IGNITE (The Heir Chronicles Book 1)

by Shretima Bahadur

  "What?"

  "Nothing. You were saying?"

  "Yeah. I . . . I no. Let's just forget I said this," he says.

  "No. You're going to tell me. I won't judge you. Promise."

  "I . . . alright. But you have to promise to not tell a soul."

  "I promise."

  He takes a deep breath and starts, "Lately, I feel as if . . . as if there are holes in my brain. As if some part of my memory is gone. I don't remember how I got to a place. Or what I was doing there." His eyes dance across the room and settle back on mine.

  "How long has it been happening?" I ask him.

  "I don't know . . . since the camping trip, I guess." As soon as he says the words, my heartbeat starts to increase and I realise something. I develop a theory. I don't know if that's true or not, but for now, I believe it.

  "I think that it would be better if you rested for a while," I say, eager to share my theory with Adrian and Drake.

  "Yeah. I think so too," he says and gets up.

  Before he leaves the room, I place my hand on his shoulder and whisper, "It's alright." And he leaves.

  ___

  It's almost dusk and the sun has set. I pace anxiously in my room, waiting for the others to show up. I haven't had the chance to discuss my findings and theory with them, and I think that I'll discuss it with them later.

  Unconsciously, my hand reaches over to my locket and I start fiddling with it. "Just a little more time," I say, more to assure myself than to assure my sister, sure that even though she can't hear me, she can probably feel me.

  A light knock comes on my door and I jump to answer it.

  "Hi." Drake walks in with Rafelia in tow, a scowl on his face.

  I look over at Rafelia, and her eyes seem tired, sad, worried even. Worried for whatever Drake and she were arguing about.

  "Let's go," Drake says and walks out the door with me and Rafelia right behind him.

  Adrian joins us a couple of minutes later and together, we walk at the spot which Drake has found out to be the perfect place to perform the spell.

  We all reach the spot and I realise why Drake chose it. It's surrounded by trees on all sides, so there is absolutely no way anyone would see something and it's far away enough from the hotel that no one would be able to hear me chanting the incantation. Plus, the moon is fully visible from here.

  He draws a pattern with some kind of ash and gathers some of it in the middle and adds something else which looks a lot like coals. He gestures me to come over to him and I do so without question.

  He takes my hand wordlessly and draws a knife over it, letting the blood drop over the coal-ash setting and I settle down to start the spell. My stomach feels as if there are a million butterflies racing within and I feel like puking and am thankful that I had a light lunch. Drake lights the coals and tells me to start.

  I close my eyes and start the incantation. Everything dissolves and the only thing that I register is my lips chanting the incantation and the warmth of the flames against my face.

  ___

  I start feeling weak and feel the energy draining out of me. A part of me tells me to give up. To find another way.

  But there's a part inside me that tells me to go on. That I have enough strength. That I have to do this.

  I hold onto that part of me and continue the spell.

  The flames seem to get hotter and hotter against my face and I feel as if I am going to be engulfed by them. I ignore the feeling and go on.

  ____

  At last, the spell is complete. I open my eyes and look around. Everything is the same as it was before I started and a heavy weight settles on my heart. My stomach drops and I look around helplessly.

  Drake is missing.

  I whisper as I don't have enough energy to even shout for her "Mirella!" I shout multiple times, but the only reply is silence no. I wander around helplessly. Adrian grips me by my shoulders. I can feel hot tears rising. I hold them back for the sake of myself. For the sake of hope.

  I look at Adrian. His eyes reflect my own grief and uncertainty.

  I look at Rafelia. She looks around, dodging my eyes.

  The look of a guilty person.

  She shifts her weight from one foot to another.

  I walk straight at her and look her dead in the eye.

  "Why is it not happening?" I ask firmly.

  "I . . . the ritual . . . it's not complete. Yet." She fidgets with her hands, biting her lips.

  "What do you mean?" Adrian says, coming up from behind me and putting a hand on my shoulder to steady me before I can even realise I need it.

  "It's . . . the ritual, it requires to complete a triangle. On one corner, the first corner, the spell is performed. The second corner," she seems hesitant to tell us about it, and before she can even move an inch, I grab hold of her neck to stop her where she is.

  "I may be weak but I am still capable of killing you and making it look like an accident."

  I wait for Adrian to reprimand me for saying something like that, but he doesn't.

  "Alright. On the second corner, a person who is ready to willingly sacrifice oneself to perform a sacrifice and finally, on the third corner, the person who is being summoned appears." As she is saying this, I feel a slight pain shoot through my abdomen and I feel a little blood soak my dress.

  "Drake's sacrificing himself," I say and panic shoots through me.

  CHAPTER-29

  "He's going to sacrifice himself," the words send Adrian grabbing Rafelia's collar and forgetting all his protocol and discipline.

  "Where is he?" He shouts in a tone which sends shiver down my spine and I lean on a tree to support my weak self.

  "He . . . he's that way," she says and starts walking towards the direction of the second corner.

  We both start following her. Adrian keeps a firm hold on me to stop me from falling down and I put a hand on my stomach to provide a little support so that even if I am unable to run, I would at least be able to walk at a good pace.

  The front of my dress is soaked in blood which I choose to ignore to prevent my mind from jumping to the worst conclusions which, by the way, are the only ones my brain can come to right now.

  Adrian keeps his hold on me steady and hard as I can topple over any second I am so weak. Partly because of the spell, partly because of the seeping gash in my stomach but mostly due to the horrific conclusions and the decision-makings I am due to do now. Should I let Drake die for my sister, or save him at the cost of my sister? The question makes me dizzy and I try to distract myself.

  Adrian says nothing, just follows Rafelia who too, hasn't uttered a word. The forest is silent. The only sounds being of leaves rustling and the wind blowing. The kind of weather before the storm.

  I feel my strength returning and the wound starts to heal. Either we have been walking so long that my strength has started returning or Drake has stopped bleeding or is alive.

  I really hope that the latter is true than the former.

  In a few minutes, I can make out a figure. No. Two figures.

  Both of them are on the ground. All of us rush into the foliage and see Drake sprawled across the dusty ground.

  Adrian and I both kneel on either side of him and I curl my fingers into a fist to stop them from shaking.

  His face is wet with sweat and he has a deep wound in his stomach, which is bleeding far more than mine. As soon as he notices us, he says, "Fena, behind you." He gestures towards the other figure and I turn around.

  I can see him in the dark. How can I ever forget his face?

  I immediately rush to his side.

  I take his head in my lap and the teats come. "Dad! Dad!" I scream.

  My adoptive dad. My dad. He is lying there with a dagger in his stomach. He doesn't seem to be going through any pain, although I know otherwise. He smiles at me through the pain.

  "My . . . daughter," he chokes out. His hand comes up to place a stray strand of hair behind my ear.

  "Rafeli
a!" I shout, beckoning her over.

  She stops dead in her way to Drake. She looks between Drake and my dad, deciding who to cure.

  My father reaches out to grip my wrist. "No . . . darling. It's . . . too . . . late. . . save him," he says and Rafelia immediately goes over to Drake.

  "Dad . . . but how are you—" I stop mid-sentence and grab a stone to slit my palm so that I can use my blood to save him.

  Before I can do it, he stops me. "No baby . . . I'm dying. Save . . . your sister." He says and hands me an envelope, now coated with a layer of his blood. I take it in one hand and the other rests on my father's face.

  I just hold him. Crying with him. Crying for him.

  It's only a matter of seconds before his eyes close and he fades away into oblivion. Away from me. Forever.

  A pair of arms snatch me away from him. I don't know whose. I don't care. I writhe and twist to get one last look at his body, but it's already disappeared.

  Adrian picks me up and Rafelia leads us to the third corner of the triangle.

  I can make out a dark-haired figure from my tear-clouded eyes. I immediately jump out from Adrian's arms and run towards her. I engulf her into a hug.

  "Mirella!" I say over and over again and I can feel her crying, shaking. I am too. I think about my father who just died in my arms and about her, for whom he died.

  I just hold onto her and cry.

  ___

  "She'll be disguised as your maid for now, alright?" Adrian says to me and I nod my head, uninterested.

  I am sitting on my bed, my legs curled up, my head resting on my knees, holding back my tears.

  Adrian says something to Mirella but I don't bother hearing it.

  It's not long after he leaves and Mirella encases me in a hug. I finally let myself cry and he stays there, gently shushing me and patting my hair.

  "Dad . . . Dad . . ." I repeat over and over again.

  "I know Fena . . . "

  "It hurts he's . . . he's . . . he's gone . . ." I choke out before disappearing into a puddle of tears.

  ____

  Dear Fena,

  I know that by the time you are reading this, I am gone. But remember that I am still with you. In your heart. My hand will always be there with you. Guiding you through life.

  I know that you must be or will be wondering how I reached where I did.

  I have been following you since the day you left. I saw you at the Imeen Demesne.

  I knew that you would use this spell one day or the other. I was surprised that you found out about the spell so soon, but you have no idea how proud I am that you did it.

  I knew that you would harness the energy from the full moon to perform the spell. So I waited out here, in the woods at the second corner of the triangle which Rafelia had marked.

  I'm sorry for not telling you that I was with you, but I couldn't. I hope you can forgive me.

  I want you to know that you will need all the help you need for the future. Especially Drake, Mirella and Adrian's. Keep your allies near.

  Follow your heart and whenever you miss me, remember that I am with you and I promise to return to you. I will return to you. Soon. Just do what you are destined to do. Whatever it takes. Make your own choices. Your own mistakes. And the most important thing, accept your mistakes and move on.

  Love,

  Dad.

  CHAPTER-30

  I open my eyes and see Mirella curled up into a ball next to me. Somewhere between the crying and moping, I decided I had done enough and stopped crying and sat there silently. I have no idea when I or Mirella fell asleep, but what I do know is that I'm not going to get any more sleep.

  I carefully slide out of the bed and change out of my sweaty and blood-soaked dress and put on a light night gown. I take a shrug to wrap around myself as it is cold outside and put on my slippers and walk out in the hallway.

  I clutch the shrug close to myself as the cold night wind blows past me.

  I wander around aimlessly until I come to an intersection. Left or right.

  I look between my options and choose the path to my right. It's just like the other corridors except that at the end there is a pool visible.

  I walk towards it and a figure emerges out from the dark. Drake.

  He is sitting beside the pool, feet in the water, looking out at the horizon. He isn't wearing his shirt, exposing all of his skin, most of which is covered in tattoos.

  I walk over to him and sit beside him, dipping my feet in water alongside his.

  He doesn't say a word, so I start, "How are you?"

  "Well, I'm handsome, sweet-"

  "Wait, wait, I meant how is your wound?" I clarify, laughing.

  "Oh, I'll live." He shrugs.

  "That bad?"

  "Not as bad as yours," he says and I feel a pang of pain across my heart.

  I visibly cringe and my hands start shaking, so I curl my fingers into a fist so that he doesn't see it.

  "Sorry," he says and looks at me in a sympathetic way.

  "No, just . . . can we talk about something else," I say, trying to divert the topic.

  "Alright," is all he says.

  "Okay, so . . ." I try to search for another topic. "What are these tattoos for?" I ask, pointing at the ink covering almost all of his body.

  "It's . . . nothing. Just something I've grown to like," he says.

  "Drake," I say after a few minutes of silence.

  "What?" He says in an irritated tone.

  "How long did it take?"

  "How long did what take?" He asks.

  "To move on," I say and he nods in understanding.

  "I don't remember. Does it really matter?" He asks, still looking at the horizon.

  "What do you mean?" I ask, itching closer to him, hoping for some advice.

  "I meant it never goes away, does it? I remember sitting alone in my room, shutting everything out. But that didn't help. Never does. Then I started doing what he told me to. I came here. I made friends and the pain got buried deep down. I still long for it to be gone, but now I have made peace with the fact that it never will . . . "

  His voice fades away and I understand for the first time the reason for his snippiness and arrogance.

  "What if he does come back?" I ask him, reliving the vision in which his father appeared.

  "I don't know . . . I . . . " He stops and clears his throat.

  "I think we should talk about something else," he says.

  "Okay then, so . . . how's . . . " I hunt around for topics but my search returns to nothing.

  "Well, I got nothing." I raise my hands up in defeat.

  "Well, that's what you get when you try to use your brain," he jokes and I slap him on the hand.

  "Okay, there's this one thing," I say and he turns his attention to me. "How long do you think it will take for Nadora to crack?"

  "I think just about, five," he says, and starts the countdown.

  "Four."

  "Oh, boy."

  "Three."

  "Yeah, right."

  "Two," he says and wiggles his eyebrows.

  "There's the Drake I know and hate," I say playfully.

  "And, one," he says and soon enough, I am back in the dark world, the realm of the Dark Queen.

  "So, I see you've managed to save your sister," she says and the look on her face tells me that she is not happy about it.

  She walks over to me and places her hand on my cheek. I cringe away, but look her straight in the eyes.

  "Don't touch her," Drake's voice booms from behind me.

  We both turn around and I see Drake standing there, clutching his sword, his knuckles turning white.

  "Oh, dear, maybe what I saw in your mind really is true ," Nadora says and places both her hands on my head. Drake tries to come over to me, but one flick of her hand, and he is bent over, clutching his head in his hands, still trying to reach me.

  I try to move away, but my feet are planted firmly on the ground. "Let. Me. Go," I try to w
iggle out, but no result.

  "You forget this is my territory, princess," are the last words that I hear and soon, I am standing in the balcony of a palace, a large number of people standing below. They all look up at me. It's like I am seeing a movie, looking at myself from the sidelines.

  The crowd starts to chant my name and I start addressing them. "My dear people . . . " My voice rings through the quiet crowd.

  A moment later, I raise my hands and conjure a flame. I flick my hands and the fire engulfs all the people standing there. Their shrieks pierce my ears and I cover them to stop it, but I can't. I see myself, and realise it isn't me at all.

  I am laughing at the people who I just killed. My laughter echoes along with the shrieks of the people. Thousands of innocent people. Slaughtered. By me.

  I look at myself and I don't recognise the girl in front of me. The girl in front of me is a sadist. A murderer. A killer.

  I close my eyes and will the screams to stop. I close my eyes tightly and soon the shouts become quiet. The only sound being my raspy breathing and the Dark Queen's laughter. I open my eyes and everything in front of me seems hazy. I am cowering on the ground, clutching the hem of my gown. A drop of water slides down my cheek. A tear. I hastily wipe the tear off and look around myself. I quickly get up and face the Dark Queen. She seems to be amused by torturing me.

  "Remember princess, you took your sister, but you gave me an even greater asset. I will come for you soon. And I will destroy you. I'll take away everything you love and cherish. Mark my words."

  Before I can realise what she means, the world around me fades and I am back at the poolside, sitting with Drake, both our bodies covered in sweat and tears stain my cheeks.

  "I think . . . I . . . better leave," I say and stand up.

  "Wait!" Drake says from behind.

  "What?" I ask, still shaking from the vision I saw of myself.

  He gently takes my arm to steady me, which is very un-Drake like. We both sit down once again.

  He fidgets with his hands a while before asking me, "Why did she call you 'princess'?"

  I look away. It was the one thing I couldn't tell him. I had promised Leo. I can't.

  But a tiny voice at the back of my head says, "Tell him. He's safe. He won't tell anyone. Let him in on your secret."