My Brother's Keeper
Chapter 23: The Battle of the Year

I look at Pax, knowing full well there’s guilt written on my face. I had thought my dad and Karen had kept the secret of my mother’s death from him. I want to be covered in mystery and not diluted to a criminal mastermind who murdered her mother in cold blood. However, it was just the aftermath of my mother’s death. Odile had done the deed, Lenny had carried out the disposal, and I had been released from my mirrored prison to help hide the awful truth of what my sister had done. Lenny took the blame, and like the pawn he was, he accepted his fate and took that lethal injection as if he deserved it.

Lenny wasn’t a monster. I’m not innocent of any crime, and Odile is still trying to rule the world from her prison created by our mother to spread the murder and mayhem to the people of Coscoroba because they had betrayed her and her family. In my mother’s evil mind, I’m the light to her otherwise darkened rule. She closed the borders, locked the door, and waited for them to die. Was her murder something that should have been prevented? No, I believe it was part of a grand plan to force Pax into the open. They didn’t count on me being the opposite of everything they tried to break.

So why does Odile want the borders reopened and the gates unlocked? To go home to a land where she can use her magic? I’m going to open those gates to stare Odile in the face. I will open the borders no matter how many hearts I need to sacrifice to a faceless god. People will go home and forget the city exists, and my brother, my perfect little brother? He’s going to sit on that throne. Nobody is going to knock him off it. Not anyone from Eider or Merganser, nobody from Graylag or Gadwall. Things will be as before the Swan Queen committed her spirit to the heavens above.

So, I stand in the worn-down hospital room with its splitting walls and lumpy mattress. My brother is staring at me, awaiting an answer, and all I have is a sigh and a shrug. What can I say that he hasn’t already concluded on his own?

“I didn’t kill her,” I state as calmly as I can muster.

I can hear the pattering of tiny feet outside the door and know the little blue creatures are looking for us. There’s no time to explain to Pax about Odile and my mother. We must move fast. Nurse Patterson has just begun to chase us down on her turf. I have two hours before my rendezvous with Preston; Odile will likely sell me out to get to the door on her own if I’m not there.

“We’ve got to go,” I tell my brother.

“Where? I’m pretty sure we’re trapped.” Pax looks at the door.

He could hear them, too—the childlike archers with their orange eyes and youthful giggles.

“I can feel her. We’re close.” I race to the door and open it slowly. Peeking to the left and right, I replace the hallway empty.

“Which way?” Pax whispers.

I feel a tingle. It starts faintly and then intensifies. At first, I think Pax has tapped into some of his unknown magic, but when I open my eyes, I replace it’s my own.

A faint white light appears ahead of me. It’s misty and shimmering.

I point in the light’s direction, motioning for us to move in its direction. I have no idea what’s around the corner. I know we need to get from where we were to where the light was without getting caught.

We make it to the end of the corridor and outside the double doors that lead to the surgical wards and nurses’ offices. I know we’ve only just passed level one of our plans, and now we’re stepping into a land of multiple weapons and storage. Could this be where they’re keeping my magic?

“Now what?” Pax whispers as I try to push through the double doors and replace them locked.

“We need to go in there.” I point at the doors and pace.

Pax places his hand over the crack in the door and pushes it open as if it was never locked. I stand back while he enters, primarily out of shock rather than fear. A nagging voice tells me Pax’s magic rivals my mother’s. It’s protection for him.

I may be the key to opening the door, but he’s the key to saving the kingdom. Who would have thought our connection would be so assertive?

“Are you coming?” my brother asks, looking back at me.

I don’t need him walking into the unknown, so I suck in some air and take the front point while he spins, looking up into the rafters.

“Do fairies exist?” Pax asks after a few minutes of nothing.

“I’m sure everything exists: fairies, elves, gnomes, trolls, all that stuff,” I reply, glancing around the corner into another hallway.

I had expected an onslaught of attacks from the surgical wards but now replace it odd none are inhabited; they’ve even been cleaned out with no weapons left behind. Someone had put a lot of thought into how they would safeguard the asylum.

“Trolls?” My brother laughs.

Pax’s video games are always a fantasy. It’ll give him some delight to know the characters he has in his video games are, in fact, part of the world he’ll rule. Do I know this for sure? No! Unlike Odile, who has plenty, I have no memories of the kingdom.

“Would you expect anything less?” I turn my head just as an ax flies past me and sticks into the wall.

I hear Pax yelp, and I go into a panic. Racing toward my brother, I replace only his clothing is slit.

“What the hell was that?” he asks as I pull him into a dark corner to see what might come from the other hallway.

“That was an ax,” I reply, inspecting his arm one last time.

“An ax? Who throws an ax?” He’s freaking out, and rightfully so. It’s one thing to go against two dozen blue archers. It’s another to go against a faceless creature who throws axes.

“Axmen?” I say with a shrug.

Pax chuckles darkly as I look around from our hiding spot.

At first, my eyes are playing tricks on me. From floor to ceiling is ten feet, and this massive creature takes up all the space between. In one hand is a large ax, and in another, a small one that I’m sure he plans to throw at us when he gets close enough. He’s covered in hair from head to toe and wears a brown tunic that shields his anatomy’s scarier parts. His eyes are the size of my head and as blue as the sky, and his mouth has rows of sharpened teeth, ones gnashing and drooling on the floor below.

What the hell is being kept in Eider?!

“Come out, little girl,” the creature coos in perfect English.

I glance at Pax as his eyes go wide.

“What is that?” he mouths.

My response is a mere shrug. I push him back against the closest wall and put my body in front of his. If the creatures got one of us, I would prefer it be me. Pax has a life to live and a kingdom to run. Now that she’s relatively solid, Odile could take over the killing spree and open the gates.

My vision sharpens, and my muscles convulse under my skin. Pax places his hand on my arm, and it all goes to hell.

With the blue archers, Pax’s touch had been a barrier. With the giant beast of burden, it’s different; think combative arts on the moon. Its swirling, spinning terror flying and snatching the ax from the wall, slicing the creature at the knees, forcing him to fall, and then finally slicing the long blade of the iron across the creature’s supple neck, all as it cries my sister’s name and prays to be spared.

“Your blood will sanctify the earth at my feet,” I whisper into its ear as it slowly fades and morphs back into the man it had once been.

I’m soaked with the creature’s blood from head to toe. My anger percolates hot under the surface. My brother stares at me as if I’ve lost my mind. I had played it safe and almost got the most essential being in my life killed. I grab the large ax from the floor next to the remains of the creature’s shell.

I had not known him, but he had known my sister. He may not deserve to die, but anyone who feels Irene Patterson deserves to sit on the throne is out of their mind.

“You coming?” I ask Pax as I rub the blood from my face.

He nods.

Grabbing him with my free hand, I pull him down the hallway as I drag the enormous weapon to my side. My adrenaline is pumping, and whatever strength I have inside of me is surging. I know beyond the surgical corridor is the nurse’s office, and I’m sure she’s sitting smugly in her chair, watching me as I walk down every hallway to replace her.

“I’m going to kill her,” I breathe, stomping down the corridor.

No more looking, no more preparing. If something’s going to come for me — “COME AND GET ME BITCH!” I yell at the top of my lungs.

My voice echoes down the hallway, and the walls practically quake in fear.

I lose Pax somewhere between the dead monster and the office area. Something told me the state of things had taken a toll on him, and he needed a moment to decompress. It isn’t his job to extract the hearts of the heirs. It’s mine.

I have my fair share of concerns, but I am on a mission. It’s one thing to attack me, and it’s another to attack my brother. I’m vengeful and simply pissed. I make it halfway down the next hallway before another group of childlike archers fire at me from the doorways of abandoned rooms. With the swipe of the ax, I decapitate a good number of them, their blue blood oozing onto the floor. The ones spared run in fear. They must have been told I was an easy target, the young Sloan girl with PTSD.

I come upon a line of Elven swordsmen when I see Nurse Patterson standing on the mezzanine above. Her uniform is smeared with red, her face pale and angry. She looks like she’s been waiting for this day her whole life.

“I will be damned if I lose my family’s share of the kingdom to one of the Sloan twins,” she snarled. “The house of Merganser has far more to offer than the house of Coscoroba.”

I laugh loudly. “You are the blood of both houses.”

Nurse Patterson’s lips turn up into a twisted smile. “My sister, yes. Me? Let me let you in on a secret.” She leans over the railing and points at me.

“What could you say that I don’t already know?” I raise an eyebrow.

“Your mother was onto it with her journaling. She thought Karen was the stronger of the two, but I’m all Merganser. My father was my mother’s cousin. I was born before Siegfried’s despicable brother married my mother.” Her eyes twinkle.

My mother had not marked Karen off the list because of Pax. She marked her off because her bloodline is diluted, whereas her sisters aren’t. This means more to me than she could ever know.

“That explains so much,” I mumble.

She snarls, “What do you mean?”

“You always knew who I was. You knew if you broke Odile, you would get your hands on the key, and I’m standing right here.” I chuckle. “The question is why you thought you could open the gates.”

Nurse Patterson’s irate expression sends a thrill through my core.

“My mother was queen, and I belong on that throne!” she screams.

I let out a little laugh and narrowed my eyes. “No, you belong underground.”

I watched her face contort and twist. For a moment, a painful expression passed through her eyes.

“I spent so long trying to do things the right way. Then your sister had to go off and kill my lover. Not that he didn’t deserve it by how he treated her. Then Doctor Stuart came in and let you leave! He let you, the key, walk out the door. His reason? It wasn’t time!” She threw her hands in the air. “I bided my time. I waited because I knew you would be back. You would want answers because we had erased every bit of your memory. You barely knew your name when your father came to get you.”

“Is that why I was kept here?” I look at the line of warriors standing before me.

“We knew if we opened the door, I could take Coscoroba for the Merganser clan. All we needed was you,” Nurse Patterson says wickedly.

I scoff. “Looks like the tables have turned.”

“Yeah, I’m not so sure about that. The difference between the others and me is I’ve had quite a few more years to make alliances. Working here with all the creatures who couldn’t cut it out there, I have a following. Something Doctor Stuart frowns upon, but even the Eider family has their fair share of allies.” Nurse Patterson was rambling. So much so she hadn’t noticed Pax sneaking up behind her.

I know I need to keep her talking. Something told me he had a plan. I didn’t know what it was because, unlike Odiel and I, Pax couldn’t read my mind, nor could I read his. Whatever he had up his sleeve, I had to pray he came out on top.

“How were you planning on doing it? Karen wouldn’t have done much if you had the stronger bloodline.” I tighten my grip on the ax, knowing the moment Pax reaches Nurse Patterson, the Elven guard will be on me in seconds.

As she said, the Eider family has allies of their own.

“Karen’s blood would have been strong, but it’s not hers I would have used.” Nurse Patterson’s expression turns cold.

I take a moment to understand what she’s saying. Her plan isn’t to kill her sister but to murder her teenage nephew. Pax’s enemies are even woven into his own family. I had hoped a tiny sliver of Nurse Patterson had empathy, but there’s nothing left. She feels nothing toward him, so I feel no compassion for the fate she’s about to face.

I didn’t think Pax had it in him, but as he had proven upon arrival at Eider, he’ll do anything to protect me, as I’ll do anything to do the same for him. Then, as I’m about to rejoice at the end of a very long standoff, Nurse Patterson reaches out and grabs my brother around the throat.

“You think I am so stupid!” she screams, holding him tighter.

Fear sears through me as he chokes.

“Let him go!” I plead, throwing the ax overhand.

Remember a few days earlier when I pushed the guy through the wall for calling me Odile? Well, that same strength has come into play, and the large ax flies straight toward Nurse Patterson’s head. At first, I think I’ve missed, but once the blade makes contact, Pax’s body is tossed over the side of the mezzanine and into the crowd of onlookers. The Elven warriors quickly drop their weapons and catch my brother before he hits the concrete below.

Everything is moving in slow motion because as soon as the warriors catch my brother, the ax blade catches Nurse Patterson right between the eyes, spraying blood against the wall and slitting her head down the middle.

“Shit,” I groan, throwing my bag on the ground and pulling out an empty jar and the thermos.

Nothing will be left to offer the reservoir below the asylum if I don’t hurry. Pax is in excellent hands. At least it appears he is as the Elven clan circles him, checking for cuts and bruises.