by G. Bailey
“Whatever happens, it can’t get worse than finding them alive,” Mason tries to make light of a bad situation, and I want to thank him for it, but even the thought of being thankful they are alive is bitter on my tongue.
Looking out the window, I feel a tear fall down my cheek. “I used to stare out of the window in my room, listening to my sisters sleeping, and cry, wishing my parents would come back.”
“They don’t deserve the title of parents,” Alex angrily bites out. “If we ever have kids, fuck, I will never let them down or not be in their lives for a single day. They will be bored with how much I’m always there.”
His words make me smile for more reasons than he could possibly know.
“Same,” I whisper, hoping in some ways my baby can hear me. I know zero about pregnancy, so there is a good chance it can. Pushing all thoughts of the baby to the back of my mind, I straighten up in my seat and take a deep breath. “Are you all as curious as I am about what and who is on this island?”
“Yes, and I’m pissed there is no signal. I can’t get a message to the empire to let them know we are trapped but alright,” Liam grumbles, still trying to mess with his phone with his other hand. “I’m going to find a way to contact the outside world, somehow.”
“And I’m going to find our weapons we can hide. Our familiars will stay close in the forest, but we need to be prepared,” Alex adds.
“That leaves me with the sole mission of making friends and figuring out what the actual deal is on this island,” Mason suggests, and the guys nod.
“I’m in this group too, so don’t I have a mission?” I question them all, and Alex smirks at me in the mirror.
“Is looking beautiful considered a mission for you?”
“Nope, asshole,” I laugh.
“Such a beautiful mouth you have, Miss Ana. Even with those foul words,” Alex teases, and I huff, crossing my arms.
“I am going to focus on my mum and working out how loyal she is to my dad compared to her children,” I suggest.
“I would guess quite a bit based on her being here all these years, Ana,” Liam replies. “Be careful. They aren’t the loving parents you remember.”
“I know that,” I softly reply. “But I can pretend I’m looking for that in her.”
“So, your dad is a god...,” Mason breaks the silence. “So you’re a demi-god?”
“I have no clue,” I laugh, actually realising Mason might be right. “As for today, I think I will stick with Shadow.”
“Maybe we could—” Liam starts, but he halts, his eyes looking ahead through the front window. I lean between the front seats, looking out the windshield, and I’m speechless for a second time today. A spiralling city stretches across the island, all the way to the beach and to the mountains, built around them. Stone, metal and glass structures much like the Familiar Empire in America fill the space in the middle, but the edges of the city are filled with thousands of smaller brick houses with pretty little streets. The mountainside must have fallen or been blown up on the one side, and in the ruin, they have built houses and structures all the way up. Built into the side of the mountain and made from the stone is a giant statue of two people holding hands and looking up at the sun. A waterfall pours from their joined hands to the bottom of the mountain, no doubt going into a stream through the city. The sky is full of dozens of birds, flying in formations and even across the sea. They must be familiars because of how different all the birds are. I sit back as Alex drives us onto a modern paved road with several other cars on it.
“So, they must be trading fuel and shit from humans. Or how else would this work?” Liam asks us, and I’m sure he isn’t expecting an answer. He is right, the island looks so alive and busy like any other human city…but it’s not full of humans.
“I have no fucking clue,” Alex drawls as I keep taking in the city. It’s stunning, looking a little like the empire, but it’s so much more with actual roads, and the towers in the middle are made of glass, reflecting the sun. They look like offices instead of cramped homes like they are in the empire. I don’t get the impression the people are crowded in here at all.
It’s a good half an hour drive before we get to the middle of the city and start to drive through it. The sidewalks are filled with people in modern clothes, looking like humans except for their familiars at their sides or on their shoulders. I spot monkeys, lions, an elephant with six children on its back, and two leopards. It all becomes too much, and I end up looking away, seeing the same shocked expressions on my guys’ faces. Alex follows my parents through the city, past the beautiful district of brick houses with white-framed windows, and kids playing outside of them. There are so many children, and there is nothing but the sound of peace.
I have to admit this place is stunning. Everything the familiar race could ever need...but why is it hidden away like it never existed?
Eventually we get to a gated area in which the gates are opened for us, and we follow the road down to a cabin on the beach. The hut is large, almost in the sea, and the waves crash against the bottom of the wooden structure. It has a crazy amount of glass windows that must pour light into the building. A long wooden pier runs to the hut, giving you some privacy from the beach and the people that might walk down it. Alex parks the car behind my parents, and we get out, walking over to them.
“This place is private from the city but still accessible to the forest. You need not worry, our people see you as guests and will not bother you. There will be an announcement tonight on our TVs, you should watch,” dad suggests and takes a step close to me. Immediately Mason gently pushes me behind him, and Alex and Liam step to his side. Dad lifts his hands in the air, the universal signal for peace. Only that won’t work with my guys. Not unless I say it’s okay, and it’s not. I don’t know my dad anymore.
“When you are up to it, I would like to know how you found us. We had always planned to step in when it got bad in the empire. We don’t want our people to suffer, but before this, everything was fine,” dad weakly explains himself.
“Before this?” Alex almost laughs. “Children are stolen in the empire, the poor die like cattle, and everyone was scared way before your eldest daughter forced them to be an army. Nothing has been ‘fine’ for a long time.”
“Alexander George, am I correct?” dad asks.
“Yes,” Alex answers him after a pause.
“And you are Mason Olesen and Liam Mogensen?” he asks, and they both nod once. “Be sure that I knew the suffering of the empire, but to step in is a big risk for my people here. Not everything is as it seems.”
I nudge Mason to the side, stepping in the middle of them. “Your friend, a god, protected me and sent me here. He is dead, and he was sure you would help me. I believe he might have been wrong.”
For a moment, I see the shock in the pits of his eyes. “He was not.”
“We will see. The empire is burning because of Bethany and how she is—that is on your shoulders. You corrupted her, and I won’t let you do that to me and Phoebe,” I tell them both. “Keep me here if you want, fine. But if anyone else I love dies because of you two, parents or not, I’m going to find a way to kill you for good.”
I shove past them, ignoring the shocked look on their faces and knowing my guys are at my back.
That’s what family does. We protect each other.
And we don’t leave.
“I have to admit, this place is wicked.” Mason’s statement is followed by a low whistle as we walk into the cabin and see the sheer beauty of it. It’s super modern, with a kitchen that looks as if it’s out of a magazine, and a living room with two grey sofas facing a fake glass fireplace that currently has blue flames flickering over wood logs. The wall facing the ocean is pure glass, and with nothing else between us and the ocean, it feels like you could just step through the glass into the water.
The cabin is huge, more than enough room for our familiars to be in here later. I open some of the doors, finding two bathroom
s that are the same as each other, a single room with bunk beds, and a laundry room. The last room is a bedroom, and I head in, admiring the white sheets on a large wooden frame and the glass windows behind it that somehow overlook the sea. There are large white cushions in front of the windows, and I walk over, sitting on one and looking out. Every so often in the distance, I’m sure I see the waves of the sea crash against something invisible. There is a faint blue glow that maybe most wouldn’t notice, but I see it, and I know it’s the barrier my dad spoke of.
We really are trapped here for the time being.
And that means everyone back home is sitting ducks.
“We will get out,” Liam states, and I turn to see him sit on the edge of the bed. His eyes search mine, and I pat the space on the cushion next to me. He smiles, kicking off his shoes before coming to sit next to me. I curl up into his side, still watching the sea as if a ship might come and magically save us somehow.
“I think we should send Shadow and Silver to search for a way out. Maybe they can smell where the magic is. Hex could look from the sky, and Ki-Ki from the ground,” I suggest, and Liam kisses my forehead.
“Good idea, love,” he tells me. “Why don’t you rest now? Alex is cooking. You look tired, and it’s been a shocking day.”
“Sure that is safe? Alex cooking, I mean,” I chuckle.
“Mason is helping, don’t worry,” he laughs back with me. I smile as I rest my head on Liam’s chest, his heartbeat lulling me to sleep in seconds.
Chapter 3
Anastasia
Sea air and pretty boys.
“Good boy.” I stroke Shadow’s head, and he huffs at me. I pick some of the leaves from his fur as the sea brushes freezing cold water against my feet and over Shadow’s. He doesn’t react, and I try not to flinch at the cold as I look over the sea. I wonder if I could make Shadow a dolphin and let him drag me through the sea until we escape. As silly as the thought is, I’m getting desperate and restless. It’s been four days since we got here, and we haven’t been “allowed” to leave the gated area they left us in. The guys all agree that fighting our way out is the last option, and fighting is not something I really want to be doing in my condition. Like Shadow can read my thoughts, he nudges his nose against my stomach. “I know I should tell them. How do I tell them this?”
“Tell us what, exactly?” Alex asks, and I jump. He chuckles, wrapping his arms around my waist and kissing the side of my head. “What secrets are you keeping from me, Anastasia Noble?”
“Too many,” I reply with a low chuckle of my own. Alex turns me around, and Shadow runs off down the beach as I wrap my arms around his shoulders.
“Why are you out here at five in the morning?” he softly asks me. “In fact, you sneak out here every morning, and you hardly sleep. Talk to me.”
For a second, I want to tell him everything. I want to explain that I’m pregnant and I come out here for fresh air as I feel sick every morning. I want to explain that I’m scared of sleeping in case I see any dreams of my future, which at this point, is so complicated and scary that I don’t want to see anything.
How can I tell him everything that is going on in my head? How could he possibly understand how messed up I am feeling?
Would Mason and Liam ever forgive me if I told Alex everything first? This is something I need to tell them all together, and I’m terrified. Tears fall down my cheeks in my hesitation, and Alex frowns, cupping my cheeks tightly in his hands. “What is going on? Whatever it is, I will fight it for you. The darkness doesn’t get to steal you from me, Tassie.”
How can I tell him the truth? Oh god.
“Alex...I don’t know how to—” I stop when I hear the thrum of a car engine and the crackling sound of the wheels against the sand. Alex doesn’t look happy, but he drops his hands, using one to link our fingers as we watch the Jeep drive into one of the empty parking spaces. I slip on my Converse shoes, ignoring the sand digging into my toes as we walk over. My mum gets out of the car, sunglasses resting on top of her head and her blonde hair plaited over her shoulder. Wearing a white tank top, jeans, boots and a beige jacket, she reminds me of the few photos I saw of her. All my memories are jagged in my mind now; each one feels fake now I know the real truth, and I hate that she has taken that from me.
“No god here to protect you?” Alex coldly asks my mum.
“You wouldn’t hurt me, because I am Annie’s mum and—”
“You don’t get to call me that anymore. My name is Anastasia. Only Phoebe—you know, the baby you left—calls me that,” I snap, interrupting her. “And Phoebe calls me Ana more often than not because she can’t stand to say the nickname as it reminds her of you and me. Bethany told her it. It reminds her you are gone...but oh wait, you aren’t.”
“I understand you are angry, but I wondered if you would come with me on a small trip into the city,” she asks, tears brimming in her eyes.
“Not alone, she isn’t,” Alex coldly replies.
“I would never hurt Anastasia. I’m her mother,” she pleads. “I just want to talk.”
“You hurt me when you left!” I shout at her, and she flinches like I slapped her. Holy crap on a cracker, pregnancy hormones are making me a little angrier than usual. I don’t even want to hurt her. She might have left us, but I’m not a nasty person. It takes me more than a moment to calm down, and I realise my hand is shaking in Alex’s, and his eyes are watching me in confusion. We have known each other a long time, nearly spent every day together, and I love him, and he loves me. And Alex knows something is wrong, something is different, other than my parents. I can see it reflecting in his eyes, and for a second, all I want to do is escape. To escape the truth.
And unfortunately, the only way to escape right now is with my mum. A small part of me wants to hear her side of the story, to get her alone and to see if this was all her idea, like I had planned to do. The same part of my heart fears how quickly she could crush me like a bug with only a few words. “I will come with you.”
“Are you sure?” Alex questions me, but he doesn’t stop me like he would have done when we first met. I love that we have both gotten to the point we can trust each other in our decisions. It makes me feel guilty for not telling him about the pregnancy yet, for hiding a really big part of our future because I’m scared of the reaction. Hell, I don’t even know who the father is. I’ve been with each of my guys, some more than once, in a short amount of time. Could any of them be okay with that? I lean up, kissing his cheek and letting go of his hand in the same moment.
“I’m sure. I can handle her,” I firmly say. Alex looks reluctant to let me go, but he does step back and let me walk with my mum to the car. I get in the passenger side as mum gets in the driver’s seat and does up her seatbelt. I do mine before she starts the car and reverses us out.
“If you have any plan to hurt me or my guys—”
“Your dad always threatens first and thinks about it later. I see you have inherited that quality,” she says with a sigh, turning the car around and driving us up the gate. It opens up for her to drive through, and there is an awkward silence in the car for a twenty-minute drive down the beachfront, past the full streets of familiars. I want to ask how many familiars live here, but I end up not saying a word as we get to a car park. Mum gets out and I follow, shutting my door behind me. “Come on, I want to show you some place that is special to our people, and I can explain everything. I’ve waited for this day for a long time.”
“How did you know you’d ever get to this day?” I question her as I move to walk at her side. She doesn’t answer me as we head down a wooden deck to a spherical statue that has glass in the centre of it. Frozen inside are hundreds, if not thousands, of tiny little dots that look like raindrops, but they are dozens of different colours. The glass catches the sunlight, reflecting it onto the white stone floor surrounding the statue. The multicolours look so pretty, like a million rainbows scattered all over the ground. As we get closer to the statue, I see
the stone circle has hundreds of thousands of names carved into every inch of it, and flowers are engraved, lining the floor in another circle.
“Our people believe that all life is born more than once and there is a circle of life. Death is not the end, it is a journey to the next life you need to lead. Every life has a purpose, a reason, even when it is short or long like your father’s life or yours will be,” she softly speaks, pulling me into her story. “When I met your father, I knew something was different. He was not Clive Dawn, the shy boy I met when I was a kid. No, that Clive Dawn was gone, and in his place was a man who showed me how alive the world could be. Clive is kind, loving and most importantly, he always fights for those he loves. I didn’t care if he was a god, if he was immortal and if he killed Clive Dawn, taking his place, changing his body to look like him. I know he did it all to try and save the familiar race in that city.”
“But instead he failed them and took you?” I fill in some of the blanks that I know.
“Yes, because we were in love and the empire was lost. See, your father had been saving familiars for hundreds of years and keeping them safe. But then the humans found out about our existence, and they publicly told people. It caused so many deaths,” she whispers. “In our world, a war started, and every raindrop in this glass means a life was lost in the fight. We fought the humans in secret, and then we found this island.”
“How do we fit into this? Why did you leave us?” My voice catches, and mum’s eyes soften.
“I cried for years, never stopping, never moving on when we were forced to leave you. The humans saw us as threats, leaders of a race they could never control. They tried to kill us so many times, and sometimes you three were so close. Clive and I knew the only way to pull the attention from you and let you have a normal life in the shadows was to fake our own deaths,” she explains.
“So you’re saying you left us for our own good?”