“Jak, it’s difficult to explain. This is what I didn’t want to tell you straight away.”
“What is it?”
“The book, it holds a power of its own. That was what drew us to it. But it also…changed us.”
A cold dread began to well up in Jak’s stomach. “Changed you, how?”
For a moment, Karlona didn’t answer. Then two slits of green light opened and illuminated the room. To Jak’s eyes, that had become used to the dark, the light filled the entire cell.
No, she thought. No, no, no, no!
The light emanated from the eyes of a Shadow Fae. One that held Jak in her arms. It must have kept its eyes closed this entire time to keep the green light from giving it away.
Jak left the Fae’s embrace and scrambled away as fast as she could. Her back felt the cold sting of metal bars as she reached the back of the cell.
“Jak! I…please listen.” The expression on the Fae’s face was contorted and fearful. “I can explain everything.”
“How can you be my mother?” The question was almost a whisper, and Jak didn’t realize she had said it aloud until the Fae responded.
“I am your mother, Jak.” Her voice was strained with emotion. “Please, you have to believe me. The book, the Relic, it changed all of us. We became the first Fae. We wanted to come back but didn’t know if society would welcome us. Or if they would mistake us for demons.”
Jak narrowed her eyes. Perhaps they were demons, like Kuldain always said. Perhaps the Fae were just some other breed of demon, created from tampering with magic, with a Relic. But she listened as her mother continued.
“I gave birth to you in this very cave. And when we realized that you weren’t like us, not completely anyway, we decided to take you back to your father. At the time, we didn’t understand our transformation and we…I thought it better that you were raised in normal society, away from us.”
She paused, as if giving Jak a moment to say something. But Jak didn’t know what to think yet, so she stayed silent. Everything the Fae said seemed to make sense, to some degree. But she couldn’t quite bring herself to believe it yet. Her father had never said anything about what happened when her mother disappeared, or how he had come into possession of Jak as a baby. Why hadn’t he said anything? She’d always thought that her mother had disappeared after she was born.
“I brought you to your father, who was out looking for our lost expedition. We met him and his band near the base of the mountain. It…did not end well. ”
“And what did my father do?” Jak asked.
“He managed to calm the situation. He seemed to be the only one who believed that we were not demons. He took you and agreed to raise you. That was the last I ever saw of him.”
“So are you?” Jak asked.
“Am I what?”
“Are the Fae demons? Like everybody says. Some people would think you look like demons.”
“No, we’re not.”
“And why should I believe you?” This was all too much for Jak. How could her father have kept a secret from her like this? Why hadn’t her mother come looking for her? They could blend in with the environment it seemed. She could have come. She could have. Turning, she faced her mother’s eyes. “You, who left my father alone with a child to care for. Who never came back to even check up on her own daughter.”
“I did it to protect you.” Karlona’s voice pleaded, but Jak would have none of it. Her anger was speaking now.
“Don’t give me that! You have no idea how much he sacrificed for me. How much he struggled to be a shepherd and a single parent. It almost broke him!”
“I know, I’m sorry. But if anyone had discovered you were the daughter of someone like me…”
“Oh, right, so you had all my best interests at heart?”
Karlona’s eyes narrowed, dimming the light. When she spoke, her voice was cold.
“Perhaps it is best if we come back to this later.”
Jak secretly agreed, though she was still angry. “Fine!” was all she said.
The green eyes rose as Karlona stood. Without another word, she exited the cell and Jak was left to herself in the dark. She instantly regretted her temper.
Why had she acted up like that? Was it simply the revelation that her mother was a Fae? Jak tried to sort through the emotions that were leaving her confused and dazed. But for now, she couldn’t make sense of them. She couldn’t make sense of any of it.
Her mother was a Fae, the Fae were evil, or at least that was what she had been led to believe. But what evidence was there that the Fae held any ill-will towards humanity? After all, if Karlona was to be believed, they had been a simple band of explorers and scholars. But Jak instantly knew that this wouldn’t help their case. After all, demons used to be human too. It was the misuse of magic that led to their transformation. Was it the same for her mother?
Questions upon questions plagued Jak as she sat in the dark. She couldn’t sleep. Instead, she wrapped her arms around her knees and did her best to sort it all out. The tears were a welcome release.
13
Jak wanted to be angry, she had every right to be angry. But she could not hold that anger for long. In the darkness there was nothing, no sound, no light, nothing to fuel her anger except her own thoughts. And as time dragged on, the rational side of her brain quickly began to take over.
Add to that the fact that she was now hungry and thirsty. She wondered if the Shadow Fae drank water like normal humans. Should she say something? Were they even here? There was absolutely no indication that someone was watching her. At times, she thought she saw a flicker of green light illuminate the cell, or hear the slightest whisper. But overall it didn’t matter. She was alone.
A blinding light suddenly caused Jak to shield her eyes. It seemed to fill every corner of the room. It took a few moments for her to realize that the light came from a single torch, lit in the doorway to the room they were keeping her in. Her vision had grown so used to the darkness, that even this single torch brought pain to her eyes. It took a few moments to adjust.
When she could finally look around, she could see shadows lining the walls. Shadow Fae. They were still watching her. But at least she could get a good look at the room she was in now. Her cell appeared to be built into a corner of the cave itself. Metal bars protruded from natural rock, enclosing the small space. She had guessed as much from feeling around the rough floor.
What surprised her was how big the cave seemed outside her small, stone room. It rose up some fifty feet or so, and she couldn’t quite make out how far it stretched in front of her. A small ledge ran by her enclosure, but then dropped off into a much wider chasm. Her room seemed to be one of many strung along the ledge, though she couldn’t quite tell from inside. Her single torch was not enough to illuminate beyond the ledge itself, though from what she could tell, the space out there could be enough to fit the entire town of Riverbrook.
“I’m sorry for surprising you like that,” a voice spoke. It was the Fae who claimed to be Jak’s mother. Jak still resisted the thought that her mother could be so…non-human. She wanted to believe, and if the Fae’s story was true, it would make some sense. Perhaps she could give them the benefit of the doubt. At least for now.
Karlona was accompanied by at least two other Fae, who stood behind her. Watchful. Karlona spoke again. “I’ve often thought about what I would say to you if I had a chance. But these things rarely go the way we plan. I’m sorry we kept you here like this. You’re free to go as soon as you wish.”
The doors to the cell creaked as the other two Fae stepped forward to open it, and Karlona stood there expectantly. Jak didn’t say anything at first. She was having an internal struggle in her head. Should she trust this Fae?
“People fear you,” she said finally. “Out there in the real world. We hear nothing but rumors about the Fae, and none of them are good. They all speak of children snatched up when they wandered too far from their homes, or travelers lost in the
mountain passes.”
Karlona sniffed. “Rumors, as always, seriously misrepresent the truth. We have hurt no one, not since…” she broke off. “Not since the time I gave you to your father. That said, sometimes travelers have touched the magic of the book and become one of us. Some of them try to return, but we forbid it. To the outside world, those people are then lost.”
“So you’re saying that you’re not the only ones who became Fae?” Jak asked. This was not something she had considered before. She assumed that her mother and her companions were the only Fae.
“Our numbers grow with each passing winter, albeit slowly,” her mother replied. “We’re still not sure what causes it. Some change, but many do not.”
“And this is all because of your relic, the Annals of Adam?”
Karlona nodded. “We don’t yet know how or why, but yes. We’re certain the book has something to do with the change.”
“So why don’t you lock up the book then? If it’s changing people like you say, disrupting the lives of passing travelers, shouldn’t it be contained?”
Karlona shook her head. “We tried that. But the power reaches beyond any containment that we have the power to impose. As it is, we do the least amount of damage by keeping it here, locked up in the mountains and away from as many people as possible.”
“May…may I see it?” Jak realized the moment she said this that she wanted little else. To see a Holy Relic, and a lost original copy of the Annals of Adam at that. The Relics were the highest form of Holiness in the Royal Church at Skyecliff, and the Annals of Adam their most precious scriptures. To see something that was both a Relic and an original copy of the Annals…well there could be nothing else like it.
The little girl inside her, the one who hadn’t been beaten down by the death of her father and everything else that had happened since, felt exhilaration at the prospect of actually touching something so powerful.
Karlona considered her, green eyes narrowing in thought. “You are not worried that it will turn you into one of us?”
“You said people just wander past the mountains and turn into Fae, right, but not everyone. Wouldn’t I have begun to change by now?”
“Perhaps, but we don’t often let others outside of our inner circle see the book.”
Jak opened her mouth to protest, but Karlona cut her off. “Don’t worry child, I think we can make a special case for you.” One of the other Fae stepped forward to whisper something in Karlona’s ear. She bent to listen but waved him off within seconds, whispering something Jak could not hear.
Turning back to Jak, she said, “Not everyone agrees with me on this.” She shot a look back at her companion. “But I think you need to see what we’re dealing with. It could be important.”
“What do you mean?” Jak asked.
“We’ve long talked about how we should reveal ourselves to the outside world, to prove our innocence and alleviate fears. Given our…different appearance, we weren’t sure how we could do that. But perhaps with a little outside endorsement...”
Jak slowly connected her emotions in her head. “I...will need to know more, but…from what I’ve seen, you aren’t a threat, not like the demons that people think you to be. I will vouch for you. I don’t think people would listen to me, but I’m willing to try.”
Jak could barely make out a smile touching Karlona’s lips. The type of smile a mother gives, proud of her daughter. Jak realized that she already saw this woman as her mother. Somewhere, deep inside her, she trusted the Fae. If not, it was certainly an over-complicated ruse. This woman wouldn’t intentionally deceive her like that, right? She knew too much about her father to be lying completely.
Of course, the Fae did have an appearance that most might find disconcerting. Jak had heard of travelers from the south with darker skin, but not the shade of pure charcoal that she saw among these people. And the way they seemed to…bend shadows around them, it would make most people hesitate, and probably strike fear into many. But Rael’s comforting words still echoed in the back of Jak’s mind. He always insisted that the Fae were nothing to fear. So she would press forward, and trust that her father knew what he was speaking of.
“I will take you to it,” her mother’s voice brought Jak out of her thoughts. “You may take the torch to guide you. We have no need of light to see, but it does not hurt our eyes any more than yours.”
Jak nodded and stepped forward to retrieve the torch. As she left her room, its flickering light illuminated the path that ran alongside the enclosure. The cavern beyond was still too large for the torch to fully illuminate, and Jak quickly found herself taking a safe step away from the edge of the path. That drop must be at least fifty feet. But peering over the edge, she caught a glimpse of structures far below. She could see movement down there, and pinpricks of green light flashed up at her, eyes of Fae staring up at her torchlight. There were many Fae below. But Jak couldn’t see much more than that.
She turned to find her mother, who was waiting expectantly to one side. She lifted a hand in one direction, indicating where they should go. Then she began moving away.
Jak took a few hasty steps forward to follow, knowing from experience how easy it was to lose sight of a Shadow Fae. She managed to keep pace with her mother as they wound through complex corridors and caverns. Some were large, like the one where she had been kept. Others were narrow, some so much so that Jak had to turn sideways to move on.
Curious, Jak fell in line with the other two Fae. “I don’t see many of you here. Is everyone hiding?”
The two stayed silent. “Come on, can’t you at least say something? I’m Jak, what is your name?”
Still they stayed silent, though Jak could see one glance at the other, as if asking permission to speak.
“Weren’t you two the ones that helped me out on the mountain?” It was a wild guess, but an educated one. Jak thought she saw something familiar in their eyes.
“Those two are Vander and Neril, they don’t talk to strangers much,” said Karlona ahead of them.
One of the Fae grimaced. “And Karlona is too quick to trust,” he said to Jak. “As, apparently are you.”
Karlona waved a hand in dismissal, but Jak probed further. “Don’t you want me to trust you?”
“I’d prefer it if we didn’t have the need to trust anyone at all. We do fine here by ourselves.”
Jak let the conversation die for a moment, then spoke up again, “So...are you Vander or Neril?”
A pause, then, “I’m Vander, he’s Neril.” He pointed to the Fae on the other side of Jak. Neril had yet to say a word, but his eyes looked kinder than Vander’s, and Jak thought she caught the hint of a smile and nod as she looked at him.
“Well it’s a pleasure to meet you. I know you might not want to trust me, but I’m going to do what I can to make sure the others will trust you.”
Vander grunted, but that was about as good as Jak could expect. The more she talked with these people, the more they felt like normal human beings.
After what seemed like several hours of winding through endless passageways, always going downward, they arrived at a carved stone door. Jak paused to examine the door. It seemed old, certainly not something the Fae had built. She had caught a few glimpses of Fae structures, but this doorway had a completely different style to it. She wished, not for the first time, that she had her journal with her. This needed documentation.
“This is where we found the book, through this door. It took us weeks to find it. We had to be careful not to get lost in these caves.” Karlona waved a hand, indicating to Jak that she could enter.
Jak took a tentative step forward, and swallowed. Did she feel a slight humming coming from the archway? She knew she probably would have changed by now, but how could she be sure? Did it take longer for some people? Maybe she was in the process of changing and it was too slow for her to notice. And though her mother and the others seemed okay, how could she be absolutely sure that becoming a Shadow Fae was a good th
ing?
Her mother seemed to sense Jak’s uneasiness. “Don’t worry. It does not change everyone, and it's likely that you would have transformed by now, if it were to happen. Besides, in one sense you’re already half Fae. Perhaps that is enough to keep the transition from completing itself.”
Jak nodded, then stepped forward, through the stone archway. On the other side, she could make out a large cavern, narrow on the sides, but stretching far above her head. The walls were flat, unlike most of the caves she’d seen before. It seemed someone had carved out this chamber. It seemed more like a throne room than a natural cave.
At the far end, sitting on a raised pedestal, was the book. At first, it looked like any ordinary book. But as Jak drew nearer, she could recognize its ancient markings and elaborate designs across the cover. And there was something else too. A power radiated from this book, the humming she had felt earlier, a feeling Jak couldn’t quite identify. But she could recognize its potential. For the first time in her life, she stood near a Holy Relic.
On the walls, Jak spied metal hooks to hold her torch. She quickly placed it in one of the hooks and turned back to regard the Annals of Adam. The designs seemed to move in the fire light.
Reaching forward, she touched the cover and ran her hands along its surface. Then, gathering her courage, she opened the book.
She glanced at the first page. “Behold the Annals of Adam, first man, that he wrote to his sons and daughters in the final years of his reign.” Wait a moment, Jak realized suddenly that she understood everything that she read. Shouldn’t this be in an ancient language? Was the book written in her language or was some power allowing for understanding?
Jak kept reading. The first pages outlined the story of Adam and how he and his wife first came from the stars to populate the planet. The first parents.
Karlona walked up behind Jak as she began flipping through pages. After a moment she spoke, “One of the first things we noticed is that this copy of the Annals isn’t quite like the copies we have today. In other copies of the book, some of the language has been changed to a more modern tongue. But in some cases, whole passages have been taken out. We’re not sure why. This original copy seems to be more complete.”
Out of Shadow: An Epic YA Fantasy Adventure (Roots of Creation Book 1) Page 11