Storm started the brew then looked at Rosie, who had seated herself near the fire.
“Hot chocolate,” she said, looking miserable and clutching the tissue her mother had given her.
When Storm nodded at Kellareal, the angel rolled his eyes, crossed his arms over his chest and said, “Earl Grey.”
Eight minutes later all five had a steaming cup of comfort in front of them. Three were waiting for an explanation.
“Rosie,” Kellareal began, “has been doing a self-imposed time out in a dimension that is host to a special project of mine.”
Deliverance nodded. “I know. I was there. So what’s the problem?”
Though delivered with Deliverance’s special brand of belligerence, Storm and Litha were both secretly glad that he’d given voice to exactly what they were thinking.
Kellareal said, “The problem is that your daughter,” he looked at Storm and Litha, “or granddaughter as the case may be,” he looked at Deliverance, “just wiped out an entire subspecies of hybrids including every trace that they ever existed.” His crescendo flared during delivery of that sentence so that he was practically yelling at the end. “She left three hundred humans and hybrids, assembled on a desert plain to fight a war she started, wondering what the heck they were doing there. Since all memory of the people she obliterated was gone as well.” He fumed.
Storm and Litha both looked at Rosie.
“You can do that?” Litha asked, sounding more than amazed.
Rosie shrugged.
Kellareal was nodding. “Yeah, Mommy. She can do that and a whole lot more. That’s why I’ve been watching her so closely ever since she was born, trying to keep universal bigwigs from getting wind that she exists!” His temper was growing the longer he talked.
“Okay. Okay,” Storm said in his best calming tone. “Let’s all settle down.” He looked at Kellareal. “Take a whiff and a sip of that tea and pull yourself together.”
Lines had formed between Litha’s brow and she looked worried. “That’s why you’ve been around so much?”
Kellareal softened just a touch. “It’s not that I don’t like you, Litha. I do. But yeah. Your kid is the big fish fry.”
Litha looked at her daughter. “Why’d you do this, Rosie?”
“I fell in love.” Rosie sniffed. “With one of the hybrids.” She glared at Kellareal. “He left them enslaved to an open ended bad deal. He gave them freedom in exchange for protecting humans that weren’t worth protecting.”
“That’s not for you to say,” said the angel.
“Well, it wasn’t for you to say that the Exiled should have to spend eternity fighting and dying to protect people who despised them, just so they wouldn’t be kept in cages like breeding animals.”
“It wasn’t like that,” Kellareal protested.
“It was exactly like that!” Rosie shouted. “At the very least their indentured servitude should have had an expiration date.”
She and Kellareal glared at each other.
“You fell in love and…” Litha quietly prompted, trying to get Rosie back on track and emotions under control.
“They killed him.” New tears started running down Rosie’s face. “So I killed them.” As she wiped her face with the tissue her mother gave her, she raised her chin, looked at the angel with defiance and said, “All of them.”
Kellareal barked out a laugh. “You really don’t seem to get the enormous consequences of what you’ve just done.”
Storm was trying to think his way around the mind-blowing idea that his baby had god-like power. “Why don’t you tell us?” he asked calmly. “About the enormous consequences.”
“Arbitrarily changing the natural progression of things,” he looked pointedly at Rosie, “in this magnitude, creates ripple effects all over the Earth dominion. Cross-dimension. An event like this in one dimension could change the history and future of the entire planet. Remember the overlap I told you about?” He shook his head. “I should have killed you as soon as I knew what you were.”
Deliverance flew off his barstool as he lunged at the angel and the two of them fell to the kitchen floor in a tangle of elemental limbs and wrought iron legs. Storm sat quietly, but looked at Litha with a sigh and a WTF expression as they exchanged a wordless dialogue.
“Rosie,” Litha said. “I don’t suppose you have the ability to break that up, do you?”
Rosie turned her swollen face to her mother. “Stop!” she commanded. The angel and the demon froze in place in a viral-worthy freeze frame.
Storm and Litha took a moment to consider the implications of having a daughter, a somewhat immature daughter with questionable control, who could bring about such a physics-defying event. One that affected creatures as powerful as angels and demons.
“Gods almighty,” Storm said, staring at the two on the floor.
Litha looked at Rosie. “Normally I wouldn’t condone this,” she gestured toward Kellareal and Deliverance, “but your father and I would like to know what has happened without interference. So let’s leave them like that while we talk. Just the three of us.”
Rosie nodded. Litha got up, fetched an entire box of lotion-laced tissues from a cupboard, and set it down in front of her daughter. “Tell us.”
“I gave Glen an ‘if this, then that’.”
“We remember,” Storm said.
“He didn’t comply and I thought that meant he didn’t love me. At least not as much as I wanted to be loved. So I decided to disappear for a while, partly to teach him a lesson, partly to protect my pride. I asked Kellareal for a place to stay. He said there were some people, hybrids, who owed him a favor.
“So that’s what happened. I stayed in their house and became fond of them. I worked in the bar slash café and sort of learned to like it.” Storm glanced at Litha with a raised eyebrow at that revelation. “I didn’t forget about you. Sometimes I thought about coming home, but I liked it there. I felt useful. I liked the people. And after a while I started to have feelings for one of them.” She looked up. “Strong feelings.”
Litha nodded slightly, silently urging her to continue. “Like I said, these people, they called themselves Exiled, had made a deal with Kellareal. He’d learned that they were going to be killed. All of them. He told them that he would free them and give them a new home if they would protect the humans in another world from their own version of hybrids who’d escaped and caused a lot of havoc.
“That was twenty-five years ago. This whole time the Exiled have been sacrificing their loved ones for a cause that wasn’t even their own to save people who wanted them dead. So, yeah, I wouldn’t say I started a war, exactly, but I did tell their leader they should merge their society with the humans and end the cycle of responding to raids. I said they should take the fight to the terrorists and end it.”
Big tears began to roll down her face again. “I’d give anything if I’d kept my mouth shut and minded my own business.”
Litha and Storm exchanged a look. “The person you loved. Did he die in the battle?” Litha’s voice was full of compassion and she hoped Rosie knew that if she was hurt, her parents were hurt, too.
Rosie tried to speak, but could only nod as a flood of new tears coursed down her face.
“Kellareal says I’m not supposed to change things, but he changed things when he moved the Exiled to another world. Didn’t he?”
“Yes,” Litha said. “I’m not going to pretend that I understand that reasoning. It seems mind-bendingly complicated, but I can say this. If Kellareal is concerned about your special gifts drawing the wrong kind of attention then I’m worried about that, too. With great power comes great responsibility. Seems like you’ve gotten more than your share of both, which means that you’re going to have to learn to be just as super-careful as you are supernatural. Do you understand?”
Rosie stared at her mother for a few seconds. “I do understand that.”
“Your dad and I are very sorry you lost someone you loved. Either one of
us would always choose to take your pain for you if we could. Since we can’t, we’ll just promise to always love you and be here. For you.”
“No matter what?” Rosie asked.
“Of course. No matter what,” Litha answered. Looking at Storm, she said, “How are we going to fix this?”
Storm looked at the two frozen in combat on the floor beside the kitchen island. “I never could have imagined myself saying this, but let’s find out if the angel fella has a suggestion.” He lowered his chin and asked Rosie. “Okay?”
“Okay,” she answered, and just like that Kellareal and Deliverance were sitting on their stools at the island with full, steaming cups in front of them.
“Listen,” she said, and both elementals gave her their rapt attention. She directed her question to Kellareal. “First, what’s the difference between moving the Exiled to a different world and just wiping out a nuisance that was about to be wiped out anyway?”
“First,” began Kellareal, “there’s a big difference between moving something from one place to another and wiping it out. It’s the difference between relocating wolves to a wildlife refuge and wiping their entire species from existence as if they had never lived, including all photos, art, historical and literary references, and domesticated dogs. No Jack London. No Little Red Riding Hood. Everything gone.
“Second, the Rautt were not about to be wiped out. If you’d been paying attention, you would have noticed that the Exiled spared everyone who was prepubescent. One or more of those young, given an entirely different nurturance, might have made a contribution of monumental proportions.
“Third, since you wiped the Rautt from existence and, therefore, from everyone’s memories except yours and mine, the Exiled have no idea why they are where they are or what they’re supposed to do. In the blink of an eye you wiped out decades of their own history. Is any of this getting through?”
She crossed her arms over her chest. “What about the motorcycles?” He glowered at her. “Yes. Okay? I get it. It’s different.” She sounded miserable but belligerent at the same time. After a minute of processing, in a quieter voice, she said, “Can I change it?”
“Yes.”
“How?”
Kellareal sneered, having given up all pretense of being polite. “How do you think?”
Rosie took in a deep breath. “Go back in time.”
He continued to look at her as if he was speaking to her telepathically, but said nothing out loud.
Looking between the two of them, Litha asked, “Can you do that?”
Kellareal flicked a glance at Litha. “Yes. And no.”
“Stop with the riddles, angel! Spit it out!” Litha said.
He looked at Rosie. “You can, and should, undo what you did, but you can’t change Carnal’s fate.” She looked away. “And you need to do it fast, before somebody notices. Somebody we really don’t want to take notice.” When she didn’t respond, he said, “Rosie!”
“Yes! I understand!” she replied with just as much emotion.
“It’s not just you. If they find out that I’ve known about you… Well, it wouldn’t be good for either of us.”
“All right.” She looked at her lap. “I want a minute with my parents.”
Kellareal stood to leave. “I’ll be watching.”
“Fuck off,” Rosie replied.
And then he was gone.
“That’s my girl,” Deliverance said as he walked around the island. He gave Rosie a shoulder squeeze, wishing he had some magic to make the pain go away, but he knew all too well that even elementals have to endure a passage of mourning and time before scabs begin to form over the wounds of loss. He brushed a kiss on top of her head and then he was gone as well.
“I’m sorry I didn’t come for visits and… let you know what was going on with me.”
Storm said, “We love you. We worry about you. And we’d really appreciate it if you didn’t make a stranger of yourself.”
She nodded. “I’ll try to do better, but it could take some time to get over this. It hurts more than… more than anything, I guess. I didn’t imagine this in my future. But I guess nobody ever imagines something like this in their future.”
She accepted hugs from first Litha, then Storm.
“Do you know how to do this?” Litha asked.
“I haven’t done it before, or seen it done, but yeah. I think I do know.”
“You’re amazing,” Litha said. “Everybody makes mistakes, but not many people really try to fix them. I’m proud of you.”
“Love you, Mom.” Rosie made a valiant try for a smile, but couldn’t quite manage it.
“Please don’t just disappear,” Litha pled, but Rosie was gone.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
Rosie stepped from the rose-streaked gray swirls of the passes onto the hill above the training field where she and Carnal had sat on the grassy promontory and talked the afternoon away. There was no one on the field. She imagined that the Exiled were still in a state of confusion as to what they were supposed to be doing.
Sitting cross-legged she concentrated on a visual for causing time to recede to a former state. The first image that popped into her mind was of making a sandwich at home in the villa kitchen by folding a single piece of bread over lunchmeat and cheese. She imagined time folding back on itself like that piece of bread.
All she needed was a crystal clear memory of the moment to which she’d return. She saw a flash of Carnal’s face when he’d been run through, but quickly pushed that aside. Kellareal had said she couldn’t change that, but he didn’t say she couldn’t have a little more time with Carnal. So she settled on a recollection that was as vivid in every detail and locked in on it until she felt something that could only be described as an inaudible ‘click’.
She opened her eyes when she heard Dandy saying, “You’ve been extra chirpy today.”
Rosie blinked, remembering the moment. “Chirpy? Really?”
“Uh-huh. And extra fast with your checklist. Does it have anything to do with the spectacle that I hear occurred yesterday?”
“What spectacle?”
“Carnal carrying you down the main way like a bride? That spectacle.”
Rosie threw her apron in the bin, smoothed back her hair, and surprised Dandy by rushing over to give her a big hug.
“What was that for?”
“For being my bestie.”
“What’s a bestie?”
Rosie grew serious. “A really good friend.” She looked toward the door. “Gotta go.”
“Be careful, Roses.”
“Not a child, Dandy.”
She felt her mouth form those words without her brain being engaged, but when it came out that time, the second time, she felt positive that it was true. She wasn’t a child anymore. But there was valuable information in the exchange. She would need to concentrate and make her words and actions deliberate or else everything would proceed on auto and proceed as it had before.
That wasn’t what she wanted. She wanted to live the day like it was her last as well as Carnal’s because, in many ways, it felt like it was. She was going to savor every second that Carnal still breathed.
He was waiting, as she knew he would be.
“What’s the plan?”
He grinned. “It’s a surprise.”
“I love surprises!” she said breathlessly as she threw him off guard by rushing in for her own version of a drive-by kiss.
When she pulled away, he said, “What was that for?”
“You look irresistibly kissable.”
He smiled like he couldn’t believe his good luck. “Does that mean you’re staying?”
“It means maybe. You have another day to convince me,” she said, feigning nonchalance.
“More than enough time. We’re taking the bike so you’ll need the riding clothes I gave you. How long will it take you to change?”
“Five minutes.”
She jogged to the house and up the stairs, not wanting to
waste time. With a little magickal help, she was ready in three minutes. She hurried back downstairs, jumped off the porch, and swung onto the back of the motorcycle, glad to be close enough to Carnal to touch him again.
She wound her arms around his middle and held tight.
“You trying to squeeze the life out of me?” He chuckled.
Rosie’s breath caught at his choice of jest. “Is this too tight?”
He shook his head. “I’m just kidding. When it comes to you there’s no such thing as too close.”
On the way to the monster sheep pasture, Rosie leaned her cheek against Carnal’s back. She didn’t want sadness to be the overriding memory of their day together. She wanted it to be full of enough joy to last a lifetime, but she couldn’t keep thoughts of impending destiny away. Try as she might, she couldn’t keep a few tears from escaping.
He slowed and stopped. “We’re here.”
“Where?” she asked as she got off the bike, even though she knew exactly what was about to happen.
“Hey,” he said as he turned to look at her. “You been crying?”
“No.” She shook her head adamantly. “The wind got in my eyes.”
He looked unnerved by that. “I thought I was taking the wind for both of us.”
She put all her feelings for him into her responding smile. “No matter. What are we doing here?”
“Cider break.”
“It’s a nice spot. Cider sounds good.”
He looked pleased that she was enthusiastic about his date plan. He took the skin of cider out of one of the bike’s saddlebags and helped her over the fence.
“Watch where you step.”
She looked down, knowing there were piles of poop balls and knowing what made them. “What made these?”
“Sheep.”
“Nuh uh. Not this big.”
“This way. I’ll show you.”
When they topped the rise and saw the sheep, she said, “Monster sheep. They’re big enough to ride!”
He laughed. “Funny you should say that because that’s exactly what we’re going to do.”
CARNAL (EXILED Book 1) Page 26
