by Alicia Fabel
“Listen up,” Kale yelled and waited for the noise to subside. “When we get to Heliopolis, our morph allies will be ready to stand with us and reclaim their queen. You’ll know them by their teeth and claws. Marianna’s house was discovered last night, and they’ll lead us to it. We are going there to recover Queen Entinmerit and the satyr, Addamas. We will also capture or eliminate the fate responsible for trying to destroy Earth and its people. We suspect that she is guarded by the genies of Heliopolis.”
“Why not just close the gates?” someone called out.
“Because Marianna has figured out a way to bypass them. The gates won’t keep the meadow safe. Or any of your realms if she decides to go after your home next.”
“What if all she wants is Earth? Why not let her have it?” asked another person.
A few faces scowled, looking for whoever had voiced that opinion.
Kuwari answered, “That would be a grave mistake. We need the humans and siphons. We need every being. Vera showed us that. You may be frightened of the people from Earth and the stories we’ve all heard, but you don’t need to be.”
“We have a proposal for each of the realms to consider after this is over,” announced Mother. “A way to reach out to the humans on a small scale and see that they are not what you’ve always believed—a way to save all our peoples, with their help.”
“But who will make sure we are safe?”
Kale scowled and searched for Seb. He knew that voice. His throat tightened as Mother looked to him, and all the eyes of the crowd turned back to him as well.
Kale sighed. “I will ensure it to the best of my abilities.”
Mother’s head bobbed in approval.
“I’m not sure what trouble we will meet along the way,” Kale told them. “But I do know it will not be easy. If we can take out the Fate, we believe the genies will not continue fighting. So, it is imperative that we locate and stop Marianna.
In the back, the scorpions began stomping their feet in beat. Soon it spread to the kargadan, the demas, the leprechauns, the witches, the alchemists, the humans, the soul-eaters, the zombies, the morphs, a nymph, a spider, a giant, and all of Earth’s refugees, who’d trickled in over the past days. It was Vera’s revolution. Now, to keep them all from being decimated.
Mimi’s brothers came forward, concern etched on their faces. “You need to see something.” Pili held out Jemma’s sketchbook.
At first, Kale wasn’t sure whether he wanted to see what she’d drawn, but he took the book and opened to the first page.
“It’s a messenger,” Kale said. He didn’t understand the big deal. He’d seen hundreds of them.
Mother wandered forward.
“Look at the date,” prompted Pili.
“That can’t be right,” Kale said.
“Something wrong, Guardian?” asked Mother.
Kale gave her an odd look at the return to his title, but she lifted a brow as if daring him to defy her decision to reinstate it. He didn’t.
“Jemma drew a picture of messengers twelve years ago, if this is correct.”
“Messengers have only been around for ten at most,” said Mother.
“That’s why I’m saying this cannot be right. Witches only created them after this.”
Mother cocked her head in confusion. “Why do you think a witch created them?”
“They came from Summartir,” said Kale. “I remember when they first started moving messages around the world.”
“We thought they’d just migrated to Summartir,” said Mother.
Kale turned the page and hissed out a breath of surprise. It was Fred—Marianna’s favorite pet accessory. And weapon.
“Does that mean Jemma knew the weaver?” asked Pili.
“At this point, should we be surprised to learn just how wide Marianna’s reach is?” Kale asked. And now we know the real reason the girl ran away.
“If Jemma was the weaver’s spy, she knows we’re coming,” Mother pointed out.
“There’s no way Jemma would plot to hurt all these people,” protested Pili.
“Just because she drew the weaver’s snake, doesn’t mean they knew each other,” added Seb. “Maybe they had a run-in.”
“I don’t think she drew a portrait of Fred,” said Kale. “I think she created him. And messengers too. Just like she created that gate.”
“But how? And why?” questioned Pili.
“I don’t know,” Kale answered.
“We need to strike fast, before we lose the advantage,” Mother urged.
“Agreed,” said Kale. “We move out now.”
“Mimi? Vera?” called Addamas through the door.
“It’s about time you woke up,” Mimi shouted. “Get us out of here.”
The door swung open. Addamas held up a key, giving Mimi a thorough once over. “It was still in the lock.”
“Where is that woman?” Mimi demanded.
“I have no idea. She was gone when Idan showed up.”
Addamas’s biological father poked his head around the corner to say hi.
“He dumped ice water on me,” shared Addamas. “And then poured ahlora nectar down my throat until I came to.”
“How did you get to Heliopolis?” Vera asked.
“A genie,” Addamas answered for Idan.
“Thank the gods you met that genie,” Mimi said to Vera as she headed for the stairs. “Addamas, you need to path us to the meadow so we can warn everyone.”
“Hold up,” said Vera. “What about keeping you and the baby safe. That’s the whole reason you’re here.”
“If Marianna wants to keep us here, I’m sure we won’t be able to leave,” Mimi replied. “But she said we could leave when it was time.”
“Are you willing to risk the life of your child, though?” Idan asked.
“I don’t believe I am,” Mimi answered.
“Maybe you should stay here,” he persisted. “I can go warn the Guardian.”
“How would you do that?” asked Vera.
“Addamas can drop me off and then path right back to you.”
“How did you find us?” Vera asked suspiciously.
“A purple house on the side of a bluff is hard to miss.”
“You could see it?” Vera stilled. “We have to leave. Before they send a kill squad up here.”
“You don’t have to worry about that.” Addamas led them across the hall to Vera’s room and pointed out the window.
“They’re gone,” Vera said, stating the obvious.
“I saw them headed for Heliopolis,” Idan said. “I was careful to stay out of sight.”
Vera frowned at the spike of pain through her head. “The army was on its way to Heliopolis?” she asked.
“Yes.”
That part was the truth, then. The army is headed for the gate, but he hadn’t hidden from them.
“Did Marianna send you?” Vera asked. “Is that why you showed up?”
“I’m here to make sure you’re safe,” he said.
Huh. That’s the truth too. “What aren’t you telling us?”
Addamas picked up on the thread of Vera’s question and frowned. He eyed Idan, moving closer to Mimi.
“You’re being paranoid,” the elder satyr protested.
She was. For good reason.
“Did someone tell you to keep us here?” asked Addamas.
“I came because I was worried,” Idan insisted.
“How did you find that book about nymphs?” Vera asked. Mimi and Addamas looked at her in confusion, but Addamas’s dad became distinctly uncomfortable.
“It was on the shelf in my home,” he said.
“Yeah, but you couldn’t read it, so what possessed you to pick it up and look through two-hundred-sixty pages until you found a way to get your daughter away from the mountain?”
“I would do anything to protect my children.”
“I believe you,” assured Vera. “But what exactly are you protecting them from?”
&nbs
p; “Why are you avoiding her questions?” added Addamas.
“Did a genie really tell you we were here?” Vera asked.
“Yes,” he lied.
“No, they didn’t. So how did you know?” asked Vera.
The man looked up sharply. “How do you know that?”
Vera smirked. “I have good instincts.”
“Addamas told us that you don’t have foresight,” Idan said.
“Oh, I don’t,” Vera said. “Turns out an oracle is the one thing I’m not.”
“Then how do you know things?” Idan turned on his son. “And why didn’t you tell us?”
“You mean the satyrs who tortured me for information? The ones you said you had no idea about before you tossed me in that basket and sent me down the hill.”
“You did that?” Vera asked Idan.
“I thought you’d know, but you didn’t. That’s when I knew we’d been wrong about you having foresight after all. And I’d sacrificed my son for nothing.”
“And then you begged me to save him,” Vera said.
“Sending him down there was a mistake.” Idan attempted to approach Addamas, but Addamas moved back, shielding Mimi. Not that she needed any shielding. If anyone needed protection, it was Idan. Mimi’s claws and fangs had lengthened.
“How did you know about the book and that we were here?” Vera asked again.
Idan exhaled. “When Addamas’s mother left, I was devastated. Then I found a letter she’d hidden. It said things—things that no one should know. It said that to save Addamas’s life, she needed to seek the Guardian’s aid. It said a good man would raise our son.” He threw Vera a malicious look. “It said that when he was grown, our son would help the girl who would open the gate to Earth. That book was listed in the letter too, along with that page. Like a P.S. with no explanation. By then, the cyclopes were everywhere. I couldn’t chase after Addamas’s mom.
“You could’ve, but you are a coward,” corrected Addamas.
“You don’t know how hard it has been, trapped on that mountain and knowing that your son would bring the siphon scourge down on us again.”
“What did you do?” Vera’s chest burned with fury.
“We planned. We reached out to every corner of the world, and we gathered allies.”
“You planned to eliminate Earth?”
“At first, no. We were just going to eliminate my son, but no one knew where he was. No one suspected he was in Nibiru. They are notorious for not allowing outsiders among them. And then came the rumors he was popping up all over the world. We sent people on a goose chase. Then I met you,” he said to Addamas. “I couldn’t believe you would help the destroyer unleash the siphons. So I put a halt to our plans. Only, you showed up with her, and I knew I’d been wrong to ignore that letter. But instead of killing my son, I thought we could get rid of the destroyer. Everything we needed to make that happen just fell into place.”
“How did you finally get the courage to leave your mountain?” Addamas asked.
“A genie did appear—a couple years ago. Their people hadn’t been able to reclaim the throne, so they’d decided to find a way to escape their realm instead.”
“How did the genies do it?” Addamas asked.
“Everyone knows that genies can move things along magical runoff. Well, once you were married to their queen, you were pathing in and out, and your trails led all over the world. They realized that if they could figure out how to move one of their own across your trail, they could go anywhere you did. Many died trying to accomplish it at first, and then one brave explorer, the first to be successful, followed your trail to our mountain. After that, we struck a bargain. We’d get them their throne back, and they’d take us somewhere we could gather our army.”
“Only, you enslaved them instead.”
“They were trying to back out of our deal. But we’d come too far and were too close to finally cutting off the siphons for good. We even had an oracle on our side.” He waved to indicate the house. “Marianna.”
“She’s no oracle,” Vera assured. “She’s a fate, and she’s sealed yours.”
“As long as she saves us from the siphon realm, it’s worth it,” Idan told them.
Mimi started laughing. There was an edge of hysteria to it. Finally, she said, “She planned it all. She made sure Addamas was born in the meadow, so the genies would eventually be able to leave Heliopolis and meet the satyrs. She made sure we met, so Addamas’s trail would lead to everywhere from Heliopolis. How are we going to stop a war that she designed?”
“She didn’t plan for everything. She told me that I did something she hadn’t planned for. If that can happen once, it can happen again,” Vera said.
“Why did you come here?” Addamas asked Idan. “The whole truth this time.”
“I really did want to check on you before I followed the oracle to Earth. After we lost the genies last night, I was afraid something else could have gone wrong—that you might not be okay.”
“You still don’t get it,” said Vera with a sense of vindication. “You didn’t lose the genies. We set them free. Marianna helped us. Again, she’s not an oracle.”
“No,” Idan shook his head in disbelief. “That doesn’t make sense. We lost a third of our numbers.”
“You all think you’re going up against the helpless humans in Earth, but she’s leading you into a war. There’s an army gathering in the meadow.”
“Why would she do that?”
“Because she thinks a war is the best way to bring the world together. Who knows how many of your people she’ll leave standing in the end.”
Idan staggered back a step. “I have to warn the elders. They need to alter their course, take an alternative path to Earth.”
“Except your genies are gone,” reminded Vera.
“Then we’ll take out everyone in the meadow before they know we’re coming.”
“Ah, no,” said Mimi. “There’s no way we’re letting you kill everyone we know. Do you even hear yourself? The realms would destroy each other after that. You wouldn’t be saving them from anything.”
Idan straightened, a low whistle flowing from his mouth. The world spun as Vera’s brain tried to shut down. But just then, another whistle floated across Idan’s. The vibrato shook the floor. An angry hiss of snakes emanated from deep inside the house. And then Addamas’s whistle overtook his father’s. Vera saw the older man’s eyes roll toward the back of his head, just as Mimi’s did, and then the world went black for her too.
Vera was confused when Mimi patted her awake. “Come on, hun. Up and at ‘em.”
“What happened?”
“My insane husband whistled.”
“You called me your husband,” cheered Addamas and got smacked in the arm before he turned to Vera. “Sorry. Like I said before, me whistling is a bad idea. I can’t direct it, it just takes over everyone.”
“My head,” Vera moaned.
Addamas looked sheepish. “I could only catch one of you.”
He’d obviously chosen Mimi.
“You chose correctly. I’ll live.” Vera pressed a hand to her head. “Idan?”
“He should sleep for hours. Long enough that we’ll make it to the capital to stop the army.”
“Then what are we waiting for? Let’s go stop a war.” Addamas held out his hand to help Vera up.
“Yeah but how do we do that?” asked Mimi.
“By keeping the army away from the world-gate,” Vera answered.
22
Kale wondered if he’d finally lost his mind. Ferrox had been exceptionally distant, so there was no one to give him a second opinion. And it seemed like the only possibility until she yelled at him.
“Come on, Scotchie. Help me keep them from the gate. Gawk later.”
Kale’s mouth flopped open and closed. He took in the scene around him. Vera was surrounded on every side by genies, just like in Jemma’s pictures. She wasn’t fighting against them, though, she was fighting with th
em. At the moment, they were holding back a band of Amazonians. The warrior women appeared to be the first wave. Behind them, Marianna was leading the rest of an army. And they were coming fast. Mimi and Addamas were there too. And Yama?
Kale wasn’t sure exactly what was happening. He’d come to lead a rescue mission against the weaver and some genies, but was suddenly in the middle of a battle. It looked like the entire world was represented on one side or another. He called orders at those spilling through the gate from the meadow, letting them know the change in plans.
“Hold them back,” Kale shouted.
Braxas launched into the air, spewing flames to slow their approach. Rhena raced around their company, spinning a web between them and the rest of the army. From the other side, Marianna’s enchanters began working their way through, but the leprechauns poofed in and out among them, knocking them into the webbing. Rhena continued adding layer after layer, sealing the holes as they were formed. Kale knocked away a wizard before he could complete his incantation. A few dwarves snuck through the net only to be snagged by some aggressive greenery.
Most of Marianna’s army remained outside their webbed dome. The ones on the inside were outnumbered ten to one. Not that those odds would slow an Amazonian. Kale recognized one of the warriors, who made a beeline for Vera. He never would’ve expected to see the queen of the tribe, her belly distended with her next offspring. He grabbed her long braid, flipped her around, and pinned her with a knee to the center of the back. Without the baby bump, she would’ve been able to break free, but she was unwieldy in her current condition.
“Majesty,” he said. “Perhaps you should tell your women to stand down.” The fact that she was fighting, despite her pregnancy, told him that she was not expecting a new princess. Even still, he couldn’t imagine much that would send her into a fray like this—unless she didn’t care about the child’s life at all.
She spat at the ground in defiance.
“Why are you marching against Earth, Highness? What’s in it for you?”