Enchanted Revenge

by Theresa M. Jones

  “Well, I would think that since your mother is gone, you are now the owner of this ephemeris. You trust me, so I can see it. When Lynn saw it, you had only known her for less than a day, so you didn’t trust her.” Then he paused as he read an entry. “I would guess that if she saw it now, she would probably be able to see it. Especially after that last raid we went on.”

  That last raid kicked my butt. We had gotten so close to the Mortem, finally seeing glimpses of two of them before they got away. If Lynn hadn’t been there, I would’ve lost my life.

  “But, you need to understand something very important. Please don’t freak out,” he said. His eyes had turned a deep green, his eyebrows drawn, and his lips in a thin line. This was his serious face. And seriously, how could I not freak out after an intro like that?

  Chapter Thirty Eight

  Faint: Sudden loss of consciousness. To become unconscious, usually for a short time, because of a reduction in the flow of blood to the brain. Often caused by a traumatic or stressful event or by a blow to the head.

  He looked down at the book, read a page, turned to another page and read that one too. Then he nodded slightly and looked up at me very slowly.

  “This is the ephemeris of Norleen Volante.”

  “Right, I already told you that.”

  “You need to understand that, the only way you could open it, is if she trusted you. It doesn’t matter that it was in your mother’s possession. Only those whom the author trusts can open an ephemeris. So that would have to mean that either you know the missing queen, and just don’t realize it, or more likely, Norleen Volante is actually your mother, Leena.”

  In that moment, it felt like the whole world tipped off its axis. Except, I didn’t even know if The Empyrean was even on an axis, or if it was even spinning at all, which only made my head spin even more.

  It felt like all of the walls were closing in on me. The fact that there was no breeze, there was no sun, no wind, no warmth, no air- it made me dizzy!

  No air.

  Dizzy.

  I had been here for two weeks, living in this windless place, and everything that I had just read and everything Alec said, it all made sense. It’s like I thought I knew, in the very back of my head, that what he was saying was true, but I hadn’t wanted to believe it.

  It explained why I felt such a connection to this book. Why I was so enthralled by it that I could barely put it down. Why I had to force myself to put it down. Why I felt this urgency, that there was something I was missing, something I needed to find. This tickle in the back of my mind that I just couldn’t figure out.

  And I felt like it was so dark.

  So dark.

  When I opened my eyes again, I was lying in bed, the ephemeris still open, face down on my sheets. I guess that’s what it felt like to faint. It was your whole world closing in on you.

  I noticed a small piece of paper on my table, reached over and opened it.

  I thought about waking you up, but I figured you needed the rest. Not just your body, but your mind as well. Feel free to wake me. We can talk. I’m here for you.

  Yours, Alec.

  I looked at the clock, it was after one in the morning already and Alec was asleep in his bed, looking more peaceful in sleep than I had ever seen him before. I could see his chest rise and fall, his hands curled together in the blankets under his chin. And I kinda wanted to just crawl into bed with him, ask him to hold me, ask him to kiss me. But I wouldn’t wake him. I needed to figure everything out in my own head before I could deal with anyone else.

  I got up, went to the bathroom, and lit a candle just to watch it flicker and burn. The warmth and light provided me comfort and allowed me to zone out, to be mesmerized by its dance.

  I went back through my memories of all the passages I had read, trying to remember the things that would link this queen to being my mother. The things she had written down, that I could remember my mom saying to me. It all fit together, and I felt like an idiot for not seeing it sooner.

  My mother’s real name was Norleen, my father’s real name was Coenraad and they were the rightful King and Queen of The Empyrean that had gone missing centuries ago. That’s right; my parents were freakin hundreds and hundreds of years old when they died.

  Where did I go with this knowledge? What was I supposed to do with it? I felt like there was too much to grasp. Too much information. So many things that I just had to believe on a dime. Yeah I was seeing it, but seeing wasn’t always believing.

  What if I just woke up, and all of this was just a crazy ass dream? I always had crazy dreams before. But now, looking back, all of the crazy dreams I had growing up were all of this place, of Ardennes and Muircadia, and a stone castle floating in the sky. Everything that I had dreamed was here, it had to be real, all of this.

  How was I supposed to go on knowing all of these new things? How did you come to terms with the fact that everything you had known your whole life, for the last seventeen years, was not real. And that everything that is real you never knew.

  I just couldn’t think about it. I couldn’t think about any of it. I had two goals. Get magic-kill the Mortem. I had less than 24 hours left until my birthday. Which meant that I had 24 hours to prepare. I still didn’t know where they were, but every day we got closer to finding them.

  During the raid the night before, I had seen two of them. A guard had thrown me down, and I was almost pushed through the film dome that covered the city. I probably would’ve died if I had been submerged in that water, if Lynn hadn’t caught me.

  But not again. Next time I would be ready. Next time I was face to face with those murderers, I would get to them. I would kill them.

  I sat in the bathroom thinking I should go back to bed. I knew that I should, especially with everything going on. I knew I needed rest. I didn’t know what it would be like when my birthday came, how it would feel, or what it would do to my body, but I just was so not tired.

  I felt like I was on overdrive, like my body was just ready, so very ready to go. I was the freaking energizer bunny.

  So, I changed my clothes, put on some tennis shoes, and decided the only way I could get this extra adrenaline out of my system was to go for a run. During my training sessions with Alec, he was constantly telling me I needed to work on my endurance, and I couldn’t think of a better way to work on it than to go for a long, much needed run.

  It’s not like I could get lost in the smallest city I had ever been in. Not to mention, I was in a dome, surrounded by sickness-inducing water, and if I left it the city, I would probably die. So, I figured if I went around the city, I would be fine. What’s the worst that could happen?

  It took me two hours from when I left the base, to go all the way around the city and get back. I decided going around once more would help.

  I tuned everything out as I ran, just pushing, just trying to get all the energy out of my system. With every pound of my feet against the ground, I was pushing my anger, my frustration, my sadness, my pain away. Away.

  I was so lost in my own thoughts and my own feelings that when I heard a woman’s scream I almost jumped out of my skin. It didn’t sound far away, and I didn’t really know where I was, but it went against everything I believed to leave a helpless person alone. I knew I shouldn’t get involved, but it felt wrong to even think about it, especially when I knew it wasn’t taxing time, they didn’t ever do that at four in the morning.

  The direction the sound came from was between two tall buildings. Yeah, they always say it’s a stupid girl that goes down an alley in the middle of the night alone, but what else could I do? And, I was prepared anyways. I had my dagger in my belt, something Alec had drilled into me to keep on my body at all time, at least until I was strong enough to carry my father’s sword.

  My training sessions with Alec had only been getting better, faster, stronger. I was stronger.

  So I tiptoed through the alley which lead to a little opening behind a series of buildings. It was
mostly empty, there were only trash bins standing outside a door from each building. I crouched down behind the closest bin to see what was going on.

  It looked like there were two Sprites, one male, one female, and they were arguing. But I couldn’t hear what was being said.

  When the man hit her, and I could hear it all the way to where I hid, I knew it was time for me to step up. She was hung over, limp and terrified beside him. It was obvious she needed help. I figured that in a fight between this random guy and myself, I could win.

  “Hey, leave her alone!” I shouted, trying to make my voice as strong and scary as possible, coming from a tiny, pale Sylph.

  The guy turned to me, angry that someone dared interrupt him. But then his mouth dropped open, as his eyes widened.

  “You…?” the guy whispered in disbelief, as if he knew who I was.

  “Run! Get out of here! Get away as fast as you can!” the girl screeched at me. When she turned to look at me, I noticed her face was all blotchy and bruised, and she had blood streaming from her lips and nose.

  Crap! This dude was serious. What did I just get myself into?

  Just like that, the man took out a dagger and shoved it deep into her throat. She didn’t even have a chance to flinch away. The pulsing river of crimson stained her shirt and puddled down to her feet before her body slumped to the floor.

  I couldn’t help the scream that escaped me, burning my throat on the way out.

  As soon as she was on the floor, he ran for me. So I turned and ran away. If he was willing to straight up kill this girl, there was no way I could win in a hand to hand fight against him. So, yeah…I ran.

  I ran a few blocks before ducking behind another trash bin. I didn’t want him to hear my footsteps, and I knew that if I kept running, he would eventually catch me.

  I tried to steady my heart beat. To calm my breathing. To not move. To stay as quiet as possible. Calm…

  All I could think was, I ran. I freaking ran away. I was a chicken. After all the training I had done, and everything that I had been through, he killed someone and I just ran away from him.

  I could hear him coming closer. Pound. Pound. Pound. His footsteps matched the thudding of my frightened heart.

  I knew he wouldn’t be able to see me. I was hidden deep within the shadows.

  Just as he started to reach me, I made my decision. I wouldn’t run. I wasn’t a coward, a weakling, a runaway.

  I would do something!

  Chapter Thirty Nine

  Morgan Freeman: Best actor in the world (basically). He has worked for Batman, been the President of the U.S.A., a doctor, a soldier, a judge, a detective and God, to name just a few. His voice is recognizable to nearly everyone.

  Trying to remember everything Alec had ever taught me, I jumped up from my hiding spot, and thrust my leg underneath his, tripping him. His face hit the ground with a crunch. I hoped it broke his nose.

  I quickly ran around and kicked him, smashing my shoe against his face as hard as I could. I did it once. Twice. He grabbed my foot on the third time and threw me down.

  I knew I couldn’t stay on the ground. I was the smallest, the weakest. I had to get up. So I scampered away.

  Before I could get far, he caught my leg and pulled me back towards him. He climbed atop me, straddling my hips, and pinned my hands above my head.

  His weight was more than uncomfortable, it was frightening, terrifying. It meant I was underneath him, that he had all the advantage.

  It meant I had lost.

  “It is you.” He sounded so astonished, as if he had been looking for me or something. He leaned down, putting his nose less than an inch from my neck, and inhaled, smelling me. “Ahh. I knew that there was someone else in that house. I told them we should’ve waited around longer to see who would come.

  “They were all just happy that we finished another job, and this one would be our biggest bounty yet, blah blah, but I told them that you would come. I could sense you, even though you weren’t there.”

  The words that came out of his mouth didn’t really make much sense, considering I was only half listening. The other half of my brain was busy trying to figure out how I would get him off me and get away.

  Then he hit me, punched me right in my face. It was the worst physical pain I had ever felt. My head pounded from the pain. I saw only red.

  Ignoring my obvious pain, he bent down and licked my cheek. I tried to pull away, but he was so much stronger than me. “Yesssss,” he hissed. “I think it’s time you come with me.”

  He put his hand flat against my forehead, his palm was sticky and sweaty, and felt gross against me. I tried to buck him off me, lifting my hips of the ground. But it didn’t faze him.

  I tried to scratch at him, his face, his arms, his hands and could even feel his skin peel off and burrow it’s way under my nails.

  I tried to do anything.

  I kicked. I pushed. I screamed.

  But I couldn’t break free. With his hand on me, he started mumbling some words I didn’t understand. And I felt this rush of cold. Not like Lynn’s refreshing cold, but like being thrown in an ice bath. It hurt. I felt like I was being held under a patch of ice, after being submerged in a freezing lake.

  I felt like I was being suffocated.

  And then all I saw was black.

  When I woke up, I couldn’t move I was so weak. My whole body radiated pain from the tip of my head, down to the bottoms of my feet. I ached everywhere.

  Then I heard people talking and I stopped worrying about the pain and focused.

  “She doesn’t even have any magic,” a man said. His voice was deep and totally reminded me of Morgan Freeman, which sucked because I liked Morgan Freeman and so didn’t want his voice on a bad guy.

  “Yeah, but I can sense it on her, it’s gotta be close.” This man sounded like the guy that had knocked me out back in the street.

  “Why do you think that? Who do you think she is, Davis?”

  “It’s gotta be her. I tried to tell you before, but it has to be their kid.” My kidnapper sounded very sure of this, his voice impassioned. And I all of a sudden hated the name Davis.

  “They didn’t have children, we all know that.” This was a different man, not the guy who hit me, or the Morgan Freeman guy. He sounded exasperated with the conversation, as if he would rather be somewhere else and couldn’t care any less about me or any of this. He sounded pretty annoyed, actually. Well, me too, buddy.

  “It was rumored that after King Coenraad rescued the queen, that they conceived a child. That he left The Empyrean because of that child.” It was a woman who spoke this time, her voice calm and sure. “King Mastikh has mentioned it only twice before, as he wants to keep it unknown. If people knew there was a child born, they could rally behind her and seize the throne.”

  Murmurs of agreement echoed back to me.

  “So, what do you think? Should we get word to Mastikh and tell him about the girl, demand a big bounty, and then kill her? Should we go ahead and kill her and demand a bounty afterwards? I don’t really like the idea of keeping her alive, and if we want to wait for word back from the king, we’d have to wait a while,” the woman asked.

  “No, Reagan, I can have a Phoenix get to him and back in about a day or so,” this was another woman. Her voice was so deep it almost sounded like a man’s.

  “Are you thinking exactly a day, or longer? That would have the Phoenix back here by ten tomorrow morning.” And then there was a moment of silence. “Well, should we move her? She was with others, I sense a Realm Guard on her.” That was my kidnapper again.

  “Yeah, smells like a Sylph,” said Deep Voice Woman. “I freakin hate Sylphs.”

  Ok, this is what I knew. I was knocked out with something so strong its lingering effects were causing me continuous pain. My hands were bound behind my back. And I had no magic. I had at least five fairies holding me hostage, three men and two females. And to top it all off, I was pretty sure those fairies were The
Mortem.

  I just had to determine what I could do, what were my options. Unfortunately these idiots didn’t believe in cell phones, so I couldn’t call Alec to come help me. It was around ten in the morning, according to the sprite, so I had only fourteen hours until my birthday.

  Maybe, I could make it that long. If I could just survive until then, hopefully I would get some magic, and then I could kill these bastards and I wouldn’t even need Alec’s help.

  Ok. Goal number one- survive until my birthday. Goal number two- get some magic. Goal number three- kill them all.

  I tried to stay awake, to listen to what they were saying, but the lingering effects from his magic was still searing me from the inside out and was making it difficult to keep my eyes open.

  My stomach grumbled. I realized I hadn’t eaten dinner last night due to my lovely fainting episode, and had skipped lunch because I wanted to train through it. Then I ran for three hours, on an empty stomach. Basically, I totally set myself up for success. Yay…too bad no one could hear the sarcasm in my head, because it would probably entertain a few peeps.

  Maybe I was delusional. My thought process was kinda all over the place.

  I had to focus. Ok. Stay Awake. Don’t think about food. Stay awake. Stay awakeeee. Stay aw...

  Black.

  All of a sudden I was jolted awake by a heaviness on my stomach and my arms being pulled out of their sockets.

  I realized I was lying on my bound hands behind my back, while a man was on top of me. It looked like a Nymph. Tan skin, black hair, green eyes, and a green etching on his cheek. Damn. Alec said you had to be super powerful to have an etching like that.

  “Hey there, pretty one,” he cooed, as his fingers trailed the wound on my eye where the Sprite had hit me earlier. I tried to jerk away, but it only hurt my shoulders more. “Wakey, wakey.” At least I could put the Morgan Freeman voice to a face.

  In that moment, I decided I had nothing going for me, and I needed to do something. Not all of them believed I was anyone special, so I had to play on that. I tried to look terrified, which really wasn’t that hard.