by T. G. Ayer
Kai’s eyes widened. “It was my fault?”
“No, honey. That’s not what I meant.”
But it was clear that Kai was no longer listening. Her expression was dark as she replied, “But if I’d been more careful, you wouldn’t have needed to lie. You could have just told them you weren’t the Hunter.”
“Silly child. I wouldn’t have had a clue as to those escapades anyway. With Omega and Area 51, we were betrayed. And thankfully, Illyria was unable to inform them of your abilities.”
“But Grams—”
“Kai, questioning my decisions at the time isn’t going to help us now. At the time, I had no intention of leading them to you. Even if I’d believed you covered your tracks and stayed within the shadows, I still wouldn’t have told them.”
Kai let out a soft growl, her shoulders slumped. “And knowing you, you’d have kept the secret even if the Hunter was someone other than a blood relative.”
Celeste chuckled. “A family trait, I’m told.”
“But I suspect you were protecting more than just me, right?”
Celeste’s face relaxed, relief filling her eyes. She let out a soft breath. “The Ni’amh. The safety of the five was always paramount. Revealing the existence of one of them would have naturally led to the rest being discovered. And there is too much at stake for us, for any of us, to risk the Ni’amh. We must have all five, or we are doomed.”
“So what exactly is the Ni’amh supposed to accomplish? Other than preventing the destruction of the DarkWorld as we know it?” Kai asked, arching an eyebrow.
Celeste smiled. “I understand your skepticism. I felt much the same when I believed the burden was mine to bear. But what I’m about to do will get me in trouble.”
“When has that ever stopped you?” asked Kai her tone cool.
Her mother laughed softly, then grasped her abdomen. “Oh, honey, please don’t make me laugh.”
“Sorry, Mom. Are you okay?” Kai crawled forward, reaching out as though to check her mom’s wounds, but Celeste merely batted her hand away and clicked her tongue. “We’re going off topic. Where was I?”
“You were getting yourself into trouble,”‘ I supplied, making my small contribution.
Kai snorted as Celeste sent me a cheery smile. “Thank you, yes. So there are rules regarding the edification of the Ni’amh. For some unknown reason, the ancients felt the five need to come to their own understanding of who and what they are. Only when each of the five reveal their true nature—usually under unnatural stress from what I’ve read—will the ancients provide them with first the prophecy itself, and then the tools to understand what it means.”
“Er...” Kai raised a hand, “I didn’t get any of those means. Does it mean I’m free?”
This time it was me who snorted. “One thing I know for sure is that I’m not that lucky. Sadly, my friend, neither are you.”
Kai threw me a nasty glare and then shook her head as I merely grinned back at her. “Sorry, the truth is nothing has gone easily for me, for you either. If life, as I know it now, is meant to be a test, I’ll be most happy to either pass or fail, and then be done with it. But...given the circumstances, I’m not expecting anything.”
Kai grunted. “‘Maybe we should call one of the Ancients around.”
“If only it were that easy,” muttered Celeste as she shimmied in place and repositioned herself.
“Actually, recently it’s not been all that hard. They tend to show up when needed, as if they can sense when we need help.”
“Oh?” Celeste looked worried.
“What’s wrong?”
Celeste swallowed and coughed, then shook her head. “Well...if that’s the case I’m probably in a steaming heap of it already.”
“Why?”
“Because she agreed to abide by the ruling of the Council of the Ancients,” said a voice from beside me.
I wasn’t able to stop the cry of shock that escaped my lips as a shadowed form materialized beside the bed only a hand’s-breadth away from me.
Kai’s grunt and Celeste’s groan followed closely as Darius folded his arms in front of him and smiled, a little too serenely if you asked me.
Celeste stared up at him. “Darius,” she said and then proceeded to stare some more.
“Celeste, my dear. How have you been?”
From the expression on Celeste’s face, I had to wonder if she was tempted to tell him he likely already knew, but instead, she gave a polite smile. “Could be better,” she said. “Could have done with some help over the last few months,” she continued, her tone cool as she met the Ancient’s gaze and didn’t waver.
Uh oh.
Kai threw me a worried glance, and I shrugged, though we both went ignored as the standoff continued before us.
“You have good reason to be unhappy with me, my dear,” he said giving her a shallow bow. “I’m afraid my hands were tied as the argument had been made that you were well within the means to remove yourself from the situations should you have wished it.”
“In this particular case, that assumption would have been false,” said Kai. She met Darius’s eyes, and from her expression, I figured he wasn’t the Ancient who’d communicated with her previously. So it seemed that Celeste and I shared an Ancient benefactor.
I let out a soft breath, attempting to release some of the tension that had been building all this time. In that moment, Darius turned to look at me. “Melisande? Do you agree with the Hunter?”
My eyes widened, and I blinked slowly, then glanced quickly over at Kai as she stared from the Ancient to me. I looked back at Darius. “One hundred percent. Having been the one who removed Celeste from the facility, I can confirm that there was nothing she could have done to get herself out under her own steam. It seemed to me that they’d planned for every contingency. She wouldn’t have gotten out of there unless someone freed her.”
Darius’s silence confirmed his surprise. “I confess I did not expect you to corroborate my suspicions.”
“You knew? And you left her there to die?” I failed to control the volume of my question.
The ancient didn’t seem to mind the volume. He shook his head and faced Kai, the fabric of his hood shimmering. “I must apologize, Kailin. I had my suspicions, but I had no proof to offer the council in order to justify helping release Celeste.”
“Or maybe your council knew that allowing these people to believe that they had the Hunter would have kept the spotlight off Kai?” I asked slowly.
Darius pursed his lips. “I’m not agreeing that this was the reasoning, but had it been the case, it would behoove you to remember that was exactly what Celeste has been doing all these years.”
I shifted my attention from Darius, a little unsure of how to react to his pathetic apology. I caught the anger in Kai’s eyes and met her gaze giving her a pointed glare. She looked like she was on the verge of saying something she wouldn’t be able to take back.
And when it came to the Ancients, we certainly could not afford to be reckless. We still knew so little about them as a race, or what kind of power backed up their position as the unofficial rulers of the DarkWorld.
Thankfully, Kai took a slow breath and relaxed as Darius addressed Celeste. “I will take this information to the council and demand that they give me a little leeway when it comes to the Ni’amh. I believe I can make a good case in proving that I understand the workings of the five.”
“And what about the other four Ancients?” asked Celeste softly.
Darius nodded. “They will be informed accordingly. I believe Darian will be most relieved. He was a most active advocate for Kailin, and as a result, for you as well.”
“I’m pleased that Darian will be pleased,” said Celeste evenly.
Darius smiled sadly. “I’m very, very sorry for the pain you have suffered, Celeste. I do regret not being able to help you.”
“Which times were you referring to? This time, or the two previous ones?” asked Kai, her tone hard.
Darius’s expression only grew sadder. “I do wish things were easier, but the decisions the Council of the Ancients came to were only in order to protect the true Ni’amh.”
“And when will the council figure out who the true Ni’amh is?” I said, deciding it really was time I asked the question. Nerina and Darcy and Cassandra were also part of the Ni’amh, but as far as I knew, none of them had a clue.
Darius nodded. “You need not worry, my dear child. The other three are well informed.”
“And will they be left in the dark the way we were?” asked Kai, her spine stiff.
Darius folded his arms. “I suppose the answer to that question is really up to you.”
Then, without another word, the Ancient disappeared.
“Ugh,” said Kai as she punched the mattress. “Why do they always do that?”
Celeste chuckled. “They have their ways. I must say that for you two to have already reached the stage of being afforded Ancient guardians, it must mean the Council was already pretty certain you two were the ones.”
Kai made a face. “A lot of good that did. All the troubles we’ve endured—”
“Have only made you stronger. The Ni’amh will face a battle so great that nobody else in all the planes would be capable of facing. It must mean that you are unique. And from what I gather, your trials and tribulations are what will have defined you in more ways than you would have recognized.” Celeste’s voice quavered, and I shifted from the mattress and got to my feet.
“I think it’s time I got going. I’m fading, and unless Aunt Celeste wants to move over, I’d better get on home fast.”
Kai also got to her feet. “You said there was something you wanted to talk to me about?” She studied my face.
I nodded and smiled. “We can hash it out on the way downstairs. Just pinch me if I start to fall asleep.”
I gave Celeste a wave and began to turn toward the door. Then, I stopped in my tracks so fast that Kai bumped into me and let out a soft oof.
I ignored her and looked around her at her mother who was sitting on the bed, smiling so widely that she looked a little demented.
And it dawned on me as to what Celeste had been doing when she’d tried to convince me to keep the truth from Kai.
“That was so not cool,” I snapped, trying not to let my anger through, and really, really failing.
Celeste gave a nonchalant shrug. “You passed the test. That’s all that matters.”
I made a rude sound and stalked out of the room. I was already halfway down the hallway when I heard Kai’s, “Mom? How could you?”
Chapter 22
I slowed only as I reached the bottom of the stairs, by which time Kai had caught up with me, and I’d calmed down a fraction enough to force a smile past wooden lips.
“I’m so sorry, Mel,” Kai said as she sprinted past me down the stairs so she could turn and look me in the eye.
“No apologies needed. She’s a mother looking out for her child,” I said softly, glancing over my shoulder at the landing. What I wouldn’t have given for a mother right now…
“She’s done enough looking after if you ask me,” Kai muttered, folding her arms and giving the ceiling a glare, as though she could see her mother through the floor above.
I placed a hand on Kai’s shoulder. “Look, you need to remain focused on what’s ahead. Your mom has made sacrifices for you that few mothers would. Now, how about we make sure her suffering wasn’t for nothing?”
Kai straightened even as I held my breath and worried that I may have touched a nerve.
Thankfully, she smiled and twisted her lips. “So what did you want to talk to me about? Can I guess it’s Saleem?”
“I wanted to speak to you in person, more to make sure that you are okay both physically and mentally. I don’t think this is going to be easy.”
Kai frowned but didn’t probe. She merely nodded firmly. “I just need to get one thing done before we leave.”
I mentally ticked Kai off my list of required team members. “That’s fine. And there is something else I need.”
“Name it.”
“Logan.”
Kai let out a dry laugh. “That’s the thing I need to do. I don’t think we can go without letting Logan know, giving him a chance to go with us, especially since he said he was going to come. Saleem means a lot to him, and I have a feeling he wouldn’t appreciate it if we didn’t give him the heads up.”
I let out a sigh. “‘Right. We’d better get things moving. I’ll round up the rest of the team while you get the winged fire-breather on board.”
Kai nodded, her eyes already distant. The winged fire-breather had left for the dragon plane, with little more than a note to say goodbye—although, from what I knew, it hadn’t appeared that he’d abandoned Kai; rather that he had official things to attend to that took priority at the moment.
Which led me to wonder if he’d take the time out at all to help us with Saleem. I cleared my throat, the sound bringing Kai back to the present.
“Sorry,” she said with a sheepish smile. “My mind wandered there for a second.” Then she gave a sharp nod. “So fill me in?” She waved a hand at the living room and I headed inside, and took a seat by the fire.
“Two years ago, Queen Aisha of the Djinn disappeared leaving her two sons—Saleem and Rizwan—wondering why she’d deserted them. While Rizwan preferred to play it safe and stay behind, Saleem decided to come to the Earth-World to find out what happened to the queen. Aisha was not known for shirking her duties.”
As I told the story, Kai sank to the carpet beside me curled up with a cushion in her lap.
“While in our realm Omega approached Saleem with an offer to help him find out where his mother was, and the crown prince accepted their generous benefaction. But as time went by, and none of Omega’s investigations proved fruitful, Saleem began to grow restless.
“And then one day he met a tracker who agreed to look for the lost queen. Sadly, the intrepid pair discovered a shocking truth: Omega themselves had kidnapped Aisha. And ironically, the queen was entirely capable of freeing herself at any point in time, and yet she stayed willingly as Omega threatened the lives of her sons as well as those of her subjects, if she ran.”
Kai shifted in place, and held the cushion tighter, her face a picture of fascination. Her lips twitched too, clear I was amusing the hell out of her, but telling the story any other way, being at all serious, would be too hard.
I kept going. “The djinn queen did not expect the nosy tracker to find her, nor did she expect her truth to come to light, but the wily old woman ensnared the tracker and convinced her that silence was better than truth, as the lives of the two princes hung in the balance.
“Though wracked with guilt, the tracker remained silent and kept the queen’s secret, until one day she found she was unable to. But, as with most things in the tracker’s life, she was too late. When she went in search of the djinn, with every intention of spilling the secret, she found him gone, returned to his native realm, on a quest to find out if his brother was well, and to ascertain the condition of his realm.
“But sadly, once the djinn entered his land, he was taken prisoner, betrayed by none other than his younger brother, whose mind had long been twisted and controlled by those forces who currently held the djinn realm within its grip.”
Kai’s eyes were wide, and when I paused, she scowled. “Keep going.”
I obeyed. “In chains, and tortured for information, the prince refuses to talk, and on one occasion was successful in calling the tracker, sending a message out on the astral plane that would draw her to him. He would take that opportunity to draw a promise from her that she would return within the week and extract him from his tortured clutches. And then, on a sudden and unexpected visit, the tracker was informed that there was a window.”
I rolled my eyes, aware that my dry tone was projecting my annoyance. Kai, though she raised an eyebrow in question, didn’t interrupt.
So I kept going. “And now, with little time left, the tracker has to move fast, as the life of the djinn prince hangs in the balance. One minute too late, and it may just be…” I made a slow cutting motion with my finger across my neck, my expression sad and serious, “…off with his head.”
Kai was shaking her head as I came to the end of my tale, struggling to hold back her laughter. “Mel, you do realize that’s supposed to be a serious story?”
I shrugged. “If I’d been serious, I don’t think I would have been able to….” I swallowed hard and blinked at the tears that burned my eyes.
Truth be told, I was terrified for Saleem, especially considering his condition the last time I’d seen him, and every second that went by—during which I wasn’t paving the way toward his freedom—felt like pure betrayal. A worse betrayal than keeping secrets from him with his mother.
Kai reached out and curled an arm around my shoulders. “Look, don’t you worry about a thing. I’ll hop over and speak to Logan—and no, I don’t need a ride—and I’ll be back in a few hours to get this show on the road.”
“With or without him?” I asked softly.
Kai gave a firm nod. “With or without him. Although something tells me that he’d be highly unlikely to remain behind once he discovers the latest developments in Saleem’s predicament.”
I nodded and took a deep breath then got to my feet.
“I’m assuming you’re taking all the help you can get?” Kai asked as she walked with me to the hall.
“Of course. The more, the merrier,” I replied as I wondered where Steph had gotten to. “But just remember, I have no idea what we’re going into. I’m about to do some recon, so I’ll update you as I go, but even then we have little idea if Omega is in control or if they’ve handed the reins over to someone else. Or who the real mastermind behind this whole debacle is.”
Kai grinned, but there was a distinct lack of amusement in her expression. “I have a feeling we’re going to have a full team on this.”
