The Omen of Stones

by Casey L. Bond

He wouldn’t speak. Not even when I asked him to reveal the truth.

  The triplets wore the same pensive expression and I wondered if they, too, were beseeching Fate for his help.

  21

  Sable

  Brecan brought Tauren back to me, along with an ancient tome regarding ward magic. He slapped the book in my hand, promising to help when he could. Right now, he needed to help the Kingdom. I didn’t have a chance to ask what he meant before he vanished again.

  Tauren cleared his throat. “The men who killed the witch have been dealt with.”

  “How many?”

  “Five.”

  “How were they…dealt with?” I asked, pondering if they were now wandering The Wilds along with us.

  “They were hanged,” he said, surprising me. “Gallows were erected in Twelve to remind anyone else who might think to harm another citizen – witch or not – that it will be their last decision they’ll have the opportunity to make.”

  I was relieved and so proud of him. My hand-fasted and King. He’d simultaneously set a new precedent and issued a dire warning, and I loved him all the more for it.

  If his decision plagued him, he never let it show. His hands found my waist and pulled me in. “That witch could’ve been you,” he whispered. “They used spelled ropes and bound her magic. It’s how they were able to burn her.”

  “What house was she from?”

  “The House of Air.”

  I pressed my eyes shut. “Brecan’s. Is that why he’s helping you now?”

  Tauren nodded. “Many citizens remember him from the broadcasts, back when you bewitched my heart on camera and off.”

  I remembered it fondly. The invitations that had been extended by then-Prince Tauren were something the whole kingdom enjoyed watching. It was a season of pageantry and finery, where their beloved Prince would select a wife who chose him back.

  Only it didn’t turn out that way. In reality, he was being targeted and I was brought to the palace to help uncover the witches who wanted him dead. In the end, he didn’t marry. He chose me. He chose my custom, and this Winter Solstice, I hoped he chose me again.

  I would choose him for an eternity and not regret a second of our time together.

  Mira appeared in front of us abruptly and out of breath. “They’ve located him. He’s close,” she said, grabbing my hand. Arron clasped Tauren’s shoulder and mine and the four of us appeared on the far side of the river, almost where we first began our search.

  Our son stood with three female witches.

  “River!” My voice wasn’t my own. I ran to him and he turned around, catching me in a hug. I clung to him, thanking Fate he was alive and that he’d allowed the witches’ spell to finally work.

  “Mom!” he eeked out. I loosened my grip. “What are you doing here?”

  “We’ve been searching for you since the night of the Solstice, since Mira and Brecan were unable to find you. We found your cloak on the other side of the boundary, torn.”

  He patted my back and tried to calm me. “I’m fine. Thanks to Omen,” he said, nodding toward one of the witches.

  I tensed. “Omen?”

  River took a step back and gestured to the young woman who stood uncertainly beside him. “Mom, this is the Omen of stones Fate wanted me to find.”

  The omen wasn’t the object of lore. She was a witch, one of rare power. Just like River. I felt it emanating from her with the same intensity as the Center in The Gallows.

  “She hears Fate, too, and so do her sisters. This is Sky and this is Lyric,” he introduced the triplets in turn. Only their eyes and the lengths of their hair differed.

  I had no words…

  Tauren stepped in and graciously introduced me, himself, Arron, and Mira to the three girls. Then he hugged our son.

  River

  “I’m sorry to have scared you,” I said guiltily. “I followed a spirit out of Thirteen. I should’ve taken one of you with me.” I knew my meager apology couldn’t begin to atone for the pain I caused. Tears wobbled in Mom’s eyes and a knot formed in my throat.

  Mira looked relieved and Arron just watched, his slitted eyes raking over each triplet.

  “We searched the East Village last night,” Mom explained. “We tried to get in and couldn’t, but suddenly, the wards let us though. We couldn’t find you, so we went to the top of the mountain. The blacksmith there showed us to a witch’s home.”

  “That would be mine,” Sky said, raising her hand. “And that blacksmith’s name is Markus. He used to be mine.”

  Omen’s eyes widened at her admission. She and Lyric shared a glance.

  “Don’t even,” Sky warned, her eyes flicking from Omen to me. She quirked a brow.

  I cleared my throat. “Go on,” I urged Mom.

  “When we came back down, we heard a song in the air and saw a cloud spiraling over the town. There were too many unusual signs for us to ignore, so we were trying to find a way back in to be sure we hadn’t missed something,” Mom disclosed, out of breath.

  “The song is Lyric’s and the cloud is Sky’s,” I explained. “We have a lot to tell you, but we can’t do it here.”

  Where we stood, we were outside Omen’s wards, but I wasn’t sure about going back to her house. Lyric could shroud us with her song wherever we went, but where would we be safe? The palace?

  “I think we should go back to the palace, just until we can inform my parents of what’s happening and figure out how to find Lindey,” I suggested to Omen and her sisters.

  Omen was uneasy. “I don’t want to go to Nautilus until I find Lindey. I want to take her with me if I go. And we still need to find our mother’s bones.”

  We weren’t safe here. I felt Fate’s warning in my bones, but I also knew how much Lindey meant to Omen. She wouldn’t leave without her. She hadn’t physically dug her heels into the sand, but she’d definitely done so mentally.

  “Is there someplace safe that’s close by?” Dad asked her. “Some place you’d all feel comfortable?”

  “The only safe place is one we three ward.” Sky crossed her arms. “The three of us could triple ward a neutral area of forest.”

  Lyric nodded her assent and Omen relaxed, quickly agreeing. “That would be my preference as well.”

  In groups, we spirited across the water and into the forest beyond. Arron and Mira separately, Dad and Mom, me with Omen, and Lyric and Sky arrived individually.

  Mom whispered to me, “I could spell it, but I want to watch them build up their wards.”

  I smiled. “It’s impressive. You’ll love this.”

  Omen called for stone and the earth shook. Stones pushed to the ground’s surface and rose into the air. They formed themselves into a dome, hovering over us like an umbrella that stretched to the soil.

  Sky called on her fog and the world outside the hovering stones turned an eerie shade of gray. It was so dense, I couldn’t even see the nearby tree trunks through it. And lastly, Lyric hummed. The vibrations crashed against my inner ear until her voice dimmed, remaining quiet and steady thereafter.

  Mom’s mouth gaped open. “I’ve never seen anything like it.”

  Mira agreed, nodding as she spun in a circle. “None of the witches in Thirteen can do any of this.”

  “And each of you hear Fate?” Dad asked again.

  “Yes,” Omen answered. “We’re called the Fate-Kissed.”

  “Fate-Kissed,” Mom breathed. “He lives in each of you?”

  Sky shook her head. “He doesn’t live in us; I guess I should speak for myself here. He doesn’t live in me, but he’s chosen me and guides me when he sees fit.”

  I looked to my mother. “I’ve told Omen about you, but Sky and Lyric don’t know about you and Fate,” I reminded.

  “Then perhaps we should start there,” she suggested, going on t
o tell the girls about her mother, her grandmother, and how she’d come to hand-fast to my father. How they had hand-fasted year after year because she loved him, custom and tradition be damned.

  Mira explained the Sectors, paying special attention to Thirteen, where she explained her role as Priestess of the House of Water. When it was his turn, Arron explained his role as Guardian of the House of Fate, the House we would be invited into if we lived in The Gallows. The House that my grandmother Cyril had tried to take for her own, and Fate had gifted to Mom for her steadfast obedience.

  If any of us questioned what Fate would do if we betrayed him or his gifts, we needed only to remember Cyril’s story and the warning it evoked.

  I explained to everyone how the Purists captured me and bound me with a spelled rope, and how Omen had rescued, healed, and given me a place to rest. Then came the part about their mother, Illana, and how she’d led me to each of them. Omen explained about Lindey and what she was to her, including that she knew of my powers with spirit and bone, but absolutely refused to believe she was responsible for raking her mother’s bones from the earth.

  “Omen,” Mom said gently. “It is only natural to want to see the best in those we love, but sometimes the worst is revealed.”

  Omen shook her head vehemently. “Lindey did not do this. She wouldn’t tell the Smiths, either. I know none of you believe me, but I believe in her.”

  “I wanted to believe in my mother’s goodness, too. I defended her at every turn, until I learned she was far worse than anyone had divulged.” Mom shook her head. “I sincerely hope Lindey is as good as you believe her to be.”

  Omen thanked her, allowing Sky and Lyric to take over the story from their perspectives. There were so many overlapping threads in this tapestry Fate had weaved. I wondered what he saw from his perspective. Was the image coming together as he planned, or were we making mistakes and unknowingly altering the picture?

  Now that Mom and Dad knew I was safe, they were calmer, focused, and more determined to help.

  “I can find the bones,” I announced, shocking even my Mom. “But not if your wards are in place, Omen. They overpower my magic.”

  Sky looked wary. “What about ours? Can Lyric and I ward the villages?”

  “Whom do you think poses a threat to the villages?” Arron asked. “You have no reason not to trust us.”

  Sky rolled her eyes. “We also have no reason to trust you.” Dried, brittle leaves cracked as she shifted her weight from one foot to the other, crossing her arms defiantly.

  My dad seemed deep in thought. “What’s wrong?” I asked him, knowing that face well enough. He was trying to recall something.

  “Edward Smith…I don’t know that name, but I wonder if Knox might.”

  “Who’s Knox?” Sky asked, brushing her hair back behind her ears.

  Dad answered her, “My brother, whom I trust implicitly, and head of the Nautilian Guard.”

  Sky glanced at Lyric, who simply watched all of us, still humming. Her tone softened and with it, everyone’s aggravation faded away. Sky relaxed, and when she did, Omen was able to, too.

  She was spelling us all, coaxing us to calm our anger. When she realized I knew, she looked everywhere but at me.

  “I won’t take the ward stones down, but I can remove the magic from them long enough for you to find our mother’s bones,” Omen offered, an olive branch that seemed to satisfy everyone. Then she added, “But you have to take me with you.”

  I opened my mouth to protest, but she continued, “If Lindey is being held against her will, I need to find her before she is harmed.”

  “We should all go into the village with you,” Mom interjected. “Arron, Mira, and I have power that we can use to protect you, and Tauren can go anywhere he pleases without being detected.”

  “How can he do that?” Omen asked cautiously.

  “Because he has no magic. Unless he is caught in the act, he is undetectable. Did you sense that he’d been in your house?” she challenged Omen’s question.

  She shook her head. “I was looking for Lindey. It never occurred to me that someone else had entered.”

  Mom gave her a satisfied look and squeezed Dad’s hand. Omen looked at the black satin hand-fasting ribbons tied around both of their wrists.

  “I can find the bones…but I’ll need someone to watch my body while I’m gone.” I reached for Omen’s hand, which was already reaching for mine. Our knuckles knitted together, her soft hand against my larger one. “Omen will guard me,” I told them, unable to tear my eyes away from her silver ones. “It might be a good idea for the rest of you to surround the village, and perhaps to recite a location spell to help me find Lindey.”

  Mom’s eyes caught on our clasped hands. Her head tipped to the side and her lips parted. Afraid she’d say something embarrassing, I looked to the triplets. “Drop the wards around us. And Omen, please release your magic around the village.”

  Lyric silenced her song.

  Sky’s fog evaporated faster than I could blink.

  Omen pushed her stones away from us and let them fall to the ground with soft thuds. She nodded to me and then focused on something distant, something none of us could see. “It’s done.”

  Now, it was my turn.

  22

  Omen

  River’s golden honey eyes darkened to caramelized sugar. He stared into space and his eyes danced around, like they had when he entered the spirit plane at Lyric’s house. His skin paled and his hair seemed to darken. He was seeing what we couldn’t, sifting through time and space on another plane in which we couldn’t tread.

  The most frightening transformation was the color his lips. The soft pink leached away, leaving a frostbitten hue that faded from ice to sapphire. His hand went from warm and pliable to cold and rigid.

  “What’s happening?” Sable breathed.

  Has she never seen him do this? “He’s searching for our mother on the other plane,” I told her.

  “The spirit realm is no place for the living, witches included,” Arron warned.

  “Fate gave him this gift for a reason,” I defended. “He knows what he’s doing.”

  Sable took a step toward River, but I placed myself between her and her son. Not the smartest move, I quickly decided, based upon the threatening glare she speared in my direction. Mira and Tauren stopped her.

  “She’s right,” Mira soothed.

  “He’s dying!” she cried. “Look at him.”

  “He’ll be fine. We’ve seen it,” Sky jumped in, backing me up.

  Lyric nodded, softly adding. “It’s true. It’s scary, but this is River’s path.”

  “I had no idea he could do this. He…they always came to him,” Sable mused quietly.

  There was likely a great deal about River that he kept hidden, a multitude of secrets that lay just beneath the surface. His gift was complicated, something most wouldn’t be able to wrap their minds around. He told me he’d stopped visiting the outlying Sectors of his kingdom because it was easier for everyone else. I bet he hid some aspects of his gift for the same reason.

  I kept hold of his hand, my thumb brushing the back of it. Just a touch to keep him tethered here while he sifted through the spirits for our mother. For her bones. And for Lindey.

  River

  The forest was empty at first. Nothing but leafless trees, their branches tangling. The cicadas were silent. Everything was still.

  I called for Illana, tromping through the forest now devoid of color, waiting to catch sight of her pale dress. But instead of Illana, other spirits heard my voice and appeared. They reached out to touch me, so I hurried to find Omen’s mother. Now that they knew I was here, more would come.

  I was their connection to the living and to the world they left behind for this one.

  A connection they were desperate for.
>
  They all wanted something, but I didn’t have time. I would get lost in the vast number of them if I lingered for long.

  “Illana!” I cupped my hands and shouted.

  The sound of gurgling water filled my ears. I ran toward the river and found her there, hovering over the water. “Where have your bones been taken?” I asked her, direct and to the point.

  She pointed toward the village.

  “Show me.”

  She nodded, gliding over the land, her feet barely rustling the grass. I spirited from point to point to keep up with her. Unsurprisingly, she led me to Edward Smith’s estate. She winked to the porch, then passed through the closed door. The acrid scent of smoke filled my senses.

  In the kitchen, a fire blazed. Illana hovered in front of it and pointed to the grate where a pile of bones were burning, turning white from the heat. Judith hurried into the room, carrying an armload of firewood. She let the chopped wood fall to the tiled floor and dropped to her knees. Judith, a slight woman, was covered in dark mud. It was caked on the hem of her dress and around her fingernails, smeared across her forehead and coating the apron she wore.

  As if I had said the words aloud, she tore the apron off and threw it into the fire, along with the wood.

  If I wanted one of Illana’s bones, I would have to somehow break in and drag it from the flames. Maybe someone could distract them and I could slip in the back door…

  I crouched down beside Judith as she trembled, brushing an errant strand of hair from her eyes. The grate was full of bone. So much couldn’t possibly belong to only one person. From behind a piece of firewood was the curve of a skull, in the back middle was another, and closest to me, a third.

  Illana’s pale hand stretched out, making the motion of plucking a small bone from the fire. She pointed to me and back to the bone she wanted. I couldn’t pick it up in this state. Could I?

  I eased my hand in and grabbed hold of it. My mouth fell open. I could feel it. I could hold it. I tucked it into my shirt’s breast pocket. Judith rubbed the back of her neck, turning around quickly as I walked away. Illana lingered, hovering over her. If Illana had the power to grasp anything in our realm, Judith wouldn’t draw breath again.