The Reflection of Piper Chastidy, Sian Webster [good book recommendations txt] 📗

the realm. In the Glass Houses, each citizen would ensure that every Glass in every home on Earth was secured; they would protect their own doppelganger, much like Phae protects you. It was everyone’s job to make sure no one passed through the Glass to the other side, either direction. No one could leave the Desolation for Earth, and no one could leave Earth for the Desolation. Those were the rules. For if people could pass through, the Fragments would then be inclined to pass through and wreak havoc on Earth, for that was what they desired to do to the Desolation. This system worked for centuries. Everyone knew their place. Anyone caught trying to pass through the Glass was executed, and their closest of kin was then assigned to the traitor’s doppelganger.

“But there was a prophecy; in the next century, a special child would be born. It is said that they would be the weapon of mass destruction, the single thing that could defeat the Fragments and take our home back, once and for all. The seventh son of the seventh son. When the Fragments got word of the prophecy, they slew all the fathers of six sons they could find, ensuring none could conceive a seventh. Most were slaughtered, but very few were not. But only one seventh son had the audacity to try for a seventh child. When he succeeded, the Fragments took their anger out on the rest of the world. It was all destroyed. All except this small populace. The Desolation.”

I raised my eyebrows. “But what about the boy? I thought he could save everyone?”

“Yes, but as a mere babe?” Sir Dorian challenged. “There was nothing the boy could do from his mother’s arms, Piper. We were left defenceless, and sixty percent of this world’s population was eradicated. Now it is even harder to protect Earth from the Fragments, each citizen is assigned at least five humans from Earth to defend. Hardly any of the people from your world have doppelgangers anymore. They were all slaughtered, whereas their Earthly counterparts were not.”

“Am I missing something here?” I asked, slightly confused.

Dorian’s brow furrowed. “Whatever do you mean?”

I stared at him like he was an idiot. “What actually happened to the boy? He may not have been able to do anything then, but surely he could do something now, if this all happened forty years ago! Why haven’t you sought him out?”

“The boy was only on record for another eight years, and then he disappeared. We believe any endeavours to seek him out now would be fruitless.” Sir Dorian muttered, looking down at the ornate table before him.

“Why do you say so?” I pressed.

He raised his eyes to mine, glancing at me through his eyelashes. “Piper, it is well in my right for me to believe that the seventh son of a seventh son who went missing thirty-one years ago was your father.”

3. The Daughter of a Seventh Son

 

I didn’t even think before I was on my feet and running from the room. I barely even slowed to force open the carved doors. I heard Dorian call my name, yet I forced my body to keep moving. One foot in front of the other. Left, right, left, right. Inhale. Exhale.

I bounded down the concrete stairs three at a time, careful to keep my balance. I didn’t pause at the base of the steps, nor did I pause as I shouldered open the doors of the Glass House, and slammed into what felt like a solid wall of heat. My lungs begged for oxygen through the humidity. My feet begged for rest as they pounded and pounded the rocky terrain beneath them, throwing up clouds of dust the colour of sunsets. The world outside the Glass House was barren and dry, void of any vegetation. The Desolation was a very fitting name.

I ran through a maze of run-down streets and houses, all a blur as I passed. I had no destination in mind, no logical thought process except one single word thundering through my mind; escape. Escape. ESCAPE.

Somewhere behind me, through the sound of the ringing in my ears and the hot wind that lashed against my skin, I heard Phae calling my name. I heard her curse a little softer, then call out to me again. I forced my feet to move faster.

My breath was coming in gasps, my hair in knots as it was clawed at by the wind. My body was screaming at me to stop, but my mind was screaming otherwise. I stumbled and kept my balance. I stumble and fell to the ground, the red dirt staining my hands, my face, my clothes. I dragged myself to my feet and started running again.

I lost count of how many streets and houses I passed, how many times Phae called out my name along with a string of expletives. It wasn’t until I broke through the last line of houses that I stopped; before me lay a hundred metres of barren land, and beyond that, nothing. The world dropped off the edge of a cliff. My only escape was a sheer drop to my death.

Hesitantly, I walked forward to the edge of the cliff. It was only when I peered over the edge to see what lay below, that I dropped to my knees in defeat, silent tears streaming down my face. Darkness. That was the only thing beyond the cliff.

There was no escape from the Desolation.

I heard footsteps approaching me from behind, but I didn’t turn to see who they belonged to; I already knew.

“It’s where the Fragments reside.” Phae said softly as she knelt beside me. “The Darkness encircles the Desolation. There’s no escaping it, Piper.”

I didn’t answer. Instead, I let my eyes trail along the dark clouds below to cliff.

“It’s dangerous here, Piper, if one of their scouts spots you—”

“If the Desolation is so damn dangerous,” I said slowly, “then why did you bring me here?”

“Selfishness.”

My brow furrowed, and I raised my eyes to my reflection—no, my doppelganger, as Dorian had said. “Selfishness?” I inquired.

“Look at this world, Piper.” Phae sighed. “Look at what it’s become.”

“Because my father was a coward.” I managed through clenched teeth. “Because he chose to save himself and leave his world to rot.”

“Don’t say that.” Phae insisted. “He was young. Naïve and scared. He made a choice and had to live with the consequences. We all did. But escaping the Desolation didn’t make him a bad person, merely a thoughtless one.”

“He left you all to die.”

“And yet, we still live.”

I looked away.

“Forty years ago, we were meant to be saved by a seventh son of a seventh son.” Phae said softly. “We lost that seventh son once thirty-two years ago, and again this morning. The prophecy was wrong, Piper. Your father was never meant to save us. It’s time we wrote our own destiny.”

“I don’t understand where you’re going with this, Phae.” I grumbled.

“I’m going to save my home.” Phae said, her eyes gleaming with excitement. “And you’re going to help, so we can save yours, too. I’m willing to bet that the daughter of a seventh son of a seventh son can be pretty powerful as well.”

I stared at my doppelganger in perplexity. “What do you mean, ‘so we can save yours, too’?”

“Piper, a Fragment was in your house. It killed your father.”

“Yes, and…?” I pressed, feeling like I was missing something important.

“That means, somewhere in that Darkness,” Phae signalled to what lay beyond the cliff with a bob of her head, “the Fragments have managed to awaken one of the abandoned Glass Houses that wasn’t completely destroyed, and are using it.”

I flinched. “What does this mean?”

“It means Earth is no longer safe, and will soon become a true mirror of the Desolation once more.”

My eyes widened and I jumped to my feet, ready to run back in the direction I had come, but Phae was on her feet and had grabbed my wrist in an instant.

“No way are you running off again.” She said, her tone suddenly harsh.

I yanked my wrist from her grip. “Take me back.”

She was taken aback. “What?”

“You have to take me back. Back to my world. Now.” I insisted.

“What? Are you insane? Have you completely lost your god damned mind?” Her eyes were wide with confusion.

“I have to go back, Phae – my family is there! My mother and my sister are in danger!” I shoved her backwards in an attempt to knock some sense into her.

“Yeah? And what will you say to the police, Piper?” Phae countered.

My brow furrowed. “The police?”

She looked at me as if I was stupid. “Your mother and your sister get home after a ten minute visit to the convenience store to pick up your birthday cake, and they find the house in ruins. The staircase completely obliterated. They find your father lying in a pool of his own blood in the hallway. They find your new guitar strewn randomly across the lounge room floor. They find a kitchen knife, one the police will soon discover your fingerprints on.”

My eyes travelled back to the darkness below the cliff. “They find the body of the Fragment I killed.” I added in, but Phae shook her head.

“Their bodies disperse when they die. They leave nothing behind.” She explained. “So, they’ll find your house destroyed, your father dead, you missing, and a bloody knife with your fingerprints all over it. Even you can’t say that doesn’t look suspicious.”

I stared at her.

“And if, by some miracle, they disregard the knife as a self-defence weapon, they’ll think you’re dead too. Randomly turning back up in your world will not only cause a million problems for you, but a million problems for your family as well.”

“I have to go back!” I cried, a burning sensation appearing behind my eyes.

“You can’t.” My doppelganger snapped.

I flinched.

“I won’t let you go back. I won’t let you endanger yourself like that.” Phae said in a softer tone.

I looked down at the ground, and sat back down, fiddling with the loose orange earth. “They’re my family, Phae.”

“Find a new one.” She suggested. “On this side of the Glass.”

I shot her a glare. “I have to help them.”

“Help me.” Phae said, a sly smile appearing on her face. “Help me, and kill two birds with one stone.”

“Why do you believe I can help you?” I pressed, beginning to get annoyed at her determination.

Her eyes scanned the darkness below the cliff, her mind far away. Almost unintentionally, she dropped to the ground and sat beside me. “Call it intuition.”

I rolled my eyes. “More like desperation.” I mumbled.

“Call it whatever you like. Desperation has the ability to tear a person down to ruins or build them up into a strong, determined fighter. There are two sides to every flaw, Piper. Try to remember that.” She got to her feet again and looked at me pointedly. “So,” she muttered, “what are you going to do? Are you going to help me?”

I looked out across the darkness, imagining the Fragments staring up at me on the cliff with hunger in their eyes and vengeance in their hearts. I imagined the fear my father must have felt when he was old enough to understand that his whole world