Fear walks through the city, fear without name, without shape. Time is running out, it’s only a matter of days until they find out about us. They have been on our tracks for months but luckily we aren’t easily fooled. Every time we meet Custos puts his life at risk so there is no trail, no sign, not a finger print to trace back to—

Before I could finish reading I heard my door knob slowly being twisted and I quickly shoved the book under my pillow. It was Mom.

“Are you asleep yet?” she whispered. I closed my eyes and ignored her knowing she would stay way too long if I reply. She tip toed over to me and kissed my forehead then left. I slowly cracked open my left eye and watched the door close behind her.

I wanted to get back to reading my grandmothers diary. She had recently passed away
and entrusted me with the key to her wooden box. I didn’t know what to expect from the box but I knew it was important so I kept everything I found to myself, I won’t even tell Mom about the diaries. But sleep got the best of me and before I knew it I was snoring the night away.

That morning when I woke up no one else was up, so I took a shower and fixed myself a cup of coffee. Mom says I get it from Grandma, waking up hours before the sun rises. Grandma… then I remembered her crazy diary entry, what was that about? I also recall Grandma telling me don’t tell anyone right before she gave me the key.

As I made my way back up the stairs, cup of coffee in hand I walked into Mom. She’s not usually up at this time of the morning unless she had to be. But apparently she was wide awake looking extremely wild, her hair all over the place, her eyes big and her hands fidgeting constantly by her side.

“Persephone, I forgot to tell you we are going to have visitors today, I want you to be polite and tone down your attitude”

She ran down the stairs. “Oh and wake up your brother!” She yelled as she went into the kitchen.
Visitors? Since when does anyone visit this house not to mention early in the morning? I didn’t have many friends scratch that I didn’t have any friends, my best friend was Grandma and now she was gone. My younger brother Ryan had friends but to me they were more like robots then humans. Then there’s Mom, who has been grieving for quite a while and taking days off work while restricting us from going to school as well. At least until next week that is.
When I made it to Ryan’s room the air smelled of disinfectant and pencil lead. His belongings were all labeled and neatly stacked. Everything from his school work to his trophies chronologically placed in the glass cabinet. I looked around and found him sleeping on his bed.
“Ryan “I say jerking his shoulder back and forth. He mumbles but doesn’t leave his sleep. I consider dumping the coffee on him but instead I opened the mini fridge in his room and withdraw a half bottle of water.
“Ryan! I’m warning you get up now” I yell at him a second time. But in response he turns his back to me.
“Fine, have it your way” I say opening the bottle of cold water. “Hey, Ryan one more question, what is the formula for water”
He sleepily turns his head back towards me knowing he can’t ignore a question like that. “The formula for water is H2---“
SPLASH! I drench his face with water and watch his startled reaction with amusement. Then I tell him once more “I don’t care about that, now get up Mom is waiting for us” I walk out of his room before he could register what just happened.
As I was going down the stairs I froze mid-way when I heard voices down stairs, whoever the visitors were, they were here and in my house, my living room, this instant. I heard bits of their conversation with Mom and I leaned in to see if the volume level would vary although I couldn’t see them. Through the muffled sounds I heard “Persephone…July… (chuckling)….this spring.”
July, that’s the month I was born, why are they discussing my birth month? While I was pondering this question I didn’t notice Ryan stumbling down the stairs until he pushes me into full view of Mom and her company.
I wanted to push Ryan into the wall but something else caught my attention, the visitors. They were dressed in dark black robes with their hoods over their heads. They sat on the couch in a pair and for a minute everyone froze as if someone paused the movie. Then Mom patted the space next to her on the other couch, directly across from the strangers “have a seat”.
As I made my way to the couch I just had to ask the question that was scratching at my throat. “why are you wearing hoods?”
“That’s not of importance” a heavily deep voice answered me “but it is nice to have finally met you Persephone I am Custos and this,” he gestured towards his partner “is Lance and we are here to say a few words about our most beloved Dux’s death.”
“Dux, who’s Dux? The only recent loss I’m aware of is Grandmas and her name was Mary-Lou not this Dux you keep speaking of. And how exactly do you know my grandmother?” I continue piling him up with questions not understanding where he was going with this.
Ryan, whom I had completely forgotten existed, spoke “I studied Latin last year and I’m pretty sure that custos is the word for guardian”
I look at him with disgust annoyed by the intelligence leaking out of his mouth “yeah ok I wasn’t talking to you four eyes, now hush up and know when you are being addressed”
“Actually” Custos clears his throat “Ryan is correct, as a matter of fact Custos is defined as guardian but in my case it’s recognized more as a keeper then a guardian but I do play both roles depending on the situation.” Ryan smirked at me satisfied by the support he was gaining.
But I was done with pecking at Ryan instead I was interested in knowing more about the guardian- keeper and what he had to do with Grandma. “Keeper you say? What did you keep and where----?”
Then Lance speaks up for the first time “Non placet hic, quod erat in praeterita dimittere eam,” in a foreign language and Custos replies to her. “Neque enim ego quaero, quid sentias. Nunc Inclusi ore vestroet licuerit ut permanerent”
Lance continues fussing “sed considerabit intempus” then pointing at the clock; the sun was only half an hour from officially rising. I looked over at Mom and got a feeling she sensed what was going on with the two.

The next thing I know Ryan and I are being sent to our rooms with such urgency I didn’t even have time to argue the way I normally would. I kept looking back and noticed a gleaming spot catch the light from under Lance’s hood. She was crying. Lance gave Mom a hug before they left and I ran up the stairs.
Once I made it safely to my room I threw my self onto my bed and began to go over what just happened. The visitors…Lance and Custos names I have never heard before yet sound so familiar. If Custos meant keeper or guardian then Lance must mean something too, better yet the word Dux, he used to describe Grandma must have a deeper meaning as well. I had so many question but no one to ask it to, and then it hit me if I wanted to know anything about Grandma I had all the answers under my pillow. So I got the diary out and cracked it open.
….The mission will go as I say it will and the decoy team will attack soon but not yet. The timing has to be perfect; Custos thinks we shouldn’t wait, but with a battle like our last one we can’t risk it again; our side lost too much blood---
“What are you reading” my head shot right up. I didn’t even notice Mom watching me.
“Nothing” I say still startled by her sudden appearance. But before I could hide the book she grabs it from me and her face goes stone cold.
“Your grandmothers diary, Where did you get this from?” she says with alarm, her eyes vigorously looking at me then back to the book.
“I found it lying around and decided to read it, is that a problem” I reply to her.
“You don’t just find a diary out in the middle of nowhere”
“Fine, she gave it to me, but what did those people want? Why were they here? And then just leave like something was about to happen? What is about to happen?”
She weighs the book out in her hands, flips it over and over again, goes through the pages and finally looks up. “They wanted to talk to you about your grandmother.”
“What about Grandma? And how could they have possibly known her?”
“They used to work together years ago but she was much older than them.”
“Worked together? Where at exactly? And what did they do?”
“You would have to hear the whole story, which is why they came today”
“Well then, I don’t see what’s keeping you from telling me”
She looked at me from the corner of her eye, with her eye brows creased “I don’t know but something points to your attitude.” she said with a sassy tone.
I twitched my lips and thought twice about admitting my constant mistake of disrespecting her “My apologies” I say at last but in a sincere manner.
By then she was looking up at the ceiling debating whether or not she should tell me anything. “Because your grandmother would want me to tell you I will, but you can’t ask any questions until the end”
Can’t ask questions! That’s insane how can a person not wonder about what is between the lines, outside the box, outside the cave after being unshackled with a story and still live an everyday life. She knew this would torture me from the inside out but I had to agree to terms and condition. So I reluctantly gave her my word “I Promise.”
“Well it all started about 300 years ago, there were two major groups of people thirsty for power and land. They were the Daimens and the Rivolians and they often bribed people to join their side. Whoever wasn’t on either side got bossed around and was used to do hard labor or assigned to be a servant depending on your health and gender. The two groups were at each other’s throats for such a long time and one day a war broke out.”
“Within the war many innocent lives were lost but by the end of it the Daimens were crowned victors. After their great triumph they decided they wanted to rule the country differently, starting with the punishment for those who had sided up with the Rivolians.”
“The Daimens came up with a whole new cast system which only consisted of them being at the top, soldiers coming in next, and doctors and then everyone else was perceived as to being equally at the bottom of the scale. The Daimens ruled all of the land, created rules for people to follow and their power was passed down to the eldest son. He could only be wed to someone within their family in order to prevent the royals and peasants from mixing blood.”
Questions were running through my mind. What if he loved another? Couldn’t they bend the rules to satisfy him? Was there ever a time someone attempted to change things?
“The soldiers protected and supported their cruel government; the doctors played an even worse role. Whenever a child was born it was their responsibility to implant a chip into the child’s wrist. The chip caused an automatic process to take place within the brain of the child. At the end of each day that child’s memory got deleted completely and they lost the capability to memorize any knowledge that wasn’t provided by the government. And all the government taught them was how to obey, follow orders, supply and support their leaders.”
What! That is deranged .My thoughts were running wild. How could they possibly have the heart to do that to innocent new born children? What fault did they have to deserve such inhumane treatments? Didn’t anyone speak out against this cruelty?
“The implanting of the chip was referred to as AMD2. The electricity of the device ran through the persons veins, mixed with the blood that was being pumped to all sections of the body and often times conquered ones heart. After several years of using the AMD2 as a weapon the government realized something. The constant deleting of memories and controlling of blood vessels messed with the persons head to the point where no male could live past 40 and women died on their 35th birthday.”
“Yet the government did nothing to change this instead they passed on their tradition for many generations. Around the time it got to your grandmothers generation the doctors weren’t doing so well with the implanting and one out of every one hundred kids didn’t get an implant, your grandmother being one of them. She was extremely lucky and her curiosity helped her stay in hide out for such a long time. Until she discovered there were people like her wondering on the face of the earth, and that she was not alone.”
Mom looked at me.
“And…?” I ask hungry for more.
“The rest of the story is vague to me I don’t know exactly how it went from there”
“How do you know the story then not know the ending? How come this is the first time hearing of this? Why is it that the teachers never speak of this as part of our countries history?”
Mom took a deep breath then exhaled. “They don’t teach it at school because there are no written documents of the time, not even secondary sources so most philosophers are finding it extremely difficult to comprehend why they are missing 300 years of knowledge. They are able to date back to times before it but there is a huge gap. Anyone born within those 300 years has either lost memory of it or is refusing to become a lab rat.”
“But Grandmas diary should be enough evidence to convince them of such a time—“
But before I could finish my sentence Grandmas words echoed in my head don’t tell anyone.
“Your grandmother’s diary was privately written, I didn’t even know it existed until today so I doubted she would want it out there.”
Mom’s phone rang. She held it to her ear for a while then hung up. “It’s almost noon, Custos just called me so I will be back and don’t worry about lunch I’m going to pick it up. I should be here in an hour if not I will call, and Persephone be nice to your brother.”
Mom placed the diary in my hand and made her way out the door. I roll my eyes thinking when am I ever mean ever mean to the little four eyed dwarf, I’m probably the nicest person he will ever meet in his life time. But I wasn’t in the mood for back talking in fact I wanted to read and see if I could pick up on things that could complete the story for me. I opened the book to random page and it was actually titled.
Change
Something is slowly changing about Custos, I don’t know if he can be trusted anymore. He constantly attempts to take my place. There can only be one alpha in a pack and I’m not backing down……
I skipped a few lines but still reading under change. It fascinated me to hear what Grandma had to say about Custos. I was wondering what led her to it all.
I’ve officially decided Custos can’t be trusted, but no one will believe me if I tell them. He is twofaced and great at acting like a guardian but after days of research and stalking I found that he is a traitor, he works for the government…
I dropped the book. He worked for the government. How was that even possible, he seemed like I don’t know a decent man, but like Grandma said he is a great actor. I picked the book up and set it on my bed and started pacing. If he worked for the government then that would automatically make him Grandmas enemy, and my arch nemesis. Then what was he doing at our house with Lance? Who was Lance? Maybe I could find something about her in the book. But earlier I saw Mom hugging Lance, do they know each other?
As I was thinking round and round in circles I remembered something Lance was crying earlier this morning when she was here. Why? Could it be pain, unhappiness, grieving?
I was getting tired and weary so I went into Ryan’s room. He was sitting on his desk top taking notes on something, some life he has. I watched over the computer screen to see what he was looking at and noticed he had a Latin website pulled up.
“Nice to see you have finally come to your senses” Ryan says to me without even turning his head.
“What are you doing?” I ask him throwing myself onto his bed knowing it would irk him.
“Research, while you interrogating Custos I did what I do best listening. I mentally recorded their whole dialogue and I’ve got a strong base line of their entire conversation. Are you interested?” he asked turning around in his swivel chair.
“Sure, what did you discover Einstein?” I say sitting up.
He moved his glasses up the bridge of his nose and began “Lance started the conversation by saying “I don’t like this, that was the past let it go” and Custos replied to her with “I didn’t ask for your opinion, now shut up so I can continue” and when she points at the time she was directing his attention towards it right before they left. It seems like she wasn’t happy about what he was here to do. Whatever it is it has something to do with the past. I was thinking about this when my brilliant sister began reading something in her room so I listened in and some things began to make click. Mom was coming up the stairs so I did three knocks on your door which meant incoming or someone is going to die but any who you continued reading and Mom walked in on you---“
“Wait you were listening to me through the door? How was that possible?”
“Apparently you never learned to read in your mind therefore I heard everything clearly, with the exception of when Mom was there she wasn’t as loud as you were but I still got the gist of the story. So I was playing connect the dots with all that until you showed up now.”
“Did you notice Lance crying?” I asked
“She was crying?” He asked “Lance was supposedly the one to balance power among them, her Custos and Dux I mean Grandma her being their leader. There were more according to the reading I did from the diary---“
“You read from the diary? Who gave you permission to trespass into my room and vandalize my property?”
He looked at me as if he wanted to punch me, he probably should have considering I was on his bed with no intention of fixing it. “Lance is getting abused” he says out of nowhere.
“She’s what? How do you know that to be a fact?”
“In the diary it said that Lance was Grams friend and Custos was her lover. But Custos knew nothing of love his actions were always based on revenge and Lance did want to have anything to do with that but she still wanted him. He wanted to start a new society of his own where he made the rules but everything always felt out of reach for him. He couldn’t just start on his own he needed a spouse to help him reproduce and she was the only one that he knew he could manipulate, he tried Grams several times and failed. And from reading the diary towards the end Grams talks about the discoveries she made through spying. Evidently Custos is extremely blood thirsty, cannot be trusted, and will strike to kill first chance he gets.”
“Oh god!” my eyes bugged out remembering where Mom went. “Mom said Custos had just recently called her and she was going to see him somewhere. And is she doesn’t call in an hour we were to call her.”
“How long has it been?” Ryan asks
I quickly make an estimation “It has to have been at least 2 hours and a half.”
“We should call her then” Ryan removes his phone from his pocket and dials. The phone rings. There’s a voice on the other end. Then Ryan’s face goes pale and drops the phone on the ground with a loud crash.
I rush over to him “what did you hear? What is it? Talk to me!” But he wouldn’t move, his mouth stayed ajar, eyes wide, his glasses in place, face pale. I smack his face and jerk his shoulders and then the floor board begins to screech. I turn around and there is...