Chapter 44: Silent Prayer [Part 2]
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When they reached the top, and Cornelia let go of the mist, Ulrich gasped, “I must be imagining things!”

“Why is that so?” Cornelia needed to keep a calm tone, so that he didn’t know that she felt uneasy.

“I thought for a moment there when we crossed the stairs, everyone disappeared! Then they appeared back again!” Ulrich exclaimed as he looked back at the queue behind them.

It was then Cornelia realized that the mist had also affected Ulrich too. “Yeah, I think it was your imagination. No one disappeared. Let’s hurry and get on the roller coaster.”

As the ride ignited, Cornelia kept looking down, trying to find Artemis, but apparently he didn’t seem to be in sight. Ulrich was screaming at the thrill of the ride when the roller coaster side-stepped and overturned continuously. Cornelia just slumped back behind her seat and kept wondering.

What if Artemis showed himself to Ulrich? What if he did something, and I’m forced to use my powers? And what if Ulrich sees or worst, got hurt?

“Damn you, Artemis,” Cornelia muttered to herself, as the roller coaster approached a cave over the man-made sea that was part of the ride. “You just had to ruin my day!”

★

After the tenth continuous ride, Cornelia slumped onto a bench, tired and worn-out. All these while, trying to avoid Artemis, she kept on pulling Ulrich towards the nearest ride available and with a short queue right after the previous. Even as Ulrich complained that he might need the toilet to vomit because of his constant headaches in between rides, Cornelia still insisted on heading onto the next one possible.

She still needed to use her mist effect again and again, careful to make sure that Ulrich wasn’t affected to avoid misconceptions. It was because every time they finish a ride, Artemis would be waiting right there at the end of the line, watching she and Ulrich together. The pick-up line from the last time they met, didn’t really pleased her. Artemis could be intending to hurt Ulrich, Cornelia thought as she remembered what Artemis had told her the previous day;

Ulrich is not a matter. If he takes you away, I’ll steal him from you.

Cornelia buried her face in her hands and grumbled. Just when she thought that when school had ended for the holidays, Xana had somehow interfered with her free time by sending over the irritating and not irresistible Artemis. Though she did find him, a bit alluring…

“Cornelia…” Ulrich finally came back from the toilet, and clutched onto the bench for support. His face looked purple, and sick from all the rides. “No more roller coasters! Please!!!”

The reason why they had stopped and settled down after the tenth round, was that at the end of the thrill ride, Artemis wasn’t there anymore. He must have run off somewhere, because even now, Cornelia didn’t see him. It was like he disappeared into thin air all of a sudden. Ulrich dropped to the bench beside her, massaged his forehead and groaned, “That was…unexpected…”

“I’m so sorry, Ulrich,” Cornelia really meant it. She felt bad for pulling him through this entire trauma without him knowing. “Do you want me to get you anything? Drinks or food?”

“Nope, I’m good. It’s okay,” Ulrich sat up straight and looked at Cornelia in the eyes. “What I want is to know what’s wrong.”

“I don’t understand,” Cornelia fully understood, but avoiding the real topic is necessary. “I thought we were having fun.”

“I was,” Ulrich pointed to himself and then back to her. “But you weren’t. What’s wrong?”

Cornelia had to think for a while. She can’t exactly say that some maniac from the past is now haunting her because she’s the descendant of a powerful knight and have super powers. No, she couldn’t say that. Then she remembered back in school when he just enrolled in the school. “Remember that time,” Cornelia formed a perfect story to lie. “You went topless and bottomless in the sea?”

Ulrich’s face turned bright red as he nodded, “Yeah, I remember.”

“Do you remember why you did that?”

Ulrich thought back for a moment, and snapped his fingers. “There was this stalker that was making you uncomfortable, right? Was that it?”

“Err…” Cornelia thought about it again. The story was somehow connected. “Yeah. Well, guess what. That stalker is here, in Australia. I saw him at the entrance.”

“That maniac is here?!” Ulrich gasped, his tone had a tinge of anger as he stood up and looked around. “Where is he now?”

“He disappeared after the tenth ride,” Cornelia said, knowing that what she was saying were half-truth and half-lies. “I don’t see him here anymore.”

“Come,” Ulrich held out his hand towards Cornelia. “If we stay here any longer, he’ll corner us sooner or later.”

“Where will we go?” Cornelia asked, and then remembered that his parents were still here. “I don’t think your parents will like it that you left the amusement park.”

“You’re probably right,” Ulrich slapped his forehead and thought about it again. After a few moments, he snapped his fingers again and a surprised expression was plastered across his handsome face. “We’ll confuse your stalker and trap him.”

“How?” Cornelia wondered aloud. She thought to herself that if the element on her wrist were to pick a sixth guardian, Ulrich would be so very suitable for the job.

“Follow me,” Ulrich grabbed Cornelia’s wrist, and walked quickly behind a row of stalls. The walls in between them made a narrow pathway enough for one person to walk at a time, and Cornelia, confused to where they might be heading, realized that Ulrich was taking a short cut from across one end of the amusement to another. Soon, Ulrich slid from one of the openings and came towards a two-storey red-cloth building with a huge sign that says it all about the ride.

“‘Hall of Mirrors’?” Cornelia questioned at Ulrich.

But the Princeton son just smiled, and this time, pulled her into the building. “There’s one unique thing about this House of Mirrors,” Ulrich explained as they approached the counter before entering through the curtain. “It’s a maze, as well. It makes one very confused because just when you think you can head straight on down, you bump into your reflection. Sometimes, it’s just hilarious.”

“And you think you can trap my stalker here if he were to be following us right now?”

“Yup!” Ulrich gave an encouraging nod, lifted the curtain and gestured towards its interior. “Because I got trapped in maze mirror houses tons of times before.”

And with just that, Ulrich entered the building, thinking that Cornelia was behind him, but she stayed behind and looked around again. Is this really a good idea? Cornelia pondered over it, and tried to catch a glimpse of whether Artemis was still hovering around the area, spying on her.

When the coast was clear, Cornelia allowed herself into the building.

The first thing she saw when Cornelia stepped behind the curtains, was her reflection. Normal-looking and tall, the mirror was just the average mirror and not the unusual kind yet. But then when she turned around, there were mirrors everywhere. The mirrors made it look like as if they were triangular, and looked like as if they were on her right, left and in front. Ulrich said it was a maze, but when she looked, she only saw her reflection.

“Ulrich?” Cornelia called out and touch on the mirror in front of her. “Where are you?”

She only heard his voice after five long seconds from her right, “Follow my voice and you’ll be able to find me.”

Since she had heard the voice trail from the right, Cornelia tried to touch the mirror on her right. Her hand passed through the border! It wasn’t a mirror at all. She walked to her right and realised that there was another mirror further back that had made her reflection seem to look like as if it was right beside her. Cornelia decided to continue trying to touch the walls, hoping that there will be a pathway that leads towards Ulrich. “Talk to me, Ulrich,” Cornelia shouted when she still didn’t she him after a few turns. Everywhere still showed her reflection.

“Oh when the saints…” his voice echoed further in as she heard him singing. “…go marching in. Oh when the saints go marching in…”

Again, she tried to follow his voice, and was successful in finding a pathway eventually. There were times when she reached a dead end, whereby every single mirror in front of her were really mirrors, so she had to go back and find another route again.

But after about five minutes, Ulrich’s singing died off and Cornelia still couldn’t find him. “Ulrich?” she called out again, and after fifteen seconds, there was still no answer. “Ulrich?”

Cornelia then made a turn, and when she tried to touch the front again, all were mirrors. Another dead end, she thought, but as she retraced back her steps, her back leaned against another mirror. Cornelia turned around and tried to touch it. Her hands felt the glass! There wasn’t supposed to be a mirror from where she had came from!

She then tried touching the mirrors around her, but all were opaque. There wasn’t any opening! “Ulrich?!” she hated that her voice sounded so scared, but she couldn’t help it. She was really trapped.

Then from one of the mirrors, she saw a reflection of someone else. Since the place was rather dim, Cornelia couldn’t make out of who the person was. Sure she had passed by several other people who were also into the maze, but this time, she couldn’t even see the person’s face.

Her horrors came true when she finally saw the person enter the dead end and smiled widely at her, “Found you.”

“I hate you, don’t you know that?” Cornelia composed herself properly and tried to see which opening Artemis came from. “I hate you very much.”
“At least I have a better voice than him,” Artemis leaned against the mirror which Cornelia thought was the pathway from where he had come from. “His singing was so horrible! What a relief that he had already shut up.”

“What did you do to him?!” Cornelia didn’t care if she shouted and let everyone else in the building hear her. “Don’t you dare hurt him, Artemis!!!”

“Why would I want to hurt him, darlin’?” Artemis smiled and took out another apple from his coat. “Come, tell me.”

“It’s because of yesterday’s pick-up line, right?” Cornelia had had it with his games. She was tired, and sick of seeing his scarred face whenever she tried to relax. “You didn’t want Ulrich to hang around me so you did something to him, right?”

Artemis laughed cunningly at her answer, as if it was some joke that he had forgotten about. But then he stood up from his leaning position and took a bite from his apple, as he answered her back, “Why would I want to hurt my precious descendant?”

“Descendant?! Wha…”

“Cornelia!” Ulrich’s voice could be heard from her left and as she took her eyes off of Artemis to see Ulrich running towards her.

As Ulrich came forward, he hugged her tight, and kept on apologizing, “God, I’m so sorry, Cornelia. I left you alone. I’m so sorry.”

She could hear him suddenly break into tears, and shudder in fear. She could really feel the regret in his voice as she embraced him back. And when Cornelia turned around to look, Artemis wasn’t there anymore. He had disappeared again. As if he didn’t want Ulrich to see him.

As if he didn’t want Ulrich to see him.

As if he didn’t want his descendant to know that he, the ancestor, is here in the 21st Century.

Ulrich is Artemis’ descendant.

Ulrich and Artemis are related.

They are blood-related.