Cin d'Rella and the Golden Apple : Circle of the Rose Chronicles, Book 2

by S. J. West

  Snow purses her lips together as if she doesn’t want to answer my question, but a deal is a deal.

  “It’s been ten thousand years since the spell was cast,” she tells me.

  I’m stunned into silence and hope Snow is lying to me. It takes me a few seconds to wrap my mind around the number she uttered because it’s beyond absurd to imagine our lives taking such a leap into the future.

  “Ten thousand?” I ask to confirm I heard her correctly. “That’s impossible!”

  “I assure you, it isn’t,” Snow says. “Right now, you need to focus on finding our third sister so you can gather the items you’ll need to stop Suri, Cin. Day by day, her powers grow stronger. You must complete the mission we’ve given you before she regains all of her power.”

  “What will happen if I’m not able to stop her?” I ask, my voice quavering from the overwhelming emotions coursing through me. “What will she do?”

  “She’ll finish what she came to this planet to do and destroy everything,” Snow tells me. “The fate of humanity rests in your hands, Cin. Trust your friends and Rin to help you complete your quest and save what’s left of this world.”

  Snow vanishes from my sight, leaving me with even more questions than I had before. I reach out to her physical form and carefully lift the golden apple out of her clasped hands. As I hold the apple between my palms, I feel warmth emanating from it and assume it’s from the magic it’s imbued with. I should have asked Snow where her third sister is, but it wasn’t one of my initial questions. Her reluctance to tell me more confuses me, but then again, what she did say has thrown me for a loop. I’m not even sure my mind can absorb any more knowledge.

  The black swirling mass of Suri’s spell suddenly vanishes. Her magic could be on a time limit, or she could have to end it herself, so I stay within the protection of Snow’s light until I see a friendly face. As soon as the smoke clears, the dragons carrying my friends fly toward the castle. Bash takes to the sky to give his brothers a place to land on the building. I search for G because there’s one person in particular that I need to see right now: Coltan. He peers down at me while G makes his descent, and I see a look of relief wash over his features. In that moment, I feel like the world isn’t quite as scary as it was only a few seconds before. After G lands in the same spot Bash once was, Coltan scrambles off the dragon’s back to run toward me. As I watch him, I believe we found each other at precisely the right moment in our lives. Each of us needs to lean on the other’s strength for different reasons, which reminds me of what Sela Prince told me during her funeral. How much knowledge do the dead gain once their souls are no longer tethered to the living world?

  “Don’t touch the light,” I warn him as he gets closer. “It might burn you.”

  “Are you all right in there?” he asks, looking at the dome of light as if it’s a cage trapping me inside.

  “This is actually the safest place for me to be,” I say to set his mind at ease.

  G takes off to return to the sky while Red lands and Rin jumps off his back to join us. What’s left of the top portion of the castle is too small for all of the dragons to land at one time, so they take turns dropping everyone off one by one. I wonder why Gretel’s brothers don’t transform into their human form and join us, but I quickly understand what they are doing. As soon as G and Red return to the air, they circle high above the castle to keep watch on the surrounding area for any trouble.

  Rin strides across the floor to stand beside Coltan with a stern frown creasing his face. I can’t tell if he’s upset because of what happened with Suri or if he’s perturbed that I’m standing inside the pillar of light that protects Snow White. When his gaze settles on the golden apple in my hands, his expression turns dark with anger.

  “Put that back,” he orders in a voice that doesn’t sound like it’s used to being disobeyed.

  “I can’t,” I say, realizing it’s time for me to tell Rin everything I know. Snow said I can trust him, and my gut tells me that he’ll be a powerful ally in the days to come. He needs to understand what we’re up against, so he can prepare his city for the changes that are bound to alter all of our lives. “I have a lot to tell you, but I would rather wait until all my friends are here so I don’t have to repeat myself,” I say as I watch IO land and Gretel clamber down off his back.

  In a couple minutes, Kalder, Scarlet, and Gus join us. Once they are all standing in front of me, I tell Rin everything that we know from Briar Rose and the new and disturbing information I just acquired from Snow White. By the time I’m through explaining how precarious our existence is, shock has captured everyone’s tongue as they stare at me in utter silence. They all seem devastated that breaking the curse isn’t going to turn out to be the great salvation we all hoped it would be, and I can now understand why Maximus didn’t want to burden me with the truth.

  “Did I make a mistake by telling you everything I learned?” I ask the group, watching for their reactions.

  Kalder is the first to speak. “You had to tell us. If we don’t know the whole truth, we can’t help you.” He looks over at Snow White floating beside me. “And all the . . . angels seem to believe you’re the one who will finally be able to stop Suri.”

  “Kalder’s right,” Scarlet chimes in. “Plus, not sharing what you learned with us would have eventually driven you crazy. I’m glad you shared the burden of the truth because now we can move forward together.”

  “Why have they chosen you to be their champion?” Rin asks me with a scowl.

  “Do you really mean why didn’t they choose you?” I ask in return, getting to the heart of the reason behind his question. I don’t feel comfortable revealing that my mother was apparently an angel too, which gives me a deeper connection to Briar Rose, Snow White, and their third sister. Before I tell anyone about my mother, I need to talk to Maximus first and find out if what Suri told me about her is true.

  I could have asked Snow more questions about my mother, but she probably wouldn’t have answered them. Besides, I’d rather hear the truth from my godfather and discover on my own if my mother actually did try to kill me after I was born. I can’t imagine why she would do such a horrible thing, but then again, my father rarely talked about my mother with me. I know practically nothing about her, but maybe that was for the best. I remember my first conversation with Maximus while he drove me to Thorn Hill Academy. He looked distressed that my father painted my mother in such a favorable light and that I was told she died giving birth to me. If what Suri said is true, I can understand why Maximus didn’t want to contradict what my father had told me because the truth wasn’t something a child could handle. Even as an adult, I’m not sure how well I’ll do with this new information, but I need to speak with my godfather and hear his side of the story. If he prevented my mother from killing me, then he’s been my protector for longer than I imagined.

  After Rin nods that he does indeed need to know why I was chosen over him, I give him a reason his logical mind can understand.

  “They are able to contact me through something called astral projection,” I tell him. “You shouldn’t take it as them slighting you, Rin. This is simply my quest and destiny.”

  Rin looks from me to the pillar of light protecting Snow White and back to me.

  “I suppose you’re right,” he reluctantly concedes. “No one in our history has ever been able to breach this barrier before. Why is it gold now?”

  “Suri said it was something called a unification spell,” I say. “I’m not sure what that means, but she implied that the sisters are able to share their power through it.”

  Rin studies the golden apple in my hands. “I suppose you need to take that back to your city for your collection.”

  “Yes,” I say, hoping he doesn’t intend to make a big deal out of it. “As I said before, Briar Rose told me to collect the items her other two sisters were holding, and this is one of them. I only need to find the third sister to complete the mission she gave me, and this,
” I say, holding up the apple, “should tell me where she is. At least, that’s the theory.”

  “Have you tried to use it yet?” Coltan asks me.

  “No, I haven’t had time. I wasn’t sure how it would show me what I need to know, and I needed to tell all of you what I discovered from Snow before I tried.”

  “You should ask now,” Gretel suggests. “We’ve got your back, Cin.”

  She’s referring to the possibility of Suri still lurking nearby. It’s one of the reasons I have remained in the light because I’m certain she won’t be able to harm me while I’m inside it.

  “Do you have any legends here about the apple?” I ask Rin. “Like what needs to be done to gain the knowledge that I want?”

  “To be honest, I didn’t know it could do that,” he admits.

  “If it’s powerful enough to grant you knowledge about anything, I don’t think you need to do much,” Coltan says. “Silently ask the question to yourself and see what happens.”

  I close my eyes to block the rest of them out of my mind and take in a deep breath before I ask the magic object in my hands to tell me how to reach Briar Rose’s third sister. Almost instantly, pictures form inside my mind. The first one is of me standing inside a cave’s entrance, gazing out at a snow-capped mountain that I don’t recognize. The second one is of an overgrown field of wildflowers swaying in the wind with a solitary tower covered in ivy standing in the middle of it. The scene goes black, and the golden apple grows cold in my hands, presumably signifying nothing else will be shown to me. In my heart, I know what I saw is the place I need to go to find the third sister, but I can’t say the images were all that helpful. With a disappointed sigh, I open my eyes to look at the expectant faces of my friends.

  I tell them the visions and see the same letdown I feel mirrored in their expressions.

  “That’s it?” Scarlet says, throwing her hands down. “For a magical apple, it doesn’t seem all that powerful. It’s a bit underwhelming.”

  “Truth,” Gretel says as she shakes her head in disbelief of how little we have to go on.

  “Do either of those two scenes sound familiar to you?” I ask Rin, daring to hope that the tower is somewhere in the wildlands, but the odds of both sisters being in the same place seem pretty slim to me.

  “Maybe one,” he replies, giving us all a glimmer of hope. “We do have a mountain range here.”

  “How far away is it?” I ask, feeling a sense of excitement that we may not be at a dead end yet.

  “It’s a half day’s journey from here by dragon,” he tells me.

  My heart sinks into my stomach at the thought of having to ride a dragon for so long.

  “Let me send a couple of Huntsmen to scout the area for this tunnel you saw,” Rin says. “Do you remember anything unique about the entrance to the cave, or how high it was in relation to the mountain in your vision?”

  I close my eyes and try to recreate what I saw inside my mind.

  “The sun was rising behind it,” I say, “so the cave I was in had to be on the west side, and it seemed to be fairly high up, but not at the top of the mountain I was standing in.” I open my eyes and look at Rin. “Other than that, there wasn’t anything special.”

  “It’s a start,” he replies with an understanding smile. “When we locate the cave, we can send you word. What’s the best way to do that?”

  “If one of my brothers can meet me at the portal, we can set up a regular exchange of messages,” Gretel says.

  I have a feeling Gretel would have arranged something like that anyway to keep in touch with her newfound kin. It’s something I would do if I discovered I had a passel of brothers in another realm. She’s never had blood relatives before now, and I can’t blame her for wanting to spend as much time with them as she can.

  “We’ll need some time before we can set out on the search,” Rin tells us. “Our first priority is reconstructing this level of the castle enough to shield Snow from the elements.”

  “How long do you think that will take?” I ask.

  “We need at least a couple of days to work on the castle, and then it will take at least another two days to go to the mountains and return with news about what we find. In four days’ time, we should have something new to tell you.”

  “Suri is in your world now,” I warn him. “I don’t know if she’s planning to return to Briardale through the portal or stay here, but you need to keep an eye out for her.”

  “We will,” he vows.

  With a plan set into place, we decide to go back to Briardale so Rin and the other Huntsmen can get to work. All of Gretel’s brothers make the journey back to the portal with us, so they each know where to meet her in four days. When we reach the spot, the portal instantly opens, signaling it’s time for us to return home. As I watch Gretel receive hugs from her brothers, I feel a tinge of jealousy. All of my friends have been reunited with their family now, leaving me with no one but myself.

  As if noticing my melancholy mood, Coltan casually takes hold of my hand and squeezes it reassuringly. When I look up at him standing beside me, he gives me a small understanding smile.

  “Maybe Maximus will be awake,” he says in an attempt to lift my spirits.

  “Maybe,” I reply as I try to hang on to that small bit of hope. “There’s so much I need to ask him.”

  “Well, let’s see how he’s doing first. He might not be up to answering the questions you have for him yet.”

  Coltan is right. Maximus might need some time to recover from his injuries, but if he’s at least awake when we return home, I’ll be more than thankful for that monumental gift.

  Chapter 15

  Once we cross over into Briardale, I use my com bracelet to contact Thorn Grace at the hospital to see if Maximus has awoken yet. When she tells me there’s been no change in his condition, a great emptiness pools inside my heart and only his awakening will be able to fill it. What if he never wakes up? I’ve heard stories about people remaining in comas for their entire lives and dying once their bodies gave out from either disease or old age. Will that be Maximus’s fate? I feel sure he would rather be dead than stuck in limbo somewhere between life and death.

  We decide to wait for the portal to close behind us before we leave to make sure Suri doesn’t try to cross back over. If she had the ability to go through the portal from this side, she wouldn’t have had to follow us through it. The only problem is that I have no idea if she can open it from the City of White side after we leave. The most we can do right now is watch it until it closes to at least have a little peace of mind for a while. Once the portal vanishes from sight with no sign of Suri returning to Briardale, we get into Gus’s van, and he drives us to my house. Gretel is still giddy with excitement over finding a family she never even knew existed, and for almost the whole ride back home, she talks about them nonstop and how much she wants all of her brothers to come to Briardale one day.

  “Does that mean you’re not planning to move to the City of White to be with them?” I ask her, since the possibility had crossed my mind.

  Gretel looks at me like I’ve sprouted another head. “Live there with them? Why would I do that? This is my home.” She glances between me and Scarlet. “The two of you and Isabel are my family.”

  “I thought you might want to be with your real family now that you’ve found them,” I reply, doing my best not to sound jealous or overbearing.

  “Cin,” she says with a small downward tilt of her head, “you are my real family. I realize I sound excited about getting to know my brothers, but you would too if you discovered you had family you didn’t know existed. I might be related to them by blood, but they are still strangers to me. I do want to get to know them better, but I have my whole life to do that. I’m not leaving you—not now, not ever.”

  Her words make me glow inside, but I don’t say that out loud. My relieved grin tells her all she needs to know.

  Once we return home, I excuse myself from the others by s
aying that I need to change back into my Thorn uniform. In reality, what I really need is a moment to myself to deal with what I learned about my mother. I know part of what Suri told me is the truth because Snow confirmed it. She definitely was an angel, but did she really try to kill me after I was born? The possibility does explain why my father rarely ever talked about her and why he never had any pictures of her in the house. If she truly did try to kill me, he would have purged the house of everything that reminded him of her. I’m surprised he kept her shoes for me, but perhaps he wanted me to have a small token as proof that she actually existed.

  Should I tell Commander Ford I know what my mother was? It certainly explains why the commander cut my neck the moment I stepped foot inside Thorn Hill Academy. She wanted to make sure I was human, and since I bled red, it must have eased her mind that I was more my father’s daughter than my mother’s. The thought brings a question to mind though: How did Maximus kill my mother if she was an angel? I wasn’t aware such a thing could take place, but if Suri was telling the truth, then Maximus is more powerful than I ever imagined.

  While I change into my Thorn uniform, I decide to leave the crystal heel from my mother’s slipper, the needle from Briar Rose, and the golden apple from Snow in my closet. Since Suri isn’t in Briardale right now, I shouldn’t need the heel for protection and the other items should be safe from her clutches. I would rather not carry around objects of such great value if I don’t have to, and I plan to ask Maximus for a more fortified location to ensure their protection.

  When I finally rejoin the others, I find Gretel and Scarlet in the kitchen. Gretel is furiously peeling a potato from a pile of them on the counter next to her. Scarlet is doing her best to chop some onions through the tears they are stimulating her eyes to produce. I glance over at the table in the room and see that the note I left for Commander Ford is propped up against the glass salt and pepper shakers. Thankfully, we weren’t gone long enough for her to question Marlene about our absence.