Ashes to Ashes

by M. J. Padgett

  Ely bounded down the remaining stairs and joined me. He pushed opened the front door to the building and allowed me to exit first, proving he was chivalrous in some ways, though one would assume a prince would be less curmudgeonly. Maybe he wasn’t a prince as he said? Maybe he just had good manners? Maybe it was all show, a game to fool me into thinking my original impression of him was wrong?

  Now that he’d all but ordered me to fall in love with him, I was working hard to find reasons not to like him, but it was becoming increasingly difficult. Was it magic? It had to be. Heidi was doing something, spelling me into falling for Ely so I would do what she wanted me to do. My mind ran wild with theories.

  I decided to play it safe and deny the fact that his stupid smirk and mahogany eyes were growing on me and dove headlong into all the reasons why Cecily and I should not travel half-way across the world to save a kingdom I was certain did not exist. But first, a little more information gathering to prove my point.

  “So, this place, where is it exactly?” I asked.

  “It borders my kingdom to the north, both in the depths of what you know as the Black Forest,” he replied, keeping a steady pace that covered a lot of ground. I was able to keep up easily and found the pace eased my frustration, yet I could still converse comfortably.

  “Why haven’t I heard of it before?” I asked, thinking I had him with that one.

  “Oh, have you heard of all the kingdoms in the world?” he teased.

  “Fair point, but it’s also a fair question. I’ve never seen it on a map of Germany. How are the kingdoms so well hidden? Does anyone know they exist?”

  He sighed and gazed at the horizon. “Well, they used to, but no one knows they do now. As far as anyone knows, the Black Forest is just a forest with modern towns. We keep hidden with cloaking spells to protect our people, but long ago it was as well-known as any other town in Germany. As for your kingdom, I can only assume Cinderella has done the same. We haven’t extended our hand to any of the neighboring kingdoms yet. They were all allies centuries ago, but frankly, we’re afraid to expose Schwarzwald to danger. At least, before we investigate a little more.”

  “Is it because of the curse? You’re not sure who you can trust?”

  “Mmm hmm,” he hummed. “The people in our village never aged, just kept living for centuries under the rule of a tyrant. You can understand how a sudden fifteen-hundred-year advancement in technology could shock them, so we’ve moved slowly in those areas. As for the Salien children, during the time of Snow’s reign, the seven of us were separated. If it weren’t for the Grimm brothers, we’d still be lost and confused, and our kingdom would be in shambles still. We’re growing stronger though. Goldene Stadt is our first venture into the other realms.”

  “I guess that makes sense. So, who are your parents? Your biological ones, I mean,” I asked, wondering how else the story of Snow White was different from the tales I’d heard.

  “King Heinrich and Ravenna,” he replied softly.

  “The Evil Queen?” I asked, “That’s—”

  “Shocking, I know. She’s not evil, by the way. Not even close.” He kicked a small pebble from the sidewalk. His tone softened more when he spoke of his mother.

  “And are you the rightful king?”

  “No, that’s Marcus, my brother. It’s fine, though. He’s great at it, and the people love him,” he replied, and his speech showed he was not jealous in any way. I liked him a lot better this way, quiet and contemplative rather than intrusive and cocky.

  “And you believe Cinderella’s step-sister and Prince Charming were our parents, mine and Cecily’s?” I asked.

  “His real name is Agustus, but yes, Prince Charming and Aline. You have a cousin, but we haven’t found her yet. For all we know, she could be between life cycles or in another country. It’s a difficult process, and all I can do is pray we don’t have to do this a dozen times before it sticks,” he said, confusing me further.

  “A dozen times? I don’t understand what you mean.”

  He paused his walking and turned to face me.

  “Nope. I’ve already given you a lot of information, and you’ve given me nothing. This is a give and take relationship, darling, and... oh... now I get why Wil calls Calla that all the time. Just sort of slips out there, doesn’t it?” he mumbled, almost to himself.

  “Huh?” I asked, my eyes narrowed on the puzzling man.

  “Nothing.” He shook his head. “Why don’t we try this another way? I’ll tell you about my life before I found out who I really am, then maybe you can share a little about your life?”

  “Do I get to pass on things I don’t want to talk about?” I asked, not sure I was prepared to tell him my entire life story. I still wasn’t convinced he was a sane man, but at that moment I didn’t feel threatened by him.

  “Of course. I won’t force you to talk about anything you’re not prepared to talk about.”

  “Okay. Deal. Educate me in all things Ely Manchester.” I noticed a slight flinch of the eye when I said his name. “Did I butcher it? I thought you said it was Manchester.”

  “It is, I just detest it now. I guess that’s as good a place as any to begin.” He exhaled long and slow as if recalling a memory he’d locked away long ago.

  “We don’t have to start there if it’s not pleasant.” Fair was fair after all.

  “No, it’s fine. I was a teacher before my nightmare began.”

  I chuckled. “I can picture you as a cranky high school English teacher or something,” I said, but the look on his face told me I wasn’t far off the mark.

  “English Literature, but that’s entirely beside the point. I even taught Calla and Marcus before I realized they were my siblings.”

  “Wait, how did you teach them if they’re older than you?”

  “They aren’t, not in this life, but that’s all stuff we can talk about later. Let me tell you about me, about Ely the man, not the prince.”

  I nodded, and he got that faraway look in his eyes again, almost as if he were separating his memories from the present with a wall he had to look over.

  “Elizabeth, Seline, and I are triplets. We were found in a field by a farmer one afternoon and taken to Child and Family Services. To make a boring story short, we stayed there until the Manchester family adopted us when we were three. They were a wealthy couple who couldn’t have children, and they wanted a large family so finding three biological siblings worked out well for them. I suppose the problems began when we turned seven and discovered our little gift.”

  “I wouldn’t call it that, but go on,” I said, noting that our conditions began at the same age.

  He chuckled. “Well, we kept it secret for a very long time, but when we found Calla, everything changed. The Grimm brothers had been with us for a long time before she appeared, and we spent that time training and preparing to take on Snow White, but it felt so surreal like we were playing pretend. Then Calla was discovered, and suddenly we had to do what Wil and Jay, that’s Wilhelm and Jacob Grimm, had been preparing us for—take on Snow White and reclaim our kingdom. It’s all well and good to talk about such things but doing them is a whole other monster. Snow was a fierce opponent, and she made a lot of threats. It was decided that we should relocate the families to keep them safe, which meant we had to tell them the truth, the whole truth. There really was no other option at that point.”

  “Oh boy. I bet that was loads of fun. I can’t imagine telling anyone what we are, let alone people who raised us.”

  His eyes lowered to the ground, and he watched his feet as he walked. “Well, I didn’t care much what they thought of me, but the way they treated Lizzie and Seline gutted me. They didn’t even give us a chance, not so much as a moment to show them what we are. They simply assumed we were crazy and disowned us. Granted, we were adults who could take care of ourselves, but it still sucked.” His voice trembled, wavering as the memory played out in his mind. “Well, it’s okay now, but it hurt for a long time.”
/>
  I stopped him with my hand on his arm, my fingers tightly gripping his bicep. He glanced at me, and I saw the sheen of tears in his eyes. I found it difficult to believe he made the story up, which terrified me. It meant there was a genuine possibility that the whole story was true.

  “I’m sure your parents wouldn’t do that, Sierra. Mine were always a bit selfish and judgmental,” he said hopefully, and I found it endearing.

  “I don’t think I’ll need to worry about that. They died.”

  “Oh... I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to broach a painful topic for you.”

  “It is painful, yes. It’s still a raw spot even after four years, but they didn’t suffer. It was a plane crash.”

  “A plane crash?” I could see him thinking back over the years, wondering if he’d heard the news headlines.

  “It was a private plane. My adoptive mother was going on a business trip to Venice with her boss. He allowed my father to join them since that’s where they’d had their honeymoon. It was a sweet thing for him to offer, but in hindsight, it did ruin my life, so I kind of hate him for it. I mean, he’s dead but... yeah.”

  I hadn’t admitted that to anyone, not even my sister. I glanced at Ely, but there was no judgment in his eyes whatsoever. He only nodded and carried on the conversation.

  “And your curse, when did it begin?”

  “I think you already know the answer to that. I was seven as was Cecily. When our adoptive parents died, I was nineteen. I had to quit college and work full-time to afford a lawyer. There was no way I was letting my sixteen-year-old sister go back into foster care, so I had to fight for her.”

  “I didn’t know it was that difficult for you. I’m sorry. I truly am,” he said, and he meant it. The way he said it, it was as if he felt the same pain, not because he lived it himself, but because it hurt him to know we’d suffered.

  “It’s okay. It’s working out. I’ll go to college after Cecily graduates, and maybe things will improve after that.” I sighed, remembering Cecily’s admission in the apartment. “It just hurts that I’ve worked so hard, but it’s just not enough.”

  “She didn’t mean it like that, I’m sure. You must know you mean everything to her. I can see it when she’s with you, the way her confidence blooms when you’re there. She’s not like that when you’re gone.”

  “So, you are stalking us?”

  He chuckled again, much happier. “No, I just noticed it in the few interactions we’ve had. Cecily admires you, it’s obvious. But, we probably should talk about that big elephant that’s been following us.”

  With everything that had already happened, I instinctively glanced behind me to see if there really was an elephant following us. One could never be too sure. Our conversation had been so pleasant until that point I didn’t want to ruin it by discussing evil queens and lost kingdoms.

  “It’s a huge task I’ve asked you to take on, Sierra. I understand that, but I will be right here with you every step of the way. My entire kingdom will support you and Cecily through this.”

  “What makes you so sure I’m the person you’re looking for, Ely?”

  His jaw clenched, and I thought he was about to yell at me, to lash out at me for doubting him, but instead, he said, “When everyone else’s memories returned, they all had these great loves in their lives, but I had nothing. I knew I did love someone, I felt it, but I couldn’t see her face in my mind. I felt her essence, the scent and the feel of her, but I couldn’t see her. You have no idea what it’s like to know you once loved someone but have no other memory of them. To spend your days bashing your head into a wall trying to force a memory that just won’t come, and then, like the answer to a prayer the veil lifts and your memory is finally complete. When I saw you in the diner, it was the final puzzle piece, Sierra. It was you I was missing, and I remember it as clear as if it were only moments ago.”

  I felt the familiar heat under my skin, and I worried if I touched anything it would burst into flames. I took a small step back to reorient myself after his speech.

  “I wish I could be as sure as you are,” I admitted.

  “It will come to you. One day you will remember everything, but for now, you can be sure of this, your people need you. Whether you choose to believe the circumstances of their plight or not, they exist, Sierra. It’s your responsibility to save them, just as it was mine to help save Schwarzwald.”

  Silence fell over us, and I found myself considering his crazy story as a real, viable explanation for my condition. It was too fantastic to be a lie, too grandiose to be something he made up on a whim. He’d proven he was a wolf shifter, and Heidi’s powers were apparent. Even still, there was no way I was putting my sister in that kind of danger.

  “I’m sorry, Ely. Even if I did believe all of this, I can’t put Cecily in that kind of danger. What sort of sister would I be to risk her life for people we’ve never met?” I asked.

  “You are an infuriating person; did you know that?” he exploded. Nice Ely was gone, and a man I didn’t recognize appeared. “You have met them! You grew up with them!” His voice carried through the complex. “They cared deeply for you and honored your family name for many generations.”

  He was loud, but for some reason, I didn’t fear him, so I pursed my lips and urged him down a side street where we wouldn’t be seen throwing a proper tantrum. Once we were out of sight, he grabbed my arm and forced me to look at him. I didn’t take kindly to being manhandled, so I reared back and smacked him hard across the face.

  “Ow! What was that for?” he yelled, instantly retreating.

  “Do not ever put a hand on me again!

  “It was an accident, Sierra. I was only trying to get your attention. I would never intentionally hurt you,” he said, rubbing his palm over his cheek. “How can you be so—”

  “Choose your words wisely, Ely,” I growled, growing angrier by the second.

  “Or what? You’ll run away again? You’ll smack me in the face again? What are you so afraid of?” he pushed.

  “What am I afraid of? I can’t believe that’s even a question. What were you afraid of when you went up against Snow?” I asked, hopefully reminding him of how terrifying it must have been to go against the person who wanted him dead so badly, she cursed him and sent hunters after him.

  “Sierra, I swear on my life I will not let any harm come to you or to Cecily,” he said, his mood shifting to something a little more understanding. Softer and gentler, yet still firm. “You must do this, or your people will suffer forever.”

  “You insist I knew them, but all I know, all I’ve ever known is Cecily. Trust me when I tell you, our lives have been nothing to be proud of. In fact, until the Monroe family adopted us, we were happy to survive a day without getting hit or tossed back into the system. Foster care was brutal for us, Ely, horribly brutal,” I admitted, scared to let him see the scarred and broken parts of me, but perhaps seeing was believing? I turned my back to him and raised my shirt, giving him a clear view of the belt scars from lashings I took to protect my sister.

  “Sierra...” His soft voice indicated he got the point.

  I let my shirt fall again and turned back to face him. “So, now you know what fear looks like.”

  “You’re broken. I understand that more than you know, but I like that you’re so broken and... and just barely holding it together.”

  “What?” I asked, quite sure that was not what he intended to say.

  “It came out wrong. What I meant is, I understand being broken. I can work with broken, and now that I know that’s the real issue here, I think... I hope you’ll let me show you all the ways I’m completely wrecked, too. We can do this together if you want. Put the pieces back in proper order, I mean.”

  “Proper order?”

  “I need fixing, too, Sierra. I need you, and I am truly sorry for what you suffered, but that does not change your duty to your people. You are the rightful heir. You must step up and lead your people into rebellion against E
lla, just like Marcus did against Snow. My brother was also terrified, but he did what was necessary. If you don’t do this for them, they will continue to live the torment and abuse you just described. Would you want that for them for all eternity?”

  His words sliced me deeply, and I couldn’t help but think about them, the way he compared the lives of the villagers to that of mine and my sister’s. I always defended Cecily as best I could, taking the worst of the whippings and fighting to make sure we stayed together no matter where we were sent. Some days we barely had enough food to keep us on our feet, and if I believed Ely, then these people lived that way for centuries.

  “Sierra, Ella is powerful. I won’t lie. From what I’ve been told, she’s a scary, powerful sorceress, but so is my mother. So is Heidi. And my sister, Juliana, her power grows every day. I promise we can do this.” He begged me to see it his way, to give him a chance.

  I could feel my resistance beginning to fade, but it did nothing to alleviate the fear.

  “I’m so scared, Ely.”

  I began to tremble, the idea of taking on a powerful sorceress terrified me, more for my sister than for myself. I understood at that moment that I had believed him from the beginning. I knew, deep down, what he said was true. I had fooled myself into thinking he was a lunatic rather than face what I knew to be true—Cecily and I were meant to do this, and it would put us in grave danger.

  “I told you, I won’t let her hurt either of you, Sierra,” he repeated. “How many times do I have to tell you before you understand? I can say it a million times if that’s what it takes. I know you don’t remember your people, but they remember you, and when they see you, it will light a spark that will grow until it consumes the countryside, Sierra. You can do this. I know you can.”

  “You can’t be sure of that. It’s a ridiculous assumption. You don’t know this me at all, and I’m here to tell you, I’m no fighter. I can’t even fight my way out of a brown paper bag, let alone go against a powerful witch, but...” I hesitated.

  “But?”

  I gathered up what minuscule amount of bravery I had and said, “But I will do this if you promise me one thing.”