“I don’t understand,” she said. “They should be awake.”
“That’s the same thing Shelley said,” Ben told her.
“There’s got to be something I’m missing.”
Alix took out the pearl and placed it on her tattoo. She curled her fingers around it and put her left hand on her mom. Once again, she sent her magic into her mom but found nothing.
She moved away from the bed and went to the window. It was raining out. She felt like the world was crying for her. She just couldn’t lose her parents. They were the most loving people she knew.
“Wait, I have an idea,” she told Ben and Shay. “It might sound a little crazy, but it just suddenly popped into my head and I’m going to need your help.”
“Of course,” Ben said.
“Anything for you,” Shay told her.
“Okay. Ben, you go stand over by my dad and take his hand. Shay, I need you to kind of get in the middle of the bed and take Ben’s hand,” Alix told them.
Both of them did as she asked. Alix reached over her mom and put her dad’s hand underneath her mom’s like they were holding hands. Then Alix took Shay’s hand.
“I need the two of you to think about your families and how much you love them,” Alix said.
Ben and Shay nodded. Alix closed her eyes and thought about her parents and what they meant to her. When she felt she was ready she opened her eyes and took her mom’s hand. Immediately she felt a continuous flow of energy go through the five of them.
“Wow,” Shay whispered. “That feels amazing.”
Alix knew what she meant, but if she had to describe what she was feeling she knew she wouldn’t have the words.
They stayed like that for a few minutes until Alix felt a slight change in the energy and she knew it was the love her parents had for her and each other.
“We can stop now,” Alix said to Shay and Ben.
Everyone let go of each other’s hand, except for her mom and dad. She grinned when she saw her mom’s hand tightened around her dad’s.
“We did it,” Alix said. “They’re going to be okay.”
“That was freaking amazing,” Shay said, getting off the bed. “Can we do that again?”
“Let’s hope we never have to,” Ben said.
“Agreed,” Alix said.
The three of them waited a few minutes when Heather finally opened her eyes. When she saw Alix, she sat up and reached for her. Alix hugged her immediately.
“Ted!” Heather said shaking him. “Ted wake up, Alix is here.”
Her dad slowly opened his eyes. Alix ran around the bed to hug him.
“I was so scared I’d never see you again pumpkin,” he told her.
“Me too dad,” she said. “But everything is going to be okay now that you two are awake.”
“Shay,” Ben said, “why don’t we go tell everyone the good news.”
Shay nodded understanding he was giving Alix some much needed alone time with her parents.
“Thank you, guys. I couldn’t have done this without you,” Alix told them.
“You know we would do anything for you,” Shay said. “Always.”
“I know. Love you Shay.”
“Love you too Alix.”
Ben smiled and nodded at Alix. “When you’re ready, go have a shower and come to the kitchen to eat. And I mean all three of you.”
Alix looked at her clothes and for the first time since waking up she realized she was still wearing the same thing she wore to Stonehenge.
“Wait Ben, before you go, I need to know one thing. What day is it?”
“Wednesday. You were asleep for forty-eight hours,” he told her and left the room.
“We’ll be in the kitchen if you need us,” Shay said, and followed Ben out.
“Come here honey,” Heather said to Alix.
She climbed on the bed and laid down between them.
“Do you want to talk about it?” her mom asked her.
“No, not right now. I just want to stay here with you for a while.”
“Okay honey,” her mom said. “That sounds perfect to me.”
Chapter 45
Alix didn’t know how much time had passed but eventually she got up and went to her room. The shower she took was the best one of her life and she felt a million times better when she got out. She got dressed in a pair of yoga pants, t-shirt and a hoodie. Once her parents were dressed, they all went to the kitchen. Not surprisingly, it was full of people.
It was only then that she thought about all the people that had come to fight for her. She looked around the room to see who was there. She saw Kris, Ruth, Shelley, Karin, and Mike. Ben was with his parents and she saw Gordon helping Merideth. Sara, Jack, Logan, and Samantha were there too, as well as a few people she didn’t recognize.
“You’re all here and you’re all alive,” Alix said. She couldn’t stop the tears. Alix was beyond grateful that somehow, they all managed to survive the fight. “But how?”
“There’s a lot we need to talk about Miss Alix,” Gordon said. “We all have questions that need answers. But first you and your parents need to eat and drink.”
Alix was about to argue when her stomach growled. “Okay,” she said.
Merideth had been busy and there were about twenty different things to choose from. She grabbed a croissant, some cheese and fruit.
“Can we talk while we eat?” she asked.
“Of course,” Gordon said. “But I have a feeling this is going to be a long conversation so why don’t we go somewhere we can all sit down.”
They followed Gordon to the room where Alix had been to her one and only Council meeting. Everyone took a seat.
“What happened to the Grynn?” Alix asked.
“Well, you killed François,” Gordon said. “But before that we’re not sure what you did but every Grynn within a mile just dropped dead. We’ve also had reports of Grynn mysteriously dying in other places across the world too. We found Victor in the parking lot away from the fighting.”
“François killed Victor,” Alix told them. “He sucked out Victor’s life force, that’s why he was so powerful at the end. And as for the other Grynn, to be honest I’m not one hundred percent sure what I did. I saw Ben and Shay get hit with François’s magic and I was sure they were dead. I guess I kind of lost it. All I remember thinking was I wanted the evil to stop.”
“Okay, fair enough,” Gordon said. “How did you kill François?”
“Love,” Alix said. “I couldn’t figure out why my magic wasn’t having any effect on him. I had the Power Stone in my hand and Stonehenge was giving me an incredible amount of power, but nothing was working. When he had me in his grip, he told me that once I used a power on him it wouldn’t work a second time. After I killed the Grynn all I could think about was how much I loved my parents, Shay and Ben. That’s when I realized I had one weapon in me that François knew nothing about love. If he was willing to kill his own son to increase his power, there was no way he could feel any love.”
Alix could see the thoughts swirling in everyone’s heads. If she hadn’t actually been the one to use love to defeat François, she might not have believed it either.
“How did Ben and Shay survive?” Alix asked. “I saw them both get hit. I knew how powerful François had become and I was sure they were dead.”
“Honestly, we almost died, but Shelley and her Healers saved us,” Ben said.
“Thank you, Shelley,” Alix said.
“Since we didn’t have to worry about fighting the Grynn anymore, we were able to get to them just in time,” Shelley told her.
“Not that I’m not happy, but how did all of you survive?” Alix asked. “I mean, the odds that all of us would stay alive weren’t great.”
“We think it had to do with Stonehenge itself,” Gordon said. “We were all able to maintain enough energy to maintain our shields and still fight. You chose well picking Stonehenge for the battle.”
“How did you save yo
ur parents?” Shelley asked. “We tried everything but couldn’t get them to wake up.”
Alix smiled and explained what she, Shay and Ben had done. She saw her parents smile at each other.
“Wow,” Shelley said. “That’s amazing. Great job Alix.”
“Thanks. What do we know about the rest of the Grynn in the world?” Alix asked.
“From what has been reported,” Gordon started, “the amount of crime has been significantly reduced. The Grynn still exist, but news has spread of what happened to François and most of them are running scared. It’s never possible to eliminate evil but you’ve done an excellent job of getting rid of a lot of it. I don’t think the Grynn will be a big problem for a long, long time.”
“What happened to the barrier around Stonehenge?” Alix asked. “Can humans see it for what it really is now?”
“No,” Ruth answered. “After you collapsed the barrier was just suddenly there again. We think since you no longer needed it gone it just went back to the way it normally was.”
Finally, Alix asked something that had been on her mind since she woke up. “What happened with Sharon and Sean?”
“We found them among the dead Grynn at Stonehenge,” Gordon said.
“Who were they really?” she asked.
“They were Sharon and Sean Lawson,” Gordon said. “The same people that your parents were friends with. We used their fingerprints to determine that.”
“What happened to them? I mean, why would they turn their backs on the Nykara?”
“As far as we could find out they were captured about a year after you were born. Shelley did a postmortem magical examine on them and found their memories had been erased. We think they did it to themselves to prevent the Grynn from finding you. From what we can tell the Grynn found them and knew who they were, but without their memories the Grynn couldn’t locate you. It seems like the Grynn spent the next sixteen years accessing what memories they could and reprogramming their brains to act like the Sharon and Sean they were supposed to be.”
“If that’s true then why couldn’t the Grynn find me?” Alix asked.
“Our best guess is that was the one thing they made sure would never be brought back. We still don’t understand how they did it, but it’s the only explanation we can think of,” Gordon said.
“So why did they die with the rest of the Grynn then?” Alix asked.
“From what you said you were trying to destroy evil. I guess that meant they believed they really were Grynn. I’m not sure they even knew they were really Nykara.” Gordon said.
Alix wasn’t sure how to feel about that. The Sean and Sharon she knew lied to her the whole time, but they were still her birth parents and gave up absolutely everything to make sure she was safe. That’s how she decided she was going to remember them, as the loving caring people that gave her life.
When most of the big questions had been answered Alix went around the room and talked to everyone. She couldn’t express how glad she was that they all survived.
“Alix,” Ruth said getting her attention. “We have a surprise for you. Meredith, can you please bring in our guests.”
Everyone in the room smiled and that made Alix very curious. When the door opened again Lucie and James walked in.
“Alix, it’s so nice to see you,” James said.
“I’m so happy to see you again,” Lucie said.
“You remember me?” Alix asked. “But how?”
“We’re not totally sure,” Ruth said. “But we think it had something to do with François’s death. We went to give them their dinner on Monday night and they seemed perfectly back to normal, with the exception of not remembering the last six weeks or so.”
“That’s amazing,” Alix said smiling. “I’m happy you’re both back to normal. I had planned on finding a way to make your memories return but now I guess I don’t have to.”
She gave each of them a hug and went to find Ben and Shay. She found them talking to Logan and two other people she didn’t know.
“There you are,” Ben said as she walked up to them. “How are you holding up?”
“It’s been a little crazy since I woke up but overall, I think I’m fantastic. Everyone I care about is here and okay. I don’t think I could have asked for a better outcome.”
“So, what happens now?” Shay asked.
“Now we go back to being normal teenagers that don’t have to run off and save the world.”
“I kind of like saving the world,” Shay said.
“Well instead of saving the world from bad guys you can start saving them from bad fashion,” Alix suggested.
“Oh, I like the sound of that,” Shay said with a grin. “And what are you going to do now that there are no Grynn to hunt down?”
“I have a few ideas rolling around in my head,” Alix told her.
“You always do,” Shay said, smiling at her. “Care to share them?”
“I will when I have a better idea for what needs to be done. Trust me, you and Ben will be the first to know.”
“I’m going to hold you to that,” Shay told her.
“I know you will. I love you Shay.”
“I love you too Alix.”
“Can I get in on some of that love?” Ben asked with a grin.
“Of course,” Shay said. “I love you too Ben, even though you have terrible taste in TV shows.”
Ben laughed at her and Alix couldn’t have been happier.
****
Over the next few days, life went back to normal. Shay moved back home but Alix and her parents continued to live at the Nykara safe house. Her parents would move back to their home when Sara finished the semester. Alix already knew she was going to stay with Ben and his parents as she needed to be close to the room of rooms for her idea to work.
Logan decided to finish the year in Sunset Creek and all four of them went back to regular high school. They wanted to have as much of the senior experience as they could.
Just a few short months ago Alix couldn’t wait to get out of Sunset Creek, and now she couldn’t imagine living anywhere else. She knew she would always be surrounded by the people she loved and that she could do anything she set her mind to. The future was going to be a very exciting place and she was looking forward to it.
Epilogue
Three Months Later
“Do I make this look cute or what?” Shay said twirling around in her cap and gown.
“You make everything look cute,” Logan said, giving her a quick kiss.
“Enough you two,” Ben said, trying to fight a smile. “We have to get going. Where’s Alix?”
“I’m right here,” she said, coming down the stairs. “I couldn’t get my cap to stay in place.”
“Bobby pins Alix, have you learned nothing from me?” Shay said.
“I’m wearing heels, does that count?”
“It’s a start,” Shay said.
“Come on kids,” Rick said. “We don’t want to be late.”
All four of them smiled as they headed out the door. When they got to the school their families went to sit down while they went to the back of the stage and were put in alphabetical order. Alix was excited about today. Not only was she graduating but she could finally tell everyone her surprise. She had been working on it secretly for three months and couldn’t wait to share it.
Finally, they were directed to their seats and the graduation ceremony started. There were the usual speeches and then they started calling names. Alix was the first of the four to cross the stage. There was a huge cheer for her when her name was called. She looked to the source of the cheering and saw there were over a dozen people there with their families. She saw Gordon, Merideth, Kris, and Shelley before she had to leave the stage. When the last of the students sat down after crossing the stage, they all cheered and threw their hats in the air. With the ceremony over they went to find their families.
“Congratulations Miss Alix,” Gordon said, when he saw her.”
; “Thank you,” she said. “I didn’t know you would be here.”
“I wouldn’t have missed it for the world. And besides, I wanted to be here for your big reveal,” he whispered.
The only people that knew what she had been working on were Gordon and the other council members.
Goodbyes were said to fellow classmates and then they all went back to the house. There was lots of food and presents. Finally, Alix knew it was time to make her announcement.
“Can I have your attention everyone,” she said loudly. “Since we got back from Fox Hollow in February I have been working on a secret project. The current system of training new Nykara how to use their powers is a little outdated with the growing population. So, we’re going to set up schools where Nykara can come after their seventeenth birthday to learn what they need to know.”
“You mean like Hogwarts?” Shay asked.
“No, not really. More like summer camp. We don’t want to have to separate the child from their families for long periods of time, so when they turn seventeen, they will go to the school that is closest to them to learn from experienced Nykara.
“Each school will house expert Warriors, Healers, Locators, Artists, Physicals and Theorists. As well, there will be regular teachers to help the students with their regular schoolwork until they are ready to return to their normal lives.”
“What about Protectors?” Ben asked.
“We’ll call them in as needed since so few Nykara are actually Protectors. So, what do you all think?”
Everyone agreed it was a great idea.
“Where will the schools be?” Rick asked.
“We’re still working on that but right now we’re thinking one per country, or possibly two or three if the country has a large population.”
“What is your role in this?” her mom asked.
“I’m going to go from school to school, like a guest lecturer. Share my experiences and help any of them that need it,” she said proudly.
“When do you expect to get these schools up and running?” Kris asked.
Believe Page 25
