Mori
Night had finally fallen, and I stood out in the garden with Forrest by my side. The rest of the group was a few paces behind us.
The cord I’d already blessed was tucked out of sight in my pocket. A bowl with gleaming white liquid waited at my fee. It was nearly all the starlight I had within me. I left just enough magic in my body to direct the message toward the heavens and signal all others within the human world that we were here, and we needed their help.
“What do you need me to do?” Forrest asked quietly.
“Take my hand and no matter what happens, do not let go,” I instructed.
I waited for him to call me out, say I was hiding something, but to my surprise, he took my right hand in his. A rush of washed over me and the light in the bowl glowed brighter. I hoped before this was over that he would see how much stronger we were together, and it would convince him of the truth. And that I wouldn’t have to go through with the second half of my plan.
I glanced at his face. His brow was wrinkled with worry, and he started to pull his hand away.
Then he stopped and kept holding my hand.
I wondered if he could sense what I was about to do.
I waited for a few more beats, then focused on the task. Holding out my left hand over the starlight in the bowl, I tilted my head back and closed my eyes. I didn’t have to look in order to feel the starlight glowing even brighter as I called to it with whatever little magic I had in me.
Forrest muttered a curse.
I opened my eyes. My skin was glowing once again, and stars fell from my hair. I locked gazes with him and could see in the reflection of his that my eyes were filled with stars once again. It would most likely be the last time I ever saw myself like this.
My chest ached at the thought of it.
Too late to turn back now.
Lifting my left hand, I looked to the heavens and the stars above. As the starlight rose out of the bowl, I felt the cord in my pocket move, ready and waiting for my command. I strained to keep the magic going. Forrest’s grip on my hand tightened.
I gasped at the sudden influx of power as the light soared upward over the greenhouse and into the sky. Behind me, the others gasped at the sight, but my magic waned as sweat beaded my brow.
“Is that it?” Forrest asked, watching the starlight I added to the heavens, spelling out the message we hoped all would see. “What if they don’t look?”
“It will call to them,” I explained, sucking in deep breaths of air. “They’ll see it.”
I used the tiny bit of magic left in me and felt the cord wind its way up my hand and then around Forrest’s, holding us together. It wasn’t until the cord constricted that his gaze shot down and he tried to yank his hand free.
“What are you doing?” he demanded, but the cord held us tighter, fueled by my magic.
“What needs to be done.”
“No, I won’t let you do this, not now.” He tried to tear his hand free again, but he couldn’t. “Mori, you don’t understand.”
“I know you’re trying to keep me alive, but I can’t keep waiting to fulfill my destiny.”
“And what about everyone else, huh? Are you even thinking of them?” he snarled, smoke trailing out of his nose.
“What do you mean? Of course I am.”
“Bullshit.” He lifted our hands and shot a flame out of his mouth, burning the cord and unleashing our hands.
The charred bits fell to the ground between us.
I heard whispering behind us, then the door closed with a click, leaving me alone with Forrest in the garden.
He was pissed, and before I could even open my mouth to say anything, he held up his hand. “Just save it, alright? You simply don’t listen.”
He stalked away from me, then back again, as the rest of my light faded into the night, leaving me looking like a completely ordinary person.
“Forrest, I’m—I just…” I was not even sure what to say. I was doing what had to be done. Why couldn’t he see that?
“You realize the second we become one, we won’t be the only one who knows.”
“What are you talking about?”
“Why do you think Baladon hasn’t attacked us yet? Why? Give me one reason; it sure as hell isn’t because we could hurt him if he did come here.”
I shook my head. “He should be attacking now.” I wondered why he hadn’t yet.
“Or he’s not worried about us right now because we’re not together. For all we know, he’s not going to feel the need to come after us until we give him reason to. You said it yourself, there’s plenty of power for him to absorb in the realms,” he ranted. “He’s not going to risk showing us his hand until he has no other choice but to come after us, to stop us. He knows all about this prophecy and our plan.”
My mouth fell open as I took in all he said.
He was right, damn he was right. I’d nearly kickstarted Baladon’s plan to come after us. But the longer we waited, the longer we kept him blind to what we were doing. If I’d finished the ceremony tonight, who was to say he wouldn’t attack within hours? There’d have been no time for us to gather an army in this realm and have a chance at fighting back.
I gulped as I realized I nearly got us all killed.
“I’m sorry,” I whispered, horrified at what my quick thinking had nearly done. “I didn’t… I’m sorry. Gods, I’m sorry.” I sank to the ground, holding my face in my hands as reality slammed into me. And here I thought my worst mistakes were behind me.
I’d become so desperate, I hadn’t stopped to think what might happen once we did finally fulfill the prophecy. We would be stronger, and granted it might repair the orb, but what then? We went back to the realms and faced down Baladon? Just us? And no way to kill him?
I wasn’t sure what I expected Forrest to do, but he sat down on the ground behind me and pulled me into his arms as if I weighed nothing. His chin rested on my head as his arms enveloped me.
“I tried to tell you,” he whispered, “but you are more stubborn than I am, I think.”
“I never used to be.” I wiped my eyes as I curled closer to his chest. “I just—I want so badly for this all to be over. I’m tired of fighting. Tired of being haunted by that bastard every time the sun sets or I close my eyes.”
“We’ll get there, I swear to you we will, but we have to be careful.”
“You do think of everything, don’t you?”
He sat, frowning. “Who said that about me?”
“Craig and Kate. You don’t do anything without reason. I should’ve trusted you. I’m sorry.”
He lowered his mouth to mine, hugging me even closer until I burst out laughing and he joined me.
“I forgive you, but no more trying to trick me into marrying you. Deal?”
“Deal.”
“Good, then let’s get you inside and grab some dinner.”
I was going to argue and say I wasn’t hungry, but then my stomach growled, and he glanced down at it with an amused look.
I scowled at him. “Alright, you win. I’m hungry. Let’s go grab some food. I’m sure they’d like to see that we haven’t killed each other, too.”
“Never.” He helped me to my feet, and together we checked the sky for my message. “You’re right.”
“About?”
“The need to look up. I feel it and see the message.”
“With any luck, anyone in this realm will come, and we can prepare for this final battle.”
His arm tightened around my waist, and I leaned into him, willing myself to stay strong for a while longer.
If not getting married to Forrest would give us the time we needed, then I could wait as long as it took until we were sure we could defeat Baladon.
5
Forrest
Abby and the coven arrived right when they said they would, bright and early. I was awoken by Mori shaking my shoulder and mumbling something about a bunch of women laughing and chatting loudly downstairs.
“Witches,
” I said with a yawn. “They can be quite loud when they’re all together.”
“I can hear.”
I waited for her to climb out of bed, but instead, she snuggled deeper under the covers, holding onto me firmly. I chuckled, trying to get her to let go, but she shook her head, not budging. “We have to go down there eventually.”
“Eventually being the keyword. Still sleepy.”
I brushed my fingers down her cheek, tucking her hair behind her ear. “Can I ask you something?”
“Always,” she replied, not opening her eyes.
There were no wrinkles on her face anywhere, no sign that she’d been alive for a few thousand years. Eventually, though, if we survived the war, I’d grow old, and she would remain exactly the same. I hated to admit it, but some voice in the far back of my mind wanted her to remain as she was now, mortal, with just a hint of starlight. It was selfishness or jealousy; I couldn’t decide which.
“Forrest? What’s bothering you?” Her dark brown eyes studied me from the nest of my arms and the blanket. She reached up and held my cheek softly.
“Just wondering what would happen if you actually became mortal,” I whispered.
She said nothing for a long while, and I worried I’d upset her by bringing it up, but then she smiled and kissed me. “I think I’d be okay with it, as long as I had you to teach me how to be mortal. We both know I’m not very good at it yet. The whole eating and sleeping thing is a bit strange.”
“And aging?” I asked with a smile, tapping near her eye. “You’ll get wrinkles.”
Her eyes narrowed. “Not before you.”
“Oh, you think so, huh?”
“Everyone knows it’s the man who winds up aging faster because the woman drives him insane,” she stated with a matter of fact tone, though she grinned.
“With you, I have no doubt.” I tugged the blanket up over our heads and tickled her until she was squealing with laughter and begging for mercy. I wasn’t about to give her any when a loud banging started at our door, and I poked my head out. “What?”
“The entire house can hear you,” Kate replied, sounding like she was laughing. “Get your butts out of bed and downstairs. Breakfast is ready, and Abby wants to talk to us all.”
“We’ll be right down,” Mori told her, and I sighed, flopping back on the bed. “Come on.”
“You were the one who didn’t want to get out of bed first,” I grumbled.
She shrugged, drawing her now shorter hair back into a loose braid that she flung over her shoulder. Several stars flickered against the dark locks, then they fell to the floor around her feet. She stared down at them, puffing her cheeks out as she watched them fade out.
“We’ll get it back,” I promised her.
“It’s not the end of the world if we don’t. Just strange is all.”
She shook out her hands and starlight flickered at her fingertips but went out just as quickly as it appeared. After another try, she gave up and said she’d meet me downstairs.
I stretched as I climbed out of bed and peeked out the window, checking the street. It was packed with cars, and I grinned, thinking of the first time we met the coven here and how many witches there had been then. How they’d looked at us all when we’d told them our story. They’d been the first ones to believe we weren’t crazy. The first to help us.
And now it seemed they would be here to help us again. Only this time, the enemy was not so easily defeated.
Once I was cleaned up and presentable enough, I headed downstairs and was immediately pulled into the strong arms of an old witch.
“So good to see you’re still alive,” Abby exclaimed as I hugged her back.
“I just wish we had better news,” I replied sadly.
She nodded solemnly. “Lucy, yes, we were going to have a small ceremony for her this evening with the rise of the full moon. Every witch needs a proper goodbye, even if she’s not physically here for it.”
“Think it’ll help Kate?”
“It will at that.” She patted my hand, her eyes on the rest of the witches walking around the house, and even more, coming in through the doors.
“Did you meet Mori yet?” I asked, needing to talk about something other than the obvious absence of Lucy.
“That I have, and I have already congratulated her on a job well done.”
“With?”
“The message, my dear boy. We saw it. I daresay others have, too.”
I was about to tell her the coven was the first to arrive, but she pointed toward the front door, bustling away. Calling after Kate, she disappeared into the kitchen.
I turned around, ready to greet whoever had heard our call, the first to come to our aid, but the man who walked through the door lodged the words in my throat, and I went completely numb.
Three men stood in the foyer, talking quietly to each other until the man in front shifted his gaze to mine.
“Forrest? Tristan and Craig want to talk to you—What’s wrong?” Mori asked, coming up beside me. “You’re so pale. Forrest?” She waved her hand in front of my eyes and broke the trance.
“Sorry I just—hold on a second,” I mumbled and felt like I was walking through sludge to reach the man with eyes that exactly matched another dragon. One I’d missed since the day I watched him killed. When I was an arm’s length away, I swallowed hard and told myself that though this was not Kadin, my father, this dragon was more than a welcome sight.
“Hello, Uncle.” I held out my arm.
He stared at it intently, then shoved it aside and yanked me into an embrace. “Nephew. Gods, it’s good to see you alive.”
“You as well,” I exclaimed, squeezing him. “Everyone assumed you dead. For years now, you’ve been thought to be dead.”
“I needed my solace, but I feel that may have been a mistake, after all that’s happened.”
“No. Father understood why you left. He spoke of you often, how much he missed his older brother, but he told me, time and again, the crown never suited you.”
Keanu chuckled deeply, sounding just like Kadin.
“I had no idea you were coming here.”
“Sounded like a good plan at the time.” He rested his hands on my shoulders. “I may not have been there to save my brother, but I will be here to fight by your side, once you share who this enemy is, of course.”
“That is a very long story.”
Each time I looked at Keanu, I had to remind myself this was not my father come back from the dead, they so resembled. In his prime, Keanu was a damned good fighter. He’d led the army and had been in line for the crown, until a tragedy stole away his wife and two children. After the loss, he shut himself away, and then one day he was gone. I never heard from him again, but Father always told me he had no doubt his brother was alive. I realized now they’d probably been communicating one way or another.
“And who is this beautiful creature?” Keanu asked, smiling as Mori reached us.
“This is Mori,” I said, and he took her hand, kissing the back of it as she smiled. “She’s… well, she’s—ah…” I frowned, unsure of what to say exactly.
“I’m the gatekeeper to the gods, a star, and his fiancée,” she answered for me.
Keanu’s brow shot up.
Still smiling, Mori added, “Yes, I know. How could a dragon like that land someone like me?” She winked.
Keanu burst out laughing as I scowled at her.
“She’s definitely a keeper,” he mused.
“Don’t I know it,” I growled.
“Why don’t I show you and your men into the dining room? Abby’s just finished expanding it,” Mori offered. “You didn’t bring any more, did you?”
Keanu glanced over his shoulder at the two dragons with him, man and woman. “Oh, I might’ve brought a few. You sure that dining room is big enough?”
He whistled, and Mori and I watched in wide-eyed amazement as dragon after dragon walked in the front door. Mori managed to point them in the right direc
tion after each one paused to shake my hand.
“See you in a few minutes, nephew,” Keanu told me as he joined the rest of his dragons.
“Did you know?” Mori whispered, still stunned, but grinning happily.
“Not at all, but I think, if this is a sign of anything, we have a damned good chance of forming that army after all.”
I didn’t want to get my hopes up, and I could tell by the look on her face, she was thinking the same. But as the morning wore on, and the dragons and witches made themselves at home, chatting and laughing together like old friends—which it turned out Abby and Keanu were—the doorbell rang, and Kate rushed to answer it.
I heard her talking to someone, then she bellowed Craig’s name. He’d been with me and Tristan, helping set up more chairs as Abby and her witches used magic to expand the dining room to accommodate so many. Craig glanced at me curiously, then rushed to the front door. A few seconds later, he laughed out loud, and I had to find out what was going on.
I peeked out of the room to find him enveloped in a bear hug by a very large, very broad demon.
“Who is that?” Mori asked.
“I’m not sure,” I told her as the demon finally set Craig on his feet and stepped to the side. “And I’m not sure I care. Damn.”
Another twenty demons trailed in as Craig, and the burly demon strolled toward us, cackling about something or other, both near to tears they were laughing so hard.
“Forrest, Mori, let me introduce you to the demon who taught me everything I knew before he was banished from Boshen for doing so. This is Bear.”
The demon, horns jagged and curled at the tips, skin darker than mine, and covered in white-etched tattoos, grinned wide, flashing fangs.
“Bear?”
“At your service,” he said.
I cocked an eyebrow. “You’re serious?”
“Afraid it is. My other name was not suited for me, so I changed it.”
“Well, I think it suits you,” Kate said as she held out her hand.
Bear stared at her outstretched hand, then picked her up in a hug instead. “Nice to see someone finally snagged Craig. I told him it’d take a badass to win him over.”
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