by Amber Garr
I took in the room while I waited. The wooden bed frame had carvings in every available space. Carvings that looked eerily similar to my tattoos. She’d also etched in our names across the top. Cressa and River. At least she had thought about us after she left…
“Mom?” River asked and my mother sat up even straighter. “Someone’s here to see you.” He spoke in a soft, high tone like how he would speak to a child. Another stab of fear paralyzed me as I anticipated the worst when she would finally turn around.
It took a minute, but then my mother stood. Walking toward the bottom of the bed, past my brother and the carvings, I stepped in front of my mom. I remembered her being so tall, yet now that I was an adult I actually stood eye to eye with her. Everything else that I remembered, however, stayed true to form. Long, black hair like mine. Dark eyes and pale skin—I’d see her face in mine every time I looked in a mirror.
“Mom,” I pushed out past the sobs. For a moment I forgot everything that had happened recently. All of the lies, all of the stories. It all got pushed to the side when I saw my mother again. I wanted to give her a hug, but my cuffed hands didn’t grant me the opportunity.
Sensing my need, River unlocked my bindings and shoved them in his back pocket. He motioned me forward and without hesitation, I swung my arms around my mother’s neck. Her brittle, fragile body trembled beneath mine and after too long of a pause, she finally embraced me back.
“Oh, Cressa,” she said. Her voice hadn’t changed one bit. Still soft and ethereal and bringing peace to me instantly. “Look how beautiful you are.”
We held onto each other for a long time. I didn’t want to let her go, and instead I released everything at once. The tears flowed freely, the sobbing uncontrollable at times. She held me tight, humming a song she used to sing to us as babies while I wept. At some point, she slid her hands to my arms and pushed me back a little.
“Don’t be so sad,” she whispered, wiping my cheek. “I’m here. I’m here.”
“I’ll wait outside,” River said. I’d forgotten he was in the room.
My mom pulled me closer again and I felt her turn her head. “Thank you, son.”
I didn’t see River leave, but I heard the door and the giant locks seal us in tight. “Mom, I have so much to ask you,” I blurted out. Remembering that the cameras were on, I tried to put some order to my thoughts.
“I’m sure you do,” she smiled at me. “Let’s sit.”
We lowered ourselves onto the rock hard bed and immediately faced each other—me with my legs crossed underneath and my mom mirroring my exact position. It surprised me to see how similar we were. It’s like I had forgotten all of the little quirks and eccentricities that I loved so much about her.
“Mom, I…” Clearing my throat, I tried again. “I raised Iain last night.” I figured why not just jump right into it.
Her faced paled and her brow pinched in thought. Tears glistened in her eyes, immediately tearing me in two. Was this her admitting that she loved him? And why did she do that to dad? “You raised a phoenix from the ashes?”
I nodded and absentmindedly brushed the new scar on my chest. My mom caught the movement.
“Let me see,” she whispered, staring at the place where my scar had appeared.
I slowly lowered the neck of the giant shirt so that it exposed the area. She reached forward and traced the raised circle with her fingers. “A nimbus,” she marveled. “How perfect.” Her smile barely reached her cheeks and was instead laced with sadness and longing.
“Did you love him?” I asked her.
She pulled back her hand quickly but then hesitated before answering. “Yes, I did.”
The ache in my heart that had been there a week ago came rushing back in a vengeance. I suddenly felt like I never really knew my mother. Like our whole family life had been a farce while her true identity revealed itself only when she was with Iain.
“How did you know him? A phoenix I mean. He hadn’t been reborn as a human and Noah—”
“You’ve met Noah?” she interrupted with a little too much eagerness.
“Yes, and we’ll talk about that in a second, but how? How did you see Iain?” Noah had once told me that a phoenix in true form stayed invisible to the rest of the world. They weren’t meant to be seen.
My mom grabbed my hand, her shirt sliding up enough for me to see the scars that lined her wrist. When she noticed me staring, she quickly pulled down her sleeve. “I summoned him,” she said with a painful smile.
“Is that possible?”
“Is it possible for a necromancer to raise a phoenix from the ashes?” The way her eyes twinkled, I knew she was only teasing me. “Anything is possible in our world, Cressa.”
“So, you summoned him. How?”
“I knew he was always there. Hiding in the shadows since I was a teenager. My grandmother had told me the story about the phoenixes once. She’d said they were sent to us as protectors. To watch over us each day until we breathed no more.” My mom stared off over my shoulder, remember something very intimate to her. “So when I found a summoning spell stuck in a box that had been packed away after her death, I tried it.” She laughed in memory. “It didn’t work at first. In fact it took me several years before I was a strong enough Caster to even pull him out of the shadows, let alone summon him into human form.”
“But I thought they could only take human form if they had done something wrong in their previous life?”
“That’s true.” She smiled and tilted her head to the side. “You and Noah must know each other quite well.”
I blushed and dropped my gaze. I hadn’t seen my mother since I was thirteen, and while I was a grown woman now, I wasn’t ready to share all of my most personal stories quite yet. Her hand brushed my cheek, forcing me to look back up at her.
“I could have Iain for only small pieces of time. The spell would allow us to meet once per month and only for one hour. After that he’d…” she twirled her hand in the air, “he’d disappear back into the shadows like the rest of his kind. But I knew he was always there, watching over me.”
This sounded like a story right out of a fairy tale, and everything I thought I knew about my mother started to fade. “How long?”
“What?” she asked.
“How many years did you summon him to you?”
“Oh,” she nodded. “From the time I was eighteen until the day he eternally died.” This time I knew I saw tears flooding her eyes, and she blinked several times to keep them away. “I still miss him very much.”
While immersed in her story, and wishing for a love as great of that, I still had ripples of anger fighting to get out. “But what about dad?”
My mother shifted on the bed. “I loved your father.” She didn’t say anything else for several moments. “We had a good life together.”
“You know he died a couple of years after you came here?”
She slowly nodded and rested her hand on my knee. “I know, Cressa. I wish I could have been there for you. And your brother.”
Whether it was the lodestone sucking energy from me or all of the years of untruths finally breaking free, my body shuddered in exhaustion. But I still had more questions. “Noah told me that you summoned him to save Iain. And that you sacrificed your freedom for Iain.” I bit my lip waiting to see what her response would be. The answer to the most important questions lingered in time and space.
“I’m so glad he found you,” my mom said, not answering my questions at all.
“Noah?”
She smiled. “Yes.”
“Mom,” I said, shaking my head to focus on the questions I had. “You’re not clearing anything up here. And I’m sure we don’t have a ton of time…” I glanced at the wall with the door as though there was a window that would show my brother waiting outside.
“When a phoenix finds its mate, his soul will forever be attached.” She stared off into space again, hand crossing over her heart like she could hold in the pain. “I was
Iain’s mate. And I couldn’t let him compromise his dignity and stature just so we could be together.”
“So you stopped him from killing the trackers. By doing it yourself.” I didn’t ask. I accused.
My mom sucked in a quick breath and pinched her brows together. “I did.”
“And because you did that, you abandoned me. You abandoned your whole family!” At some point I’d started crying again but hadn’t even noticed. “You left me, mom. And I needed you! I needed you so much.”
“Oh, Cressa,” she said and pulled me into a hug. Her heart beat steadily underneath my ear, soothing me in a way I didn’t know possible. “I had to turn myself in. I’d acted in jest, but when I realized that the trackers I’d killed had families of their own, I couldn’t go home and face mine. I’d taken a father and a mother away from their children. No one should have that right.” She was crying now too. We rocked back and forth to the sound of each other’s confessions. “I needed to pay for my crimes.”
After a comfortable silence filled the room, I looked up at her. “I almost have enough money to pay your bond.”
She sighed. “They will never let me leave, Cressa.”
Not the response I was expecting, I sat up and crossed my arms. “What do you mean? They’ve had your bond posted since dad told us where you were.”
“Your father told you?”
I waved off her question. “After I raised him. He didn’t have a choice.”
“Huh,” she said, looking at me like I’d just sprouted a third eye. Or another head.
“Why won’t they let you leave?”
“I’m a killer. I murdered our own kind. I will never leave this place.” Her lips turned down, sympathy for my ignorance shining though her expression.
“But your bond?” I tried to think of reasons why they would announce that her freedom could be bought and then deny it.
“Granted by an old friend. Someone who died several years ago,” she said sadly. “The new leadership revoked it instantly.” She did that staring at nothing thing again. “I’m actually surprised they haven’t executed me yet…”
“No,” I whispered. “But everything I’ve done has been for you! I’m in here because of that!”
“No, honey,” she comforted me. “You’re in here to torture me. They would normally let you off with a fine for using unsanctioned necromancy, just like they did with your father.” Her hand brushed through my hair again. “No, you’re in here right now so that they can break me.”
It felt like a car hit me. No, a bus. A giant double-decker bus that had been following me down the street for hours. Finally, wham! It grinds my bones into the asphalt and backs over me again and again until nothing’s left but dust.
I glanced down at my mother’s wrists where she has scars. But they are not like mine. Hers are self-inflicted and meant to be a way out. And then I look closer. Old burn marks scorched her neck, small white lines running from ear to ear. What had they done to her?
I opened my mouth in preparation to ask one of the hardest questions of my life, when Rome blinked in the room beside us. I screamed and my mom shot backward away from him.
“Rome! What are you…? I looked back at the locked door. “What are you doing here? How did you get through the lodestone—”
“Get down, both of you!” He started to reach for us, now cowering together on the bed, but we avoided his grasp.
“What are you doing?” I yelled at him, fear and confusion making me snap.
The alarm on his watch started to beep and he ground his jaw together. With a giant leap, he sprang onto the bed and caught both my mom and me in his arms.
“You need to get down. Now!”
And just as he yanked us to the ground, shielding us with his body, an explosion blasted through the room.
The ringing in my ears muffled all other noises. A large piece of concrete smashed on the floor next to my head, sending chunks of porcelain tile into my face. I cowered, trying to avoid what I could. But the heavy weight on top of me prevented any sort of productive movement.
Someone groaned. Rome, I think. My ears hurt. My head hurt. I could barely move my arm and I was pretty sure I’d just acquired a few more broken ribs.
“Cressa!” His voice sounded familiar but the ringing acted like a mask. “Cressa!” Hands wrapped around my wrist and pulled. I screamed, agony scorching through me like hot coals twisting in my veins. The hands pulled again, yanking out from under the heavy weight.
“Stop! Please don’t do that again!” I cried out. My eyes clenched tight in the hopes I could will away the pain. “Please,” I sobbed.
“Okay,” the voice said and I jolted to the present.
“Noah?”
“Shh,” he smiled down at me and then looked over his shoulder. “Get Gabriella! Rome, are you okay?”
I faintly heard some kind of grunted response, but I was too fascinated with Noah’s presence to focus. We were running and he was carrying me in his arms. Smoke covered his handsome face as we dodged small fires and crumbling concrete. How did Noah get in here? What just happened?
“This way,” my brother shouted from up ahead. My brother? “We only have minutes.”
I twisted my neck to see who followed behind. Rome cradled my mother in his arms the same way Noah held me. She wasn’t awake and a trail of blood seeped down her face from the top of her head. Rome looked completely unscathed.
“Come on!” River shouted. “Hurry!”
A gunshot echoed through the narrow hallway, hitting the wall above River’s head as we turned down another corridor.
“Tindalio!” River threw out his arm and instantly the three guards running toward us ignited in flames. But as we hurdled past them, I saw that the flames weren’t actually touching their bodies, just trapping them in a fiery cage. “Hurry!” River yelled again.
While I knew I wasn’t slowing them down, I thought I could at least help Noah and escape on my own. “Put me down,” I demanded.
“No,” he said, eyes never even looking at me.
“I can run,” I said. But he didn’t respond.
Another gunshot rang out and Rome swore. “Son of a bitch!” He hadn’t slowed down though and told us to keep moving when Noah asked if he was okay.
River slid a card over a scanner and we entered a dark stairway. The three men ran up five flights before even slowing down to take a breath. My mom was still unconscious and I saw a tear in the Rome’s jacket right where his bicep would be.
When we reached a metal platform with the number S1 painted on the side of wall, River stopped us. “I don’t know what’s going to be waiting on the other side of these doors.” He dug into his pocket and pulled out three of those metal bracelets. “Here,” he said while attaching them around mine, Noah’s, and mom’s wrists. “It won’t be easy, but you should be able to use some of your magic. And they won’t be expecting it.”
A fleeting thought drifted through my mind. How would my magic even help us in a situation like this? But any process of answering that was cut short when River busted through the door with his hip and immediately trapped several guards in a wall of fire. Noah carried me into what looked like an underground parking garage where he dodged left and right as bullets whizzed by our heads.
“Seriously?” Rome growled when another one sliced through his other arm. “That’s it.” He caught up to Noah and shoved my mom’s limp body forward. “Take her.”
“I can’t,” Noah shouted.
“Put me down,” I said and wiggled my body until he did. “I’m okay. Please help my mom.”
Noah hesitated a moment, his indecision tearing across his face. Then he pushed out his lips and grabbed my mom from Rome’s outstretched hands.
“Thank you,” Rome said and then he blinked away. A man screamed somewhere in the distance and the sound of breaking bones reverberated off the wall. Rome appeared right next to River and handed him a gun. With a smirk that showed just how much he liked this, he sa
id, “One down.” And with a wink, he vanished again.
Suddenly, a stabbing pain in my thigh brought me to my knees. I cried out and immediately pulled the knife from my leg. It wasn’t as large as my favorite necromancy knife, although it did its job well enough. I searched the area around me to see who had thrown it, but from my position on the floor, I couldn’t really see anything other than tires and oil stains.
“Are you okay?” My mom crawled on the ground over to me.
“They stabbed me,” I stated.
“Yes, they did,” she smiled at me, realizing that I wasn’t totally right in the head at the moment.
I studied the knife now dripping with my blood. When I slid my leg along the ground, it didn’t hurt too badly. Especially compared to the way my ribs felt.
“Come on. We need to go!” River shouted down at us. He held out a hand for me and pulled me up off the ground. Then I did the same for my mom.
“Where’s Noah?” I asked.
River jerked his head to the side. “There.”
I turned to look and watched in awe as Noah lifted two armed guards up in the air with his telekinesis. Their legs dangled below them, guns falling to the ground when they forgot what they were for. Noah held them several feet above the floor, and then with a thrust of his arms, he slammed the two men into each other with a sickening thud. They were immediately knocked unconscious and fell into a heap like test dummies.
“Noah, lookout!” I shouted when I saw the stream of fire sprinted toward him. But River had seen it too and with a one word incantation, the flame dissipated into a ribbon of steam.
“Thanks,” Noah grumbled as he passed my brother and came over to me.
“We need to get to the entrance,” River said as Rome appeared beside him with two more guns in his hands. “You didn’t kill them did you?” River asked.
Rome rolled his eyes. “No,” he said like a two-year old. “I didn’t break the rules.”
Rules? It interested me but only until I saw another round of guards coming at us. The metallic bracelets on their wrists caught the light I knew in an instant we were in trouble. Every single one of them had full access to their magic. The time for human warfare was over. Now the real fight would begin.