The Glass Wall (Return of the Ancients Book 1)

by Madison Adler

  I blushed, feeling foolish.

  Anger and resentment replaced the humor on Rafael’s face, and his eyes took on a distant look. “Jareth and I have never trusted each other. We have experienced extreme difficulties from the moment we met, and our only success has been in creating the weakest pairing of Fate Trackers ever to have existed.”

  “Is that why he’s lying now? Imprisoning us?” I asked.

  “To be fair, Jareth is within his rights to place me here while he presents to the Queens. I would have done the same in his place,” Rafael replied with an indifferent lift of his brows. “As Fate Trackers, it is our duty to avert the disasters we see. I can’t fathom why he failed to mention the Tulpa. It gives me far fewer choices to act upon and less time to do so.”

  At that, my hysteria threatened to resurge, and I couldn’t resist whispering what really concerned me. “Am I really going to … die now?”

  Reaching across the table, Rafael took my hands in his and squeezed them in a supportive gesture. “Your fate line is far too strong for that, Sydney, and it’s only growing stronger by the moment.”

  Those words soothed my panic. Gripping his fingers tightly, I bowed my head and forced myself to focus on calming down. It took some time before I managed to raise my head and ask, “How can you be so sure? I mean, what is a fate line? Is it something like a crystal ball?”

  He obviously didn’t understand the crystal ball part, but shrugged it off. “Fate Trackers see the Threads of Fate flowing through each living thing.”

  “You see … like … real lines?” I asked, a little incredulously.

  “Yes.” He nodded slowly. “The silken Threads of Fate appear above each living thing’s head, and they are ever-changing, as each decision made affects others in the most unexpected ways. We search for and track the Blue Threads.”

  “Are you sure my line is getting stronger?” I whispered.

  Clasping my hands tighter, his smile broadened. “Most definitely. You’re quite the courageous one, little human, and each moment I spend in your company convinces me even more that I’m on the right path.”

  I desperately held onto his fingers, wanting him to repeat over and over again that I wasn’t going to die.

  Finally, he said, “We will act soon enough, and we should prepare.” Withdrawing his hands, he leaned over and touched the wall next to the table. “You must drink this. It will prevent the nausea the next time we shift.”

  A compartment in the wall opened up, and he pulled out two glasses. One filled with a clear, amber liquid and the other with what looked like milk.

  I got the milk. “What’s that?” I asked, pointing to his.

  “You can’t drink our water any more than we can drink yours.” He smiled, humor glinting in his eyes. “You would be drunk in under a minute.”

  “Drunk?” I snorted. I eyed my milk suspiciously and then suddenly recalled their bizarre addiction to artificial sweetener. “Ah! So is that why Harmony put Equal in her water at school?”

  “Equal neutralizes the effect for us.” He nodded. “Drink.”

  After a momentary hesitation, I did. It tasted quite pleasant—like bananas. When I was finished I asked, “Where are we shifting to?”

  Sprawling back in his chair, Rafael expelled a long breath, tapping absently on the table. “At the moment, I can’t shift anywhere. I’m a prisoner. We must first escape this tower.”

  I sat up eager for action. I must have been obvious because he started grinning.

  “We can’t escape until the evening.” He leaned over and tousled my head with a chuckle. “So I’m afraid that you must practice patience for a few more hours, at least.”

  “Hours?” I mouthed, deflated. Throwing my head back, I heaved a loud sigh of exasperation.

  “Come.” He rose, holding out his hand.

  As he led me back to the room with the circular red couch, I began to think about Jareth some more. He had obviously been at odds with how Rafael had chosen to read fate. He had also said that I was never going home. I was going to ask Rafael if that were true, but thinking of my life now living with Al and Betty filled me with so much emotion that I couldn’t form the words. I was afraid he might tell me that the most I could hope for was to live the remainder of my days in Avalon. Instead, I settled for asking, “What are you going to do? What is the plan?”

  He jerked a little at the sound of my voice, startled from his thoughts. “We must first wait for Harmony.”

  His answer was frustrating because it was useless. I wandered about the room, looking outside the window, but the floating hills were no longer diverting. I drummed on the glass for a time before turning to find him watching me from his heavily-painted eyes. He had a bemused smile on his lips.

  “What is it?” I asked waspishly.

  “You are quite brave,” he answered, again flipping the shard of glass in his fingers. “And you’re taking this experience remarkably well.”

  “Not really.” I shook my head. “I just don’t want to panic and miss the opportunity of getting home. I can freak out later.” My voice broke on the word “home” and unexpected tears burned my eyes.

  With a compassionate look in his gray eyes, he said, “Take heart, Sydney. I do not believe your fate will end as you fear.”

  That was comforting, but then I suddenly recalled Jareth’s words and scowled, “Jareth said you were a dreamer.”

  “No.” Rafael expelled a breath and looked away, clearly a little insulted. “It was odd for him to say that. We Fae do not dream—only humans do.”

  “Dream?” I asked, glad for the temporary distraction from my panic. “You don’t dream?”

  He shook his head.

  “Well, it isn’t all that fantastic.” I shrugged. “Most dreams are quite boring, anyway. And I don’t remember most of mine.”

  He was obviously amused. “Dreams are much more than you realize. Humans are a powerful race. You dream and thus you create your own reality.”

  I was hardly in the mood for philosophy. I snorted and muttered sarcastically, “Then, I’ll just whip up a dream and get us out of here.”

  “There is more truth to that than you know, Sydney.” Rafael chuckled. “But there are faster ways right now.”

  “Which brings me back to my original question … what is the plan?” I asked, feeling a twinge of annoyance. Annoyance was useful. I could grow it into anger. Anger would give me much more strength than panicking would.

  Rafael merely watched me as his eyes began to twinkle.

  It irritated me. “What is so funny?” I snapped.

  “I have no doubt that you’ll rise to accomplish great things, Sydney.” He dipped into a graceful bow. “You’re a very strong person.”

  Suddenly realizing that he never answered any of my questions, I snapped, “Is this some kind of fairy trick? Divert instead of answer what I ask?”

  “Fae.” Rafael flipped the glass shard in the air and caught it deftly between two fingers. “Not fairy.”

  “Whatever.” I snapped.

  “There is a very big difference,” he replied, noticeably a little aggravated himself now.

  “You are doing it again!” I frowned. “You deliberately don’t answer me!”

  “I’m working on the plan,” he stated casually. “There’s nothing for us to do now but wait.”

  I was sure he was lying. He didn’t seem like he was working on anything. He just looked like he was killing time. Figuring he already had a plan, but that he wasn’t about to share it with me, I began to pace in front of the windows, oblivious to the fantastic scenes drifting in front of me. I kept waffling between frustration and fear until I felt like I was going to explode.

  Finally, I strode to the couch and threw myself facedown upon it, and screamed as hard as I could. I kept screaming, but then somehow, the screams turned into sobs. I was scared. I missed Al, Betty, and Grace terribly, and I was growing more convinced by the minute that I was never going to see them again.
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br />   The couch dipped a little as Rafael sat beside me.

  “What if I never see them again?” I wailed into the cushions. “I never even got to tell them good-bye! Betty will probably … probably worry ... She’ll think I ran away!” At that, I burst into fresh tears.

  Rafael patted my shoulder in a soothing gesture.

  “I don’t know why I’m worried about what they’re thinking!” I sobbed harder, perplexed. “After all, I’m just a foster kid, a government paycheck.”

  “You worry because you love them, Sydney,” he supplied quietly.

  “They are just foster parents.” I choked down a sob. “I haven’t known them that long.”

  “Sometimes, love grows very quickly,” came his soft response.

  His comment was startling enough that my tears dried instantly. I did feel something unusual for them, something that made me warm and fuzzy inside. I wasn’t sure it was love. I actually hoped that it wasn’t. Loving foster parents would be a mistake. I never stayed in one house for very long, and I certainly couldn’t let myself be so needy.

  Then I realized with shame that I hadn’t thought of Maya once. I knew I loved Maya. I was hard-wired to love her, but I never worried that she’d be concerned about me. She never was. Why was it different with Al and Betty?

  Slowly sitting up, I frowned. “I can’t love them. They aren’t my parents,” I said. “I already have a mother.”

  “There are many shades of love.” Rafael lay back on the couch, and picking up one of the gray cushions began to toss it in the air. “You can love them all. One love doesn’t take away from another.”

  Wiping my tears with the back of my hand, I choked. “It doesn’t matter, anyway. I’ll probably get stuck here.” I swallowed and then added what I was really thinking. “Or most likely die.”

  Tossing the cushion on the floor, Rafael stared at the ceiling, still lying on his back. After a moment, he informed me, “You aren’t going to be stuck here, and you certainly won’t die.”

  I blew a long breath. “And just exactly how do you plan on preventing it?” I rolled my eyes a little. “I know you aren’t going to answer that.”

  Slowly, he sat up and taking the glass shard from his pocket, he dropped it into my palm. “With this,” he replied. His expression was serious, hardened with resolve.

  I held up the piece of glass, puzzled, and then I heard his words.

  “I’m going to break the Glass Wall.”

  Chapter Twenty-One - Raven

  Thinking of that massive wall of shimmering glass, I sprang to my feet and gasped. “Even I know that breaking the Glass Wall is a bad idea!”

  “It’s the only way.” Rafael drew his lips in a thin line. “The wall is hiding a sinister secret.”

  “But you said it protects Earth!” My throat went tight. “You can’t let those Tulpas loose on us!”

  “They already are, Sydney.” Rafael rose fluidly to his feet in one swift movement. “The Glass Wall is a lie. If it had been protecting humanity, you would never have even seen the Tulpa.”

  “But you and Jareth both said there was nothing wrong with the wall!” My heart was racing and panic was threatening once again.

  “We only discovered that the wall is performing as it always has.” Rafael’s expression was grim as he added, “But that doesn’t mean that it’s protecting humanity. I believe now that it never did.”

  His ominous words hung in the air.

  Frowning, I whispered, “What if you break the wall and you are … wrong?”

  He didn’t answer me. Instead, he strode over to the window again to stare out, unseeing. The feathers in his blond hair combined with the black patterns on his face made him look downright wicked. Finally, he grudgingly admitted, “If I’m wrong, then I’ll have unleashed an unimaginable calamity upon humanity. I will have allowed the Brotherhood access to humans and disaster will befall Earth.”

  It was then that I fully understood what it meant to be Blue-Threaded. It was an abnormally cruel fate, to be faced with such exaggerated consequences of success or catastrophe. I wondered if it was truly balanced, and if so, what kind of stupendous success could offset a disaster such as the one playing itself out now.

  Rafael’s long finger slid under my chin to tilt my face toward his. I had been so distracted that I hadn’t noticed him standing in front of me once more.

  “But if I’m right, Sydney, then humanity already stands on the brink of an unthinkable disaster and we have erred greatly by protecting a wall that we thought protected humanity, but instead allowed the Brotherhood to meddle in Earth affairs for over a thousand years unhindered,” he said gravely, his fingers still cupping my cheek. “The only way that Tulpa could have entered your world was through the Glass Wall, and it proves that the Brotherhood is seeking to entrap humanity in their evil designs once again—something we thought we had fixed with the wall!”

  “Then, is my part in this whole mess showing you this Tulpa and the fact that the wall is a charade?” I asked, my voice shaking a little. “Is that why I’m Blue-Threaded?” I hoped he would say yes, because I didn’t want to think that I might soon be embroiled in something even worse.

  Rafael seemed surprised at the nature of my thoughts. “We will never know that until the thread disappears, for good or ill.”

  “I take that to mean my fate is still Blue?” He didn’t have to answer. I could see it in his eyes. Scowling, I muttered, “Breaking the Glass Wall sounds like an insane solution. How are you even going to do it?” The wall was massive.

  His long lashes swept down, hiding his eyes in a gesture that I knew meant that I wasn’t going to get an answer. I wasn’t surprised when he switched the subject.

  “How did you get the Tulpa from Marquis’ car?” he asked in a neutral tone.

  I wasn’t expecting that. Cringing a little, I was honest and confessed, “The day you saved Tigger … I was looking for a towel and … took it.” Not wanting to see his disappointment, I turned my back on him, vowing that if I ever made it back to Earth that I was never going to steal another thing for as long as I lived.

  Suddenly, I felt his warm breath in my ear and heard him whisper, “It’s most fortunate for all that you did. This ugly secret has remained hidden for far too long.”

  At that moment, in spite of everything, I became very aware of him, and the only thing I could think about was how close he was standing.

  Grabbing my wrist, he pulled me back to the window, and still holding my hand, absent-mindedly trailed our fingers along the glass. “Ajax mentioned the day before Thanksgiving that he saw the Brotherhood tracking you in the woods. It makes sense now. If you had their Tulpa, they would have known it. They would have wanted that particular one back, I am sure.”

  “Trailing me?” I repeated, startled. Recalling Ajax’s strange behavior in the greenbelt that evening, I added, “I never saw anything.”

  “You wouldn’t have,” he replied, focusing on the hills floating before us. “While the Brotherhood can see you if they choose, you can’t see them.”

  My brows rose in surprise. I didn’t like the idea of aliens watching me without my knowledge, but then a horrible thought crossed my mind. “If you break the wall … does it mean that everyone on Earth will start seeing them?” I asked, aghast.

  “No,” he assured me, still looking out the window. “The Brotherhood can’t physically access the Third World, or Earth as you call it. They can only travel to the Second World where humans create the Tulpas. From there, they can also watch Earth from behind a veil.”

  “Maybe I was better off not knowing,” I muttered. I was holding onto his hand so tightly that I figured I was probably cutting off the circulation in his fingers, but he didn’t seem to mind. Then, because I wanted it to be true more than anything else, I added, “There must be some kind of misunderstanding. I don’t see how humans can create things like Tulpas. We would know if we did. You must be wrong.”

  Rafael’s lips curved into a
smile and his eyes lit with humor. “You will one day see your power, little human. Humans are envied by many races and for more than one reason.” He lifted our entwined fingers to touch my cheek lightly with his thumb.

  The gesture was friendly, but for some mysterious reason, I felt my cheeks turn fiery red. Embarrassed, I jerked my hand free and babbled, “What about these Brotherhood guys? Who are they? I mean, I’ve never heard of them before I met you.”

  I was grateful that he didn’t appear to notice my embarrassment. Instead, he seemed to be weighing how much to reveal.

  At last, he replied, “Since ancient times, your world has known them as the Lizard People. They have long sought to walk your world, but upon failing to find compatible human host bodies, they—”

  “What?” I interrupted, upset now and forgetting entirely about being embarrassed. “We have aliens trying to possess our bodies?”

  Wincing slightly, he fell silent.

  “No! You can’t just leave it hanging like that!” I grabbed his arm and shook it a little. At his obvious confusion, I quickly amended, “You can’t just tell me part of the truth! Why do they want to possess us?”

  “Sydney, I’ve said far too much.” His voice held a tone of regret. “When there is nothing to be done about such things, perhaps it’s best not to know.”

  “But I know now!” I shook his arm harder, biting my lip to keep it from trembling.

  “And I’ve been foolish in revealing this much!” Expelling a deep breath, he captured my hand once again and murmured, “I’m breaking far too many rules of late.”

  “Please,” I pleaded, clutching his hand tightly. “I have the right to know!” I wasn’t sure why. I just felt that I did.

  Apparently, he thought so too, because with a heavy sigh, he answered, “The Brotherhood views humanity as a herd of cattle, a food source …”

  I hadn’t expected that. “They want to eat us?” The pitch of my voice was dangerously close to hysteria.