by John Corwin
"No. It sparked a civil war on our world and here."
"What part did you play in the war?" I asked.
"I still haven't rediscovered all of my memories, Justin, so I can't recall many details. Sometimes, I see flashes of memories. I remember leyworms appearing from the depths as we fought our way toward the Grand Nexus. I remember one of them sweeping Brightlings from our path. Daelissa and her people turned on the leviathan and killed it, though not before it took several of them with it. I remember Nightliss saving me from an attack. Our people closing in. An old man with a staff—ah, the leader of the Arcanes. I barely remember his name. Moses I think."
"Did you say Moses?" Bella asked, eyes wide.
Mom paused for a long moment. "The Cyrinthian Rune was there. I knew how to remove it."
"How?" I asked.
"Let her finish," Shelton said, his face captivated.
"Not by force, but by aligning the perfect pitch in my head with it," she said. "But before I could get there, someone else removed it by force." She gasped. "Moses knew something was wrong. He opened the portal to take us away. He led his people through, but Daelissa slipped through after him. Something happened and the portal closed. Nightliss and I were trapped along with many others." She cried out. "The memories hurt, Justin. I don't know if I can stand it another minute longer."
"It's okay," I said, pounding on the trailer. "Let it go!"
"The leyworm charged us. It was the largest one I've ever seen. It swept us into its maw before I could react. Somehow, I managed to hold onto one of the shards in its gullet. It sliced my hands, but still I held on, the glowing pit of aether threatening to consume me like it had Nightliss. And then there was a flash so bright I saw the skeleton of the beast highlighted all around me."
The Grand Nexus. It must have blown up at that moment.
Mom continued. "My insides felt as though they were being turned inside out. My skin blackened before my eyes. My grip faltered. The world faded." She whimpered. "My first remembrance of that time would not come for thousands of years."
"Holy angels in hades," Shelton breathed. "I hope somebody is writing this all down."
I was in shock. It sounded as though Mom had turned into a husk—a cherub. Had the leyworm protected her and Nightliss? "How did you come to be with the Conroys?" I asked.
"They raised me from childhood," she said. "I do not remember how they found me, or where they found me, but for some reason, I was an infant when they did."
I shared glances with Elyssa, Shelton, and the others. When she'd turned into a cherub, she must have fallen into the aether inside the leyworm and ended up as a cupid. Had the same thing happened to Nightliss? "When did you start remembering the past?" I asked. If she remembered her past, it meant the cupids would eventually remember. It also meant they might return to their evil ways.
"Bits and pieces have been with me since I reached my equivalent of your teenage years," she said. "I suffered recurring, violent dreams as I aged. The Conroys eventually told me they'd found me asleep in a preservation spell. I can't imagine how many centuries I must have been there, or who put me there in the first place."
"How did you meet Dad?"
There was a long pause. "I don't know if you want to know our story, Justin."
My stomach clenched. Hearing the truth had been harder than I'd expected so far. Could it get worse?
"Are you okay?" Elyssa said, concern in her eyes.
The rest of the group stood in a loose semi-circle around me and the trailer, almost as if trying not to crowd me despite the fountain of knowledge my mom represented. Shelton, Bella, Ryland, Stacey, Elyssa—my eyes caught on two other figures I hadn't noticed. Thomas Borathen and Nightliss stood a discreet distance away. I wondered how much of this Nightliss already knew. She and I would talk. I remembered my plans to take lessons from her. Those plans had obviously been washed away by the necessity of rescuing Mom.
I offered Elyssa a small smile. "I'm okay," I said, staring at the sealed back door of the trailer. Having this conversation under these circumstances sucked. I had wanted to see Mom's face when she told me the truth. I leaned my forehead against the trailer. "Tell me about Dad," I said.
I heard her sigh. "Let me first say there's a lot I can't tell you about him, Justin. He made me swear an oath. He'll have to tell you many of the details himself."
"What a load of crap," I said, drawing my head back, and glaring at the door as if she could see me.
"It's the truth," she replied. "We love each other, Justin. But we realized we had to make sacrifices for the greater good."
"You gave my sister to the Conroys when she was a baby!" I shouted. "How is that the greater good?"
"I couldn't stop them," she said, her voice a painful whisper even my supernatural hearing strained to discern.
"You're Seraphim. How could you not stop them?"
"Daelissa did something to me to keep me weak. She wanted me to believe I was a human Arcane. She wanted me to worship and love her so when she finally revealed my true powers, I would blindly follow her." The sound of quiet sobbing came from within the trailer. "I never wanted to lose Ivy or you. It drove a wedge between David and me. He had the power to take Ivy back by force, but he wouldn't do it. He refused to start a war over our daughter."
"How could Dad start a war?" I asked. "He was Castratae—the lowest of the low for Daemos—until he did all this Kassallandra crap to get back into favor."
"I can't say more," Mom said. "Daelissa did things to my mind to prevent me from hearing the truth. She did everything possible to indoctrinate me while I matured. I didn't even know what she was until I ran away with your father, and even then, it was hard for me to believe, thanks to what she'd done to my mind."
"How did you meet Dad?"
She remained silent for a moment. "I met and fell in love with your father twice, Justin. I can't tell you about the first time, but the second time, he came to me at great risk. He convinced me Daelissa was filling my head with lies. He rescued me, and I ran away with him."
I felt Elyssa's hand tighten on mine. Mom's story sounded so similar to ours, it sent a shock of pain at the memory. Daelissa had wiped Elyssa's mind. Made her forget me. Somehow, I'd made her fall in love with me all over again, thankfully without her killing me in the process.
"Why can't you tell me about the first time?" I asked in a gentler tone.
"The oath I swore to David. Please understand—"
"Fine," I said, taking a deep breath to bolster my patience. "What made you remember your past?"
"David helped me remember at first, but it was only bits and pieces, and even he didn't have all the answers."
I held my tongue despite the desire to ask how in the world Dad could help her remember, unless he'd known her a lot longer than she let on.
She continued. "When Daelissa put me under a preservation aegis inside the astral prison, it had an unexpected side effect. My mind healed. Memories returned. I helped Nightliss because I knew it was the right thing to do even if I didn't know why." She sniffled. "You don't know how hard it is when everything is so scrambled inside your own brain. When you don't know friend from foe. I haven't trusted myself for years, Justin. I know I've made terrible choices, and I refuse to make excuses for it. All I can do is swear by all the power I have to help you rid the world of Daelissa."
"I know exactly how it is when memories are scrambled," I said. "Because you did it to me." When I was little, she'd blurred memories from my mind to keep me from asking inconvenient questions.
"I'm sorry," she said simply.
I felt Elyssa press her cheek to mine, and closed my eyes as Mom's words sank in. I was still so angry with her. Just thinking about Dad flushed my face with hot fury. Why had he sworn Mom to silence? What secrets was he keeping from me? I thought back to the first time he'd told me what I was. How he'd taught me to feed, and told me about my kind—incubus, Daemos, demon spawn.
Maximus, the leader of a rog
ue vampire organization had captured him right after those revelations, hoping to use Dad's blood to increase the potency of his so he could turn humans into vampires. Elyssa and I had rescued Dad, but the next day we'd been chased from the home I'd grown up in by hellhounds, and pursued across Atlanta. Dad had, at some point, been marked for death by Underborn, the most notorious assassin in the Overworld, though I found out later the assassin had done it to draw me to him and test my mettle to see if I was the one mentioned in Foreseeance Forty-Three Eleven.
After that, I'd discovered Kassallandra was the one hunting my father because he'd run away with Mom instead of marrying her to unite the major houses of Slade and Assad. The next thing I knew, Dad had decided to marry the Daemas after all since Mom had left him and gone to the Conroys.
My mother and father were definitely down for the worst parents of the millennium award. If anything, I just wanted to punch Dad in the face the next time I saw him.
Despite Mom's explanations, there were too many things that didn't add up. They'd lied to me by omission, keeping me in the dark for most of my life. True, I hadn't manifested any abilities until I turned eighteen, but they had to have known something was changing inside me.
I remembered Underborn once telling me nothing was what it seemed. Even though an overused cliché, it was spot-on when it came to many of the people in my life. My parents largely remained enigmas. I'd discovered Mom was an Arcane during my talk with Dad, only to find out much later she was actually Seraphim. Dad had outright lied to me. Was he really just an incubus, or something more? Was he really just the outcast son, or was he playing everyone for fools?
I drew in a deep breath and let it out. My gut feeling told me Mom was being as honest as she could. One of these days I was going to lock me, Ivy, and our parents in a room and not let anyone out until they gave complete autobiographies.
"I believe you," I said finally.
"Thank you, son," Mom said, her voice broken and tired.
"You need to promise you won't hide anything from me again."
"So long as it doesn't conflict with previous oaths, I promise," she said.
I ground my teeth. Talk about giving herself wiggle room. "Teach me how to unlock my Seraphim abilities."
"That will be very difficult from in here," she said.
"Difficult but necessary," I said. "If I'm ever going to get you out of there, I need my magic to work." I told her about my experience with Darkwater and the ultraviolet light I'd shot from my hand.
"You were a late bloomer, inheriting more from your father's side," Mom said. "Ivy, however, quickly exhibited Seraphim abilities."
"Fine, so she's the star student," I said.
"The warmth you felt in your heart is normal. Our abilities are channeled through our hearts. Why a magical attack allowed you to access your abilities is something I don't understand."
"That's not what I want to hear," I said.
"Perhaps I can help him," said Nightliss, suddenly beside me.
"Is that you, my dear friend?" Mom said, her voice suddenly happier.
"I was your dear friend?" Nightliss said. "I fought with you?"
"You still don't remember," Mom said, the happiness fading to sadness in her voice. "Do you think you can teach him?"
"Perhaps the two of us can."
"I hate to break up the conversation," Thomas Borathen said, obviously not hating it at all. "But we need to think of practical matters first. The diamond fiber on this trailer is breathable, so it allows air in and out. However, there is no way to get food, water, or other sustenance to your mother, Justin."
He didn't need to say another word for me to understand his meaning. "How long can you last without food or water, Mom?" I asked.
She grew silent. "I can go longer than a human, even survive without food or water by putting myself into a deep sleep. But I cannot cast a preservation spell on myself or prevent my need for soul essence. Since diamond fiber repels magic, I can't even feed on aether."
"Does that make it worse?" I asked.
"Daelissa kept my reservoir very close to depleted," she said. "I was on the verge of starvation even as she put me under a preservation spell while in her astral prison. In other words, I'm on the brink of starvation."
"Are we talking days or weeks?" I asked.
"If I do not feed within a few days," Mom said, the hopelessness plain in her voice, "I will likely die."
Chapter 28
I would have gone after Kassus right then and there, but I was dead on my feet. Elyssa made me go inside the compound and eat, though all I could do was think about how miserable my mom was without any comforts inside the trailer. She was shackled and blindfolded. I knew how miserable it was to be restrained like that, thanks to Maximus. But even Maximus had given me food and water.
We'd left the portal open inside the Templar garage that morning before traveling to our ambush point. Elyssa and I stepped back through it to the mansion with the others. Despite my worries and concerns, I fell asleep instantly.
My phone woke me up mere hours later.
"Cinder?" I asked in a croaking half-asleep voice. The fact that we'd kind of forgotten the poor guy at El Dorado all this time penetrated my fog-addled brain.
"Justin, I believe we have a problem."
I blinked the sleep out of my eyes. "What is it now? Do we need titanium diapers for the little tykes?"
"I saw other people here earlier," Cinder said. "I am not positive, but I believe they belong to Darkwater."
His words jolted me awake. "What? How?"
"A sizeable force of them came through a smaller arch in the control room. I believe they came prepared to combat cherubs."
"What makes you think that?" I asked.
"Perhaps it's best if you come here. I'll show you what they've done. I suggest you open the portal in the back corner of the control room where it will be out of sight." He disconnected and sent me a picture of the location.
I checked the time. It was five in the morning. At least I'd gotten a little rest. I considered letting Elyssa sleep, but valued my life enough to prod her awake and tell her where I was going.
She was up and dressed in two minutes, and made me wear a fresh set of nightingale armor. The thing looked like a black unitard, but at least it didn't bunch up in the crotch. I retracted the armor to a thin black belt and wore shorts and a T-shirt over it. We grabbed some food from the pantry and left a note on the fridge so people would know where we'd gone.
Cutsauce yipped and ran after us, apparently eager to be off on a new adventure, but I told him to stay behind as usual. I didn't know what a cherub might do to a hellhound, and didn't want to find out. He gave us a dejected look as we left him sitting in the den with a chew toy.
"Your mom really laid a load on you, didn't she?" Elyssa said as we descended to the cellar.
"I felt pretty crappy about it at first, you know?" I shrugged. "But when I put it into perspective, I guess it's not much worse than everything else we've been through."
"Isn't it weird knowing she was the first angel to come here? And how old that makes her?" Elyssa blew out a breath. "I'm still having trouble with that one."
I chuckled. "I guess my mom is vintage, huh?"
"Totes," she said with a wink. "I'm dying to know what she won't tell us about your dad."
"You and me both," I said, trying not to dwell on the matter.
We took the portal to El Dorado, emerging in the far back of the control room where an alcove hid the portal from view. As we walked down the center aisle we gasped in unison.
Cherubs were all over the control room. On the bright side, they were all in clear cube cages as opposed to running free, greedy to suck us dry.
Cinder appeared from behind one of the containers. "Hello, Justin and Elyssa."
"Is this what Darkwater was doing?" I said, feeling a little rude for not saying "Hi" first.
"Yes. They came with devices one might use to capture rabid animals, and
in their simplicity, worked brilliantly." Cinder walked to the containers. "Unfortunately, they also witnessed a live angel birth while they were here."
"Oh, crap," I said.
"Very much oh, crap," Cinder said, nodding. "Slitheren and several of his companions were not here to prevent this from happening. I hid and observed, calling you the moment they left."
"With news like that, it won't be long before there's an army of them down here," I said.
"We should leave this instant," Elyssa said. "They could be here any minute." She turned to Cinder. "How long ago were they here?"
"Not more than an hour ago."
"Did they see how the leyworms eat the husks?" she asked.
"I do not believe they made that connection," he replied. "They wanted to investigate, but since the leyworms have become better about depositing the cupids in more orderly fashion, the Darkwater people didn't wish to go any closer to the two leviathans guarding the infants."
I looked around. "Where are Slitheren and his gang?"
"I believe they went to gather other cherubs scattered throughout the caves." Cinder glanced back at the huge leyworms coiled around the nursery.
An arch activation hummed from the center of the control room. We exchanged startled glances and ran into the main cavern, ducking into a dark corner which gave us a clear view of the leviathan leyworms and the control room door. I counted at least twenty dark-robed people emerging from the door, Kassus at the lead. He looked furious, but I couldn't make out his words as he slashed his hands through the air at the people following him. I could only imagine his rage pertained to the truck hijacking.
Two of the lead men walked to the front center area, pointing out the long trench the leyworms had carved, and then toward the glow in the center of the cave where the ginormous dragons perked their heads above scaly coils. I didn't think they could actually see the nursery from that location. One of the men flicked a shiny orb in the air. It darted above the leyworms, bypassing them for an overhead view.
"An all-seeing eye," Elyssa said. "They're going to see everything."
