bed

previous part: https://jordynsaelor.com/2025/11/14/percy/

all parts: https://jordynsaelor.com/cant-catch-me-now/

***

I came to

in a bed of rough feathers

under an orange sky–

dark orange, basically brown,

streaked with red,

because dust

clouded the air.

Yet

none of it

descended below the storm walls

of my small room.

I sat up

and a blanket sewn of

bright feathers

slid from my legs, slipping into the clear water,

settling on the muddy floor.

Someone

had taken my bone digit frame

and my ankles looked scrubbed, red and raw,

same with my elbow

and toes–

so they must’ve

tried to wash the tattoos off me,

stupid trees.

And my dress

with the memory runes

on the sleeves

was nowhere to be seen

so good thing

the runes were all empty anyway–

I hadn’t seen the point of 

keeping assignments stored in memory runes

when I was leaving.

I stepped out of bed

into the cool water,

soaking the hem of this new, ugly gray sack I wore,

and mud

spun up around my bare feet.

So,

if I was going to run,

I needed foot protection.

And my bone-digit frame back.

And food.

And somewhere to go

that didn’t have trees

and weird voices

doing recitations that knocked you out

so they could steal your clothes

and stick you in a scratchy bed.

But first

I needed to get out of this room

so I slowly did a circuit of the round walls,

nubs investigating every surface

for a door,

or hole,

or cubby

or vent

or any sort of exit,

but the walls like storm clouds pushed back stiff as stone

smooth as ice

and I dug in the mud

but found nothing–

no tunnel,

no lost treasure,

zero hiding salamanders

or even tiny crabs–

then I jumped on the bed, flailing at the air

for an invisible roof

when a voice

startled me

and I nearly fell off–

“Mortal, what are you doing?”

I stumbled and spun

and a hole had appeared in the wall–

unfair, I’d poked there at least four times–

and a round little gray thing with a frog mouth and mammal nose waddled inside

on twin sticky legs

barely poking above the water.

“I,” I said, “was jumping on the bed trying to touch the invisible roof.”

I clamped my mouth shut. Then said, “Why did I say that?”

The creature strode forward, wide lips moving

incongruently with the sounds coming out of it. “Percy’s Keep

is a place of truth.

Everyone speaks honestly here.”

“That’s stupid,” I said. “Isn’t there at least a way

to not speak anything? I didn’t want to tell you

I was trying to touch the invisible roof.”

And I put arms over my mouth

to stop any more sounds from coming out.

“The spell will calm down after a few days,”

the creature said, and rested its nose against the bed frame

–made of some translucent material–

and sniffed it for who knows what reason. “And you’ll no longer

be forced to blurt the first thing that comes to mind.”

“Give me my bone-digit frame back,” I said around my arm. “And shoes.

Why don’t I feel thirsty or hungry?”

The creature chuckled.

“I’m here to answer all your questions.

Shall I take you on a tour?”

“If it means getting lost in that maze,

no way.” I said. “I hate this truth spell.”

The creature clacked its tongue.

“You’ll get used to it.

But I should tell you,

we don’t do spells here. Spells are of demons.

Here, everything comes by Percy’s blessing.”

“It’s a truth spell,” I said.

“I see,” it said, “that we have some things to teach you.”

***

find my published books at this link