by G. Bailey
“Rueben told me about some prophecy, and I can’t help but think it’s coming true. He said the Masters’ council had the other half of it,” I quietly say. “I doubt the bad guys are going to do nothing. How did Rueben avoid my sleep dust when it looks like no one else did?”
“Because he is a tricky bastard, that’s how,” Warren mutters.
“Do you think knowing the prophecy will help us somehow?” Knox asks. “I think finding books on this goddess and weapons that will work against her are more important.”
“I can’t see how it can do anything, but I feel like the answers we need are at the Masters’ council. We should go there and gather weapons while we are it. The most powerful magical items and books in history are at the Masters’ council, right?” I ask, and Knox nods. “We need them now more than ever because Rueben is strong, and who knows what is going on in the goddess’s head or what she is going to do.”
“Let’s meet in the hallway. I’m going to gather our magical books and some food,” Knox suggests. “We need to stock up for a bit. We should all grab clothes and anything we need while keeping an eye out for danger. The first sign of any danger, you shout for help. Got it?” Everyone nods in agreement, and I cross my arms, feeling tense as I stare at the broken rocks on the ground. The main part of the statue base is still there, but it doesn’t have the daggers in it anymore. I wonder if my dagger is still in my room or whether that has changed.
“I’m coming with you, Knox. Want me to get your book, Madi?” Noah asks.
“No, I’m going to go to my room and tell Quin the plan,” I say. “Plus I need to pack anyway.”
“I will escort you,” Warren says before anyone else can answer me, and all of the Tale brothers look at him with varied expressions of distrust and anger. Maybe even jealously, which I can understand. They don’t need to be jealous though. No matter what I feel for Warren, it doesn’t affect how I feel for each of them. Maybe they just don’t understand that, and I’m scared if I tell them, they will not take it well. The Tale brothers don’t like to share outside their family.
“Good idea,” I nervously say, turning around and heading up the stairs before I catch anyone’s gaze. Warren catches up to me as I get to the top of the stairs and take a right towards my room.
“It’s awkward between us all,” Warren points out, holding his spear at his side, the top glowing so brightly grey.
“I know,” I softly reply. My breath catches in my throat as Warren brushes his hand down my arm and links our fingers for a second.
“I’m not going to lie and say I don’t feel this between us. I know you feel it; I can see it in your eyes,” he whispers to me. “But if you want me to stop, if you want me as just a friend, you need to tell me so. I don’t want to cause a problem with you and your boyfriends.”
“I—”
“Hey, guys. You two alright?” Quin asks, stepping out of Tavvy’s and my room, likely overhearing our conversation with how silent it is in here. I instantly let go of Warren’s hand, but I see Warren’s expression—one of pain—and I regret not saying something else. I should have held onto his hand or something. God, how I have four boyfriends when I’m this terrible at relationships is beyond me.
“Yes. We are leaving to go to the council, and I want to get some things,” I say, thinking partially about my Dorito-stained hoodie and my comfy trainers with the pen mark on them.
“It’s a good idea to go there. I’m going to stay here and protect the academy. I want to tie all the dark tales up with magical rope and make sure everyone is safe if they wake up,” Quin says. “The more I think about it, the more I realise that we need to do something for when everyone wakes up, or it will be war once again.”
“It’s not a bad idea,” Warren says, moving to lean against the door frame and holding his spear across his body. “Though it’s dangerous. We don’t know where your uncle is or the goddess. The bad one.”
“I’m not leaving Tavvy alone and vulnerable. I will fight them until my last breath if need be,” Quin strongly states. “I doubt they will come back here though. They don’t need anything from here, and if they did, they would have taken it.”
“Thank you, Quin,” I say, patting his shoulder as I walk past into my room. I pick Tavvy’s book up off the side and place it on the bed, putting her hand on top of it before grabbing a bag and shoving some clothes into it. I find my book on my bed and open it up, feeling so happy to see Lane for the first time.
“Madi!” Lane says with a big grin, looking happy. “I sensed a strange burst of magic, and you look different. Is your hair longer? Have you always looked so much like a doll?”
“Despite the insults, I really missed you,” I say with a sigh.
“Missed me? We are never apart for long,” Lane replies.
“No, we won’t be,” I say with a big smile. “Any chance you know much about the two goddesses, mainly the bad one?”
“Why would you want to know about them?” he asks me.
“Long story,” I reply.
“My records do not have much information, and our memory of the original times are stored in the Masters’ council magical book,” he explains to me. Now that is interesting.
“The council have a magical book?” I ask.
“Yes, it stores the prophecies,” Lane says, and I lock eyes with Warren for a moment, seeing his attention firmly on Lane now as well. “I believe it was the first magical book in existence.”
“Thank you, Lane,” I say, and he smiles, nodding his head.
“I am here to serve you and your family as always,” Lane tells me, smiling still at me.
“Have you always wanted to do that? Do you remember a time before this book?” I ask him, feeling curious.
“No, and I’m glad I do not,” he is quick to answer me. I wish I could tell if he was lying to me, but he seems not to be.
“Why?” I ask.
“I imagine I would miss something if I did,” Lane replies, and it makes me sad for him. Only for a second though as he keeps on talking. “Though if I had a life like yours, I think I’d rather forget it.”
“Oh Lane,” I mutter, shaking my head. “Time to say goodbye.”
“You are rather moody and odd today, is it that time of the—” I slam the book shut before he can finish that page, and Warren chuckles.
“We don’t have magical books, but I do wish we did now,” he says.
“Lane is a bit of a chatter box,” I reply, opening my bag further and making room for Lane before closing it up. I slide off my flat shoes and put my trainers on next. As I finish tying the second lace, I see Warren picking up a picture of me, the brothers, and Quin when we were eight. We are all sitting outside their house on the street, and my dad took the photo when he came to pick me up.
“They have always been your family, haven’t they?” he asks.
“Always,” I reply, running my fingers over the picture. Warren puts it down on the side before turning to me, and I reach for his hand, gently holding it. We don’t say anything as he leans closer and rests his forehead on mine, and my eyes slowly shut as I enjoy the simple moment between us.
“It feels right being close to you,” I whisper to him, scared of my own words.
“The only time I’ve felt at home is when I’m close to you. I never want to lose that,” he tells me, making my heart feel like it will beat its way out of my chest.
“Then we will work everything else out. I don’t want to give up what we have found,” I say.
“We won’t.” The two words are firmly spoken as Warren moves a little closer and gently brushes his lips across mine before he moves away.
It was a little bit of nothing and everything at the same time.
One day, it can be so much more.
Chapter 5
The portal drops us out the other side, forcing me to use my hands to stop me falling as I land on my knees on the cold, snow-covered grass. I look up at the mountain above us and the large im
posing white building protruding from it. The building is like one large cement block painted white, and it must have so many levels. You can’t miss it. I turn around, seeing the high metal gates with water towers set up all around the town. The towers are so high, white as well, and I’m sure no one would be able to get in. I look back at the town, which is full of tall buildings with spires on top of them, looking like mini castles. There are white stone pathways leading all the way to the council building as far as I can see. I smell fire in the air, along with the cold snow dripping onto my cheek every so often. I shiver, pulling my black cloak further around me, wishing it did more to shield me from the cold. Noah and Tobias get up as Warren offers me a hand, helping me stand.
“Why is the portal so high off the ground, mate?” Sin asks with a grumble as Knox comes out last, gracefully jumping down. I stand up with the others as Knox grumbles and clicks his fingers to close the portal.
“I’m not your taxi. Give me a break,” Knox growls at Sin. It really didn’t take them long to start arguing, and oddly, I just smile.
“If you were a taxi, you wouldn’t be getting paid,” Sin replies as I catch Noah’s eyes, and he smiles too.
“Can we find another time to argue?” Knox replies, crossing his arms as I start to laugh, Noah and Tobias joining in, with poor Warren looking very confused.
“Are you laughing at us?” Sin and Knox say nearly at the same time, and it only makes us laugh harder.
“No,” I chuckle, trying to calm down as they both now just look mad. “I just never realised how much I missed you two arguing all the time.”
“Not something I’d thought I would miss, but you guys carry on,” Tobias says through his laughter as I wipe tears away. They both ignore us, storming off down the white path towards the houses as we laugh.
“Do they argue much?” Warren asks with a grin.
“In a loving family way, yes,” I reply to Warren, who turns to look at them.
“Did you not have family that did that?” Tobias asks Warren from my other side. “Or were they all serious dark tales?” That answers my unspoken question about if they know who Warren is and that he is the son of the last king of the dark tales.
“No. My family were murdered by Quin’s. I really didn’t have friends or much people around me growing up after that,” Warren swiftly answers, still keeping his past under wraps.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t know,” Tobias says.
“How could you?” Warren replies.
“We lost our biological parents early, but we were adopted and found a new family there. Like those two,” Noah says, pointing at Sin and Knox in the distance as they walk up a hill that blocks some of our view. “Family can be found in different places.”
“I know you all know nothing about me, but—”
“We know you protected Madi when she really needed it. That isn’t forgotten,” Noah points out.
“Thank you. I will always protect her,” Warren replies.
“Careful, you are starting to sound like us now,” Tobias jokes.
“Is that a bad thing?” Warren asks, and there is silence for a reply.
“Nope, I don’t think it is,” I say, breaking the silence and seeing the looks both Noah and Tobias give me in the corner of my eye. I know I’m on touchy ground here, so I decide to change the subject, but Sin does it for me.
“Holy shit. Guys, come and see this!” Sin shouts, and we all run up the small hill to where they are standing. I freeze when I get to the top of the hill, looking down at the piles of people lying on the ground, completely passed out. There must be hundreds, all of them in lines going up to the council building at the top.
“We can’t leave them out in the cold. Especially not the children,” Noah says, and he is right. Even though many of them are wearing thick coats, they can’t be out in this snow for too long. They were lucky there is only a small layer of snow covering their clothes now.
“There are babies sleeping. Is that even safe?” I ask seeing a mother holding her baby in her arms.
“It’s a magical sleep, not a normal one. I doubt the goddess would have asked you to put the island to sleep if she didn’t know your powers wouldn’t hurt anyone,” Knox says, and I have to hope he is right. I never meant to hurt anyone at all.
“We should still move them, just in case,” I say.
“Okay. We should get to work,” Sin says. “This is going to take a long time. There are so many of them.”
“You guys start, I’m going to take Madi to the council building and see what we can do there,” Knox says.
“Good idea,” Sin agrees, and the others nod.
“I have a way to make this easier,” Warren says, lifting his spear into the air in front of him and closing his eyes as he wraps his hands around it. Grey energy blasts out of the spear, snaking around the bodies lying on the ground and lifting them into the air so they hover, one by one. “If someone could get the doors open, I can move them inside.”
“Well, shit, you are cool,” Sin says, and Warren chuckles as the Tale brothers all run down to the doors. Knox takes my hand, and we walk down an alleyway behind the houses and come back onto the path a bit later on.
“Are your parents in the council building?” I ask, and he nods, looking towards it.
“I hate this building. I’ve always dreaded coming here. It reminds me of the day we left our home and you to be dragged here,” Knox tells me.
“Where did you live here?” I ask.
“In the council building, on the seventh floor,” he replies.
“How many floors are there?”
“Twenty,” he replies. “But the top ten floors are for the business side of running the Masters’ council, and the bottom two floors are prisons.”
“How many prisoners do they keep?” I ponder.
“Not many. They kill anyone that breaks the rules,” Knox explains to me. Which is pretty sad, if you ask me.
“How dark is it in there? It must be—”
“There are windows, but you just can’t see them from out here. Magic and all,” he says with a smile at me. “You don’t know how many times I hoped you would move here with your family. Just so I could see you and be close to you.”
“I feel the same, but I also loved my normal upbringing. This world is cruel, and I understand why my parents tried to hide me from it for so long,” I reply, plus I wouldn’t change my upbringing for anything.
“Many people do the same. It shouldn’t be that way; people shouldn’t fear having their children here. Though there are over a thousand people living in this town, it is not a community in any sense,” Knox replies.
“We should be a community. We need to band together,” I say as we get to some large steel gates. Knox walks up to the gates, holding his hands onto the silver steel. They burn red until the gate melts away, making a large enough gap for us to get through. Knox uses his water magic to cool the dripping hot metal and then steps through, holding a hand out for me. I step through the gap next, and we turn to see the passed out people in this courtyard. I see a child with no coat near the large doors, and I run over, unclipping my cloak and pulling it over her. I push some of her light blonde hair out of her eyes and feel that she is warm, even though she has been outside for so long.
It really is a magical sleep, one they won’t die from. I wonder if they will just stay frozen this way, never really changing.
“The doors are locked—” Knox starts off, then looks over at me, lifting his cloak into the air. “Get in here, you will freeze.” I run over, wrapping my arms around his waist as he covers me with the cloak, both of us looking at the pure green stone doors. They have the good tales symbol on them, a cat right in the middle of it. This one is more detailed than the one on the academy doors and far posher. It’s clear all the money went into this building and none of it went anywhere near the academy which was falling apart. The Masters really have things backwards around here.
“Why the hell is th
ere a cat on the logo for good tales? Shouldn’t it be a book for the magical books that guide us? Or anything but a cat?” I ask, staring at the cat’s beady little eyes.
“I don’t have a clue why it is a cat, but I actually like the logo,” he replies.
“Why? It sucks,” I mutter.
“You are only saying that because you don’t like cats,” Knox replies with a grin.
“Cats don’t like me. There is a big difference there,” I reply. I have nothing against the hairy little creatures, but they certainly have a thing against me.
“I wonder if it’s because of your raven gene line,” he ponders. “Cats and birds don’t generally get along. Cats really do hate birds like you.”
“Are you suggesting I’m a bird?” I ask, placing my hand on his chest.
“No, but you are kinda a raven. Which is the coolest bird, by the way,” he is quick to say.
“It’s too cold to argue which bird is the best, but ravens are pretty amazing,” I say and look to the door. I push the door once, only to find it is impossible to move. It’s way too heavy, and I bet it’s magically locked somehow.
“It’s not going to open. I actually don’t have a clue how to get inside. I hoped it would be open,” Knox tells me.
“Do we know anyone that might know?” I ask.
“Your grandmother did work for the council for a while, and your dad lived here for a long time,” Knox suggests. “I’m sure they are worried about you anyway. We should go to them next.”
“Okay. Plan C it is,” I reply, mentally ticking off another route in my head.
“How did we get to plan C?” Knox asks.
“Plan A was the academy, plan B was coming here, and plan C is going to see my parents,” I explain to him.
“I might not survive plan C then. Your dad never liked me,” Knox replies.