by A. S. Oren
‘Never seen a mermaid before?’ her voice echoes in my head.
No, I’ve haven’t seen much of this supernatural world.’
‘You’re Miss Popular with all those boys. Even Derren likes you. Do you want to know which one you’ll end up with? I can tell you your future.’
If I wasn’t in my dragon form, my eyes would be as wide as dinner plates. ‘I’m not going to end up with any of them. I’m just friends with them all.’
‘You go on believing that then. It’s not true though. One of them will fix you, and your love will be true.’
‘Fix me?’
‘It will be a long road before either of you figure out you’re in love. Since you’re so stubborn.’
‘You don’t know me.’
She just smiles, revealing a mouth full of razor sharp teeth. I’ve been inside your head, girl. I know all about you: your past, present and future. I’d advise you get those boys up now. The sunrise will be in a few moments. I doubt you want a group of guys lying on your naked body.’ Without another word she moves and swims up to the top of the aquarium, going beyond the rock where I can’t see.
Guys,’ I say through thought. ‘Guys, get up now. I’ll be changing back soon and I don’t want you lying on me when it happens.’ Amr stirs and slides down off my front leg.
“Sorry, Avvi,” he mumbles, rubbing his eyes.
The rest of them continue to snore, not fazed at all by my voice inside their heads. They must be exhausted. It’s been a long few days, hell, weeks.
Easing onto my feet, I stand, forcing some of them off me, just in time for the transformation to start. One of them remains on my back. I’m too tall to sit back on my haunches and make him fall off. This will be awkward. I’m not sure who it is, but they can sleep through anything. I can’t be that comfortable. I shift back faster than I want to. Their heavy body lies on top of me. Maybe they died? That’s the only thing that would explain him sleeping through all of this. I push up, but I can hardly move. They stir. Why aren’t the others helping him off of me? They snicker.
The person moves enough for me to turn over and see who they are. My eyes meet with Bullock’s brown eyes. I’ve never really seen him without his glasses on. His eyes focus on my breasts and then look back into my eyes. I nearly forgot I was butt naked. His mouth falls open, as both our cheeks flush red. His eyes shift down to my breasts again. The palm of my hand goes across his face, snapping him out of his stupor. I cover myself with my other arm.
“Get off me before I kick you in the balls,” I growl.
He’s up in an instant. I roll over and grab one of the many blazers that got thrown into a pile last night. I put it on. This one isn’t as long as Maverick’s. It doesn’t even touch my knees. At least, my butt isn’t exposed. I need some real clothes. I rather not have a reunion with my parents while being practically naked.
Goodbyes
I pull the blazer tighter around me as the wooden doors slide open. Vex comes in, back in her tattooed, human form. In her hands, she carries something that’s dark pink with black flip flop sitting on top. “Agnita says you need to go soon. I brought you this, figured you need some type of clothing other than a jacket. I would have gotten you something last night, but I had my orders to keep working and then you transformed.”
She hands me the bundle of pink. Really? It had to be pink? I figured she would’ve liked a darker palette of clothing. I unfold it, revealing a medium length sundress. Surprisingly, knowing it’s a dress doesn’t bother me as much as it would’ve prior to my brainwashing. “Thank you.”
“You can change behind the door,” she says.
Bullock walks over to her as I go toward the door. “There’s something I need to talk to you about before we go. It’s about your curse.”
I move behind the heavy door and can’t hear him tell her about what she needs to do to break the curse. I slip out of the blazer and throw on the dress; it falls to just below my knees: the cotton fabric soft and nice.
I smooth it all out, making sure the hem isn’t caught anywhere.
“Are you fucking serious!” she yells as I open the door again.
“Yes. You need to find a born land dweller who’s your true love.”
She scrunches up her nose. “No.”
“Sorry.”
Vex sighs and rubs her eyes. She then looks to Bullock. In an instant, she takes him by the shoulders and pulls him toward her. Her lips crash against his. His hands go into the air in a frozen motion. My jaw drops. I wasn’t expecting that at all. First he sees my breasts and then he gets kissed by a really pretty girl. He’s had one hell of a morning. He regains composure and takes her by the shoulders. Will he kiss her back? Gentler than I’ve ever seen him, he pushes her away from him, breaking the kiss.
“You and I both know we don’t love each other like that,” he says.
She sighs and her shoulders fall. “I know. It was worth a shot though. I’ve lived without true love for over two hundred millennium, and now I have to go looking for it? How can I do that if I can’t even leave New York?”
“I know you, Vex. You’re a fighter. You’ll find a way.”
She nods and then her eyes turn to me. “That looks nicer on you than it did me.” She walks over to me and holds out her hand. “It was nice meeting you, Avalon. Are you sure you don’t want that answer about your future?”
“I already gave you my answer to that. Thank you for the dress and shoes.” I take her hand. As soon as our flesh makes contact a picture of a massive, old, spider like tree appears in my mind. She lets go of my hand and smiles.
“Just a sneak peek. You’ll be on track when you get there. Good luck.”
She leaves the room and I look to the others. I guess it’s time to go now.
Maverick smiles at me. “That dress looks nice on you, Lon.”
I give him a mock glare. He knows how much I hate the color pink. “It’s pink,” I growl.
Both he and Paden bust a gut.
“Shut up.”
“Ready to go?” Amr asks me.
“As ready as I’ll ever be.”
Parents
We gather around one of the blank stone walls. Amr takes the pendant off and places it in his palm before pressing it against the wall. A dark entry way spreads out in all directions from his hand. He takes hold of my hand and I take Dante’s. All of us form the train, like before when we were escaping from Spearwood.
He pulls me into the darkness. Within seconds, it falls away and reveals a den with modern black furniture, white carpet and glass tables.
“Amr, what are you—” A woman with long, brown hair walks into the room, wearing a navy blue pant suit, white blouse and silver necklace. Her grey eyes meet mine. She’s my mother. I recognize her from the memory.
Her hand goes to her mouth. Tears come to her eyes. “Oh my God.” She takes two steps forward and stops. For the first time, she looks at the others who now crowd the den. “What’s going on? Elex!”
A tall man rushes into the room, his golden hair streaked with white, wrinkles in the corner of each of his eyes. He’s aged a lot. I wonder how old he is. He looks at all of us together and then his eyes fall on Amr and me. Like her, he takes two steps forward. With a hesitant hand, he touches my shoulder.
“Avalon?” he questions, his voice deep. I nod.
My mother lets out a cry and moves the distance between us to take me into her arms. I let go of Amr’s hand. I pat her on the back, not want to grip her back. My stomach quakes with nerves. Finally, she lets go of me and steps back to observe. “You’ve grown into a fine young woman.”
“How do you remember me?”
She smiles and touches my cheek. “Parents can never truly forget their children. We didn’t have our minds warped of you, just the location you were at and who you were with, until it came time for us to know again.”
“What about me? Why did you make me forget her?”
“You two were inseparable. There�
�s no way we could’ve put Avalon where we did and not done something to ease the loss you two would feel for each other. Your father and I got through it, because we could understand why we were doing it. You were four, so we decided to have Avalon’s mind modified to forget all of us, and yours to forget her.
Temporary
“Not that we’re not happy to see you all, but why are you here? It’s dangerous to come here from Spearwood,” my mother says.
Amr takes a step forward. “We didn’t come here from Spearwood. We ran from there three days ago.”
Elex frowns. “Why did you run?”
Amr touches my shoulder. “They warped her mind again and told her they were coming after us. We ran to New York to get her fixed. That’s when we learned she’s been warped more than once.”
Elex shakes his head. “That doesn’t make sense. Why would they have her mind warped?”
Paden moves to stand next to me. “We don’t know. He didn’t do a good job; she was fighting with her true self the entire time. All of it was sloppy.”
Elex stares at him for a few seconds. “I almost didn’t recognize you.” He then looks to Maverick. I haven’t seen you two since you were six and five.”
So he chose to have them watch over me. Why did he send children? How could they have been capable of protecting me at five and six years old?
Elex folds his arms. “Why did you come here?”
“We didn’t know where to go next. We have to stay ahead of Spearwood, so they can’t capture us again. We won’t be here long; we just need to figure out our next move.”
My mother puts her hand on my shoulder. “Of course, you’re welcome here anytime. Are any of you hungry?”
“Igraine, we have things to talk about with them. We don’t have time to eat.”
She gives him a stern look. “We can eat and talk. They need some food in them. Now stop fighting me on the subject.”
With her arm around me, she leads us out of the room and toward a massive kitchen. Like the den, it’s decorated in blacks and whites. A large white table sits off to the side of the kitchen, in front of a large patio window. “Sit at the kitchen table. I’ll fix something up fast.”
I sit down. I can’t help but wonder if this is some type of dream. She moves around, opening and closing cabinets and the fridge, as if in some type of silent dance. This woman gave birth to me. All my life I wondered what it would be like to have a mother. What it would be like to have her make me breakfast, or take care of me if I got sick—which has never happened—it’s just the fantasy of having the perfect mother, like the ones on TV.
Once she has everything she wants out on the counter, she waves her hands around. I frown. Is she doing magic?
“She’s a sorceress,” Amr says. I look at him, forgetting he had taken a seat next to me.
“Like the Sea Witch and the one that cursed our kind?”
He nods. “But she doesn’t specialize in curses. She’s good, a healer.”
Within moments, platters of hot food float over to the table. Elex takes a seat at the head of the table. “So, let me see if I have this straight. Roseman warped Avalon’s mind, for the second time, but didn’t do it right. You escaped Spearwood in order to have her fixed in New York. Fixed by who?”
“Agnita, most likely, dear,” Igraine says. “She’s the only one other than Sibi who can repair minds and Sibi hasn’t been seen for thousands of years.”
I lean forward. “It’s also the third time my mind has been warped, not the second. That’s what her assistant said.”
“Second time? Why would your mind have been warped a second time?” Igraine asks.
I look to Paden and Maverick, who sit across from me. “I would like to know the answer to that as well.”
“It was your choice to have it done. You knew if you went into Spearwood with the knowledge of a person raised in the families, they would know you were raised by a person from the Vox. You didn’t want them suspecting Edgar of anything. You knew at some point your memories would be returned to you,” says Paden.
“How did I know that?”
“You made Maverick and I swear under oath to take you to the Sea Witch during winter holiday. But then Roseman warped your mind with that new personality, and we couldn’t wait for winter holiday.”
“Why couldn’t I have just faked not knowing anything?”
Maverick takes his ponytail out and redoes it. “You wanted it to be real.”
“Then why have my memories returned during the winter holiday? Why not just leave me naïve for the rest of my school career?”
“Because you had plans to take the power back.”
My head starts to throb. I know what they’re saying is true. I can sense the memories just under the surface, but I can’t access them. What are they talking about?
Igraine takes a seat on the other side of me. “Eat, please. After, I want to heal you, Avalon. Make it so your mind can never be warped again, by anyone.”
Mole
I managed to eat a small plate of food. It was incredible, the best cheese and mushroom omelet I have ever tasted. But ever since getting sewn back together, I’ve gone back and forth between feelings of starvation, to not wanting the food set in front of me. Now, we follow Igraine down to the basement where she keeps all her things for magic.
She turns to me once we’re down the stairs and takes my hand. “I’m so happy to see you. You have no idea how much I’ve dreamed of this day. I’ve cried for you every night. I never wanted to put you in hiding, but it was necessary to keep you safe until you could protect yourself and rise above them all.”
“Why do I have to be protected? Who’s after me?”
“People who think females shouldn’t be born into our world due to the curse. People who are old in their ways of thinking, scared of the unknown, or just want power.”
“How could I stand in the way of someone who wanted power?”
She smiles and touches her chest, because you have goodness in your heart and would not stand by while they try to rule the world. The worst of the threats is over now, locked away right after we put you into hiding.”
Pulling me over to a shelf, she has me stand still. “I have the potion I need already made.” She pulls a tiny, blue genie-like bottle off the shelf and uncorks it. She tips it and pours the liquid into her hand. “Now, this will hurt a little bit, but no one, no matter how strong they are, will ever be able to modify your mind again. Okay?” I nod, not even sure what she’s going to do. “Give me your right wrist.” I hold it out to her. She pours the liquid from her hand near the top of my wrist and mutters words I can’t make out under her breath.
I hiss when the initial sting starts, but it’s nothing compared to my transformations. The warmth of her magic flows into my arm and through my veins. It’s calm, peaceful, like a small stream. She pulls her hand back, revealing a metallic gold symbol; it reminds me of a triton or a bird’s foot, almost. I touch it. It’s smooth. “Like a tattoo.”
“It is a tattoo. It’s there for life.”
“Does it mean anything?”
“It’s a rune called Algiz. It means protection, among other things. No one will ever be able to touch your mind again.”
“Thank you.”
“No, thank you.”
I frown at her. Why is she thanking me?
“You turned exactly into the young woman I wished for you to be. I can see it in your eyes.”
“One of you is missing,” Elex says.
We turn back to the group. What is he talking about? I look over to the group. At first glance, they look to all be here, but then something dings inside of me. Triton is missing.
“Where’s Triton?” I ask.
Everyone looks at each other, as if the others have more information than they do. I fall into Igraine as the basement begins to shake. Her eyes go wide. “Oh, no.”
Elex runs through a door at the back of the room. Igraine follows. Curiosity sinks in and the
rest of us run after them.
We follow them into an unfished dirt room. A young man stands at the center of the room, his hair long and white. Next to him stands Triton. The hair on my arms and neck stands in end.
Elex ignites fire in the palm of his hands.
The man cocks his head. “Not excited to see me, Dad?”
Dad?
“How did you get out?”
“My good little servants helped me.” The man’s eyes fall on me. “Well, look at you, little sister. All grown up. How long has it been, eleven years?” I try to search my mind for memories of an older brother, none come to mind.
“You walked right into my trap. It will be so easy to destroy all of you.”
To be continued
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Table of Contents
Previously on Spearwood Academy
New York, New York
Underground
No Escape
The Outcasts of New York
Dream
Questioning Everything
The Witch’s Helper