by Mary Duke
“Yeah, I know. It’s surprising, I’ll send her in.”
I couldn’t help but hold back a chuckle when the woman entered the shed after Malikii walked out. She was short and round...maybe four feet tall, and just as equally round.
She was frantic, looking around and inspecting the shed through her round bifocals. “This place,” she muttered under her breath. “This Realm...It gives me the creeps.”
“I’m sorry,” I apologized, unsure of what to say.
“Not your fault dear. This mess was made long before you were born.”
“Oh, alright.”
“Now, I only need one of you in here. Narah, it is you I need; he can wait outside the door with the others.”
Damari turned to me, concerned as she began to rub her hands together.
“I’ll be fine,” I whispered to him, squeezing his hand that I still held.
The woman squeaked as if to suggest otherwise as she closed the door behind him. “My name is Sparrow, Narah. I come from a long line of gifted seers dedicated to the preservation of the Dark Fairy legacy. I have foretold many things. I have seen many things, and known that it was not my place to tell them, and that I must let everything play out the way it was intended.” She paused.
“Okay?”
“What I have just seen earlier this morning... The visions that passed through my head...” she said as she began to pace. “They...I...I don’t know what to do with them. There is a part of me that wishes to share them with you. That is the part of me that knows what it is your future can hold...what I believe you just saw. This part of me wants to give you the chance at that happiness...you’ve been through enough in your life, you deserve a moment of peace.” She paused again, running her hands through her salt and pepper hair.
“And the other half of you?”
“The other half of me wants the future to run its course, and believe that you will make the right decision.”
“What decision is that? What are you talking about?” I questioned, starting to grow frustrated.
“I don’t know how to explain it...I don’t know enough about how it all works.”
“Then show me,” I said holding my hands out to her.
“I don’t know if I should.”
“You came here, remember?”
“I know,” she said spinning yet again on her heels and pacing back towards me.
“Well, let’s do it then...You wouldn’t have come if it wasn’t your true intention to tell me.”
“You’re right,” Sparrow said, taking my hands in hers.
Within the first five seconds, I could already tell I had made a mistake. I should have opted out of seeing what she saw, taken her hesitation as a sign that it wasn’t needed.
Kamara and I stood in a room, one I was not familiar with. Scattered on a desk were papers, spells scribbled on them. The items Sonja had given Claire lined up, along with Kamara’s skull.
“That’s it,” Kamara said. “That is the last piece of my soul, of me, of my children.”
I took a heavy breath. “Are you sure this is going to work? This is going to save our people, all of them...and seal your family away forever?”
“Yes.”
“And you swear to let the past go? To look to the future from now on?”
“Yes,” she repeated again.
“I mean it. Swear it to me. Swear to me that if I give my life to save my people, I’m not damning them to a life seeking your revenge.”
“I swear.”
I watched myself walking towards the skull, my hand stretched out before me.
“Narah, if there was another way...Any other way...”
“I know,” I whispered under my breath. “There isn’t.”
The shed came back into view, and my breath caught in my lungs.
“See,” Sparrow said. “I shouldn’t have come. I shouldn’t have shown you.”
I nodded, afraid of the words that would come out of my mouth if I opened it.
“I just had to. You had to know.”
“She didn’t have to know,” Kamara said, now standing beside me. It was the first time she had made an appearance since we found her children.
Sparrow stood straight, though she still only measured half as tall as Kamara, “She has the right to know that you’re willing to sacrifice her to save your own life.”
“She is a Queen. She understands that sacrifices must be made.”
“No...Yes...” Sparrow said, unsure of whether or not she agreed. “Either way, like I said she deserves the option of accepting that choice.”
“Option or not, as it so happens I have found another way.”
I looked at her. Malikii’s vision of Damari’s smiling face flashing before my eyes.
“There was another born with our mark. She’s just a child, however, it should work.”
“What do you mean it? You’re forgetting I’m out of the loop. I do not know what you’ve decided or what your plan is.”
“It’s not something I’ve just decided,” Kamara snapped at me. “And as for it being a formal plan...it’s more of a ‘this is the only option we have, take it or leave it’ option.”
“What is it?” I questioned raising my voice.
“Right now it’s either me, or it’s you. We both can’t exist at the same time. When you accept that last piece of my soul, I will consume you completely.”
“Once that happens, is Sparrow’s vision true? Is what you said true? Will we win? Will our people survive? Can you really seal your family away for good?”
Kamara nodded. “But you're missing the point. I’ve come to tell you that it doesn’t have to be you. I have found another host.”
I turned away from them both and leaned my head against the wall, steadying myself with my hand. Another vision from tonight flashed before my eyes. It was the little boy that Damari held in his arms, the one that called me mommy.
“She is just a child, maybe four. She will never know. Her family is gone, she is alone. Here in this camp as a matter of fact.”
“No,” I said turning back to Kamara. “I will not sacrifice a child.”
“I don’t understand,” Kamara said. “Your people need you. This gives them everything.”
“No, this gives them a coward for a Queen. I will not sacrifice a child. I could never sacrifice a child.”
“I’m not going to be able to talk you out of this, am I?” Kamara asked.
“No,” I replied coldly. “Not a chance.
“But what about your future children?” Sparrow questioned, reaching for my stomach, “What about your child?”
“My what?” I questioned before someone knocked on the shed door.
“I’m sorry,” Sparrow said. “I thought you knew.”
Foley peeked her head in. “Hey, it’s Kyrell. There’s something going on; he left but wants us to follow him. It seemed urgent.”
Chapter Twelve
“Are you sure this is where he wanted us to go?” Damari asked when Foley and I came through.
Cat answered. “Yes, this is the location he gave me. Though I still do not think it is a good idea that we are here.”
“Relax,” Foley said. “I trust him with my life.”
“I didn’t say I didn’t trust Kyrell. It’s this place, this situation...I don’t like it.”
My head was spinning. So many thoughts ran through my mind that I couldn’t grasp a single one of them.
“Hey,” Damari whispered walking up behind me, putting his hand on the bottom of my back. “I know I was a jerk earlier...or yesterday, whichever way you want to look at it, but I was just worried...I’m still worried, maybe even more so now.”
My heart skipped a beat. He had no idea.
“I’ve just never cared for anyone before. Well, I mean my mom...and my siblings, but no one outside of that. I got nervous, I guess, when the reality hit me that we are from two completely different backgrounds. You’re going to be Queen...I, I am nothing.”
“WHAT?” I said louder than I had meant to.
“In the eyes of everyone there, I am just the guy that follows you around like a puppy.”
“First, there is nothing wrong with that. Second, who gives a shit what anyone thinks of you. Their opinion doesn’t make you who you are. You are the only one who chooses who you are. YOU,” I repeated poking him in the chest.
“I guess I’m just worried that when you’re elected, and when you become Queen, you’ll find someone better.”
“Better?”
“At ruling...who knows what the hell the rules are...someone who doesn’t have a past like mine trailing behind them.”
“I don’t care about your past. You talk about your past as though you were responsible for the decisions your father made. The only part of your past you’re responsible for are the choices you made for yourself...and even if those were bad choices, everyone makes them...everyone. And every day, every hour, every minute, hell, every second you have the choice to change your actions and take a step in the direction you want your life to go in,” I cupped his face in my hands. “Do not let your family’s past define you. Do not let the actions of others define you. Take control of your life, and choose who you want to be.”
Damari reached into his pocket and pulled out a ring. “I know this isn’t much. Nothing worthy of a royal finger, I’m sure,” he laughed. “But it was my mother’s, and her mother’s before that.”
“What is this?” I questioned, my brain unable to process what was happening.
“I want to spend the rest of my life with you, Narah Night,” he replied.
Knives stabbed through my heart, or at least that’s the way it felt as the pit in my stomach consumed it. I couldn’t breathe, I was in shock.
“Okay,” Kyrell said appearing in the center of the room. “I have to make this quick. There isn’t a lot of time.”
Damari slid the ring onto my finger and kissed me on my forehead. “We will finish this conversation.”
I nodded, it was the only thing I could do.
“Okay, it’s been confirmed now, that Sonja’s right hand is, in fact, my brother, Thaddius. He is her connection to the gate which locks Kamara’s family and the original coven in purgatory. I knew he’s been up to something for years, we all have, but we never expected it to be this. Selfishly, Kinny and I always believed that he was going to work his way up the ladder and that he would just be gunning for us. Though as the truth comes out, he’s going for the ladder, but the whole system. He wants to end life the way we know it. Thaddius seeks the same thing Sonja does: New world order.”
“I’m sorry,” Cat said. “But that doesn’t make sense. I’ve never heard of two people who both want to lead, working together...I mean how can there be an alliance when you both want the same thing?”
Another man appeared in the room, tall, broad, silver-speckled black full-faced beard, he looked more like a lumberjack than a reaper.
“This is Jasper,” Kyrell said, taking a few steps away from the man. “He is Kinny’s second.”
Jasper nodded, “Their alliance is more of a temporary mutual alliance. When all the cards are on the table, all bets are off the table. They plan to fight to the death.”
“Mmm,” Cat said, seeing where that idea could come from. “However, I don’t see Sonja raising a finger; that is why she is building an army.”
“Correct,” Jasper answered.
Cat turned to Kyrell, “Has your brother built an army?”
“Not anything that will measure up to hers. However, his plan is to steal the coven before she’s able to siphon off the energy. If he does that, if he gets his hands on that power...there’s nothing any of us will be able to do.”
My nerves calmed enough I was able to focus. “Where did you get this information?”
“We’ve caught a few reapers that have sided with him.”
“Well, then how accurate is this information? You can’t trust someone who knows their life is going to end. They will say anything to try to save themselves.”
Kyrell grabbed the back of his head with both hands and took a deep breath. “That’s where this situation turns ugly. We got this information from Malou.”
Damari’s eyes widened. “Your friend, Malou?”
“Yes. My most trusted and longest friend. He has been by my side since I was a child. Protected me, saved me, taught me....everything I am I owe to that man.”
“How could he betray you?” Foley questioned. “It sounded like he raised you like he was more of a father than your own.”
“He is more of a father to me than my own father was. And he didn’t betray me. Kinny...” Kyrell said fighting back tears.
“Kinny,” Jasper said, knowing it would be easier for him to speak than Kyrell. “Kinny’s vision of the future became clear, she knew she had to have an inside man, one that Thaddius would love to have, and who better than the one person his worst enemy adored most?”
Kyrell gathered himself back up. “Malou was a double agent. He reported everything back to Kinny, including delivering Kinny to him when the time came for it.”
“Malou kidnapped your sister?” I questioned.
“Upon her request, yes.”
“I don’t understand,” Foley asked. “That’s something you would never forgive him for, he had to know that.”
“He did, but she didn’t give him a choice.”
“It’s now up to us to finish what Kinny started. If we pull this off tonight, her vision of the future should come true, and she should survive all of this.”
“What do we have to do?” I asked.
“You guys will just have to stand with us. We,” Kyrell said looking to Jasper, “Will handle the other things.”
“Things?” Foley repeated, not liking the way he phrased it.
“I am going to have to kill Malou. To show my people that I will put our rules and traditions first. Then Jasper, using the fact that he is Kinny’s second, and that being as I’m alive, she has to be alive, will rally our people to stand and fight alongside you, under his and my command.”
“If he didn’t do it,” Foley said. “How can you kill him?”
“I don’t have another choice,” Kyrell explained, trying to keep his voice from quivering. “The only ones that know the truth, that know Kinny’s plan are here in this room.”
“Can you tell the others, won’t they see it the same way that you do?”
“NO! No one can know, she made that very clear. This has to happen step by step with her vision. If we change anything, we have no idea what’s coming. As of right now, everything’s aligned, and that gives us hope that we will have a future.”
The stabbing pain returned, along with the reminder that I did not have a future. I grabbed ahold of my ring finger, along with the ring that Damari had just slid on there. I had to be brave. I had to believe I was doing the right thing, just as Kinny believed what she was doing was right.
Chapter Thirteen
It was instantly clear that Thaddius’ roots ran deeper than anyone believed. The second Malou was killed, and Jasper declared their intentions, the hall erupted.
The scene was an all-out brawl, with those for and against Thaddius.
“Go,” Jasper yelled.
“Where?” Kyrell questioned.
“I don’t care. Anywhere but here.”
“This is my responsibility, not yours.”
“Your sister is still alive, therefore she is still the queen and I am her second. So it is my job, and keeping her and the baby alive is my job.”
Kyrell nodded, there wasn’t time to argue.
“Come on,” Cat yelled, holding the gate open for him.
“Where?”
“Somewhere safe,” She replied.
“This isn’t good,” Kyrell said, walking through to find that they were back at Torryn’s.
“It’s just the beginning,” I said. “This place won’t be safe for much longer, we need to leave.�
�
“Okay, this is everyone,” Foley said returning with a handful of people behind her.
Everette was the first to speak. “I don’t think we should leave. We should stay and fight.”
Gemma answered him before I could. “As I told you, we chose our seconds for this reason. The Coalition has to stick together; we are more valuable alive than we are dead.”
“I still don’t think it’s right.”
“I couldn’t agree more, with either of you,” I said ushering them through Cat’s gate.
“What is this place?” I asked, as we came through the other side and the sun was already high in the sky.
“It was my parents’ summer cabin,” Cat answered. “Though it’s been more of my hideaway than anything since they’ve passed. It’s protected with everything I could think of or find. We should be safe here for a while.”
“If this place is safe,” Beyanna said. “Why can’t we bring the others here?”
Cat’s eyes darted back and forth between me and Foley. “I’m...I’m not strong enough to transport that many people and keep Foley safe.”
Beyanna’s shoulders sagged.
“Guys,” Gemma said holding up her phone before she put it back in her pocket. “I just got off the phone with a few friends of mine.”
“And?” I questioned.
“And it’s not looking pretty. Sonja has freed the monsters, all of them...there are hundreds.”
“Freed them?” I questioned looking over to Damari.
“Yes, unleashed them into the world. They are killing everyone and everything they come into contact with. And your brother,” Gemma said nodding towards Kyrell. “He and his pack, or whatever you want to call them, are not too far behind harvesting the souls of the dead.”
“That’s what he’s doing!” Kyrell said as all the pieces now connected.
“Fill us in,” Cat said, impatient.
“Right now, all of the energy in purgatory goes to keeping the coven locked in. It’s all evenly distributed amongst the totems that Kamara created that feed the locking spell itself.”
“Okay, I’m not following,” I said knowing nothing about any of this.
