Beloved: Memoir of a Phantom

Chapter 20 - Escape

   CHAPTER 20

                Escape

By morning Mari had forgotten everything about Argyllis’s visit and of our plans to break out; leaving all of the details to be worked out until her failing memory finally returned two days later. In that time I’d carefully calculated an escape route out of the institution and with Argyllis’s help, plotted the best route to get to DeLuna National Park and to where his people were hiding.

I was having trouble sleeping yet again the night before we were to put our plan into action, and I had just finished working out the fine details. Under any other circumstances I should have fallen into an exhausted sleep, but I was so nervous about everything I couldn’t help but stay awake.

I sat on the edge of my bed watching heavy snowflakes flutter past my window and contemplating how I was going to hide what I was about to do from Sean when I met with him in the morning. All he would have to do was look at my face and he would know I was hiding something from him. Then there was the part of me that had grown fond of the good doctor and didn’t want to part with him. Thanks to him I was finally able to stop blaming myself for everyone I care about abandoning me; at least I was starting to. I always fabricated better results for him than what was actually happening with me.

Argyllis sat cross-legged upon the surface of my desk, perusing my drawn out escape maps. I heaved a heavy sigh from where I sat at the window, drawing his attention.

“You need to sleep, If you like I could play for you again.” He offered, pulling the ornate wood flute from his belt.

I smiled “Thank you, I would really appreciate it. I’ve just had so much on my mind these past few days.”

He nodded in reply and began to play a different song, a slow soulful lullaby unlike anything I’d ever heard before.

I stretched out on the bed and listened to the highs and lows of the haunting ballad, until it reached its final mournful note.

I smiled at him again. “That was beautiful. Thank you.”

He glanced down at the wooden instrument he held in his fingers and smiled at some long lost memory.

I haven’t played that song in years; it was the very first one my mother had taught me.”

“You learned to play from your mother? That’s sweet, she must really miss you.” I said kindly.

He shook his head slowly, resting on the edge of the bed beside me. “No. She passed on a long time ago, when I was only 118. The flute is really the only thing I have to remember her by.” His large violet eyes seemed to quiver as he looked down again at the flute he held in his fingers.

He must have been blessed with longevity or was a timeless immortal like Gabriel was. God I missed Gabriel.

“So how old were you before you…” I trailed off into a big yawn before I could bring up his death, which I knew was probably still a touchy issue.

“I was 498 years old when the purifiers invaded our land and I was captured. I was the youngest guardian to ever hold the position, but perhaps I was the most foolish as well.” He concluded.

I was astounded. “How old are the elders then?”

He smiled. “Baramius passed at the age of 2011 and he was our eldest. The other elders are close, but not quite to his age yet.”

“Wow.”

“Ye’ll meet them all soon enough and I know they are all eager to meet you. We’ve heard tell of the eighth seer for many moons.”