The Roses Academy- the Entire Collection

by Tara Brown

  Ari hugs Lucas and kisses her sweet baby. “Is she still the queen?” Ari asks nervous of the answer.

  “She queen. She rule one day. Not today.” Henry laughs implying something in this is amusing.

  Ben cocks an eyebrow and nods at me. “Who’s ready for a nap?”

  “I take you to house after we show death eater back to gate.” He’s still laughing.

  “No, Aimee’s staying.” Ari’s voice loses the softness.

  “I can’t.” I gulp, shooting a look at Henry and hoping he can still read minds. I don’t want Ari to know I sacrificed my staying here to ensure she could.

  “But you sent everyone else back. There isn’t anyone else out there.” Ben tilts his head. “Stay here with us.”

  “She’s a death eater. She can’t. There’s no one to cure her. And no one to send her to Heaven. We broke the curses Lorri placed on us; we can’t redeem Aimee,” Lucas finally speaks. All along he saw and knew, and the look in his eyes of heartbreak and devastation has been for me. All along, it was for me.

  “No!” Ari blinks a tear. “No, Aimes.”

  I blink tears too, finally letting my secret out of the bag. It's been exhausting carrying it. “I’ll always be there. Just on the other side.”

  “Gate seals,” Henry says.

  Ben doesn't speak. He leaps at me, dragging me in roughly and kissing my head. “I’ll come out with you.”

  That hurts even more. I sob into him, finally able to speak past the wrench in my throat, “You can’t. You’ll never see your family again.” Through the blinding tears and heaving sobs I manage to kiss his cheek. “I love you.”

  His eyes flood. “No. You have to stay. Please. There’s someone here who can help you. I know there is.”

  Lucas drags me from Ben’s arms, smothering me in him. “I know you saved her, Aimes. I know you did.” He shakes and trembles with the emotions rocking him. He takes a couple of deep breaths in my hair and kisses the side of my soaked face. “I love you.”

  “I love you too.” I nod. “Take care of them, my sister too.”

  “I will. I always will.” I know he understands what I mean.

  Ari hands the baby to Lucas and wipes her eyes. “I will find you. I will find a way to get you here. I will save you.” She loses it at the end, sobbing and attacking me.

  “Don’t. Don’t come looking for me. Stay here, in the garden, and keep your baby safe. And help my sister, please.” I hug her so tight I swear I’ll break her.

  “If you ever see my dad again, tell him I love him.” She sobs into my neck.

  “I will. I swear I will.” I cry harder. I can’t breathe and my entire body hurts from the tension of each sob I don't let out.

  Henry’s eyes don't share anything resembling remorse for me. He truly doesn't give half a shit whether I spend the rest of my life alone, watching the world go by.

  “Aimee?”

  I turn to see Alise holding a beautiful little girl. She’s much too old to be Terra but the silver eyes give it away.

  “Alise!” I run to her, taking her and the toddler in my arms. She smells like magic and peace and flowers. She looks brighter than I imagined she would. They both do.

  “Where’s Blake?” Her eyes search behind us all.

  “He’s gone.” I want to lie but the words fall out.

  “Gone!” Her eyes dazzle like the diamond in my pocket. “How?”

  I have so many lies I want to tell her, but I haven’t got the time. I’m out of time, completely. “Sent peacefully in the end. We won. It’s over. He’s in Heaven with his mom and dad and our parents.” There is no comfort in this, but it’s the truth and what she deserves.

  “Why didn't he come here?” She sounds like regular Alise again, and I can’t help but sigh.

  “Because he can’t.” I hug her once more. “Things like me and Blake aren’t welcome here, Alise. We can’t stay here. The garden is for the fae and the magical. Blake wanted to come to you, he did. He loves you, he always will.” I hope it’s enough.

  “But you’re here now! If you’re here he can come too.” She’s pissed off. I didn't know if emotion should be shown in the garden, beyond what Lillith did. But Alise is a great example of the balance on earth, even here.

  “I’m only being given this moment to say goodbye because we saved the fae, and the humans.”

  “Where are you going?” She starts to cry, shoving me.

  “Back into the world. I have to leave, Alise. I’m sorry. I really wish I could stay.” I force a smile and then glance at Terra. “She’s beautiful.”

  “I know.” Alise pouts.

  “You won’t even know I’m not here. You’ll be so busy being a mom.” I hug her and my little niece once more. “Take care of each other,” I whisper to her. “Take care of each other and remember we all love you so much.”

  “Don’t leave me,” Alise sobs.

  “I am so sorry.” I stagger back, freeing myself from them. My chest aches as I give each of their sobbing faces a last glance.

  “Time to go.”

  “I know.” I nod at Henry. “I’m going. You don't have to show me the way out. I can get to the gate.” I turn to Lucas, Ari, and Ben, and then my sister, smiling at them all. “I’ll love you all forever.” I wave and glance once more at the baby and then my niece. “Keep those girls safe and take care of yourselves.” I wink before I suffer through another second of it.

  I can’t prolong the pain of watching them all so heartbroken.

  I wink to the castle in Scotland, wondering if anyone is left. The castle is in ruin, burned and trashed and becoming a pile of rubble. It’s so changed, I wouldn’t recognize it if I hadn’t winked.

  The entire area looks different.

  My insides tighten as I realize the changes are from Lillith and Adam. The whole world is different now.

  I wink again and again, but I find no trace of us.

  Marcus’ neighborhood is a suburb. There is no castle.

  Lydia’s is the same, an older area but lined with houses and no trees. Lydia’s house is not there.

  I wink to the Nærøyfjord where I find the graves of Aleksander and his wife and kids. His father and mother are there too. I slump on the hillside, burned, beaten, dirty, half healed, and dying inside and stare out at the majesty of the world.

  It’s not burned.

  It’s not damaged.

  It’s not dark.

  I’m the only proof that there was ever anything wrong.

  I’m a relic. Part of a world that doesn't exist anymore.

  The fae stayed in the garden, never leaving, never bringing their magic into our world.

  The world now has no magic in it, except me and I’m a mess. I’m covered in healed flakes of skin, old burns that are still healing, and dried blood.

  Not all of me is burned and battered and broken. Some of me is grateful everyone else is with someone they love.

  I wink home to my house but there isn’t anyone home. The clothes in the closets aren’t ours. The furniture is strange. I slip through the house, not finding a single thing that’s mine.

  I grab some clothes from one of the teenaged girls’ rooms and take a quick shower. It might not be my house but it feels like it is.

  The hot shower is bliss.

  It’s different than the glamour plumbing. This gets into your skin and bones and soothes you. Glamour plumbing never gets this hot, or soothing.

  It makes me smile as I recall Dorian bitching about fake plumbing. I slide down the shower wall, letting the hot water soak me.

  “Dorian,” I whisper as I hug my knees into my chest and lower my face.

  The water rains down on my back, taking the last of the scabs from me.

  I’ve healed from the burns and the bites and the wounds, on the outside. My insides won’t ever be the same. I’m aching like I might die from the broken heart, only I won’t. No matter how bad it is, I won’t die. Nothing will kill me.

  I am alone.r />
  The water tries to soothe, but it can’t. It can only clean.

  When the water stops being so hot, I climb out.

  The clothes don't fit; the girl is smaller than I am. But they’re clean and I appear half normal again, even if it’s a bit on the tight side of things.

  I steal a pair of knee-high boots and slip on a jacket.

  The thought that the dark-brown boots will hide blood spatter is a joke now.

  There’s nothing for me to kill.

  I have no purpose.

  I wink to Shane’s, home away from home, cringing at the dilapidated mess. Whoever owns it now has let it become run-down. It doesn't have the gardens his mom spent so much time on.

  The world is the same, trucks driving by and people walking, listening with headphones, and staring at cell phones. But it isn’t the same. I sense the difference, the loss of magic in the air.

  I wink to the harbor and view our little town. It’s the same, maybe a touch more neglected.

  When I enter the library, I tighten everywhere, seeing the librarian, Mary. She lifts her face, smiling faintly. “Hi there.” She loses her smile, narrowing her gaze and then shaking her head. For a second, I almost think she knows me, but she doesn’t.

  I don't exist here.

  I wondered if I might, if my parents still had me, and I existed on some level.

  “Hi.” I smile back and walk to the computer.

  “You need a library card to make it work,” she adds before ducking into an aisle of books.

  “Shit,” I whisper and wink to Blake’s house. My fingers are crossed that somehow, on some level, his parents still own the house and maybe they still travel too much.

  The house is built the same. The furniture and décor are quite similar, but not the same. The basement where Blake’s bedroom was, isn’t though. There is no teenaged son. No gaming room. No man cave. Instead, it’s a workout room with a huge dance or yoga studio.

  I search room by room, eventually coming upon one that could be his, only there are girls’ clothes. I sigh and slump onto the bed, lifting the laptop from the bedside table.

  I pop it open, gasping at the sight of my sister.

  I peer around the room again, scrutinizing this time. Clothes on the floor, makeup strewn about the vanity, closet filled with shoes and clothes and other crap. It’s chaos and yet the walls are filled with maps and science posters and funny Einstein jokes.

  “What the hell?” I click the message icon on the laptop, swallowing hard when I see her messages include Shane, Giselle, Jaime, Angela, and everyone else she was friends with.

  Alise is the same in the pictures on the laptop, the same and different. Her clothes could be mine but the friends aren’t. She’s not dressed slutty, but her messy room shows she’s still a pig. I toss the laptop to the side and jump up, stripping down to nothing, and grab clean clothes from the hangers, sniffing each item as I pull it on. Boyfriend-cut jeans that sit on my hips like they were made for me, a tank top that fits like a glove, and a sweater I think I even had before.

  I gulp and eye the posters again. They’re similar to the ones I had.

  “What the shit?” I hurry to the laptop once more, checking documents and clouds for homework. I drop the computer to the floor when I see a paper I know I wrote once. It doesn't sound identical to mine, but it’s close. Too close.

  Her emails have acceptance letters to Stanford, Yale, and Harvard. Her correspondence suggests she’s considering MIT.

  I gag a bit seeing her name on the letters.

  Hurrying from the room, barefoot and terrified, I search for signs of me, but there’s nothing. Upstairs the living room and kitchen are different, not as fancy as Blake’s house and there’s no pool. Not even a hot tub.

  The backyard has holes, suggesting there might be a dog, and a deck with lawn furniture made from old wood that resembles driftwood.

  The pictures on the shelves are of the three of them. Dad has more hair and Mom seems younger. Alise is the same, only nicer looking.

  “I don't exist.” I heave my breath.

  I run around searching offices and bedrooms until I find a craft room with a shelf of photo albums.

  Flipping through the old baby ones I come to the page I’m searching for.

  “Rest in peace, our sweet angel Aimee.” A lump forms in my throat as I see the tiny baby picture. It’s not me. It can’t be. The infant is gray and its eyes are closed. It’s dead. So obviously dead.

  My brain does laps as I close the book. If I died in birth, wouldn't I have ceased to exist in this realm? In this world wouldn't I have vanished, like on Back to the Future? Wouldn't I have faded away, drifted from memory?

  I put the book back and get up, rubbing my hands over my eyes for a second. I need answers and there isn’t anyone else left.

  I’m it.

  I’m all the magic in the world.

  I hurry to the office and pull out the chair to start Googling.

  God is still God.

  Lillith is Adam’s wife. Eve never existed. Church believes in men and women being equal. No Jesus, no rebirth, no dying for man’s sins.

  Instead the church is peaceful. No religious wars.

  Sin exists in balance with good. Where you find darkness, you find light, and all that is still huge.

  Revelation is a band, not a possibility.

  This world is the same and yet so different. Wars over land or money still exist. Terror is still a thing. We didn't cure them from being human, but we stopped one massive part of the problem. There have been four female presidents. The current president is some lady I've never heard of. World War One and Two happened but 9/11 didn't.

  ISIS isn’t a thing but the KKK is.

  So many things are different and the same. Technological advances seem like they’re further along but kids in Africa are still starving.

  My fingers ache from typing so fast and searching out the glaring differences.

  There are no angels in the Bible. There is no Holy Trinity and the branches of Christianity don't splinter the same.

  And I died as a tiny baby. A twin who didn't survive.

  The pictures of my parents on the computer make my heart ache.

  “Ari,” I whisper and wink to the desert, but her uncle isn’t there. The diner isn’t either. I wink to Wolfville but the wolves aren’t there.

  I wink to Ophelia’s house and find Abby alone. She’s studying at a desk in her room, reading. I wink to the hallway, peeking in the door. She looks the same and different too, less happy maybe. Abby was always happy.

  I wink to the bayou but Momma Holt’s cabin isn’t there. When I wink to Lorelei’s parents’ old house it’s beautiful. It never became run-down, but I can’t tell if her family ever lived here.

  The fae are the difference.

  There has never been a breach in the garden. Lillith fell in love with Adam. She didn't go with the stag. She and Adam left the garden on their own and lived a life together. Humanity has no fairy tales or Grimm brothers or fantasies based loosely on real events. Just stories made up for fun, and I would bet the stories are different.

  I don't know what to say or do or where to go.

  I’m like a doppelgänger who shouldn't exist. A mistake.

  And my soul is in Heaven.

  No wonder I haven’t gone home like everyone else. I am soulless.

  I wink to the Nærøyfjord and lie next to Aleks’ grave. This is an Aleks who never met me. The sun has set here and the air is chilly but it’s refreshing too. The air in the other world was warm and stale and ripe with disgusting odors.

  This world is cleaner. Less magical but cleaner.

  On my back on the grass, I stare up at the sky as the fading light turns to a midnight-blue. Stars come to life one at a time, switching on.

  “Dorian,” I whisper. He’s up there. He’s never become an angel and never needed to fall, so he’s a star, staring down on me. If he recalls me at all.

  My heart l
ies and tells me he remembers me. He does and he’s staring down as I am staring up. We are part of the same sky, part of the same universe. Two beings sharing a moment that is indescribable to anyone else. Not only would they not know what an angel is, they would never understand what a death-eating redeemer is.

  I close my eyes and let the cool breeze and the sounds of nature lull me, certain he’s watching me. His gaze is the blanket of comfort I need to sleep.

  Chapter 14

  Trying to mac on me

  Watching my family from the woods behind the house and from rooms they don't know I’m in is lonelier than I thought it might be.

  Giselle and Alise are studying in the office upstairs, giggling over something on their phones and talking about some guy they met at the mall last week in Seattle.

  They get along better than they did before. It isn’t fake. Giselle is still sort of Giselle, but she doesn't do the ridiculous act anymore with Alise.

  “Alise,” Dad calls her from the kitchen. I wink to the woods and watch as she comes bounding into the front room and takes a plate of food from his hands. She kisses his cheek and goes back to Giselle.

  A dark-haired guy comes down the driveway, slouching and fidgeting. He pushes his glasses up, nervously. I crack a grin when I see him. He clears his throat and tries to stand up straighter as he knocks. My dad answers with a grin. “Blake, my boy. How are you?” He steps aside and lets him in.

  “Good, Mr. James. Just came to see if Alise was still wanting help with some of her homework before the party.”

  “Of course. They’re in the office studying for finals. Go on in.”

  Party?

  I wink to Alise’s bedroom and check her laptop conversations, seeing one from Shane inviting her to the end-of-year party. I glance at the date and it dawns on me this is the same time, same week I got poisoned.

  The party is tonight.

  It’s 2012 again.

  I wink back to Shane’s, certain it isn’t his house but it is. He’s outside fixing up a beater of a truck, not the one he had before. I wink to the backyard and check before winking inside.

  Creeping along in the silent house, I hurry into his mom’s room. The clothes and mess belong to his sister, evident by the pictures of her and her boyfriend. The mom isn’t here. Her stuff is gone, all but the pictures of the three of them: Shane, his mom, and his sister. His father hasn't been in the pictures since he was about ten.