Chapter 22
Chapter Twenty-Two
Iwas sitting on the tan, leather couch at Shad’s house.
Shad sat there, too, staring out the window, as we all spoke together.
I wondered what he was thinking. Mary sat on the couch beside me; Ryker was standing, and Keil was at the table with Glasson.
Ash would have been there, too, but she had a curfew.
Why she had to live with foster parents was another mystery, which I had yet to solve.
Why couldn't Glasson pose as her guardian, like Keil had done for Shad?
I would need to ask Ash. School dragged on that afternoon, but I was grateful that I had not encountered Cade again.
I wanted to stay away from him as much as possible.
I was still a little confused, however, about my Shad encounter after math class.
Did he feel our connection? He was soulless. I didn't need to get my hopes up.
“There has to be something we can do,” Ryker said, pacing, and I realized that because of my musings, I had missed the first part of our meeting.
“What are we supposed to do? He wants Emma.
He took Shad's melody, and he probably has an army of soulless at his disposal,” Keil said, looking up from his computer.
Ryker, Keil, and Glasson had set up a meeting that night in order to discuss the ‘Cade’ situation.
We all wanted to know what he was doing there, and how we could get rid of him.
I knew the simplest way to get rid of him: kill him.
“We need to get an army of our own, attack him and kill him,” Glasson suggested.
I still didn't know much about Glasson. To be honest, his large size, and the deepness of his voice, not to mention the scowl he almost permanently wore on his face, along with the scar that made me think he had won countless battles or something—it all terrified me.
I did appreciate that he kept Ash safe. No matter how many times she complained about him, he did do his job.
Another thing I liked about him was his current suggestion: yes, let's kill him.
It was still odd to think that Glasson was a prince.
Shad was also a prince, and I was a princess.
All this royalty in one room—this is crazy.
“I think we all need to calm down and think this through,” Mary spoke, leaning forward, resting her hands on her knees. “We cannot resort to murder.”
“Our heirs are top priority,” Glasson returned, turning to Ryker. “Ryker, you know the risks if they are lost. Shad is already a soulless, and with no rightful heir to the throne in the Kingdom of Embra—” He was cut off by Ryker.
“He still has a sister. She will inherit the throne.”
“That is good, but who knows if Embra has already been overtaken by another kingdom?”
“There is no way to know,” Ryker added.
“Exactly.” Glasson moved over to where the coffee table was, in the middle of the room.
Seriously, he was so huge that it made me want to hop over the couch and go into the kitchen to escape him.
His eyes traveled the room. “You all know the prophecy. You all know who she is.” He pointed to me, and I gulped for breath.
“The heirs were sent here to go into hiding. We were sent here to keep the heirs safe. Cade is a threat to our safety. We need to go back, eventually, and we need to be alive in order to do that.”
“He has a melody now. Perhaps, it is affecting him and making him not so corrupt? He is an heir, too. If we kill Cade, the Ancients will not be happy,” Keil suggested. I looked at Ryker and Mary to see what they thought.
I was wondering what the prophecy thing was all about. It was the second time I had heard it mentioned, or maybe the third—
“What is this prophecy?” I asked, looking to Shad, then at everyone else.
“There was a prophecy given long ago by a seeker. It told of dark times and how we would be saved. It spoke of a bright soul's melody. Glasson thinks that melody is yours, Emma,” Keil answered to my surprise.
I looked at Ryker.
“He is right, Emma, but that is not what we are here to discuss.”
“Not here to discuss? I thought you said that you would tell me everything! If I am in some prophecy, I have the right to know about it!”
“Emma—” Ryker started, but Mary cut him off, changing the conversation. I was mad at her, too. The monster inside shook its cage. I wanted to release her and scream at them all, demand that they tell me, and that they not lie to me again, but I kept her cage locked up.
“So, could Cade, possibly, not be corrupt now that he has a soul?” Mary asked, looking at Glasson and Ryker.
It was silent. I would talk to Mary and Ryker later about that prophecy thing.
“Is that possible?” I asked with surprise.
“It is possible. Melodies are very powerful, and Shad’s is so pure and strong—I am not sure that we can even say what it is capable of. It is a possibility that it is slowly changing him, causing him to act more like Shad,” Keil finally responded.
“Why can't we just kill him?” I said, leaning against the couch.
“Yes, it would make things so much easier,” Glasson agreed, sitting on the opposite couch, glaring at Ryker.
“And who would do it, exactly, Glasson?”
“You, you have no soul left to corrupt, anyways,” he motioned at Ryker, and I then wondered, too, where Ryker’s melody was—why he never let it out.
“Ha-ha, very funny, but my melody is just fine.”
Glasson rolled his eyes.
“If we killed Cade, it is possible that Shad’s soul would die, too,” Keil said. “That's out of the question.”
“Are you sure? I heard that melodies go back, just like a marking,” Glasson questioned with his arms folded across his broad chest.
“This is different. They are connected in a different way. Shad’s soul inside Cade has become such a part of him that it would destroy his soul if we killed him while Shad’s soul was still inside of him,” Keil confirmed.
Shad walked back from the window seat at that point, seeming to want to join the conversation.
“I didn’t know much about my brother, only that he died when I was very young.
Which, as we all can see, wasn’t true,” Shad offered.
“It is odd to think that my brother would do this to me.” He rubbed his brow as if his head hurt again, and I saw a trickle of blood flow from his nose.
“Shad, are you okay?” I jumped up, holding his face in my hands, loving the electric touch of him.
“I am fine; what?” He asked, not looking at me.
“Your nose is bleeding. Keil, why is his nose bleeding?”
“I don’t know,” Keil answered.
I turned to Mary, and Ryker turned away from me.
“Uh, no! Not again. Don't you all dare lie to me again.”
“I feel fine, only tired,” Shad said, and I wanted to kiss him and hold him.
“Tell me, what is happening to him?” I asked with tears running down my cheeks.
I knew that whatever was happening, it wasn’t good.
I was worried that the small memories that he still had would fade away until there was nothing left of the boy I loved.
I could handle this Shad, but if he changed any more, forgot himself any more, what would I have done?
“He is sick,” Ryker finally said, and Keil gave him an evil look.
I ignored Keil and walked over to Ryker.
“What is he sick from?” I asked Ryker.
“His body, it needs its melody. His body is starting to shut down. First, he will start forgetting what little he innately knew about himself. He will become someone else entirely. Next, his body will slowly die,” Ryker answered.
I ran to Shad and collapsed into his arms. He didn't hold me, not exactly, but he didn’t let me fall to the floor either.
“No, no, he cannot die; we need more time,” I screamed. Mary pulled me away from a confused-looking Shad. Keil walked over to me with a tissue and motioned for Shad to go back to the window.
“There is hope if you can access his memories, Emma. I know that he found something out about melodies and about soulless. Before we came to you, he found out something. We were trying to help the soulless live longer. I have tried all of that on Shad already, but before we came here, he had something else that he found, only he had not told me about it yet,” Keil explained.
He was the only person who believed that Shad could be saved, could be saved by me, and I loved him for it.
“I have only his memories about me. He didn't leave anything useful,” I cried.
Ryker grabbed me and pulled me into his arms, his warmth anchoring me. “We will help him, Emma, we will.”
I sniffled and looked over to Shad, so oblivious to everything, and I started crying once again.
I would do anything for a smirk on his beautiful face, a smile, a wink, for him to wear a tie.
I missed Shad so bad that it hurt. There he sat by the window in a t-shirt and jeans.
I hated it because that wasn't him. I missed him so badly.
“I know what else we can do while we try to get the memories from the note he left with Emma,” Keil said, sitting down beside me.
“What? I will do anything to help Shad, to save him.”
“Cade wants you. He wouldn’t be back here if he didn’t.
My suggestion is that you get close to him, close enough to where he trusts you, and then you can steal the crystal.
Once you do that, we can attempt to put Shad’s melody back inside of him.
There is no guarantee that it will work, but it could be our best chance if we can’t figure out Shad’s plan that he left inside that note. ”
“Get close to him?” I asked softly
“She is not dating a psychopath,” Ryker said harshly. “And you know that doesn’t work, Keil. It won’t work with a midnight crystal,” Ryker added.
“As much as I hate to say it, Keil, there is no hope for him,” Glasson said, looking mournful at least.
“I disagree with Your Highness,” Keil said.