Episode 28: Leader of the Caelum (Delaney)

Delaney sat on her pouf and thumbed her way through the novel Les Miserables which she held in her hand.  She found the quote she sought: ‘There is always more misery among the lower classes than there is humanity in the higher.’

“Delaney,” Leonora said from the hall.  Delaney slid the book under her dressing table and nudged it with her foot.  “We have to get going.  Now.”

“Ok-ay,” Delaney said in a sing-song voice.  Just like she’d pretended not to care about her activation day, she wanted to come off like today really mattered. It kept Leonora guessing about her priorities. “I’m just doing my hair again.  I want it to be perfect.”

Leonora scowled in the doorway and studied her nails.  “You have two minutes, Delaney.” She turned and went down the stairs.

Delaney looked at herself in the mirror.  She’d gotten a red tweed business suit for it.  Even though the red color suited her face, the tweed, the length, the cut…she looked awful.  Nothing like herself.  She’d done her hair up in a bun, too, when she usually always wore it down.

Today, she was meeting the community leaders. That was a euphemism for the killers who ran the worldwide cult that Leonora belonged to.

The cult Delaney refused to join.

Leonora had been so mad at her this morning, when she’d taken too long to get dressed, that she’d locked Kyori in the basement as a punishment. Originally their meeting was for this morning, but the cult leaders had generously moved it back to the afternoon.

Delaney looked at herself in the mirror again – wavy cornsilk hair, eyes the color of a placid lake.  This might be the last time she looked at herself as herself, and not as a cult member.  If she joined, she’d never be the same again.

She went downstairs.  It had been longer than two minutes, but all Leonora said was, “I expect your behavior to be flawless.

Delaney gave her a cool look.  “I’m not sure if I look nice enough.  This is a big deal.”

“It’s that,” Leonora said with an icy smile of her own, “or presenting yourself naturally.”

Honestly, Delaney couldn’t think of a better up-yours than arriving at the meeting naked. She wished she’d thought of that.

The driver opened the car door.  Leonora slid into the sleek silver machine.

“Maybe I should change into my lilac sweater,” Delaney mused. “This one is too clingy.”

“Get in,” Leonora ordered.

Delaney wandered toward the front steps of the house.  “Five more minutes.  I need to wear different earrings too.”

“Delaney.” Leonora snapped.

She fought the temptation to laugh.  It wasn’t the first time she’d goaded Leonora like this, but somehow she always fell for it.

She sighed theatrically.  “Fine, but you can’t be mad at me if they don’t approve of my outfit.”

  She got in the car and faced forward.

“You’re an impossible child,” her mother told her.

“If I wasn’t possible, I wouldn’t exist,” she said in a lofty voice.

Leonora faced the window so Delaney couldn’t see her expression, but she heard her mutter, “Wouldn’t that be a relief.”

Delaney crossed her arms and slouched against the leather interior of the car.  She wondered why society expected her to feel a connection to a mother who didn’t want her.  She wondered why her mother had decided to have her in the first place, because there had not been one day out of all Delaney’s memories where she’d felt as though Leonora was happy to have her around.
She was going to cry if she thought about this too much, and Kyori would mock her poor-little Delaney feelings, so she pulled her hair out of its bun and goaded Leonora some more.  “The air conditioner is messing with my hair.”

Leonora pressed a button that connected to the driver.  “Turn the air down.  Delaney needs a more natural atmosphere.”

Delaney paced herself.  She watched elaborate house after intricate mansion pass by the window, as they climbed higher onto the cliff of the peninsula.

After what she estimated had been three minutes, she flipped her hair again.  “Why is it so hot in here!”

“Delaney,” Leonora said.  She angled her face toward her and put her hand on Delaney’s knee.  Delaney would have thought the act was calculating, but Leonora wasn’t that smart.  It was possible she meant to comfort her. “It’s perfectly natural to feel this way.  When you pledge your allegiance to the cult today, you will finally be part of the family.”

Delaney felt like the car had just plummeted down a steep hill.  Or maybe into a sinkhole. “What allegiance?  I’m not joining!”

“They can be very persuasive.”

“Forceful, you mean,” Delaney countered.  There was nothing except strapping her into a straightjacket and forcing the joining potion down her throat with a syringe, that would compel Delaney to join.

“It’s for your future,” Leonora explained.  

The car stopped at a gated driveway.  Delaney heard the muffled sounds of the driver talking to someone – probably a guard – before the car eased its way up the steep driveway.

“They have travelled a very long way to meet you,” Leonora added.

They crested the hill to a cobblestone yard with fountains and statues. The car coasted around the largest of the fountains, which had a statue of The Dame, the founder of the elite cult Leonora and these people belonged to.  An outsider would have seen a woman with eyes raised skyward, a look of determination on her face.  Anyone raised in the cult culture would recognize that the house was a sanctuary for those who belonged.

“What’s so special about me that they have to ruin my life?” Delaney asked, petulant.

A valet from the house opened Delaney’s door.  Delaney sat and faced the front of the car.  

“After you, Delaney,” Leonora urged.

Delaney clambered out of the car.  She was on one of the highest vistas in Sylem, looking out at the city and the glittering ocean in the distance, but it felt like the deepest and moldiest of dungeons.

“Go on,” Leonora pressed.

“Aren’t you coming?” Delaney asked.

“After you.”

A realization crept up on Delaney, and the hairs on her neck raised themselves to alert: Leonora didn’t want to go ahead of Delaney.  Precedence, in the cult, was based on prestige.

Delaney started the walk toward the front door.  Behind her, she heard the click of Leonora’s heels on the cobblestone path.

The valet held the door of the house open and led them into a sandalwood living room full of soft pinks and oranges.  

She chose a chair with a rigid back, isolated from the other furniture so that she wouldn’t have to share a couch with Leonora.

“She’s paler than I expected,” a commanding male voice accused Leonora.

Delaney peered up through her hair to see a tall, well-sunned man in his late twenties.  Well, he appeared to be in his late twenties.  He could have been hundreds of years old, for all Delaney knew. Blood magic changed everything.

“I agree,” said a regal woman beside him. The two shared a loveseat.  “Very fair,” she turned her attention to Leonora.  “Does she ever get any sun?”

“She needs more,” the man demanded.

“Yes, not enough I agree,” Leonora simpered.  “We’ll arrange more outings.” She turned and looked at Delaney.  “This is Ulysses and Lilla, the leaders of the cult.”

Delaney forced herself to smile at them.  She wondered how many people they’d killed this month, this year…in their lives, even.  She was in the den of the enemy.

The man looked at Delaney.  He had blonde hair that was the color of a soft caramel.  “How do you feel after your activation?” he asked.  He was much gentler with her than he was with Leonora.

“Fine,” she said.

The woman remained poised and regal, with none of the man’s softness.  “Leonora raised a concern that there was an issue you were withholding?”

Delaney straightened in her chair and folded her hands in her lap.  “Why would I withhold an issue?  I want to have a good life.”

“So there’s nothing you’d like to share?” Lilla regarded her with more intelligence than she was used to dealing with.  Clever.  The woman was clever, in a dangerous way.

“She mentioned the possibility that she has two connections as opposed to the expected one,” Leonora offered.

“No I don’t,” Delaney insisted. She wanted to wrap her arms across her chest and hug her own back.

“Have some tea, Delaney,” the man, Ulysses, suggested.

Just like that, Delaney was thirsty. The idea that she wouldn’t be able to drink or eat anything while she was here made her thirst the only thing her mind could focus on.  But what if it was a truth serum? The potion to join the cult?

“How have your studies been?” Lilla asked.  “All excellent grades, but what do you enjoy and where are your strengths?”

Delaney stared at the woman for a moment.  Did she think Delaney was going to share all her strengths and weaknesses? “I like to read,” she answered.

“How do you like magic?”

She shrugged.  “It’s useful.”

“In what area of magical studies do you feel you do the best?” Translation: What can you offer the cult?

Delaney grinned.  She had this.  “I make a really good makeup remover.”

There was a silence.

Delaney felt a tiny bit of triumph surge inside her chest.  She’d have to tell Kyori later, that she’d managed to strike the cult leader dumb.

Lilla took a sip of her drink. She set the cup down on the coaster with a delicate click. “Do you use magic for cleaning in other circumstances?  Or other beauty projects?”

“Yes,” Delaney answered primly. “You asked what I was best at.”

“Yes to which?” Lilla asked.

“Both?” Delaney leaned forward and made her voice eager.  If they thought she was bragging, trying to sound better than she was, they’d discount her.  “I can do any magic in my textbooks.  Even the material for juniors and seniors.”

“What about makeup remover spells do you enjoy?” Lilla asked.

That was a tough question.  They were simple and boring and one of the easiest spells for most girls to master.  “They’re so thorough,” Delaney said vacuously, “and you can see the results.”

“Outside of magic, what else do you enjoy?” Ulysses asked.

“Reading.  Fashion.”

Delaney saw the makings of a smile in Lilla’s eyes.  She suspected the woman was amused by her choice of red tweed.  “And your clothing today?”

“Not my favorite outfit, but I wanted to look professional.” Professional, and inept.

“Next time, wear something you enjoy wearing,” Lilla suggested.  “And why won’t you join our organization, Delaney?”

Delaney dug her fingers into the underside of her chair.  They ripped through the mesh lining and cut into the wood.

“Personal philosophical reasons,” she said.  She saw Leonora’s jaw set, so she added, “But my mom’s a very active and ardent member.”

Lilla hid another laugh.  “What reasons are those?”

“I don’t believe in imbalances of power.”

“If everyone were equal, what would anyone strive for?” Lilla asked.

Delaney felt an unexpected instinct rising within herself; a passion for debating a well-matched opponent. She couldn’t help her response: “That’s a great philosophy, but if everyone was alive there’d be more people to compete with.  Then you’d really know who was the best.”

Lilla leaned forward a bit, like she enjoyed the challenge as much as Delaney did.  “Is not the process of eliminating inferiors proof that they were not best?”

“Maybe we just have different definitions of superior,” Delaney mused.  

“What is yours?”

“Quality of character,” Delaney declared.  A blush flooded her cheeks, but she didn’t care.  This talk was what mattered, and it might be her only chance to tell any of them what she really thought.

“What traits do you measure character by?” Lilla asked.

“I think society should be judged by how it treats its weakest members.  Killing them and forcing them to live in squalor doesn’t strike me as superior, it strikes me as afraid.”

“What have you been teaching her?” Ulysses demanded of Leonora.

Leonora paled.  She pressed her hands into her thighs and kept her voice level but Delaney recognized the fear on her mother’s face.  She wasn’t sure she’d ever seen her have such a strong reaction before.

“Our branch,” Leonora explained, “has had a high demand for energy and has a sharp divide between income classes, perpetuated by a struggle between smaller groups.”

Ulysses looked at Lilla.  “Maybe she needs to live at Headquarters,” he mused.

“You don’t think I’m doing an adequate job?” Leonora trilled.  “She’s impossible.  I’ve done my best.  Sam’s sons attend her school.  She should return for the beginning of the year to meet her partner.”

“There is plenty of opportunity for them to meet with her in a more controlled environment,” Lilla argued.  She took another sip of her drink.

“Who are they?” Delaney asked.

“They?” Lilla responded, with a coy edge.

“Sam’s sons,” Delaney answered.  She was relieved that she wasn’t the kind of person whose hands sook when they were nervous, because it probably would have given her away by now.  “Obviously one of them is important, and there are only so many brothers at that school.”

“Spence and Spaden,” Leonora told her.  “According to their records.  Spaden would be your match.”

Spence and Spaden.  Those heartstrings inside Delaney shifted as images of each of their faces came to mind.  Spence was closed and mysterious, with hair a few shades darker than Spaden. Everything he did was measured and deliberate. Spaden was open and a little goofy, a people-pleaser with a clumsy bear familiar. Delaney couldn’t remember what Spence’s familiar was, so she guessed it must be small like her Onyx.

She tasted a new avenue of possible annoyance for Lilla and Ulysses.  “He wants to be a doctor,” she stated. She watched them, particularly Lilla, for reaction, but Lilla’s face stayed placid.

“He does?” the woman asked.

“Yeah, like his dad.  Saving lives, not taking them.” Delaney smiled.  “Ironic, isn’t it?”

“Who does he believe his dad is?” Lilla asked.

Delaney hesitated.  She didn’t actually know anything about him.  She’d seen him across the parking lot once, with his wife, and again on the last day of school because Spence was in some kind of trouble with the headmaster.

“Some guy,” Delaney said finally.  “He’s tall.  That’s not Sam?” His last name was Lavesque, he was one of the Lavesques that ran the country, although he took more of a background role to his brothers.

“Tell me more about him,” Lilla requested.

Cold fear slithered up Delaney’s spine.  She didn’t know why she felt the urge to lie and say some made-up facts about this guy.  She shook it off.  Lilla would know anyway, so lying would only prove to Lilla that the entire persona Delaney presented here was fake.

“I’ve seen him twice,” she said.  “He’s tall, his wife is short.  Dark hair.”

Lilla left the room.

Delaney looked around as no one spoke.  It unnerved her how normal Ulysses’s face was.  It would be nice if he had an evil moustache or a crooked nose to give him away, but he looked harmless, friendly, even a little familiar.  She wondered if she’d ever seen him somewhere.

He watched her with equal interest.  They regarded each other over the distance between them.  The moral deficiencies he must have separated them more efficiently than a brick wall between them.

Lilla returned to the room with an album full of photographs.  “Is this him? Perhaps twenty years older now.”

Delaney peered at the pictures – there were a few dozen in the album.  In the early ones, he looked lighthearted.  He held an infant in his arms and a happy pride on his face.  But in the later ones, he looked more tired and closed.  Even though he looked nothing like Spence, the expression reminded her of him.

Delaney looked up at Lilla.  “Yeah, I think so.”  She didn’t mention that he hadn’t aged at all since those pictures. That would be admitting victory, that Spence and Spaden’s dad practiced blood magic.

Lilla peered at Delaney across the expanse of carpet.  She smiled, a pleased expression.  “Your brother has been raising your betrothed with fairies.”

All the breath went out of her.

She didn’t know what fairies were, or why she should care.

But the other…She spun her head to face Leonora.  “I have a brother?”

“Leonora is your caregiver.” Ulysses got up out of his seat.  “Your true identity is concealed for your protection.”

“Don’t you think something’s wrong, if I need that much protection?” she asked.

“If anyone knew who you were, the factions would have your body,” Lilla stated, like it was obvious and matter-of-fact.  Practitioners of blood magic could move people around between bodies.  Delaney’s body mattered in some way, but Delaney’s soul didn’t.  

She wasn’t just some unusually smart and talented girl.  She was important enough to be hidden.

Little girls dreamed of waking up one day and being told they were a princess and they’d secretly been adopted by the wrong family.  Everyone knew those stories.

There weren’t any about waking up one day and discovering they were the daughter of the wicked witch.

Somewhere, high up in the cult, were Delaney’s parents.

“Then who are my parents?” She tried to sound disinterested, but she knew her voice gave her away.

“You’ll meet them when you join the community.  Until then it wouldn’t be safe for either of you.”  Ulysses went to the wood-paneled wall and knocked on one of the panels.  

Delaney felt tears sting her eyes, against every ounce of will she had.  This was their persuasion: If you want to meet your family, to find somewhere you truly belong, join.

They dangled her parents like bait in front of her.

“Are you going to join now?” Lilla prodded.  “Or make this process difficult?”

“I need time to think,” Delaney answered.  She saw a shift in Leonora’s expression, a relaxing of her shoulders and forehead. She wondered what it meant.

The valet came into the room pushing a metal luggage rack full of wrapped gifts of various sizes.  The biggest one was at least two feet, cubed.

“They left you a gift, for your birthday,” Lilla said.

“Will you tell them I said thank you?” Delaney asked.  She stared at the packages – there were sixteen of them, one for each year of her life.

“We will.”

“Thank you.”

Lilla studied her.  She looked like there was something else she wanted to say, but at that moment Leonora stood.  “Are you ready to go, Delaney?”

Delaney smoothed her skirt.  “Yes.  It was nice to meet you both.”

If she’d known they held her parents hostage, she wouldn’t have goaded them as much. If there was a way, any way, for her to convince them to let her meet her parents without joining, she had to do it.

She had to do it carefully, so they wouldn’t decide to put someone they liked better in her body.

Ulysses walked over and stood behind his wife, with his hands on her shoulders.  “Keep her away from Babylonian philosophy books,” he ordered Leonora. “I will monitor her reading more carefully,” Leonora promised.  She bounced a little with her steps. Delaney realized she was at least as eager to get out of there as Delaney was.  Who knew, that she and her not-mom would turn out to have this in common.

The valet and rack full of presents led them out to the car.  The driver opened car doors for them while the valet arranged the gifts in the trunk, and then came around and closed the doors.  He stood on the steps and watched as the car pulled around the fountain and down toward the driveway.

“You could act more grateful,” Leonora huffed.  “I’m sure those are very expensive gifts.”

“I am grateful.”

“And you could have been less condescending to the leaders of the organization.  Honestly, Delaney!”

For once, Delaney didn’t feel like goading Leonora.  She felt heavy and sticky from the information she’d learned today.

She was bound to two radically different boys.  She couldn’t marry both of them, which meant she’d have to choose.

She might not ever know her parents.

She might have betrayed her brother – her boyfriends’ step-dad – to the leaders of the cult.

Leonora, for the first time ever, was the least of her problems.

“It was an intellectual challenge to constantly ignore the fact that they’re murderers,” she said at last, but her heart wasn’t really in it.

Leonora must have seen that. Her tone softened.  “You’ll understand someday.  Until then, I expect your behavior to improve.”

“Yes, ma’am,” Delaney muttered.

She reached out with her sense of self, those heartstrings, and caressed her memories of the two boys.  

They were out there somewhere, waiting for her.

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