Dancing With Monsters (32 page)

I felt heat radiate up my back and my
hands began to sweat. “Hesediel told me about my mother,” I replied
meekly.

A flicker of blue flames erupted in
her eyes. “He barely knows half of the story your mother was trying
to cover up.” She glanced at Malachi. “He’s going to be sleeping
for some time, let’s go outside in the garden where we can
talk.”

On a stone bench among an array of
delicate and colorful flowers, Eveie and I sat watching the water
in the flowing stream glisten by. It cascaded over the rocks, and
the sound of the trickling water was the only noise around us
besides the occasional breeze through the garden.

“
Ella and I made this
place.” Eveie stated as I waited for her to elaborate on it, but
she didn’t.

“
It’s very pretty…kind of
like a fairytale house,” I said with a smile as I kept my eyes on
the water.

I could see out of the corner of my
eye, Eveie gazing at me. I knew she was studying me, but I didn’t
want to look at her as I found Eveie still disturbing and unsure of
her true intentions.

“
It’s your home and your
father’s home.” I turned my head to meet her vivid eyes.

“
My home?”

She nodded. “It’s time you heard the
other half of your story, April Snow.”

Eveie said what Hesidial had told me
was true, but only to his knowledge. My mother, Aleena, left him
shortly after I was born and knew someone was after her. She
thought them to be demons or angels that were trying to kill her
and me as well. Aleena knew I’d be safer in the human world and
gave me up for adoption.

“
It broke her heart and
every fiber of her being to give you away.” Her voice was t ender.
“Hesidial tried to help her, but she couldn’t be helped by him or
any monster or angel. That’s when I found her near death.” She
placed her hand over mine. “I felt her love for you mix with my
rare ability for a demon to have compassion, but I have it and
chose that day to give into it. My sisters I had always followed,
and now, they are not here to control me. I chose that day that a
time would come where I’d carve a new path for demons and when I
took your mother’s life force, I took her love for you.”

I jerked my hand out from under hers
and stood up.

“
You did a Taking on my
mother?”

Eveie had a shocked look on her face.
“I did to preserve her within me. Her love for you would have been
lost, but it stayed alive in me. I truly did it to protect
you.”

“
But you came to me in the
darkness and threatened me with fear. You told me that my mother
didn’t care about me or want me right before we captured you in the
stone.”

Eveie shook her head. “No, it wasn’t
me all the time, and sometimes my sisters liked to watch me when
they thought I didn’t know. They didn’t trust me, and that day I
had to put on a show until the time was right for me to reveal
myself to you. Eos knew of you and wanted me to get rid of my pet,
but I didn’t want to. I tried to hide you and being a demon, well
you will never lose that frightening demon appearance to humans, or
in your case—a Fae or actually only half-Fae.”

I gave Eveie a confused
look.

“
You are not human at all,
April Snow.” She smiled as the silver scales on her cheeks sparkled
in the sunlight. “You are part monster and part Fae, and not just
any Fae, but one from the Isle of Stars.”

I sat back down and looked at my very
human looking feet as I cradled my head in my hands. “So what’s
that supposed to mean…I have butterfly wings or
something?”

“
Not butterfly wings, but
aura wings. And I’m going to help uncover it for you.”

Seth

“
Rusul is dead,” Nessa
said, peering at me through the silver bars that took the place of
a door to a bedroom with windows filled with glass so thick, it
distorted the outside view.

“
They are blaming you for
everything.” Edan added with arms crossed as he constantly looked
over his shoulder to make sure his father wasn’t coming.

“
I kind of got that
impression when they put me in here.” I let out a breath of
air.

Uncle Hes was dead too, and it was my
entire fault—the thought of it was there, but it wasn’t soaking
in.

“
What about Ayil and
Yolanda?” I asked and not sure if I wanted to hear the
answer.

“
Yolanda is grieving, but
is alright, and Ayil is healing.” Nessa let her gaze mix with mine
for a moment. “I’m sorry about your Uncle Hes. I didn’t know him
very well, but I’m sure he was a good monster.”

I really didn’t know him either, but
he was blood of my blood and that had to mean something.

“
I have to get out of
here,” I whispered to Nessa.

“
Yeah, especially since my
dad wants you to be executed—archangel style,” Edan said plainly.
“He’s taken over Rusul’s place for the time being until Yolanda can
recover.”

“
Archangel style?” Nessa
questioned.

“
Hey,” I interrupted. “Get
me out so we can find April and Malachi.”

“
How do we know where they
went? My father has sent out guards and scouts, and they’re not in
the Shadowlands. The portal Eveie made, is a dead end and
impenetrable.”

I rubbed my chin and then my head as I
let out a sigh. I wished Ezra could communicate with me and tell me
where April was, but no matter how much I tried to reach out and
find the smallest piece of her, I only found the emptiness of the
darkness. My time, April’s time and Malachi’s time was running out.
And now with Isaiah running Shangri-La, I would probably be
executed archangel-style whatever that meant, I didn’t want to
know.

“
I know where Eveie went,”
a tiny voice said.

Nessa and Edan turned as I stepped
towards the barred doorway.

“
Ella, I told you to stay
put, and I’d be back soon.” Nessa, who wasn’t much taller than
Ella, said looking down at the dark-haired girl.

“
But I know where Eveie
went and where she took my brother. If you want to come, then come
along, because I have the key.” Ella held up a silver wand that I
knew was a Fae-made etch. She could make a portal.

April

Eveie and I stood nestled between the
vibrant, green knolls that looked like giant waves of green water
frozen forever. Black rocks jetted out of the ground like teeth in
random places, and the blue sky overhead was filled with puffy
clouds.

I stood in front of Eveie as she
smiled down at me. Gently she placed her scaled hands on my
shoulders. Immediately, tiny tendrils of electricity curled inside
of me. I didn’t expect the sudden force and thought of pulling away
when a voice entered my head.

Let her help you, April.
You are more than a monster—I can see that clearly in you now.
Eveie is pure of heart that is a mixture of Aleena and her own.
Their love for you is strong. Don’t push it away…you belong
here…

“
Ezra,” I said her name
out loud as Eveie deepened her smile at me.

“
Listen to the voice of
your strength,” Eveie said.

I expected Eveie to explain what she
was going to do, not just place her hands on me and jump right in
with uncovering my aura. But just as quickly the fear and confusion
filled me; it was quickly extinguished by understanding and the
bond that had been created between Eveie and my mother so many
years ago. Their desire to protect and love me was shared between
them. Their minds, heart and soul slowly mingled as one. It was
almost as if they had become another being that they created
together.

I closed my eyes, and thought of Ezra.
She was strong, and mixed with my strength only made us
stronger.

My body felt light, and I couldn’t
feel the ground beneath my feet. The green landscape faded into a
glitter-filled one as the air around me lifted me up as if it had
arms holding me. I tilted my head backwards and looked up at the
blue sky that was electrified with colors. I had never felt so
happy, and didn’t want it to stop, but I felt the air around me
weaken.

Slowly, I glided downward until I felt
the ground against my body. The air had cleared, and the blue sky
was just blue again.

I smiled at myself with the lingering
effects of what just happened, still giving me a buzz. But what
just happened to me? I forced the question in my head.

I sat up to see Eveie sitting on a
rock gazing at the landscape as if nothing had happened. My head
spun as I tried to steady myself by clutching onto the thick blades
of grass. I drew in a deep breath causing my lungs to suddenly
hurt. I coughed as silver glitter fell around me dusting the green
blades of grass. I then noticed the skin on my arms was covered in
silver flecks and my royal hexmark was no longer black.

Gingerly, I ran my fingers over the
silver lines that looked like someone had poured metal into a cast,
and then fastened that metal design onto my skin. It even had a
solid feel to the lines, like a scar would.

Eveie casually turned her head and
gazed at me with her blue eyes surrounded in all of her white and
silver. She slid off the black boulder and came up to me, lifting
me by my hands. She twirled a strand of my hair between her fingers
then reached behind me and flicked something on my back. Silver
glitter exploded between us.

“
What-what is it?” I
frantically asked as I reached over my shoulder and felt something
like stretched paper or sheer material. I started to pull on it as
pain shot through my back. “Ouch!” I yelled as a pang of worry
filled me.

“
Don’t pull on them. They
are part of you now, and I must say,” she nodded her head, “you are
the first of your kind, April.”

“
Kind…first…Eveie what
have I become?”

She smiled and flicked some more
glitter. “You are the result of when a monster and a Fae have
offspring, but you look just like them, and I knew it was in you
the whole time, April.” Suddenly, Eveie’s voice shifted and her
hair started to turn brown. Her face filled with color and her eyes
matched mine.

“
Mother?” I
breathed.

She smiled and then her image was
gone. Eveie smiled back at me as my vision faded and I felt the
cool ground next to my skin.

Seth

“
Stand back,” Ella said,
pulling a small disk from her pocket.

“
Where did you get that?”
Edan asked standing beside Ella and pointing at the
disk.

Ella cocked her head towards him, and
smiled with a raise of her eyebrows as she swiped it across the
lock. “They have Fae stuff all over this place and with no one
watching or paying attention to me, well…no one is paying attention
or watching so I helped myself.” The locked clicked and the barred
gate slightly swung open. “How were you planning on getting Seth
out?” Edan’s cheeks flared red.

“
Come on, we need to go
outside to make a portal.” Ella reached into her pocket and threw
dust all over me.

“
What was that?” Edan
asked as I brushed the grey dust off my sleeve wondering the same
thing.

“
Don’t you know about
anything Faeish?” She shook her head. “It’s unseeing dust—stole
that too. Come on, we only have about five minutes before it wears
off.” Ella took off down the hallway as Edan and Nessa looked
behind them at towards me with surprised looks on their faces. By
their expressions, they couldn’t see me.

“
Seth?” Nessa
questioned.

“
The dust works, let’s go
before it wears off or one of the guards comes and finds me not in
my cell.” I placed one hand on Nessa’s shoulder and one on Edan’s,
both flinched, and gently nudged them to move.

I followed closely behind them as Ella
led us to a secluded garden with a small fountain in the center. It
was encircled by tall shrubs and grey stones covered the ground.
Benches were scattered around the fountain that had water bubbling
out of a slender column in the center of it.

Ella knelt on the edge of the fountain
and pulled out her etch. She dipped it in the water several times
before a thin, clear line of water was attached to it like a thread
in the eye of a needle. Slowly, and with a proud smile on her face,
she lifted the thread of water into the air.

“
How do you know how to do
this?” Nessa asked as we watched in awe.

“
Eveie and I have a house
at The Isle of Stars and I picked up on a few Faeish things while I
was there. Making a portal is the most elementary ability you need
to know how to do.” She flicked her eyes for just a second at
Nessa. “It’s how they travel to other realms.”

“
And how are we to get
April and Malachi back here? Eveie is a demon, and wanted by the
archangels. She can’t be just running around causing havoc for us,”
Edan said, as Ella finished the portal with a star shape in the
center of portal that wasn’t much taller than her.

I wasn’t too worried about Eveie right
now; I was worried about getting through the portal.