by LJ Andrews
Finally, with a blast of pressure, the ship pulled through the heavy cloud cover. It seemed as if she had flipped on her side. Everything stood still—no wind, no currents, no sound. The colors of the sky swirled between the peachy colors above and the blue and purple hues from the Below. Stars twinkled, but only half their surface. The other half seemed dipped in blackness. She looked above, seeing gray clouds floating lazily, and below, another layer of gray ribbon-like wisps.
Raine took in several short, sharp breaths. She was neither in the Below or Launi. It was the space between, a half-space full of mystery. She was in the Unknown, with no knowledge of how to progress without a current. She gulped, letting her tears fall and knowing her chance of survival was shrinking with each passing moment.
Chapter 12
Fractured Lies
Atlas rubbed the soreness in his neck as he slowly sauntered along one of the tunnels. It was becoming harder and harder to sleep since the attack on Silva. Phoenix was still out there, and Nova was catatonic.
Hadwin had been going back and forth between the Three Brothers and Nova’s room for the last two days and it sent his nerves on edge. The three creatures couldn’t be trusted, and they probably loved having Nova in such a state. Maddox and Talia were getting agitated during training since Varick had been holed up with Nova since returning to the headquarters. Maddox didn’t appreciate both Hadwin and Varick spending so much time away from those training, and he made certain anyone who would listen heard his opinion.
As he walked closer to the door where they tended to Nova’s Djinn fever, he saw a shadowy clump against the wall.
“You’re pathetic, Tucker,” Atlas scoffed when Kale looked up at him. Kale’s eyes were bloodshot and swollen as if he hadn’t slept the entire two days. Atlas reached his hand out to help Kale up. “You can’t do anything for her by wasting away by the door.”
“Hadwin said she might need help coming to by using familiar voices. I want to be close by if he needs my help,” Kale said, his voice dry and fatigued. “Why are you here? Is it a habit of yours to walk dark tunnels in the middle of the night?”
Atlas sighed, glancing away. It had been so vivid, and yet he knew he’d been dreaming. One thing was clear—it was time to act. He knew something was happening at the temple and they had to meet it head on.
“What is it?” Kale asked, notably intrigued by Atlas’s reaction.
“I don’t know. Probably nothing. I had a dream…about Raine.”
Kale’s eyebrows raised. “Oh, really?”
Atlas scoffed. “Not that kind of dream. I was near her. She looked so happy to see me. But after a while, she was away from me, and it was as if she couldn’t see me anymore. I saw her somewhere dark, alone. I don’t know…I can’t shake the thought of it. I could sense her…fear of where she was. I don’t know what it means, but I know something is happening. The Phoenix attack, Nova’s fever, and now this.”
“It was just a dream, Atlas,” Kale interjected.
He shook his head. “No, it really wasn’t. It was strange. I was sleeping then felt a physical pull until I saw Raine. I know it sounds crazy, but I have a feeling the Djinn are behind it.”
Kale glanced at the ground, looking thoughtful as he mulled over Atlas’s tale. The silence made Atlas uncomfortable; finally, he slid down the wall, joining Kale on the ground again.
“How are your father and sister?” he asked. “I’m sorry about your brother-in-law.”
Kale shrugged, his face solemn and thoughtful. “Albert was a good man. He didn’t deserve to die. My father is sore. The healer isn’t sure if he’ll get full function of his shoulder back. It was as if Phoenix knew to target him, and…torture him. My father told me Phoenix kept saying he would live, but wish he was dead. Truly sadistic. And Jenna, well she hasn’t left her room. She keeps Theo in her arms nearly all day and keeps asking for Nova. I don’t have the heart to tell her what’s really going on She thinks Nova has a healing wound with an infection, so she’s staying away for Theo’s sake.” Kale paused, closing his eyes. “If she doesn’t wake up, I fear I’m going to lose the only two women left in my life. Jenna seems on the brink of madness, and I don’t say that lightly.”
Atlas shifted uncomfortably but patted Kale’s shoulder. “Nova will pull through. She’s done it before. And Jenna is tough, she sounds like she’s still in shock. Give her some time.”
Kale nodded, smiling faintly. “Thanks. I hope you’re right. I just can’t help but wonder if we did more harm than good on Silva.”
“What do you mean?”
“Well, it’s like we attracted more rage from Phoenix once we arrived. And we didn’t even get that stone Nova said the brothers wanted. What was the point of that?”
Atlas shrugged. “Those freakish creatures never make any sense. It wouldn’t surprise me if they sent us to Silva just to sit back and watch us get destroyed.”
Kale shuddered but didn’t answer. They sat in silence for the last few hours before dawn. When sun washed through the dim tunnels, both Kale and Atlas had fallen asleep against the wall.
“Hey there, wake up, ye dogs!”
Kale knocked his elbow against Atlas’s teeth, sending him into a long rant of colorful language while clutching his mouth.
“Sorry,” Kale blubbered, wiping a trail of saliva off his chin. “Mr. Kobb? What are you doing here?” Kale stood next to the wheeled chair.
“I gots the black copper, boy. Time to play with them swords ye all have,” Kobb said, his magnified eyes growing even larger beneath his eccentric eyewear.
“What are you talking about?” Atlas groaned, cracking his back as he stood.
“Ugh, just move aside, boys. I needs to get in there,” Kobb said, wheeling his chair up to the door.
“No, they’re helping Nova,” Kale said.
“Let him through,” Maddox snarled, stepping through the shadows next to Kobb. “Hadwin’s orders.”
“Hadwin hasn’t stepped out of this room,” Kale snipped.
“The Three Brothers and Hadwin decided it was time to move. All the weapons need to be fitted with the copper. Now move.”
Kobb didn’t wait to hear any more bickering; he unlatched the door and wheeled himself in. Kale glanced through the crack in the doorway. Varick stood in front of Nova’s bed with Hadwin next to him.
“How is she?” he asked, stepping into the room. Nova lay as if she were asleep, but her cheeks were flushed and clammy as the fever burned.
“I wish I could get inside,” Hadwin said. “Lurlina is trying to lock her into a different reality. But Nova is fighting against her. I just wish I knew what was going on inside.”
Kale nodded, glancing quickly at Varick who had hardly noticed he’d entered the room. Gently, he clasped Nova’s hot, sticky hand, bending low so he could whisper in her ear.
“Nova, come back…please,” he said, before kissing the side of her head as Kobb removed the jeweled dagger from her belt.
“I can’t believe you’ve been living like this all along,” Nova said, dipping a silver spoon into the yellow custard.
“I tried to tell you I would be fine.” Kamali laughed. “The Djinn are family, Nova. Lurlina is my sister.” Kamali patted Lurlina’s soft hand from across the long dining table.
Nova felt relief but was still without answers. “But I just don’t know why you said not to trust her, Mother.”
“I was just thinking of myself, Nova. I didn’t want things to change, love. I wanted to go back to the temple, but I didn’t want to leave Launi. Because once I rejoined the temple, your father couldn’t stay with me. I love him, but this is where I belong. I never was fully at home in Launi. It was time, and I wish him all the love and happiness in the world.”
Nova’s heart darkened as she thought of the heartbreak it would cause her father. “But what about Phoenix? Why did you send him to attack us?”
Lurlina cocked her head to one side. “Nova, I would never. The dreadful captain simply
found a way out of our kingdom and sought his vengeance. Once a pirate, always a pirate, I’m afraid. So, have you decided to join your true family? It’s up to you if we shall join the two kingdoms for good. You have seen how the people live under the Djinn direction, and the same can be said for Launi.”
“How do I join the temple, though?” she asked, feeling a brush of air against her head. Her mother’s face locked on hers, and for a moment Nova thought she saw her face fade to a ghostly shadow before snapping back to full form.
“All you do is take my hand, and we will be connected,” Lurlina said, smiling wider than before.
Nova eyed Lurlina’s hand curiously. She wanted to take it so badly, but something held her back as if a memory of another time pounded against the locked doors in her mind.
“I feel as if…I feel as if there is something I should be…looking for?” she said glancing around the dining room. “As if someone else should be here.”
“I don’t know who you could possibly mean, Nova,” Lurlina said.
“My darling, I miss you so much,” Kamali said, taking Nova’s hand tightly. “I want you to be here with me.”
“But what about Father?” Nova asked, feeling a wave of sadness pass over her.
“Nova, your father understands the disconnect Djinn have living away from the temple. You must understand, he wouldn’t want such a life for you. As your power grows so will the constant pull to be elsewhere. You will never be fully satisfied where you live, or with whom you live,” Kamali said softly.
Nova’s brow furrowed as she closed her eyes. Her father’s soft eyes and broad shoulders seemed to grow distant the closer she came to touching Lurlina’s hand. She didn’t want to forget his face, but she longed to be joined in the serenity of the temple.
A brush of wind again sent her glancing over her shoulder. “Are you certain there isn’t another apart from Father I should think about?”
“There is no one else, Nova,” Lurlina said. “Your father understood the risks associated with taking a Djinn from the temple. He loves you, true. But he knew this day would come eventually.”
Nova pushed the rest of the custard around absently in the flaky pastry crust. It was true—she knew her father understood the longing a Djinn had for the temple though she wasn’t certain how she knew it. But what was the small, irritating ache in her heart to consider someone else?
Varick brushed Nova’s curls off her forehead. Her eyes whirled wildly beneath her eyelids as if in an active dream. He couldn’t imagine what was taking place inside her thoughts, but he was certain it was full of manipulation and fantasy.
He leaned down and gave her a gentle kiss on her head, thinking of special moments he’d come to cherish through the years. His daring, brave child had grown into a strong, independent woman, and yet she was trapped. And he could do nothing.
He watched as Kale sat straighter, yet never left her side. Following the boy’s example, Varick leaned closer to Nova’s face, hoping she could hear his words. It was all he could do.
“Nova…love. Don’t leave us. It isn’t real, my girl. It isn’t real. Come back to us. Remember when we went to the shipyards…oh, it was so long ago. Your mother wanted to show you what I did for a living.” Varick wiped a stray tear from the corner of his eye, ignoring the feeling Kale was watching his every move. “The truth is we wanted to make certain you never found out about our…colorful pasts. You probably don’t remember, but when we walked on the deck of a ship with a cracked mass, the deck fell through. You would have fallen straight through to the gun deck, but you stopped yourself. Somehow, the deck rebuilt, love. You did it with your strength…with your power.
“It was then your mother developed the tea. She knew the temple would come for you some day. Nova, you are the Djinn of Launi, they want you only to take control of this kingdom. You are the key to the two worlds, love. Don’t listen to them. Your mother fought to keep you from their reach for a reason. Come back,” he said, stopping as the emotion filled his voice, making it too difficult to continue.
The silence in the room grew heavy, and Nova’s breathing more rapid. Kale clenched his jaw, his chest tightening as he watched Varick speak so lovingly to Nova.
Hadwin pushed through them, running his hands along her body without ever touching her skin. He seemed to ignore them both as he diligently worked to rebuild the wall between Nova’s mind and the Djinn temple. Sabryn, Amoni, and Malick came in and out, placing herbs in a diffusing pot. Amoni rubbed her ears between his fingers for a moment before rushing back out.
“Is that true?” Kale asked finally, blocking out the others. “The story?”
Varick looked up, his eyes red with fatigue and emotion. Slowly, he nodded. “This girl has had power within her since she was a young child. The blame for this rests with me alone. If I had moved on before Smythe found me, we would still be living free of the temple. The tea would still be protecting her.”
“Forgive me, sir,” Kale said. “But you don’t know that. Nova is one of the most stubborn, bull-headed women I’ve ever met. The moment she left your home, I’m certain she would have stopped doing anything she didn’t want to.” Kale smiled. “And when I call her bull-headed, it is with the utmost affection.”
Varick smiled and nodded. “I suppose you’re right. She hated that tea. How long were you a pirate, Kale, before Nova met you?”
Kale’s brows raised. “Do you not know how we met?”
“Honestly, I’ve never taken the time to ask Nova,” Varick said sheepishly. “I suppose I was possibly avoiding the conversation that would make it too real that my daughter had grown into a woman.”
Kale scoffed and looked down. “Well, I wasn’t a pirate, sir. I was in the navy. Our post was attacked by Smythe. They were going to kill me, but Nova saved me. Truthfully, we didn’t think much of each other for a long while. I believed her to be a ruthless she-pirate who had damned me to a life I thought repulsive. No offense,” he said, quickly remembering who Varick once was.
“I’d worry if you found piracy to be a good life,” he replied.
“Anyway, we slowly got to know one another, trust one another. From there…well, I want you to know I care for her deeply, sir.”
Varick nodded, catching a sideways glance from Hadwin. “I appreciate what you’ve done for her, Kale. Truly. You and that Atlas were there for her when I couldn’t be. I owe all of you a great deal. But perhaps you could do one more favor for me.”
“Anything, sir.”
“Stop calling me sir, Kale. I’m not a military man, I’m a reformed pirate, and it irks me.” Varick smiled when Kale’s flushed.
“I’ll try to keep that in mind,” Kale said.
Suddenly, Nova gasped loudly as if surfacing from a deep lake. Her eyes remained closed and she fell back onto the bed, her body as limp as before.
Varick and Kale both leaned over her, taken back by the sudden change.
“What was that, Hadwin?” Varick asked.
Hadwin hovered his hands above her lifeless face and smiled. “She’s fighting back.”
A shudder rippled down the heavy table as Nova felt a breath of air brush the back of her neck. Lurlina shifted uncomfortably for a moment before drawing Nova’s attention back.
“Do you understand the blessing of being a Djinn living at the temple?” she asked.
Nova glanced around her. “I…suppose I haven’t given it too much thought.”
“You will have the ability to strengthen your powers to help others around you. Your friends, you could rid the skies of pirates. The people of the Below, you could reunite them with their families in the band you are with above. Think of the blessing you could be to them, Nova. Just take my hand.”
Nova locked eyes with her mother. Kamali’s face was frozen in an eerie smile. It seemed unnatural, almost forced. In the corner of the grand room, something took form in her gaze—a small girl with rosy curls bouncing along a wooden beam. Something inside told her she knew the c
hild.
As she watched, Nova burst from her seat when the small girl fell through the rotting wood. The faceless parents bent over the hole, desperate to reach her. The moment they were about to lose hope, the wood shards floated to the top of the hole, carrying the girl like a platform. The girl was safe and unharmed, and the hole repaired itself before her eyes.
“What is it?” Lurlina asked, looking toward the corner.
The girl and her family had faded to nothing, but Nova’s heart swelled as if it had been a shadow of a memory she’d long-forgotten.
“Nothing,” Nova said sitting back in her chair. “I just thought I…saw something.”
“Well, let us not delay further, my dear,” Lurlina said, standing up and floating toward her.
Lurlina took a handful of her curls in her hand, gently caressing them. “Let us join, Nova. We must do the right thing for those we care about.”
Nova studied the linen table runner. Her mother continued to smile as if frozen in place where she sat. The intricate patterns of gold and silver vines ran together in crisscrossing patterns along the length of the table and captivated her attention.
“People we care about,” Nova repeated in a low whisper.
Movement flashed her attention back to the corner of the room. A man in a red military uniform stared out at her through heavy iron bars. Why did his knowing eyes make her heart pound heavy in her chest?
Another scene flashed to life as Nova watched feeling the sting of tears line her eyes. A wrap-around porch and the same man leaning close to her as she pulled away. How she wished she could remember what was said between them on that porch. But the feeling inside her heart as she watched him walk through a dark doorway gave way to the end. How desperately she wished he would turn around and fight harder for her.
Finally, his handsome face was back as he pulled the shadow of her into a passionate kiss. Nova felt as if she might snap in two as the warmth of the moment surged through her body. Her mother’s smile had faded as had the glow in her face.
