Save Aether (The Trinity Key Trilogy Book 3)

by L. M. Fry

  “I can’t take this,” Theo muttered.

  The man looked up at her horrified. “It’s all we have. Please, don’t be angry with us.”

  She shook her head. “No… I mean… I’m not angry.”

  Danu’s eyes blackened, and she leaned forward in her chair. The man gasped and shrank away.

  “Is there a problem, daughter? Are you not satisfied with their tribute,” Danu shrilled.

  She pointed her claw-like nail at the man. He shrieked and begged, doubling over in pain. Theo stood up and turned to face Danu.

  “No, Mother, please stop. I’m very satisfied with his tribute. He doesn’t deserve this,” Theo pleaded.

  The man returned to normal, and Theo helped him stand. He looked at her with a blank face. He limped back to his family. Theo took her seat and made a point to drop the coin in the basket. Danu stood over them, grinning again. The man stuttered as he spoke.

  “Mother of all Aether, Daughters of Danu, we surrender ourselves to your majestic will.”

  The Subterrians stood there expectantly. Theo had no clue what to say or do next. She was terrified that Danu would lash out again.

  Danu cleared her throat. “Your sacrifice shall be rewarded my children,” she said and nodded her head at the Subterrians.

  They fell on their knees, said “thank you,” and wept. Theo couldn’t believe her eyes. Danu had just tortured the man, and now he pledged himself to her. The servants returned and dragged the family away. The ritual continued for hours upon hours. It seemed as if everyone from Subterria had returned. Theo made sure to accept and bless each person, so that Danu didn’t punish them. The baskets filled up over and over again. Each time, the servants removed them and brought empty ones in return.

  Theo recognized a few people from her time with Lazarus. The wealthy citizens who were once draped in riches were like all the rest – in rags weeping on their knees. They’d come to Lazarus’ ridiculous Christmas ball and offended her with their atrocious concept of the human world. Even as horrible as they were, they didn’t deserve this.

  A woman with long grey hair and a robust figure walked toward them. Theo wanted to cry out. This was her friend. The leader of the circus who saved Theo and Vivi from Lazarus.

  “Harmony?” Theo whispered.

  Like all the rest, she stared at the girls with a blank face and repeated, “Mother of all Aether, Daughters of Danu, we surrender ourselves to your majestic will.”

  “Harmony, it’s me Theo. Are you okay?”

  Harmony’s eyes glistened, and her jaw clenched, but she didn’t move or say anything. Danu repeated her speech about sacrifice, and like everyone else Harmony fell to her knees and was carted off. She didn’t even try to fight. Theo knew something was wrong. Harmony was one of the most willful people she knew. Right behind her were Benji, Adora, and the other freak show workers. It took three servants to pull Benji away. Theo couldn’t take it any longer.

  Not wanting to raise Danu’s ire, she worded her question carefully. “Mother, where are they being taken?”

  “The strong will be put to work rebuilding our empire,” Danu said.

  “And anyone who isn’t strong?” Julia asked.

  Danu’s smile touched only her lips. “Only the strong are worthy to serve a goddess. Do I not deserve a world of perfection?”

  Theo swallowed hard. She tried to keep the shakiness from her voice. “Of course, Mother. We’re just surprised that there are so many people. Subterria seemed empty last night.”

  “Aetherians heed my call, and all will prostrate themselves before me.” Danu stood up. “I’ve grown weary of this. It’s time that you learned the true power of your abilities. Come.”

  Her dress swept across the stone floors as if she were floating. Theo looked around for Victor, Eli, and Gideon, but they were lost in the crowd. The girls followed Danu down a corridor to an empty alcove. With one finger, Danu drew a symbol over a blank wall. Behind the image, Theo heard a grinding stone. Cracks formed in the solid rock wall, forming a doorway. Danu touched it and the door opened. She swirled her hands and formed a glowing ball of aether. Throwing it toward the ceiling, it hung in the air and illuminated the newly formed room. The girls stepped into the grand hall. The walls and floors were polished into a mirror-like sheen.

  “Theo, show me what you know of aether,” Danu said.

  Theo concentrated on her power. Holding out her hands, she created an arc of electricity between them. She pushed herself until the arc grew far above her head.

  Danu scoffed, “You are not reaching deep enough.”

  Danu touched Theo’s shoulder. A jolt of aether, stronger than she’d ever felt, flowed through her. Just like the night on the dock after Valera was taken, a swirling black cloud of aether surrounded Theo’s body. Purple bolts of lightning shot from the cloud, scorching walls. Theo’s muscles trembled. She felt as though she would lose control of the aether at any moment.

  Do not fear aether. It is a part of you, Danu whispered inside Theo’s head. Be at peace.

  Theo calmed her nerves. She let aether flow through her uninhibited. Lifting her hands above her head, she made the cloud grow until it filled the whole room. A surge of pure bliss warmed Theo’s body. She didn’t want to let it go.

  “You don’t just control lightning, Theo. You control the tempests and the tides. You were born of the Moon,” Danu said. “Release.”

  The second Danu said “release,” Theo lost aether. She felt as if the entirety of the world fell on her shoulders. The ecstasy she felt disappeared, leaving an equal feeling of loss. The dark cloud fizzled and dissipated. Theo wanted to cry. She looked at Danu’s smiling face. The woman seemed to delight in Theo’s pain.

  “You did well, child.” Danu touched Theo’s cheek. “Valera, you were born of the Sun. You control the flames and the mountains. Step forward and show me what you can do.”

  Valera did as she was told. Theo stood back and watched as Valera created a fissure in the ground. Danu helped her pull lava to the surface. Valera moved it around as if it were Play Doh. She gave birth to a mountain inside the chamber, and just as quickly made it crumble. Valera learned to heat and cool the earth. Then Danu took it all away with one word. Valera gasped, and tears welled in her eyes. The ground closed, and it was Julia’s turn.

  “Julia, my little warrior. You were born of the Earth. You control the beasts and plants. Your ice brings life and death.”

  If we control the earth and everything on it, then what do you control? Theo wanted to ask, but hesitated. She was more scared than curious. Danu’s eyes bored into her. She seemed to loom over them. With a wave of her hands, Danu created a black void within the room. Stars formed. Gases spiraled and dust collected. It was as if they all stood inside of space itself.

  “I was born of the universe. I control all. I create life. I bring death.”

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Julia

  “You are my strongest child, Julia. You are the blade I wield against my foes,” Danu heralded. “You can call upon the animals of the earth for aid.”

  Danu snapped her fingers and a rat skittered into the room. Waving her hand over the animal, she made it perform tricks.

  “Now you,” she said.

  It took a few minutes for Julia to gain control over the rat. She had to go into its tiny brain and speak to it, much like she did when speaking to Theo and Valera telepathically. Eventually, she had him dancing across the floor. Then, she released it.

  “You also have control over the plants.”

  Danu held her hand parallel to the floor and closed her eyes. The ground trembled, and then cracks. A seedling grew from stone. Julia copied Danu’s movements. After a few tries, a sapling grew… and grew… and grew until it became a tree.

  “Very good, Julia.”

  With one touch from Danu, the tree turned black. Leaves shriveled and fell. The trunk curled in on itself and disappeared. Julia noticed wrinkles forming on Danu’s forehead, and
the goddess seemed to weaken. She, on the other hand, felt rejuvenated.

  “I shall retreat to my chambers for a time,” Danu announced, leaving the girls in the grand hall.

  This was the first chance they had to speak in private. They searched for the boys in the throne room, but everywhere they went people bowed and reached out to them. The whole scene irked Julia. Subterria was a proud and strong city, but now the people groveled like beggars.

  “I see them,” Theo whispered.

  Sure enough, Eli, Victor, and Gideon were huddled in a corner away from the crowd. Julia waved Eli down and motioned toward the left wing. He nodded. The girls made their way to the doors. Someone grabbed Julia’s foot, making her stumble to her knees. Theo and Valera were swallowed up in the people. A mass of hands groped at her – some trying to help her, while others just wanted to rip off a piece of her. The hand still gripped her ankle, mumbling that strange mantra over and over again.

  “Daughters of Danu, we surrender ourselves to your majestic will… Daughters of Danu, we surrender ourselves to your majestic will… Daughters of Danu, we surrender ourselves to your majestic will…”

  She tried to kick the person away, but only managed to get tangled in her dress. Fingers scratched her arms and pulled at her hair. She shrieked in pain.

  “Hold on, Julia,” Valera’s voice drifted over the crowd.

  Julia reached for aether, and let herself grow cold. The hand around her ankle released her. The tugging and grabbing lessened, but the force of the people pushing down on her kept her from standing. Finally, she saw someone fall to the ground, and two hands lifted her away. Eli had her in his arms. Julia hid her head in the crook of Eli’s neck. Victor and Gideon fought a path through the people, until they reached the hall. Danu’s serpent men kept the mass from passing through the doors.

  “Thanks for helping, when I was being crushed,” Julia spat as Eli passed a guard.

  He grinned and hissed. Once a snake always a snake. Eli carried her to her room, and Theo did her best to heal the worst sprains and scrapes.

  “What is wrong with everyone? And where did they all come from?” Julia grumbled.

  Theo got a cold cloth and put it to Julia’s face. “They’ve got to be under some kind of spell. Harmony wouldn’t bow to anyone.”

  “We need to find out what’s happening to the ones who are being taken away.” Valera wrapped her arms around Gideon’s waist.

  “We can’t go out in these dresses. We’ll be trampled.” Julia muttered. Somehow her dress had survived the attack without a single tear.

  “Okay, then we disguise ourselves,” Theo said, grinning.

  Ditching the dresses, they put on their old clothes and smudged their faces with charcoal to look like the beggars.

  “We look ridiculous,” Julia groaned. “I have a better idea.”

  First, she wiped the junk from her face. She remembered how Danu’s appearance changed from one minute to the next. Julia figured it had to be a spell. She went into the bathroom and stared in the mirror. Channeling aether, she reimagined her features. Danu had said that all they had to do was imagine a place, well why couldn’t she imagine a look. She formed a picture of Theo in her mind. Her reflection shimmered and changed. She grinned, but lost the disguise. It took a lot of effort and concentration to finally keep the trick in place. After a few minutes, she stepped into the room.

  “Theo?” Victor asked, looking at Julia.

  “Ha! It worked,” Julia cheered.

  Theo walked around Julia, touching her face. The illusion faltered, but Julia maintained it.

  “Well, that’s disconcerting. Could you please put someone else’s face on?” Theo asked.

  Julia dragged the girls into the bathroom and showed them what to do. Valera chose to look like a model from one of her old human magazines. Theo did her best to look like her mother’s teacher’s assistant. Julia decided to try something harder. She formed an image of an old English teacher from Boulder High School in her mind, and used all her strength to project the aged woman’s features on her face.

  “Do we look different enough to slip past people?” Theo asked.

  “We won’t know until we try. Eli and I will go through the palace. You four look around Subterria.”

  Julia opened the door and slipped out. Eli shook his head at her.

  “Is it weird that I’m suddenly attracted to grandmothers?” He smirked.

  “Yes, and gross,” Julia hit his arm.

  The six of them split up inside the throne room. Without the gowns, people seemed to overlook them. Even the serpent men ignored them. The crowd knelt with their eyes fixed on Danu’s empty throne. Julia led Eli to where people had been taken away earlier. She froze. Lawless stood next to two non-serpent men guards. He babbled at them. They looked bored. Eli moved in front of Julia and approached the three men.

  “Hello, Dr. Lawless,” he smirked.

  “Eli, I was just regaling these men with the glory that was Danu’s awakening,” Lawless gloated.

  “Yes, it was glorious.” Eli played the part perfectly. He acted as mindlessly enthralled as everyone else. “Continue your tale, Doctor. I’m just taking this ugly, decrepit woman to the others.”

  Julia wanted to punch Eli, but she acted like an old lady. The guards didn’t question Eli’s passing. She supposed it was because Lawless knew him. Julia tried to keep her eyes down cast, but made the mistake of looking at Lawless. He paused and frowned. After a few seconds, he continued to exaggerate his part in the story. Apparently, he single-handedly saved Danu from the throws of torment and death. And then he carried all three daughters to safety as the tomb crumbled.

  Julia rolled her eyes. Eli nudged her down a stairwell to what used to be the Order’s dungeon, where guards separated the strong from the weak. Those who were healthy were moved into a second room, where Julia heard rushing water. The outcasts were put into cells in the dungeon area. Julia walked past rows and rows of the old and sick. Julia tried to avoid looking at the bodies on the ground. She didn’t know if they were alive or dead, but they weren’t moving.

  Children were sent to a different set of rooms. A horde of stern-faced women watched over them. Like the adults, the children were empty shells. They stood in lines, moving through life like Aetherland’s automatons.

  “What are you doing here?” One of the women yelled. “You should be over there.”

  “Got lost, sorry,” Eli quipped.

  “She goes with the rejects,” the woman sneered.

  Eli took Julia’s arm and nodded. Her Parmelia disguise had become a liability, so she released the illusion and resorted to rubbing mud on her face. Julia and Eli lined up in a group headed into the other room, where the strong were washed and given work tools. In one of the lines, Julia saw Benji. She slid into his line and tapped him on the shoulder. He turned to her.

  “Benji, what are you doing here?”

  “I surrender myself to Danu’s majestic will.”

  “What’s wrong with you? Where’s Harmony?”

  “I surrender myself to Danu’s majestic will.”

  Eli grabbed Julia’s hand. “It’s no good. They’re all the same. We need to get out of here.”

  He motioned to the serpent men coming their way. Together they slipped out a side door and ended up at the front of the palace. Lines of people spilled out of the doors and onto the street, waiting to pledge themselves to the goddess, while workers were being sent all over the city. The silence that had gripped Subterria just the day before was now a symphony of construction and a chorus of chants.

  “Julia, over here,” Theo called.

  As Eli and Julia met up with the others near a half-burned building, Julia reported, “People are being sorted like cattle. Some are in cells and others are being deployed out here. This whole thing is so messed up.”

  “They’re erecting a giant statue of Danu in the city center,” Valera added. “This isn’t at all like the stories Mother used to tell me.
Danu was a benevolent, loving, ruler. This isn’t right.”

  “I need to speak to my grandmother. She will know what to do,” Julia said. “I think I can manage to teleport.”

  “It’s too dangerous.” Eli took her arm. “You’ve never done anything like this. Maybe if all three of you go, it would be safer.”

  “We can’t all go. I need them to stay behind and cover for me. Eli, I have to do this.”

  “You should go to the surface and try it. Starting in open air might be safer,” Theo suggested. “Just make sure you don’t teleport yourself into the ocean instead of Pacifica City.”

  “Thanks,” Julia deadpanned.

  Theo and Valera went back to the palace to clean up and prepare an excuse in case Danu were to awake before Julia returned. Julia and Eli made their way to the surface. The island above Subterria appeared as if everything was normal. The cows still grazed in pastures. The wind still blew. The sky was still blue. There was no indication of the insanity happening below.

  Eli held Julia against him. He whispered in her ear, “Come back soon.”

  She nodded and stepped back. With all her energy, she focused on the glass building in Pacifica. She knew she had to get it right, or risk drowning a hundred feet below water. She imagined the dome, the port, the streets. She formed the image of the Elders’ Tower in her mind and willed her way through time and space. She kept her eyes closed and took a deep breath –just in case. Her skin prickled from the rush of cold air. She stopped in midair, falling a few feet to the sandy ground. She landed on her bottom in the middle of the street inside the glass dome of Pacifica.

  “Watch where you’re going,” a woman shrieked, and then stammered, “Oh… I’m sorry…” The woman dropped to her knees. “Forgive my outburst, Hero of Pacifica.”

  Ignoring her, Julia hurried to the Elders’ Tower. She was surrounded by a mob of citizens, all of them vying to gain her attention. She waded through them, until the crowd became so thick that she couldn’t move.

  “Let me pass,” she grumbled. “I have to speak to Parmelia.”