Chapter Twelve
Isat on a rock behind the flower shop, facing the forest, picking petals from some flowers that Mary had said were “too dead to sell.” I needed some alone time and had been there for two hours, destroying flowers.
We’d been home for an entire week. One week, and I had to start school the very next day.
I had been training every other day with Keil to shield my soul at least enough to stop myself from spreading all of my innermost secrets around to other Terrans.
It was all so complicated. The crystal was more of a band-aide versus an actual cure for the problem.
I was grateful Shad had given it to me. I paused and lifted my hand to feel the warm crystal at my chest. How I missed Shad.
The goal Keil and Mary had for me was to live without needing the crystal.
That was something so many other Terrans could do easily.
Melodies were one way to communicate on Terra, although Keil assured me that Terrans spoke verbally as well.
So, although I had my crystal around my neck, which helped, if Cade was to show up with Shad's melody, he wouldn’t be blocked by the crystal, just like Shad had never been blocked.
I did not need some psycho killer digging into my innermost thoughts.
I leaned my head back, closing my eyes as I breathed out the afternoon air.
It was getting colder; summer was gone, and fall was there, making the mornings and afternoons chilly.
I had trained enough, and Keil said that I could go back to school.
I still wasn't sure that I could contain the monster of corruption inside of me, though.
My solitude was suddenly disrupted.
“Hey there, Princess.”
I turned to see Ryker, walking over to me.
“Would you stop that?” I said, tossing a stem and picking up another flower to destroy. I hated him calling me “princess,” even more, then, than ever before.
“You are out here murdering flowers? Should I be worried?” he laughed as he sat beside me, bumping my arm with his.
“I have to go to school tomorrow,” I said, leaning my head on his shoulder.
“I know, we all have to.”
“How can I just act like everything is normal? Act like I am from Earth? I mean, I now know that magic, melodies, and other realms exist, Ryker.” I raised my hands and dropped them dramatically onto my legs.
“Well, you just have to do it. It would be pretty bad if people here on Earth found out about us; I mean, they would capture us and run experiments on us–nightmare,” Ryker shuddered beside me.
“I hate this,” I groaned and remembered to keep my hatred at the surface level.
“I need to tell you something,” he said, touching my hand.
“What?” I asked as I looked up into his stormy, blue eyes. His blond curls were unruly.
“It's about Ash,” he started, and I stood up.
“What about her?” I felt fear for her and guilt for not thinking, even for a moment, about her because of all the madness in my life.
“She is also from Terra,” he said, laughing at my surprise.
“She is from Terra, too?” I wiped a hand over my face as the shock hit me.
“Yes, I just wanted you to know because she has been bursting at the seams, not being able to tell you.”
“Why does she live in foster care?” I asked
“Her guardian knight set it up,” Ryker shrugged.
“She has a knight, too?” My eyes went wide. “Is she a princess?”
“I am not sure what she is, exactly, but I know she is pretty important or else Glasson wouldn't be her knight.”
I nodded, my eyes so wide, and I couldn't help but be shocked by the news that she was from Terra and that she had a guardian knight. That was probably the same big guy, with the scar on the right side of his face, who I had seen at school, talking to her.
“Anyway, they are here now.” Ryker stood up and walked to the side of the building and out to the parking lot. “Hey, you guys can come over now,” he called.
Ash smiled as she turned the corner, her red hair and vibrant purple eyes alight in the afternoon sun. She actually bounced as she ran over to me and gave me a hug.
“It is so amazing to finally talk to you about this and not have to keep it a secret,” she laughed and pulled away from me to punch Ryker in the arm.
“Hey, what was that for? Glasson, take care of your charge. She is attacking people.”
I looked behind Ash to see the same tall and strong man who I saw at school harassing Ash.
His brown hair was cropped short on the sides and a tad longer on the top, and the scar on the right side of his face made him look tough.
As his grey eyes flashed at Ryker, I couldn't help but notice how smug he looked. He didn't respond to Ryker at all.
“Anyway, I heard you were born here,” Ash said as she pulled me to sit beside her on the rock.
“Yeah, born and raised right here, never had any clue that I was anything but from Earth.”
“I left Terra when I was young.” Ash looked into the forest, and I watched as her violet eyes became serious.
I put a hand on hers.
She shook her head and cleared her throat.
“What is Terra like?” I asked
“It is beautiful,” she said with excitement. “Even though I was very young when I left, I remember the sky and the trees. I remember they were so much more brilliant than here. The smells, they were unlike anything here.” She looked at me and smiled.
“Ryker said that we are going home—going to Terra.” She smiled, and it was a sad smile that barely reached her eyes.
“That doesn't make you happy?” I asked.
She picked up a stem from one of the flowers I had killed and looked at me with amusement. “Terra is beautiful, but not everything is great there. The kingdom where I am from is gone. Terra has a lot of bad people.”
“There are bad people everywhere. Earth, too, has its problems.”
“I mean, yeah, you are right; however–it's hard to explain. Terra is different.”
“I want to go. I want to see it, but part of me is terrified,” I said.
“Well, I have hope that not everything is gone. If so, you will love it there, Emma,” she said thoughtfully as she twirled the flower stem between her fingers. “In the blessed kingdoms, many people are kept safe, but in the other lands, there are wild, lost people, running rampant.”
“The blessed kingdoms?” I asked
“Yes, your kingdom, Haleston, is one of the blessed kingdoms.” She smiled at me and tossed the flower stem to the ground.
“I thought they were at war?”
“They are, now, but when they are at peace, I heard that it’s an incredible place to live. What the Ancients touch and bless always prospers when the people abide by the laws.”
I looked at her. I had so many questions, so many things that I wanted answered, but I could not bring myself to ask anymore. I feared that too much information, all at once, would snap me and call out the monster within me. So, I asked only one final question.
“Have you ever heard of Shad? Of his kingdom?”
Her eyes met with mine. “Everyone has heard of Prince Shadrict of Embra. He is a powerful person. I mean, even I have heard of him, and I have spent most of my life here on Earth. I heard about him from Glass, actually, and from some of the Terrans Glass has permitted me to meet.”
“What do you mean?”
“Prince Shadrict had a melody louder and stronger than any other melody in hundreds of years. Princesses from all the kingdoms wanted to marry him, actually. Isn’t that right, Ryker?” Ash asked, looking up at Ryker who stood beside us.
“Yes, he had many potential offers of marriage, I believe,” Ryker said with a frown.
“His melody, I heard, brought hope back to many Terrans. Even back then, there were dark things happening. Souls’ melodies were not the same as they had been.
There were fears spreading that melodies were slowly fading away, but once Shadrict was born and because his melody was so pure and so strong, it brought renewed hope.
So many people wanted to unite their kingdoms with Shad’s. ”
“Oh,” I said, wondering how many girls he had been with before me.
“He never wanted anyone, though. The rumor was that he didn't ever want to marry.” Ash shrugged her shoulders, “Maybe he was just waiting for you.”
I didn’t know if she said that because she thought it would soften the frown on my face or because it was the truth, but regardless, I smiled and touched her hand in a silent, thank you. She nodded, as if she understood.
“Are you guys ready?” Ryker called from the tree line. I looked up, not realizing that he and Glasson had moved away from us.
“Ready for what?” I called back as Glasson walked into the forest. The sun was setting, and I wondered how long I had been sitting there with Ash. She took my hand and pulled me up.
“Princess, you must see this,” she said with a smile as she pulled me toward our knights.
Our knights, that sounded so weird.
I knew the path that we walked upon well, and I knew exactly where it led.
I walked beside Ash and behind Ryker and Glasson as we went down the trail.
We reached the cobblestone bridge, and I tried not to think back on that day in the rain when Shad showed me the crystals and the beautiful lights that they created.
I leaned over the side of the bridge for a moment, watching the water travel over small stones.
It was darker than it was on that day in the past; there was no reflecting light.
Whether it was because the sun was going down or because darkness was all that I could see without Shad, I was unsure.
We walked for what felt like five miles before Glasson stopped. Yes, I still, and probably would forever, hate hiking. Why were we walking quietly through the forest? It felt so ominous. Ryker stood beside Glasson, and I looked out into the trees, wondering what they both were looking at.
“What is it?” I asked as we walked into a clearing. I looked up and saw the moon and the stars, sparkling across the sky. I thought about my father; he loved star-gazing. Glasson laid down a blanket, and Ryker nudged my shoulder.