Unchained Hearts

by Ash Night

  “Do you?”

  I rolled my eyes. “Cam, how do you know?”

  He smiled at me. “I’ve seen it happen. Sealbreaker circles are quite common where I’m from. How do you think I got to be so tough? I used to spar with a few. Not all of my magic control is just pure talent. It’s more like a ninety-ten split.”

  “I bet the only reason you were born was because that poor Birthing Flower couldn’t contain your ego.”

  Cam smirked. “Did your village throw you out for telling bad jokes? Because you aren’t funny.”

  “Really? Cuz I think I’m hilarious.”

  “Funny is in the eye of the beholder, I suppose.”

  “You’re just jealous.”

  “I hope you’re hungry!” Mrs. Abbernack called as she descended the stairs. I was grateful for her timing. Those two would be at it all night otherwise.

  “Always!” Liam and Cam said at the same time.

  “Good!” She was carrying a tray of cookies, apple juice, a basket of homemade dinner rolls, and three bowls of piping hot soup to the small table. “I’m sorry there’s not much light down here.”

  “It’s all right, Mrs. Abbernack,” I assured her. “We’re just happy for a place to stay. Thank you again.”

  “This is great! Mrs. Abbernack. You’re an amazing cook!” Liam said in between mouthfuls of soup.

  “Yes, the best meal I’ve had in months!” Cam was going at only a slightly slower pace than Liam.

  “Eat up, dear, or the boys may just decide to eat your helping too!” She chuckled. “I have a whole pot on the stove so don’t be shy! It’s been a while since I’ve had this many to cook for! It’s been a pleasure.”

  Sitting down at the table, I blew on my soup to cool it and tried to best not to slurp it. The boys were right. This was the best soup I’d ever tasted.

  “It’s amazing!” I said. “No wonder the boys are eating so fast!”

  She laughed again. “I’m glad you like it, my dear. It’s getting late. I’ll be in bed, but don’t hesitate to wake me if you need anything. Good night, kids.”

  “Good night,” I replied. Liam and Cam mumbled a ‘good night’ with their mouths full.

  “Sweet dreams, my dears. Don’t worry about cleaning up. I can take care of that after you leave.” She shuffled up the stairs and then I heard her close the trap door and place the rug on top of it.

  Dipping a roll into my soup, I smiled. Mrs. Abbernack was truly a good person.

  After I finished my bowl and the boys finished off the pot of soup, we took everything upstairs, trying to be as quiet as we could. Cam stood at the sink, filling the dish tub with soap and hot water, and pushed up both sleeves. He chuckled as he plunged his hands into the water.

  “Think there’s a chance these damn things will rust off?”

  I giggled. “Doubt it, but the thought is nice.”

  “Could you find me a dish rag, please, Sunshine?”

  “Sure.” I started looking in drawers.

  He smiled. “She was so kind to us. Washing our dishes is the least we could do.”

  “Absolutely,” Liam agreed, ready with a dish towel.

  Handing Cam a rag, I waited to be passed a bowl to put away.

  Working quietly, we fell into a comfortable rhythm and the dishes were done in no time. Putting them away took a little longer. Mrs. Abbernack had a lot of cupboards, though everything was arranged neatly. Her seven kids must have been so happy growing up here. All of them were old enough to have had their magic for quite a long time.

  There were still scorch marks on the celling from the time the youngest had tried to cook for the first time. Mrs. Abbernack’s eyes lit up whenever she told that story.

  Magic use was evident in this house. It had seeped into the old walls, telling a story of warmth and love.

  Most of the old houses had been burned down in The Great Fire, a cleansing that had taken place shortly after Kalden Crossfire was killed. We’d learned about it in school. I remembered that lesson clearly because of how it had turned my stomach.

  A group called the Mirage Order, a special task force designed to carry out the more delicate operations for the Sacred Seven, started the fire in an abandoned barn in the Apple District. The objective of the fire was to burn down any of the houses Kalden may have placed a magical barrier around. He was known to do that at any household that had helped him along the way as a thank you for giving him shelter despite the obvious risk.

  Of course, since Kalden’s name was banned, our teacher simply referred to him as ‘the great hero’ while our textbooks simply referred to him as the great menace.

  The fire in the Apple District spread rapidly due to the unseasonably warm, dry weather. Hundreds of Fae, elves, and other creatures were killed and countless homes were lost. Thousands of acres of forest were burned to the ground. Since no one but Shadow Knights and only a handful of Kalden’s supporters had their magic, no one had been strong enough to put out the fire.

  The fire had burned for a full two days before the Goddess answered everyone’s prayers and a massive downpour snuffed it out like a candle. Mom used to tell me that the rain had never again smelled as good as it had that day.

  I smiled. I was glad this house had survived the fire. Looking up at one of the decorative triangular rafters, a glint caught my eye. “Do you see that?” I asked.

  Cam was draining the sink but his eyes followed where I was looking. “Oh, yeah! I definitely see something up there.”

  Liam, always impulsive, climbed up one of the black pillars separating the kitchen from a small sitting room and grabbed onto a rafter, swinging himself along like a monkey until he reached the spot I was looking at, pulling himself up so he was straddling it. He waved at me from his new seat.

  “Get down before you fall and wake Mrs. Abbernack up!” I hissed. “Who knows how old this house is?”

  Once he found what he was looking for, Liam hung there by his arms for a moment then dropped down, landing on his feet with the agility of a cat. His right hand was clenched into a fist.

  “What did you find?” I asked, excitement zinging through me.

  Liam opened his closed fist. In it was a very small rainbow-colored stone. “What do you think it is? It was embedded in the wood.”

  Cam walked over, drying his hands. His eyes widened slightly when he saw the stone. He pulled out a copy of the exact same stone from his pocket. “I have the same one.”

  “Where is yours from?” Liam asked.

  “My stepmother, Glinda, gave it to me when I was young. She said it was my father’s. I kept it as a way to pay homage to my mother. Her wedding ring had been crafted from a similar stone.”

  “So that’s where Kalden put it!” We all jumped at the sound of Mrs. Abbernack’s voice. She chuckled. “I’m sorry, dears. I guess, after living alone for so many years, I’ve learned to move without making much noise.”

  “Sorry if I woke you!” Liam looked down sheepishly. “I can be noisy without realizing it sometimes.”

  I had to place a hand over my mouth to keep from laughing. That had to be the biggest understatement in the history of forever. Sometimes? Liam was loud all the time.

  She smiled. “It’s all right. I’m a light sleeper. Never needed much sleep anyway. That’s about the only thing that hasn’t changed in my old age.”

  “Kalden was here?” I asked.

  “Oh, yes. I remember it like it was yesterday. He was a very gracious guest. Although his wanted poster was plastered all over town, that didn’t stop him from trudging out to the forest, snow raining down in sheets of white, to chop wood every week for our woodstove. He also helped keep the kids busy while I was cooking a time or two.”

  “How long did he stay?” Cam put his stone back in his pocket and pulled out a chair for Mrs. Abbernack to sit down at the kitchen table.

  “Thank you, dear.” She gratefully sat down. “Now, if I recall, he stayed for quite a few months. He came near the end of summ
er and stayed ‘til early spring. I could tell he was very happy to stay in one place for a while. Being on the run and moving from place to place must be such an exhausting endeavor. It was a joy having him here, really.”

  “Was my mother with him?” Cam asked, just as drawn into the story as I was.

  She smiled. “No, she was in Rainwater, the next town over, collecting signatures for some scheme your father was planning. His mind was always turning. I swear he was like a shark, rarely ever sat still.”

  I looked over at Cam and stifled a laugh. As he sat, his leg was bouncing up and down. He was probably unaware he was even doing it. Like father, like son.

  “In the evenings, I would bring him supper in the study and he would be writing as fast as his hand was able. He wrote hundreds of letters to her over the months that they were apart. Those two loved each other dearly. They were as dedicated to each other as they were to getting our magic back. She responded to each and every one. Even wrote me a letter once to thank me for ‘taking care of my idiot husband,’ as she put it, and hoped he wasn’t too much trouble.”

  “Do you have the letter?” I was dying to read the words of Mary-Beth Crossfire, the woman said strong enough to tame the strongest Fae in existence with only a glance.

  “Of course. It’s my most prized possession. I also have the one Kalden left me when he had to leave suddenly in the middle of the night. Of course, knowing him, maybe he didn’t have to leave. He always did like making impulsive decisions.”

  From behind me, I could hear Cam chuckle. I turned to see his whole body shaking until he was outright laughing. “What’s so funny?”

  “I guess my old man really wasn’t one for good byes.” Cam grinned. “I mean, I never even met him.”

  Mrs. Abbernack took a deep breath. “He would be proud of you. He told me he’d hoped his kids would never have to face a world without magic.” She glanced at Cam’s cuffs. “They put a pair like those on him before burning his body a few days later. The Seven didn’t want to take any chances he’d rise from the dead. But it appears he has, within you, my dear.”

  Cam shrugged. “Magic is for everyone. It’s inside all of us. I’m not doing this to honor my father in any way, honestly. It’s just something I feel compelled to do.”

  “Regardless, he would be proud of you.” Mrs. Abbernack stood up, her old bones creaking with the effort. “It’s late. We should all get some rest. I can prepare breakfast for you three in the morning. I wake up with the sun so it’s no trouble at all. Thank you for washing the dishes, by the way.”

  “Well, if this is where Kalden meant to put it, I suppose I should return it to its rightful place.” Liam hopped up into the rafters again and pressed the stone back into place.

  “Thank you, dear. I do appreciate it.”

  “It still radiates his magic,” Liam replied. “He was really powerful.”

  She looked up at the stone. “That he was. It was as if his magic knew no limits. In the months he lived here, he did all kinds of things with his magic, from helping me light the stove and entertaining the kids to restoring dead trees back to life and growing new ones so we would have firewood in the winter. I never once saw him get tired or complain. It was as if he was a god in Fae form.”

  “Mrs. Abbernack, do not give Cam’s ego any more of a reason to grow.” Liam laughed.

  She stifled a laugh. “Kalden was kind, but he did like to boast, mainly to the kids. They were riveted by his tales of adventure.” Her eyes turned sad. “My boys wanted so badly to join the fight… They never should have. All it did was leave their mother with a broken heart…”

  Cam walked over and rested a hand on the old’s woman’s shoulder, his smile determined. “They died for a noble cause. I promise their deaths won’t be in vain.”

  She tried to smile. “They adored your father. Everyone who knew him did. I don’t blame Kalden for their deaths. He would’ve done everything he could to protect them had he been able. I’m honored to have his descendant in my home.”

  Chapter Twelve

  “Liam, Liam! Wake up! Hon, it’s Master Cisco! He was calling for you. Something is wrong.” Mrs. Abbernack was shaking Liam awake. He and Cam were still fast asleep. I had gotten up a little earlier and was reading a book and munching on a piece of buttered toast when she came flying down the creaky old stairs at a pace that seemed too fast for a woman of her age.

  “Huh? Master?” Liam asked, still half asleep. When his brain finally caught up, he was out of bed in a flash. “What about the old man?”

  My stomach clenched with fear. Master Cisco was the village’s oldest resident besides Mrs. Abbernack. If something was wrong, it was serious. But what could have happened? Surely, it wasn’t a health issue. The master had always been in extremely good health.

  Setting my book down without bothering to even glance at the page number, I saw the fear in Liam’s eyes and my blood ran cold. Liam was usually always optimistic. There were no traces of optimism to be found.

  “Liam, go on ahead. I’ll wake Cam up and meet you there.” I looked into his eyes, hoping to comfort him as much as I could. “And be careful. I don’t know if there are any Shadow Knights still in town.”

  With a nod, Liam was up the stairs and running out of the house before I could even shake Cam once. I heard the front door slam shut and a sense of dread filled me.

  “Cam, wake up, please. We need to go. Something is wrong with Master Cisco.”

  Cam sat up and yawned, stretching. “Who?”

  “Master Cisco, the old man who brought you the salve to heal your burns. Mrs. Abbernack said something was wrong.”

  “Liz came and got me. She said she was checking on Daisy because Daisy had hurt her foot and the master wouldn’t stop coughing. I didn’t want to worry Liam, the man is basically a father to him, but…this might be it. Fae our age are notorious for just waking up one day and their healthy bodies just fail.”

  “Oh…” Cam said slowly. “We should go.” He stood up and ran to the stairs, his body tense. I, however, was frozen in place.

  My mind couldn’t process what was happening. The master was like a grandfather to me. What would I do without his advice? What would any of us do? How would Liam take it? This would completely shatter my best friend. Imagining him like that made my heart turn to stone.

  “Serena, let’s go. You should be there when his time comes. The old man was very fond of you. He’ll be happy to see you.” A tug on my upper arm jerked me out of my thoughts.

  “Okay,” I replied, getting up. My voice sounded very far away.

  “Thank you for everything,” Cam said to Mrs. Abbernack. “I will never forget your kindness.”

  I managed a small pitiful ‘thank you’ through the haze of numbness filling my mind. We ascended the stairs and headed to Master Cisco’s house outside of the village.

  I had no idea it was this early. The sun had just barely risen and the early morning chill was still in the air. Puffs of steam appeared with each breath I took. A light mist hung in the air like a protective shield. I didn’t feel very protected today. I felt raw, vulnerable, and scared.

  Cam smiled, trying to lighten the mood. “He could just have a chest cold.”

  “He’s always in good health,” I mumbled. Frowning, and looking slightly annoyed, he abandoned his attempt at talking with me. Instead, he marched ahead, as if he could protect me from whatever we would see just by stepping into the room first.

  Looking at his back, I noticed Liam’s black backpack slung across his shoulder. What a thoughtful gesture. Now Liam wouldn’t have to go back to get it later.

  A gentle breeze ruffled my hair and I was grateful for the coolness against my skin. It gave me a brief distraction from the image of Liam alone in the room with the master’s body. I didn’t want to think that way, but it was nearly impossible not to. Why else would a perfectly healthy Fae fall ill?

  “Stop.”

  Lost in my own worrying thoughts, I bumped into
Cam’s back, which had turned to stone. Standing on my toes, I peeked over his shoulder to see a guard posted at the gate. He didn’t look very alert for a guard. In fact, he looked half asleep.

  “Too much drinking last night?” Cam chuckled. “For our sake, let’s hope so. The stone walls around the village are too high to scale without full use of my magic.”

  “What do we do? It’s not like we have a lot of time!” I whispered harshly in his ear. He smirked.

  “Magic 101, Sunshine.”

  “What?” My heartbeat quickened a little at his words and, despite my worry for Master Cisco, I was thrilled at the chance to learn anything.

  “You’re going to put him to sleep.”

  “Me? Cam, I still have my Seal!”

  Turning to me, he put both hands on my shoulders and looked into my eyes, looking more serious than I’d ever seen him. His eyes blazed with a hidden, mesmerizing power that took my breath away. “Serena, you left to come with me. You don’t have to worry about Exile anymore. It’s time you broke your Seal and became truly free.”

  “But how?” I asked, searching his eyes for the answer. “How do I do that? The only people I know that broke their Seal were Liam, and he was angry when he did it, and my mom was desperate.”

  He stepped back and crossed his arms, a relaxed smile on his face. “Get desperate. Because if we don’t get past this guy, you may never see the old man alive again.”

  My mouth hung open in shock. “Don’t say that!”

  Shielding me while basically pushing me into a nearby bush, he waited to see if the guard noticed my outburst. Thankfully, I wasn’t quite loud enough.

  “Louder next time, Sunshine.” Cam grinned. “Okay, ready?”

  “Do I have a choice?” I asked. He shrugged. Concentrating on an orange wildflower among the grass, I thought about how much Master Cisco adored his garden. Who would water it after he was gone? Who would feed Daisy and Lilly? They wouldn’t let anyone but him get close to them. They would lose their only friend in the world. Liam would lose his father…

  Tears welled up in my eyes. I needed to see Master Cisco. I needed to see him one last time. I needed to thank him for accepting Liam and letting Liam into my life. He needed to know how much I treasured that gift. That he was the one that gave me my best friend.