by Lisa Beeson
“When Henry Marlowe took that from me… I broke. My whole life, I tried so hard and it was all for nothing. And the worst part is that I don’t even remember it. He took the most precious thing I had, and I don’t even remember him doing it. It was just gone. Stolen.
“When I found out I was pregnant … I lost everything that made me good. Why even try anymore. I was a fallen woman, and I fell hard. Not only was I doomed to hell, but I had brought the curse upon another child – another innocent soul without a chance. When she was born, she was so little and beautiful and vulnerable. I had to protect her. I had to keep Henry away. I had to give her a chance at salvation. But I had nothing. Sandra Marlowe made sure that I had nothing. I had no family to help, no education to get a decent paying job. What jobs I could get, paid me little to nothing, because I wasn’t a citizen. All I had was my soiled body to keep us afloat. It was never enough.
“At first alcohol, and then the drugs helped keep the fear and shame away. It numbed the pain and helped me escape my nightmare life. But only for a time. Again, it was never enough. It was easy to get at first. I was still young and pretty so the first couple of hits were cheap. But when I needed more, when my body craved it, I couldn’t afford it anymore. So I caved. I took Henry’s money. I let him back into our lives. I failed her.
“When Valencia showed what she could do, I was so scared. I’m ashamed to admit it, but I was scared of my own daughter… my drugged brain convinced itself that Henry Marlowe had to be the actual Devil to give her that kind of power. I was scared I had given life to Satan’s child and her soul was already lost. So I ran.
“I ran away from my baby, and the devils found me and brought me to their hell. I tried to get back to her, but this was something I could not escape.
“Tell Valencia that I tried. That I loved her… That I tried to protect her… And that I know that it wasn’t enough.” Her face crumbled as her body shook with sobs.
Ari stepped closer to envelop the small woman in her arms, surrounding her with the love and solace that she never found in life.
“You were always enough,” Ari whispered. “I’m sorry that you never had anyone decent enough to let you know that – to make you believe it. But Val does. Please rest assured that Val does. She is loved and valued.”
“Thank you,” Anita said, and some of the tension left her body. “I’m scared,” she admitted in a breathless whisper.
“I don’t know what’s on the other side of this life, but I do know that you won’t be alone.”
Anita nodded, squeezing Ari tight one last time before letting go, and her xjaasa drifted away on the tail of a grateful sigh.
Ari stood for a moment in silence, honoring the passage of a tortured soul. “Be at peace,” she wished into the Aethos, before returning to her body in the white room.
When Ari broke the connection, Val staggered back and collapsed onto the ground. Her chest heaving as she processed everything Ari had shown her, everything Anita had said.
Ari sat down beside her, giving her the chance to reach out if she wanted Ari’s support, but not forcing it.
Val looked around wildly as she gasped for breath. “Her life… was so…horrible…,” she panted out. Her eye filling with tears, she blew out a long breath to calm herself. “She thought that Henry raped her… She thought he took her virginity, but he didn’t. He just got her so drunk that she passed out and their scientists impregnated her… He didn’t touch her. She thought she lost everything. She gave up… And they never told her any different. He let her think that…all so they could…” Anger and rage contorted her face. “I killed the bastard. I made him suffer. But if I could do it all over again I would, and I’d make it so much worse. If there is any justice in the universe, any at all, then there is special place in hell just for him.”
Ari didn’t know what to say. It was all so horrible and tragic.
Val let out an anguished scream at the sky, then collapsed into Ari’s side, sliding down to sob in her lap. Pouring out all her anger and frustration for all that she and her mother had lost.
Ari protectively curled around her, infusing her with solace and love. “It’s over. It’s done. She’s free. And now so are you,” Ari said in a calming whisper. “The Cause and all its vileness is gone. And from its ashes…we will grow and flourish. We will be better.”
Val took a deep shaky breath, before sitting back up and wiping at her face. “Thank you, Ari,” she said. “Thank you for giving my mother back to me. She was flawed, but she was mine. And she loved me to the end.”
Ari nodded as her own tears began to choke her up, preventing her from saying anything in return. She was so proud of Val. She had grown so much and had come such a long way. Even with everything stacked against her, she had overcome. She didn’t run from her monsters, she slayed them without giving in to their darkness. Ari wished she could have that kind of courage and strength.
Unable to hold Ari’s gaze, Val cleared her throat and looked away, hiding the small smile curling at the corner of her mouth. “God, I’m such a hot mess. I have cried more today than I have in my entire life.”
“Everyone deserves at least one hot mess day every seventeen years or so,” Ari joked.
Val let out a huff of laughter. “Well, I’ve met my quota for the next couple decades,” she said as she pushed herself up from the ground. “I should probably stop hogging your company. It’s getting dark, and everyone’s mostly likely wetting their pants trying to figure out where you are by now.”
Ari stood up and nodded as she noticed the thick band of gold and rose colored sky lighting up the horizon in a last attempt to keep the lavender and indigo night at bay. A grim dread settled around her with the setting sun. No more stalling.
Val walked over to where she had dropped a pair of binoculars, picked them up and carefully dusted the dirt and grass from them. “I’ve got to go give these back to Skylar too.”
At Ari’s hesitance, Val scowled in confusion. “What’s the matter?”
A loud abrasive caw shattered the peace of their weeping willow hideaway. Ari looked up through the branches to see three large crows perched above. One looked her over, then winked its silver eye in a very un-crow-like fashion, motioning its head towards the farmhouse.
Ari narrowed her eyes at crow-Badb. All right, I’m going. I’m going.
Turning back to Val she answered, “It’s nothing. Let’s go.” She pushed her way through the curtain of branches and started towards the farmhouse at a determined pace. Val rushed after her, trying to keep up with her long strides.
Ari kept her line of sight ahead of her on the ground as they made their way down the hill and across the field.
Just before they passed the copse of trees surrounding the corner edge of the pond that blocked them form the view of the barn and farmhouse, she heard a high-pitched screech before she saw the twins running towards them.
“Ari!” Skylar squealed as she ran at a full sprint. A contagious smile of pure joy spread across her face, lighting an ember of happiness in Ari’s chest. The wild little girl looked like a mix between an animal and a dirty dandelion, and Ari would have her no other way.
“There’s my minion,” Ari said as Skylar leaped into her arms. Ari caught her and held her close, as she spun around, eliciting giggles of delight.
“You did it!” Skylar squealed. “You saved Soren and brought him back to me. I knew you would!”
“I had some help,” Ari admitted as she put the wiggly, ebullient little girl back down beside her twin, and they immediately clasped each other’s hands.
“Here are your binoculars, Skylar,” Val said, sounding winded and holding them out to her.
“Thanks!” Skylar grabbed them and put the strap around her brother’s neck. “Here. Noah gave them to me so I could use them on my explorations. But now you can use them too. We can take turns.”
“It looks like you’ve been having a good time here,” Ari said with an amused grin.
Ari schooled her features and put up her emotional guard. The last thing she wanted to do was dampen the twins’ happiness and excitement.
Both twins recognized the difference in her demeanor immediately.
“Why’d you block yourself off like that?” Soren asked with a scowl of confusion.
“Don’t you want to be a family again?” Skylar asked in a brittle whisper.
Ari’s heart broke as she saw the pain and betrayal in their eyes. “Of course I do. I would love to stay here with you guys and be a family, but I… I have to go back…home.” How could she possibly explain this to them?
“To Georgia…” Skylar guessed. “With the Rileys?”
“No,” Ari said with a slow shake of her head. “Look, you see… right now I’m… I guess you can say that I’m sick…”
“Is that why you needed extra energy, and were popping something like Tic Tacs?” Soren asked.
“But I thought you said that you were better!” Skylar argued. “In my dream you said that you were better!”
“The only way for me to get all better is to go back to where I came from…”
“Where did you come from?” Soren asked.
“She’s not from Earth, guys,” Val answered for her, with a hint of sad resignation creeping into her voice. “She’s not human like us. And she’s trying to say that she can’t stay because she has to go back to another planet or something.”
Ari gaze whipped over to Val. How did she know that?
Soren’s eyes widened as he gasped. “You’re like the ancestors that traveled through the stars! That’s why you have so many powers!”
Before Ari could say anything to that, someone yelled the name, “Kira!”
Ari recognized the voice with a painful pang in her heart.
Sadie…
Turning towards the sound, she saw Sadie and Hector running towards her from around the copse of trees.
My sister… My brother…
Eyes burning and legs like jelly, Ari staggered forward and the three crashed into each other in a painful crush.
As a means of self-preservation, she had let go of the hope of ever seeing them again. But here they were, in her arms – real and breathing and alive. All the magical, peaceful memories of her Savanah childhood came flooding back in an emotional rush. The Rileys were her family. They were hers. They helped her become who she was. They were her first friends, her champions, her safe place in the storm.
“I’m so sorry…” Ari wailed as she clutched on to them. “I’m so sorry…”
I’m sorry for everything I put you through… I’m sorry for making you wait… I’m sorry for being a coward…
“Shhh… It’s okay… It’s okay,” Sadie cooed into Ari’s shoulder as they all awkwardly rocked back forth, her voice quavering with emotion. “You’re here. I can’t believe you’re really here.”
“And you’re so freakin’ tall,” Hector said with a tearful chuckle, the top of his head barely coming up to the bottom of her nose.
They all busted out in tearful laughs, as they stopped rocking and drew apart to look at each other. Adam was right; they had changed in their own ways. Admittedly, Sadie and Hector’s changes were more subtle than hers were. Sadie looked older and had a staunch maturity in her eyes that had not been there before. Hector had filled out, more comfortable in his body, and looking less like a boy and more like the man she knew he would be.
It was so strange to be taller than her older siblings were.
“I don’t know,” a familiar voice said. “I still got a couple inches on her.”
Ari had felt him coming, but she was surprised to look up and see the tall redheaded man, his waist and legs encased in a brace, not seated, but strolling towards them.
“Jack! You’re walking!” And he was right. Standing up, he did have an inch or two on her.
“So are you,” he said with that wonderful smile of his, gesturing to her robotic leg. He was so tall and strong, just like he had been in his dream. He looked past her flaws and saw only her, his eyes full of love and pride. “Hello, baby sister.”
Ari closed the distance and fell into her big brother’s arms.
“I’m so glad you’re safe,” he whispered earnestly. “They told us everything. I wish we could’ve been there for you. That we could’ve helped. Done more for you somehow, I dunno.”
“You were with me,” Ari assured him, “Helping me when I needed it most.”
Hector and Sadie came up from behind and joined the hug, and they stood there just holding each other.
“The whole band’s back together again, guys,” Sadie said with a chuckle.
They all laughed, thinking back to the Christmas break they’d had the idea to start a family band called The Riley Kids. Being a good sport and playing along with his younger siblings, Jack said that he’d play the triangle, but only if he got a two minute solo. The band lasted for exactly one performance, which was for their parents, and it was a hilarious failure. Every Christmas break since then, their Dad had asked when the next reunion tour was going to be.
“The Riley Kids forever,” Hector chanted.
“The Riley Kids forever,” they all echoed.
Even though she was different, their love for her was the same. Jack, Sadie, and Hector accepted her as wholeheartedly as they had before. They were a unit, and nothing would change that.
A golden lab came running and barking, circling them excitedly.
“Who is this,” Ari asked looking down at the happy dog, excitedly trying to join in the group hug.
“Oh,” Sadie said with a sniff, stepping back to scratch the dog behind its ears. “This is my new service dog, Mulligan. She is just the sweetest thing. She’s loves everybody.”
Ari smiled down at the new Riley pet, and bent down to stroke her soft fur. Keep taking good care of my sister, Mulligan.
Mulligan barked once as if in response, her tongue adorably hanging out the side of her panting mouth.
“Now, come on,” Sadie said, grabbing Ari’s hand and pulling her towards the farmhouse. “Mom and Dad are going nuts waiting to see you.”
Ari’s stomach tightened, as her numb legs propelled her forward with Sadie holding one hand, Jack holding the other, and Hector at her back.
Eyes locked on the ground, she could feel them getting closer with every step.
Reuniting with her siblings was one thing, but her parents were another matter. These people took her in, raised her, loved her as their own, gave her everything she needed, and in return she tore their hearts out and stomped all over them. She ran away and let them believe that she’d been murdered. She let the Shades get too close, putting them in mortal danger, and then burned the neighbor’s house down. How could they forgive her? How could they still want to see her?
Jack, noticing her wariness, leaned in to whisper, “They love you more than you will ever know. You will always be their child no matter what.”
As Ari nodded, she heard a stifled gasp of, “Oh.”
Looking up, she saw Tess and Phil Riley standing no more than twenty feet away. They had been making their way towards the pond, following where their children had gone. Now they stood stock-still, unable to move forward.
They had aged.
She had done that to them.
But there was no anger, rejection, or reproach coming from them.
Tess’s hands were covering the bottom half of her face. Her eyes deep wells of pain and grief, as she looked Ari over from head to toe – taking in her daughter’s new leg and every visible scar on her forearms and face as if they were slashes to her own heart.
Tess’s guilt and sorrow slammed against Ari and sucked her down with the force of an undertow.
She was hurting for her child. She was suffering
for all the pain her child had suffered, for everything she had failed to protect her from. Her heart wailed for all the scars that could not be seen – the scars of the heart, mind, and spirit. She took it all on herself, drowning in sympathetic pain.
No…Please don’t. It’s not yours to take. It’s not your fault…
Phil tried to be the unflappable pillar of strength he always was, but he could not hold back the quiver in his chin or the tears leaking from the corners of his eyes. Ari had never seen him cry before and it tore at her soul. When she saw him mouth the words, “My baby…,” it was all too much.
“Mom… Dad…” Ari choked out as she let go of Sadie and Jack’s hands and stumbled forward.
They raced to her, wrapping her up in their arms and surrounding her with their unconditional love, their strength pouring into her.
She was theirs and always would be. Just as they would always be hers.
*****
Skylar made to go after Ari and the Riley siblings. She needed to make Ari explain why she needed to leave Earth to get better. But a hand clamped onto her arm, keeping her from following.
“We need to give them time,” Val said behind her, giving her arm a quick squeeze before letting go.
When Skylar turned back to ask her why, she saw her two crow friends, and one extra, flying straight at them.
At her startled expression, Soren and Val turned and flinched in surprise as the three crows flew down and turned into three women, landing lightly on the ground as they continued walking towards them.
Val shoved Skylar and Soren behind her, putting herself between them and the women. For not only was their transformation a shock, but they looked like Viking warriors; their tall, lean, muscular bodies crosshatched with battle scars. The middle one had a devilish arch to her brow and gleam in her eye. The other two had black war paint slashed across their eyes, and all three had black feathers interwoven in their intricately braided hair. They looked like sisters, and they all had the same silver eyes, swirly tattoos, and hair like Adam and Jean-Baptiste. And they each had necklaces with the same kind of strange stone as the beads on Jean-Baptiste’s bracelet. It reminded Skylar of the abalone shell that she’d had back at Scion’s Keep.