Free FightingSanity by Viola Grace Page A

horrible screeches while throwing their food around.
    She sat gracefully at her table, accepting her tray with a gracious smile. The squid face that delivered it didn’t speak, but she could feel its disturbing scowl underneath the creature that wrapped its face.
    She sipped at her tea, frowning at the tepid brew. She was about to ask for a hotter pot, but the two squid faces near her were in deep conversation.
    “They have been asking for her, you know.” The server was muttering while darting worried glances toward Erinii.
    “Have you heard what they want?” Her escort stood with his arms crossed loosely over his chest.
    “No, but someone outside our government is making inquiries. How they learned she was here is a mystery.”
    “Her initial arrest was public. If they were looking for someone like her, it wouldn’t have taken much investigation.”
    They continued their conversation in low tones and Erinii knew that she was the topic of their discussion by the glances that the serving squid face kept throwing her way.
    She sipped at the disappointing tea and watched the trolls and fairies gambol about for hours. Sandwiches were sitting on her tray, but she didn’t wish to eat them.
    The candies held no appeal for her either, so she hid them within the uneaten food.
    “You were not hungry, my lady?” Her squid face was at her side.
    “No. The candy was nice though.”
    She saw a resigned disappointment in his eyes. “I am glad you enjoyed it, my lady. Shall we return to your rooms?”
    She got to her feet without his assistance. Erinii moved through the halls of her castle with a loose and graceful stride. It was hardly ladylike, but she liked keeping her body in good shape.
    The squid faces in the hall stepped aside to let her pass as if afraid of her touch. Respect would not have had them flattening themselves against the wall with the whites of their eyes showing.
    As her companion stopped and opened her door for her, she had to ask. “Why are all the servants so afraid?”
    His eyes welled with something she couldn’t name. It could have been pity, but there was a strange longing as well. “You have not always had the most polite of temperaments. They fear a tantrum of sorts.”
    She blinked and accepted his earnest words. She raised a hand to touch him, but he brought his hand up to stop her.
    “You cannot touch me, my lady. It is forbidden.”
    Erinii nodded with a jerk and returned to her chambers. Her day stretched before her and after another peculiar meal in the strange fairyland of her imagination, she slept as the green mists slowly dissipated.
    * * * *
    Her head pounded and her mouth was dry when she woke. The clarity of her thoughts was new. “What the hell?”
    Her whispered words were muttered into her pillow. She slept on her stomach and for once, she was grateful. If Erinii were careful, no one would know that her mind was her own for the first time in years.
    Her talent spluttered, but she managed a thin covering over her mouth and nose to act as a filter against the gas. It might take some tweaking, but she was going to get out of this mad house and damned soon.
    It had been four years since her talent had made itself obvious in a public setting. A protest against her government had drawn rioters to the public squares. She had left her work as a clerk and noticed a large quantity of armed men, government men, heading toward the gathering.
    Her half-sister and brother were participating as objectors and she needed to warn them. As she ran, her reflexes took over and she tipped everything into the street that she could. Light posts, trash containers and any number of vehicles shifted behind her to block followers and delay the arrival of the armed men.
    She had found her siblings in the crowd and warned them to run, but by that time, the army was upon them. Erinii had waved her arm and the guns pointed at the objectors took aim at the sky.
    The crowd had turned to stare at her and with