by Regan Claire
“I’m not exactly sure what she’s doing, but she said it would keep him from… would keep him from dying.” It was really hard to choke those words out.
“We aren’t actually going to help her! Her cousin is the future Dux! He is allied with the Elfennol. We shouldn’t be trying to save him!” Lena again had a complaint.
This chick was seriously starting to piss me off.
I looked at her. “Why are you here? You know who I am. You know who my family is. That doesn’t change because we shared a near-death experience. If I changed every time I almost died, I’d be a ninja-turtle or something by now.”
“I’m here because you saved us. I’m here because you are powerful. I’m here because you are the only one strong enough to protect us from Kaylus. But mostly, I am here to see if you pose an even bigger threat to us than he does,” Lena answered. At least she was honest.
“And if I do?” I asked.
“Then I will take as many people who will follow and go far away in the hopes that you will never find us.” Her chin was jutting out, and I knew she meant her words.
At least she didn’t threaten to kill me. I counted that as a win.
“I promise you, I will do everything in my power to end Kaylus.” It was damn near a vendetta at this point. First, he had tried to kill me a couple times. Then, he’d sent people to kill me and my cousin. And, of course, there was the vision of him killing Ezra that I needed to prevent from happening. Kaylus needed to die.
Shame quickly washed over me. I wanted to kill someone, was determined to end a life. It wasn’t that long ago that the very thought made me sick; I’d promised to never do it again. I’d killed before, the first time by accident, and it affected me the way that accidentally killing someone should affect you. I was filled with guilt and sincerely determined to become strong enough to protect everyone I cared about without resorting to ending a life. I’d killed at least three people during my fight with Cash, and I hadn’t given it a second thought until now. Part of me thought that made me a monster.
The other part didn’t care if I was a monster, as long as I was a monster capable of keeping my family safe. My family had somehow grown to include all the Ethnos that needed protecting.
I looked at Alexander sitting on my left. He had told me before that killing was necessary during war, that a leader had to make that type of sacrifice to save their people. I refused to believe him at the time, but now I knew he was right.
Sometimes you had to do more than restrain your enemy.
“I believe you will do just that. What happens afterwards? Will you go back to being our enemy? Will you destroy us as Kaylus intends to, under the guise of loyalty to your family?” Lena asked.
“Honestly? I don’t know what happens next. I don’t really care, and won’t care until I’ve gotten what I came here for. All I do know is that the only people I’ve ever fought, the only people I ever intend to fight, are people who hurt me or the people I care about. Don’t do that, and I won’t have any reason to stand against you.” I crossed my arms.
“I will keep that in mind,” Lena said. I could tell she didn’t like me. That was fine, because I didn’t like her either. But maybe now she’d shut her trap long enough for us to finish our conversation so I could get back to Cash.
“How do I save him? Can you teach me how to heal his energy?” I asked the Elders in front of me.
“I am not sure. I have only ever done it with another of our people. Humans are different. I would like to see him in person before I try to come up with a healing plan,” the same Elder who had spoken before said. Maybe I could get everyone name tags.
“Deal. When can we leave?” This was more painless than I anticipated.
“I can leave immediately,” he said.
I stood up, but before I fully left the table Ezra gently placed a hand on mine. “Please, Della. I will leave right now with you, if you wish. But give us an hour. We need to figure out what my father is doing. An hour won’t make much difference.”
I hated him for asking me to stay longer. But he was right. I had to trust Clara could keep doing whatever she was doing until I got back. It would be pointless to save Cash just to be bombarded with whatever Kaylus had cooked up.
“An hour,” I said, while reluctantly taking my seat.
“We thank you.” Peyton bowed his head, briefly. “Ezra, how long have you suspected your father was a traitor?” Peyton asked. It seemed the other Elders were content with him asking the questions.
“I believe he considers the rest of the Clades as traitors. But I’ve known that his agenda wasn’t in the best interest of our people for quite some time,” Ezra answered, hand still on mine.
“Why did you say nothing?” Peyton asked, though it wasn’t accusatory.
“He is my father, and an Elder himself. As far as I knew, the rest of you were just like him. I also knew exactly what he was capable of doing to people who went against him. I had very good reason to not go against him.”
I thought of the scars that riddled Ezra’s back. They varied in size, shape, and age — proof of lifelong torture, rather than regular beatings. Ezra once told me that his father would prevent him from healing until the scars were formed in order to hammer in the lesson he was trying to teach his son. I never wondered why he put up with it or why he didn’t seek help. The scars from my abusive foster days weren’t visible, but they ran just as deep. I didn’t need to ask him why, because I already knew what it was like to live in fear, believing you somehow deserved what you were getting, trusting that nothing would change, knowing that nothing could change. During my brief time with Dove, I felt the need to explain myself. Explain why I acted the way I acted. Explain why I flinched when he touched me.
Ezra needed no explanations and neither did I. Of course, even my bruised psyche trusted Ezra, since I never flinched with him.
“Do you know what your father is planning?” Peyton leaned forward ever so slightly.
“I think so. I think he plans to open the portal to the OtherRealm. I don’t know how, but he talked about ‘going home’ often, angry that it no longer seemed a priority,” Ezra answered.
“He’s mad! That world is worse than dead. We thought, for a while, that it would be possible to return; possible to heal that which we destroyed. When we found out otherwise, we made it a priority to make this world our home. But that too, has proven impossible. Because of the Elfennol, we have to always remain hidden.”
“Wait, how did you make that discovery? That the world is hopeless?” The Elfennol were well aware of the fact, but they were still under the impression that the Clades were determined to return to their original home, even if it meant killing their new one in the process.
“You don’t already know? An ancestress of yours, actually. Delilah Deare. We reached out, in secret, to the human Dunamis who might be able to help us return home. She was able to look into the OtherRealm with her elements, and told us what she saw. She bewitched our most knowledgeable rune-maker and he left our ranks to be with her. The next thing we heard, he had died and she had formed an alliance with the Elfennol. We were forced further underground once the humans joined the fight against us. There has been no love lost between us and your family.”
“Until now.” Ezra reminded him.
Peyton nodded his head in agreement. “Until now.”
Alexander chose that moment to speak up. “We heard a different story when we approached Delilah. She claimed that the Clades had killed her lover. She was there, saw the person who was responsible, and recognized him as one of the Clades she had previously met. It was her determination to get revenge that swayed the Council to ally with the humans. The power she held to Read the elements did not hurt, and it was becoming clear that the Dunamis had become powerful enough to sway the fight in our favor. She left out that her lover had been Clade, himself.”
Peyton looked shocked. “Why did she not seek our help? Ethan was a good friend, and his loss was mo
urned by many. If she had told us, we could have discovered the culprit and —”
“As interesting as this is, and it really is fascinating, we have more important things to deal with right now than who killed a friend of yours several hundred years ago.” I was really tempted to just sit back and listen to a history lesson that involved my family, but we had to get a game-plan and go save Cash before he became part of my family history, too.
Peyton’s head bowed again. “Yes, you are right. It just came as a shock to hear — Well, we at least know some of what would be required to open the portal. Unfortunately, only two people heard all of her visions about the subject. One was Ethan, the other —”
“Let me guess, my father was the other?” Ezra asked.
“Yes, I’m afraid he was.”
“Well, I think that answers the question of who killed Ethan.” It was pretty obvious, actually. “So, what do you know on the subject? How can we stop him?” I asked Peyton.
“We know the rough location of the portal, and that the key to open the gate can only be used at sunset or sunrise — it is a time ‘in between’ and the only time to travel between worlds. We also know that he requires power over the energy of life and death in order to succeed.”
“Which he possesses,” one of the other Elders stated.
“A fact he has hidden well these centuries.” Peyton sounded less than thrilled.
“Anything else helpful?” The location was good. If we could get the Elfennol to help, we could surround the area and prevent him from ever reaching it.
“One more thing we know for sure. Something must be devoid of life for him to use his ability over death. He will need a sacrifice.”
Ezra’s eyes going dark flashed in my mind.
“I may have an idea of what the portal looks like,” I blurted out.
Everyone at the table looked at me. I kept my eyes on Peyton, avoiding Ezra’s gaze.
“Cash and I tried Reading from the elements right before… before the fight.” I started tracing the tattoo that Cash had seen us get together in his Reading. “My Reading showed me a stone circle, which was split in two halves. One light and the other dark. There were also four markings on the outside of the circle. I don’t know what they mean, but they were evenly placed around it.”
“Do you remember anything else?” Peyton asked.
My eyes flicked to Ezra. “No. Wait, yes. I remember something about six elements. It didn’t make sense at the time, because I didn’t know about Death energy. Could he require the other four elements, too?”
“Can you describe the symbols you saw?” Alexander asked me.
“I think so, or at least close to what I saw.” I closed my eyes and tried to remember the symbols, flinching at the memory of Kaylus smiling at his son’s dead body. I placed my hand on the table in front of me and let my memory guide the energy I was using to recreate the marks I had seen.
When I opened my eyes, the emblem that Alexander had placed on the table was surrounded, a mark etched outside each arm of the cross.
“Those are the symbols for the four physical elements. If that is what you saw, then it is likely they are also required to open the portal.”
“Which means we must get to your family as quickly as possible before my father can capture one of them.” Ezra stood up quickly, while I felt panic settle into my stomach.
“Wait, there is still the matter of rebuilding and — ” Peyton started to say.
“It is more important to prevent Kaylus from attaining the materials he needs to bring destruction down upon us all.” This was from Lena, who stood up with us. “I will come with you. Ian, get what you need to help her cousin. We leave in five minutes.”
The man who had spoke of healing Cash jerked up from his chair and ran out of the room, apparently to do what Lena had asked.
“Why are you agreeing to help us?”
“Because helping you will help my people,” she said, frankly. Okay, so maybe I liked her a little.
“There are Elfennol all around my home. I can’t assure your safety, but I’ll try to keep you safe.”
“With respect, you have enough to protect as it is. I don’t fear the Elfennol.” She grinned, but it wasn’t from joy. More like a predator baring her teeth. “I’ll be at the gate in five minutes time with enough Ambrose to get us through the journey. Luckily, we kept a small store near the entrance for traveling convenience so it was unharmed in yesterday’s activities.” Then she walked out of the room briskly.
I turned to Alexander and Aahana. Ezra was at my side, where he belonged. “Alexander, I need you to go to my father immediately and tell him everything you heard here, and that I’ll need help protecting my family. Tell him to meet me at the hospital.”
He nodded his head, then briefly hugged his mother before walking out of my obsidian room.
“Aahana, please help organize rebuilding the town. Make sure everyone has something to do. I don’t want them dwelling on what happened yesterday. Keep them busy. And keep your ears open for people sympathetic to Kaylus’ faction.”
Panic usually set in after a traumatic event. I didn’t need the remaining Clades to suddenly freak out, overthink things, and decide somehow that Kaylus was the good guy. They needed to be kept busy. I turned to walk out the door after Aahana agreed to my instructions when I remembered the last three Elders were still sitting at the table.
“If the entrance has not already been repaired, do so immediately. Place a watch to ensure that Kaylus or his people don’t try to come back. If any of his allies are discovered, do not kill them. Imprison them, and keep them separated from the others so they can’t sow any of his lies among the rest of the people. Do not let them become martyrs to his cause. I’ll be back.” Then I walked out with Ezra following close behind. Once we left my room and were walking toward the entrance I turned to him. “They already knew to do all of that, didn’t they?”
“Probably, but I think they appreciated being reminded.”
I wasn’t sure if he was making fun of me or not, so I responded the best way I knew how. “Shut up.”
“I’m serious! It showed you cared, even though you have something else you really need to take care of right now. It’s not what you said to them, but that you said anything at all. Add that to the fact that you said the things a leader says, among a people that have remained largely leaderless for millennia… you helped take a large burden from their shoulders.”
We were quiet for a few paces. “Thank you for thinking of my family, Ezra.”
“They are important to you, and you must know by now that you are important to me.” Wasn’t that a line from somewhere? It sounded like a line, but it also sounded like the truth.
“I had an idea.”
We didn’t have time for any more mushy confessions because we’d reached the door where Ian and Lena were waiting for us. They both had changed into skin-tight bathing suits, which would make swimming that much easier since they wouldn’t have to worry about the annoyance of their clothes. I’d had to continuously heal rashes from my too-loose clothing on my way here. I looked at Ezra and he was pulling off his clothes, too. He was still covered in ash and soot, and most of his clothes had burn holes in them. He didn’t have the fancy bathing suit, but apparently his black boxer-briefs were tight enough. And boy, were they.
I tried not to stare.
I failed.
Then I shook myself out of it.
I looked down at my huge Hawaiian shirt and too-big jeans. I picked them out for comfort on dry land. Definitely not the type of thing I wanted to wear while traveling through the water at breakneck speeds. And I wasn’t exactly wearing undergarments like Ezra was.
But I had an idea. I quickly created a sight Shield around myself, then continued to bring it down around me until it hugged my skin. I probably looked about as visible as a wizard in an invisibility cloak, but I could modify that. I turned the Shield black, then kept shrinking it until it covered me as mu
ch as my one-piece back home did. Then I stripped off my regular clothes and looked at my traveling companions.
“Are we ready?”
“Yes.” Lena was putting something on her back that looked very similar to a backpack, but looked aerodynamic and slipped on over her head like a vest instead of having the typical straps. I raised an eyebrow quizzically. “It’s a pack for the Ambrose, specifically designed for long distances at high speeds. We’ll stop halfway for ten minutes and recharge.”
I started to argue — I hadn’t stopped halfway to get there and didn’t want to do it on the way back, but then I remembered that I had literally fainted almost immediately upon reaching my destination.
“Sounds like a plan.”
Chapter Five
Journal,
I’ve had sleep and caffeine, and now I have time to finish writing about yesterday. It was unreal. It started off typically, but it definitely went uphill from there. I can’t make up my mind if it was all a huge mistake or not.
I was running late to work yesterday and ran smack dab into a customer on the way in. I was a little peeved at first (who stands in the middle of the doorway?) but got over it pretty fast when I caught sight of the offending person. I’m not usually into blonds, but this guy definitely did it for me. The friend he was with was scowling down at me as if I’d thrown my apron down and scattered all my pens on purpose just to flirt with Mr. HottyFace so I figured maybe there was a little something going on between those two. I didn’t linger and started taking tables before I embarrassed myself by hitting on a guy in front of his boyfriend. Again. My gaydar is seriously off.
Anyway, I was kinda happy when they were seated in my section. Eye candy does make the work a little sweeter. I was even happier by the time their apps came since I was nearly certain that I’d been mistaken in my earlier assumption. HottyFace was definitely giving me “the look,” and Scowly seemed to just have a perpetually disapproving look on his face. It was even Scowly’s birthday and they were apparently looking for something to do later on to celebrate.
