“Thousands of years ago, humans stumbled upon the Tree of Life on Earth,” she continued. “They started venturing into other worlds—Mystica included. The humans were safe in Mystica, as mages love and protect all living creatures. But many of the other realms weren’t as kind to them. So the mages took action. We rescued as many of the humans from other realms as possible and brought them to Mystica. Once we’d saved as many as possible, we erased their memories of the Tree of Life and of all the realms beyond it before sending them back to Earth. Once they were safely returned, we cast spells around the Tree of Life to prevent humans from stumbling upon it again. But there was a small catch. You see, while humans were in Mystica, some of them became intimate with the mages. Many women became pregnant during that time. Months later, on Earth, they gave birth to the first of what you all call witches.”
“So all witches are descendants of mages,” I repeated, making sure I was getting this straight.
“Yes.” Violet nodded. “Mages have similar powers as witches, but much stronger. Our magic is within us. Using it comes as naturally to us as breathing. We don’t need spells or potions to use our magic—we can simply use it. Naturally, the first witches were much less powerful than mages, as they were half human. Witch magic has continued to get diluted from generation to generation. That’s why the strongest witch circles are insistent about reproducing only with other witches. As I hear, it’s become somewhat of a controversy amongst the witch circles here on Earth.”
“I don’t know.” I shrugged, since Noah and Sage hadn’t told me much about that. They’d told me mainly about shifters, and a decent amount about vampires. But it seemed like witches were an enigma even to them. “But I do know that female witches are the powerful ones, and male witches have little to no power. Is that true for the mages as well?”
“Females and males are both equally capable of magic in Mystica,” Violet said. “My sisters and I only recently learned about male witches lacking power on Earth. We believe it has something to do with the way human chromosomes carry magic. As we’ve learned it, women have two X chromosomes, whereas men have an X and a Y chromosome. Our guesses are that either humans need two X chromosomes to fully perform magic, or that the Y chromosome inhibits the use of magic. We can’t say for sure. Especially since magic oftentimes defies science. Both magic and science are valid, of course, but they tend to exist on different planes entirely. Sometimes they connect, but oftentimes they don’t.”
“Okay,” I said, my mind racing as I took this all in. “But what about the female mages that got pregnant by human men? Wouldn’t they have given birth to witches in Mystica?”
“Mystica is a lovely realm, but it’s strict,” Violet said. “It’s remained one of the safest realms in the universe because mages have strong magic. We were scared of mixed raced children—witches—lessening our magic. So all mage women who got pregnant with half human babies were forced to give up their children.”
My eyes widened in horror. “You mean their children were murdered?”
“No!” Violet gasped, repulsed at the suggestion. “Mages value all life. We would never do such a thing. The half human children—the witches—were taken to Earth and placed into the care of loving families. It was ensured that the families they were given to lived near human women who had given birth to half mage children. That way, they could be around others like themselves. And that, we believe, is how the original witch circles were formed.”
“The mage women were okay with giving their children up like that?”
“I doubt it.” Violet’s eyes hardened. “No one knows for certain how it was handled. Our history books say our women were happy to send their children to Earth, as Earth was the best place for them to grow up. I’m not sure how much I believe it. Dahlia does, but I question it. You see, I’ve yet to become a mother myself, but I’d never give a child of mine up without a fight. All I know is that none of the witch children remained in Mystica.”
I nodded, agreeing with Violet that it likely didn’t go down as easily as their mage historians claimed. “You said the mages casted spells around the Tree of Life to hide it once the humans were returned to Earth,” I said. “So how did they drop the witch children off from Mystica?”
“We didn’t hide the Tree of Life from ourselves,” she said. “We could come and go as we pleased. Although we’ve chosen to stay in Mystica until recently.”
“What happened recently?” I asked.
“When my sisters and I were born, a faerie ventured into our realm,” she said. “Prince Devyn—the only fae in existence who’s ever had the power of omniscient sight. It was a rare occurrence, as the fae prefer to stay in their realm, the Otherworld. Prince Devyn told our parents that we were reaching a crucial point in the timeline of the universe—a point that would determine whether the universe took a sharp turn toward either the dark or the light. He gave them instructions. He said that once my sisters and I reached fourteen years old, we were to go to Earth and live in a house on the shores of Norway. There, we were to wait for the arrival of the last Nephilim on Earth and guide her toward the Tree of Life, because only mages could help someone from Earth get past the spells our ancestors had cast around the Tree that hid it from them.” She paused to take a sip of water, and then continued, “After getting the message to our parents, Prince Devyn returned to the Otherworld, telling them nothing more. But our parents knew the birth of triplets was a sign. In Mystica, it’s hard enough to get pregnant with one child, let alone three. So they trusted Prince Devyn. They raised my sisters and I with full awareness of our destiny. And so, on our fourteenth birthday, we stepped into the Tree and entered Earth, easily finding the house Prince Devyn had told our parents about. We lived there in solitude for five years.”
“That must have been lonely,” I said.
“It was.” Her violet eyes went distant for a moment, but she refocused a second later. “But we made a home for ourselves there. We even became acquainted with some of the humans around town, although we made sure to never get too close. Prince Devyn had warned us that getting too close to anyone on Earth could severely alter the course of the future. Plus, we always knew that Earth wasn’t our true home. So we waited in that house until a few months ago, when the prophesied Nephilim finally arrived. Annika, who would soon become the Earth Angel.”
8
Raven
“So you knew Annika before she was the Earth Angel.” I knew Annika hadn’t always been an Earth Angel—she’d been human first, and then Nephilim. Noah had told me as much during our road trip. But the story of how she’d become the Earth Angel had always been vague. I suspected because Noah didn’t know all of it himself.
“I did.” Violet nodded. “My sisters and I directed her toward the Tree of Life. She gained entrance into the Tree and went all the way to Heaven. There, she drank from the Grail and became the Earth Angel.”
“But you didn’t go home to Mystica after helping her,” I said. “You stayed here. Why?”
“Avalon is our forever home,” she said. “My sisters and I supply magic to the island to allow it to thrive. Staying here has always been our destiny. Especially because if the demons win the war here on Earth, they could gain access to the Tree of Life. Then they could enter the other realms—including Mystica. By helping the Earth Angel and her army, we’re not just protecting Earth, but all the realms in the universe.”
“It sounds like the creatures living in the other universes should be coming here to help us, too,” I said.
“They won’t,” Violet said simply. “Most of the other realms are so involved with their own problems that Earth isn’t on their radar. And the demons are only threatening Earth right now. It’s remarkably easy for an entire society—or realm—to ignore a problem until it directly affects them. So I doubt they’ll help Earth until the demons start trying to invade their worlds. If it gets to that point. Hopefully it never will.”
“Because we’ll beat the demons first,
” I said.
“That’s the goal,” Violet said. “And it’s why you came here. To go through the Angel Trials, become a Nephilim, and join the Earth Angel’s army. Correct?”
“It is,” I said. “Speaking of, what should I expect from the Angel Trials?” I sat straighter, ready to learn. All I’d heard until now was that the Angel Trials were going to be challenging. No one outside of Avalon knew more than that.
Now that I was here, I was ready to find out what I’d be doing to become a Nephilim.
After surviving Noah’s demon hunt, there was no challenge I couldn’t handle. Maybe it was the mana and Holy Water, or maybe it was because I’d finally made it to Avalon, but I felt ready to take on the world.
“Raven.” Violet said my name as if she were bracing me for something. “There’s something important you need to know about the Angel Trials.”
“Yes?” Unease rolled through my stomach. Because the way she was looking at me wasn’t good.
“There are many steps—or as we call them, trials—to becoming a Nephilim,” she said. “First, the human must make it through King Arthur’s simulation to get to Avalon. You completed that part, which isn’t easy.”
“Thanks.” I smiled, recalling the simulation and King Arthur. It was still crazy to believe I’d met the legendary king himself.
“Next, the body must be strengthened so it’s ready to drink angelic blood from the Holy Grail,” she said. “The Grail turns human blood into Nephilim blood, although their powers will be latent.”
“So drinking from the Grail doesn’t turn a human into a Nephilim?”
“The transition isn’t complete at that point,” she said. “To ignite Nephilim powers, a person with Nephilim blood needs to kill a supernatural. We’ve arranged a safe environment for this to happen, where the supernatural being killed is one that has committed grave crimes and has already been sentenced to death. If they’re going to die, it might as well help our cause. But no one has yet to make it to that point.”
“Why not?” I fiddled with my hands under the table. She was going to say something I didn’t want to hear—I knew it.
I wished she’d get it over with already.
“Many have passed the first two steps,” she said. “Getting to Avalon and completing the strength training. But when it comes to drinking from the Grail, we’ve encountered a problem.”
“What kind of a problem?” It was clear by now that Violet needed to be prodded. She wasn’t enjoying telling me this any more than I was enjoying waiting for her to drop whatever bomb was coming.
“No one has yet to drink from the Grail and survive,” she said. “They’ve all rejected the angel blood and died on the spot.”
9
Raven
“What?” I wasn’t sure what I’d expected her to say. It certainly hadn’t been that.
“No one has survived drinking—”
“I heard you the first time,” I cut her off, since I hadn’t misheard. I just couldn’t believe it was true. I didn’t want to believe it was true. “Do you mean there are no Nephilim on Avalon?”
“Correct.” She lowered her eyes, ashamed. “There are also no humans on Avalon. At least, not anymore.”
“What do you mean?” I sat back in shock. Had the supernaturals on Earth been playing a giant joke on me by encouraging me to go to Avalon? It didn’t make any sense.
“At first, we assumed the first few humans who drank from the Grail simply weren’t strong enough to survive the transition.” She spoke softly, remarkably calm despite what she was saying. “All of our history books say the strength training we gave them should have been sufficient, but we tried training them harder anyway. It didn’t work. They continued to die. Eventually, humans decided to leave Avalon instead of continuing on to what appeared to be a death sentence. They had their memories wiped, of course—we couldn’t risk anyone from the outside world finding out what was going on here. A few of the strongest, most determined humans remained, convinced they’d be the ones to break the cycle. But they all died. Now there are no more left.” She shrugged, looking just as defeated as those humans must have felt.
“No.” I shook my head, horrified. The world spun out of control around me, and I had to hold onto the edge of the table to stay steady. I could barely breathe, or even think.
Everything I’d been hoping for since meeting Rosella at the Pier was crushed. Saving my mom, saving humanity… I couldn’t do all of that if I didn’t go through the Angel Trials and become a Nephilim.
“This can’t be true.” If I repeated it enough, maybe I’d believe it.
“I’m not lying to you,” Violet said. “I’m telling you this so you can make an informed decision about how you want to move forward.”
“What do you mean?” I forced myself to focus, despite the doomsday scenarios racing through my mind. “What are my options?”
“You can either stay here or return home,” she said. “This decision is why we have separate orientations for the supernaturals and the humans. It’s our responsibility to let all humans who come to Avalon know what happened to those before them, so you can understand what you’re facing. The Earth Angel has insisted upon it.”
“Everyone on Earth believes the Earth Angel is turning humans into Nephilim to create an army that will be able to defeat the greater demons,” I said, angry now. “They’re counting on her. But it’s all a lie.”
“It’s not a lie,” Violet said. “The Earth Angel is working on a solution. Once she finds it, she’ll resume building her army. But she needs time.”
“Where’s the Earth Angel?” I set my hands down flat upon the table, furious that the Earth Angel had sent Violet to deliver this news to me instead of telling me herself. “Everyone keeps talking to me about her, but I’ve never even seen her. I want to speak with her.”
“It’s not time for you to meet the Earth Angel yet,” Violet said.
“Then when will I be meeting her?”
“Tonight at the banquet. The Earth Angel will be overseeing the feast. You and the others will meet her then.”
“I don’t think you understand.” I stared straight at her, making sure she took me seriously. “I want to speak with the Earth Angel in private. Before the banquet.”
“I’m afraid that’s not possible,” she said. “The Earth Angel is extremely busy running Avalon. My sisters and I speak for her.”
“You’ve got to be kidding me.” I huffed, feeling like we were getting nowhere.
“I’m completely serious.” Violet’s expression remained the same.
“It’s a saying.” I shook my head and squeezed the bridge of my nose with my fingers. Then I dropped my hand back down to my side and continued, “I know you’re serious. But within the past few months, the Earth Angel had me abducted, kept me in a dungeon to use my blood for transformation potion, masqueraded around in my form while pretending to be ‘Princess Ana of the Seventh Kingdom,’ and then wiped my memory before sending me home. Maybe she thinks I don’t remember. But I know what she did. And after all of that, the least she can give me is a few precious seconds of her time.”
“I know you’ve been through a lot,” Violet said, somehow still remaining calm. “But you have to understand how busy the Earth Angel is—”
“No,” I interrupted her. “I don’t think you do understand what I’ve been through. I knew for months that my memories had been tampered with. Then my mom was abducted by the greater demon Azazel from our own home. Then a psychic told me that to save her, I had to come to Avalon to become a Nephilim. I almost died trying to get here. Now I’ve finally made it, and not only do I find out that everyone who’s tried to become a Nephilim has died, but the Earth Angel won’t even speak with me? It’s not acceptable. So I need you to tell her that I’m here, and that I insist on speaking with her. Now.” I narrowed my eyes and continued staring at her, daring her to contradict me.
If Mary and Noah were right about my gift being my stubbornness a
nd determination, it was time for my gift to work.
“I see you’re not going to let this go.” Violet stood up and walked over to a side table. She opened a drawer, pulling out a piece of parchment and a fancy pen. Then she sat back down and started writing, the pen flying across the parchment.
“What are you doing?” I asked.
“Writing a message to the Earth Angel on your behalf.” She didn’t look up at me as she continued to write. “Unless you’ve changed your mind about wanting to speak with her?” She smiled, and I relaxed slightly at her attempt at humor.
“No.” I sat back, amazed that it had worked. “Keep writing.”
She finished up the letter by signing her name with a flourish at the bottom. Then she folded it and held it up in the air. She stared at it, and purple flames burst from her palm, the blazing fire surrounding the parchment.
The flames died down, and the letter was gone.
“Why did you do that?” I stared in shock at her empty palm.
“To plead your case to the Earth Angel.” She looked at me like my question was stupid. Then, realization dawned on her soft features. “Right,” she said. “You’ve never seen a fire message.”
“No,” I said. “I haven’t.”
“Fire messages are how mages and high powered witches send messages to each other,” she said. “On Earth, they’ve mostly been replaced with texts and phone calls. But they come in handy on Avalon, where technology doesn’t work.”
“So you just sent that message to the Earth Angel,” I said, and she nodded. “But you said only mages and high powered witches can send fire messages. How will she reply?”
“The Earth Angel will get a reply to us,” she said. “Be patient.”
We sat there waiting for a few minutes. Violet munched on a piece of mana, making no effort to chat. She seemed nervous. So it was up to me to keep the conversation going. Which wasn’t hard, since I had a lot of questions.
The Angel Trials- The Complete Series Page 80
