Dancing With Monsters (33 page)

Ella turned, and glared at Edan.
“Eveie doesn’t want to cause havoc. She wants the archangels to
leave her alone,” she said firmly with eyes set on Edan.

“
We need to have a plan.”
Edan looked at me. “Where exactly are you taking us with this
portal?” He shifted his attention back to Ella.

“
It will open up close to
our house near Sothis which is in the southern part of The Isle of
Stars.” Ella looked over her shoulder at Edan with her etch still
connected to the portal by a tiny thread of light. She smiled. “You
worry too much archangel.”

“
We have every right to be
cautious.” Edan looked back at me as Ella continued with her
portal-making as Nessa stood beside her mesmerized by the
structure.

“
I couldn’t get your stone
back. So what weapon will we use to contain this demon?” Edan asked
in a low voice as he pulled me away from Ella. “I didn’t plan on
her doing this and was going to try one more time to get the stone
so we could make our own portal, not have Eveie’s daughter make it
for us.”

Edan had every right to be suspicious
and untrusting of Ella, but at the same time, I knew we could trust
her. Since my connection with the stone, my intuition had grown. I
had to get Edan to follow Ella and trust her.

I grabbed onto Edan’s arm, and locked
my eyes with him. I was using persuasion on him, and I nearly
knocked us both to the ground from the unexpected force. The
lightstone, I felt, had left a little of its power in me each time
I used it. It was kind of like taking sips out of a glass, and
after each sip, the glass was getting closer to being empty. My
ability to persuade was strong before, but now it was even
stronger.

I quickly steadied myself, and kept
Edan’s attention. He didn’t question me or pull away. I had
him.

“
Ella can be trusted, and
is to be trusted by you. She will lead us to The Isle of Stars
where you will be cautious, but not untrusting of her intentions.”
I held my gaze steady as I felt the power in me surge and fall like
waves. I had to release him without a sudden break.

“
What are her intentions?”
Unexpectedly, Edan asked. This took me by surprise.

“
To take us to Malachi and
April,” I said quickly and released my hold on him.

I took a step away as Ella finished
the portal with a final flick of her hand with the etch in
it.

She looked back at me as Nessa
examined the portal. “It’s ready, let’s go,” Ella said, as if we
were simply getting on a bus and going downtown on an
errand.

She shoved the etch into her pocket,
Looked back at me and smiled, and took Nessa by the hand. “You guys
will love it there.”

Ella pulled on Nessa’s hand, and into
the portal they went. I took a step forward as Edan followed behind
the two girls without hesitation. I had used my persuasion, but I
didn’t think it would be that strong. Edan entered the portal
stone-faced as if he would follow Ella off a cliff is she went and
suggested that he go too. I would have to re-persuade Edan so that
didn’t happen.

Suddenly, the sound of footsteps and
voices erupted through the cover of the tall shrubs. I could hear
Isaiah’s voice giving commands to his guards and coming
closer.

“
If Edan is involved in
this, bring him to me first—unharmed. I don’t care about the
others.”

Quickly, I leaped into the portal and
hoped we could close it before Isaiah and his guards could follow
us.

14

April

I had wings protruding from my back
like the kind you find in the Halloween costume section in a
store—except mine were real. I couldn’t see them very well, but
from what I strained my neck to see, they weren’t really a color,
but glowed in a yellowish light. Eveie seemed pleased as if she had
been waiting for this for a long time. I sat outside of Eveie’s
fairytale-style cottage and looked at the landscape surrounding
me.

Just a few weeks ago, all I wanted was
to leave Sunrise Acres and my life there with it, and hopefully
have a normal life. All I’ve done is escape from foster homes,
institutions, and the darkness that followed me like a
shadow.

“
Keep fluttering them or
they’ll get stiff.” Eveie said, coming out of the house and into
the sunshine that she smiled up at. “It’s a beautiful day, and I’m
not saying for what finally happened, but the weather is really
nice—almost like it is celebrating with us.”

I closed my eyes trying to
let everything soak in. I should be running around half-crazed at
what has just happened. I mean, how was I to wear clothing and take
a bath, or do I just flutter around in some birdbath somewhere that
Eveie has probably got around here somewhere? I felt I couldn’t
think anymore—I wanted to run away. That’s what I’ve been doing my
whole life—running away and always searching for that safe paradise
over the next hill that was just out of reach. But I’ve reached
that hill, and I was in paradise. Only paradise wasn’t what I
expected, or was it? I knew and felt I was always different, but
not
this
different.

“
You look like you are
thinking about something deeply.” Eveie sat next to me,
watching.

I looked at her. She was the darkness
that followed me, saved my mother from death, and feared thinking
one day I’d conquer that shadow that followed me and finally be
free. The darkness that haunted me as a child wasn’t evil in the
end, but held the answers to questions I didn’t know I
had.

“
What about my father? Who
was he?” I finally asked.

Eveie took in a deep breath, and gazed
out at the sunlit scenery. “He’s Fae and lives here on The Isle of
Stars.”

My heart skipped a beat. “Here?” I
said, standing up pointing towards the ground. “You said he died,
and never got the chance to see me.”

Eveie gazed at me with her blue eyes
surrounded with the silver scales that caught the light. “His name
is Eldon, and his lives in Braithwaine in the east. And as far as
what I said before, it was a lie to protect you,” she said without
emotion as if she was reading it from a book or letter.

“
April,” she said my name
as I turned away. “We are safe here, and protected. As long as we
live quietly here, nothing will bother us.”

I swung around just as she tried to
reach for me. I gazed into her eyes, now filled with nothing but
tenderness. “I want to go and see him.”

“
He is the crowned prince
of The Isle of Stars; we can’t just go and see him.” She pushed my
hair back, and for some reason, I let her do such a motherly thing
to me. “When he met your mother, he had no intentions of being with
her and caring about her. The Fae are that way—they leave the ones
they touch suffering in a sick love that nothing can cure. I’m sure
Eldon had no intentions of you even being born as they can control
that, but your mother really did want you and so do I.”

I sat dangling my feet letting them
skid across the grass-covered stone as my thoughts melted together.
How can this have even happened and when was I going to wake up? I
had wings for goodness sake!

“
April?” Malachi said,
standing in the doorway.

I turned around with my heart jumping
into my chest as I tried to fold my wings behind me to hide them.
But all they did was awkwardly flutter. Malachi and I looked at
each other, and I didn’t know how to explain this to
him.

I felt like running into the green
hills until I knew no one could see me. I still felt this was a
dream, and I would wake up at Sunrise Acres. Part of me wanted to
run, and the other wanted to stay here staring into Malachi’s
confused, blue eyes. But I knew that wouldn’t happen, and running
away never did solve many problems. Knowing I should feel scared, I
didn’t have an ounce of fear in me. As I gazed at Malachi,
something clicked like a switch inside of me. For the first time in
my life, I felt like I was finally complete and had reached the
point that I was supposed to be at.

“
Yes, I have wings.” I
stated the obvious. “Eveie,” I looked at her for a moment, “had
them sprout out of my back and I’m not just a monster.” I stepped
closer to Malachi. “I’m a Fae-monster-demon-bit girl with
wings.”

Malachi shifted his eyes from me to
Eveie as a sour looked filled his face.

“
She did this to you?” He
asked with slight disgust.

For a split second, I felt he found me
suddenly mutilated rather than beautified.

“
No, she didn’t. They were
already there waiting to come out.” I placed my hand in his. “My
father is a Fae, but doesn’t know about me. Eveie brought me here,
and has protected me my whole life. She saved my mother from death
by doing a Taking. She risked protecting me even though her sisters
didn’t want her to. She risked everything to bring me to this
point.” I gently touched the bruise on his neck. “And she healed
you otherwise you’d be dead by now.”

Malachi quickly glanced at Eveie who
stood away from us, but close enough to hear our conversation—just
like she had all my life—looming in shadow protectively
watching.

“
I’m free of my sisters,
Malachi,” Eveie said, stepping beside me. “I’m free to make my own
decisions and put into action what I
want
.”

“
And what is that?”
Malachi’s voice was laced with suspicion. “You’re still
demon.”

Eveie, for a moment, had a hurt
expression flash over her face, but faded with a smile. “You don’t
understand all demons, Malachi. Ebony thought the same as me, this
I know, because I have her power, we both want demons to be not
known for the evil they can spread, but gain the trust of the
angels as we once did. For too long we have been judged by the
actions of just a few. I intend to start anew and prove my alliance
with the archangels.”

Eveie looked like a newly opened
flower—all white and pure without the weathering of the elements to
age her. “You are both young, and haven’t lived enough to see the
things we have witnessed from the shadows unable to help or correct
as they happened. Our bodies were confined along with our spirts in
the darkness to have learned much, but unable to act.” She switched
her blue eyes from me and then back to Malachi as she placed her
hands on each of our shoulders. “Not all angels are pure of heart,
not all monsters should be feared, and not all demons are
evil.”

Seth

“
Isaiah is behind us,” I
said, trying to close the portal by waving my hands.

“
What are you trying to
do?” Ella asked. “Why don’t you just yell at them too?” She quickly
traced the portal with the etch. “It won’t stop them, but should
slow them down.” Ella stood back and admired the portal for a
moment.

“
So where is this Sothis?”
Edan asked.

“
It’s close, about a
fifteen minute walk.” Ella looked around with a satisfied look on
her face. “I got us pretty close, and in such a short amount of
time.” She motioned with her hand. “Come on, this way.”

Ella took off dashing through the
green hills with her black hair bouncing as she raced down the
knolls that were dotted with jagged rocks embedded in the ground. I
followed her with Edan and Nessa behind me as the blue sky and
puffy clouds rolled overhead. Sunrays pierced through the clouds
like illuminated daggers stabbing at the countryside as light
spilled over the green landscape like pooling blood. Even under the
dire circumstances, I found The Isle of Stars to be a beautiful
place—especially for a demon to live here.

“
Just over the next hill!”
Ella shouted as she glanced over her shoulder at me with her hair
nearly covering her face.

As promised, just as we crowned the
next hill, sat a house or more like a cottage nestled beside a
stream and flowers surrounding it like colorful guards. There were
three people outside: Eveie, with all of her silver and white
gleaming in the sunlight, to my relief, Malachi, and another—a girl
with something glowing on her back. She slipped behind Malachi when
we made our presence.

“
Is that April?” Nessa
whispered to me.

I looked at her as she gazed back at
me with a familiar smile—Ezra’s warm smile.

“
Yes, it’s April,” I
replied.

“
Mother!” Ella yelled
breaking our gazing trance at each other. It was the first time I
heard her call Eveie that since the Shadowlands. She ran to Eveie’s
waiting arms.

If I didn’t know Eveie was a demon,
I’d guess her another enchanted creature. It was like she had
become a different creature, but I still remained
cautious.

“
What do we do now?” Nessa
asked.

“
Come on,” I replied as I
headed towards them.

“
Come on?” I heard Edan
scoff. “That’s your plan?”

“
Do you have a better
one?” Nessa asked following behind me.

Eveie embraced Ella as Malachi greeted
me. “What is going on at Shangri-La?” He asked as I looked at him
and grabbed him by the arms. “What are you doing?”