Sovereign (Realmwalker Book 3)

by Jonathan Franks

  “Get up,” David commanded.

  Gen grumbled and slipped her clothes on under the covers. By the time she and Hope were dressed and ready, everyone except for Fall was geared up and ready. Fall was still asleep.

  “I’m going to kick him in the face if he doesn’t get up,” David said.

  Jewel held up her long and delicate hand. “No kicking will be necessary. I will awaken our somnolent friend.” She flew quietly over to Fall and kneeled next to him. She leaned in close to him and took a deep breath. Then she shouted, loudly, “Fall! Wake up!”

  Fall bolted upright and blinked. “What? Where?” He blinked and glared at Jewel. “I was dreaming about–”

  “I don’t care what you were dreaming about,” David said. “It’s time to go.”

  Fall rolled his eyes. “Is he always like this?”

  Jewel shrugged. “I’ve known him for something approaching two hours longer than you have.”

  Fall laughed and slowly got up. “I’m coming, angel. I’m coming.”

  Gen glanced at Shae, who nodded at her reassuringly. Gen snapped to human size and went downstairs to say goodbye. George and Laura sat snuggled up together on the sofa, watching TV. Michelle sat on the sofa next to Laura with her head resting on her sister’s shoulder. Geoff and Gabby sat together on the love seat. Geoff’s arm curled around Gabby’s shoulders. They all looked at Gen when she stepped into the living room.

  “We’re about to head out,” Gen said. “Thanks for letting my friends stay here.”

  Geoff stood and hugged Gen close. “Of course, sweetheart.”

  Gen’s breath was shaky in her chest. “Thanks, dad.”

  As soon as she pulled away from her dad, George stepped in and hugged her. “You be careful, okay?”

  “Of course, George.”

  George stepped back and looked Gen quickly up and down. “Yeah, what am I talking about? Look at you,” he laughed. “You’ll be just fine.”

  Gen laughed.

  Laura held her hand out, then changed her mind and spread her arms wide. Gen hugged her back for a moment.

  “Take care, Gen. It was really good to see you again.”

  “Take care of my brother,” Gen smiled. “You two are so great together.”

  “I will. And thank you,” Laura said.

  Michelle and Gabby remained seated, watching their goodbyes.

  “It was nice to meet you, Michelle,” Gen said. “I’m really sorry about your parents and I’m happy that you have somewhere to stay. I’m not angry or upset that you’re in my room. My folks probably need you around as much as you need them. It’s yours now. Okay?”

  “That’s really sweet,” Michelle said. “Thanks. I guess it helps to hear that you don’t hate me.”

  “Good.” Gen opened her arms to Michelle, and Michelle stood and hugged Gen warmly, but briefly.

  Gen turned to Gabrielle. Gabby looked at Gen flatly – not with any malice or hostility, but not with any warmth or interest, either.

  “Bye, mom.”

  Gabby didn’t get up. “Goodbye.”

  “So that’s it?” Gen asked. “No hug, no telling me to be safe? Nothing?”

  “What do you want me to say?”

  “I don’t know, mom!” Gen rolled her eyes and said with exaggerated sarcasm, “Excuse me. I don’t know, Gabby.”

  “I don’t appreciate your tone,” Gabby said. There was a little more of an edge to her voice.

  “No? Well, I’m terribly fucking sorry, Gabby.”

  “I don’t appreciate your language, either. Apparently, you’re my daughter, but I wouldn’t have a daughter who talks like that. If you have to swear, then you’ve already lost.”

  “Looks like it’s a banner fucking week for losing mothers, isn’t it?” Gen sneered. She leaned toward Gabby and thrust a finger at Michelle and Laura. “But at least their mother is dead! Their mother isn’t sitting in their fucking living room, smug and taunting the shit out of them!”

  “I don’t speak to someone who uses such disrespectful lang–”

  “Well, I’m so god damn sorry for being so god damn disrespectful, mother! Fine! My friends and I are getting the fuck out of here and you don’t have to worry one fucking bit about me ever again. Stare at your fucking pictures, lady, and maybe one day, if you’re really god damn lucky, you’ll remember what it felt like to be fucking happy for one fucking second!”

  Laura and Michelle both gaped, open-mouthed, at Gen. George and Geoff shared a concerned glance.

  “Genevieve Collette Summers!” Gabrielle roared and bolted to her feet. “You do not take that tone with me and you will never use that language in front of me again, do you understand me, young lady?”

  “What difference does it make?” Gen screamed. “What, are you upset because a stranger is yelling at you? You want it nice and peaceful and fucking quiet? Too fucking bad! I want my mother back! You don’t remember me? Fine. Remember this: fuck you, you crazy bitch!”

  Gabby slapped Gen hard across the face.

  Gen’s mouth fell open and her eyes widened. She shook her head quickly but her ears still rang.

  Gabby’s face instantly softened. The look of rage on her face was instantly replaced by one of guilt. Tears spilled out of her eyes and she clutched her hand in front of her mouth. “Oh, god, Gen. I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.”

  Gen blinked and stared at her mother.

  “I’m sorry. Can you forgive me? Genny? I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.” She took a step toward Gen.

  Gen’s instinct was to step away and back up when Gabby approached. She fought the urge and stayed still. She eyed Gabby warily. Her cheek throbbed where Gabby struck her. “Sure, Gabby,” Gen said. “I forgive you.” She turned to leave.

  Gabby winced visibly at the sound of her name. “Please, Genny.”

  Gen turned back to her mom. “Please what?” She sounded impatient. “You’ve never slapped me before in my life. What do you want?”

  “Please give your mom a hug?”

  Gen’s brows furrowed in confusion. “What? Are you serious?”

  Gabby nodded quickly, desperately. Tears streamed down her face. “I’m serious. I’ve got you back now. I remember. Genny, I remember!”

  Gen rushed into Gabby’s arms and they clung to each other, both of them crying hard.

  George gripped Laura’s hand tightly and looked at his father. Geoff stood near Gabby and Gen, unsure of what to do.

  “Gabs?” Geoff put a tentative hand on Gabby’s shoulder. Immediately, she reached out with her hand and yanked him close into the hug. Geoff, Gabby, and Gen clutched at each other, then Gen slipped out of the embrace.

  She swiped the tears out of her tears and sniffled. “Sorry, I couldn’t breathe,” she laughed. “Mom?”

  Gabby nodded and wiped her own eyes. “Yeah, Genny.” She gently placed her hand on Gen’s cheek. “Are you okay? I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to hurt you. Are you all right?”

  Gen placed her hand over Gabby’s and held it there for a moment. “Mom, believe me, there’s nothing you can do that’s any worse than what I’ve already been through. I’m fine. What…?” She hesitated. “What brought you back?”

  “I was here the whole time,” Gabby said. “I think you mean, what was it that brought you back? Back to me?”

  “Okay. What brought me back to you?”

  “Rage, I think.”

  Gen looked at the floor. “Sorry.”

  Gabby wrapped her arms around Gen again. “It’s okay, sweetheart. It’s okay. I guess I needed it, huh?”

  David’s crisp, authoritative voice called out from the hall. “Gen, it’s time to go.”

  Gen pulled away from her mother and wiped her eyes again. “I’m sorry, mom. I have to go. This is really important. Molly Ritchey’s in some pretty serious danger.”

  “Ritchey?” Gabby asked. “That sounds familiar.” She glanced at Geoff, who shrugged.

  Gen nodded. “Yeah. Ritchey.” She noticed the snide t
one in her voice and felt ashamed. “Jim’s girlfriend’s little sister.”

  David cleared his throat.

  Gen sighed. “I’m really sorry. We really have to go.” She hugged each of them again, then whispered to her mother, “Hold out your hand.”

  Gabby gave Gen a questioning look, but hand out her hand. In a blink, Gen shrunk. Her bright orange butterfly wings flitted up and down as she hovered in the middle of the living room. She slowly flew over to Gabby and gently settled onto Gabby’s upturned palm.

  “Wow, Genny,” Gabby breathed. “You look so beautiful. I’m so proud of you and I love you. Go on and do whatever you have to do.”

  “Thanks, mom. I love you, too.”

  George opened the door. Gen, Hope, Jewel, Fall, Slynn, and David flew outside into the cold morning. Gen glanced fondly back at her childhood home. Hope squeezed her hand.

  “You okay?” Hope asked.

  “Yeah.” Gen nodded. “I’m actually a lot better than I thought I’d be. I’m good. And I love you.”

  “I love you, too. Come on,” Hope pulled gently at Gen’s hand, and they flew up into the clouds.

  Chapter 28

  Molly shuffled forward on her knees through the snow, rolling a big, round snowball around the yard to make the base of her snowman. She loved the swishing sound of her snow pants sliding across the snow and she knew her snowman would be amazing.

  Portia laughed and Molly paused to look at her. Portia and Jim were shoveling the driveway together. They talked and laughed together as they cleared the deep snow. Molly smiled at them and resumed rolling her snowball around. Jim was very upset when he first got there, and Molly was happy that he was feeling better now. He always got so bright and cheerful when he was around Portia, and Molly felt very happy for them. Most of the time she was frustrated that they paid so little attention to her, but, today, she had her snowman to build.

  Rolling her snowball around the yard brought the big tree into view. Molly tried hard not to look at it but she couldn’t help herself. She glanced up into the branches and snow fell from one of the branches as it shook slightly. The pixies were still there, watching her. She shivered and looked back at the driveway to make sure that Portia and Jim were still there, then continued rolling her snowball.

  Once it had reached an acceptable size, Molly started rolling another snowball, reminding herself over and over that this one had to be smaller than the last one so she could put in top. Last time she tried to build a snowman, she kept rolling and rolling and built three gigantic snowballs, all roughly the same size, that were too big for her to pick up. She was not going to make the same mistake again.

  “Feeling any better, you poor boy?” Portia rubbed her hand on Jim’s shoulder.

  He shrugged. “Yeah. I guess so. Thanks for cheering me up.”

  “You want me to go talk to her? I’ll fuck her up.”

  Jim smiled and shook his head. “Not this time, you won’t. She’s been, like, working out or something. It’s okay. And I’m sure she’ll be gone again soon.”

  “And, I’m sorry if this stupid or weird or whatever, but, you’re not going to dump me and go back to stupid Jennifer, are you?”

  Jim looked Portia in the eyes. “No. Never.”

  “Okay.” She slid her hand down Jim’s sleeve and squeezed his hand. “Okay. Good.”

  “Don’t worry about stupid Jennifer,” Jim said. “I hope I never have to see her or talk to her ever again.”

  “Okay.” Portia leaned forward and kissed Jim’s cheek, then glanced at the living room window and started shoveling again, giggling.

  Jim chuckled and adjusted his scarf, then traced the edge of her path down the driveway with his own snow shovel.

  Molly smiled at them. “They’re so in love,” she sighed. Then she straightened her posture and put a serious face on. She whispered, “Not now, Shae. They’ll see you! We have to be quiet so they don’t know we’re talking!” She looked back to the tree, scared but trying to be brave. It looked completely normal. Molly stared intently at the tree, but nothing moved.

  There was a sudden whack in the back of Molly’s head and she shrieked. She shrieked and scrambled to her feet, slipping several times in the slippery snow pants until she managed to stand up and run, screaming, into the house.

  “Uh,” Portia shrugged, “I didn’t think it would freak her out that much.” She looked at the snowball she held in her other hand, then looked at Jim. “I guess I shouldn’t have thrown a snowball straight at the back of her head. Maybe I, like, concussed her or something.”

  “I don’t think she has a concussion. I think you just scared her.”

  Portia smirked. “Eh, well, same thing. Come on, we’re almost done.”

  Ten minutes later, Jim and Portia had finished the driveway. They went in the house and took their coats and boots off. Mrs. Ritchey set out fresh mugs of hot cocoa on the coffee table in the living room for them. Jim and Portia settled close on the sofa together and Portia pulled the afghan over their legs. She turned on the TV, handed the remote to Jim, and snuggled against his shoulder with her hot cocoa.

  “What do you want to watch?” Jim asked.

  Portia shrugged into his shoulder. “Whatever,” she sighed contentedly.

  Jim turned to The Discovery Channel. Portia groaned.

  “What?”

  “I don’t know,” Portia said. “Maybe, like, USA. It’s game shows in the afternoon.”

  Jim changed the channel and Portia chuckled at the man on TV screaming, “No whammies! No whammies!”

  Jim rolled his eyes and slipped the remote back into Portia’s lap and put his arm around her shoulders. “You like awful TV.”

  “Oh, shut up,” Portia lightly slapped his knee. “Sometimes you just need something easy on the brain. We can watch Masterpiece Theatre next.”

  “Masterpiece Theatre? I don’t want to watch Masterpiece Theatre.”

  “You know you do,” Portia teased.

  They sat together quietly and sipped at their hot chocolate. Molly perched on the stairs and peered down at them through the uprights of the banister. She was glad she couldn’t see the television. The little red cartoon whammies scared her lately–even more than usual.

  Portia’s eyes drifted closed before the next commercial break and soon she fell asleep. Jim smirked and shook his head, knowing that he was stuck watching game shows because if he moved to reach the controller, he’d wake Portia. He leaned his head back against the top of the sofa and, out of the corner of his eye, he caught a movement through the window above the door. Slowly, so he wouldn’t disturb Portia, he twisted his head around to look at the window. There was nothing there. Then a car made a turn outside at the corner and its headlights shone through the window. Jim’s eyes widened when he saw a tiny handprint in the frost on the glass.

  He swore under his breath. “God damn it.” He forced his attention back to the TV, irritated that Gen and her tiny mystical friends would follow him and spy on him.

  Molly watched Jim with intense curiosity. He saw the handprint on the window! Does he know the pixies are out there? Molly wondered. Why isn’t he so scared of them?

  Jim looked down at Portia. She was still nestled against his shoulder, sleeping. His irritation softened when he saw her. Her lips were parted and her eyes were closed. She looked very peaceful and Jim smiled warmly at her. He tipped his head back again to look out the window, but he caught sight of Molly sitting on the stairs. He tilted his head at her and made a questioning face.

  Molly’s eyes widened and she bolted upstairs. She slammed the door to her room behind her and Portia started. She murmured something, pushed the remote into Jim’s hands and fell back to sleep. Jim smiled again, pushed Gen and her weird companions from his mind, and changed the channel back to Discovery.

  Molly kneeled beside her bed and pulled out a few of her dolls.

  “Why do you sound all different lately, Shae? What’s the matter with you?”

 
; Molly tried to pretend that her dolls were at a fancy grown-up party, but her heart wasn’t really in it. She was scared and Shae was acting all weird. Molly couldn’t get the other grown-up sounds in her head right and the party sounded all wrong. Nobody was having a good time and she didn’t like it when there was a party where nobody was having a good time.

  Her frustration was growing stronger and she didn’t know what to do. Finally, she grunted loudly and tore the wings off each of her dolls, except for Shae, and shoved them under the bed. She scooted on her knees to the other side of her bed and dragged the covers over the side of the bed, draping them on the edge of the chair so she could hide in her fort.

  “Why is everything so...” Molly couldn’t figure out the word she wanted to use and she felt herself getting more frustrated. “It’s so higgledy piggledy!” Mary Poppins always made her smile, especially those words, but today, they didn’t make her feel any better. Molly grabbed a pillow from her bed and settled down into the fort, clutching Shae’s doll close to her chest.

  She glared at Shae. “What do you mean, they’re just playing with me?”

  She waited for a moment. “Oh, toying with me? What’s the difference? You’re not making any sense. Why would anyone have fun making me so scared? That’s stupid.” Molly’s eyes widened and she clapped her hand over her mouth, ashamed that she’d said such a terrible word.

  Molly really didn’t want to be up here alone, but she was even more afraid to leave her fort. She curled into a ball and cried until she fell asleep.

  When she woke up, it was dark out. Molly was pretty sure it was the front door closing that woke her up. She crawled out of the fort and looked out the window. Her face was hot from sleeping under the blanket and the glass was very chilly. Jim was walking down the driveway to the street. At the end of the driveway, by the sidewalk, he stopped and turned around to look back at the house, the way he always did when he left. He smiled, turned, and walked away, down the street.

  Molly started to turn away from the window but she froze when she saw several sets of tiny footprints in the snow of her windowsill. She was so scared she couldn’t move. Tears filled her eyes and her breath was wet and heavy in her chest. Her breath fogged up the window. She wiped the tears from her eyes and tried to calm down, but when she looked at the fog on the glass, she shrieked in terror and ran out of her room. Before the fog disappeared from the window, in thin, finger-drawn letters, read, “MOLLY.”