“How unexpected. I was not planning to see you before tomorrow. Welcome to the Third Realm.”
I turn to meet him. My father. His eyes are guarded, but he smiles warmly as he steps away from the long wooden box he climbed out of.
“Emily, you gleam so brightly. I see you wear the medallion I crafted for you. Do you find it helpful as a focus?”
My hand rests on the crystal in the hollow of my throat. It’s icy cold. Without glancing down I know it shines with distorted blue light, the same nervous shade that fills my wings.
I return his smile tremulously. “It’s incredible. Thank you.”
“It serves the additional purpose of keeping me apprised of your whereabouts. I must admit, you departed your Realm so abruptly I briefly lost track of you. Where were you going so quickly just now?”
“To Toad.” I confess.
Drake’s eyes narrow. “Toad?” he asks softly. Much too softly. “What Toad.”
Alarm bells ring in my head. “I…I thought I saw a little toad hopping along the sidewalk.”
Drake’s fists clench and unclench at his side. A vein bulges in his forehead. “That little bitch,” he mutters. The elemental power surrounding him surges, vacillating as violently as his mood. He is not in control. His carefully constructed command of the situation slipped when I mentioned Toad.
Drake stalks back in silence to the box he emerged from, pacing around the portal in an ever-widening circle.
No. He’s not pacing. He’s searching. Searching for Toad.
He can’t See Toad.
I back up onto the asphalt as his frantic search brings him closer to me, away from Toad and the tree.
“Don’t play stupid with me,” he hisses. “Where is it?”
“I don’t know, it hopped away. Drake, please, you’re frightening me!” A mad hope takes root in my chest. If I can convince him I don’t know what’s going on he might let me go.
He stops in his tracks, doubt on his face. But then he shakes his head. “You’re lying. The Princess is obsessed with toads.” He steps closer. His unwarmed breath sends chills across my bare neck. “She’s hidden nearby. Where is she? Tell me now or you will regret it.”
Fear stiffens my limbs. I don’t doubt he’ll hurt me if my answers don’t please him.
“What did that filthy whore tell you?” Drake’s voice is soft again, a discordant caress along the curve of my shoulder. His mouth is inches from my ear. “Did the little bitch tell you about my failed creations? About the weak useless women who died carrying my bastards? Did your mother tell you why you and your siblings were made?”
I stumble back another step.
I can tell Drake believes the horror on my face is real. His jaw tightens as a question forms in his eyes.
From the corner of my eye I see something small darting toward me across the slate gray sky-scape. Xander.
“What the hell…” Drake sees her too.
I had no idea dragonflies could move so fast. Even before Xander is close enough to communicate I open my mind wide, pushing pictures of Drake and his rage, his confession.
“An insect?” He laughs, his voice a wicked sneer. “Did Nissandra really think she could thwart me with a girl and an insect?”
He holds his hand up in the air, palm to Xander. His aura shifts. A miniscule weaving of elemental power shoots across the lot, spreading as it moves away from him.
The flow expands, speeding at Xander. A second later she drops from the air, her tiny body crumples against the gritty pavement.
No. Not Xander.
My wings buzz with panic. My friend is injured, possibly dead. I’m heartsick. I’m stuck. Even if I could calm down enough to summon the weapons, their combined power can’t help me get back to the grove. I don’t know how I Traveled the first time.
“Tell me, Dear One. Was that dragonfly special to you?” His voice is lyrical and deep again, full of fabricated compassion and concern. It turns my stomach sour.
He takes another step closer. “Was it your friend? Was it faithful? Of course not. It was an insect. It didn’t have power like you, did it, Dear One? It’s entirely replaceable.”
He circles to stand directly in front of me. I hold my back ramrod straight, refusing to meet his eyes. He pinches my chin between his thumb and finger, making me look at him. “Not like you, Dear One,” he purrs. “No. You aren’t replaceable, are you?”
I slap his hand away, step back and scrub at my chin, trying to erase the filth of his touch.
“You’re adorable,” he chuckles. “You make me proud. Now stop this charade and tell me where Nissandra is.”
I will never tell him where she is. I will die first. But I choke down the rebellion kicking inside. I have to convince him I’m clueless, it’s my only chance of escaping. “I came here by accident, Drake. Have I done something wrong?”
“I could almost believe you, Dear One.” He walks in a slow circle around me, his tapered index finger tracing the outline of my upper-left wing as he passes.
Bile coats my tongue. It takes all my control to keep from clawing the wing out of my back.
“I hope you’ll forgive me for my little outburst earlier, Emily.” His tone is casual now. “I know you can empathize with me. A century away from home is finally taking its toll. But that will all be remedied soon.”
“Tomorrow,” I agree. “Everyone’s getting ready.”
“Yes. I’ve heard about your preparations. Does it bother you at all how selfish the Fae have become in their eagerness to return home? What a lot of pressure to put on such a young girl. Have you considered the Fae’s offer to accompany us to the First Realm, or do you still wish my help in burning out the power in these magnificent wings?”
“I’ve realized how much Jacob, Aidan, Claire and I can learn from you,” I say in my best subservient voice. “We want to come with you. If you show me how to get back to them now, we’ll gather our things and meet you tomorrow at the Doorway. ”
“I’m afraid that won’t be possible, Dear One. As bravely opaque as you appear, I’ve said far too much. I can’t have you recounting our conversation to Lady Quince and the General. No. Aidan and Claire can travel to the Doorway with the elves and maidens tomorrow. Jacob is there now. I asked your friend Gabe to bring him. Consider him an incentive for your cooperation.”
“Please Drake. Please let him go. I was always going to open the Doorway for you, you don’t need to hold Jacob hostage.”
“He came quite willingly, from what I understand. Perhaps your overprotective control began to chafe him somewhat?”
Movement by the Tree catches my eye. Drake is behind me. Has he seen it too? Without turning my head, I shift my gaze.
It’s Toad. He’s opened one filmy eye to stare at me inscrutably.
LOOK.
The voiceless command tumbles like white water rapids in my mind.
LOOK. SEE.
“Look where? See what?” I call back in my head.
No answer.
“You said to look and See! What am I supposed to be looking for?”
Again, no response.
“Mom?”
Nothing.
“Ava? Hannah? Aunt Margaret?”
Silence.
“Toad? Please tell me what to do! If you care at all what happens to me and the people I love, please tell me what to do!”
This time the voice is an echoed whisper rebounding through the slot canyons of my inner ear…
THE THIRD EYE.
“You mustn’t blame yourself, Dear One,” Drake taunts. “Teenage boys can be so inconvenient.”
My resolve crumbles. This is ridiculous. No one has ever said anything about a Third Eye. How many sets of eyes can one person have, anyway? My green eyes, my Mind’s Eye, my Inner Eye…
Wait. That’s…t
hree.
So what? It’s three! I still don’t know what the hell it is or how to use it! There is three of everything: Three weapons. Three siblings. Three Realms. Three voices. Now three eyes, too? “You’re going to have to give me a little more help or there’s no point. I don’t know what to do.”
All at once I remember Lady Nancy Quince sitting next to me on a bench in the garden. She said I was supposed to make peace with the little girl and the critical woman—Hannah and Margaret—I was supposed to ask what they needed and trust myself so I could find my True Voice. But I did that! That’s how I opened the third box. Ava is my True Voice…we listen to the other parts of me and make decisions based on all the information.
What if I’m supposed to do the same thing with my eyes? What if I’m supposed to combine all my Sight to make one Eye...a Third Eye that can see more than any of them can separately?
It’s worth a try.
Still looking at Toad I align my Inner Eye so it lies directly over top of my physical sight. Next, I bring my Mind’s Eye to the center of my attention, layering it over top of the other two. Not like in the grove when I’d placed one Eye above the other. That had been like looking through bifocals. This is like three panes of different colored glass stacked up: red + blue + clear = purple…
…for the first time, I See through all three lenses at once.
Vertigo threatens to bring me to my knees. Jagged needled slivers of texture, light and sound crush against me. I’m blind.
RELAX, says Toad.
I follow my breath in and out, letting my lashes flutter down, softening my gaze. I count back from ten. When I look up, everything has changed.
Toad fills his bloated air sac in approval.
A sudden chill breeze ruffles the surface of my wings as I survey my surroundings with the Third Eye. The sunless skyscape has visibly darkened, revealing a ghostly moon and faint diamond stars just above the horizon. Brittle leaves scuttle past my bare feet on the frozen ground.
“Everything will be fine, Dear One. As long as you cooperate with me fully.” Drake’s voice is too close.
Something flaps above Toad toward the top branches of the ancient tree.
The sky is wrong, pulled too tight, unraveling at the seams.
Seams? Skies don’t have seams.
This sky does, and it doesn’t separate just along the edges. My Third Eye reveals holes riddling the air—a 3-D holographic map of the cosmos superimposed over this reality. Every diamond star, every pinprick planet is another rip—tears in the fabric of space.
The Connections emanating from my core are thicker and stronger now that my three Eyes are combined into one. Nausea curdles my gut. The dark heavy coil that had frightened me in the grove slithers darkly to Drake along the ground.
But the ribbons of light are more vibrant as well. I identify the chords leading to Jacob, Aidan, and Claire first, and then Ava, Ian, Quince, and Kaillen. I weave them together, envisioning a fist. With light streaming out between my fingers in every direction I pull their ribbons in closer to my heart.
I inhale relief. They’re safe. Worry and waiting thrum through their links. Ava concentrates her whole tiny self on sending love and faith through our bond. I’d give anything to communicate with them, to tell them I love them, to tell them how much they mean to me.
Wait. On the night the crimbal attacked I’d been able to communicate with Jacob telepathically. Could it work again even though we’re in different Realms?
“Jacob.” I tug on just his link.
His answer is immediate. “Emily! Where are you? Can you hear me? Something isn’t right. I thought we were going to put gas in the vans, but Gabe brought me somewhere else. There are men here. At least three dozen. And they’re armed. Can you hear me? Where are you? Emily?”
“Jacob, I’m here. Are you hurt? Armed with what?”
“No, I’m not hurt. Armed with guns. Lots and lots of guns. Big ones. And they’re dressed like a S.W.A.T team, all in black. I’ve never seen any of these guys before.”
“Jacob. I need you to listen to me. It’s going to be okay. Do you know where you are?”
“In an abandoned parking garage. I saw signs for Highway 1 and Half Moon Bay. I think we got off at an exit for Mt. Hermon. These guys are all just standing around oiling their guns and staring at a wall with graffiti all over it, waiting. Except for Gabe. He’s acting like a lunatic. Is this part of the plan? What’s going on?”
I steady my breath, trying to convince myself that Gabe wouldn’t let anyone hurt Jacob, that he’s only holding him hostage because he thinks he knows what’s best for me. Gabe is confused, not evil. He’s been deceived and manipulated by Drake like the rest of us.
“Jacob. Stay calm, I’ll be back in a minute.”
“Wait! Where are you going? Emily?”
“Jacob, you know how much I love you, right?”
Silence. I can almost feel him shrugging his shoulders. But then his ribbon shines brighter…
“Yes.”
“Good. I’ll be back.”
The musk of Drake’s immortal breath grazes my cheek. “If you follow my directions, Dear One, you have no need to worry.”
“I’ll do anything you ask, anything. Just promise they’ll be safe.”
“Anything I ask? How nice. I’ve heard you speak those words before. I like you eager to please.”
I shield myself from his vile words, concentrating instead on using telepathy to talk to Aidan and Claire and the Fae in the grove. I tug one link after another: Ava, Quince, Ian, Kaillen. But they can’t hear me. Aidan’s probably having a panic attack by now. I need to let him know I’m all right.
Except, I’m not all right. I’m far from all right.
My blood turns cold as movement on the frozen pavement catches my attention. I shudder. A swarm of green incandescent cicadas scrabble up and over my feet, flowing toward Toad. They work their way dauntlessly up Toad’s slime-covered body, over his desiccated belly.
Toad yawns wide. His thick pink tongue lolls out of his horrible lips—a grotesque red carpet entrance for the locusts’ arrival.
The cicadas aren’t the only creatures on pilgrimage toward Toad. Bright-colored butterflies wing past side-by-side with dull gray moths. An orchestra of crickets creep forward, their instruments strangely silent. A cluster of wood-brown spiders follows them while an army of red and black ants parade between my feet, all on sudden migration to Toad.
Where are they all coming from, and how has Drake not noticed? He stands behind me, bruising my elbow in his unforgiving grip, waiting for my reply to the question still ringing loud in my ears.
“Where are my weapons, Dear One?”
The ants carry poor Xander’s body on their backs. Is she alive? I open my mind again, pushing images of Drake, of Gabe and Jacob, and the army of Halflings. Of Toad and me. Of the pictures in mom’s photo album and the smile they put on my face. It has to work.
“Where are they? I want to see them!” The icy blast of his words on my exposed neck breeds goosebumps across my skin.
The breeze that ruffled my wings a moment ago has risen to a steady gust, blowing in from the countless tiny tears in the fabric of the atmosphere. It plasters the skirt of my sparkling gown flat against the backs of my legs, whipping Drake’s words around my head.
“I don’t have them!” My shout rips from my mouth in the now howling gale.
Drake’s hand clamps down on my arm until I’m sure it will break. He circles so we are face to face. His hair hangs perfectly still in the torrent, his eyes are hollows of madness. “Get them. NOW.”
Thirty-Seven
Dread paralyzes me. I can’t let him near the weapons. It isn’t just about the Doorway. Drake wants power: my wings, the weapons, and control of the entire First Realm. If I don’t give up my gifts willingly he’ll take them by force
. And then he’ll take Jacob’s. Aidan’s. Claire’s.
There has to be something I can do. Someone needs to tell me what to do. I need Ava.
But Ava isn’t here.
I See now that the bugs are arriving through the same holes in the sky as the wind. Is Drake making these things happen, trying to frighten me into giving him the weapons?
No. He seems completely unaware of the brewing storm as well as the pilgrimage of insects.
In moments the sky shifts from septic gray to inky indigo. The temperature plummets. The veil of this Third Realm is being riven, like the delicate weave of an heirloom shawl pulled too tight.
Through one gash I glimpse the gnarled oak tree and rope swing. Through another I see the pitted graffiti-covered concrete walls where Jacob, Gabe, and the Halflings prowl. Another reveals a young me with Butterscotch on the porch swing at sunset.
The rip by my shoulder opens on the community pool three weeks ago when I first met Gabe. Through a hole near the ground I see myself at seven, shivering naked on the shower floor.
Aunt Meg rolls pie dough in the kitchen through a gap on my left. On my right I walk arm-in-arm with Kaillen into the throne room of a marble palace, a circlet of blossoms around my head. In a narrow slit I spy myself lying with my head on Gabe’s shoulder in a field of wildflowers.
And in a tiny little rift exactly in front of my nose I watch a ready-for-bed five year-old Emily curled up with Jacob in Dad’s lap as he shows us the runes on a magic wooden box.
“I’m growing impatient, Daughter. SUMMON THE WEAPONS.”
Wait. What if…? I look back down at the crack in the sidewalk. It wasn’t just a vision; it’s a window between Realms, too, like all the others.
Through the breach Aidan crouches on the ground, poking at the dirt with a stick—there’s a line of grasshoppers each waiting in queue for its turn at the front, the first in line squats down, all six legs bent like collapsible tent poles—then launches itself into the air…
… and disappears.
Whoa.
Kaillen kneels next to Aidan. “Your big sister is strong, smart, and very determined. She’s coming back.”
Riven: Young Adult Fantasy Novel (My Myth Trilogy Book 1) Page 24