I connect with Dalim as I pass him. “The Ange is after Lily. We will lead them away from Marilyn. Keep her safe until we come back for you.”
“Don’t worry about her, Prince. She’s in good hands,” he replies chuckling.
I hesitate outside the door, thinking twice about leaving Lily’s foster mother with Dalim – I didn’t miss the smirk in his response.
“What the hell do you mean you’re not letting me out?” I hear Marilyn scream, followed by a crash. I wince – yeah, she will be okay.
Mellis takes the first SUV with Ziri, while I join Tolan in the second SUV, slipping into the driver’s seat. As soon as the seatbelts click into place, I give the signal and Mellis pulls out before us.
“You think Marilyn will be okay with Dalim?” asks Tolan. He glances back at the house as we pull away.
I peer in the rearview mirror. “I’m more worried about him.”
“Why didn’t you tell Dalim Kalis went home for awhile?”
“We needed an excuse to bring him with us,” I reply.
“We?”
“Ka believes Dalim is actually John Michaels,” I answer quietly.
Tolan turns stunned eyes on me. “What? Do you think it’s true?”
“I don’t know. But I find it hard to believe that he wouldn’t know. Sema told me that she was the one who disguised John.”
“Huh, I see what you mean. Would she keep his identity from her own husband?”
I shrug. “Seems like it, but then again Ka did keep his true identity from us.”
Tolan shakes his head. “I’m still trying to get used to that. Our greatest king, is alive and with us all this time.”
“Yeah, but that was nothing compared to finding Eathos to be his own brother, Kolinest.” I pause for a minute before saying, “Ka put a binding curse on Kolinest when he sent him to the UnderRealm. Bottom line is as long as Ka stays in Velesi, Kolinest is stuck there, too.”
Tolan turns to me. “A binding curse? You mean the Curse of So’fith?”
“Yes, that curse.”
“What’s it like to have that kind of power?” wonders Tolan, turning away. “That particular spell is ancient, one of three binding curses from Eirrell. The spells have been lost for centuries now, and the only ones I can think of that still know any of the spells are Ka and the remaining Ancients. Do you think Kolinest knows?”
“I don’t think so. If he did he would have already released himself from the curse by now. You remember anything in your studies about the curses other than their names and that they once existed?”
“No,” replies Tolan, “but you’re wrong about one thing. There were others who knew of the curses – the Healers of the Willow Clan.”
I keep my eyes on the road. “A lot of good that does...there’s only one healer left from the Willow and that’s Lily. She doesn’t know anything about that.”
“And, Harlu. Do you think he knows?”
“Your guess is as good as mine,” I reply.
“That’s why Kolinest needs Lily. He can’t kill Ka without killing himself, so he needs to open the doorway to Eirrell. He’s hoping by returning to his own realm it will severe the tie between them.”
“And destroying Velesi in the process,” I add.
Changing the subject, Tolan asks, “How long before we reach the hospital?”
I glance at him. “Julia will be fine. Alorn will get her and Lily to the park. They’ll get protection from the trees.”
Tolan nods somberly. “Yes, that’s if they make it to the park before the Ange finds them.”
~ * ~
Chapter Three
~ Lily ~
“Yes, he’s a really nice guy, Marilyn. Just listen to what he says and we’ll meet up with you soon,” I say into the phone. “No, I’ll be all right. What? Oh, yeah, I’ll let Julia explain Tolan to you when we see you.” Julia raises a brow and I shake my head at her. “I don’t know when, just don’t hurt Dalim. I gotta go, Marilyn. Yes, yes I will...okay, bye.” I hang up on Marilyn and sigh heavily.
“We need to leave,” says Alorn in his quiet way.
Julia nods, picking up her coat. The waiting area on this floor is busy as doctors and nurses go on with their daily routine while visitors and patients wait to be admitted or filling out documents at the large registration desk.
“Do you think...” Julia starts but suddenly stops as she stares toward the elevators, paralyzed in place. Fear I recognize from so many times before has stricken her immobile, rooting her where she stands. Her fear feed into me as I slowly turn to face the only man able to take away her free will, her ability to speak, eat, cry out for help and utter the word “no”.
Frank Chase steps out of the elevator followed by Chris, moving directly to the registration desk. Julia’s coat slips from her hands. As if in slow motion I watch it drop, feeling somehow when it hits the floor, Frank will see his stepdaughter and take her away from me. Alorn catches the coat, however, and without a word moves to stand in front of Julia as Chris turns our way. I cast my eyes down and let my hair cover my face. I steal a peek to see Chris slow his pace as if trying to recognize a ghost from his past. I hold my breath for a tense minute until he finally turns to catch up with Frank on his way to the registration desk.
“Move,” whispers Alorn as he takes Julia by the shoulder and we make our way toward a side door leading down a white hall.
Two doors over and we make our way down a back stairwell. Halfway down Julia gets her bearings and breaks from Alorn’s hold. She sprints down the rest of the way bursting out of the exit door as if emerging from the depths of a raging sea.
I rush to her side, catching her by the arm and she jumps, her face red and with unshed tears. She looks around as if trying to find where to run to, all the while still gasping for air.
“Julia, it’s okay, we’re safe now,” I say trying to calm her down.
She shakes her head, breathing hard, and without a word takes off running. Alorn catches her before she gets too far and I follow close behind.
Alorn turns me and says, “She’s in a blind panic. Keep up. If I’m too far ahead let me know. Uunderstand?”
I nod and we take off, my concern for Julia keeping me at the warrior’s pace. We don’t get far before Alorn slows down to a fast walk and finally stops near a diner. Julia pulls away from him as if from a drugged stupor. She looks about her and I grab her hand as Alorn scans the area and leads us into the diner. He takes us to a booth at the back and we scoot in opposite each other.
“Wait here,” her orders. “We can’t go at that pace in a populated area, we can seriously hurt someone. I’m going to check the route from here to the park. Don’t leave and keep your heads down until I get back.”
“How did you know who they were?” I ask, looking up at him.
“I didn’t, but I haven’t seen Julia show that kind of fear since I met her,” replies Alorn. “And your own reaction told me as much.”
I nod and without another word he leaves Julia and me alone in the restaurant, in a city with no connection, no ties and nowhere to hide.
I sit across from Julia and look around the diner. It’s one of those open kinds of diners where you can see the cook in the back working. A young waitress is at the counter helping customers and an older one takes an order from the table up front. Above the counter is a small TV on loud, competing with the noise around the room. I watch as the newscaster reports on the rare Siberian cats, stopping at the Perth Zoo for only three days before moving on to New Zealand and making their way through the Pacific before touring the United States.
Julia lets out a hard sigh, capturing my attention.
“Hey, you okay?” I ask.
She shakes her head, grabbing at her arms despite the heat that seems to permeate through the windows, challenging the already over worked air conditioner.
Julia stares out the window lost in thought, frightened and distant.
“What can I get you girls?” The waitr
ess is American, a brunette about Marilyn’s age. She smiles down at us, pen at ready to take our order. She looks at me expectantly.
“Just water, please,” I answer smiling back at her, hoping it’s enough for her to let us stay.
“Okay, sweetie, two waters it is,” she says, sighing as she walks off to get our order.
I turn back to Julia. She shudders as if shaking off her earlier fear and says, “Talk to me, Lily.”
“About what?”
“I don’t know…anything. Tell me what happened after I left,” she says, shrugging.
I think for a minute and then say, “Okay, but remember...you asked.”
Fifteen minutes later, Julia stares out the diner window blankly, letting the news of Phoris’, Milina’s and Sema’s deaths sink in. The emotions ripple across
her face obvious only to me. I watch a tear slip down her cheek and I remember my own retched sadness over their deaths. I hold my emotions, not wanting to let them overwhelm me in public.
Wiping at her eyes, Julia says quietly, “I should have stayed with you.”
“No, Julia. It was a good thing that you didn’t, taking the key with you and from Kolinest’s and Harlu’s reach.”
I look at her neck noting the golden chain disappearing under her shirt and I shake my head. “I didn’t even realize at the time the stone was the key. They’ve kept so much from me.”
Julia lifts her arms to undo the chain and I stop her. “No. Keep it. Just in case something happens and they find me. This way they won’t have me and the key.”
“That’s not going to happen,” she says, grabbing my hands and holding them tightly.
I smile at her concern for me, momentarily forgetting Frank and Chris.
Sitting back Julia locks eyes with me. “I’m sorry about bailing on you. I just don’t know what came over me. It was like I was filled with anxiety…and this need to...to...like I had to get out of there, and fast.”
I listen to her carefully, thinking about the moment she came to me in the hall. Curiously, I ask, “Who told you Tolan was getting married and leaving for the Willow Clan?”
She thinks for a moment then shrugs. “I ran into Cili before I met with you in the eating area. He and a server were talking about it. I wasn’t sure if I heard them right so I asked Cili directly. He told me that Tolan was to be king of the Willow Clan and was going to marry a princess from one of the other clans.”
I lean back shaking my head at her. “He was Kolinest all along, Jules. I think he told you that to cause friction between you and Tolan. And I wouldn’t be surprised if he put some kind of spell on you to make you feel like you had to leave right away, to leave Tolan.”
“Or,” she interrupts, “maybe to get me away from you.”
I shrug, finishing my thought. “And Mili turned out to be the demon warden, but...”
“Wait,” she interrupts again. “Do you think Mili made up everything about Tolan so that I would push him away, too? That bitch.”
“No. I don’t think she was possessed when she told you. I think the possession thing happened the morning of the Seating.”
“Oh.” Julia sits back in her seat, a little disappointed.
I rub at my chin but keep my eyes on her.
“What?”
“Falsad has Lucas’ body. I promised Lucas that I would get it back for him.”
“And, how exactly are you planning to do that?”
“I haven’t a clue,” I answer.
Changing the subject, I bring up the Healers gift. “Anyway, when Jarhan’s ‘gift’ came over me, it was like I could hear and see everything even though I had my eyes closed. It was as if I was seeing everything through her eyes.”
She gives me an “ew” face. “What’s it like having a giant water snake in your head?”
“Uh, I think she can hear you.” Julia’s eyes widen and I laugh. “Just kidding. I don’t know if she can, but let’s not call her names just in case, okay?”
She nods, rolling her eyes. “You and your Sidhe side. Can’t you keep your people in control…or your gods, or whatever she is?”
The waitress comes back with our water, sets it on the table and takes her tablet out again. She looks up at us expectantly. We both look at her and then at each other. “I don’t have much money,” I tell Julia.
The waitress sighs heavily and loudly. Julia reaches for her coat pocket and takes out her wallet. Looking back at the waitress, she orders, “Two burgers and cokes, please.”
Pleased, the waitress says, “You got it. Two burgers, you want fries with that?” We both shake our heads and she smiles, leaving us alone again until she returns with our order.
Julia takes a drink of water, gulps and sets it down and asks, “What about this Kabba demon. Did you get a good look at it?”
“Yeah, he looks like the Rock.”
“The Rock?”
“Yeah, the Rock. You know, Dwayne ‘do you smell what the Rock is cooking’ Johnson.”
“The warden demon of the UnderRealm is The Rock? You’re kidding, right?”
“I didn’t say he was the demon, I said the demon looks like him.”
“Wow, really? Nice.”
I shake my head. “No, it wasn’t – he wasn’t. If Jarhan wasn’t with me I would have dropped dead on the spot. I can’t explain it, Jules. He reeked of evil, of death. I was petrified, and when he touched me I felt…spoiled, like I was suddenly foul…dead.”
“Um, okay, definitely stay out of his way.” Changing the subject, she asks, “So Jarhan is the gift? That’s what she gave you…she gave you herself?”
“I’m not really sure. I think she came to me then to show me what the gift is capable of.”
“So what is the gift?”
“I don’t know. Maybe that demons can’t touch me, I really can’t be sure.”
“Can you ask, you know, your mom? I mean, you told me she talks to you. Can you call her?”
“No,” I reply. “She told me it was a one-time thing her being with me, too. She called in a favor, from who she wouldn’t tell me. But once she let me go, she wasn’t able to come back again.”
Julia lets out a hard breath as she sits back into her seat, shaking her head in disbelief. She glances out the window about to say more when something catches her attention. I follow her focus and for a moment we sit quietly watching the busy street as people of the city move along at their own pace and lost in their own thoughts. The change is subtle at first, but I note a slight difference in their movements. Several of the passerby’s misstep, or are startled a little after glancing our way before moving on. The people on our side of the street would look behind them as if noticing something that wasn’t there one minute and then suddenly is.
I can’t see down the street from the angle I’m sitting and Julia leans over to take a look as well, both of us feeling anxious. I finally stare at the store window across the street from us and in its reflection I see the reason for the startled second glances – and my heart stops. Staring straight into the far window and locking eyes with me is Harlu. With him are four others. I recognize two of them from the football field from Snow College, Morlo and Janlu. The third is Dorlan, Alorn’s brother. The fifth is a woman, dressed in a heavy coat despite the heat. She keeps her face covered under a hood, but something familiar about her nags at me.
Julia looks at me and we rise as one. She follows me down the aisle without question. I have the blades my mother gave me before leaving Velesi and the beautiful bow and arrows she once carried herself. Gifts that stays hidden until I call for them like the elves’ weapons in their own coats. The bow I treasure the most even if I suck at using it. I glance behind me and catch Julia grabbing a fork and a steak knife from one of the tables. I look down the bar counter as we quickly make our way to the restrooms and grab the sugar container and ketchup, quickly stuffing them into my coat.
Instead of heading to the women’s restroom, I turn left and enter the men’s, Julia immediate
ly behind me. I indicate the far wall with my chin and Julia moves to stand with her fork and knife in hand, eyes on the door. Neither of us turns on the light switch; however, light from a high window near the stalls allow some visibility.
I walk over to one of the sinks and turn it on to a slow drip, careful not to allow more than two seconds per drip. I move quickly to Julia and take the ketchup my from coat, squeezing the contents in a continuous line until I complete a tight arc around us from wall to wall, giving us enough room to stand close together. Next I take out the sugar, removing the lid and making sure I place it inside the arc. I stand as close to Julia as possible and she grabs onto my arm, supporting me as I lean down and pour the sugar over the line of ketchup, generously covering the red border. I hold the sugar between Julia and me, close my eyes and whisper, “Elements, come to me.”
I pull the moisture from the sink, letting it dissipate when it reaches me while at the same time I pull up the sugar to encase us in a shield. I hear Julia gasp as I concentrate on the air around us. The moisture solidifies the sugar making it a mirrored casing from the outside while Julia and I look through a wall of dancing sugar grains, the ketchup anchoring it to the floor and keeping it from blowing away when the door swings open. We stand still, holding our breaths.
We watch as the door slowly opens; a booted-foot steps in, but hesitates. It seems like forever before the owner of the foot steps into the room quickly, shutting the door with his back against it. The poorly lit room makes it hard for me to see his face clearly, but I would know him in the dark by his build, his quiet determination and the sense of danger around him.
Alorn.
I start to release the shield and as the sugar begins to fall, Alorn puts his hand out stopping the release. In a blink of an eye, he is across the room, stepping through the shield without breaking the ketchup line. He opens his coat and pulls us to him. An instant later, the door bursts open and the dark assassin walks in with the orc following close behind.