by Sarah Jaune
“We went to this place, I don’t really know where it was, but my mom told the doorman that we were here to see my father,” Ivy explained. Her voice cracked on the word ‘father.’ “We stood there waiting, but the doorman came back and said he wasn’t going to see us. My mom insisted that he would see us and we’d wait, but the doorman kicked us out.”
“Oh daggers,” Zen whistled in horror.
Ivy went on as though he hadn’t said anything. “My mom took me to a bench that was right outside the door and she sat me there. She made me sit up straight, stay still, for the rest of that day and into the night.”
“What?!” Eli exclaimed, furious and horrified in equal measures.
“I kept falling asleep,” Ivy told them with a voice that was now completely dead. “Mom would wake me back up. I wasn’t allowed to get anything to eat, drink, or even to go to the bathroom. We sat there for almost eighteen hours before the police came. I ended up in the hospital for the night while Mom was evaluated.”
“Ivy…” Eli’s heart felt broken for her.
“I heard the doctor say that someone on my father’s staff had called the police,” Ivy sighed in resignation. “He knew we were there, but didn’t care enough to come out. My mom knew it, too. She spent weeks saying, ‘she’s not good enough’ and ‘he doesn’t want her’ as she walked in circles around the apartment. I would watch her go around and around for hours, wearing a path in the carpet. I still have no clue how she functioned at work. If my father did anything to help my mom, it was probably making sure she didn’t lose her job.”
Eli squeezed Ivy’s hand and felt just how cold her fingers were.
“I knew it was stupid to call him when my mom died,” Ivy went on, and Eli wished fervently that she’d stop. “I knew he wouldn’t help me. He didn’t want me. He’d never wanted me. When my mother went crazy, he left me with her, but I was so upset. I found my mom dead. I was… I wasn’t thinking and I called him, hoping he’d help get me to my grandmother’s house. I didn’t think he’d help me personally, but I knew he had staff. I think I thought that he might spare a driver to get me there, or give me the money for a bus ride, but I didn’t even get a chance to speak to him. His wife told me that I was a mistake.”
“No,” Zen whispered into the cadence of the crashing waves.
“That’s all I’ve ever been is a mistake,” she said finally. Her eyes were still shut, but she didn’t seem close to tears. It was amazing, because Eli felt like he could cry. “I have never been loved, never been wanted, never felt like I fit in anywhere until I met you guys, but I realize now that I didn’t have it so bad.”
Eli had no idea how she could say that. “What—”
“Haleigh was going to be married off to that horrible guy,” Ivy reminded Eli as she opened her eyes. “She thought that an acceptable way of postponing that wedding was to have her little brother beat the crap out of her. Think about that, Eli…”
He had thought about it, more than he wanted to.
“You do belong with us,” Eli said quickly. “You’re one of us, and we want you around.”
Ivy smiled sadly. “I know, but that’s what Coral meant. She meant that I don’t see myself as ever truly fitting in. Even in my foster family, I still feel like an outsider.”
“You two are doing something good,” Zen said quietly. “I don’t really know what it is, but I want to help if I can.”
Eli shook his head. “You can’t, not really. You’re still in a family that’s politically connected across our world. If you’re caught it could go badly for your father. Plus, we can’t really tell you what we’re up to.”
“Well,” Zen inclined his head, indicating the house. “I can always leave. My parents don’t expect me to stick around forever. Once Pistol is married, it’ll be just a matter of time before I have to go.”
“Has he proposed?” Ivy asked, clearly ready to change the subject.
“Not yet,” Zen said as a shooting star sped through the night sky. “My father is still not totally on board with that, but he’s getting there. He really likes Pistol’s girlfriend, so that helps.”
It was so normal here, so peaceful, yet nothing was peaceful. Ivy’s fingers, still in Eli’s hand, were still ice cold, and he knew she hadn’t forgotten all she’d relayed to them.
Eli couldn’t face his worst memories, but he knew now that there were memories in Ivy’s past that were just as traumatic as his own. She faced them, though. She looked at them head-on and saw them for what they were.
But her conclusion was that she wasn’t… he didn’t know how to finish that thought. Her impressions of herself shaped her, and shaped how she saw the world. Eli knew that as surely as he knew anything. Maia told him often enough that if he saw himself in a certain way, he was bound to become that. It was a self-fulfilling prophesy. If he saw himself as heartless, violent, angry, and unreasonable, that’s always who he’d be.
“You should have seen Ivy,” Eli told Zen as the tide began to creep out further into the ocean. “She was amazing when we were fighting. This guy that we were transporting had already beaten me badly. He was the one who hit me with the chair. I couldn’t take him down by myself.”
Zen let out a whistle of appreciation. “That’s pretty impressive.”
“His power was just working against mine, and I couldn’t get in enough hits,” Eli explained quickly. “Another guy helped me out and the two of us were able to get him, but I would have lost if it had just been me.”
“Eli…” Ivy started to say, but he kept going.
“We got out of the car and the guy lunged for Ivy. He grabbed her, and I was too sick to help. I thought, well…” Eli decided he had to be honest. “I thought that was it, but Ivy used the lake we had parked by to drag the guy into the water. She was able to get away from him, then she brought his lifeless body back up on shore, punched him in the chest, and he came back to life. It was really impressive.”
Ivy grinned self-consciously, but appeared pleased all the same. It was a transformation, of sorts. They’d started out with her not wanting to go out on her own and ended up with Ivy saving the day. She was more impressive than she gave herself credit for. Part of that was probably her father’s fault. It was likely she’d never done much that could give her confidence, but what she’d achieved in New Orleans, what they’d all achieved, had been something to be proud of.
“I wouldn’t trade with Haleigh,” Ivy said again. “I know it wasn’t a picnic, but being out on my own gave me a lot of skills. I was never trapped under someone else’s thumb. The only person really holding me back was myself. I think there’s a lot to learn from that.”
Eli opened his mouth to reply, but heard fast footsteps coming their way. He turned and spotted Zen’s older brother, Pistol, who was a taller version of Zen, striding towards them. “We have trouble.”
CHAPTER 27
THE TRUTH COMES OUT
“What’s up?” Zen asked him as he stared up at his brother.
“The levee in New Orleans failed,” Pistol informed them sharply. Ivy gasped in horror. “That’s, unfortunately, only the beginning of our troubles.”
Eli stood quickly and stared at Zen’s older brother who was now close to eighteen. “What could be worse than that?”
“The Overseer of Miami is driving here, right now, with his son,” Pistol replied in a low growl.
Price and his father…
The four of them ran back for the house and straight for Kasper Morton’s office. It was an office, much like Eli’s father’s, with stuffed book cases and dark, wooden furniture. But where Eli’s father always had his kept pristine and unused, this office was clearly a place where Overseer Morton actually worked. It was a bit of a novel concept to Eli, but he could see books had been hastily re-shelved and papers were strewn all over the desk.
Eli silently studied Mr. Morton’s grim face. He and Pistol had the same big, square jaw, and taller, powerful build. He shared his sons’ dark a
uburn hair, but his was lightly streaked with silver at the temples. His eyes were intelligent and intense as he leaned on his desk, studying the four teenagers. The only one missing from the group was Zen’s mom, who Eli had seen briefly as she rushed upstairs.
“Here is the story that I have so far,” Overseer Morton said in a tone that told all of them they’d better not interrupt or ask questions. Before he could speak further, though, the library door opened, then shut softly as Mrs. Morton joined them.
She, however, sat in one of the leather chairs while the kids continued to stand.
Eli didn’t think that Zen’s father would turn Eli and Ivy over to anyone, but he also knew that Mr. Morton had a lot of pieces to consider in this puzzle.
“I received a call from the personal assistant to the Overseer of New Orleans when we were having dinner. You two will not know,” the Overseer told Ivy and Eli, “that I do not allow anything to interrupt our meals, but that has been my standing policy for the entire time I have been Overseer. My secretary took a message and delivered it to me after we had finished eating. The message asked me to return the call.”
Eli swallowed down a lump of panic. He wanted desperately to ask about the dam’s breaking, but knew better than to open his mouth just then.
“I called back,” Mr. Morton continued on, “and was informed that the city was in chaos because the Overseer’s children had gone missing with the son of the Overseer of Miami. Is any of this sounding familiar?”
Eli licked his dry lips and slid his gaze to Ivy’s. She didn’t even blink, but neither was she exactly meeting Mr. Morton’s intense brown eyes.
“I heard a lot more from there,” Zen’s father went on. “The personal assistant was in a frantic state and told me that he was coordinating the search for the children; trying to organize a clean-up plan for downtown, which is now under feet of water; and on top of that, working to keep the Miami and New Orleans Zones from going to war over what had happened. It seems that the heir of Miami was scheduled to marry the eldest daughter of New Orleans, but everyone disappeared a few nights ago.”
Eli had to force himself not to shift his weight. He stared at the books and attempted to keep his face blank.
“It was thought, at first, that the engaged couple had run off, and for some reason had taken two of her younger siblings,” Mr. Morton said quietly. “The two Overseers ended up in a major magical battle over the political implications of them doing so. In the wake of that fight, the levees failed and flooded New Orleans. The only saving grace is that because the city was on lockdown, most people weren’t out in the streets to be swept away.”
Ivy let out a small sigh of relief, but didn’t otherwise comment.
Mr. Morton leaned further onto his desk, taking it in turns to stare each of them down. “You two showed up this morning,” he said to Eli and Ivy. “Elijah is badly hurt, as though he has been in a fight.”
They didn’t respond.
“More than that, though,” he went on, still the only one willing to speak. “I had another message that the Overseer of Miami has located his wayward son, without his fiancé. His son can’t remember a thing, and they are driving here, right now, for Zen to heal the boy. They suspect mermaid magic, although they can’t figure out how he ended up in the Atlanta Zone.”
“No!” Eli blurted out in panic. “We can’t have him healed!”
The Overseer pulled in a long breath. “Then I need to know why not, and more importantly, we have to get Zen out of the city.”
Eli’s heart tripped painfully in his chest. “The Overseer of Miami can’t just come here!”
“No, he can’t,” Zen’s father agreed carefully. “But he is anyway, on the pretext of getting his son healed. I could, of course, say no, but that leaves the door open for someone asking why I would say no.”
“Did you already speak with him?” Ivy asked in a voice that was slightly higher than her normal register.
Mr. Morton regarded her thoughtfully. “I had a message from another assistant saying they were coming and why. They’re already on their way, and without access to a phone. They do not know that I have lied and said Zen was not here.”
“You lied to them?” Zen questioned, clearly astonished. “Why would you do that?”
“I have a few reasons that I will share, in the understanding that I need the full story from you in order to protect you,” Mr. Morton said sternly as he came around his desk, leaned back against it, and crossed his arms. “My first reason is I was not asked. I do not approve of another Overseer coming into my zone without my permission. The next is that I have a strong dislike for the Overseer of Miami. The third, and most important reason, is that the moment I heard about New Orleans I put together enough to know that Ivy and Eli were involved in whatever went down there. I know enough to know that I had better have all the facts straight before I make a move that could jeopardize my family.”
Eli considered him for a long time. He chose his words very carefully. “There are a lot of pieces that we don’t understand, but Ivy and I have a job. Part of that job is keeping secrets.”
“Do any of the Overseers know what is going on?” Mr. Morton demanded.
He had to think about that, but as far as he knew it wasn’t known. However… “I have heard rumors that the Overseer in San Diego knows.”
“Ah,” Zen’s father closed his eyes for a brief moment. “I know her. I know her quite well. What she’s done, despite how she was raised, is a remarkable thing. I admire her immensely. She is young, as well. Only just turning thirty soon.”
“The only time I met her,” Annamarie said, finally speaking up from her seat across the room, “she was sporting a huge black eye. She told me her father gave it to her. We’ve had our suspicions about this for a while now.”
“Indeed,” Kasper Morton inclined his head to his wife. “So, if I understand this correctly, you two helped the children escape. You helped a young woman break free from what would have been a horrible marriage. You two, in short, saved their lives.”
They didn’t answer.
“Somehow you took them to safety. You wiped the Miami boy’s memory and dumped him in the Atlanta Zone, probably hoping he wouldn’t be found. You definitely don’t want him to remember what happened,” Zen’s father concluded succinctly.
“How about,” Ivy told him slowly, “if we just blink if that’s right?”
For the first time a smile, one that was slightly reminiscent of Zen’s own mischievous smile, appeared on the older man’s face.
“I should go to New Orleans to help there,” Zen said, for once the only serious person in the room. He looked ill at it. “There have to be a lot of people there who are hurt.”
“You can’t go anywhere near that Overseer,” Eli assured him fiercely. “He is bonkers crazy. His youngest child has two powers.”
There was a long pause in which Eli would have loved to have kicked himself for stupidly blurting that out.
“Excuse me?” Pistol asked him slowly as Zen’s older brother turned to face him. His brown eyes showed shock, disbelief, and just a hint of annoyance. “No one has two powers.”
Eli let out a long sigh as Zen said, “Just tell them.”
Nodding, Eli held out his fingers and lifted a pencil from the desk, floating it over to his hand. Then he crushed it into pulp, taking the remaining powder over to a trashcan to dump.
“No way!” Pistol whistled in astonishment.
“He’s speed, too,” Ivy told them. “I’m water, but I’m also a diviner.”
Kasper, Annamarie, and Pistol all stared at her. It was clear they were having trouble believing it.
“There is only one diviner,” Annamarie began, “and she is a very old woman. It was rumored that her son was one, as well, but he is supposed to be dead.”
“I can’t explain it,” Ivy told her with a shake of her head. “My mom wasn’t magical, neither was my grandmother. I’d have known. We’ve seen a bunch of kids with mor
e than one power and we’re starting to see patterns.”
There was a very heavy pause before Kasper asked, “What patterns?”
“The parents are all insane,” Eli told him flatly. “Not in an annoying way. They’re all completely crazy, often violent.”
Ivy twisted her fingers together in what Eli knew were nerves. “Also, none of the kids with more than one power are any older than I am. In the New Orleans children, their mother was not magical. They all only had the one power to fly. Their youngest brother was born to a different mother who is magical. The toddler will have the power to fly and the power of air.”
“But your mother wasn’t magical,” Pistol pointed out, trying to sound reasonable, but ended up sounding impatient. “How can you have two powers?”
“I don’t know,” Ivy assured him in frustration. “I have no one to ask. All of my family is dead.”
