"Are you sure she is Ralda?" Kaz asked Simeon, his expression having traces of uncertainty. They had managed to calm Miranda down so she wouldn't run away in futility anymore, but they couldn't get her to return to the stone structure with them. She insisted she preferred to stay out in the cold than be in the same space with the monster that bit her.
When they realized that they couldn't convince her any further to avoid suspicion, Simeon thought it wise to give her a little space and some time to relax before they resumed questioning.
"She ran away from Lord Luviel, and now she is breaking down because you said there is no way out. That's so unlike Ralda. What if this person is an impostor here to cause more damage to Lord Luviel's heart?" Kaz added to his previous question, concern glimmering across his features.
"I don't think she is an impostor. Lord Luviel would know it right away if she was." Simeon answered but Kaz shook his head.
"Lord Luviel is weak right now. He had to take blood from us, remember?" Kaz pointed out.
"And he couldn't drink from her. That's enough to prove she is the real deal. Her blood cannot be faked." Simeon brought up another point, one Kaz could not argue with.
"Why then is she so different? I've never known Ralda to be this timid and fearful. My sister is a queen, a leader, a fierce one at that."
"She obviously doesn't remember anything or anyone. Something is wrong somewhere and we will find out soon. Just play along and stop telling her things from the past or looking at her funny. That is going to scare her more than she already is."
After saying this, Simeon and Kaz walked back into the stone structure to get a flat stone that was comfortable enough for Miranda to sit on since she insisted on staying outside.
When they returned, they set it down for her, and invited her to sit while they settled on the floor opposite the stone, making sure to give her some distance.
Seeing how they had sat down as well, Miranda obliged their request. she sat down on the raised stone they had prepared, facing them. As soon as she did, she folded her arms across her body, and that prompted Kaz to begin to take off his torn shirt.
"What are you doing?" Miranda jumped to her feet, alarmed.
"You're cold. I am offering my shirt to keep you warm. You need it more than I do." Kaz explained, pausing his action because he didn't understand why she sprang up the way she did, and neither did he understand why she was giving him the suspicious eye.
"No, thank you. Please keep your clothes on your body. I don't need it. I'm not cold." She put her hand out in a stop gesture, shaking her head.
"How can you say you're not cold? The air is chilly and you are in your underwear. Moreover, you were folding your hands just now.'' Kaz looked like he didn't believe her, but she was even more confused by some of the things he said.
"Underwear?" Miranda probed, checking her outfit once more to make sure her clothes had not suddenly disappeared, leaving her with just bra and panties. When she realized she was still fully clothed in her t-shirt and shorts, she shifted her gaze to Kaz, who was nodding his head in the affirmative, wondering if she didn't realize what she was wearing all this while.
"I am fully clothed. How are you seeing me in underwear?" She asked, shifting her gaze for a moment to Simeon, and catching him raise his brows in question, an expression similar to what Kaz was wearing. It was at that point that she realized something was wrong somewhere. Were they perhaps seeing something different from what she was seeing?
"Umm, can you tell me what I'm wearing? Like, describe what I'm wearing please." Miranda requested, moving her gaze back to Kaz.
"A short, white, cotton dress and underpants, things you wear before a proper dress." Kaz described, letting Miranda know that he was seeing right.
But underpants? What did he mean by underpants? The hem of her shorts was resting way below her mid-thigh, about five inches above her knee level. Why was he calling it underpants?
Just then, something clicked in her mind. Something she hoped was not true.
"What year is this?" She threw the question with narrowed eyes, hoping for an answer different from what she was thinking it would be.
"We don't know. We've been in here for so long and lost track of time. You are in a better position to tell us. What year was it before you came here?" Kaz responded, throwing his own question, while Simeon silently observed her, trying to put things together to make sense of what was happening.
"It's the year 2020," Miranda answered, a response that sent Kaz's and Simeon's eyes stretching so wide in shock.
"2020? The world is already in the 2000s?" Kaz asked in disbelief, his voice going higher than normal due to his high level of incredulity.
"Yes???" Miranda's answer came out in the form of a question, not sure why they were acting like that.
"I can't believe this. We've been locked away for five hundred and twenty years? That is so cruel, yet they say Lord Luviel is the cruel one. Who knew if I would have found a wife had we been free all this while? What if she had died and I didn't even get a chance to meet her? Do you—"
"Shut up, Kaz." Simeon cut Kaz off. "We have other important issues here."
"Are you saying me finding a wife is not important? If it's not important to you then it's important to me." Kaz fired back, shooting Simeon an unpleasant look.
"Five hundred years?" The two of them suddenly heard Miranda's voice and turned their attention to her. "What are you guys? Are you vampires?" She asked, suspicion embedded in her features.
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"We are not vampires. We are demons." Simeon answered the question, straight to the point, without beating about the bush. He was already tired of all the drama especially when Kaz was involved. All he wanted was to get answers to his questions, but Kaz was determined to ensure he was frustrated.
"Not demons, Simeon. Angels. We are Angels." Kaz corrected, seeing how Miranda immediately panicked when she heard Simeon's answer.
"Angels live in heaven. Angels who have been sent out of heaven are called demons. Demons live on earth. We were sent out of heaven. We live on earth. We are demons." Simeon explained.
"Stop saying that. You're scaring her." Kaz whispered to Simeon and this time, the latter pinched his forehead tiredly.
"Excuse us for a minute," Simeon said to Miranda, then he turned to Kaz. "Come with me. We need to talk." He stood up and started walking toward the stone structure, and Kaz followed closely behind him. As soon as they entered the building, Simeon turned to Kaz. "I told you to let me handle this. Why aren't you listening and cooperating? Don't you want to leave this place?"
"I was cooperating until you started scaring her by saying we are demons," Kaz responded.
"That wouldn't have even come up if you hadn't yelled about being imprisoned for five hundred years. What is wrong with you?"
"I was only shocked about how long we've been in here. That wasn't intentio…" Kaz's speech suddenly slurred and he collapsed, going limp immediately because while he was still speaking, Simeon knocked him out by placing his hand on his neck, giving him temporary paralysis, an ability he was blessed with.
"I'm sorry I had to do this Kaz, if not, we will not make any meaningful progress." Simeon apologized, then walked out of the stone house, and back to Miranda, already prepared in his heart for Kaz's revenge once he woke up from the short slumber he had been put into.
"Where is Kaz?" Miranda asked when only Simeon returned. She had still not sat down. The thought that she was speaking with demons was one she was still trying to come to terms with. Was her parents perhaps right when they said she was the child of the devil? She had no urge to run away anymore as she thought about these things and the events that led to her appearance in the forest.
"I put him to sleep so that we can talk without any interruption. Please sit down. You have absolutely no need to be scared of me. I will stop existing before I think of bringing you harm in any way. It's true we used to be angels before we were sent out of heaven. but be rest assured that I bear no ill intentions toward you. All I need is for you to tell me how you made it here so that we can figure out how to leave."
At this, Miranda moved back to her stone seat, plopping down on it. Although she wasn't completely trusting of them yet, his words gave her some peace.
"How I came here… It's quite unbelievable." Miranda started, and Simeon laughed.
"You are speaking to a demon here. Nothing is unbelievable when it comes to me. It may be unbelievable for you not for me. Please tell me."
"I was sucked into a book I read," Miranda revealed, expecting a shocked reaction from him, but got a curious one instead.
"A book?" He asked and she nodded.
"Tell me how it happened." Simeon probed further, and Miranda narrated everything that happened right from when she purchased the book up till the time when she was drawn into it, while Simeon listened attentively without once interrupting her.
"And that's how I found myself here." She concluded.
"I see. Can you tell me what the story is about?" Simeon asked and Miranda nodded.
"It's about a king and a queen who did everything in their power to deliver their people from the clutches of a tyrant king, but their good was paid back with evil simply because the humans found out their king wasn't human. They captured him and imprisoned him somewhere he wouldn't be able to escape. It was because of that unsatisfactory ending I decided to follow the instructions behind the book which led me here."
"That was not exactly how it happened and that definitely was not how we were captured and imprisoned. But if reading the instructions led you here, then you may be the key to our escape. I guess the ending was twisted to rouse your curiosity so you can follow the instructions." Simeon reasoned, his expression thoughtful.
"Wait! Are you saying that the story is real? Did it happen for real?"
"No." Simeon wasted no time to answer the question, knowing that answering honestly would lead to questions he wouldn't be able to answer right away. "Our story is a different one but that is not important right now. Please tell me exactly what the instructions were."
"Nothing much. There were ten symbols that I was warned to memorize before proceeding to some words I was unfamiliar with, and it said I had only ten days to figure out the puzzle, otherwise, we'll be trapped forever in the prison."
"And you memorized the symbols?"
"I did."
"What about the words?"
"I didn't get a chance to memorize them. I only read them twice, the first time silently and the other time, out loud. After reading those, the book pulled me into itself."
"That's alright. The symbols, I will need to know what they are and look like." Simeon stood up and looked around, searching for something. Soon, he found a sharp stick which he picked up and handed to Miranda. "Come with me. I'll need you to show me what they look like."
He led her to a small clearing where the light of the moon brightened up a little. "You can illustrate on the floor." He informed her, but Miranda looked like she was hesitating.
"It's dark already. You won't even see what I draw." She mentioned her concern.
"I can see perfectly in the dark. The question is if you can draw in the dark."
"I think I can." Miranda let out a sigh, then squatted down as she drew the symbols from number one to ten just the way she remembered them. Unknown to her, Simeon's eyes narrowed the moment she drew the first one and remained that way until she reached the seventh one when confusion took over his features.
However, as soon as she lifted her head after drawing the tenth symbol, he wiped the expression off his face, replacing it with a smile.
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