Becoming a Legend (31 page)

Lord Randolph had many rules
, and Arianna was used to coming across them every day. No one specifically told her any of them, but Arianna heard talking every now and then from the people around the estate. They often would give away small details. The only one thing Arianna knew was that Randolph expressly forbade talking about the actual legend behind her eyes. Beyond a small phrase she heard from her grandfather’s singing, no one would, or could, tell her the truth behind the legend. Now she realized there must have been more rules, and Devin was still following them.

‘
And making me sick was the answer?’
Arianna still couldn’t understand why Molina would poison her.

‘
It wasn’t supposed to make you this sick. Everything I researched on it said that it would only make you slightly sick. And I figured Devin would give in and let you try to cure it with the blood of five. By drinking from all five, you will never get sick again if the legend is correct. Blood of five will protect the legend from all disease. It will be virtually impossible to kill you by poisoning you. It would keep you safe forever. You wouldn’t die like Lord Randolph did. The clans are all coming for you. I want you to be able to protect yourself, and you need the power of the legend to do that. I want you to be happy and safe. That’s all I wanted. That’s what I thought we all wanted.’
Molina’s pleading could be heard even in her thoughts.
‘I guess I was wrong. Devin was never planning to tell you the truth.’

‘
How do I know that’s true?’
Arianna couldn’t tell what was true or not at this point. Even if it was supposed to be just a little sick, Molina was openly admitting to setting the poison, and that hurt Arianna more than she ever wanted to admit.

‘It’s
part of the legend. Each night human family was given part of the legend originally. The lycans had the first line which you, along with everyone else of the Randolph clan, have already heard. The dearg-dul had the second line explaining why you’d have to have five keepers. Each family has more of the legend. I overheard your grandfather once telling Devin, and swearing him to secrecy. He might have even had heard the whole legend.’
Molina tried to convince Arianna.

“
Ari?” Devin asked a second time, finally realizing she was talking to someone.

“
What?” Arianna asked, coming back to the conversation between her keepers.

“
Were you talking to Gabriel?” Devin asked. “Is he close by?”

“
No. Why?” Arianna replied, shutting out Molina’s pleas for the moment.

“
He just told Andrew that he secured a different spot for us to transfer to. We’re deciding when to move.” Devin watched her, still waiting to know who she was talking to. Arianna wasn’t openly saying, and that made him suspicious.

“
Oh, okay. But what do we do about our guests?” Arianna asked. Michael may have been taken care of, but Molina and the vrykolakas still remained.

“
We don’t do anything. Andrew will take you to Gabriel and then return for Turner, Thomas, and me. When we’re sure we’re safe, we’ll come back for everyone else. The team will keep everyone here and safe until we can get them. Then you can rest and recover.” Devin had abbreviated the plan, but it was all she really needed to know.

“
Why not just let me do the legend, and try to see if five types of blood can heal me?” Arianna tested Devin to see if he knew that the blood would heal her.

“
No way. I will not take a chance with the unknown results,” he stated firmly, meaning it was the end of the conversation.

“
Shouldn’t that be an option? Obviously blood alone isn’t healing me fast enough. Wouldn’t it be easier for me to try the legend? If I was strong enough, I could stand up to the clans. Maybe we wouldn’t have to run.” Arianna suggested, gaining strength from her own conclusion. Devin knew something.

“
We don’t even know what the legend states,” Devin began, turning to walk back to the computer to start working with Mori on setting up everything.

“
Except that the blood of five will heal me forever, and I’ll be immune to sickness after that,” Arianna interrupted, and Devin stopped in his tracks. He didn’t turn around.

“
How much more are you keeping from me?” Arianna asked. None of the keepers in the room moved to interrupt them. While the basics of the legend were known to all night humans, most didn’t know the specifics.

“
Where did you learn that?” Devin asked, surprised, anger boiling. Turner looked to Thomas, confused. Thomas shrugged. Neither had heard that before. Molina was correct. Devin looked at the faces of each man in the room, searching for the one that told Arianna before it dawned on him. Devin immediately changed direction and ran to the room Molina was in. Arianna realized his intent and met him there in time to pull Molina out of the way of his fury.

“
How could you know that?” Devin demanded, yelling at Molina as Turner and Thomas held him back. Andrew stood between Devin and Arianna in his full baku form. Andrew didn’t fear Devin hurting Arianna, but he wasn’t about to take the chance of an accident in the state Arianna was in.

“What’s
going on?” Andrew asked both Arianna and Devin.

“
No one knew that but Randolph and me. Have you been spying on us that long?” Devin demanded of Molina from where he was being held down by Turner and Thomas.

“
Ari, please get away from her. She’s trying to get you to do something very dangerous. Please, Ari, trust me,” Devin replied, begging Arianna. For once Arianna felt feeling behind his words. He was truly worried. Maybe he had a reason for this too, but in the same way, he was acting just like Molina. Everyone was acting in what they considered her best interests, but they never allowed her to know all the details and decide for herself.

Andrew wrapped his arms protectively around Arianna and pulled her away from Molina. There was anger in the air between Molina and Devin
, but none of them held it toward Arianna. Arianna was one of the safest people in the room, but Andrew felt the air was too charged to leave her unprotected. Arianna didn’t need to be between Molina and Devin, if needed, Andrew would step in too. It wasn’t a fair fight with Molina chained up, and even though she poisoned Arianna, she didn’t do it out of anything but love, which was clear to everyone as she looked at Arianna.

“
Devin, I need to know the truth,” Arianna said calmly. “Is what Molina is saying true?”

Molina glared at Devin across the room
, daring him to lie. Devin ignored her and gauged Arianna. Would she be able to make a good decision if she knew everything? There was so much more in their world Devin really wanted to shield her from. Devin didn’t want Arianna turning into what Randolph was: a monster.

“
She deserves to know everything,” Molina added. “We can’t just go around leaving her in the dark. I have never, and will never, betray her. She will save us all, but she needs to be around long enough to do so. She needs the power of the clans.”

Devin hung his head in defeat and stopped fighting against Turner
’s grip. Turner let go, and Devin sat down on the floor with his face in his hands. He wasn’t crying, but he was defeated. Molina had more faith in Arianna than he did. Devin could see that Molina truly believed in Arianna.

“
The reason the council is pushing you to fulfill more of the legend is because they don’t know any more than the first two lines. Your grandfather searched for years to complete each line of the legend, and found that your fate, if you are the legend, is to start a revolution.
I know that the blood of five can heal her, but at the same time, it will make her take a part she never asked for. Arianna deserves the chance to choose her own fate. She doesn’t have to be the child of the legend.” Devin stared at Molina, offering a challenge.

“
And how can she decide her own fate if you keep things from her?” Molina countered. Randolph had declared what Arianna could or could not be told. Devin was just following orders.

“
I never planned to keep everything from her; I just don’t want to throw too much at her at once, especially when she has been sick because of you,” Devin hammered out his last point.

“
I didn’t do it to make her sick, and I knew it couldn’t kill her. I tested it on myself first,” Molina admitted. “I got better within a week. I really thought she would be fine. I’d have never given it to her if I thought it would do otherwise.”

Arianna looked between them. Neither was lying
, but she needed to be sure.

“
Are you both willing to let me see into your minds to see if I can tell what to believe?” Arianna gave the only proposal she could think of.

“
Yes,” Devin replied first.

“
She can do that now?” Molina asked, hurt she was left out of the new knowledge. Arianna nodded. “Of course. I’d never hide anything from you. Let’s just hope it’s the same for Devin.”

TWENTY-SEVEN

Andrew looked across the room to Arianna
, who was sitting only feet from Molina. He didn’t fear the dearg-dul; she was considerably weaker than everyone in the room. He also didn’t fear her giving Arianna knowledge. Devin may have thought he could protect Arianna by keeping her away from the truth, but that wasn’t true. Arianna’s ignorance of the real night human world created their current problem. But part of him wanted to join Devin in strangling the dearg-dul. Molina had put Arianna in harm’s way by poisoning her. Also, he was anxious to see what was going on in Molina’s mind. Andrew approached Arianna and placed a hand on her back to let her know he was nearby, but at this point touch wasn’t needed. Arianna felt him as much as he felt her.

Arianna stared at Molina who waited patiently. Arianna closed her eyes and entered
Molina’s mind for a second time. Where there were secrets before, Molina’s mind was now an open book to Arianna. Not a single ball remained that was a different color, and there were many of them. Arianna cringed, not knowing where to begin. Molina was being completely open, but that didn’t mean Arianna was all-seeing in her new power.

‘
Andrew,
’ she called outside her mind and knew that, that no matter where she was, he would hear her.

“
May I enter with her?” Andrew asked Molina, distracting her from watching Arianna.

“
Yes, I have nothing to hide,” Molina replied, nodding before going back to watching Arianna.

‘
Ari, where are you?’
Andrew asked as he joined her, but with all the thoughts floating around, he couldn’t find her.

‘They’re
all the same color,’
Arianna said, coming near him.
‘Does that mean she’s completely honest or completely lying? Can someone be completely lying to you?’

Andrew laughed.
‘I didn’t think of it that way. I think no one can completely lie because there will always be truth in their lives. I’d have to go with ‘completely open’, so that you can see whatever it is you need to look for.’

‘
And how do I do that? It was easier looking for a lie.’
The number of balls were increasing in the room. A new set entered at the same time someone else entered the bedroom. Jackson’s face popped up everywhere around her.

‘I g
uess we know who entered,’
Andrew replied, feeling Arianna beside him.

‘
Yep. Where do we start looking, and what am I exactly looking for?’
Arianna asked. While it was now easy for her to go in and out of their minds, Arianna still didn’t know how to sift through all the thoughts efficiently.

‘Y
ou already know how to dive into the memories, but for something like this, you want to just get a glimpse and not go through them to see each moment. To do that don’t take a hold of the memory in your hands. Instead, just look into it and watch the mini scene unfolding. If you see something you want to know more about, touch the memory and go into it, but if you stay back you can gaze through many of them at once.’
Andrew walked her over to the nearest pile that was of her, and not Jackson.