close my eyes and enjoy the feeling of the fresh wind blowing my dark hair out of my face.
“Did you count them?” And that’s how long that moment of peace lasts. I open my eyes and Brutus is standing in front of me, still struggling for air.
“You know,” I start and close my eyes again, “If you’d have a little less weight to carry around with you, you wouldn’t be wheezing like this.” He isn’t fat, just too muscular, and muscles weigh the body down.
He just grumbles. “Did you count the sheep, Molly?”
I throw my head back dramatically. “Yes, I did, they’re all here.”
He nods, satisfied, and turns to the sheep.
A pleasant calm settles between us and I enjoy it thoroughly. Brutus isn’t a man of many words, and I’m a woman who tends to say too much, that’s why I usually handle the talking for the both of us. Mama says I’m a lot like my aunt, while Brutus is the exact replica of our grandfather. I can’t remember either of them, sadly, I was three the last time I saw them and our parents had just decided to move here, so almost 18 years ago.
Brutus was eight at the time, so he remembers more. He often tells me about our old house and all the friends we had to leave behind, about our aunt who stopped talking to us because of the move and everything he could have done there.
Now we’re damned to be forever stuck in this wasteland.
Brutus could just pack his things and leave, I’m too scared for that. But every time I breach the topic, he just says that he’d never ever leave us alone and that, despite having to adjust quite a bit, he feels at ease here.
In terms of appearances, we couldn’t be more different. I have brown eyes, his are steel blue, I have long brown curls, his hair is short and blonde like our mother’s. He’d tried growing out a beard once, but after someone told him how many germs he’d be giving a home with that thing, he quickly shaved it again.
Now he looks half as scary as he used to, but it really didn’t look good on him, even though it did make him look like a proper shepherd. As for the sheep, me being in charge of taking care of them was our father’s idea, he said it’d help me grow a stronger sense of responsibility.
What he didn’t know, though, and I’d never tell him, is that these beasts hate me just as much as I hate them.
Animals and I just don’t get along, I’ve tried time and time again and all I ever got in return was bites. Any animal he meets, on the other hand, loves Brutus, maybe it’s that calm attitude of his, no idea.
One thing’s for sure though, the Biting Betsy likes him and that sheep is the devil on earth. She’s adored Brutus since day one, eats out of his hand, even. The one feeling she harbors for me, on the other hand, is ‘Get any closer, and I’ll bite your butt off’ and that every time.
I’m still enjoying the nice air, even starting to fall asleep, when Brutus nudges my arm.
“Molly?” he whispers, “you said you counted them, right?”
I can feel him slowly standing up.
“Yes I did. Betsy is still here too, sadly.” The thought that that stupid sheep won’t be around one day fills me with joy. But I can sense that Brutus doesn’t seem to be feeling the same way.
“So you noticed the man in the middle of the herd?”
My eyes fly open and I start looking around.
There he is, a complete stranger standing in the middle of the herd, frozen in place as if turned to stone. His mouth is wide open, but no sound is coming out of it.
“This is the first time I’m seeing him,” I say, surprised. I stand up and want to walk towards him, but Brutus stops me.
“Stay here, I’ll go check,” and then he’s moving towards the man.
Something about this situation is seriously strange. Why haven’t we heard him show up, why are the sheep so calm, why is he standing there like that, and why do I have such a bad feeling about the entire thing?
“Sir?” Brutus is but a few meters away from him now, but the man doesn’t seem to notice him at all.
“Excuse me?” Nothing. No reaction. Brutus turns to me and shrugs.
“Shake him a little,” I shout his way, but he doesn’t get the chance to follow through because the man’s head suddenly whips in my direction. I startle and he starts running towards me. I manage to catch sight of Brutus yelling and trying to grab him, only to slip away.
“Molly! Run!”
Brutus isn’t a fast runner, so he hopes that I’ll start running instead to get to safety, but I see the man approaching faster and faster and freeze up.
He’s getting closer and closer, but my legs just won’t move. I feel the first tears welling up in my eyes. I’ve never been good at handling stressful situations, I’ve always relied on Brutus to help me out of trouble. But Brutus can’t help me this time, so I do what my father always tells me to do and trust my instincts.
I start running towards the man until I’m close enough, then I duck and slam into him with all my strength. He flies right over me and lands on his back with a loud bang, stopping altogether. I stare down at him, dumbfounded, when I suddenly feel a hand on my shoulder. I scream, whip around and deck poor Brutus directly in his face.
“Oh my god, don’t scare me like that,” I say, while he starts rubbing at his pained face. He points at the man lying on the ground, then at me, and gives me a thumbs up.
“Not bad, tiger,” he says, still holding his nose.
I puff out my chest proudly and laugh triumphantly; he rolls his eyes and simply walks around me to the stranger. I march after him and as my gaze falls onto the man, my breath gets stuck in my throat. He’s colorless. Not just pale, colorless. His skin is gray, his hair is too. He looks as though someone has sucked all color right out of him. Brutus nudges him, but nothing happens. Shocked, I cover my mouth with my hands.
“Did I kill him? Am I a murderer? Do you have to arrest me now? I’m not made for life behind bars! What are we gonna do?!” horrified, I shake Brutus’ arm, but he just laughs and shakes his head.
“First, we’ll take him into town and put him in a cell.”
I weigh my head side to side and think about it.
“I don’t know. What if he runs amok in the village? We can’t risk that.” But Brutus isn’t listening, as usual, and has already thrown the man over his shoulder and started walking. His way, then.
When we got into town, Brutus handed the man over to the so called ‘police’ – a bunch of geezers who let Brutus do all the work – and they then locked him in a cell. I try to convince him that we should take a closer look at him, now that he’s behind bars, but Brutus just says that he’s no longer our problem, no longer a threat.
Now we’re back home, and I’m telling our parents what happened.
“What’s more, when I took a closer look at him, the man was gray, he had gray skin! Totally colorless!” My mother sips on her coffee and my father shoots me weary looks.
“Maybe the sun was in your eyes and that’s why he looked gray,” he tried to explain. I frown and look at Brutus expectantly. He chokes on his apple a moment and starts speaking.
“She’s saying the truth, pa. His skin was gray, and I saw that his eyes didn’t have any color in them either, they were completely white.” That seemed to impress them because they exchanged a scared look.
“Alright, let’s end this conversation here,” Mama announces. “I’m getting goosebumps just hearing about it.” She shakes herself lightly and then turns my way.
“Molly, darling, are the sheep back in the stables?”
Now I’m the one choking.
I completely forgot about those beasts! I laugh sheepishly and look at her with big eyes.
“What would be the worst that could happen, if I told you that I completely forgot about them?”
Our father stands up slowly and exits the scene. She puts her coffee down slowly, rests her head on the palm of her hand and says: “Well, if you’ve really forgotten to do the one thing I asked you to do, then from tomorrow on I’ll be forgetting to do your laundry and cook your food.”
She says this with such a calm voice, that even Brutus holds his breath.
“And you, young man, I can understand that it’s been quite a day, but that’s one of the reasons you’re supposed to go with her, to make sure she doesn’t forget something that important.” He nods. “Now go do what you gotta do.”
We stand up and make our way back to those damned animals.
I watch the last sheep slowly walk into the stables while Brutus counts them quietly. I look around and notice that the sun’s almost set already. Oh, how time flies when you’re having fun. I grin to myself and hear Brutus’ heavy steps approaching. He stops next to me and says with a heavy, serious voice: “I think Betsy is missing.”
I grin some more.
“Oh, no, what a shame.” I say, feigning sadness. “I won’t be missing that beast.”
Brutus simply ignores me and turns his head towards the pasture. “I’ll go looking for her.”
I open my mouth to say something but hold back. I know how much he cares about her, she was the first animal he got to know here, and he was also the one to give her, her name. So, I just follow him silently.
We walk up the hill and Brutus starts calling her name, I don’t because she never comes to me and when she actually does, it’s only to bite me. I look around instead; if I were to see her, I’d just call Brutus.
We walk past the stone we’d sat on today and onto the pasture the sheep were grazing on. Not a sign of the biting Betsy. I start getting a little worried.
“Do you see her?” I ask Brutus.
He’s standing on the other side of the pasture. “I’m not sure.”
I frown. “What’s that supposed to mean?” And start heading his way.
Brutus seems to be looking at something, so I follow the direction of his gaze.
Something gray is standing in the middle of the pasture, staring into nothingness, its mouth wide open.
“Do you think that’s…”
Brutus doesn’t answer, but I can tell from his eyes, that he’s thinking the same thing. “Shit,” he whispers.
It’s good ol’ Betsy, only that she’s now just as colorless as the man that we found had been.
“What do we do now?” I ask him. He turns to me and says: “We’ll take her with us, obviously.”
I gape at him. Has he lost his mind?
“We absolutely won’t! Did you see how that man was acting?! And that’s Betsy! She’s like that innately already! Just imagine what that means!” I yell at him, but he just grumbles and starts walking towards her.
I try pulling at his shirt, but he just keeps walking as if I were nothing but air. I let go and stomp my foot.
He nudges Betsy, but she doesn’t move, so he just picks her up. He positions her in a way to make sure she doesn’t slip, turns around and starts walking back in the direction of the stables. But the moment mine and Betsy’s eyes meet, it looks as if she fully returns to herself because she starts trashing around aggressively.
“Hold her!” I scream at him.
“I’m trying!” He screams back. Betsy starts snapping her teeth.
“Try better!” I scream again.
I decide to hide behind the stone because I would rather not become her target.
The moment I’m hidden, Betsy stops.
“What the hell,” I ask. “I knew she doesn’t like me, but this is a bit exaggerated.”
I come out of my hiding spot and as if on command, she starts wanting to free herself from Brutus’ hold again. Brutus stares at me, surprised.
“Stay there, I want to try something.”
I nod and he turns around. The moment Betsy’s head isn’t facing my direction anymore, she stops moving almost completely. Then he turns around again and the entire thing starts all over again. Struggling to break free, biting motions and all that.
“It’s you,” Brutus sounds almost amused as he says that. I put my hand on my chest. “I’m what?”
“No idea, but every time I turn towards you, she freaks out. Look,” he turns his back on me.
“Calm.”
Then he turns the beast towards me again, and she starts trashing around. “Crazy,” he says with a smile.
He does the entire thing a few times more, like a child who just got a new toy to play with. I’ve just about had it, around the third time, so I scowl and snap at him: “Stop messing around and take her to the stables, you giant baby.”
He stops with his back turned towards me. I cross my arms over my chest and wait. He glances at me over his shoulder, grumbles something and starts walking.
Brutus took biting Betsy into a separate stable, just in case, there, where we usually put the sheep when they’re giving birth. Then he locked up, and we went back home.
Now I’m lying in bed, my eyes wide open, not the least bit tired. Today was such an odd day. First the colorless guy who tried to kill me, I think that’s what he was trying to do, at least; and then, Betsy.
I always knew that Betsy doesn’t like me, just not to this extent. But what actually bothers me the most is that Brutus is right. She seemed to react to me because of something specific. She was aggressively trying to get out of Brutus’ hold and to me. A shiver runs down my spine. I decide to stop thinking about it and try to fall asleep. I lie down and close my eyes.
That man is standing in front of me, mouth wide open. He wants to tell me something, but no sound comes out. I take a few steps backwards, but walk straight into a wall. I turn around and see that there actually isn’t any wall, but something’s keeping me from going further. He’s closer now, he extends his arm and grabs me, shakes me. I try to get out, but his hold is strong. His face keeps coming closer, I can already feel his breath. Then he says “Arke”.
I wake up, drenched in sweat. Breathing hard, I’m desperately trying to gasp for air. I sit a while on the bed, then decide to get up and leave my room on my tippy-toes. I stop at Brutus’ door, knock quietly and wait for an answer, but nothing happens.
I press my ear to the door and can hear his loud snoring. I sigh, the hard way, then.
I open the door and sneak over to his bed. He’s lying there, peaceful, unaware of what is about to happen to him. I stick a finger into my mouth, smile nervously – “Here goes nothing” – and, without further thought, stab the wet finger into his ear. He jumps awake and I rip my finger out. With wide opened eyes, he starts looking around in alarm until his gaze falls on me. I wave at him. With a loud groan, he flops back onto the bed.
“What the hell do you want,” he says through gritted teeth.
“Well,” I say, sheepishly.
How can I ask him gently if he’ll join me to go meet the man who’d almost killed me? I open my mouth, but he beats me to it.
“Did you have a nightmare?” he asks. I decide not to tell him about it, it’d only worry him, so I shake my head. He smiles.
“Good.” He grabs my arm and tugs me closer. “Then why the hell did you wake me up?!” He snaps. I pull my arm back.
“I wanted to ask if you want to break into the police station with me to talk to the guy we saw this morning!” I say, all in one breath. I’m firm about going and if he doesn’t want to, then I’ll just go on my own. Even if they put me behind bars for breaking and entering, well then I’m rea- “Alright.”
I give him a surprised look.
He just stands up, stretches briefly and starts getting dressed. Then he walks to the door, looks over at me and points outside into the hallway. “Are we going or what?”
I nod fast and walk past him, as quietly and quickly as possible. He stomps after me.
“Never heard of sneaking?” I whisper angrily at him. He just shrugs and opens the front door.
“After you, milady.” I stick my tongue out at him and walk outside into the cold night.
This so-called police station is a house, bigger than the other regular houses, in which the rooms have been changed to resemble cells, so not exactly reliable. Brutus is standing in front of it, hands in his pockets, while I’ve already walked my third round around the building to find an entrance. I sigh loudly as I hopelessly stop next to Brutus. He looks down at me and lifts a questioning eyebrow. I shake my head, deflated. There is no entrance that wouldn’t involve climbing or breaking a window, and I’m neither a good climber, nor do I have the required strength to break a window.
Brutus is a giant who already struggles dragging himself up ladders, if he were to break a window, he’d just make too much noise.
I watch him walk to the door. He looks at it for a quite a while, as if studying it. Then he lifts his hands, cracks every single one of his knuckles, and holds up a small bundle of keys.
My mouth’s hanging wide open now.
After he’s chosen a key out of the bundle, he puts it into the lock, turns it a few times, opens the door and walks in.
I stand there, glued to the spot, until I stomp angrily after him.
“You had a key?! When were you planning on telling me that?!” I yell at him.
He turns round and puts a finger in front of his mouth, to tell me I should be quiet. I slap his hand away.
“I walked around this damned building three times! Like an idiot! And you had a key!” I keep shouting. He rolls his eyes.
“You didn’t ask.”
He can’t be serious?! I close my eyes and take a deep breath. I have to calm down, I know what he’s like, I shouldn’t have expected anything else. Still, I start pouting because that always works.
“You should have told me though…” I say, while looking down at the floor. I hear him sigh and can’t stop myself from smiling. I knew it, pouting works all the time.
“Next time, I’ll make sure to tell you after the second time you walk around the house,” he says softly and pats my head. Not what I wanted, but he did apologize. Alright, moving on. We need to find that man’s cell.
I motion to Brutus to walk ahead, and he does. There’s a long corridor in front of us, with five cells on each side. Brutus stops at the last one on the right.
“Here he is,” he says calmly. I’m starting to think I’m the only one who’s really agitated here.
“And?” I ask nervously. “How’s he reacting?”
Brutus shakes his head. “Not.”
I take a deep breath to calm down – “I’m coming over now” – and start walking. My heart beats louder with each step I take. Brutus watches me move at the pace of a snail. I’ve never been this scared in my entire life. I don’t know why either, he’s behind bars and, worse comes to worst, Brutus is here. I’d love to just turn around and just go back home, but something keeps pulling me in, as if calling out for me, begging me to come closer.
When I’m finally standing in front of the cell, I turn around to look at the man who robbed me of my sleep and took me all the way here. He’s sitting on the floor, his arms and legs chained out of worry he might lose control again. His head is hanging low.
“What do you want to do now?” Brutus’ voice rips me out of my thoughts. I look up at him and answer as honestly as I can: “No idea.”
We both turn towards the man. I pull myself together and tap on the metal separating us.
“Excuse me?” The moment he hears my voice, his entire frame jolts violently. He lifts his head and looks at me with his colorless eyes. Someone covered his mouth. I startle and grab Brutus’ hand.
“Do you want to go back home?” he asks. I shake my head.
“I want to go inside to him,” I say, very quietly. Brutus grabs my arm and spins me around. “Have you completely lost your mind?”
I shrug. “Probably.”
He runs one of his hands over his face. “Alright.” He pushes me to the side and opens the cell door.
“Could you take the tape off his mouth?” He looks at me with widened eyes, groans loudly, and does what I asked him to do.
Now I’m standing in front of the colorless man.
His mouth is wide open, as if he was screaming, but no actual sound is coming out of it.
Brutus is standing by the door, still close enough, though, should something happen.
The man starts tugging at the chains with all his might, looking at me with pleading eyes.
“This is gonna sound weird, maybe, but,” I start, turning towards Brutus to make sure he’s still there. He’s leaning against the door, relaxed. Good. I turn back towards the man.
“But I saw you in a dream, and you told me something,” I continue. He doesn’t react. “You said ‘Arke’ to me. What is that?”
He looks directly into my eyes and croaks out one word: “Traitor.”
I shoot a surprised look at Brutus, he only shrugs. That man’s seriously difficult to catch off guard.
“What do you mean by that?” I ask.
“She’s a traitor! And she’s going to take revenge on all those who damned her!” he manages to groan out. Speaking seems to be a difficult task for him, but I need to know more.
“What’s that got to do with me?” I ask, insecure. But he can’t answer me. His eyes roll back and he starts screaming.
“Chrysopteros!” he shrieks. “What does that mean?” I ask, confused. “Chrysopteros,” he repeats, more energetically.
“I don’t know what you mean!” I say, growing desperate. I feel Brutus grabbing my arm.
“Let’s go.” I shake my head. “Molly,” he calls me again.
I turn towards Brutus, to talk back, but then he says it again. “Chrysopteros,” he keeps repeating it, more and more and more, “Chrysopteros, Chrysopteros, Chrysopteros.” I cover my ears with my hands. “Molly!” Brutus shouts, but my head is throbbing and all I can hear is the voice of the man, growing louder and stronger. I keep my ears covered, hoping that would drown his voice out.
“Chrysopteros!” his voice keeps growing shriller. Brutus, who’s still holding my arm, shakes me to get my attention. I can hear him calling me, but the man’s screaming drowns everything else out, even my thoughts. “Chrysopteros! Chrysopteros! Chrysopteros!”
I can’t do this any longer.
“STOP!” I scream.
My voice echoes throughout the entire cell and things settle down. When I open my eyes, I see how the man throw his head back. Disgusting noises start leaving his mouth, and his body starts swelling before my eyes. The sounds coming out of him are awful, I can hear his skin stretching, like leather being pulled too taut. I just want to leave now, but my legs won’t move.
And then it happens.
With a loud bang and, much like a balloon, his body explodes in a thousand pieces. I cover my face with my hands and shut my eyes as tightly as possible. My legs give out beneath me and I drop to the floor.
“Molly! For goodness’ sake, are you alright?” Brutus rushes towards me. I must look horrible because Brutus’ face turns awfully pale. I look down at my hands, that I’d used to shield myself with, and expect to see blood or pieces of skin attached to them, but instead they’re entirely covered in… “Color?” I say.
I look at Brutus. He’s making a face as if he’s about to throw up any second now. I look over his shoulder. The entire room looks as if a rainbow had blown up in it. I can feel Brutus clean my cheek with the hem of his shirt, but his hands are shaking. I look at him and notice how upset he looks.
“Everything alright?” I ask him. His gaze snaps up. “Everything alright?! You’re asking me if everything’s alright?!” he snaps.
“A man just exploded in front of my eyes and my sister is covered in blood! No, nothing’s okay!”
I give him a confused look.
Blood? I can’t see any blood. I look down at my hands again. Yes, that’s definitely color. But why can’t he see it? I’m ripped out of my thoughts by a sound coming from the front door. I hold my breath. Someone just walked into the station, and they will most definitely not like what they’re about to see.
“We’re fucked.”
