Chapter 3
The End

Days were passing and my talents were getting better and better, at least it was what my parents told me. My dreams were getting more horrifying every night. I was starting to worry, but it wasn’t the right time to complain about my dreams.
Everything was going alright till one of my lessons. It was nearly the end of my lesson. Mr. Toemerk had explained the principles of talking to animals. Apparently there were many different details about communicating with animals. We hadn’t practiced yet but I had learned the theoretical information.
Mr. Toemerk was a little anxious that lesson.  I checked his mind but he was thinking about a novel, he was trying to hide something from me. I learned what he was trying to hide at the end of our lesson.
-You see Lilith; I don’t want you to worry at all. I mean there is nothing to be worried about; I can’t really understand why your father wants you to know about all these things but he wants you to, so I have to tell you. I must repeat I don’t want you to worry!
-What is it Mr. Toemerk?
-A long time ago, it was long before you were born, there was a little conflict between some groups. They fought, many were killed, and even more were injured. So that group I was talking about decided to hide. They hid in the depths of our earth. After those incidents, a council was gathered. They put some rules for all the creatures. The council included representatives of human race, witches, elves, magical creatures and dark world. But the representatives of the dark world disappeared after the first council meeting. Everyone assumed they were gone forever. That was our fault; we were so obsessed with them that we wanted them to disappear. Apparently they are back and they are angry, they want their land. Our world is not enough for all of us. There might be a new war, but we are not going to take any part in it. We are not going to fight with them. You don’t have to worry about it at all.
-I never read anything about a dark world in the Big Book of Rules.
-I told you we wanted to forget them. We assumed they were gone forever! So we didn’t want to scare the next generations coming.
-Is the war going to be big?
-No, I don’t think so. You see, dark world as we name them is not a confederation or anything of that kind. They can not even live together with each other without killing each other. They are vicious and wild creatures. We believe their roots go back to ancient humans.
-So they fight with each other, they also fight with the rest of the races?
-No, not exactly. They are divided inside. They have got their own gatherings we may call tribes. Not all of them want to fight. Some of the tribes just fight to survive.
Our conversation ended there. Mr. Toemerk didn’t want to explain any more. He already believed it was unnecessary to even inform me about the possible war. I wasn’t worried about the war at all. I didn’t believe any creature could be that vicious and deadly. There must have been exaggerations about them.
Dinner passed quietly. My parents and Toemerks were trying to ignore possibility of a war. They weren’t going to fight, so they didn’t care about anything else. I wasn’t that sure about it. I felt something twist in me when I thought about the possible war.
I excused myself in the middle of my meal. I wasn’t feeling hungry. I went upstairs to my room. What if a war broke out? What if we had to fight for our lives too? What would we do? How would we even fight? I had never seen my parents fight. Perhaps I was being silly; Mr. Toemerk had said that we wouldn’t fight no matter how bad the things went out there. He was sure the war wouldn’t touch us. What about my grandparents? Would they fight? They were a little old, but they were witches so they could fight. I didn’t want to think about it, I wanted it out of my head, but that wasn’t going to happen. My mind wouldn’t let it go.
I tried to sleep. At first it didn’t really work, my mind didn’t want to sleep then sleep came to me gradually making me forget about the war and the upcoming days.
Next morning I woke up with an awful pain. My lungs were burning. It felt as if someone was stabbing me. I couldn’t get up. Pain was too much. It wasn’t anything like the last time. I felt worse, my lungs were burning. I tried not to inhale but that didn’t work I needed air too much that I couldn’t give up breathing. I stayed in bed.
My mother came after half an hour. She looked worried. She hadn’t seen me stay in bed this late since I was a little child.
-Lilith what is wrong? Are you alright? Are you sick?
-My lungs hurt. They are burning mother.
-What? Your lungs, what do you mean your lungs hurt?
-They are burning. It hurts more when I inhale.
-Lilith I want you to relax, I am going to bring you something and you are going to drink it. Perhaps it will help.
-Yes, mother.
She stormed out of the room. Ms. Toemerk came in just after my mother had left. She looked calmer, much more than my mother at least. She always had been a cold figure. She didn’t like to worry about things.
-Lilith, when did your lungs start to hurt?
-This morning.
-I see. Does any part of your body other than your lungs hurt?
-No.
-You will be better after drinking it.
My mother came back with a bottle in her hand. She had one of her crystal glasses with her. She poured some of that thing in the bottle to the glass and handed it to me. That liquid seemed odd, it had a brownish color and it smelled like wood.
-Drink it Lilith. It might help the pain ease.
-What is it? It smells like wood.
-Just drink it will you?
I drank the liquid. It tasted like wood too.
-I don’t understand it. You shouldn’t be sick. This is not normal. Did you have anything that is different than what you usually eat?
-No.
-I don’t see the reason why you should feel this way. It is not normal. No it isn’t anything like normal. It is not even abnormal it is totally silly.
My mother was talking to herself more than talking to me. So I left her talking to herself, she started to whisper. I turned my head the other way and tried to imagine the previous day when I wasn’t feeling this bad.
I must have fallen asleep again. When I opened my eyes I saw Ms. Toemerk standing at the exact place she had stood when she first entered my room. She was looking at me.
-Good morning Lilith. How are your lungs?
She was right, how were my lungs? I looked for the pain but it was gone. There was a slight ache in my throat but it wasn’t something to be worried about.
-Its gone, my lungs are not burning any more.
-That is good news. I should call your mother. She is in the kitchen trying to prepare something for you to eat. She believes you are hungry.
I didn’t feel hungry at all.
-I am not hungry. Will you also tell her that?
-Actually I told her that. She just didn’t want to listen. I told her you wouldn’t feel hungry. Sheirup makes you feel great and healthy.
-Sheirup, was that what I had to drink?
-Yes that thing you drank is called sheirup. It worked didn’t it?
-I must agree it worked. I must get out of the bed. What time is it?
-No, you are not getting out of your bed. Your mother gave me direct orders to not to let you out of your bed under any circumstance.
- Why is that? I feel good.
- You should persuade your mother.
-You know it is impossible.
-I wouldn’t call it impossible but yes it is a little hard.
I stayed in bed. Ms. Toemerk was right; she couldn’t let me go when my mother had given her direct orders.
My mother came back with a bowl of soup. She looked better.
-How are you darling?
-I am feeling good. My lungs don’t hurt anymore.
-I brought you soup. You should eat something.
-I am not feeling hungry.
-Well if you don’t want to eat it now, you can eat it later.
I didn’t answer her. There was no way I could persuade her.

I rested in my bed for the rest of the day. It was really boring. I decided to sleep.

I had a peaceful sleep. No nightmares came to disturb. Morning came faster than I had expected. I opened my eyes to see Ms. Toemerk sitting at the exact place she had sat yesterday.
-What… Didn’t you…. I mean… didn’t you sleep yesterday?
-No Lilith not really.
-But, why? You could go to bed, I mean I was all right, I told you I felt better.
-Yes, that is true. I didn’t feel like sleeping yesterday.
-I see. That really makes sense.
-Yes it does. I believe you would like to change.
She didn’t wait for an answer to leave the room. The door closed with a little thud after her. I guess I wasn’t the only one in the whole family to accidentally shut all the doors with simple and unconscious thoughts.
I dressed quickly, choosing a much colorful dress to state how healthy I was. I hoped it would work. These a few days were critical; my mother would be watching me closely.
I found the dining room empty. Where were they? It was too early for anything except a good breakfast. I went to kitchen to ask Nanny Margaret. Claire was sitting by the fireplace. She looked a little tired.
-Good morning Claire.
-Good morning Miss Lilith.
-Have you seen my parents?
-No I haven’t seen your parents Miss Lilith. Perhaps they are not awake?
-I don’t think so. Anyway, are you all right? You look a little tired.
-I am all right, just a tough night. Nightmares have been disturbing me for a couple of nights.
-Oh, I see. I should check the gardens; they might have taken a walk.
I left Claire by the fireplace to look for my parents in the room, under the building. It was a sunny day.
I climbed down the stairs, passed the corridor and found my parents sitting by the huge round table. They were arguing again. Ms. Toemerk had a small rock in front of her. Rock glowed. Yellow light had lit her face. She looked older with the light of the glowing rock.
-Good morning darling.
-Good morning mother. What are you arguing about?
-Nothing really special we are just going over the news.
-What news?
“Nothing you should really be interested in Lilith” said Ms. Toemerk. She sounded colder than usual, if that was possible.
I wondered if she always had been this cold. I started to think about something else before anyone caught my thoughts about Ms. Toemerk.
I went back to the main house. Nanny Margaret was in the kitchen this time. She wished me a good day and prepared something for the two of us to eat. Apparently we were the only ones hungry in the house.
Day passed quietly, with my parents in the chamber, underground. I read a book in the library for the rest of the afternoon.
It was almost 6 o’clock when I went back to kitchen to see if there would be dinner tonight. Nanny Margaret was slicing a loaf of bread.
-Hello, there.
-Ooh, Lilith you scared me. You must be hungry.
-I am not really hungry actually.
-Your mother said they weren’t going to eat.
-I am not hungry either so I should go then.
I went upstairs. Life was changing around here. It had started with my 16th birthday and now there were new complications. I didn’t like complications; I liked my life more without any kind of complications. My parents were acting strange. They were trying to keep something from me, that was obvious but what they were trying to keep was still a secret. I wasn’t even sure if I wanted to learn what they were hiding. I knew deep inside me that what the big secret was it was indeed evil.
The world I lived in was different it was closed. I found out how little time I had spent outside these fences. I had been kept inside. How little I knew about the life outside! I didn’t know many people too. I never wanted to either. I never asked for a change of air. I was happy with the things were. I had read about balls and gatherings, people dancing in beautiful ballrooms till dawn. I didn’t want any of that life, I had been happy with my own life. It had been a simple life. I hadn’t attended balls or danced till dawn but I had a satisfying life.
My mother had made me learn all the ballroom dances, etiquette rules of the castles and palaces. I had even learned French, read all the popular books but all those things were done as an obligation. I had to learn French and read all the popular books, because the time we lived in required such intelligence, but I wasn’t interested in any of them.
Perhaps there was something wrong with me. That, I wasn’t going to change.  I was happy and that was what mattered.
Sleep came slowly that night, but it laid heavily on me. Doing nothing must have been tiring. I fell asleep.
Night passed without any of my famous nightmares and morning came. Morning was much more horrible than the nightmares in those long nights. I was feeling worse. My lungs were burning even more, my limbs were numb and I had an awful headache. I felt tired and sick, besides the pain. Something was coming and it wasn’t a good thing.