by Kim Stokely
A voice rang out through the room. “In the name of Ruahk, I order to you to leave this place!”
The demon let out a howl before it vanished. Malvin lay whimpering on the floor.
Goram stood tall and commanding in the doorway, his gray eyes bright with anger.
Thin streams of blood ran down Quinn’s cheeks as he turned to the older Brethren. “Is it gone?”
“Yes.” Goram shut the door behind him. He took a step toward Quinn. “I saw you. You fought to save her life.”
Quinn wiped his face with the sleeves of his robe. “I did.”
Goram’s eyes narrowed. “I don’t understand.”
The Portal groaned as he stood up. “There is no time for me to explain, but I need you to trust me.” The two stared silently at each other and I could tell something significant passed between them.
Goram’s eyes widened with what appeared to be surprise. “How can I help?”
“Did anyone see you come here?”
The white-robed man shook his head. “The Assembly won’t reconvene for another hour. I was meditating in my room when I heard the queen’s cry.” He cast me a wary glance before going on. “The guards outside are dead.”
Quinn’s voice was strong even though he looked tired. “Find Devnet and Maris. Tell them what has happened. They need to return to the Elder Lands. Braedon will suspect they’ve taken her with them. I can bring Alystrine somewhere safe where she can heal.”
Goram helped me to my feet. “Are you well enough to take a passage?”
I shivered. The adrenaline from the fight had given me some energy but my stomach still rolled. “I think so.”
“I will pray for you, Your Majesty.”
Quinn grabbed my arm. “Quickly!”
I didn’t hesitate but ran with him even as my stomach cramped again. The guards that normally stood outside my quarters lay on the floor, their eyes open but unseeing.
“What happened to them?” I asked as we stepped over their crumpled bodies.
“Malvin must have poisoned them before he tried to kill you.”
“Why would he─”
“We must hurry.” Quinn cut off my question, pulling me along several dark, unmanned corridors and up a twisted narrow staircase. A closed door blocked our way once we reached the top. The Portal whispered, “Wait here.” He swung open the door.
I gladly obliged him. It gave me a moment to dry heave on the stairs. He returned and waved me inside. “We’re in luck. The other Portals must be meeting with Braedon.”
The harsh yellow light of the room burned my eyes. A round orb, a little bigger than a grapefruit, floated above a stone pedestal. The light throbbed once and turned purple.
“The Chrysaline?” I asked.
The Portal nodded. “I wish we could use its power now, but if I take it, they’ll know where you’ve gone.”
I gagged, trying to keep from throwing up again. “What do you mean?”
He pointed to a platform on the opposite side of the room. A circle of tall, slender stones stood on it. “Come.”
“Where are we going?”
He took my arm and helped me up the steps and into the circle. It reminded me of pictures I’ve seen of Stonehenge but on a much smaller scale. He grabbed both of my hands as a loud hum rose from the stones. “Concentrate, Alystrine. Concentrate on the person you most want to be with right now.”
I thought first of my mother, probably because I felt so sick. But I didn’t know if I had the power to transport myself between the two worlds.
“You must concentrate! Pick someone and draw yourself to them!”
I pictured the boy I’d signed the betrothal contract for, Tegan. I felt his arms around me, his lips on mine. To see him again. To know he was safe. It would make it worth the bargain I’d made with Braedon. The hum increased in my ears. My hair stood on end like some crazy static electricity experiment. Quinn squeezed my hands tighter.
“Push!”
The hum ceased but was replaced by howling wind and a dark tunnel. I hurtled through the inky blackness with the vague awareness that Quinn still held my hands.
I landed with an ungraceful thud and fell to the ground, gasping.
Quinn spoke as I tried to descramble my thoughts. “I knew it.”
I opened my eyes. Tegan stood over me. He groaned as I grabbed on to his arms to pull myself up. “Are you still hurt?” I stepped away. “Did I do something?”
My fingers traced the bruise around his eye where he’d been beaten by the Lord Regent’s soldiers. It had faded to yellow. I wondered how his cuts could have almost healed when it had only been three days since I’d seen him. “I’m so glad you’re safe.”
He smiled, but something clouded his normally expressive eyes. It was then I noticed his shirt. A dark blue Henley. Like something from a department store. I shook my head in disbelief. The passage must have really screwed up my brain. “Where did you get this?”
He pulled my hand from his face, holding it tight in his. “Ally, look around ye.”
I took my eyes from his. My gaze shifted over to an open closet filled with my clothes. A familiar white desk and bookcase resided in the corner of the room. A silver frame with a photograph of me and my mom sat on top. My legs trembled. Tegan slipped his arm around me to keep me from falling to the floor.
I’d come home.
CHAPTER THREE
The Second Reunion
I turned to Quinn. “How?” Before he could answer I stepped back to face Tegan. “What are you doing here?”
Tegan thrust his chin toward the Portal. “He brought me.”
Quinn rested in the corner between the wall and my desk. My brain struggled to juxtapose these people from Ayden now standing in my bedroom. Another thought pushed out my confusion.
Kennis.
I ran past Quinn, across the hall to my mother’s room, and pushed open the door. Her Laura Ashley comforter lay without a wrinkle on her bed, the matching pillows and shams placed in perfect symmetry. A quick scan proved she wasn’t here. I backed out and found Tegan and Quinn in the hallway. The Portal cut in front of me, blocking my way.
“Listen to me,” he demanded quietly. “Say nothing of the betrothal to anyone. Do you understand?”
I pushed him aside and flew down the stairs, nearly tripping on the gown I wore. “Mom!”
Something crashed in the kitchen as I came to the tile foyer. I held my hand out to stop myself from colliding into the front door then turned and ran into the living room, my feet sinking into the plush carpet. Kennis darted around the corner from the kitchen. I skidded to a stop about five feet from her. She wore a maxi-skirt and white peasant blouse. She’d pulled her blonde hair up into a bun, but her forehead glistened with sweat. Dark circles marred her complexion, cluing me in to the fact that she hadn’t been sleeping well since I’d disappeared.
Her hand flew to her mouth. “Alystrine?”
I couldn’t catch my breath, so I just nodded.
She staggered toward me, her eyes never leaving mine. She reached out and touched my head. “What . . . why did you cut your hair?”
“Really?” I panted. “I disappear for a month and that’s the first thing you say to me?”
She pulled me to her, wrapping her arms around me in a ferocious hug. Her body trembled as she sobbed. “Thank God you’re safe . . . thank God.”
I hadn’t realized how tiny but strong she was until this moment. I tried to get my good arm around her so I could hug her back, but couldn’t break her hold. My wounded shoulder ached from her grasp but I didn’t want her to let me go.
She’d picked up another chant. “I’m sorry . . . I’m so sorry.”
“Alystrine?”
I flinched at the strange male voice.
Kennis tightened her grip on me and I groaned. She relaxed her arms. “Baby . . . your father is here.”
I didn’t turn around as I pulled away from her. “My father?”
“They told you, d
idn’t they? About your father, Geran?”
I think I nodded, but I can’t be sure.
“It’s Mr. Morrison . . . from the nursing home . . . He’s your father.”
“Alystrine?” He called to me again. My stomach flip-flopped. The first and only time I’d talked to my father, he’d sent me through the passage to Ayden that led me on a journey through hell. A journey of Black Guards chasing me through torrential rainstorms and dark forests, of demons tormenting my dreams, men trying to kill me, orbs of light that threw off bolts of electricity and a psychopath who wanted to marry me.
I balanced myself against the wall. Kennis tried to cup my face with her hand but I backed away, remembering she’d been part of it, too. She’d kept the truth of who I really was a secret so that I floundered helplessly in Ayden, until I finally accepted that the place existed and I was destined to be its queen. I closed my eyes, my mind filled with the fear that if I looked at my father I’d be thrust back to Ayden.
Kennis swore under her breath. Her fingers ran along one of the slashes Malvin had made in my dress. “She’s bleeding.” Mom went into nurse mode. “Quinn, move the table so she can rest on the couch.”
I turned toward the couch but reached out to the wall as my knees weakened. I guess the stress of the attack and of traveling through the passage caught up with me. Tegan stood a few feet away. “Could you give me a hand?”
I only meant to lean on him, but he swept me up into his arms. I remembered when he’d done the same thing in Sanctuary. Then I had felt protected and cared for, now I sensed hesitation. He wouldn’t look at me.
As he moved the coffee table, Quinn explained about my wounded shoulder and Malvin’s attack. My mother covered the couch with a towel from a nearby pile of laundry before Tegan lowered me to my feet so I could sit down.
“Face the wall so I can see your back,” Kennis ordered. “Tegan, run upstairs and look in my bedroom closet. You’ll find a black leather bag on the top shelf. Bring it to me.”
I tried to look behind me. “Mom─”
“Shhh, baby.” Kennis grabbed hold of my dress and unlaced it down to my waist.
“Mom─”
“Geran, you know where the scissors are in the kitchen. Bring them to me.”
“But Mom─”
“Hold still. I’ll cut off this bandage and see if you need stitches.”
Giving up on my mother, I called to Quinn.
“I’m here, Alystrine.” He walked to the foot of the couch so I could see him if I turned my head to the side.
“He put something in my drinks.”
“What?”
“Malvin. He’d poisoned the cider and the tea I drank.”
Kennis heard that. “With what?”
“I don’t know, but I spent the last couple of hours throwing up.”
Tegan set her black medical bag by her side then stepped out of my view. My mother dug through it until she found a pen light. She sat down on the couch, turned me so that I faced her, then shone the light in my eyes. “Your pupils are dilating fine. Open your mouth.”
I opened wide and said “ah.”
“I don’t see any sores, but the stomach acid has irritated your throat.” She dropped the pen light and used her finger to check my lymph nodes. Her eyebrows pinched together. “How do you feel now?”
“Not too bad. I don’t understand it.”
Geran returned with scissors. He stood by Quinn. “It may have been the passage.”
My mom felt my forehead for fever. “What do you mean?”
“With time moving differently in this world, the poison may have worked its way through her body at a faster rate than normal.”
I let out a soft chuckle. “That would be good luck.”
“You let me know if you don’t feel well again.” She held her hand out to Geran. “I’ll take the scissors now.”
I’d forgotten about how time moved at a quicker pace here. “What’s the date?”
Kennis struggled to get the scissors through Malina’s bandages.
I pulled away so I could look at her face. “How long have I been gone?”
She checked her irritation at having to stop her work. “It’s August 14. You’ve been gone over three months.”
Three months? My chest constricted like I’d been punched. I couldn’t take a breath. What had happened to the world in three months? What did my friends think happened to me?
I could still see Geran and Quinn from where I sat on the couch. The scratches on Quinn’s face had stopped bleeding. He backed away from Geran as if afraid to draw attention to himself. I shifted my gaze to my father, hoping he wouldn’t suspect I was staring at him. He didn’t look like the old man at Meadow Hills Nursing Home anymore. More like that man’s son. His hair, while still white, was thicker than it had been. He’d put on weight, I’d guess at least twenty pounds since I saw him. His face had filled out so it no longer looked as wrinkled.
Kennis grunted as the scissors finally cut through the bandage that had been wrapped around my shoulder. She gasped. “This was done by an arrow?”
Geran frowned. “Who shot you?”
“Bandits,” Quinn answered before I could. “In the Fey.”
My father’s face reddened. “What was she doing in that cursed forest?”
“Trying to get to the Elders,” the Portal explained. “Braedon had blocked off every other route.”
Geran shook his head. “I should have been there.” He turned away. “I should have found a way to stop the Fallen.”
“The wound was stitched well,” Kennis interrupted. “But it looks like you tore it open again.”
“I told you,” I winced as she put antibiotic cream on it. “Malvin did it.”
“That and the strain of the passage,” Quinn said. “I had a difficult time keeping hold of her so we’d end up in the same place. I fear I may have been too forceful.”
“I don’t want to sew it up again without understanding how the whole passage thing works on bacteria. I could make it worse.” She grabbed some gauze and medical tape from her bag. “I’ll wrap it and keep an eye on it. I’ll get a sling from the pharmacy to help keep your arm still.”
When Kennis finished her ministrations, she turned me around. She pulled the afghan off the back of the couch and wrapped it around my shoulders. “Do you need anything else?”
My stomach growled. “I can’t believe it, but I’m actually hungry.”
She smiled. “I was just about to serve up dinner when you came.”
“What time is it?”
She glanced over her shoulder at the clock on the DVD player. “Almost six.” She turned back. “You rest for a bit.” She gestured to Geran. “Come here and meet your daughter.”
I followed Kennis and Quinn with my eyes as they walked out of sight into the kitchen. Tegan was nowhere to be seen. Geran pulled the coffee table back in front of the couch and sat down on the edge facing me. I didn’t know what to say. This man may have been my father, but to me he was a total stranger.
He held out his hands, palms facing up and looked at me expectantly.
My heart beat erratically. “You’re not going to send me back!”
He furrowed his brow. “What?”
“The last time I took your hand you sent me to Ayden. I don’t want to go back.”
“No, no.” His blue eyes filled with tears. “I’m sorry for what happened. One of the Mystics forced a connection with me and used it to find you. I promise, the tie has been severed. I . . . I only want to touch you. I haven’t held you since you were a baby.”
My hands trembled as I put them in his.
“Delicate hands,” tears slid down his cheeks. “Like your mother’s.”
It took me a moment to realize he spoke about his wife, Etain; not Kennis, the woman who had raised me.
His Adam’s apple bobbed as he swallowed hard. “Alystrine . . . I . . . you don’t know how happy I am to finally speak to you.”
I trie
d to smile but couldn’t make it stick to my lips.
His thumb played over the ring Kennis had given me on my sixteenth birthday. Two separate branches, one gold, one silver, intertwined to hold a purple stone. “Your mother designed this for you. Before you were even born.”
A sudden wave of confusion crashed over me. “Which one?”
Geran frowned with his own uncertainty. “This ring on your finger.”
“No, I mean which mother? Etain or Kennis?”
His voice lowered. “Etain was your mother. She will always be your mother.”
I didn’t have the strength to argue that I’d never known her so would never really consider her my mom. “Is there some kind of symbolism to the ring?”
A touch of steel shaded his voice. “Kennis didn’t tell you?”
“No.”
He ran his thumb over the right side of the ring. “The gold branch symbolizes the people of Ayden.” Turning my hand slightly, he touched the silver branch. “This represents the land.” He laid my hand flat against his palm. “The stone is a piece of an Elderstone. It will only glow purple when worn by the true ruler of Ayden. You are that ruler, Alystrine.” He closed his fingers around mine. “Together, we will avenge Etain’s murder.”
At the moment, I wasn’t too keen on avenging anything. Call me selfish, but after a month of running for my life, all I wanted was a hot shower and to sleep in my own bed. I changed the subject. “You looked different in the nursing home.”
Geran studied my face as he spoke, as if trying to memorize me or maybe transform me into someone else. “After you’d taken the passage, there was no need for me to remain in stasis. Kennis weaned me off the drugs that kept me asleep then brought me here.”
“You’ve been here since I left?”
“We’ve worked on my recovery together. Strengthening my muscles. Eating again. It’s taken some time, but I’ve regained most of my health.”
I chewed on my bottom lip, trying to think of something to say. “I met your brother.”
“Devnet told me.”
I’d forgotten they could communicate somehow through the passages. “And your mother.”
Geran’s voice cracked. “She is well then?”
