Toad blinks his black lily-pad eye at me sympathetically before closing his giant mouth and settling into statue-like hibernation.
Quince bends to gather Ava from the crystal box and places her on the fallen tree trunk. Claire gasps. The General drops to his knees. “Ava,” he whispers. “You’re alive.”
“Hello General,” she says fondly.
“We found you unconscious at the Alvey’s house. You were so still,” The General says. “We couldn’t heal you. We thought you’d been lost.”
“I was not lost, only hidden.”
“Hidden? Where? By whom? How have you lost your wings?”
“You must be patient.” Her smile is loving but her eyes are full of pain. “I will explain as best I can.”
“Wait,” Claire says. “You were at our house?”
“Yes, Bug. I volunteered to watch over Emily when she began to go through puberty much the same as Quince volunteered to watch over your mother Nissa when she left the Vineyard to marry your father David…”
“What?” Claire shrieks.
“Whoa.” Aidan presses his hands to his temples like he’s trying to keep his brain from leaping out of his skull. “How did I not figure this out before? Claire, think. What is Princess Nissa’s full name?”
“OMG. Nissandra! Mom’s name is Sandra!” Her mouth is a round O of surprise. I swear she doesn’t blink for at least a minute. “Aidan, Mom is a FAERIE PRINCESS!” She shakes his arm. “I’m really freaking out about this!”
“Why hasn’t anyone ever told us this before?” Aidan demands. “Why are there so many secrets?”
“She was forbidden to leave,” Ian says. “She broke the rules.”
“We couldn’t forgive her betrayal,” Quince says. “It’s difficult to speak of.”
“Then why did you watch over her?” Aidan asks.
“You’ll understand when you’re older,” Ian says. “We’ve lost our Connections, not the memory of them. She is our Princess.”
I’ve wriggled my head and shoulders into the crack. Roots scratch my face and claw at my hair. Can I crawl straight through? If I push in deep enough will I fall out the other side?
“We’d never witnessed a Halfling Changing,” Ava says. “We didn’t even know if Emily would Change. Nissa could give her a Flame but she was ill, and none of the elves in this Realm are strong enough to give a Spark. We assumed she would remain mortal. But as soon as Emily reached her physical adolescence we could sense her powers awakening even from as far away the Vineyard. I volunteered to watch after her. I was to remain concealed unless there was an emergency.”
I’m stuck in the crack, claustrophobic. I can’t move forward any further. I inch back, panting. Ava’s words are barely louder than my wild heartbeat.
“Three weeks ago, when Gabe saw the brands she’d cut into her arm, Emily panicked. She saw a Spark floating in front of her in the air. Not knowing what it was or what it would do she sucked it inside. It set her Changing in motion. She couldn’t contain her secrets any longer. Your father was coming home, your mother was sick. Emily had been self-medicating. She was drowning in fear and despair. I had no choice but to reveal myself to her.”
I’m back in the bathroom that dark night holding Mom’s lifeless body in my arms watching the silver butterfly flutter down from the corner of the ceiling and drop to the countertop like a stone. “Thank God for you, Ava,” I whisper into the crack, “You saved my life.”
“I joined with her when she took Nissa’s wings, hoping to guide her through the process. But she was too strong. Emily took all of Nissa’s Blaze and my wings as well.”
A dismayed murmur rises from the crowd.
“No, don’t pity me. I knew the risks,” Ava says. “I chose to join with her. We make each other stronger.”
“No wonder Lady Emily has so much power for a Halfling,” Marcus remarks. “She has your Blaze, Nissa’s Blaze, her own wings, and Keen as well.”
“But where did her Spark come from?” Ian asks. “As you said yourself Ava, none of us is strong enough to give one.”
“It came from the crimbal’s Master.”
“Daughter. We know the High King is the crimbal’s Master. He’s trying to prevent our return home. Why would he send her a Spark?”
“The High King isn’t the crimbal’s Master. Emily isn’t a Halfling. The crimbal’s Master is Emily’s father: Drake.”
Thirty-Five
Ava’s words hang in the air, unnatural twisted birds of prey. I cover my ears with my hands and press my forehead to the ground. No no no no no no no.
“Impossible,” Quince gasps. “David is Emily’s father.”
“Drake and David are the same man,” Ava answers. “His plans have been long in the making.”
“But why?” Disbelief and anger fight for position on Ian’s face. “How do you know this, Ava?”
“After decades of exhausting every means of breaking the Seal, Drake realized he needed a Halfling Ovate born in this realm to open the Doorway. So he set out to create one.”
Shock writhes up my throat, making me gag.
“Drake decided to risk venturing away from the Doorway to carry out his murderous plot. His travels into the Second Realm took a heavy toll on him. Not only was his power diminished when he journeyed away from the Doorway, his immortality was as well. The first time he ventured out he was gone only weeks before returning, exhausted and spent. But he’d planted several seeds and was hopeful at least one of them would come to bear fruit.”
“Wait.” Claire blurts. “You’re saying my dad has two names, Drake and David. You’re saying he got ladies pregnant so he could make an Ovate to open the Doorway?”
“That’s exactly what he did, Bug. But it was more monstrous than that.” Ava’s pause stops the breath in my lungs. “None of the women he impregnated survived labor and delivery.”
I’m drained. Bloodless. Depleted. I don’t want to hear any more. Somehow I know it’s going to get worse. I crumple against the unyielding sidewalk, knees to chest ear close to the crack. Tears spill from my eyes. I know with heavy conviction I can never go back to my old life again. There’s no place deep enough in my body to bury these revelations.
Ava continues. “For more than a decade Drake waited, regaining his strength, watching with his far-reaching Mind’s Eye, sending out Sparks, knowing that if one of his orphaned sons showed potential for power he would receive a vision. He waited in vain. After almost two decades he ventured out again. The second time he stayed away from the Doorway longer, spawning more Halfling Ovate possibilities. He was a shadow of himself when he returned to his sanctuary in the Third Realm to recover his power. He was certain he would have success. He was wrong. Three times he journeyed from the Door, each time reaping nothing. Though his bastard sons each held potential, Drake discerned none would be strong enough to break the Seal. Dismissing his creations as useless to him, he abandoned them to wander lost and alone.”
A strange growing lightness wells in my chest, pushing up through the rubble of demolishing horror, contradicting my tears of revulsion and sorrow for Drake’s lost children and their murdered mothers because I know beyond doubt: I am nothing like my father.
“His plan had failed,” Ava says. “After decades he conceded. A Halfling simply wasn’t strong enough. So he turned his sights to the Vineyard, to Nissa. Drake was always infatuated with our Princess. In the years since our banishment she matured, becoming even more lovely and desirable to him than she was as a child in the Seventh Kingdom. Nissa could give him an Ovate son. As a maiden, she would have the strength to survive childbirth. Drake could use her until she gave him what he needed. So he crafted an impenetrable mortal disguise as David Alvey and came to Vineyard to court her, and it worked. She fell head over heels in love with him and we disowned her for leaving.”
A low snarl crouches in Kail
len’s throat. “He always lusted after her. I could see it in the way he looked at her. It made me sick. I’ll rip him to shreds.”
“How did Nissa not see through his disguise?” Quince asks, unbelieving.
“Did we, Quince?” Ava chides. “None of us saw through his disguise. Nissa became another victim in a long line of battered women. For years she was innocent and exploitable. Her pride wouldn’t let her return to the Vineyard and admit her marriage had failed. She hoped that giving him children would make things better. She suffered Drake’s domineering abuse in silence…until she discovered what he was doing to their first born daughter.”
No.
I’m on my knees again, clawing at the crack. “Shut up, Ava! Please, NO!”
My nails tear and bleed but I keep digging. I want to disappear. I want to grab Aidan and Claire and RUN. I want this vision to stop. I need Ava to stop talking.
“What was he doing to Emily?” Aidan’s eyes are hollow.
“Drake has never believed females are good for anything but bearing and raising children. Because his firstborn with Nissa was a girl, he never considered she’d be strong enough to help him break the Seal. But she did have Magic. Living away from the Doorway drained Drake’s power. He had to return to his sanctuary frequently to fill his reserves in order to maintain his disguise. When he detected Emily’s power, he realized he had another option.”
Is this what burning at the stake feels like? The engulfing heat, the searing pain, the oxygen vaporizing in my mouth? Agonizing screams rage through my arms and legs as I kick and flail, helpless to escape her words.
“He began to take her power through a violent and depraved process. Bewildered and heartsick, Nissa watched her precious daughter wither before her eyes, not knowing what was happening or how to help.”
I can’t look at their undone faces anymore. I shove my fingers in my ears to halt the words crashing around in me. But it doesn’t help. I can still hear.
“Nissa began to keep constant vigil. The third time Drake molested Emily, Nissandra discovered them. She defended her daughter with her life. But she was no match for Drake. While they battled, Drake used the Magic he’d seized from Emily to trap Nissa’s mind in the Third Realm. Then, completely depleted, he fled to the Doorway. He’s been waiting and watching ever since, regaining his health.”
“How do you know these things, Ava?” Quince questions, stunned.
“When Emily took my wings, my consciousness joined with Nissandra’s. While my body was in the crystal box, my mind was in the Third Realm with our Princess. She told me this tale.”
A collective howl rends the grove. Kaillen stalks behind Ava, muttering dangerous threats. The Fae have knocked their arrows and drawn their guns. Claire shelters in Quince’s arms.
Even as my body fights to deny the things I’ve heard, in my heart I know they’re true. I think I’ve always known. I just wasn’t strong enough to accept the ugliness that was part of me. I had to hear it from a distance or it would have destroyed me.
“That’s where Emily is now, isn’t it? The Third Realm.” Aidan stands separate and tall. Iron sets his jaw.
“Yes.”
“Where is the Third Realm, Ava?” The General demands.
“It exists between many Realms. It’s a shadow realm, a maze of the Mind caught out of Time. Drake poisoned the atmosphere there with doubt, fear, and despair. Every emotion, every decision made there creates a new version of Reality that closely mimics the real world, but paranoia, guilt, and shame run rampant, attacking hope and positivity. It’s impossible to separate truth from lies there. The consciousness is trapped in a downward spiral, unable to escape it’s own fantasy.”
“Why would Emma Travel there?” Claire asks.
“I believe the medallion Drake gave her opened a Path when she channeled with the weapons.”
“I swear to everyone who can hear my voice,” Kaillen growls, “I will hunt Drake down and kill him.”
“We need to continue with our plan,” Marcus says. “Let Drake think we’re ignorant of who he is or what he’s done. When we return home and our powers are restored we can bring him to justice!”
“Drake doesn’t believe more than a few of us will survive the ambush he has prepared,” Ava says. “He’ll siphon as much power as he can hold from Emily’s wings, the weapons, and from those of us who do survive. Then he’ll march on the throne.”
“We’ve considered an ambush,” Marcus scoffs, “but he’s one man with a handful of crimbal. He’s no match for us.”
“It isn’t just a handful of crimbal, Marcus.” Ava’s voice echoes weirdly across the grove. “Drake has been gathering his bastard children. He feeds them lies: that the elves are their fathers, that they were created for sport. He promises them revenge for their murdered mothers and power in the First Realm, playing on the abandonment he himself inflicted, harvesting years of bitterness and loneliness to raise an army bent on justice.”
For several seconds there is complete silence.
Finally, Marcus speaks again. ”Even so, what are a dozen Halflings? We have Lady Alvey. She controls the weapons, not Drake.”
“We had Lady Alvey, remember?” Aidan says.
“Aidan’s right,” Ava says. “Remember, Traveling drained her power. The longer she remains in the Third Realm the more likely Drake is to discover her.
“We can’t let that happen,” The General says. “Emily’s Pathway is still open. One of us will use it to retrieve her.”
“That would be unwise. You know the toll Traveling takes on the physical body. With no Magic to protect us the journey would certainly be fatal for any of us.”
“What about her?” Claire points at Xander. “Hannah says insects have strong Magic!”
“She’s right,” Quince exclaims. “Xander can do it, if she is willing. She can follow Emily’s Path and lead her back to this Realm!”
At the mention of her name Xander zips to the front of the throng, twirling in the air.
“Xander, can you follow Emily and lead her back to us?” Ava asks.
The dragonfly bobs up and down.
My pulse races. Thank God for little sisters who listen.
“Tell her I love her.” Claire’s voice is a clamor of fresh hope.
“Me too,” Aidan adds. “And tell her to hurry back. Please.”
“Tell her Jacob loves her, too,” Claire says, “even though he isn’t here right now.”
Ava’s head snaps up, the space around her dims. “Where is Jacob, Bug? What do you mean he isn’t here?”
My pulse rockets even faster at the dread in Ava’s voice.
“He went with Gabe to put gas in the vans…”
“Alone? How long ago did they leave?”
Claire looks at Aidan and then the General, shrugging. “I don’t know. An hour maybe?”
Dismay darkens Ava’s face. Her head moves from side to side in a slow arc back and forth.
“What is it, Ava? What frightens you?” Quince asks.
“Drake has recruited Gabe to his cause. When he felt Emily’s powers growing stronger he sent Gabe to keep an eye on her. That is why Gabe was at the pool, why he went to her home on the night she began to Change.”
Spiders of fear and nausea crawl up the back of my neck. Does that mean…?
“Hold on,” Aidan sounds like he’s about to gag. “Gabe is one of those Halflings? Does that means he’s my half brother? He kissed Emily. I saw them on the path the first morning after we got here.”
Kaillen chokes.
I’m going to pass out in my prom dress on the sidewalk. This can’t be happening.
“He’s not related to you Aidan. Gabe’s mother died giving birth to his Halfling sister, leaving him an orphan. His sister took her own life several years ago.”
Every new revelation stirs acid
in my churning stomach.
“But Gabe likes Emma,” Claire insists. “I mean, he likes her likes her. And Jacob wouldn’t help anyone attack us!
“That’s not what she’s saying, Claire.” Aidan is eerily calm. “You’re worried Gabe kidnapped Jacob, aren’t you? That Drake will use him to make Emily open the Doorway and turn over the weapons. Am I right?”
“Your Insight is sharp, Aidan,” Ava remarks.
“Can that dragonfly understand English?” Aidan points at Xander who perches on the tip of Claire’s index finger.
Quince nods. “Yes, she can understand you.”
“Xander,” he says. “I need you to go find my sister. Please. Tell her not to trust Drake, and tell her Jacob is missing. She needs to come back right now. Do you understand?”
Xander’s antennae wave as if blown by a breeze.
Aidan falls back, landing on his butt in the dirt. “Holy crap!” His eyes are wide with shock. “She just threw a giant wave of color at me! How did she do that?” Ian and Quince exchange startled glances, but Aidan doesn’t wait for a reply. “Why isn’t she going yet?” he asks, getting to his feet. “You need to go now!”
“Twist isn’t here,” Quince says. “We left her at camp to communicate with the rest of our group. We need another dragonfly who can exchange messages with Xander.”
Lizzy steps forward. A sleek-bodied black dragonfly rests on her shoulder. “Gliss has offered to send and receive with Xander.”
“Thank you, Gliss,” Ava says. She speaks to Xander next. “Fly swift and safe. Return as quick as you can.”
Xander’s wings vibrate. Lifting off from Claire’s finger, she speeds up into the air, then loops down, flying straight at Claire and vanishing inches from the tip of Claire’s freckled nose.
Thirty-Six
Unoiled hinges swing wide behind me. Without thinking I scramble to my feet and dash toward Toad, desperate to hide.
“Hello, Dear One.”
Too late.
“Hello, Drake.”
Riven: Young Adult Fantasy Novel (My Myth Trilogy Book 1) Page 23
