Chapter 23
Chapter
Twenty-Three
Selene
The past.
I crash into Everett, my arms coiling around him. The sand embraces my feet as I rise on my toes. The portal’s magical scent clings to his clothes.
He’s here, alive and safe.
But for how long? The only reason he returned was because of the war. I close my eyes, resting my cheek on his chest as he embraces me, his fingers combing through my hair. I sense him creating a time bubble, isolating us from the shore, granting us privacy from the escort.
Tipping my chin up, I study him. His eyes, a blend of brown and green, resemble the forests that guard the mountains known as The Cradle of Darkness.
“When’s the last time you stepped into the sun?” I glide my knuckles along his jaw, feeling the sharp prickle of freshly shaven hair. His skin tone, once similar to mine, has become gray. He looks like a rubber band pulled too far, forced to blanch a lighter tone.
My touch makes him close his eyes. He’s been in Ishmor, studying and working as a spy for our father. But I know my brother; he has his agenda.
“Light does not always save us, sister. Sometimes darkness does,” he mutters as his shoulders relax.
Cool sand surges through my toes, grounding me as I take a step back. “Is the price you’re paying worth the deal with this darkness?” I grab his hand and squeeze hard. “Look at you. You’re flesh and bone. You need to be solid muscle, callus hands, and a stony heart for the war that is to come.”
He flips his wrist, trapping my hands in his, “The wars of our past and present will be child’s play compared to what I have seen. I’d pay any price to stop what is coming.”
“It is not your sole duty to vanquish evil, Everett,” I stress. “Remove the weight from your shoulders.” Ask for help! I’ll help.
My gulp forces those words down, trapping them in my belly.
They raised us to be vaults. Keyless; nothing can crack us open except the correct combination.
Everett will never reveal his code, for he doesn’t know it.
His magic of foresight has jumbled his mind, like a child coloring outside the lines.
The original picture is lost. It’s merely scribbles now.
“I do not wish to rid the world of evil. That is an impossible task. I just need to create a symmetry. Balance.”
Not this again. Mindless babbling. I want words. Yes or no. Yes, I am fine. No, I’m not deteriorating.
I hug him again, but my fingers dig into something hard at his back. “What’s that?” Those are not ribs.
Instead of replying, he drops the time shield and addresses the guards. “I’ll change before I see my father.” He grabs my hand and walks quickly, not allowing them to reply.
The guards create a formation as we walk through the port village, up the winding wall that leads to our castle. The water reflecting off the ocean bounces off the polished sandstone, making the castle appear to be one giant gem. Everett and I know the flaws hidden within the light.
The guards remain on our heels until we reach his room. Once the door closes, he peels off his traveling cloak and pulls out an old leather book from behind his back.
“A book! Wait!” I choke. “Is that for The Great Library of Ishmor? Please tell me it’s not.” Stealing from the library is a high crime.
“No one saw me.”
Which means he used his time-weaving magic.
“Everett,” I step closer to look at the book’s title. The letters on the front used to be gilded, but the foil has been worn off, creating an outline as speckled as the night sky. He hugs the title to his chest, but not before I read it. “What’s the curse of Caldara?”
“Nothing,” he waves me off.
“What do you mean, nothing?” I lower my voice. “You stole a book from the great library, so it is not nothing.”
“My words are true. The Kingdom of Caldara is nothing now. It’s a grave. No one returns to clean gravestones, Selene. No one will miss this book,” he replies as he turns and walks to his bookshelf.
“You’re hiding it here, out in the open?” I deadpan as he slides it onto a shelf.
“If I hide it anywhere else, Sable would seek it out. Some treasures are best hidden under your nose.”
“Why would Sable want that book?”
“I told you, Sable seeks everything.” He walks to his bench and pulls off his riding boots. Sand begins to shake loose. Wait, why is the sand a deep orange hue? That is not from our shores, or Ishmor.
Unless he didn’t portal directly from Ishmor to here. Where did you go?
His fingers become red as he tugs his laces with force. Without bothering to change, he just slips on his formal boots. Walking to the sink, he splashes his face. “Everything is happening as I saw it.” He looks into the mirror, studying his haunted stare.
You don’t look relieved. Shouldn’t you be happy if this is the ending you seek?
“Then stop it,” I whisper. I sense a great dread chasing us all.
“I told you, if I stop, we all die. Every single person, Selene. Look what’s already passed. Dragons have died; their riders. Humans will be next, then mages, vampires, and fae. Someone ripped away the balance, and we must restore it.”
“Dragons? I inhale sharply. “Dragons died because their riders forgot the beasts were wild. They are uncontrollable. Men hunted them down to stop them from burning down their cities.”
“Why, Selene?” he shouts so passionately that the tips of his pointed ears redden.
He keeps his back to me as he stares me down through the mirror.
“Why did dragon riders lose the ability to control them? Because someone ripped away the runes. That is what I am trying to fix. Dragon riders used to control dragons. Humans used to be able to defend against magical attacks. There was a level of fear that kept people calm because we all knew everyone had a defense.”
He grabs a towel and dries his hands. “Now we don’t. Humans have to barter their inventions to get respect. Mages must sell their enchanted objects to stave off the fae, and don’t get me started on the false sense of power faes and vampires fight over.
“We fight for metal crowns and ink on paper that hands over the rights of land. We fight for objects when we should fight for the safety of flesh.”
I step back, keeping a distance. I’ve never seen him so… desperate. “You don’t have to be the one to fix this. Let others,” I plead.
“Others?” he questions with disappointment.
“Selene, if I see a crime and do nothing to stop it, then I am no better than the aggressor. My actions might be no more than a drop in the water, but I would rather die knowing I tried to help instead of sitting on the sidelines, praying I stay alive so I can sell a book of tales about what I witnessed. I am no coward.”
“I never said you were,” I breathe.
He cast his eyes down into the drain of the sink. “There is a darkness coming, Selene; I have seen it.”
A tremor ripples over his skin, then jumps onto me.
“Beasts are being born as we speak,” he continues.
“Monsters so terrifying that even a dragon would hesitate. They will claim us all if we do not unite, and the only way we can do so is with runes. I have seen a future where we conquer them, Selene. We still bicker and fight, but like a family, we’re united.
We train together and form armies to hunt down these creatures.
But I have also seen a future where the monsters rule, a future I will never speak of. ”
“Stop!” I stomp forward. “You are going in circles. Everett, you mention things long dead. You sound mad! Now you talk of dragons and riders, armies and monsters?” I desperately grasp his face.
“Please stop whatever this is. Let’s seek an elder.
Tell them about your foresight. There must be a way to stop it. To soothe your mind.”
He jerks back from my hold and, for the first time, looks at me with distrust. “We all have sacrifices to make,” he says firmly.
He’s never going to change his mind. That much is clear to see.
His chin lowers as water drips down his face. He wants to cry, I know it, but he can’t, so he lets the water he splashed upon his face mimic the action.
“What is the book for, Everett? What’s Caldara?” I demand.
“If you look now, Sable will know. Do not look before your time, Selene.”
“And when is my time?”
“When this conversation becomes an old memory.”
“Where will you be then?” Reaching out, I grab his shoulders, anchoring him to me.
His eyes shift to mine.
I press again. “Where will you be, Everett?”
He licks his lips. “Whether we are in the same room or leagues apart, I’m always with you. Remember that.”
I grab my chest as tears spill from my eyes. “I can not do this anymore, brother. I can’t play this game of guessing. It’s tearing me apart, and you as well.”
Each step I take back is like a knife to my lungs.
My heart still beats, but it’s missing what defines it. “I’m finished. No more. Keep me out of it.”
His throat bobs as he swallows.
“You knew I would say this,” I state.
He nods. “I’m not mad.”
“You… you wanted this. You want me to hate you so that I won’t stop you.”
“If you love me, you’ll follow me—through thick and thin, life and death.
If you detest me, you will leave me alone.
” He keeps his eyes on my feet. “Sister, you’ll grasp the significance of these words eventually.
” His raw yet tender stare locks onto me as I stagger back to the door.
“If you are smart, repeat what I said to save the one you love.”
I lean against the door for extra stability. “You’ve demonstrated to me that nobody in this family understands love. We exploit.” I turn fast so he won’t see me cry. I fling the door open and slam it shut, but not before his reply reaches my ears.
“We exploit people because we love them. If we didn’t, we’d just discard them.”
The present.
Some seeds remain dormant for years. For them to sprout, conditions must be right. Everett seeds are starting to awaken. I fear the flowers they grow will be of deadly beauty.