by Linsey Hall
“Okay, let’s go.” I clutched the box and walked over to join her.
Moira nodded and led us from the room. Orion stayed at her side and I trailed behind.
“This way.” Moira led me up the main street, which was just as beautiful—and barren—as the lower part of the city.
“Why are there no plants?” I asked. “It’s terrible.”
“That is not my story to tell.” Moira gestured. “Come.”
She repeated Morpheus’s earlier words, which was odd. I tucked that bit of info away for later.
“Has this place been cursed?” There was a sadness here, and that darkness I’d felt earlier.
“I cannot say.” Moira’s gaze shuttered.
A shimmer to my left caught my eye. A short alleyway diverted off the main street. It dead-ended at a glimmering opalescent wall. Just like the large wall at the base of the city, near the courtyard.
“What’s this?” I started toward it, hoping it was a portal. I’d need a way out of here when it was time to go.
“Don’t!” Moira’s voice was sharp.
A hand grabbed my arm, strong and sure.
I spun, striking Orion’s arm. “Let go!”
He dropped his hand, stepping back. Moira rushed forward. “It’s nothing. It’s just the barrier between here and the rest of the world. But you cannot leave.” Desperation filled her eyes.
“Cannot?” Annoyance seethed in my chest.
“No, you cannot. It’d be—” She drew in a shuddering breath. “You just cannot. You are home. You cannot leave.”
She meant it. Her eyes were fierce, her cheeks flushed.
Ah, shit. This was going to be a problem.
There was something very weird about this place and the inhabitants telling me I couldn’t leave.
I spun, racing away from her, toward the wall. I had to test it—had to see.
They didn’t follow me, which should have been my first indicator. I stopped right before the barrier and thrust my hand toward it. An electric shock drove me backward, I crashed to the ground, pain singing through my back. I barely managed to keep my grip on the wooden box.
Shit.
I scrambled to my feet, spinning to face them. Moira’s eyes were unreadable. So were Orion’s. “You knew that would happen.”
“We tried to stop you,” Moira said.
“You cannot keep me prisoner here.” Even if it was my home, and my parents were here, I couldn’t stay here. I had a life to live. A battle to fight.
Had I walked into a trap?
“You aren’t a prisoner.” The words rushed out of Moira. “You aren’t.”
“Kinda feels like I am.”
“You aren’t!” She shook her head, gaze a bit manic.
Moira was not holding it together well, and something was definitely weird. Orion was a statue next to her, his face completely unreadable.
“Will my parents be back soon?” I asked.
“Yes.” She nodded, grasping the lifeline of a change in topic. “Come, come. I’ll show you to your room.”
I followed Moira out of the alley and back down the street, taking in the people and architecture, all of which were foreign yet familiar.
She led me to a large building in the middle of town. The sculptures decorating the structure were magnificent. Vines and leaves and trees so lifelike they only lacked color to appear real.
“This is where you live,” she said.
“Lived.”
“Of course.” She took me through a room that was decorated with colorful paintings and up a set of stairs to a medium-sized chamber featuring a bed, a couch, and a dresser. “This is your room.”
It was familiar, in the way that dreams could be. “Thank you.”
She left me.
Immediately, I pressed my fingertips to the charm around my neck, igniting the magic. “Cass? Del? You there?”
I got nothing. The magic was blocked by the barrier.
Not a surprise. But it sucked.
I put the box containing the beaker on the bed and spun in a circle, taking in the space. No memories came. Damn the spell that had taken my memory. It’d saved us from the Monster, but the trauma of so much magic had stolen our memories. Now, even my childhood bedroom was a mystery.
Moira had called me Phoenix Lividius. Phoenix. When I’d woken in the field at fifteen, I’d given myself that name, thinking that I’d chosen it from the constellation above. Except it had always been my name. I smiled.
Lividius, though. I’d forgotten that. Frankly, I preferred my chosen last name of Knight.
Voices sounded from below. Eerily familiar ones.
I ran to the window, shoving it open and leaning out. Below, two figures in their fifties were dismounting from enormous horses. They were both dressed in the same leather armor as Orion had been. A man and a woman.
My mother and father.
A gasp strangled in my throat and my head swam. My mother and father. Mum and Da!
Chapter Five
They were real. They were alive. And I recognized them. Even from up here, I could see my mother’s brown hair and green eyes. My father’s dark hair and tall build. I was about to wave when they raced inside.
Holy fates! Excitements and nerves collided inside me. I didn’t know how to process this. They were here!
Would they like me?
Oh, shit, this was bad.
I had no more time to worry. My mother burst through the door, her brown hair flying behind her.
Shock and joy stole my breath as she collided with me, throwing her arms around me. “Phoenix!”
Her voice was so familiar. Even though I hadn’t remembered it until now, it was familiar. Tears burned my eyes. I clutched her to me, amazed that I was finally with my mother again. This was real.
My father joined us, wrapping his arms around the two of us. Joy like I’d never known filled my body.
My parents.
I’d wanted them for so long. Wanted answers. And here they were.
My mother pulled back, tears sparkling in her green eyes. “Let me look at you.”
I smiled, tears pouring down my face.
“You’re so beautiful. And so big.” She looked at my father. “We’ve lost so many years.”
“But we’ve found her.” His gray gaze met mine. “We’ve found you.”
“How?”
“Come.” My mother held my hand, gesturing toward the door. “We’ll go to the sitting room.”
I collected the beaker and followed them to a room with two couches and a fireplace. Finally, a memory rushed to the surface. Me, playing here as a child.
We sat on the couches, my mother next to me and my father on the other couch. There was a massive window in front of me showing a beautiful view of the city and mountains. I turned toward my mother.
“How did the portal finally appear to me after so long?”
She reached for my hand. Only then did I realize that not only was she dressed like a warrior, she looked like one. Her arms were strong and lean, daggers sheathed at her hips.
“We’ve been searching ever since you were captured on one of our trading expeditions to the outside world,” my mother said. “He took us as well, but we escaped within the first day. We tried to find you, but they’d taken you elsewhere. We’ve searched ever since, but you were well hidden.”
Tears pricked my eyes. At least they’d searched for me. And I wasn’t responsible for my father’s death—he wasn’t even dead. The Monster’s threat had been empty, the vision of my father being run through by a sword was an illusion. My shoulders relaxed, as if for the first time in my life. Like I’d been carrying that tension and that fear for a decade.
“It’s taken ten years.” My father frowned. “Too long.”
“Why now?” I asked.
“In the last week, your unique magical signature has grown. Our tracker could sense that. Finally, we had a way to find you, and our strongest wizard sent a portal to you. It was
drawn to you by your unique magic.”
“My unique magic? You mean my FireSoul nature?”
“No.” My mother shook her head. “I mean your gift over life. Over plants.”
So I wasn’t crazy.
“You would have learned your magic sooner if you’d been here,” my mother said. “But the magic waited, bursting free when it couldn’t wait any longer.”
“I wouldn’t call it bursting,” I said. “Some strange stuff has happened with plants. But no bursting.”
Should there have been bursting?
My mother laughed. “It will come.”
“Why do I have such great plant magic if this place has no plants at all?” Despite my parents’ arrival, it still felt strange here. Wrong, somehow.
My mother and father shared a look, indecision and worry.
“What is it?” I demanded.
“We must tell her,” my father said.
“Not yet.” My mother whispered, worry in her gaze.
“Tell me what?” The hair on my arms stood on end.
“It’s nothing,” my mother said. “It can wait until—”
“Tell me.” I gripped her hands. “Please.”
Resignation shined in her eyes, and that scared me more than anything.
“Fine.” She swallowed hard, then gestured to the huge glass window that gave a fabulous view of the city climbing up the valley and the mountains towering overhead. “It’s beautiful, isn’t it?”
“It is.”
“It was once covered in greenery. Plants and trees and crops in the lower valley beyond.”
“What happened?”
“You were born.”
Uh, that sounded bad.
“But it was a good thing,” she rushed to say. “A good thing. Though this place began to die. The plants and trees slowly withering away, giving their life and their magic to you.”
Horror opened a cavern in my chest. “That’s terrible.”
“It’s not.” My mother smiled. “It was fated to be this way. You were fated to be. Elesius was created to birth Life. To create you, who would in turn use the magic to defeat a great evil.”
Holy fates, this was what the prophecy meant when it said that I represented Life in the Triumvirate. “Is this why this place feels so strange? And why I feared it as a child?”
“Yes.” My mother nodded. “You knew it was dying, but didn’t understand why. It scared you.”
I scrubbed a hand over my face, my thoughts whirring. “Why me?”
I wasn’t strong enough for this. Wasn’t worthy of the sacrifice made by Elesius.
My mother smiled. “Because you’re the one with the will to do what must be done. Elesuis knew this was our fate—a seer decried it long ago. Life would come from my line, which is why I am queen.”
Oh, man. I hoped that didn’t mean I’d be made queen. I did not need that on my plate.
“But it wasn’t me, nor any of my ancestors,” my mother said. “When you were born, it was like Elesius knew the time had come. And it began to die.”
“Giving me its power.” Holy fates, this was awful. My stomach churned.
“You are the Warrior of Elesius,” my father said. “The princess of our kingdom. Fated to defeat the evil that rises.”
“This has been in the works for thousands of years.” My mother gripped my hand. “But I didn’t want you to have to face this.”
It was suddenly hard to breathe. “When you say that I’m supposed to fight—”
A flash of movement in the window caught my eye. A figure crashed through, glass exploding into the room. He moved as fast as lightning, streaking toward me and grabbing me, dragging me toward the wall.
It was a blur as he positioned himself in front of me and held out a dark blade toward my parents.
Recognition slammed into me.
“Ares!” I shoved him, but he wouldn’t budge.
“Step back,” Ares commanded of my parents. “Don’t come near her.”
Oh shit, he was rescuing me. Of course he was rescuing me.
My mother drew her daggers, looking like a serious bad-ass Amazon, while my father drew his sword.
“Step away from her,” my mother demanded.
I wiggled out from behind Ares. “It’s okay, everyone. It’s okay.”
“It’s not,” my father said. “He’s entered our kingdom. That should be impossible.”
He clearly didn’t know Ares. Though I had no idea how Ares had found me or gotten here, that wasn’t top of my list right now. Brokering a ceasefire took precedence.
I reached for Ares’s arm, noting the tensed muscles and warrior’s gleam in his eyes. “Ares. Meet my parents.”
His shock was so brief I almost didn’t see it. But the flickering of his eyelids gave it away.
I turned to my parents. “Mother and Father, meet my…” What was he to me? I had no idea yet. “Ares. Meet Ares.”
Who had my back.
No question now.
“I’m certain everyone can lower their blades,” I said.
“You don’t remember your parents,” Ares said.
“I do now.”
His gaze traveled from my parents to me, and then back again. “They aren’t affiliated with Drakon?”
“That was my thought, but no.” I pushed on his arm.
He lowered his sword. My parents followed suit.
Ares looked at me, face intense. “Are you all right?”
“I’m fine. Shaken up, but fine.” I was about to ask him about the burn on his cheekbone when my father spoke.
“How did you get in here?” he demanded.
“I can cross realms.” He turned to me. “Your deirfiúr tried to come but they could not cross over.”
“What are deirfiúr?” my mother asked.
I opened my mouth to tell her about the family I’d created after I’d been stolen from them, but Moira rushed into the room, panic on her face.
“There’s been a breach.” Moira’s eyes were stark. “In the lower city.”
My parent’s eyes darted to Ares. “Is that where you came from?”
He shook his head. “I came from the higher end of the city. In the mountains.”
“We must go.” My mother looked at me. “Stay here.”
“No way in hell.”
Frustration twisted her face. “Then be careful.”
This was all in a day’s work for me, but I doubted any loving mother wanted to hear that her kid fought demons on the daily. So I just said, “Okay.”
She and my father raced out of the room. I grabbed the box from the coffee table and followed, Ares at my side. At the door, he grabbed my arm, pulling me to a halt.
“What?”
He dug into his coat pocket, dragging out the package he’d been holding while standing beneath my window. He tore into the brown paper, revealing a cuff bracelet that flamed purple and red. He shoved it toward me. “Put it on.”
“What is it?”
“Protection. Put it on.”
I shoved it onto my wrist. It was large enough that I had to push it up onto my bicep to keep it from coming off. Magic sparked through me, like a shield had drifted around me.
I wanted to ask what the hell it was, but Ares had started running after my parents.
“Are attacks normal here?” Ares asked as we raced down the cobblestone street behind my parents.
“No idea.” I looped the leather strap over my shoulders and sprinted harder. I’d made it my mission to not let the beaker out of my sight until I’d harnessed its magic, but it was becoming a real pain in the butt.
People spilled out of houses and shops, running alongside us down the street. They were armed with blades and bows, and dressed in similar old-timey armor like my parents.
It was surreal, to be rushing to the defense of my homeland alongside people I may have known as a child. My heart thundered, joy and fear twined together.
The main street terminated in the courtyard where
I’d entered. Ahead, it stretched about two hundred meters toward the gleaming opalescent barrier. There were a few skeletal trees that I now realized had given their life for mine. Their power for mine.
A hundred meters in the distance, the shimmering white veil that protected this place was torn asunder. Figures were spilling forth, racing toward the town’s inhabitants.
My parents sprinted across the courtyard, hurtling toward the demons. A line of buildings extended along the right side of the courtyard.
“I’m going up high.” I shifted the box so it hung off my back.
“Be careful.” He left, running toward the fight.
I ran for the row of houses along the courtyard, jumping onto a windowsill and scrambling up onto the roof. I conjured a bow—old faithful. Once I’d found purchase on the tiles, I knelt, firing an arrow at a demon who was about to collide with my mother. She had her daggers ready and a warrior’s stance, ready to slice the demon to ribbons, but my arrow thudded into his right eye just before he reached her.
She spun, her gaze finding me on the roof. A grin spread across her face. I smiled back.
It was weird, bonding over battle, but it was my kind of weird.
She turned back to the fray, daggers ready. At her side, my father swung a massive sword, taking the head off a demon with the biggest horns I’d ever seen.
I fired my arrows, taking out a lightning mage who’d barely missed striking a woman with a spear.
Ares cut through the battlefield, taking out enemy after enemy. My parents and Ares, along with the other villagers, had it covered on the ground. In the distance, I spotted a mage standing near the tear in the barrier. His hands were outstretched toward the rip. Magic glowed from his palms and streaked toward the tear.
He was keeping it open while attackers continued to pour through.
I drew a steadying breath and sighted my arrow, then fired toward my target. The arrow whistled through the air, straight and true.
Until it was incinerated by a fire mage standing between me and my target. The blast of flame streaked through the air, devouring the slender wooden shaft in an instant.
Shit.
I conjured another arrow and shot at the fire mage, knowing it was likely hopeless. And it was. He blasted the arrow to bits before it ever reached him.