Sovereign (Realmwalker Book 3)

by Jonathan Franks

  “Pull the icicle out,” Jewel instructed Portia.

  Portia turned to look at the sounds of screaming and breaking glass inside the house.

  “Please,” Jewel said.

  Portia gripped the icicle and gently yanked it out of Jim’s shoulder. He grunted in pain.

  Jewel reached back into her pouch for more dust and sprinkled some more over Jim’s wound. The golden light spread over his skin. In a moment, every inch of exposed skin glowed a bright gold.

  Jewel eyed Jim curiously. “That’s–”

  A black arrow shot through the air and pierced Jewel’s side. She crumpled in mid-air and spiraled to the ground. The fine silver dust puffed from the open pouch on her belt as she hit the ground.

  Portia knelt over Jewel. “Are you okay?”

  Jewel panted, “Yes. Yes, I’ll be okay.”

  A shimmering cloud of light began to form over her, hovering about a foot off the ground. Two thin, silver tendrils grew from the cloud. One reached toward Jewel, and the other continued to grow away from the house. It continued for as far as they could see.

  “What was that?” Gabby asked.

  Another thread grew from the cloud and reached toward her, while another crept inside the house.

  Threads crawled toward Gabby, Jim and Portia. The other sides of each of the three new threads led into the house.

  “What in the world?” Portia’s eyes were wide with fear.

  “Don’t worry,” Jewel said. “It’s the links. You’re seeing the links between you and your fairies.”

  -

  Gen, Hope, Slynn, Shae, and Fall flew after the pixies through the broken windows into the Ritchey home. Jewel split off from the group and headed for the humans on the porch.

  The living room was destroyed. Shards of glass lay everywhere. Both the sofa and the easy chair were toppled over onto their sides. The ceiling fan had been knocked down and crushed the coffee table beneath it.

  Molly shrieked and scrambled up the stairs as the pixies chased after her. Mrs. Ritchey ran into the hallway and whirled up the stairs. Several pixies had been waiting at the bottom of the stairs and they flew at Mrs. Ritchey’s ankles. They knocked her off balance and she rocked backwards, flailing her arms, before she toppled backwards down the stairs. She smacked her head on the floor and landed in a heap.

  In the hallway at the top of the stairs, Molly had her back to the wall. She was screaming. “Mommy! Mommy, help!”

  Once Gen reached the top of the stairs, she grew to human size and grabbed a pixie out of the air with each hand. She shoved both pixies into one hand grasped them tightly.

  Hope, Slynn, Fall, and Shae engaged the other pixies. Tiny swords rang like wind chimes as the fairies fought the pixies back.

  “Molly.” Gen’s voice was firm and cool. “Molly, I need you to stop screaming.”

  Molly stared wide-eyed at Gen. “You! You’re her! Shae told me all about you! You’re the one! The one who’s going to stop the pixies!” Molly’s face whitened and pointed her finger behind Gen. “The one who’s going to stop him.”

  A human-sized Jeegan stopped on the top stair behind Gen. He held a long, curved, silver knife. He grinned wickedly at her. “Genevieve.”

  “You again,” Gen said. Her voice was quiet, icy, harsh.

  The clinking of battle quieted. The pixies and the fairies watched the immortals.

  “I’m not sure why you’re here. This has nothing to do with you,” Jeegan said. He pointed the tip of his knife at Molly. “This is between me and her.”

  Thin silver cords snaked up the stairs, running to Shae, Hope, and the pixies. A cord grew between Fall and Molly.

  “The links,” Hope said. She looked from Molly to Fall, then to Gen.

  Gen took a step forward. “This little girl didn’t kill your kids, Jeegan.”

  “She did,” Jeegan sneered. “In another life.”

  Fat, round tears ran down Molly’s cheeks. Her lip trembled, but she didn’t move.

  “What difference does that make?” Gen yelled. “You can’t keep exacting your revenge on people, generation after generation, who didn’t do the deed you’re revenging!”

  Almost too fast to see, Jeegan flipped the knife over in his hand and hurled it at Molly.

  A white blur streaked from the ceiling, knocking into the dagger as it flew end over end toward Molly. It careened off course and wedged into the wall an inch from Molly’s stomach. The angel brought his bow to bear on the nearest pixie and released several gold arrows into her. The arrows struck her in the chest in a tight, neat grouping. The pixie fell to the floor, dead.

  Another angel flew up the stairs, bow at the ready. Jeegan whirled and slapped the angel aside with his hand. The angel went spinning back down the stairs.

  Several tiny, golden arrows flew at Jeegan. They hit him in the hands and neck.

  “Pixies, to me!” Jeegan called. He kicked the door to Portia’s room open and hurried inside. His pixies followed him.

  Gen knelt in front of Molly. “Are you okay?”

  Molly nodded.

  “Okay, Fall will take you downstairs to find your mommy, okay? Or Jim. Got it?”

  Molly nodded again.

  Fall flew to Molly’s side. Molly looked curiously at him for a moment, then snapped out of her daze. She ran down the stairs and Fall flew next to her. Molly cried out in fear when she found Mrs. Ritchey lying on the floor at the bottom of the stairs.

  At least two dozen angels flew up the stairs. Each of them had a bow, ready to fire golden arrows.

  “Gen Summers!” Leonard shouted. “I brought help!”

  Gen ran to Portia’s room. George, Michelle, and Portia ran up the stairs and stood behind Gen. Gen looked at the closed door to Portia’s room, then glanced at Portia.

  “Any weapons or anything in there?” Gen asked.

  Portia looked shocked. “Weapons? What the hell kind of weapons would I–?”

  “Okay, okay.” Gen rolled her eyes. She kicked the door open.

  Portia shouted, “Hey, you can’t–”

  The bedroom was empty. Snow blew in through the broken window.

  “They’ve gone outside!” Gen shrunk to fairy size. “Let’s go!”

  Chapter 34

  The fairies and the angels zipped out of the window to the front of the house just as Molly flung the door open. She ran toward Jim, but as soon as she left the house, Jeegan grew in a blink to human size and grabbed Molly’s arm.

  Jim reached for Molly. “Leave her alone!”

  Jeegan kicked Jim’s shin, hard. Jim cried out in pain and fell back down.

  Gabby narrowed her eyes at Jeegan. “I know you.”

  Jeegan shook his head. “No, you don’t. Your pixie knows me.” He crouched behind Molly and snaked his arm around her neck, pulling her tight to his chest. “I know you, though. I know all–”

  Gen flew straight at Jeegan and, at the last possible second, enlarged and tackled him. He dropped his dagger. Molly tumbled to the ground and rolled away while Gen and Jeegan struggled.

  Jeegan plunged his dagger into Gen’s side. She grunted and gritted her teeth, then reeled back and punched Jeegan in the face.

  “You know that won’t do anything, asshole! I’ll heal just as fast as you would.”

  She planted her knee in his groin and shoved his shoulders against the ground.

  Leonard flew close to his head. “Hold him! Keep holding him!” He yelled.

  Jeegan struggled against Gen’s grip. He was stronger than she was, but the icy surface of the porch made it difficult for him to fight her off. She slammed his head against the ground.

  Her hands fell against the icy concrete as Jeegan shrunk. Immediately, Gen shrunk, too, and jumped into the air. She flew at Jeegan, who was still reeling and bleeding from his head. She grappled him around the waist and pinned him to the ground again.

  She cocked her head back and head-butted him in the forehead. She saw stars and struggled to keep her grip
on his shoulders, but he wasn’t thrashing as much.

  Leonard placed both of his hands on Jeegan’s head and closed his eyes. Almost as soon as Leonard touched him, Jeegan jerked and kicked his feet. But before a minute passed, Jeegan lay still.

  Leonard opened his eyes, but left his hands on Jeegan’s head.

  “He’s tranced out now. He’s watching his past. Like I did with you, Jewel.” He nodded toward her. “I can keep his consciousness there for a while, but I have to be touching him. The angels and your friends are dealing with the pixies, but I’m kind of defenseless just sitting here. Whatever you’re going to do, do it fast.”

  Gen grew to full size again. She placed her hand flat over Jeegan’s body, pressing down hard on it.

  Jim shuffled on his knees over to Gen’s side. “Can’t you kill an immortal by, like, cutting his head off or something?”

  “Kill him? I mean, he’s a bad guy and terrible and everything but I don’t think I can…”

  “I can.” Jim said. His voice was flat and cold.

  “Hey, now, wait,” Gen said. “Isn’t that from a movie, anyway? That’s not real life.”

  “None of this is real life.” Jim picked up Jeegan’s dagger and examined it.

  “Jim, no!” Gabby cried.

  Jim dragged the dagger across the tiny pixie’s neck. The head rolled free and for a moment, a shimmering gold light seemed to join the head to the body. Then it faded.

  Gen gaped at him. “You killed him!”

  “Yeah. I did. You didn’t seem to mind when I did the same thing to that fairy before!”

  “I was dying my own self then! I didn’t see you do it! How could you do it?”

  “I’m taking care of the people I love. I’m defending Molly. I’m defending Portia and everyone else here. And if you can’t do it, if you can’t take care of them, then I will. This is just like you, leaving me to do your dirty work.”

  Gen jumped when Hope touched her.

  “My love,” Gen sighed. She stepped back against Hope and closed her eyes.

  Leonard cleared his throat. “I don’t know whether he’s actually dead now. We’ll bring him with us back to the Enclave. We’ll make sure everything’s taken care of, if I have your permission, Gen?”

  “My permission?”

  Leonard nodded. “David passed command to you.”

  Gen nodded. “Take him. If anything ever happens, you know where to find me.”

  “Very well.”

  “Sirens,” Gabby said. “You guys better clear out of here.” She turned to Jim. “You, too, Jimmy. You don’t want to get picked up by the police again.”

  “The Ritcheys all know I was here. They’ll say that when the police ask them what happened. I may as well stay,” Jim said. “They won’t believe anything we say, anyway.”

  “All right,” Gen said. “That’ll do.” She took off. “Come on, guys. Let’s get out of here.”

  “Bye, Genny.” Gabby was trying not to cry.

  “See ya, kiddo,” Geoff said.

  Jim waved with his good arm. “Bye, Gen.”

  Portia slumped down on the porch. “Nice to meet you, Genevieve.”

  -

  Gen and Hope sat on the stone wall that encircled the Enclave, looking down over the world.

  “Look at all those lights,” Hope said.

  “Yeah.”

  “You okay?”

  Gen shrugged. “Yeah.”

  “That all you have to say?”

  “Yeah.”

  Hope smirked.

  “I can’t believe Jim just… just cut his head off,” Gen said.

  “Why not? He sprung into action when the situation turned desperate. You said that’s what he did last time, too, with Pepper.”

  “It is,” Gen said. “He killed them both. Pepper and Jeegan. I never thought of him as a killer. He was just this shy, nice, quiet little boy when I met him. And now look at him. New girlfriend. Man of action. Killer.”

  “He’s still a good person,” Hope said. “I’m attached to him, you know? And I can feel it. I can feel that he’s a good person. Just like I’m a good person.”

  “I know you are.” Gen took a deep breath and brushed her hair out of her face.

  Gen and Hope sat quietly on the wall for a few minutes.

  “You ready to go back?” Hope asked.

  “Yeah.” Gen spun around and hopped off the wall, landing on her feet on the soft green grass. “Let’s go home.”

  -

  Shae wouldn’t make eye contact with Gen. She wrung her hands and shuffled her feet. “Um, Gen?”

  Gen looked at Shae, glanced at Leonard, then back at Shae. “You’re not coming with us.”

  Shae shook her head. “No, I want to stay here. To stay with Leonard, to learn some more from their Oracle here, and to keep an eye on Portia and Molly.”

  Gen nodded. Shae stepped forward and wrapped her arms around Gen. It was a while before she pulled away, wiping tears from her eyes.

  “We’ll see each other again,” Shae said.

  “Is that a vision or a guess?” Gen asked.

  “Who’s to say?” Shae grinned. “You know what?”

  “What?”

  “I’m really looking forward to seeing Star Wars!” Shae giggled.

  Gen chuckled. “Hey, I want you to have something.”

  She dug in her pack and pulled out a long, slender leather wrap. She unrolled it, uncovering four shiny, black, square-shaped sticks.

  Shae’s eyes widened.

  “These belonged to the best seer I’ve ever known,” Gen said. “I want you to have them. She’d want you to have them.” She handed the leather wrap and the sticks to Shae.

  “Wow,” Shae said. “I really don’t know what to say. They’re beautiful. Thank you.”

  Shae hugged Gen again.

  “We will see each other again. In The Meadows. I have an audience with the Sovereign. I really have seen it. I just didn’t know it was you.”

  Gen nodded. “Yeah, it’s me.”

  “Go safely, Sovereign. Your Realm needs you.”

  Gen nodded, then she, Hope, Jewel, Slynn, and Fall took off and headed for the Bridge.

  Epilogue

  Gen and Hope stood on a balcony at the manor, looking out over The Meadows.

  “I’m glad fairies have started coming back here,” Hope said. She squeezed Gen’s hand.

  “The whole realm is rebuilt. Better than new,” Gen said.

  Hope smiled. “You’re amazing. You know that?”

  “Yeah.”

  Hope took Gen’s hand and brought it to her lips. She rubbed her lips over the back of it and finally kissed Gen’s knuckles. “What do you think Jim’s up to?”

  “It’s summer there now. School’s over. The weather back there would be kind of like it is here. I’m sure he and Portia are enjoying their summer vacation. I wonder about Shae, and how she’s annoying the angels.”

  Hope laughed. “If they’d have kicked her out, she’d definitely have come back here! So I’m sure she’s fine.”

  “I miss her,” Gen said. “And Herron. And my mom and Slynn.”

  “I’m sorry, my love.”

  “You know I’m happy with you, right?” Gen asked. “That this is my home, and here, with you, is where I want to be?”

  Hope smiled and put her arm around Gen’s waist. “I do. It’s okay to miss them. I miss Shae and Herron, too. And Slynn.”

  “I feel so isolated here. Everything is so…” Gen struggled to find the word. “Perfect.”

  “Yeah? What’s wrong with a little perfect?” Hope asked.

  -

  Twelve years later

  Jim sat on the steps outside the church and stared into space. Molly sat down next to him.

  “Hey,” she said.

  “Hey.”

  “You look forlorn. This is supposed to be a happy day, right?”

  Jim smiled at her. “I’m happy.”

  Molly laughed. “Yeah, I can
see that.”

  “No,” Jim said. “I really am. This really is the happiest day of my life.”

  “Then what’s bugging you?”

  “Just thinking about all of the things that brought us up to this point. Former lives and the other side and all of that.”

  “Don’t do that. It’ll fuck with your mind.”

  Jim chuckled.

  “Why aren’t you inside with your blushing bride?” she asked.

  “I’ll go back inside in a minute. Everyone’s way more interested in talking to her and getting their pictures taken than anything with me.”

  “I’ll get my picture taken with you.”

  “Yeah?” Jim asked.

  Molly grinned. “Yeah! Besides, your tux is a rental and you’re sitting on the ground in it. That’s probably not good.”

  “You’re sitting on the ground, too.”

  “Yeah,” Molly said, “but my dress is dark purple. It hides the dirt!”

  Jim shrugged and stood up. “All right. Let’s go get some pictures taken.”

  “Hey, Jim?” Molly asked.

  “Yeah?”

  “I’m really glad you’re part of my family now. Like, officially, I mean.”

  Jim wiped his eyes. “I am, too.”

  -

  Jim and Portia sat together on the Summers’ porch swing. Jennifer, their baby daughter, bounced on Jim’s lap.

  “I can’t believe how big she’s getting!” Laura said.

  “Tell me about it!” Portia laughed. “She gets into absolutely everything!”

  Laura and George’s son, Gordon, ran around the yard with a toy airplane and made zooming noises. Jennifer stared at him. It took a minute for Gordon to realize that he was being watched, but once he saw Jennifer looking at him, he decided to show off for her.

  Gordon started to twirl and make it look like his plane was doing a loop, but he tripped and fell with an exaggerated, “Whoa!” He landed on his back and started laughing a full, heart belly laugh.

  Jennifer watched him and laughed, too.

  -

  She opened her eyes. She was standing in a dark cave. The floor was etched with strange glowing symbols, circling around the spot where she stood.