“Dreams?” Emma crossed her arms over her chest. I am sure she was chilled by the news that her loved ones were missing.
“Yes. Maybe you can help. You are the former Essence.”
“Let’s talk.” She gestured for me to walk inside the cave with her. “Kevin, please take care of the animals.”
“Uh, sure.” He looked at me to make sure I was okay with the arrangement. I nodded.
I followed Emma inside, and we sat at the one large table.
She turned her chair to look at me. “Please tell me about the dreams.”
“I started feeling different when I entered the lost world. It was like déjà vu. I was drawn to Charlotte’s cello, and I remembered your back garden somehow. I also had this recurring dream that felt like a flashback.”
“Your father loved the cello.”
“My father?”
“Yes. Did you know he was from the lost world?”
My chest clenched. “What? No. He was of Energo.”
She shook her head. “No, he wasn’t. But that isn’t a bad thing.”
“How is that possible? What brought him here then?”
She took my hand. “Love.”
“My mom?”
“Yes. I knew your mother well. She was my tutor. She loved exploring, and she was the one who showed me the gateway to the lost world for the first time. That’s how I knew where to go.” She paused for a moment as if lost in thought. “Your father worked with my husband’s father. He was basically an apprentice in his law firm.”
I nodded, needing to hear more. Percy had told me almost nothing about my parents.
“Stan’s father was convinced something lay beyond the old gate in his yard, and after finding a key, he ventured through it. He nearly drove himself mad trying to figure out Energo. That’s why Stan was so quick to believe me when we met.” She smiled.
“But my dad? Stan’s father took him in?”
“Yes. He met your mother, and that was it. He never returned. He’s the one who gave me the key. That’s how I was able to escape.”
“Is that why… is that why Blake singled them out?”
She squeezed my hand. “Your parents were good people. Wonderful people. I assume your memories were triggered because part of your father is in you. The Source has a way of doing that sometimes.”
“This is a lot to take in.”
“Do you think you might tell me what you dreamed?”
I braced myself. “This will not be easy for you.”
“That is fine. I need to hear it.”
“It was of your Gerard’s death.”
She inhaled sharply.
I decided to push on with the narration. It would do no one good to drag it out. “I watched it happen. There were two other men there, not just one.”
Her expression appeared emotionless. “Blake didn’t act alone.”
“Someone else was with him.” I hated telling her a truth that might destroy her.
Just as I was about to explain, Kevin walked in and placed a hand on my shoulder. “The animals are fine.”
Emma ignored him. “Go on, Samantha. Please tell me.”
“It was Monty. He was there.”
“No.” She shook her head vehemently. “That’s not possible.”
“It was him. I did not see who drew blood, but—”
“You say the dream felt like a flashback. Where were you? How were you watching it?”
“I was looking at it from a distance somehow.”
“Like you were hiding?”
I shrugged. “Maybe.”
“How clear is the dream?”
“Clear on the action but blurry everywhere else.”
Emma wrapped her arms around her middle. “That is not a flashback. It is impossible. You are only a year older than Kevin. You would have been an infant. You couldn’t possibly remember… but it is a true memory.”
“We don’t know that. You just said she would have been too young to remember.” Kevin kneeled at her side.
“We do...” She placed her hands in her lap. “That does not mean he killed him. It does not mean he helped Blake. There has to be an explanation.”
Kevin put a hand on her shoulder. “I know, but why didn’t he tell us, or at least you.”
“I need to talk to Theodore.”
The mention of Theodore surprised me. “You think your other brother had something to do with it, too?”
“No. But he was always with Blake…”
“Should I get him?” I asked.
“No. Please stay to talk.”
“I’ll go look, Mom.” Kevin hesitated for a moment before walking off.
Emma watched him go then turned back to me. “Clearly, my mind went right to Monty’s presence, but I will explain why you had the dream.”
I already had an idea. “It is my dad. You said I have part of him in me.”
“Yes. The Source chose to give you some of his memories. But that meant he was there that day.”
I gasped. “You do not mean that he was involved, too?”
She shook her head. “No, but he witnessed it. Blake must have found out.”
“My parents were killed within months of you leaving…”
“Exactly. Blake knew your father witnessed it.”
Theodore, Emma’s older brother, took a seat across from her at the table. “Emma? You wanted to speak with me?” He looked a lot like Monty, just older. Like all Guardians, his aging had slowed, but he looked closer to forty than Monty’s thirty.
Kevin sat next to me. He took my hand, and I soaked up the strength he had to offer.
“The day… the day my Gerard… the day he died.” Emma stopped. Even close to twenty years later, the emotion was raw. “Where were you? Where was Monty?”
“What do you mean? I was at the castle.”
“And Monty?”
Theodore shifted in his seat nervously. “I do not know. He disappeared for a while. I assumed he was out roaming as usual. You know how he did that sometimes.”
“Would it be impossible to believe he was with Blake?” Emma crossed her legs.
“What? What are you suggesting? Monty was the one who supported you the most after what happened.”
“Because you didn’t believe me.”
“Emma, I have apologized as heartfelt as—”
“I know. That is not the point. Monty supported me because he knew my feeling was right. He knew Blake killed my Gerard.”
“Why would you think that? What would give you that idea?”
“I know it. That is enough.”
I sighed with relief. I did not want anyone else knowing about the dream or the accusation it contained.
A look of understanding crossed Theodore’s face. “Blake wanted a safety net. He wanted a witness, someone to tell people that he had been made the new Gerard.”
“But he wasn’t. Blake was never my Gerard. I never felt anything for him. I would have known if he were meant to be my Gerard.”
Theodore nodded. “And his sword never turned blue.”
“But Monty didn’t back him up, right?” Kevin jumped in.
“No, he didn’t. And then Blake threatened to have Monty jailed. Monty was the one who told me to run. He said we had no time.”
Theodore stood and started pacing. “Blake said he had proof he did not do it.” He let out a small gasp. “Blake was going to pin it on Monty if you still did not believe the skirmish story. He would have sentenced him to death and taken his place next to you.”
“Or he would have offered me a choice. Blake liked offering choices.” Emma seemed lost in thought.
“It sounds like you knew him well.” I had not meant to let the words slip out. I was too tired to filter properly.
“I did.” Emma’s face hardened. “But that is not something we will discuss. Monty knew what was coming. He went with Blake because he wanted his acceptance. Theodore and Blake always left him out.”
Theodore groaned
lightly. “Because he was younger. It was only natural.”
“If he’d only told me…. what a weight to bear for so many years.” Tears slid down Emma’s face again.
I held back any further comments. I felt as though I was listening in on a conversation I had no right to, even if I was the one who had dreamed the scene.
Emma looked pensive. “There had to be a reason we were supposed to discover the truth. The Source always has a plan.”
“How did you find out?” Theodore asked.
“It does not matter. But it all had a purpose.”
“You.” I pointed at Emma. “It was you.”
“What do you mean?” Theodore asked.
“Aside from the Onyx and scroll, we still need to get to Blake. We know his weakness.”
“It’s me. I’m his weakness,” Emma said passionately. She understood where my thoughts were going.
Theodore sat up straighter. “He was always in love with you.”
Kevin mumbled something.
“What?” Emma asked her son.
He cleared his throat. “But he locked you up for years. He might love you, but he’s crazy.”
“But he’s still going to pay attention to what I do.”
Theodore stopped in front of her. “You cannot mean to put yourself in danger, Emma.”
“We are all putting ourselves in danger. My daughter is still out there. My husband and our brother are missing. Surely I can afford to put myself on the line when I may have caused all of this.”
Theodore leaned over her. “You did not cause anything.”
Emma rested her hand on the worn wooden tabletop. “The past is the past. We need to focus on the future.”
“So we wait another day for Charlotte?” I asked.
Emma leaned back in her chair. “Yes. We wait… but not for long.”
Chapter Nineteen
Kevin
We left Mom and Theodore talking and walked outside to get some air. I needed a break, and I was grateful that Samantha had come with me. “You’re older than me.”
“So? Does that matter?” She watched the dragons fly off to hunt for food. I’d been worried the dragons were leaving, but Samantha seemed pretty confident that they’d be back.
“No. I just assumed we were the same age. I’ve never dated an older girl before.”
“Kevin.”
“Yes?”
“I am a year older than you. That is not much.”
I smiled. “You’re robbing the cradle. Completely robbing the cradle.”
“If you are uncomfortable with it…”
“Not uncomfortable at all.” I moved to sit next to her on a rock. “Very comfortable with it.”
“I cannot believe my mom united with a man from the lost world. I always imagined they grew up together.”
“Maybe the women in your family have a thing for exotic men.” I wriggled my eyebrows.
“You are an Energo man. You just did not realize it.” A look crossed her face that made me wonder if she actually believed what she was saying.
I laughed. “All right. Well, you’re exotic then.”
“I like knowing I have some of my father’s memories in me.” She looked wistful. “It is like I know him a little now.”
“It sounds like he was a pretty cool guy. Moving to another world and all.”
“I wonder why Percy never told me any of that.” Percy, Ruth’s Gerard, had raised Samantha from a young age. Samantha never talked about his death, but it had to have been hard on her.
“Most likely Ruth told him not to. The Source probably didn’t want you to know until the time was right.”
“You say it so much more naturally now.”
“What?”
“The Source. You really believe in it now.”
“How could I not?” My arm brushed against hers. “I’ve been living it.”
“I cannot imagine life without it.”
I thought about that for a second. “I think it was always there for me. It’s kind of like fate or destiny or something like that.”
“But the Source is more.”
I tried to come up with a comparison. “It’s your religion.”
“Religion?”
“You know what? Never mind.” My parents always warned me about discussing religion and politics. It wasn’t worth it.
“The Source is what guides us. I used to doubt it. My life seemed empty. I do not doubt it anymore.” The way she looked at me had me struggling for air. The look said so much more than the words ‘I love you’.
“What does it mean to unite?”
“I thought we had to wait until we were done before I told you?”
“I want to know.”
“It is a ceremony. We bind ourselves as a partnership for life.”
“Who does the ceremony? Like who presides?”
“An elder. I always thought Percy would do mine if I ever met someone. Now I do not know.”
“We can worry about that later.”
“Yes, we can.”
I kissed her. It wasn’t a passionate kiss, it was light, but intense in its own way. We’d been through so much together, and I knew I never wanted us to be apart. We may have been from different worlds, but we were so alike. I sensed that she needed me as much as I needed her, and I liked it. I wanted things to always be equal with us.
She broke the kiss and rested her head on my chest. “If we make it through all this, will you live in Bellgard?”
“That depends.”
“On?”
“Where do you want to live?”
“With you.”
“Yeah, that’s my answer, too.”
“And I was right.” She pointed at the distant outlines of the dragons. They were coming back.
“I guess you were.” I watched her. Her eyes were so big. “You want to keep them, don’t you?”
She smiled. “Am I that obvious?”
I laughed. “Just a little.”
“Do you think we can?”
“Keep them?” I pulled on a thread that had come loose from her shirt. She’d already changed back into her usual Energo clothes. I liked that she was more comfortable that way. She wasn’t trying to be anyone else.
“Yes. You think we can convince Ollis?”
“Yeah. I think we can.”
She took the tiny thread from me and tied it into little knots. She had some seriously good fine motor coordination. “We could do some great traveling with them.”
“I’d like that. There are so many nations to see.”
She smiled that breathtaking smile of hers. “I cannot wait.”
“Just remember all of these plans when things get crazy. Don’t give up, and don’t get hurt.”
“We will have the chance, Kevin. We are going to make it.”
“I love so much about you, but your conviction is pretty high up there.”
“I will stay positive then.” She stood up. “Let us get the dragons settled. We should probably get some rest.”
“Do you think Charlotte will make it back tonight?”
“No, but not because she is hurt. Calvin knows better than to travel too great a distance at night. Blake has the undead on his side. They would have the advantage in the dark.”
“The undead… how could I forget?”
“I hope that is a joke.”
I just smiled.
***
I was far too worried to actually fall asleep that night. I played it cool with everyone else, but my mind raced with the possibilities of what could have happened to Charlotte. After hours of lying awake, I bolted from my bed when I heard a commotion outside. I grabbed my sword and ran out of the cave.
Calvin held Charlotte in his arms. She was shivering even though wrapped up in a blanket. I pulled her from him, not really thinking about whether I had the right to that anymore. Energo customs didn’t matter when it came to my sister.
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