by Lainy Lane
The cave curved around slightly and there was another opening slightly hidden by a large rock where the sound was coming from. Calandra took a deep breath and decided to pull from her powers to give her the courage she needed to inspect further.
"Calandra," the voice came again as she walked around the corner and the person the voice belonged to finally came into view.
She was an older woman with silver hairs mixed into her chocolate brown curls. Her skin was frail, and a glowing transparent aura came from it. Her eyes were brightened by the huge smile she got as soon as Calandra finally came into view. Calandra had only seen those opaque pink eyes on one person, and that was the person that now stood in front of her and had called her there. Echo.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
Echoing Skies
"Calandra!" Her voice suddenly sounded delighted and had lost the eerie edge that it had held before when Calandra had been unsure of who was behind it.
To say she was taken aback to see her great-grandmother standing there would have been an understatement. Though she had never actually heard anything regarding the death of Echo, she had also never heard anything about her being alive either, so she had assumed that meant she was gone. The theory had made complete sense to her until this moment. Calandra’s dad had claimed that Echo was a crazy woman, but now looking upon her, Calandra could feel kindness radiating off of her.
"I take it you weren't expecting me." Echo's sweet voice chuckled.
Calandra shook her head no as she found herself unable to speak at the moment. Echo smiled a gentle smile that reached her eyes and made her face light up. Calandra couldn’t help but smile in response.
"Come dear," Echo held her arms out and motioned for Calandra to go with her.
Calandra stared at her, still feeling completely bewildered. Judging by the size the cave appeared to be from the outside, Calandra felt they had to have already reached the end of it, there couldn’t possibly be anywhere else to go, yet Echo seemed to want to walk deeper in. Calandra shrugged and followed her great grandmother’s lead anyways. Just as they approached the back wall of the cave Echo waved her arms in front of them and the wall dissolved completely, and the scene behind it took Calandra's breath away.
A black sky stretched as far as Calandra could see, it was sprinkled with brilliant stars everywhere. There was no end in any direction to the beauty surrounding them. Some of the stars twinkled, some were shades of pinks, purples, and blues. Every now and then one would shoot across the sky in front of them. The radiance was beyond anything Calandra had ever seen or imagined, and she immediately knew she never wanted to leave this place. She could spend eternity there, and her soul would be completely at peace. Too bad she had already committed to spending her eternity with Ankou unless Drake actually came through and found a way around that.
"Come, dear," Echo repeated her words as she gracefully walked out into the night sky.
A part of her wanted to be in shock and expect Echo to fall to her death. But another part of her reminded her that she was in Faerie and Echo was technically already dead and shouldn't be there in the first place. She prompted herself, once again, to learn to quit being surprised by things around there. Still feeling uncertain about acting against all logic, she carefully placed one foot out in front of her. She wasn’t sure what she had expected it to feel like exactly, but walking on air wasn't quite it. There was no bottom, her feet did not touch anything as she walked out to where Echo now stood. It was a genuinely free feeling. Though there was no floor, she walked effortlessly through the stars as a light breeze passed over her.
"I take it no one explained to you that full royal Faeries never truly die?" Echo asked as she took Calandra's hand and led her deeper into the night sky.
"Not exactly." Calandra was growing used to discovering things about the Faerie world at the worst possible times. Knowing there was a way to contact Echo could have saved her from selling her soul to Ankou. Why hadn’t someone mentioned that as a solution before she allowed Tristan to kill her and send her to the Underworld?
"It doesn't happen too often really. Most of us live much longer than I did. But I stayed in the mortal world long enough for my magic to die out along with my life. Now I am the keeper of the stars." Echo continued walking, and Calandra continued to follow her, unable to focus on anything other than the stars around them.
"So, you're not exactly dead?" It was a dumb question seeing as she was standing in front of her. Although, she was also walking on a night sky at the moment, so all rationality had gone out the window already.
"Not really, just in another realm." Echo smiled back at her.
A spark of hope jumped inside of Calandra. If royals didn’t ever die, what did that mean for her own life? Was that the way out of her soul’s destiny of being owed to everyone other than herself?
"No Calandra, unfortunately, you will not be so lucky." Echo frowned. "Only full-blooded Royals are able to live on past the lives of their time in the other realm. Everyone else either goes to Ankou, is lost in between, or is reincarnated to another form eventually."
"Oh." Calandra sighed as the spark of hope dwindled out of her once more. “Seems unfair to ask someone to rule the Fae world and then not at least have the decency to give them immortality.” The thought was supposed to have remained in her head, but her mouth hadn’t received that message before it slipped out.
“You may have noticed that not much in the way of Faeries is fair.” Echo offered a fake smile this time.
Calandra sighed, she had unfortunately made that connection already. She had learned it the hard way, multiple times already. "So why am I here exactly?" The curiosity was far too strong for her to resist asking the question.
"Because there is something I need you to see. Something you need to know about your stars."
"I have stars?" Calandra realized how stupid it was that her great-grandmother was the Keeper of the Stars and yet Calandra had no idea what the stars meant or why they needed a keeper. She wanted to ask several more questions, but knew they would all only reveal her lack of information, so she bit her tongue.
"The stars are what hold our destinies, Calandra. Everyone has a cluster of stars that is their life map."
This seemed promising, Calandra let herself believe she would finally receive some decent answers and the excitement bubbled over inside of her.
"I cannot show you your future per say, but there is one thing, in particular, you need to be aware of. Stars are not easily changed, but it is possible for certain stars to die out and new ones to take their place."
"So, you can rewrite destiny?" The possibility surprised her, she knew it seemed too good to be true, but she needed it to be true for the sake of her soul.
"Not exactly. You will still end up where you were meant to be all along. Your final star is untouchable and will not be changed no matter what. However, the path of stars leading up to that one can be replaced if the right acts are done."
"Why do I have a feeling you can't tell me what acts must be done to make that happen?"
"Because deep down you already know enough to know that I can't." Echo let a low laugh escape. Clusters of stars faded momentarily beneath their feet, and Calandra watched with bewilderment. "That over there is your group of stars."
Echo pointed to a particularly bunched up cluster surrounded by three vibrant colored groups surrounding it. Just behind the clump that was for Calandra lay a bright white and much smaller cluster. To the left was a very widespread cluster of stars that blinked several shades of light blue and to the right was a boundless group that overlapped with Calandra's cluster, some of the stars overlaid in places, and its stars blinked multiple shades of light purple. Calandra looked to the dragonfly on her shoulder, her other sign of destiny, and wondered if she was making the correct connection between them.
"You are correct." Echo once again read Calandra's thoughts and responded to her without the question being asked. "Your lifeline isn't just
yours, it is connected to others, weaved into the lifelines with others. Those are your main supports there. The blue and purple, judging by your face, I assume you already know who they are?" Echo's right eye winked slightly.
"Jarreth and Drake," she said simply.
Echo nodded.
"Who is the white?" There was no white in her dragonfly mark, and she hadn’t met any Fae with white eyes, so she couldn’t figure out who that group belonged to.
"Tristan dear," Echo responded immediately. So Tristan's fate was still somehow mixed into hers as well. "There is a reason that he hasn't left Faerie yet, Calandra, his work in your life isn't done."
Calandra's heart broke further for Tristan as if she hadn't caused him enough pain already. Yet he was somehow still forced into her life, thanks to a bunch of stars.
"But we don't have time to go into that right now." Echo knelt down next to Calandra's burgundy colored group of stars and motioned for her to join. "This is what I need for you to see here."
Just as Echo pointed to the set, a crimson star shot straight through it and crashed into one of her other stars and the entire cluster burned out instantly. Every star surrounding her stars dimmed a bit in the absence of their light.
"What is that?" Calandra gasped.
"That is a prediction of your future," Echo replied feebly. "The crimson star is Akiye. She is coming for you, my dear. Your destiny isn't supposed to end there, but Akiye plans to commit an act that will throw you completely off course, even burn you out completely if things play out in her favor."
"So she will kill me?" Her breath caught in her throat and she had to force the question out.
"That is her plan." Echo placed a hand on Calandra's left cheek. "Unless something happens to intervene and sets your course back on track."
"Like what?" Calandra asked.
Echo waved her hand over the star cluster once more. This time when the crimson star shot through hers, it collided with a vivid orange star that shot in from somewhere else. Calandra had been so focused on the red star that she had missed where the orange one had come from.
"What is it?" she asked frantically, wishing she could see an instant replay.
"That, my dear, I cannot tell you, but it has already been set into motion. Be prepared, Calandra, Akiye is coming for you. This orange star may stop her momentarily, but she will not give up so easily. She is a determined woman, and she is powerful."
Once again Calandra's promise of answers had been taken out from under her. In the midst of her answers, a thousand more questions had come up. She still wasn't sure what was going to stop Akiye. As usual, everyone around her seemed to know more about her life and her destiny than she did. That aspect of life was beginning to grow nauseating.
"When is she coming?" Calandra didn’t expect an answer, but she knew she had to at least attempt to find out. The stars around her began to fade as she felt herself being pulled backward, away from Echo.
"Tomorrow," her voice echoed through the night sky and made their way over to her just before Calandra found herself back in the cave, staring at the back wall, alone.
"Calandra?" Drake's voice came from just outside of the cave.
Calandra sighed, her head was throbbing from far too many questions and never anywhere close to enough solutions. The sensation was nothing new at this point, but Calandra was certain she’d never grow fully accepting of it. She turned and walked out of the cave where Drake stood waiting.
"It wasn't that bad, was it?" he asked.
"Drink. Now." She broke the words up and began to walk back toward town without bothering to wait for him. She knew he’d follow after her anyway, if for nothing else but to discover who she had just encountered in the cave.
Jarreth sat at their usual booth with several empty shot glasses and a larger glass sitting in front of him. He must have worked himself up quite a bit to have required his special mixture in the short amount of time they were gone. Relief washed over his face when he saw Calandra and Drake walk through the doors.
"Um, Drake?" Calandra stopped, just inside the door and turned to him. "How long were we gone exactly?"
Calandra felt as if had to have been gone for at least a day with everything that had happened. Had Jarreth really not left in all that time? Or had he somehow known when they were headed back and just arrived to meet them? Neither option would really surprise her. Neither option would explain him having consumed that many emotions either.
"We were in other realms, Calandra, only a few minutes have passed here in this realm while we were gone." Drake motioned for her to go to the booth, Jarreth did look as if he might pounce on them if they didn’t do so soon.
Dang it, that option did surprise her a bit. Leave it to Drake to come up with the one thing to throw her off-guard. Calandra shrugged it off quickly and joined Jarreth at the booth. Drake immediately sat next to her and scooted close enough that their bodies touched.
"Mixer," Calandra called out to Glyda who nodded in response. She and Glyda had fallen into a mutual disrespect of each other, yet Glyda still served her orders to her promptly, just with a death glare thrown in.
"And mine," Drake called to her as well.
Calandra looked at her hands as she fiddled with them nervously. Drake's legs were shaking a little under the table, and one rubbed up against her leg as it did. Glyda appeared with their orders and sat them in front of them respectively before she turned and disappeared behind the bar once more.
"Well?" Jarreth was impatiently waiting for their drinks to arrive before he asked the question.
Calandra looked over to Jarreth as she took a few sips of her drink. She tried to sort through everything in her head to determine how to explain everything she had learned. "Well, I got to see Echo as well." There were plenty less confusing answers in her head, yet she had chosen the one that made the least sense. Part of her wondered if she had done so intentionally to irritate Jarreth, was that the kind of person she had become? She took a few sips to ponder over it.
"Echo?" he questioned upon realizing she wasn’t expanding the explanation.
Calandra nodded. "Apparently royals get to rule another realm once they leave this one." Saying it out loud reminded Calandra of something she had forgotten to ask Echo while she had been with her. "Are there any full-blooded Royals left?" She looked between Jarreth and Drake.
Jarreth picked up one of the empty shot glasses and spun it between his fingers effortlessly. It was enough to take Calandra's mind off of her question for a few moments. Long enough for him and Drake to exchange a look. "Yes and no," Jarreth finally answered.
"So, what, there are partials?"
"Yes and no,” Drake broke in.
Calandra stared at Drake waiting for him to elaborate, but instead, he started in on his ritual for his drink. She turned to Jarreth and pressed the matter with her glare. He didn’t seem willing to answer either. “Someone better explain this quickly!” She had experienced enough drama already, she wasn’t about to deal with the mind games on top of it.
"Kailen is technically considered a Royal." Jarreth finally gave in.
"Excuse me?" Calandra felt shock rush over her.
"There's a reason that Oberon trusted Kailen as his second-hand man. Kailen was his cousin. His mom married into the family after he was born, so it's not a blood relation technically speaking, but he was adopted into the family, so for all practical purposes he is a full royal."
"Hmm." Calandra absorbed the information while continuing to sip on her drink. "What are Ly Ergs?" she asked as she recalled the other piece of information she had learned about Kailen earlier.
Jarreth seemed puzzled by the question, but offered an answer nonetheless. "A type of Fae soldiers, gruesome creatures actually. They are small, gray, with pointed ears. With hands that are permanently stained red with blood to show their true nature for killing. Why?"
"Apparently Kailen is their leader." Calandra shrugged it off until she noticed Jarreth's eyes wide
n. "What?" Calandra showed her pure innocence with the vulnerability that laced her voice.
"You don't think it's an issue that you're starting a war with the leader of the Fae army?" Jarreth snapped his fingers at Glyda for a refill.
Calandra spat her drink across the table, narrowly missing Jarreth. "War? I'm starting a war?" She hadn’t signed up for that unless it was also something Drake had taken upon himself to do for her.
Drake cleared his voice as that thought occurred to her, she smiled sheepishly at him. She needed to start remembering that he was in her head now and watch her thoughts more carefully. "How else did you think you were going to stop him, Calandra?" Drake asked as he restarted his ritual.
She hadn't really thought of that, the ending to this story, where it was all leading. She had admitted to herself that she had to put a stop to Kailen, to avenge him killing her mother. Although, now that she knew he hadn’t actually killed her, did she still think she would be capable of killing her own father?
"He would've killed her, Calandra." Drake, of course, knew exactly what she was thinking and responded to the thoughts she hadn't given a voice to. "She was in far too deep, she would have died from his power eventually. She knew as much when she made the deal with Akiye. She had already discovered what Kailen was and what that meant for her own fate. Making the deal with Akiye actually extended her life farther than it should have gone. Your mother made her death mean something with the deal she made, but she would have died either way."
Did that fact actually change anything? Did the ‘would have beens’ or ‘could have beens’ really make a difference in our lives? Calandra could sit all day and think about what could have happened in her life if a lot of things hadn't come into play, especially of late. However, according to Echo, our fates were written in the stars, and nothing changed what would eventually happen. Everything happened for a reason. That was one belief Calandra had been set on ever since she could remember. People came and went, things changed, winds blew our way to set things into motion. Could haves and should haves were only ways to dwell in the past of how we wanted things to go, but the final destination was unchangeable, no matter what. So maybe she couldn't change certain things about her life. Maybe she couldn't sway her destiny. But she could learn one thing from her mother’s fate. She could make sure that her life stood for something. She could sacrifice herself for something more meaningful if that was what it took. She could take down the evil that had set this world into its downfall. She could take charge and decide to make a difference. She would have to admit to herself the one thing she had been fighting so hard to deny. She would have to take down Kailen. Father or not, he had to be stopped, and no matter what she wanted to convince herself of, there was only one way that he would stop. He had to be taken down, and Calandra had to be the one to do it.
