Finn took a comb to his hair and then started to carefully work the snarls out of Crimson’s. Crimson wished they could wake up like this every morning. It was nice, it was normal, it was perfect. “I don’t suppose you have a razor?” Finn asked. Crimson handed him a pink one from the drawer. Finn shook his head and rolled his eyes, but lathered his face and used it. Crimson sat on the commode and watched him shave, elbows on the counter and her chin on her hands. Finn glanced at her adoring expression. “See anything you like?” he said. Eyebrows raised.
“Everything.” she replied.
Chapter 19
Drella pulled up in front of Kate’s house as the sun was coming up. It had been easy enough to find her address with her smart phone. She looked over the seat to check on Mariah. She was sleeping fitfully. They had stopped at an all night box store on the way out of Portland for supplies. Drella had picked up some first aid items, a camisole and yoga pants to replace Mariah’s tattered and bloody dress, and a blanket and pillow to make her comfortable. She’d roused a little when Drella was cleaning her up, enough for Drella to know that while she was badly hurt, she would make it. Most of her cuts were superficial. They’d bled a bit, but she didn’t think any of them would need stitches. They had been calculated to cause maximum pain, with minimal damage, not to kill.
She wondered what Jessamine had done to provoke enough rage in the Prince to make him kill her. Maybe she had chosen to fight back. Maybe Mariah could tell her when she woke up, but honestly, she thought she probably didn’t want to know what had gone on in that room. She was glad to be away, safe for the moment, but terrified of what would happen if Rickon found them. She was starting to feel the effects of withdrawal and knew that before long, she would be in bad shape. If she was going to ask Kate for help, it was now or never.
Drella got out of the car and walked to the door. She hesitated, and then knocked loudly. It only took a minute for a sleepy eyed Kate to answer. “Can I help you?” she asked the bedraggled young woman on her porch.
“Kate?” Drella said tentatively. Kate nodded. “It’s me, Drella Thorn, Crimson’s sister. I heard she was here and I need her help.” Drella was shaking now, ordinary nervousness adding to her growing sickness. “Please, you have to help us.” Tears were rolling down her mascara smudged cheeks.
“You said we,” Kate motioned to the car. “Is someone with you?”
“My friend, she’s hurt. She’s hurt really bad. I don’t have anywhere else to go. I know Crimson hates me, but I don’t know what else to do.” Drella was begging now, desperate, praying Kate wouldn’t turn her away.
“I’ll help you get her inside.” Kate said, finally. They walked to the car and opened the door. When she saw the huddled figure inside, she gasped. “Mariah? Baby? It’s Katie. Can you hear me?”
At the sound of Kate’s voice, Mariah opened her eyes. They were glazed and bloodshot. “Katie? I’m so sorry Katie!” Mariah collapsed into hysteria, violent sobs wracking her thin battered body. Kate gathered her in her arms. She was so thin that Kate was able to carry her by herself. She held her close and crooned to her softly as she carried her into the house and gently put her down in her childhood bed. Drella hovered in the doorway, unsure what to do.
Awoken by the noise, Ivy poked his head out of the guest room to see what was happening. “Drella? What the hell are you doing here?” Before she got a chance to answer, Kate called to him from the bedroom.
“Ivy? I’m so glad you are up. Take Drella to the kitchen and get her something to eat, and call Crimson and tell her and Finn I need them here now.” Kate’s commanding tone didn’t leave room for questions or debate, so Ivy took Drella by the hand and headed to the kitchen. He picked up the phone and dialed.
After only two rings, Crimson picked up. “Hello?” she said, laughing, obviously distracted.
“Crimson? This is Ivy. Kate said to call you and tell you to come right now.”
“Is everything ok?” Crimson asked, noticeably more serious. “Has something happened?”
“Just come, ok? And hurry.”Ivy hung up the phone and sat at the kitchen table facing Drella. Drella was really starting to feel sick. She was sweating and shaking. “You look like shit, Princess.” Ivy said with a frown. “I don’t know what the hell is going on here, but you have a lot of nerve coming here asking for Crimson’s help after what you did to her. If it wasn’t for the fact that you brought Mariah home, I’d throw you out myself. As it is, Kate is going to have questions, and for your sake, you better have the right answers.”
Drella didn’t answer, she just looked at the floor. Ivy was right, of course, she thought to herself. There was no way Crimson was going to help her after what she did. Why would she? Drella thought about just leaving. No one would miss her. They didn’t want her here. She’d had no idea that Kate knew Mariah. What if they blamed her for Mariah getting hurt? Her thoughts were all over the place, her head was spinning, and as her body cried out for a fix, she became more and more agitated.
Her calmness completely shattered when she heard Crimson’s voice calling from the front door. “Ivy? Kate? We’re here.” Drella collapsed into a quivering pile. She couldn’t face her sister. There was no way she was doing this. Ivy shot her a dirty look from across the table and wagged his finger at her. Crimson stopped in her tracks when she saw Drella. Their eyes locked for a split second, and then Crimson ran to Drella and hugged her tight. “Stars, Drella! What’s happened to you?” Again, Drella didn’t reply, she just limply allowed her sister to hold her, not understanding why her sister wasn’t screaming at her or choking her out.
Kate stepped into the kitchen and pulled Finn aside. As she whispered in his ear, all the color drained from his face. He touched Crimson on the shoulder and as she looked up at him, she knew something very bad had happened. “I’ll be back,” he told her. Crimson nodded. Finn followed Kate up the stairs. Crimson released Drella and took a seat at the table. Ivy brought her a cup of coffee and she took a sip. She looked at Drella for a long time, her face unreadable.
“I’m so sorry, Crimson.” Drella said softly, her voice shaking. “I know I hurt you. I know you don’t have any reason to help me, but I don’t have anywhere else to go.”
“I spent too much time being angry with you, Drella. I’m happy now, and I can see that you did me a favor, despite how you meant it. You will always be my sister, you know I would do anything I could to help you.” Crimson took Drella’s trembling hand. “Now, tell me what’s happened?
Drella didn’t think she’d be able to speak, but once she started, it all came gushing out. Rickon, the drugs, the girls, all of it, even Amiee. It took a long time, but the whole story poured out of her and it felt as if her soul was being cleansed. Crimson just listened. She didn’t interject or judge, she just listened. Ivy busied himself by making them breakfast while they talked. Finally, it was all out, and Drella stopped talking. No one spoke for a long time. The gravity of the situation started to sink in for all of them.
“Where’s Rickon now?” Crimson asked standing up. Her shock at Drella’s story was slowly kindling into a roaring fury. She felt an uncontrollable need to hurt him. As a Guardian, she had been in a few fights. She was well trained, but she had never relished violence. This was different. After what he had done to those girls, to her sister, what he had planned to do with her, she didn’t have words. Her hands clenched and unclenched at her side. She wanted to break something, anything, just to release this anger growing and burning inside her. She could hear her own heartbeat in her ears, her vision started to turn misty and strangely red, she could smell brimstone and fire. She could hear that someone was talking to her, but she couldn’t quite make it out, didn’t even try, didn’t care, just wanted to burn…
Ivy was speechless as Crimson’s eyes began to glow a dangerous shade of red and the temperature began to rise in the room. He could feel her fury, but this was new, she’d never done this before. As the spot on the floor she was staring at started
to smolder, he started to yell. Finn came barreling down the stairs and grabbed her, but he wasn’t getting through. Instinctively, he dropped his glamour and stared into her eyes. It hurt at first, the heat was intense, but suddenly, he felt a cool energy flow from him into her and she started to back off. He smelled the sea, pushed it out from himself and into Crimson. Her eyes cooled and then she was herself again. She shook her head, confused. Finn crushed her to him.
“What in the blue fuck was that?” Ivy said stunned. “You two are starting to weird me out.” Ivy looked at Crimson. “Since when have you been able to do that? Cause, um, yeah, that was like like whoah!” Ivy threw up his hands and backed away a little bit. “And Finn? Dude, The memo I got was that you were Human, and that, so not a Human trait. I… I …I need some air.” Ivy turned and headed for the door, but Finn stopped him before he got there.
“Hey, goat boy, I get that you are losing it a little, but glamour, please? How do you expect Kate to explain, well, that, to her neighbors?” Finn gestured to Ivy’s legs and horns, well, horn now. Ivy rolled his eyes and his horn disappeared and his fur covered goat-like legs became jeans and expensive looking loafers as he went out the door, slamming it behind him.
“Your eyes, I’ve seen that before. It’s what Amiee does. She really is your mother, isn’t she?” Drella looked at Crimson in awe. “She said it, but I never would have believed it. You are usually so, don’t take this the wrong way, but sort of awkward and uncertain and she’s all ‘Grrrrr!’” Drella said, growling and making claws with her hands. “But I see it now. I’m not sure if I should be happy for you or pee my pants.”
Finn looked down at Crimson. “Are you ok, baby? I thought you were going to go nuclear there for a minute. I’m not even sure what I did, all I know was that it felt like putting out a forest fire with the ocean.”
“I don’t know what happened. I don’t think I’ve ever been that angry in my whole life. I just wanted to break things and yeah, like you said, ‘go nuclear.’”
“It’s your powers manifesting,” came Kate’s voice from the doorway. “It’s never happened before because you weren’t strong enough, either of you. But something has happened that has made you both stronger, and bound you together somehow. Finn never would have been able to drown the fire of another Draakki, but somehow, his powers are mirroring and complimenting yours.” Finn and Crimson looked into each other’s eyes, remembering a flash of something. Neither wanted to believe it meant anything and they didn’t share it with anyone, for now, it was still just theirs alone.
“Ok,” Crimson said. “Should I be worried? Am I going to grow a tail or anything?”
Kate chuckled. “No, Draakkis can’t change form, remember. But Finn might. Grow a tail that is. He’s never been able to do it before, but as strong as he’s gotten, I bet he could.” Finn was floored. He’d given up on ever being able to manifest a tail, to swim free as he had always felt he should be able to. Was there anything that this amazing woman couldn’t do to him?
“Mariah’s sleeping, by the way. You could try to keep it down.”
“Oh, Finn, I didn’t even get a chance to ask you, are you ok? Is Mariah going to make it?” Crimson asked.
“She’ll make it. She may never be the way she was, but she’s going to live. She’s been through a lot.” Finn answered.
Ivy slammed the door again as he came back in from outside. “So,” he said looking around at everyone in the room, “are we going to talk about the elephant in the room or what?”
Everyone looked confused. “Elephant?” Kate asked.
“Do I have to do everything?” Ivy demanded. “The prophecy. All we knew before was that Finn was somehow involved. Drella has seen it. We need to know what the prophecy says and we need a game plan.”
“How do you expect her to remember anything after what she’s been through?” Crimson said.
“It’s probably a good thing I kept a copy, then, huh?” Drella spoke up. All eyes turned to her expectantly as she pulled the folded up piece of notebook paper out of her purse. “What?” she said. “I am a lot of things, but I’m not stupid, not really. I thought it might come in handy.” She handed the paper to Crimson who began to read aloud:
BORN OF FIRE AND EARTH
TREACHERY AND LIES
BORN OF WATER AND AIR
TRUE LOVE’S TIES
BOUND TOGETHER
OLD POWER DIES
NEW LIFE GROWS
NEW POWERS RISE
ANCIENT BLOOD BURST FORTH ANEW
TWO WORLDS JOINED
AS ONCE WAS TRUE
Crimson stopped reading and dropped the paper. She looked at Finn who was just as stunned as she was. Things were starting to make sense in a really scary way. Crimson’s hand strayed absently to her stomach. She remembered, suddenly, the one thing she couldn’t believe Kate hadn’t thought of. The reason that Draakkis can’t manifest is because their Dragon blood has been diluted so much by intermingling with Humans and other species that they are no longer connected to all four elements. Most of them were only connected to fire, but it takes earth, fire, wind, and water to make a Dragon.
Earth from an Elf, fire from a Draakki, water from a Marbendlar, and air from a Sylph.
Chapter 20
Crimson’s eyes went all dreamy. Finn watched her rub her belly, fascinated. It was all her could do not to sweep her from the room and love her senseless. Everyone else looked on at the couple, baffled by their reaction to the prophecy.
“Will you two get a room already?” Ivy said, sounding even more annoyed than usual. “This is serious. We have to figure out what this means.”
A look of understanding broke over Kate’s face. “Shut up Ivy. This is serious, and I think that they might have something to tell us.”
“I’m getting really sick of people telling me to shut up.” Ivy looked at Crimson, then glared at Kate. “Her I expect it from, but not you, Kate. So fine, can someone please enlighten me? I swear, I’m the last to know everything around here. Just like a mushroom.”
“Mushroom?” Crimson asked, confused.
“Yeah, all anyone ever seems to do is feed me shit and keep me in the dark. Do you know what they are going on about?” Ivy asked Drella. Drella shook her head and pulled her sweaty hair back from her face, trying to look calmer than she actually was.
“Whatever. Spill it girlfriend.” Ivy turned to face Crimson, hands on his hips.
Finn wrapped his arms around Crimson from behind, and kissed the top of her head. “I’m not, well, I think, um, Finn?”Crimson stammered, looking up at him.
“I think what my beloved is trying to say is that we have a theory, but we don’t know for certain, and we don’t want to be premature.” Finn said, trying to be diplomatic. Crimson relaxed in his arms, grateful for the save.
“Kate?” Ivy looked at her expectantly.
“I don’t tell other people’s stories, Ivy, you know that. In any event, the prophecy can wait. There is something a little more pressing I need you to do for me right now.” Kate answered, tipping her head towards Drella.
“Yeah, yeah, I know, cleaning up other people’s messes is my lot in life.” Ivy complained. “So, Drella, sweetheart, I understand there is a little bit of a monkey on your back. Really bad form I have to say, but I know someone who can help if you are up for it? Unless you are planning on running back to your boy toy, Rickon.”
“I’d rather not die, if that’s what you mean.” Drella resigned herself. It wouldn’t be easy, but she knew that she needed to fix this now or it was over for her.
“Well then, let’s do this. Kate? A portal please? I know a guy, who knows a hag, who knows an herbalist who can help in this sort of unsavory situation.”
“Of course,” Kate said. “Let’s go to the basement, I just did my floors. Follow me.”
Ivy took Drella by the hand before she could protest. “And you two—keep me in the loop. Call if you need me. I swear, I’m so done with intrigue. When thi
s is all over, I’m going to retire to my cottage with a couple of handsome druids to look after me and just make shoes. No more Court, no more messes, just shoes.” Ivy waggled his fingers at Crimson as he followed Kate. “Toodles!”
As soon as they had disappeared down the stairs, Finn pushed Crimson against the wall and kissed her hard. Drawing back to look at her, his smile was bright enough to light the darkest night. “Do you really think, I mean really?” He softly touched her belly.
“I do.” She murmured. “If I am, is that something you can handle? I mean, everything is still so new with us. This is huge.”
“I love you. I want to spend the rest of my life with you. It’s unexpected, but, yeah, I can more than handle it.” He kissed her again, and the world seemed to fall away.
Not All Who Wander are Lost Page 10