by Meg Bonney
Ara raised a hand to signal Ren to stop speaking. “Ren, please go and get her something to eat.”
“Coffee? Do you have coffee here?” I asked.
“What is that?” Ren responded.
I turned my head to the ceiling and squeezed my eyes shut. “Oh my god, I hate this place.” I frowned as I plopped back down on the cot.
Ara smiled brightly, placing her delicate hand on my forearm. She shook her head, making the shells clink a bit. “Worry not, little acorn. We will make your body well enough to finish your journey.”
She turned back to Ren, her expression a bit sterner now. “Off you go now, Ren!” Ara moved closer to me, her eyes still on Ren. He seemed hesitant, looking back to me as ran his hands through his hair.
“Are you all right?” Ren asked me with a furrowed brow.
“Ren, I will not leave her side,” Ara assured him.
Ren stared at me a few moments longer, then nodded and exited the room, limping as he went. He turned back to me once more before passing through the glaringly bright doorway.
“Wait! Ren!” I called loudly.
He charged back through the door with wide eyes. “What? What is it?”
“Food. Get me as much as you would get for yourself, okay? Don’t skimp,” I said. He nodded and smiled as he turned back to the opening of the little tentlike cottage.
“Wait, Ren!” I called. He poked his head back in.
“I don’t know if you’re really getting me here. I want you to get the portion you would normally eat, okay? No, double that. Okay?” I requested.
Ren grinned and left. I heard him yell “Okay!” from outside the room.
“He has not done a thing since he brought you here, aside from worry,” Ara said. “He had been in that spot nearly all day.”
“Really?” My mouth fell to a frown as I pictured Ren at my bedside. “He didn’t try to go save Ruth from the road without me?”
“He did,” Ara said, laying her hands on her lap. “But I am afraid he failed.”
“Oh.” I sighed. “So she is there? My aunt is at the Temple of the Ember Isle?”
Ara nodded. “Truly. But know that Ren did all he could to save her. He was beside himself with guilt when they got away with her. He would not even speak after that. He just sat with you, silently, not even looking up when I entered the tent.” Ara twirled a lock of her long wavy hair around her fingers.
“Wow…I…” I paused. “Well, I am the key to this whole plan—his plan to save the Magics. Or my blood is, I guess.”
“Yes, that too,” she said, smiling. “Let me open this shade. You need sunshine.”
Ara went to the wall next to the little doorway and rolled up a window-sized flap that hung in the cottage tent. Sunlight flooded the entire tent as she tied up the fabric with perfectly knotted bows. I squinted as my eye adjusted to the brightness. Ara sat on the edge of my cot again.
“Your mind is heavy. I have been told that I am excellent to speak with, if you would like to pass the time with me. I feel as if I know you. Jason has spoken of nothing else but you. Water?” Ara held out a cup.
“Um, sure.” I paused, letting it all sink in. It was hard to keep up with everything she was saying. “So, um, did you say you are the Empress of the Fae?”
“I did.” Ara nodded.
“Are you a fairy?” I cringed, feeling stupid for asking.
“The world of the fae is quite complex. I am their empress simply because the former empress was killed and I took her place, but I am not one of them,” Ara explained.
“Gotcha. I have another question.” I took a long drink of water from the wooden cup, then spoke softly and with caution. “Ren intercepted a Cypher Fairy that my cousin Lacy was sending. She was sending it to the Temple of the Ember Isle that we were on our way to.”
“Ren told me so, yes.” Ara nodded.
“Is it possible that the fairy got the message wrong?”
“I wish I had an answer that would ease your troubled mind.”
I forced a smile. “Right, right. Of course.” I swallowed hard.
Just then, a little ball of light entered and landed on Ara’s shoulder.
“Is that a—”
Ara raised her finger to her mouth to quiet me. She kept her eyes on me and calmly nodded as if listening to a story.
I leaned in but heard nothing. If the fairy was making noise, it was so low that it was impossible to decipher.
The little light rose up and zipped out of the tent.
“My fairy just informed me of some news from the Ember Isle. Six more Magics were delivered to the temple today,” Ara said.
I gasped, dropping my water cup. “Six? We need to get there now! How long until we can reach the temple?”
Ara pursed her rose-colored lips. “You could get there in a day’s walk.”
She waved her hand, and another little light zipped out of the tent. “I have sent for Ren. I will go with you to the temple.”
“Is―is that safe? Aren’t you a Magic, too?” I asked.
“I am. But I am the Empress of the Fae. If the king intends to harm me, he knows right where to find me. The fae are small, but they are mighty. Not even the king would take them on,” Ara replied elegantly. She seemed so calm, so collected, given what she had just said. Somehow, it made me feel calmer, too.
“Ren said that the king would kill them during the full moon.”
“That’s in two days,” Ara confirmed.
I shivered as I remembered what Ren had said about how they killed Witches. “Why the full moon?”
Ara’s smile fell. “You mean, why does King Dax only kill the Magics on the full moon?”
I nodded.
“It’s what keeps the spell on the courtyard so strong,” Ara said, not meeting my eyes. “The sacrifice of the Magics keeps the courtyard spell powerful. And everyone knows the king will do anything for power.”
I looked away. “Oh.”
It got quiet for a moment. I felt a twinge of guilt. Like my father’s actions were somehow linked to me, even though I had never met him.
Change the subject.
“Uh, I like your shells”—I pointed at her hair—“in your ponytail.”
Ara shook her head, and the shells jingled in her ponytail as they knocked together. “I like to hear the sea singing when I move,” she said, and as she moved, I caught a glimpse of something on her neck, just under her ponytail. “And this way, the sea is always with me.”
“What is that, there on your neck?” I gestured. “If you don’t mind my asking.”
Ara lifted her ponytail. “It’s a gill. My father was a Merman. See?” Ara lifted the side of her dress to show green and purple shimmering scales covering all of her thigh.
“Very cool.” I stared in awe. “Mermaids? That’s crazy.”
Ara stared at me with a smile, but did not speak.
I shifted and moved the strings on my seashell eye patch. “Um, so did you make this?” I asked.
“Oh, yes. Truly. It is from my personal shell collection. It was always a favorite of mine, so I thought it’d be perfect for a face as lovely as yours.” She twisted her hair again in her long, slender fingers. She had rings on each finger. Some were small silver bands that looked more like springs coiling from the knuckle to the nail bed.
It was silent as I leaned over and looked toward the doorway, anxious for Ren to return. The ocean was breathtaking. There was a cliff and what looked like more forest farther down.
“It is pretty here,” I murmured, unsure of what to say. I bit my lips together. “This place just feels so unreal.”
She nodded slowly with a warm smile. “You have seen it, and you still do not believe this is real? As real as you and I?” she asked.
“I believe I’m here, sure. But it’s like I’m dreaming. I must be. It’s all a little hard to take in.” I avoided her stare.
“It is not this pl
ace that troubles you. No, it is that you have a home in this land. That you are the Scion of Everly gives you doubts?” She moved closer to me. Her violet eyes seemed to gleam in the light.
“The Scion?” I raised my eyebrows at the word.
“The heir to Everly,” Ara proclaimed. “My fae and I remain loyal to your coven, as we have for decades.”
“My coven?”
Ara nodded, proudly. “Yes, the Rosewood Coven. They have led the Magics’ side of this battle, and we believe the coven will save Everly. And then there is you. The girl who is the rightful inheritor of the Rosewood Coven and the heir to the Ember Isle. Strongblood and Witch. The Scion. Not ever has there been a person with two different Everly lineages. You are every bit as special as I imagined.”
“So it’s true that I am only supposed to be one or the other?” I asked quietly, looking away, toward the door.
I looked over to Jason, who hadn’t moved.
“You are the first of your kind, yes,” Ara stated. “As far back as our history goes, there has never been a child born of a Witch and a Strongblood who has retained traits of both bloodlines. Strongbloods and Witches have had children before, but over time, the traits of one will trump the other.”
“What do you mean?” I asked as the waves crashed even louder outside the cottage.
“A child may be born with Witch blood and Strongblood, but as they grow, one always gives way to the other. Either the Witch powers fade completely and the child is a Strongblood or vice versa.”
I nodded. “Okay, then how am I both?”
“Ren said that your magic is your sword. Your dueling bloodlines were never given a chance to see which would dominate. You grew up as a Strongblood, it seems. Now that you are grown and your magic is seeping back into you through your sword, you have traits of both the Strongblood line and the Witch line.”
“But I sank in the pool. Wouldn’t that make me a Witch?”
Ara paused to think. “That is curious. See? You are the first, so I am not sure of the rules. When we sort out this mess with your father, I would love to bring you to a Reader.”
I sniffed. “My father. Still strange to hear.”
Ara nodded. “It would be stranger if it wasn’t.”
“I know I should hate him. I should hate him for what everyone has told me he has done. He is evil. He has to be. He is a murderer. Right?” I begged, more desperately than I had intended to.
“It is fine to want to know. It is fine to want to know him, to be curious about where you come from. Do not feel guilt for that desire,” Ara reassured me.
“I wish I was in Greenrock. I wish this wasn’t real,” I said, barely audibly. “I just want to be home.”
“No matter how soon you return, it will not feel like the home you knew. The place will be the same, but you never will be.” Ara smiled sympathetically.
“They say you can never go home again.” I fiddled with the hem of my new linen shirt.
“Truly. You will never be the girl you were yesterday. Every day will change you. You long to be the person who you once were in that house. That’s the home you miss, not the house itself. Home is always a memory, no matter how long you are away,” Ara said.
I nodded.
“That is not all that troubles you,” Ara said, shaking her head, making the shells click together like a tiny wind chime.
I shifted on the cot. “No, I suppose not. But it doesn’t matter now, does it?”
Ara didn’t respond. Instead, she lowered her head as if waiting for me to continue.
“It’s just―it is so much to take in. Ruth was always super evasive, but I shared a room with Lacy. I lived in the same room as her, and I had no idea she was a Witch. How is that possible? You should have seen how she acted that night. She was like a completely different person. She wasn’t my sweet, spunky little cousin. She was cold and determined. It was like she was someone else. I don’t know. I have always been able to trust her. Should that change now? I don’t know. I just…” I paused. “And my mother is lost here somewhere. And then, not only is my father alive, but he is hell-bent on wiping out a chunk of the beings in this world. No matter how many times I think it or say it, it still sounds made up.” I shook my head.
“And here I was thinking you’d be shy,” Ara said sweetly. “Jason said you weren’t much of a talker.”
I’m not.
“Sorry, you really are easy to talk to,” I agreed with a smile. I wiped my face. “Well, even if my eye isn’t working, the tears work just dandy!”
“It pains me to see you sad.” Ara reached out to rest her hand on my foot. I moved my foot quickly and tucked my legs under me on the cot.
“I don’t get it.” I put my hand to my forehead, feeling angry at everything now. “Ren. Why is he helping me? Why is he being so nice to me?” My eyes fell, as did the volume of my words. I wasn’t sure if I had meant to say that last part aloud.
“That I cannot answer for certain, but I have always known Ren to be kind. I do not know him well as a grown man. I knew his mother, and I knew him as a child.” Ara paused. “He has lived alone for so long, poor boy.”
“He lived alone? For how long?” I asked. “It sounded like he and his dad were super close.”
“They were. But Ren has lived in the forest alone since he was fourteen,” Ara replied.
“What?” I shook my head. “Fourteen? Why so young?”
“Has he told you what he is?” Ara looked down and smoothed the fabric of her dress.
“Yeah, a Porter.”
Ara nodded and looked to the doorway of the cottage. “Yes, but did he tell you that Porters are seen as a danger here?”
I shook my head. “Ren’s annoying, but he’s not a danger.”
Ara leaned closer to me, her face turning very stern. She looked back over her shoulder at the door again. “There is a reason Ren is not welcome in the villages. A reason he stays on his own.” She paused. “Did he tell you about the storms?”
I nodded my head, listening intently. “The one that killed his dad.”
“Yes, the energy storms.” Ara checked the door again.
“What does that have to do with Ren?”
“Ren’s father was the royal record keeper. He delivered the news to the Rosewood Coven that their lands were being seized by King Dax. In retaliation, the Rosewood Coven cursed Ren to be a Porter. Ren’s mother fought the Witch who inflicted the curse, but she lost the battle.”
I gasped. “She died?”
Ara nodded. “Yes, and that’s when the storms started. They only happen when Ren is near, and we haven’t been able to figure out why. After the first few, Ren’s father moved him to the woods and had Ren cut ties with his life in the temple to protect him from the angry villagers. And to protect them from Ren.”
“He was all alone?”
“He was all alone.”
CHAPTER 18
“All of that happened to him because of my family. He should hate me,” I said to Ara. “My mother’s coven killed his mom and cursed him, all because of an order my father gave. He should hate me.”
Ara leaned closer to me. “You are more than your mother and father’s daughter, Madison.”
“We need to get to that temple. I need to stop him. I have to. My father needs to be stopped. I won’t let him hurt Aunt Ruth, too.”
Poor Ren.
I thought about the storms and got a nervous twinge in my stomach. “Ara, what causes them?” I looked to doorway again. “The storms. I mean, are we safe with Ren?”
“I wish I had an answer. I really do,” Ara replied softly.
Jason stirred next to me but still looked fast asleep, which didn’t surprise me. That kid slept through everything when he slept on my floor. Once, I kicked him in the face accidentally and he didn’t even budge.
I cleared my throat, shifting on the cot and getting increasingly annoyed at Jason’s heavy sleeping. I pushed m
yself to standing. My feet felt hot, like the blood was going to cause them to burst. I felt faint but stayed on my feet, determined to walk out of this tent on my own. But first, I needed Jason. I wouldn’t go anywhere without him. I walked around his cot to the window Ara had opened.
“Sit, dear, please. Ren will return in a moment and he—”
“No,” I said calmly and loudly. “I am okay.”
Ara smiled at me apologetically.
“Of course.” She stood.
I placed both of my palms flat on the small table that sat under the open window. My head bobbed forward as I focused on keeping my knees from shaking. The sand felt cool beneath my feet.
“Ara, thank you for everything, but we need to get going. I won’t let him ruin anyone else’s life.” My voice was louder now—shrill, even. I was overwhelmed by a determination to run out of the tent, but my limbs were not cooperating. I turned around.
“Jay!” I yelled.
He flailed awake. “Oh, hey, Maddy! You’re awake!” Jason exclaimed, jumping up.
“Finally!” I said, trying to stay focused on standing without wobbling. Jason wrapped me in a hug and I let him, happy to see him calm.
“The path to the temple is not long,” Ara said serenely as a dozen little flickering fae wafted into the tent and danced around above her head. She stood near the doorway and fiddled with the shells hanging from her side ponytail.
“Maddy, are you okay?” Jason asked, placing his hands on my face. “Oh, Maddy, I am so sorry. Your eye.” He pulled me close for another hug. The fabric of his shirt was scratchy on my cheek.
“We are leaving,” I informed him quietly, pushing him back. “I have to stop him. I have to.”
Ara smiled and held out a pair of boots. “For you, Madison.”
Smiling, I grabbed the black suede boots. They were floppy and tall and looked like the ones that Jason had on that went up to his knees.
“Thank you, Ara. You are very kind,” Jason replied.
“Madison?” Ren burst into the room carrying two giant plates of food. He set the plates on the small table behind me and grabbed my arm to hold me up.
“Stop.” I turned my head toward him.
