Chapter 1 #2
Ember nodded as she left the kitchen and climbed the stairs up to her room, the last door on the left.
Worry ate away at her as she changed her clothes and re-braided her hair.
In the last year she had been on the island, she hadn’t so much as seen Chief Thornsten walk down the street, let alone go to a mandatory town meeting.
Something told her this wasn’t going to be pleasant.
“Honestly, Fen, stop moving your leg so much,” Ember scolded, as she elbowed him in the ribs.
Fen slowed his leg to a gentle bounce but didn’t stop fidgeting completely.
The family sat in the drafty room in town hall and waited patiently for Chief Thornsten to come address the restless crowd.
Eira, Otto, and Maeve sat near the front, Ember and Fen toward the back.
“Honestly, could he take any longer?” Fen grumbled. “I have better things to do than waste my Saturday in this bloody room. What could be so important?”
Ember shrugged. “How many times have you been to one of these?”
“I can think of exactly zero,” a voice about her said. “Howeyah, Starshine?”
Ember rolled her eyes as Killian took the seat to her right and smirked. The sleeves of his white button up were rolled to his elbow and his black slacks looked freshly pressed. He brushed away the white-blond hair that fell in his charcoal eyes and gave her a playful grin.
“Maybe the elves are finally rebelling.” Fen shrugged as he pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose.
“Maybe the British are invading again,” Killian joked.
“With their flimsy little wands?” Fen laughed as he leaned across Ember to talk to Killian. “They’d hardly stand a chance.”
“You two are insufferable,” Ember sighed, as she shoved them apart. “Can’t you be serious for five minutes?”
The room quickly grew silent as a tall man with slicked back, onyx hair stepped to the front of the room. He straightened his coat, running his hand along his hair. Killian scoffed under his breath and leaned over to whisper in Ember’s ear.
“Some chief. More worried about his hair than his people if you ask me.”
Ember rolled her eyes. “You’re one to talk, Killian Vargr.”
“Thank you all for coming on such short notice,” the chief’s voice boomed, as he smoothed the sleeves of his ivory shirt. “I imagine you all have things to do this weekend, so I’ll make this as brief as possible. We have reason to believe that the children on Ellesmere are in grave danger.”
Bloody hell.
Whispers carried across the small hall, and Ember felt both the boys that flanked her stiffen. Fen instinctively reached for her hand, and Ember noticed Killian’s grip tighten on his knee. His eyes narrowed, and his throat bobbed as he straightened his back.
“We have had three children go missing over the last month,” Chief Thornsten continued.
“We have it on good authority that they have been taken by the Fae. For what reason, we are still unsure, but rest assured, we are working day and night to bring our children home and make our island safe again.”
“Will it be safe for the children to return to Heksheim?” a voice said from the crowd.
“So far, they are only targeting children who are not of age yet, but that doesn’t mean everyone shouldn’t be aware of their surroundings.”
Ember felt Fen’s grip tighten around her hand, and his other gripped his knee. Her heart beat steadily in her throat as she squeezed his hand a little tighter.
Maeve.
“Travel in groups when possible, and try not to leave children home alone if it isn’t absolutely necessary.
If they’re able, have your older children travel in groups to Heksheim as well.
We can’t rule anything out quite yet. We are encouraging all parents to keep their young at home,” the chief swept his gaze over the crowd, “especially after dark. Wards have been heavily reinforced around Heksheim, as well as across the perimeter of the Dark Forest. We are asking you to do your part to keep our island and our young safe. Does anyone have any questions?”
Quiet murmurs traveled across the room as Chief Thornsten answered each question one by one. The weight of the news settled on the room like a wool blanket, the air heavy.
“It doesn’t make sense,” Killian mumbled, as he shoved his hands in his pockets, leaning back in his chair.
“What doesn’t?” Ember replied.
“The weans goin’ missin’,” he whispered.
“Children go missing all the time,” Ember replied, as she squeezed Fen’s hand a final time before dropping it. “It’s unfortunate, but not unheard of.”
“Not on Ellesmere,” Killian said, as he shook his head. “I’ve never heard of it happening here, not in numbers like this. And they’re always found within a day or two uninjured.”
Ember chewed her bottom lip. “Could it be the Fae?” she asked, wincing as she thought about Asteria.
“The Fae are a proud people,” Killian replied. “They would never jeopardize the treaty like this. Not by taking children.”
The chief continued to answer questions as people began filing out of the room, soft whispers leaving a trail of worry as they went. The boys followed Ember out the door and into the warm August air, Fen shuffling his feet as blew out a deep breath.
“But Chief Thornsten said—"
“I heard what he said,” Killian snapped, “but that doesn’t make it the truth.”
Ember furrowed her brow. “Are you saying he’s lying? If the Fae aren’t taking the kids, who is?”
Killian ran his fingers through his hair. “I don’t know,” he sighed, “but I do know one thing. ‘Believe nothing that you hear and only half of what you see.’”
Ember let out a laugh of disbelief. “You’re quoting Poe?”
Killian smiled, reaching a hand up as if to brush the back of it against her cheek before quickly pulling it away. “Dark days are ahead, Starshine,” he breathed. “Who better to usher them in?”
Ember gently rubbed Maia’s snout as she laid against her side, feet stretched out in the grass as the sun warmed her face.
Small fish splashed in the pond in front of her, birds chirping as Della tried to catch a mid-afternoon snack.
Maeve squealed beside her as Della sent water flying through the air.
“Control your cat, Maeve,” Fen grumbled, as he polished his AirWave, wiping away the droplets of water splattered across the board. “I’m going to have to start over now!”
Ember blew a stray hair from her face as she rolled her eyes. “Maybe you should do that somewhere that isn’t beside a body of water,” she laughed, as she sat up and began digging through the picnic basket Eira had packed for them.
“I should be able to enjoy this beautiful weather without being assaulted by my little sister’s ridiculous cat,” Fen snapped, glaring toward the Cat Sidhe now swishing its tail back and forth as it watched him.
Fen stuck out his tongue as he narrowed his eyes further.
Maeve sighed as she sank into the grass at the edge of the pond, crossing her arms tightly over her chest.
“This is boring,” she whined, as she let her bare feet hang in the water. “Can’t I go play with Kady?”
Kady O‘Malley, the youngest of the O’Malley children, lived a few miles down the road and was Maeve’s best friend. She has spent most of the summer glued to the little girl’s side, and they had a tendency to go back and forth between their houses, rarely spending more than a few nights apart.
“No,” Fen snapped, as he whipped his head around, chest rising rapidly as he stared his little sister down, “You are not going to Kady’s, or into town, or to the beach, or anywhere else unless you’re with me and Ember, or Mum and Dad.”
“But it’s not that far!” Maeve argued, narrowing her eyes toward her brother. “I’ll be back before supper, and Mum and Dad will never know— “
“Drop it, Maeve,” Fen hissed, as he focused on his board again. “I’ll tie you to the tree if I have to, but you aren’t going anywhere.”
Della seemed to straighten at that, slowly placing herself in front of Maeve. Ember shook her head as she sighed. Fen was scared, and sometimes fear made people do stupid things, like threaten to tie their sister to a tree.
“I can’t get this scratch off,” Fen mumbled, as tears pooled on his lower lash.
He ran the cloth over the same spot over and over again, bottom lip wobbling as he shook his head.
“It’s ruined. I can’t fix it.” Tears slipped down his cheeks as he tossed the board in front of him, wringing his hands together as he bit his bottom lip. “I can’t fix it,” he whispered.
Ember slid beside him, nudging him in the arm as she slid her hand into his and squeezed. The tether at her sternum thrummed, her magic reaching out to his as she sat in silence with him.
“It will be okay,” she whispered, as his breathing began to slow. “We will figure this out together.”
She wasn’t talking about the board.
The house smelled of warm stew and soda bread when they walked into the kitchen later that evening. The floor was bathed in late summer sun, and Ember felt the warmth of home engulf her once again.
My home.
The realization that she had a home didn’t hit her the way she expected it to.
She always thought it would feel like a storm—something loud and impossible to ignore that left her ears ringing and her pulse racing.
A single moment in time that would stand out, forever etched in her memory.
The final puzzle piece shifting into place.
But it wasn’t like that, not at all. It was slow and steady.
It was like going to bed on a cold winter night and waking up to a blanket of snow the next morning.
It was like waking up one morning and realizing the shoes you wore the day before were too snug now.
Something that happened without notice but happened, nonetheless.
“Em, time for supper!” Fen shouted from the table, pulling out his chair and quickly plopping himself into it.