by C. J. Abedi
“Yes,” I replied.
I let him guide me down the path the trees had made for us. As we walked I noticed that we were not only surrounded by grass, but by beautiful white crystal that vibrated with an energy that seemed to reverberate through me. My hands were pulsing with electricity; my head was swirling with a power that I never even knew I had.
As we drew closer and closer to the Kingdom, the crystals that surrounded us grew from the land, until finally we were walking inside a chasm of this precious stone that reflected the colors of a rainbow.
Before us a giant door of pink and purple crystal slid open and revealed an entryway flanked by what looked to be Fae soldiers.
They stood proud, garbed in royal cerulean colors, holding long spears. When they saw us a loud chime rang through the line, and all the soldiers moved aside fluidly, waiting for us to pass. They looked straight ahead, but when we reached them, they bowed low at exactly the same time.
I almost stumbled when I saw the movement.
I didn’t know what to say or do, so I just smiled thankfully and continued to walk with Devilyn down a pale blue and silver path that resembled an iridescent stone.
“It’s Labradorite,” Devilyn explained to me. “They are stones of protection and great healing.”
With every step I took, the stone seemed to change color and heat up my feet.
“It’s beautiful,” I replied.
He squeezed my hand and led me down the corridor until we reached an archway that was bathed in purple and pink flowers. They were vibrant and so different than the types of flowers we had back home. If anything the flowers themselves were far larger, and so colorful. They turned toward me as if they had eyes, and I reached out, unable to stop myself from brushing my hand against one.
The flower rubbed against my hand and I smiled.
“Devilyn,” I whispered in awe.
“I know.”
He let me linger around the flowers and take in their great beauty. I was grateful he wasn’t hurrying me.
After a few moments, we continued forward and entered an enormous hall that was more opulent than any palace I had ever seen. There were tables filled with fruits and desserts. Long chandeliers hovered in mid-air, illuminating the room, and in all corners were human-sized crystals that rang with intensity.
And then I felt the hairs on my neck stand.
It was like everything in the room suddenly stood still. There was no sense of time.
No past. No present. And no future.
Just now.
I was acutely aware of Devilyn holding my hand and every fiber of emotion that his touch gave me. I could feel everything in the room, almost like I was one with it.
And then like a thousand whispers at once I heard the word “Queen” over and over. It came from above. From below. From every part of the large room. The word surrounded me.
“Queen,” Devilyn said softly. “See your subjects.”
“I don’t understand.” The room was empty.
“See them,” he commanded.
I looked at the room again and this time a light misty energy began to fill the area. Suddenly there were beautiful Fae everywhere.
Surrounding me.
With all of their beauty.
The Fae in the Dark Court had been outwardly beautiful but these people, my people, were beyond anything I could have ever imagined. They weren’t just wondrous to gaze upon. They were filled with love.
And that love was directed toward me.
A young woman stepped forward. She had striking honey-colored eyes and long, dark curly hair that fell past her shoulders. She was dressed in a long gold gown that looked medieval. She bowed before me.
“My Queen.” Her voice was lyrical. “We welcome you home with open arms.”
I let go of Devilyn’s hand and stepped forward, placing a hand on her shoulder.
“Please don’t bow down to me,” I said. “My name is Caroline.”
She stood, smiling widely.
“I am Ella,” she replied. I felt as though she was dissecting me from head to toe, but I could tell that whatever she saw, she liked.
“It has been a long, long time,” Ella said. “The court awaits you.”
I smiled around at the rest of the Fae, not knowing what to do or say. I was so out of my element. I wasn’t afraid, but I was unsure. I did not know what was expected of me.
“Ella,” Devilyn said gently. “This is her first time here.”
Ella’s eyes lit up in understanding and she nodded.
“I thought she would remember,” she told him.
“Remember what?” I asked. “I’ve never been here before.”
“When you were a child,” Devilyn reminded me.
“But how could I remember that?” I asked.
“Every memory that a Fae experiences is a cellular memory for eternity,” Ella explained. “It is there waiting for you to find it again.”
“So I can remember my mother and father?” I said.
Ella nodded. “From the moment of conception,” she told me. “It is there locked inside the chambers of your heart.”
I could remember my parents.
“If you wish to seem them,” Ella whispered to me, “they will always be there. You may even be able to recall their touch. Once you do, it will feel as though it’s taking place now.”
I couldn’t even comprehend the idea of it.
“Are you okay, Caroline?” Devilyn asked me. “Your face is a little pale.”
“I’m fine,” I said to appease him. But I wasn’t. It took all my strength to choke back the tears that threatened to spill out for the entire court to see. It was not the way I wanted them to see me for the first time. The queen who cried at the thought of seeing her dead parents.
Ella’s words kept echoing through my mind.
Did I want to see them?
What would it do to me?
Would the pain weaken me and send me down a path full of sweet memories from when I was only an infant?
I was petrified to find out.
“My Queen,” Ella said with worry. “Devilyn is right, you do not look well.”
They exchanged looks and then I felt the room spin around me. A magikal Light surrounded me. I moved through the swirling tunnel and saw an ancient tree, letters that lit up against the bark, and in the recess of my mind I understood something. And then it was the Light again, undulating, moving until it caused me to fall right into Devilyn’s arms.
I woke up in my bedroom at Odin’s home.
Tatiana, Devilyn, and Odin surrounded me. Devilyn was sitting in bed with me, holding my hand. His face was etched with worry.
“How do you feel?” he asked me.
“Fine,” I could barely whisper.
“It was too soon,” he told me. “I shouldn’t have taken you—”
“Stop,” I told him. “I wanted to go. And I’ll never be able to thank you enough for taking me there.”
Before Devilyn could say another word, Odin spoke.
“I think it’s time for Caroline and I to be alone,” he said to Tatiana and Devilyn.
Tatiana flew right out, calling out, “Glad you’re feeling better,” over her shoulder.
But Devilyn lingered.
Waiting. And then reluctantly letting go of my hand.
“I’m right next door,” he said before he left.
Odin waited until Devilyn shut the door, and then he sat down next to me.
“Now tell me, child,” he asked. “What did you see?”
“I don’t—” I began.
He shook his head and his eyes took on an otherworldly light.
“You saw something,” he said.
My mind scrambled as I thought back.
“I just saw Light,” I told him. “There was Light everywhere, surrounding me. It was spinning and then—”
“What?” he asked. “Think back, Caroline.”
I saw a flash of the tree.
Of th
e letters.
“A tree,” I whispered. “I think it was the great tree here in Roanoke—”
“Go on,” Odin urged.
“And the letters,” I told him. “C. R. O. They lit up before my eyes.”
He nodded.
My eyes met his.
“Yes,” I said.
“Tell me.”
“Caroline.” My voice shook. “Roanoke. And—”
“And?” he prompted.
“Odin.”
He closed his eyes and nodded.
“And so it begins,” he said solemnly. “The end is near.”
I could only stare into his eyes. Something passed between us.
“The Fates have spoken,” I whispered to him.
• • •
Odin left me soon after, and in my heart I knew, but even so it wasn’t an outcome that I particularly cared for.
Was my end approaching?
I realized I had two choices.
I could sit back and obsess about it until the day of the play, or I could just live and be happy. I could enjoy every moment with my family, with my friends and with Devilyn.
I chose the latter.
So for a week and a half I had the time of my life. I laughed freely. I skipped school one day with Teddy and did a movie marathon in Odin’s impressive home theater. I ate enough pizza to feed an army. I saw my parents every day. I would go to the diner and help out, and Odin against my wishes would use magik at night so that my dad would forget that I wasn’t sleeping in the house.
I cuddled with Famous. Since he could feel my every emotion, he was my constant companion.
I trained with Rowan and asked him all sorts of questions about the Light Kingdom. He reluctantly fed my constant appetite for knowledge about a world I would likely never know. I had hoped that he would be more open, but since Devilyn had brought him back from the yew he had become melancholy and quiet, always lost in thought. When I asked him where he was, he got nervous and told me that he was only thinking about the battle ahead.
I knew he was lying.
But it was his secret to tell. Not mine to pry out of him.
I also trained with Devilyn.
He and I had come to some sort of understanding. He would take runs with me through the maze, and I would even let him hold my hand. We talked every night until I couldn’t keep my eyes open.
I wouldn’t let him utter Alderon’s or Puck’s names. No talk of the kingdoms either. Dark or Light. None of it mattered to me. Because in the end, would any of these conversations mean a thing?
It was the best ten days of my life.
And when the night of the play finally arrived, instead of being afraid of what was to come, instead of worrying about all that I could potentially leave behind, I cherished every new memory I made.
And I was happy.
D
There is no worse feeling than knowing your time has come.
The clock ticks, the large hand pressing forward and there’s nothing you can do to stop it. No power of this world or any other can stop father time.
And it had come.
What felt like the entire city of Roanoke sat in the audience to watch the mockery that was about to take place, and in and among them were my people. I could feel them. They were everywhere.
All around me.
Ready to watch it all unfold.
Mr. Copeland had dimmed the lights so that not even the students could see the set we were to act upon. There were large monitors on each side of the stage so that we could read our lines. He had made us practice on them many times this past week.
I stared at myself in the mirror in my dressing room.
I was dressed as Alderon. These were really his clothes, I knew. I could feel his energy all around me, burning my skin with his sickening evil.
I was sure this was yet another of Puck’s tricks.
I couldn’t believe that I was participating in this madness. Had it not been for Caroline’s insistence, I would have found another way.
Caroline was getting ready with Tatiana, who had promised me that she would not leave her side. At this point, though, it didn’t matter. We had willingly agreed to play this out.
It was time.
This was the great battle the Fates had foretold.
All unfolding in front of the mortal world.
The chimes went off.
The show was about to begin.
“Places!” Mr. Copeland called out. “Places!”
Teddy made his way to the front of the closed red curtains and clapped his hands together. He was dressed just like Puck, in the finest medieval garments. It looked as if he had been born to wear them.
He stood front and center on the stage and smiled at the crowd, and although he was in character, he had a startling resemblance to the vicious Fae who had come to plague our lives.
“Ladies and Gentlemen,” he began in a strong voice, as if he had been born to be a thespian. “Tonight will be an evening filled with special surprises. You’ll see an epic tale filled with love, hatred, and sorrow. You’ll be enamored with our hero and heroine.”
He sighed dramatically, lowered his head as if he were in deep thought. A movement I did not associate with Teddy. I wondered if Puck had somehow taken over his body. Even though Teddy was protected, I knew the impossible could become possible tonight. None of us were here against our free will, so there very well could be some magik Puck and Alderon and had used. Anything could happen.
“And of course you will come to loathe our evil, evil villain.” He smiled for effect as the crowd booed.
“I ask you to suspend your disbelief and watch the tale unfold. We, the immortals of the realm, will show you the real story of The Lost Colony, and your precious tale of the Croatan Indians be damned and forgotten. What you are about to see is a story never told. The one that has lived in secrecy and darkness for centuries.”
The curtains began to move apart.
“Sit back and enjoy. Now, we shall all see the beginning of a great tragedy.”
Chapter Sixteen
“Do not grieve. Anything you lose comes round in another form.”
—Rumi
Kingdom of the Dark Fae
Many Moons Ago
Tara
“Mama’s going to sing you a lullaby,” I hummed the words to my precious son as I moved my hand over my stomach.
Devilyn.
He was incredible.
A perfect little being that his beloved father and I had created together.
Half of me.
And half of him.
The first of our race, and the beginning of something sublime. I had such hopes for him and the new world he would help create.
“Devilyn, my darling boy,” I whispered to him. “You are everything that I imagined you to be.”
I could feel him move. Even in the safety of my womb I knew he understood every word I said.
I walked toward the open windows and looked out. Arms that I had come to crave with a need that I did not know was possible encircled me.
Alderon’s lips found mine.
“And how is he this morning, my love?” he asked.
“Wonderful,” I told him. “But anxious to come out in the world.”
“He’s a greedy one,” Alderon said. “Demanding all of his mother’s attention.”
I laughed as I turned in my husband’s arms.
“I love you,” I told him.
His look made my breath hitch in my throat.
“Come with me,” he said. “I crave that love of yours.”
Ever the obedient wife, I did as I was told.
• • •
After spending hours together and basking in our love, Puck called Alderon to the court to see to what he said was an urgent matter. I decided to venture out into the forest and go for a walk. I put my cape on and drew the hood up to cover my face, as Alderon preferred it when he could not accompany me. On my way down the hall, Puck stopped me.
“My Queen,” Puck’s voice was anxious. “Your friend Carrick is here.”
“Carrick?” I said in surprise. “For what purpose?”
Puck lowered his voice. “To continue the goodwill between both kingdoms.”
I smiled. “I must go and see him.”
Puck’s eyes flashed with something I could not decipher. A feeling of foreboding washed over me.
“Forgive me,” he said. “But your king does not want you to know Carrick is here.”
“Why would he not?”
“Maybe I should not have said a thing.” Puck sounded worried.
“Please, Puck,” I pleaded. “You are the only friend I have here. Tell me.”
“You honor me.”
“Tell me,” I begged.
“If you go to the court now, the die will be cast.”
“I do not understand,” I whispered.
“Do not let our king see you,” he said. “Hide in the shadows and you will see for yourself.”
I did not need to hear another word. I turned and ran down the hall, my cape billowing behind me. I hid, watching Carrick kneel before my husband, who sat on his crystal throne.
“Why have you come?” Alderon’s voice was filled with rage.
“With your permission?” Carrick said.
Alderon nodded and Carrick rose, handing him a letter.
“What is the meaning of this?” Alderon asked as he skimmed the letter.
“With the child on its way, the Light court would like to begin solidifying a truce, a union of both kingdoms.”
“Go on,” Alderon said.
“They are proposing an abolition of all works of darkness and evil.”
I waited with bated breath and my heart sank when I heard Alderon’s response.
His laughter echoed through the hall.
“Are they?”
My friend’s eyes lit up in anger. “Those were the terms of the union. Which you promised—”
“And?” Alderon said. “I have her now. That’s all that matters.”
“And Tara?” Carrick spat out. “Does she know this?”
Alderon rose.
“How dare you speak her name!” he shouted.
“I dare,” Carrick returned. “I have known her longer than you, since she we were children—”
I had never seen such rage come over my husband. Before I could even move he lifted his hand and hit Carrick with a surge of his black light. The force pushed him all the way to the entrance of the hall. Carrick managed to stand slowly, but then Alderon hit him again.
