The Reader - Chapter 1

Chapter 1 

She awoke with a start, immediately bracing from the pain of a whip across her back. The sun had been shining into her cramped space for a long time now, but she had forgotten it was a work day and slept in. 

The crack of the whip did not come and Emmeline opened her eyes to see the figure in her doorway was not who she had been expecting. 

Instead of the large Master Zoro, it was his daughter, Willow. 

Emmeline envied Willow - partly because of her beautiful blonde hair and wide blue eyes, but also because the girl had black marks lining her arms. Emmeline’s own arms were bare, and she resented that. 

Willow shook her gently and Emmeline sat up abruptly, sending sparks of pain shooting from her head as she slammed her head into the wooden roof. 

“Sorry, Echo,” Willow whispered, her voice high and light. “We need to get you ready or Father will flip.” Emmeline nodded as she got to her feet, still wincing from the pain in her head. 

Echo had been her nickname from the moment Master Zoro had found her. She had been young and alone, and she had never really learned the proper way of speaking before her discovery. So everything that Master Zoro or the others said, she had repeated to the best of her ability - which earned her the name Echo. 

Emmeline stretched her stiff muscles as Willow began to set up her paint kit on the mirrored desk. 

Emmeline was part of a travelling circus, run by Master Zoro and Willow. They used Cursed and Blessed for the majority of their tricks, but Emmeline was the bestselling act of them all. And if she didn’t get ready on time, they would lose profit. 

Emmeline and the other circus performers were forced to share two caravan cars - one for males and one for females. There weren’t many other girls - besides Emmeline - as many people from the villages liked to buy them from Master Zoro. Most of the time he obliged, the money was his favorite. But he never agreed to sell Emmeline. 

“Seriously, Echo, we need to hurry up. The show will start in about an hour and you still have to set up your little area,” Willow prodded her. 

Emmeline yawned, but didn’t argue as Willow began to dress her in her costume. Long skirts and tunics covered with embroidery weren’t exactly her style, but they enhanced her act and brought even the suspicious to come see her. 

Willow spent what seemed like forever painting her face and outlining her eyes with dark lines. Apparently, it drew out their green color and made her look even more mystical. Emmeline didn’t believe it, but she would never fight back. Master Zoro’s whip had struck her more times than she wanted to count. 

Willow pinned back her golden brown hair and tied strips of purple fabric throughout it. 

Emmeline didn’t even need to look at her mirror anymore. She had been through this act so many times she knew what she looked like by now. It had been thirteen years since Master Zoro had found her - a three year old toddler wondering through the Crossover Forest alone. Thirteen years she had spent with the circus. 

“Beautiful,” Willow commented with a smile, admiring her work. Emmeline blushed but said nothing. She had learned that the best way to avoid punishment was to keep quiet. 

“Echo?!” a voice from outside the trailer called. “Where is that darned girl? The show starts in fifteen minutes and if she’s not out here…” 

“We’re ready,” Willow called opening the door. Master Zoro stood outside, his dark skin gleaming with sweat. Emmeline caught herself rolling her eyes. Was he actually sweating because she slept in? 

Master Zoro looked relieved when he saw the two girls, Emmeline already dressed and ready. “You’re look it’s a show day, Echo, or you’d have a whipping so bad you wouldn’t be able to walk for the day.” Emmeline sighed. It was an empty threat, as Master Zoro only used his whip on occasions and rarely did it so much that one would be rendered incapable of walking. But she didn’t protest as he steered her towards the tent. “Newt - bless my heart - has already started with your section of the tent. You’d be lost without him.” 

Emmeline blushed but pulled away from Willow and made her way into the circus tent. 

The typical red and white stripes stood out against the green forest. Today they were in Zachryose, bordering the Wonky Woods. A sign on the top of the tent read “Zoro’s Circus - The Show with Real Talent”. Below was a sign advertising Emmeline herself. She rolled her eyes before stepping inside. 

Everyone was already practicing their acts. One boy was forming fireballs with his hand, lighting the rings placed around the center of the tent. Another boy was talking to a golden creature who squealed in disgust as the the boy tempted it to get closer to the flaming rings. And yet another girl was hovering in the air, rolling her eyes at them all. Others were practicing as well. 

Emmeline waved to them, but most were too involved in their work to wave back. 

She made her way to the back of the tent where a small tunnel lead to a room filled with rugs and another doorway. 

A boy with dark hair was standing there, rolling out another carpet in the corner of the room. He stood up when he heard Emmeline approach and broke into a smile as he turned and saw her. “Echo? I thought you were ditching again.” 

“Again,” Emmeline laughed. “You know that’s above me. You on the other hand,...” 

“I am wonderful, thank you very much,” Newt winked at her and Emmeline rolled her eyes. “So wonderful I woke up early to help someone with their act. Where were you?” 

Emmeline shrugged, feeling a blush rise to her cheeks. “Sleeping.” 

Newt rolled his eyes and continued his work. “I’ve had to resort to talking with dead people, and they’re terrible flirts.” 

Emmeline snorted in a very unladylike way. 

Newt was from Dinrali - a village in the Green Kingdom. The goddess Dixral had either Blessed or Cursed his family, but Newt wasn’t sure. He could speak to the dead, which was a trait of both the Cursed and the Blessed. Emmeline had heard him say he was pretty sure he was Blessed, but his acts never seemed to work how he anticipated them too. 

“I said sorry already,” Emmeline said.

“I know, but now I’m done and your tent is ready, madam.” He bowed low and Emmeline smacked him. “I wish you could be out there with the rest of us.” The words came out barely a whisper. 

“I wish I could too,” Emmeline murmured back. “But I’m fine back here.” 

Newt shrugged. “But it’s fun where the action is. All you do is have people take off their shirts and stare at them - on second thought maybe it is more fun back here.” 

Emmeline shoved him and they both laughed as Newt stumbled on one of the rugs. “You know it’s not like that. Besides, you know that the visions are overwhelming and … terrible.” Emmeline fell silent, rubbing her arms. Her bare arms. 

Newt’s arms were covered in what appeared to be black ink. But no matter what, the markings never came off. Emmeline had Read him once, but it was a long time ago and she tried not to remember her Readings. They were often personal and she didn’t like the feeling of invading people’s privacy. 

“I forgot,” Newt mumbled. Emmeline shrugged, she knew he was only trying to be funny. That was one of his only talents. He opened his mouth to say something else but was cut off my the sound of loud clapping. The circus was starting. 

Newt hurried off without a goodbye, which Emmeline knew was because he didn’t want a whipping from Master Zoro. Neither did she - that was why she proceeded into her secret “office” instead of hiding away. Master Zoro wanted her to work so work she would. 

It was only then that the seating room outside her special area filled up. Emmeline groaned to herself as she knew it was going to be a long day. 

“Next,” Emmeline called out to the seating room, still overflowing with people. She would’ve thought everyone in both kingdoms had come to see her by now. But they were still coming - new people every circus. Most children that parents wanted Read, someone teens and young adults who wanted their past, and some older folk wanting to know how they died. 

That was her duty as a Reader - she was one of the only ones who could Read the markings on everyone’s skin. “Number 112, please come here,” Emmeline continued. 

A young man stood up - he was alone - and made his way towards her. Emmeline lead him into her corner of the world and closed the curtains behind her. It was a dark room that smelled of flowers and fragrances that “enhanced the mind” - or at least, that’s what Willow had told her. 

Emmeline sat down at her desk and showed the young man to the table on the other side of the room. She unrolled a new piece of parchment, yellow from age. 

“Name,” Emmeline ordered, trying to keep the exhaustion out of her voice. 

“McLopper, Julian,” the man said. Emmeline wrote it down at the top of the parchment, using her favorite quill and purple ink. 

Emmeline continued to ask him the standard questions. Which village was he from? Ibeni, which was pretty far away in Emmeline’s opinion. Was he a Cursed, Blessed, or Normie? He didn’t know, and he came to find out. Who recommended him and so on. The man seemed to get impatient soon and Emmeline finally stood. This was her least favorite part. 

Master Zoro required she write down everything that happen in the room for his records. But this part - this part was all in her head. 

“Take off your shirt,” Emmeline ordered, closing her eyes as the man began to remove his thin tunic. He coughed, a signal that he was done and Emmeline had him lie back on the table, his arms and back shown to her. 

The black symbols were everywhere. They were overwhelming.

The left arm showed his birth and childhood. His back would show his life. And his right arm would show his death. Emmeline was a Reader - one the only folk who could Read the markings and understand what they meant. 

She placed a tender hand on his back and the markings began to blur. 

A crying baby, pulled from a mother’s arms. The mother cries out for the child but he is taken away by the nurse. “He’s sick,” the nurse says in a controlling voice. “He might be Cursed.” The mother gulps and nods, any tension she felt before gone now. 

A small boy, playing the streets. A carriage is coming and the boy doesn’t see it. The carriage hits him. The scene goes red. 

A young man, sitting in a wooden chair, staring longingly out the window. His mother and father are arguing over him, about how he can’t find a wife or a home or even a job. They think he’s cursed but the man does not. 

The same man, older now, is in a ceremony with a beautiful woman. She smiles at him and the man feels like he’s the happiest person in the world. Then there’s a shout and flames erupt everywhere. The woman screams and is gone. The scene turns black and the woman disappears, a casket replacing her. Sobs echo through the darkness. 

Finally, a sorrowful man stands on a cliff overlooking a large village. Then he leaps.  

She stumbled backwards, nearly crashing into her chair. Emmeline managed to hook her legs around it and leaned back, letting her breathing slow. The man looked up, obviously confused. 

“Is everything okay?” he asked. “What did you see?” 

The next was part of the policy. Master Zoro had said that Emmeline needed to keep the clients happy - no matter what she Read. 

“I saw you as a child, they think you’re a Normie. I think you’re going to get married to a lovely lady and you’ll die together,” Emmeline whispered, inspecting her nails to keep up her act. The man was sitting now, his shirt back on. 

She wasn’t lying, Emmeline decided. She was simply stretching the truth. Coating it in honey. The man nodded, deep in thought. “So I’m a Normie?” 

It was a question Emmeline didn’t want to answer. She didn’t like lying to people about what she Read. She didn’t like even Reading people to begin with. “As far as I could Read, yes.” And then she fell silent. 

The man nodded again, still not paying any attention. “The payment goes here,” Emmeline said, holding out a tiny, cloth bag for him. The man placed a few goldein coins into the bag and stood. “Thank you, sir,” Emmeline whispered. 

“No, thank you, Echo,” the man said back. Emmeline winced at the nickname that had become her stage name. Then she pushed the curtain aside and let the man leave. 

She tied it tightly and wrote down what she had Read and what she had told him. 

Thank you, Echo. That was what the man had said. But Emmeline didn’t feel like she should be thanked at all. 

It was night by now, and Emmeline was feeling the exhaustion from the day. There was one more client left according to her list. She inhaled deeply before opening the curtain. 

Normally, the last clients she had were mothers with screaming children that drained every last bit of energy from her. But when she opened the curtain she was surprised. There were no screaming children in sight. 

Instead, there were two soldiers dressed in emerald green that told Emmeline they were from the Green Kingdom - most likely Viridi. 

But in between them was a small boy, blonde hair and closed eyes. He wasn’t asleep, but he wasn’t exactly awake either. The guards saw her staring and stood in sync, the boy opening his sky blue eyes. 

The boy only looked to be about thirteen at the most, ten at the youngest. Emmeline couldn’t exactly tell. But he moved oddly and the soldiers were constantly at his side. 

“You must be Echo,” the soldier with the large mustache said, voice toneless. 

“I am Echo,” Emmeline murmured, still intrigued by this odd boy. “So who am I Reading today?” 

“The boy, of course,” the second soldier barked, his beard jiggling as he spoke. 

Emmeline nodded absentmindedly. “Sir, and other sir, I generally only allow the client I am Reading inside the back room.” This was a lie of course, but if the men were late they probably hadn’t seen her allow parents in the back room. Most of her clients had been adults alone - the Crossover forest was no place for a child. 

“We stay with the boy,” Mustache insisted. Emmeline shrank back at his fierce tone. 

Maybe he had seen a mother go in. She sighed and parted the curtain allowing them inside. She then tied it back, noticing how cramped the room was. 

The boy sat on the table, his legs dangling above the floor. The men stood beside him like he was dangerous. Emmeline took a seat at her desk and pulled out her quill and ink. “Name,” she began. 

“You will not be writing this visit down,” Beard-Dude snarled. 

“It’s standard protocol,” Emmeline protested. Mustache whipped a sword out of nowhere and pointed it at her. 

“There will be no record of this meeting,” he threatened. Emmeline gulped and nodded, the point of the sword hovering at her throat. She dropped the quill and stood up, skirts rustling as she made her way towards the boy. 

“Take off your shirt,” Emmeline whispered, and the boy did. His motions were almost robotic as he did and he laid the tunic beside him. 

Emmeline couldn’t help but admire the markings on his back. There were so many detailed pictures. Generally, a person with a lot of pictures lived longer as more happened in their life. But it was possible that the person could live a short but filled life too. 

Emmeline reached for the boy as the pictures began to swim under her eyes, forming black blurs. She pushed down the sick feeling in her stomach. 

“You won’t touch him,” Beard-Dude ordered. 

Emmeline glared at the taller person. “Do you want him Read or not?” 

The soldier huffed but stepped aside and Emmeline placed a tentative finger on the boy’s back. The images dragged her under. 

But instead of scenes, these were flashes of pictures. 

A temple of white, surrounded by trees. 

A rainbow colored shawl placed over him before darkness takes him. 

A pair of green eyes and a purple tent. 

Two older figures guiding the boy. 

Swords clashing. 

Blood spilling. 

Something yanked Emmeline back to reality and I feel a soldier’s rough grip on my arm. “That’s enough, Echo, darling. Tell me what you saw.” 

“Give me … a moment,” Emmeline panted. “I need to … collect myself.” 

But really she was staring at the boy, who had sat up abruptly and was staring back at her. He looked terrified, like he knew what she had seen. But normally her clients didn’t know anything… 

She turned away from the boy. Focus, Emmeline, what are you going to say? She needed a well-crafted lie. The truth was too hard and it might endanger the boy. She felt a strange connection to him. The green eyes - they were her eyes. For some reason one of the most defining moments of his life was her eyes. 

Emmeline shook her head, meeting the boy’s gaze again. He looked terrified and she understood why. These soldiers weren’t just here to find out what she saw. 

There was something deeper going on. 

“Anytime now,” Beard-Dude mumbled, tapping his foot. 

Emmeline took a breath. “His life looked normal enough - although I couldn’t see his village or if he is a Blessed, Cursed, or Normie. I saw him playing with some other kids. Then a while of darkness. I saw a white house and then everything went dark again. I saw him getting married to a pretty woman and eventually having four children. He died of old age.” 

It felt dull and thin, but the guards seemed to ponder it for a while before Mustache shoved the boy’s shirt back at him. 

“Are you sure that’s all you saw?” Beard-Dude asked her. 

Emmeline nodded, feeling her pulse racing. “That’s everything.”