Sovereign (Realmwalker Book 3)

by Jonathan Franks

  Chapter 29

  “Shae? What’s wrong?” Hope whispered. For the last half hour or so, Shae’s mood worsened, becoming quiet and sullen.

  Shae bit her bottom lip, hesitating. “I...” She sighed. “I just...” She shifted her mouth to the left and sighed again. “I’m sorry. I guess I just keep thinking what if Herron were here. I mean, look.” She gestured around. “We’re in the middle of a field of clouds here and it isn’t The Sky. How different is it? What do the stars say here?” She started to cry. “I just miss Herron.”

  Hawn nuzzled closer to Shae. Shae petted her and took a deep, shaking breath.

  Hope leaned against the stone wall that Shae sat on. “I do, too.”

  Shae looked at Gen, who was talking with Jewel and David in hushed, serious tones. “She doesn’t seem to care, does she?”

  Hope shook her head. “She does. Remember that she had longer than we did to come to grips with it. She was there when he died, after all.”

  “Yeah.” Shae shrugged. “I guess you’re right. Still, she hasn’t really talked about him at all.”

  “She’s dealing with it her own way.”

  Shae and Hope quietly stared down at the snowy world below.

  “Are you afraid that she’s going to want to stay here?” Shae asked.

  Hope didn’t answer for a long time. Then she hoisted herself up onto the wall and spun around, sitting next to Shae with her legs dangling over the side. “No. I don’t think so. I think she knows she needs to come back. Between The Meadows and The Marsh, she has a lot of fairies counting on her to come back.”

  “And you.”

  Hope nodded. “And me.”

  “Everything okay, you guys?” Gen asked.

  Hope and Shae were both startled. Neither of them had heard her approach.

  “Yeah!” Shae squeaked, sounding slightly too cheerful.

  Hope smirked at her and turned to look at Gen. “We’re fine. How are you doing?”

  “David says the past-seer isn’t at home. Nobody seems to know where he is or how long he’s been gone.”

  “That’s inconvenient,” Hope said. “Isn’t that kind of the whole point of us coming here?”

  Gen shrugged. “Yep.”

  “How long does he want to wait?” Shae asked.

  “Actually,” Gen said, “we were hoping you could provide some input on that. Can you see if he’s coming back soon?”

  Shae stared at Gen.

  Gen looked back at Shae, confused. “Can you see if he’s coming back soon… Please?”

  Shae frowned. Her voice was clipped and her tone was short. “He should be back this evening.” She turned away from Gen and hung her head. The ground was far below her dangling feet.

  Gen looked at Hope and raised an eyebrow.

  Hope sighed and gestured with her head to a different area of the courtyard. She and Gen walked next to the wall and distanced themselves from Shae before Hope said, “Shae’s upset about Herron. You could make an effort to console her a bit.”

  Gen sighed. “He was a good man. A good friend. What does she need?”

  “She needs a little sympathy. He was a good friend to her, too.”

  “They had a rocky relationship ever since the night she tried to go to bed with him and he rejected her,” Gen reminded her.

  “She’s hurting, Gen. One of her friends – one of us – is gone now.”

  “And now there are three more of us, aren’t there? David the angel, Fall, and Jewel.”

  “It doesn’t matter if we add new people!” Hope shouted. “This isn’t a flock of some sort of cattle that you can rearrange! Our lives are at stake, here!”

  “This is dangerous work that we do and people get hurt. People are going to get killed.”

  “Not you, though,” Hope sneered. She regretted it instantly, but kept glaring at Gen.

  “That’s not fair.”

  “The hell it isn’t.” Hope whirled, turning her back to Gen, and leaned on her elbows against the top of the stone wall.

  “Hope,” Gen said.

  Hope shook her head.

  Gen sighed and leaned against the wall next to Hope. “We’re like Charlie Brown and Linus, here, leaning against the wall like this.”

  “Who, who, and who?” Hope asked.

  Gen sighed. “Never mind.”

  Gen and Hope were quiet for a while.

  “What are you thinking?” Hope asked.

  “You don’t want to know, baby.”

  “I do.”

  “No,” Gen said. Traces of anger were audible in her voice. “You don’t.”

  “Don’t hide stuff from me! You’re supposed to love me, remember?”

  “Don’t do that,” Gen warned. “Don’t throw out the ‘supposed to’ stuff on me.”

  Hope stared silently at Gen.

  Gen sighed. “You want to know? I’m thinking that Herron is the first of many. I’m thinking that because of what happened to Ivy, I’m going to have to deal with this over and over again. I’m going to lose every fucking one of you. Even you, Hope.”

  Hope’s eyes were wet. “Don’t say that. Nothing’s going to–”

  “Oh, yes, it will!” Gen yelled. “Of course it’ll happen! Who knows how long? Thirty years? Fifty? Eighty? But it’ll happen. It’ll happen and I won’t be able to join you.” She gestured up and down her body. “I’ll be exactly like this, no matter how old you get. You’re going to die. Shae’s going to die. David the god damn angel is going to die. Everybody except for me is going to die.”

  Gen whirled and threw her back against the stone wall. She slid down until she was sitting on the grassy ground and she hung her head between her knees. Hope stepped toward her but Gen held up her hand to stop her.

  “Don’t,” Gen whispered.

  “What do you want me to do?” Hope asked.

  “Nothing. There’s nothing you can do. Shae needs some sympathy. You’d better go see if she’s okay.”

  “Fine.” Hope walked away, leaving Gen alone.

  “You likely could have handled that with more grace,” Jewel cooed at her from across the small garden. “No matter how true it may have been.”

  Gen didn’t answer.

  “Ignoring my words will do nothing to set your mind at ease, either,” Jewel said.

  Gen sighed and looked at Jewel. “Look, lady, I lost my friend, too. I tried to get him to a healer and I failed. And then I had to find you guys and I was kidnapped and tortured for who knows how long. And then I think my captor had some sort of crazy healing because she ate my organs or drank my blood or something like that! Then I had a pretty emotional reunion with every human in my life. I’m a little raw, okay?”

  “The problems that haunt you are but a fraction of any of our problems.”

  Gen smirked at Jewel. “You always sound like a fortune cookie.”

  Jewel raised an eyebrow, curious.

  “Never mind,” Gen sighed.

  The sun was setting when David the angel approached. “He’s here.”

  Gen slowly rose to her feet, stiff from sitting on the ground for so long.

  Fall, Jewel, Shae, and Hope joined them to return to the past-seer’s house.

  David the angel sighed. “He said he’d wait outside for us.”

  Once again, David used the heavy bronze knocker to rap against the door. After a few moments, the door opened a crack and an eye looked him up and down.

  “Leonard? I’m David. We just spoke earlier.”

  The door opened and an angel in a kilt and a billowy white shirt nodded at him. “Yes,” Leonard said. “I remember you. You were asking about that poor human woman who died.”

  “Right,” David confirmed.

  “I asked you to bring a link-seer so we could find out who her counterpart is.”

  “And we have a link-seer,” David said, gesturing for Jewel to step forward.

  Jewel bent her long neck in a graceful nod. “I’m a link-seer. But you mentioned that this h
uman is dead? I’m dreadfully sorry, but I’m afraid I’m simply not capable of finding a link to a human or fairy who’s died. The link only exists for living beings.”

  “Don’t you worry about that,” Leonard said. “Don’t worry at all about that.”

  Jewel, David, Gen, and Fall followed Leonard inside the house.

  Shae leaned over and whispered into Hope’s ear, “Wow, he’s amazing!”

  Hope rolled her eyes and looked chidingly at Shae. “Seriously?”

  Shae’s eyes widened. “No. Look,” she explained, “I don’t go gaga over just anyone. Herron was a misread of a vision. Jewel is just… Well, look at her! She’s captivating! And I’m not hot for her anyway. But this guy! This angel? Oh my god, he’s so beautiful. Look at his sandy hair. Look at his beard. Look at those wings!”

  “Now she’s got you saying that, too?” Hope smirked.

  “Saying what?” Shae asked.

  “‘Oh my god.’”

  “Oh. Yeah, I guess I might have picked that up from Gen.” Shae shrugged. “That doesn’t matter. That guy just looks so grounded, so serious. I want to go talk to him.” Shae flitted to the doorway and tiptoed inside. She turned to Hope and gestured inside the house with a tilt of her head. “Come on!”

  Hope sighed and shook her head, then followed Shae into the house. She closed the door gently behind her. Shae examined the various relics and trinkets on the shelves lining the walls.

  David was frustrated. “What do you mean, what do we want from you? Another vision, maybe? I did what you asked and I found a link-seer. Now let’s figure this out before someone else gets hurt or killed!”

  Shae gasped and squealed with delight.

  Leonard held up a finger to silence David, then looked intently at Shae.

  “Skies above!” Shae squeaked. “A bronze frog!” She whirled to face Leonard. “May I please take a look at it?”

  Leonard swept his hand toward the bookshelves and nodded.

  Shae picked up the bronze frog. It was a large, dull statuette of a bullfrog with clear, green glass eyes, about the size of a loaf of bread. It was cold and heavy in Shae’s heads. “Amazing! I collect these, you know. Bronze frogs.”

  Gen cocked her head at Shae. “You collect statues of frogs?”

  “Bronze ones, specifically,” Shae said. She closed her eyes and nodded with delight. “And this one is glorious!”

  “Would you like it?” Leonard asked.

  “Oh my, yes!” Shae beamed at the statuette in her hands. Her expression fell slightly. “I can’t just take it. Would you like to trade something for it?”

  “You can have it.”

  “I wouldn’t feel right.”

  Gen sighed, frustrated. “Look, Shae, he said you can have it. Just take it, okay?”

  “No, Gen!” Shae glared at her. “Just wait one minute and let me find something to make this equitable!”

  Gen rolled her eyes, sighed again, and turned away.

  Shae put the frog down and dug through her pack. “Hmm. No. No.” She continued to rummage until she took out a bracelet: a silver twist in three quarters of a circle, with balls on either end. Her mouth fell open slightly and her brow furrowed. She pulled herself together and stood up. She walked up to Leonard and showed him the bracelet. “Here. How about this?”

  Leonard took the bracelet from Shae’s fingers and looked closely at it. He took a deep breath, then looked intently back at Shae. “Who’s Herron?” He asked.

  Shae closed her eyes.

  “Oh, fuck this,” Gen spat. “I’m done.” She flew quickly to the front door and let herself out.

  Hope frowned, thought for a moment, and chased after her.

  Leonard hadn’t taken his eyes off of Shae. “Who’s Herron?” He asked again.

  “Herron,” Shae began, “was a dear friend of mine. He died recently. I think Gen blames herself.”

  “She does,” Leonard said. “You bought this for him?”

  Shae nodded. Her eyes glinted with tears.

  “Did you love him?”

  Shae bit her lower lip. She took a deep breath and said, “It’s complicated. I thought I did. But he didn’t love me. I had a vision where I gave that to him and he was supposed to kiss me, but it never happened and now he’s gone. I’d like you to have it. Please.”

  Leonard slipped the bracelet onto his left wrist and held up his arm to inspect it. “Thank you.”

  “Thank you,” Shae echoed. She sniffled and walked back to the shelf to collect her new bronze frog.

  David looked back and forth between Leonard and Shae. “Are we finished? All through with your little trinket bazaar? Can we get down to business now?”

  “Yes, yes.” Leonard’s tone was dismissive. He held his hand out to Jewel. “Please, fairy,” he said. “Take my hand and let’s see what we can see.”

  Jewel placed her palm in Leonard’s, then wrapped her long, delicate fingers around his hand.

  “Close your eyes,” Leonard instructed.

  Jewel closed her eyes, then Leonard closed his and tightened his grip on Jewel’s hand. Almost instantly, Jewel gasped and tried to jerk her hand away, but Leonard held firm. “Ssh,” Leonard shushed her. “It’s okay. Just relax and let it come.”

  Jewel’s breathing was fast and heavy. She kept her eyes shut and nodded quickly. “Okay. Okay.”

  She and Leonard were quiet for about a minute, then Jewel opened her eyes and saw Molly.

  Chapter 30

  Molly huddled under a blanket, occasionally peeking out to look at her bedroom window.

  A thin silver thread swept out from under the blanket. Jewel took hold of the thread and felt like she was being pulled along its length. Her head snapped backward on her neck from the motion and when she brought her head forward and looked around, she was no longer in the girl’s room. She was floating in Leonard’s house, looking down on herself and her friends.

  Jewel cocked her head in curiosity and regarded herself. Her physical body was tense, sitting cross-legged on the floor, and holding hands with Leonard. Her body’s eyes were closed. She looked along the length of the silver thread and it led to Fall, who was watching Jewel intently.

  “Very good,” Leonard said. “You’ve established the connection from the human to her fairy. Now, let’s go back. Make sure you hold onto the thread.”

  Jewel felt another tug and gripped the warm silver thread tighter. Instead of feeling as though she was being pulled forward, she now felt like she was being yanked forward and side-to-side. Her vision blurred. The thread was difficult to hold onto, but she gripped it as tightly as she could.

  The motion stopped abruptly and Jewel felt her stomach twist in nausea. She opened her eyes and looked around. She floated next to a large waterfall. Fairies were fishing in the river below the falls, using spears and large nets to capture fish larger than themselves. The silver thread led to a middle-aged fairy with vibrant blue hair manning one end of a net.

  A large, silver fish got caught in the net and then struggled violently. The blue-haired fairy lost his footing and slid into the water. The fish was still struggling and smashed the fairy into the rocks several times before the other fairies could lower the net. When another fairy pulled the blue-haired fairy from the water, it was clear that he was dead.

  Jewel was yanked forward again and gripped the thread tightly with both hands. When she opened her eyes, she floated in a large, rustic bedroom. An ancient fairy lay in a large bed, clearly close to death, surrounded by other fairies. One of them was holding her hand. The dying fairy turned her head slightly, and looked up the thread, straight at Jewel. Jewel’s eyes widened in surprise and she opened her mouth to speak, but almost immediately, the dying fairy’s eyes drifted closed and Jewel was yanked forward along the thread once more.

  Jewel looked down on a large plot of farmland. Several fairies were working the fields below. The silver thread led to a plain-looking fairy wearing a straw hat. She paused her work, took her hat off, a
nd wiped the sweat from her forehead with the back of her hand.

  “This is the one.” Leonard’s voice rang through Jewel’s head. “Now, Jewel, find her human.”

  Jewel concentrated. The thread was different than she was used to. It didn’t have the same warmth, the same life, that she could use to follow it to a fairy’s human. The thread felt cold–almost sharp–and nearly lifeless. Jewel held the thread in both hands and forced her body to relax. She closed her eyes and gripped the thread, feeling it gently pulling and swaying. For a while, she felt nothing else. Then, she felt a spark of something very faint–a tiny bit of life. Maybe enough to follow.

  Keeping her eyes closed and concentrating hard, she pulled herself hand over hand along the length of the thread, away from the fairies, away from the fields. Jewel strained with the effort but kept scaling the rope, hand over hand.

  A brutal wind began to whip around her, blowing her hair into her face hard enough to sting. Jewel hoisted herself along the silver thread against the wind. Her muscled burned from the strain. She felt her hands slip backwards along the thread and tried to compensate with her wings, but the wind buffeted her violently around and she almost lost her grip on the thread entirely.

  “Leonard!” She screamed. “I can’t go any farther! Help!”

  Jewel thought she heard a deep hum–maybe she felt it more than heard it. She could feel a low buzzing in her teeth. The wind died down enough for her to regain a solid hold on the thread and she wasn’t being blown around anymore. Eventually, the wind calmed enough for her to open her eyes again.

  Jewel stood in an old, wooden barn. The silver thread led to a young man–a human–who was tied to a post. Another man, tall, with soft graying hair and a vicious sneer on his face, walked in circles around the post.

  “Once again, I’ve saved you for last, Scott.”

  The man tied to the post gaped at the tall man. “Who? Who’s Scott? I think you have the wrong–”