“I want you to do what you know is right,” she said and without another word, flew off, leaving Thane with a dozen unfinished thoughts.
15
Those Three Words
A shaft of golden light beamed its way through Shea’s opened picture window. Rifling through her things, she stuffed items into a small pack. “He calls himself a Keeper? And a General? A leader doesn’t destroy the one thing that - oh forget it!” she yelled as she whipped a water bottle across her room. She looked up at the dangling models of flying machines hovering over her head. They swayed back and forth in the breeze. The strings that kept them attached to the ceiling were all she could truly see. Stuck to one spot. Destined to stay where they were. To stay what they were. Fake.
She jumped, ripped one from the ceiling and threw it as hard as she could. Before it could explode against the wall, she ripped another one down, then another.
Thane flew to her window, flinching as Shea destroyed her room. He didn’t think she noticed as he landed on the window seat, but she collapsed into her cushioned chair, covering her sobbing eyes. “Go away, Thane!”
“I’m sorry. I just -,” he said. Shea didn’t know if she wanted him to leave because she truly did hate him or if she was embarrassed that he was seeing her this way. He just sat there, staring. At least say something!
Shea tried to compose herself, took deep breaths as she stood and went back to her small pack, tossing a few more items in.
“I…I have something for you,” Thane said, trying to stay business like. If he showed any amount of sorrow for her, she’d punch him.
“I don’t want it,” Shea said with a snort.
He nodded, and motioned to leave.
“Wait,” Shea quickly added. “Toss me those.” She was referring to her aviator goggles. They were easily within her reach, but he complied anyway.
After she grabbed them from his hand, Thane reached into his pocket, pulled out the rolled piece of parchment and placed it on her chair.
“By definition, a WishKeeper tends to, protects and aids a wish in its fulfillment process.”
Wrapping her goggles around her neck, Shea ignored the parchment, or at least tried to.
“I was given a mission and every Keeper sees his mission through to the end,” Thane continued.
Acting like it was a nuisance, she snatched up the parchment and read it out loud. “Rules of engagement while on The Other Side”. It was a list of official rules and regulations regarding a WishKeeper’s actions and orders while pursuing wishes. She looked at him, confused.
“I’m supposed to Keep you, but that doesn’t mean I can’t help you. Meet me at Winston’s Gate in twenty minutes,” he said as he tried to turn back to the window before she could reply.
“I don’t need your help.”
Thane stopped, looked at her and swiped the parchment out of her hand. “Yeah ya do,” he said with a smirk.
Shea watched him fly out the window. She tied her pack shut and didn’t want to smile. She hated even the thought of a smile, but there it was and it wouldn’t leave her alone.
Thane landed, stopped and looked back up at her window. The parchment was in his hand and he couldn’t believe he was about to do what he was about to do. Winston’s Gate. He hadn’t thought of actually helping Shea. All this time he was simply following orders. Keep her out of trouble. His General specifically ordered him to keep his daughter safe, but now he was about to do the exact opposite - bring her directly into the line of fire. Retrieving true love goes beyond our rules of WishKeeping. Avery was right and so were the members of The Hope. This isn’t just another wish and it isn’t a means to an end. Destroying it will only put a patch over a leaky hole.
He knew where Winston’s Gate was and he knew he was about to make the biggest gamble of his most likely short-lived, WishKeeper career. His General was wrong, and he was going to defy his orders and help his friend grant a True Love Wish.
As Thane launched himself into the air and zipped toward the opposite end of the valley, Avery sat, perched in a nearby oak. She watched him fly away, pulled her deep black hair into a tight pony tail, and sped off.
Just as Shea was about to grab a rope ladder dangling out her window, there was a knock at her bedroom door. She paused knowing who it was and waited for her anger to return.
“Shea..?” she heard her father’s voice from the other side of the door. “Listen,” it continued, “about earlier. There’s just too much to explain and you wouldn’t understand. Not right away, anyway.”
Gritting her teeth, she knew he would treat her like a child. Like a little pixie that would never understand. Oh she understood alright, but she didn’t have time to listen to apologies, nor did she want one.
“Your Mom,” her father continued. “She was better at this. Always knew what…” he mumbled. “You’re all I’ve…”
Shea waited for it. Even though she didn’t want to hear her father say it, she couldn’t get herself to leave. Maybe she did want to hear it. Maybe she wanted to hear her father say those three damned words even more than she wanted an apology. The quiet of the room was deafening as she held tight to the rope ladder.
“We’ll talk when I get back. OK?” he said.
Tears poured from her puffy blue eyes. He couldn’t say it. Like father, like daughter, and such a realization only made her angrier. She stared at the rope, dripping uncontrollable tears, and finally climbed out the window.
“I’m sorry”. Her father’s apology hung in the air, waiting for a reply, but Shea was already gone.
16
Avery’s Secret
No one knew much about Avery Waterstone upon WishKeeping recruitment other than the contagious smile her bright pink eyes and thick pink locks brought upon the beholder. She was a smile personified and though the term ‘living life wearing rose-colored glasses’ can be construed as a negative thing, she delighted in seeing the beauty in everything and everyone around her. There wasn’t an ounce of hurtful or spiteful blood within her, and she did all that she could to bring happiness to anyone she encountered. Despite being Erebus’ WishKeeper before he became WishingKing, her joyful and agreeable attitude was the main reason Erebus loved her so much, and why he promoted her to Regent quickly after his crowning. After switching from WishKeeper to Regent, her responsibilities of general supervision over the conduct and welfare of all Keepers were joyfully practiced. Though it was more of an assistant role and she held no real power within Paragonia, she didn’t mind. Spending each day with her WishingKing and managing the well-being of the Keepers suited her Purity-like self perfectly.
It was two months before Miranda and Grayson’s first True Love Wish when Avery’s life changed. It didn’t bend or tilt slightly, it ruptured like a dormant geyser finally releasing a thousand years of tension. The rain that day spattered against the castle’s windows and her king wasn’t feeling well. It was odd for a WishingKing to be sick at all since every WishingKing had a specific life span of exactly one-hundred years that consisted of perfect health, even up until the end. Avery brushed it off and surmised that the changing of the season and wet, chilly weather must be bringing out the sniffles.
She buzzed a cup of hot, steaming tea to him as he sat bundled up in bed and placed it on his end table.
“Thank you, my Avery dear. This blasted cold just won’t seem to go away, I’m afraid,” Erebus said, wiping his nose with a hanky.
Avery smiled, removed her wand and spun in a loving circle around the cup of tea. “May the sun shine all day long, everything go right, and nothing go wrong,” she said in a sing-song rhythm and clinked the cup of tea with her wand. Nothing grand or magical happened, but her smile was infectious and Erebus couldn’t help but giggle.
There was a knock at the door and Erebus motioned for Avery to answer. Happily bouncing her way over, the door pushed open before she could open it herself. Sopping wet and in an obvious nasty mood, Elanor swept in carrying a bright Purity. Before either of
them could greet her, Elanor’s complaints rolled off her tongue. Avery was suddenly frozen still.
“Your majesty, I always appreciate our meetings, but flying across the entire valley in pouring rain just to present you with one little Purity seems to be an incredible waste of time. If I may speak freely, of course,” Elanor said, wringing the rain from her long, red hair. She looked exhausted, completely soaked, and if she hadn’t been talking to her king, she probably would have yelled what she just said instead of pushing it through her wet lips.
Avery floated, caught between a hundred feelings. Her usual, natural smile faded to an open mouthed stare. It wasn’t magic of any kind that held her there, at least not of the fairy kind. It was a magic of a much more ancient and natural conjuring. It spilled from her heart and rushed through every vein with an energy unmatched. She had never met Elanor, though she had heard her name discussed within the every-day management for her king, and until now Elanor was just another WishKeeper doing a fine job.
As she floated there, fingers intertwined as if she tried catching her breath but missed, Avery couldn’t stop staring at Elanor.
“Ah, my Elanor,” Erebus said, ignoring Elanor’s bad mood. “Thank you. I truly appreciate your hard work and dedication and I apologize for taking you away from your Keeping duties to tend to a sick old man. Have you met my Regent, Avery Waterstone?”
Avery twitched at her name and bowed her head quickly. Elanor looked, shot a forced smile. “Hey,” she barely tossed the greeting to Avery and while she didn’t mean to come across as cruel, Elanor was a naturally impatient fairy and didn’t understand why her Purity wasn’t snug in the Nursery by now. “Your majesty, if you don’t mind?” It was a request to get on with it.
Erebus sat up and repositioned himself, “Of course. Avery, will you retrieve the Purity, please?”
“Retrieve…?” Elanor didn’t understand.
As bashful as bashful could be, Avery blushed her way over to Elanor and hesitantly reached out her hands, expecting Elanor to give her the Purity. The little wish, with its wide happy smile, had no idea there was an argument brewing. It grinned a calming smile at Avery as she approached, and it was the first time Avery felt a rush of jealousy. She’d rather someone else was smiling at her, not the wish.
“Your majesty, really, I don’t have time for some form of class or lesson so that your new Regent may learn more about wishes or whatever it is you -,” Elanor was suddenly cut off. It was the first time Avery or Elanor had ever heard their king raise his voice.
“Hand over the wish, Elanor, and you may go! If you have such integral goings-on that are more important than helping your king, than just get it over with!”
The chamber echoed with his sudden outburst and snapped Avery from her entangled stare. They both looked at Erebus, confused, surprised to say the least.
“I’m sorry, your majesty, I just -,” Elanor tried.
“Please,” Erebus said, a bit calmer. “I respect your wishes to get back to work, please respect mine to do the same.”
Elanor blinked through the confusion and followed orders. She bowed, and slowly gave up the wish. Avery accepted the little Purity with loving arms, and when Elanor connected eyes with her, she couldn’t help but blush again and look away.
“Now then, I expect you have work to do. Thank you, Elanor, and I apologize for my outburst,” Erebus said with a deep breath.
Avery backed away, cradling the Purity, and even though Elanor had plenty to add and questions to ask, she felt it prudent to leave them be and floated through the chamber doors. Love-struck, Avery looked at the open chamber doors, secretly wishing Elanor would come back. She didn’t understand these feelings - this sudden rush of excitement. It felt as right as anything she’d felt before, though something on the surface told her to ignore it. Few things in life are truly impossible, and Avery had just discovered one of them - ignoring a sudden crush.
“Avery,” Erebus, again, snapped her from her paralyzing thoughts. “Bring me the wish, please.”
She did as she was told and floated to her king. As she flew closer to him, her newfound crush for Elanor slowly dissipated, and the strangeness of the situation came to the forefront. Never had she handed a wish to her king before, and truly, there was never a reason to. A WishingKing never handled the wishes, physically. There was the monthly inspection of the Nursery, of course, but more for the inspection of treatment and cleanliness of the stables than the actual wrangling of the wishes. That was a Keeper’s job.
Pausing at his bedside, she hesitated as the old king reached out his palm. His eyes were bloodshot, wide and what Avery could only define as desperate. She couldn’t help but pull back as he reached his palm a bit further.
“Please, my Avery. You wish for your king to be well again, don’t you?” the king’s tone was filled with guilt, but not of the personal kind. He meant for her to feel it.
She nodded her head and an uncontrollable feeling came over her - the opposite of what she had just felt while looking at Elanor. She wanted it to stop; almost silently begging for it to end, but it was too strong. Unconsciously, she placed the little wish into the king’s clammy palm and quickly floated backwards. There was something wrong about his hand. The cracking of blissful naïveté can be a painful process and Avery had never felt it before, but it was fear. For the first time in her life, fear overcame her.
Erebus sat up in bed, leaning forward over his cupped hands. They covered the Purity and while it looked like he was being delicate, Avery knew this was wrong. This shouldn’t be happening. The room filled with a darkness that had nothing to do with how bright or dark it could be, but more so an emotion. A feeling spread throughout the room and nothing about this feeling was good.
Avery couldn’t fly backward any further as she bumped into the stained glass window, rain crashing into it. The sound of the raindrops filled the room to a deafening hum and Avery watched her king consume the wish. A black flash of shadow stretched from his hands, and with a quick crack of thunder, the darkness pulsed through him like a filthy wave.
A deep breath from Erebus released the tension in the room, but not the moment from Avery’s wide eyes. What just happened? What did her king just do? He breathed deeply again, and moved his thick wool blanket away. He climbed out of bed, still cupping the wish in his hand, and stood. Erebus looked at little Avery, shaking, pushing herself against the foreign comfort of the cold stained glass, and opened his hands. The once smiling, happy little Purity was nothing but a grey, lifeless ball of dust. He tilted his palm and the ashes of the wish fell unceremoniously to the floor; just something else for Avery to sweep up later.
“Your WishingKing feels much better now,” Erebus said, staring bright eyed at the scared little Keeper. “You must promise me something, Avery. No one can ever know about this. It will be our little secret. Something only you get to share with your WishingKing.”
He leaned in close. Avery’s breath was quick, labored and all she wanted to do was rush to Elanor and tell her how sorry she was. To tell her…just to tell her. She had never cried before, but Avery felt what must have been a tear trickle down her face. Little did she know, she would grow accustomed to them like a torturer does to pain.
“Speaking of secrets, I have discovered one. Have you and the Keepers been keeping something from your WishingKing?”
Avery shook her head, sincerely not understanding what her king was referencing. What secret? She would never keep anything from her king.
“The sixth,” Erebus said, demented and eager.
Her desperate little head was suddenly filled with scrambled thoughts. Not the sixth. He couldn’t mean…she shook her head again, more to erase the possibility that this is what he meant than to actually answer him.
“I chose you as my Regent, Avery, because I love your dedication to the truth. Lies do not fit you, my Avery,” he continued, staring at her with wide anxious eyes. “You will tell me where they keep the Death Wishes.”
/> Creeping out from under his cloak, a black fog enveloped Avery, wrapping her up in its thick, wet smoke. Panic swept through her. Why would my king do this? Why would my beloved WishMaker make me tell him such a thing?
Her eyes crackled with a black shadow and her head perked up, looking intently at her king. “Behind the Point, there is a cave,” she said, as if in a dream. “All wishes of Death forever will be saved.” The fog rushed away from her, retreating back under his cloak. Erebus stood upright, smiling as Avery’s black eyes continued to stare.
“And you will retrieve for me, such a wish,” Erebus said.
* * * *
As the months continued, all of the Keepers noticed a difference in their happy little Regent. A darkness fell over Avery, and her famous smile became more and more rare. She was a prisoner to her own devotion to ignorance and every time Erebus requested another Death Wish, she felt the one-time joy and love in her heart disappear a little more. Eventually, she became almost robotic and while the other Keepers assumed it was simply a matter of a heavy workload and busy schedule, Elanor was the first to notice a real change. The dark circles under Avery’s eyes were one thing, but there was something within them that worried Elanor. She and Beren took her in, inviting her to supper, tea and the occasional party. For Avery, the only time a true remembering of emotion or love crept back in was when she spent time with Elanor and her family, and yet Elanor continued to witness the slow decay of the happy little soul firsthand, and true worry began to sink in.
It was the night of Wishing Eve when Avery came to Elanor, unexpected. She and Beren were readying their packs for the busy night and Shea was pleading with her parents to let her cross over with them, pouting and throwing a fit each time they said no.
Despite how quiet and introverted Avery was, Beren and Elanor felt that she was a part of their family, even only after a short two months’ time. The pink-haired Regent stood in their living room, thin and frail enough for a slight breeze to knock her over. After appeasing their tantrum-throwing child, allowing Shea to cross over if she agreed to go to her room and stop complaining, they sat Avery on the couch and listened to her confession.
The WishKeeper (The Paragonia Chronicles) Page 8